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Subject: Agricultural Economics × Author: Das, Simanta × End date: 2017 × Start date: 2017 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    PRODUCTION, MARKETING AND VALUE ADDITION OF COCONUT IN NORTH BANK PLAIN ZONE OF ASSAM
    (AAU, Jorhat, 2017-11) Das, Simanta; Talukdar, K. C.
    The study was conducted in North Bank Plain Zone of Assam during 2016-17. The study area consisted of four districts viz. Sonitpur, Darrang, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji. The main objectives of the study were to examine extent of production of coconut by different size groups of farmers, pattern of marketing of matured and tender nuts in the zone and to study economics of value addition of coconut byproducts in the zone. Both primary and secondary data were collected for the study. Multistage stratified random sampling technique was used to select the villages and the farmers. A total of 160 coconut growers were selected from 16 villages with area under coconut. Farmers were grouped into marginal, small, medium and large based on coconut area. Marketing of coconut was examined after collecting primary data from 40 different types of traders operating in eight different markets from the study area. To examine value addition of coconut “East India Coconut Project” located in the zone was purposively selected. Both tabular and functional analyses were used to obtain the parameters of the study. Investment appraisal was carried out by examining the economic and financial analysis of the processing plant. The growth analysis of area, production and productivity of coconut in the zone showed that area and production of coconut grew at below one per cent rate of growth, while productivity growth was found to decline from 2001-01 to 2015-16. It was also observed that the area, production and productivity of coconut during this period were quite erratic in nature. District analysis showed that area and production declined in Darrang district, while production and productivity of coconut in Dhemaji and Lakhimpur district also declined. Productivity was found to decline in Sonitpur district. The average area of coconut was 0.25 ha with average productivity of 9531 numbers per hectare, which was higher in large farmers. Productivity of coconut was higher in rabi season. Marketed surplus of mature and tender coconut varied from 96 per cent to 99 per cent. The average productivity of coconut in the zone was 9531 number of coconut per hectare which was lower than average productivity of 10614 number of coconut per hectare in the country. Coconut market was imperfect and monopolistic in nature. The prices in the market were determined mostly by the buyers. The price of mature coconut was higher than tender coconuts. The sale of tender and mature nuts in the villages was primarily controlled by the village aggregators, pre-harvest contractors and primary market wholesalers. Involvement of many middlemen increased the length of the channel and affected the marketing efficiency in terms of producers’ share in consumers’ rupee. Although effectiveness was high, farmers and consumers were not protected by the prevailing prices, Price spread was higher in those channels and was found to be exploitative in nature due to high profit margins earned by the middleman. Marketing cost was escalated mainly by the high cost of transportation. Contractual integration in coconut market was common in the study area. Economic and financial analysis in value addition of coconut, in the selected processing unit indicated that capacity utilization increased from 70.63 to 72.81 per cent. It was also found that working ratio of the plant increased from 1.16 to 1.31, while fixed ratio was less than unity. Investment appraisal at 10 per cent discount rate the NPV of the plant was Rs. 29.19 lakhs, IRR was 23.35 per cent, BCR was 1.13 and PBP was 3.04 years. This indicated that investment in coir industry was highly profitable, economically feasible and financially viable. However, the processing industry faced constrains of shortage of raw material, erratic power supply and shortage of labour. It can be concluded that the productivity of coconut needs to be increased through adoption of improved cultivation practices, extending credit facility to the growers and proper training programme to the farmers. The markets of coconut should be organized and more assembling centers be established in the rural areas so that the farmers can carry their produce to assembling center and distant traders can come and buy the produce to encourage higher price to the producers. Price incentive programme may be introduced for the horticultural crops. There should be adequate training and awareness programme on coconut for increasing production, productivity and marketing of the produce as well as on agripreneurship on coconut fibre among the youths.