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19862
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Subject: Agricultural Economics × Author: KAU × End date: 1986 × Start date: 1986 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Performance of regional rural banks in Kerala with special reference to South Malabar Gramin Bank
    (Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1986) Viswanathan, K U; KAU; Radhakrishnan, V
    Regional Rural Banks were established with the main objective of developing the rural economy by providing credit facilities for the development of agriculture, trade, commerce, industries and other productive industries in the rural areas, particularly to the small and marginal farmers, agricultural labourers, artisans and small entrepreneurs. The rationale for a specialized institution oriented to rural credit follows the identification of a specific regional and functional gap in the existing institutional credit structure. The new institutions were not intended to replace but to supplement the other institutional agencies in the field. In Kerala two RRBs viz. North Malabar Gramin Bank at Cannanore and South Malabar Gramin Bank at Malappuram were established in December 1976. The specific objective of the present study were 1. To review the working of RRBs in Kerala. 2. To assess the extent to which they have been able to fulfil their objectives by way of extending credit to the target groups. 3. To assess the impact of finance from RRB on the beneficiaries. 4. To point out shortcomings if any in the working and to suggest remedies. The study was conducted in two parts. In the first part, available secondary data on the functioning of the two RRBs in Kerala during the past were collected from the head offices of the two banks and also from other published sources like RBI periodicals and journals. Overall aspects like expansion of branches, mobilization of deposits, advances made, income, expenditure and profit/loss position and deployment of credit to various sectors were the points looked into in this analysis. The second part of the study is based on data from the beneficiary level and is confined to the beneficiaries of SMGB. To examine the functioning of the bank at primary level among different groups, both short term and medium term loans were studied separately. This classification envisaged the study of agricultural and non- agricultural advances of the SMGB separately because majority of the short term loans were crop loans whereas majority of the medium term loans were small trade loans. A sample of sixty crop loanees and sixty small trade loanees selected through two stage random sampling were personally contacted and data were collected using well structured interview schedules prepared separately for both the categories. In order to serve as control in respect of short term loans another sample of 30 non-borrower farmers were also interviewed from the same area. Information regarding family status, family income and its sources, cropping pattern and intensity, cost of cultivation of major crops, input use pattern etc. were collected from the sample farmers. Details of type of trade, incremental investment and turnover, incremental income and its contribution to family income etc. were the points concentrated in the case of small traders. The study revealed that the overall performance of the RRBs in Kerala was satisfactory. The banks could cover the five backward districts of the state and could emerge as premier banking institution in the areas of their operation. The expansion of branches, mobilization of deposits and advances made by these banks made steady progress throughout the past and they in many respects ranked among the better performed RRBs in the country. Relatively low average amount of credit per borrowal account extended and a shortfall in recovery are points to be mentioned as weak spots noticed in their functioning. The analysis of crop loans suggested that the loans had gone only to the eligible categories though the share received by agricultural labourers were less. The borrower farmers had a high cropping intensity, had used higher doses of inputs especially labour and fertilizer nutrients and had been realizing higher farm income per hectare compared to the non-borrowers. Linear programming analysis of the farms revealed that borrower farms had much better resource use efficiency than non-borrowers. The existing crop combinations was less than optimum in all the farms. There is possibility of increasing their net margins by mere reallocation of the existing resources. Crop plans worked at enhanced levels of capital (at 25% and 50% more than the existing) showed that the net margins could be profitably increased by employing more capital. Improved plans were also able to absorb more labour force, indicating clearly the employment generating capacity of capital. Besides the agricultural sector, the SMGB finance was found to opening vistas for higher earnings for a good number of young people of the weaker sections. Small trade was one of such ventures which dominated in number as well as in amount advanced. The small trade loans had resulted in incremental investment and hence in incremental turnover in all the categories of trade studied. The small traders with the borrowings had an average incremental investment of Rs.2448 which generated an incremental net income of Rs.747 per annum and an additional gainful employment of 35 mandays per annum. To conclude, RRBs in Kerala fared better than their counterparts in general in the rest of the country in terms of overall performance. They were found to be generally adhering to the objectives for which they were created.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Study on the supply response and marketing of natural rubber in Kerala
    (Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1986) Viju Ipe, C; KAU; Prabhakaran, T
    The present study on supply response and marketing of natural rubber in Kerala developed estimates of short-term and long-term supply response of rubber to price changes and analysed the structure and performance of the rubber market in Kerala. To analyse the supply response time-series data on area, production, productivity and prices of natural rubber published by the Rubber Board were used. The trend analysis showed that over the period of 31 years from 1953-’54 to 1983-’84, the total area, tappable area, production, productivity and prices of natural rubber showed positive and appreciable growth rates. In the case of tappable area, production and productivity, simple and compound growth rate during the period after 1960-’61 were greater than during the period prior to 1960-’61. Similarly in the case of price of natural rubber the growth rates during the period after 1976-’77 were greater than that during the period prior to 1976-’77. Econometric analysis of the short-run supply response showed that the response to one year lagged price was positive though not significant with an elasticity of 0.0468. The response of average yields to current price was negative but not significant. The variables considered explained over 94 per cent of the total variation in the average yield of rubber. The analysis revealed the existence of a significant time trend indicative of the technological changes in rubber production. The elasticity with respect to the current price was -0.1247 and that with respect to the lagged price of rubber relative to that of coconut was -0.1135. In the analysis of long-term supply response, the producer expectations derived by the declining geometric lag weighted specification and moving average models, were tried but the latter performed better. The variables considered explained over 80 per cent of the total variation in the new planted area. The response of new-planted area to the expected price of rubber was positive with an elasticity of 0.5492. The elasticity with respect to the expected price of coconut was -0.4309. Similarly the response of newplanted area to the expected price of rubber relative to that of coconut price was positive with an elasticity of 0.3430. The analysis of market structure revealed six important channels in the sheet rubber market. The analysis of market concentration point to the possibility of decreasing competition among the dealers with larger volumes and thus the possibility of increasing share of the total market for rubber. This, however, does not seem to have appreciably affected the market margins, and the element of competition is still perceptible. The gross marketing margin worked out to Rs.78.95 per quintal of sheet rubber and the marketing costs incurred by all the intermediaries was Rs.28.82 per quintal. The net marketing margin was Rs.50.13 per quintal. The price spread between the primary dealer and the producer was Rs.20.14 per quintal and that between the primary dealer and the secondary dealer was Rs.58.76 per quintal. The marketing costs incurred by the primary dealer and the secondary dealer were Rs.9.94 and Rs.18.87 per quintal of sheet rubber respectively. The producer’s share in the manufacturers rupee worked out to 95.27 per cent. The analysis of progress made by the co-operative societies dealing in rubber in terms of their number and total quantity of sheet rubber marketed showed that they declined over the period from 1971-’72 to 1979-’80.