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Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur
The history of agricultural education in Kerala can be traced back to the year 1896 when a scheme was evolved in the erstwhile Travancore State to train a few young men in scientific agriculture at the Demonstration Farm, Karamana, Thiruvananthapuram, presently, the Cropping Systems Research Centre under Kerala Agricultural University. Agriculture was introduced as an optional subject in the middle school classes in the State in 1922 when an Agricultural Middle School was started at Aluva, Ernakulam District. The popularity and usefulness of this school led to the starting of similar institutions at Kottarakkara and Konni in 1928 and 1931 respectively.
Agriculture was later introduced as an optional subject for Intermediate Course in 1953. In 1955, the erstwhile Government of Travancore-Cochin started the Agricultural College and Research Institute at Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram and the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at Mannuthy, Thrissur for imparting higher education in agricultural and veterinary sciences, respectively. These institutions were brought under the direct administrative control of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Animal Husbandry, respectively. With the formation of Kerala State in 1956, these two colleges were affiliated to the University of Kerala. The post-graduate programmes leading to M.Sc. (Ag), M.V.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees were started in 1961, 1962 and 1965 respectively.
On the recommendation of the Second National Education Commission (1964-66) headed by Dr. D.S. Kothari, the then Chairman of the University Grants Commission, one Agricultural University in each State was established. The State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) were established in India as an integral part of the National Agricultural Research System to give the much needed impetus to Agriculture Education and Research in the Country. As a result the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) was established on 24th February 1971 by virtue of the Act 33 of 1971 and started functioning on 1st February 1972. The Kerala Agricultural University is the 15th in the series of the SAUs.
In accordance with the provisions of KAU Act of 1971, the Agricultural College and Research Institute at Vellayani, and the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, were brought under the Kerala Agricultural University. In addition, twenty one agricultural and animal husbandry research stations were also transferred to the KAU for taking up research and extension programmes on various crops, animals, birds, etc.
During 2011, Kerala Agricultural University was trifurcated into Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU), Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) and Kerala Agricultural University (KAU).
Now the University has seven colleges (four Agriculture, one Agricultural Engineering, one Forestry, one Co-operation Banking & Management), six RARSs, seven KVKs, 15 Research Stations and 16 Research and Extension Units under the faculties of Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering and Forestry. In addition, one Academy on Climate Change Adaptation and one Institute of Agricultural Technology offering M.Sc. (Integrated) Climate Change Adaptation and Diploma in Agricultural Sciences respectively are also functioning in Kerala Agricultural University.
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ThesisItem Open Access Economics of coconut cultivation in Calicut district(Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1987) Premaja, P; KAU; Mukundan, KA study on the economics of coconut cultivation in Calicut district was conducted during the period 1985-86, to evaluate the costs and returns, capital productivity, resource use efficiency of yielding plantation, the problems of coconut cultivators and the impact of incentives given by different agencies for coconut cultivation. Three stage random sampling was adopted for the study and data were collected from a sample of 120 cultivators by personal interview method. Coconut was cultivated mostly in small holdings and the average area under coconuts in the sample was 0.24 hectare. Most of the holdings were rainfed. Total cost of cultivation for 16 years was estimated to be Rs. 91,311 for the district, in terms of 1985-86 prices. The major item of expenditure was human labour constituting about 50.49 percent of the total cost. Fertilisers including farm yard manure accounted for 24.16 percent and harvesting charges for 9.90 percent of the total cost for 16 years. The total cost of bringing one hectare of coconut plantation up to bearing stage (initial 7 years’ expenditure) was estimated as Rs.38,773 and the maintenance cost per hectare per year was Rs.5,853. The average annual production of nuts per hectares during the stabilized period was estimated as 10049 nuts. Cost of production per nut was calculated as Rs.1.12. The estimated net returns on investment per hectare per year come to Rs.13,835 based on 1983-84 prices. Pay back period was found to be 13.18 years. Benefit cost ratio was calculated as 1.44. Net present worth was Rs.24.454 and internal rate of return was calculated to be 16.39 percent. The factors age, labour, fertilizer and plant protection were found to have significant influence on the gross income obtained from a coconut garden. High input costs, poor irrigation facilities and difficulties associated with marketing were some of the general problems faced by the sample farmers. The study showed that in general, incentives and subsidies given by different agencies have had very little impact on coconut cultivation in the study area.ThesisItem Open Access Productivity of capital finance in technological changes in agriculture in Trivandrum district(Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1987) Jayan, K; KAU; Prabhakaran, TThis study on capital productivity and role of finance in technological changes in agriculture was carried out using data collected from sample holdings selected from the second and fifth wards of Chettivilakam panchayath and first and fourth wards of Ulloor panchayath under Trivandrum Rural Block in Trivandrum district, Kerala, through multistage random sampling technique. Two samples of size 35 each were selected, the first being that of beneficiaries of agricultural loans and the second being that of non-beneficiaries. The data collected from the two samples were analysed size group wise using production function analysis and Linear programming to estimate the productivity of capital and to generate optimum crop plans under existing and improved technologies. Fertilizer followed by irrigation came out to be the most productive forms of capital. Labour was found to be less productive. Productivity was found to be more in the smaller farms of the beneficiary category. Optimal crop plans developed using Linear programming had shown the potential for increasing the farm income even under the existing technology, by the re-allocation and judicious use of the existing resources. Provision of additional dose of capital showed the possibility of increasing the net farm income in substantial levels even in the existing level of technology. Adoption of improved technology with adequate capital has shown much higher potential for increasing the farm income and this increase was more in the non-beneficiary category. The credit gap for the adoption of the improved technology was also found to be more for the non-beneficiary category and in both the categories the credit gap was found to be the highest for the smallest size group.ThesisItem Open Access Cost of cultivation and marketing of pepper in Cannanore district(Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1985) Santhosh, P; KAU; Narayanan Nair, E RThe study was based mainly on the data collected from a sample of farmers and market intermediaries in Cannanore district of Kerala during the year 1982-’83. Data for estimating the cost of cultivation were generated from a random sample of 72 farmers, stratified on the basis of size holding. The costs were analysed input wise, operation wise and also based on ABC cost concepts in the aggregate level and stratum level. Capital productivity analysis was also attempted to study the economic feasibility of pepper cultivation. Pepper marketing was studied from the level of producers to the terminal market at Cochin. Price spread was worked out through the method of concurrent margins. Cost of production analysis was carried out both at the aggregate level and at the stratum levels for a period of seven years viz. from planting till the crop attained the stage of yield stabilisation. The annual cost for the seven year period at the aggregate level was found to be Rs.5,605, during the first year, Rs.2,475.06 in the second year, Rs.3,481.80 in the third year, Rs.3,514.48 in the fourth year, Rs.3,992.72 in the fifth year, Rs.4,715.12 in the sixth year and Rs.5,681.68 in the seventh year. In general the most conspicuous cost creating input was human labour while the corresponding operation was intercultural operations. Roughly one-fourth of the total cost was fixed cost and the rental value of the land was the predominant item in this. The cost of cultivation was highest in stratum II and less in stratum I. Analysis of capital productivity revealed that the investment on pepper cultivation had a pay back period of nine years two months and eleven days, benefit-cost ratio of 1.16, Net present worth of Rs. 6,646 and an internal rate of return of 17.22 per cent. The market practices, marketing costs, market structure and price spread were also studied. The marketing channels identified were: 1. Producer → Pre-harvest contractor → Wholesaler →Exporter 2. Producer → Village Merchant → Wholesaler → Exporter 3. Producer → Wholesaler → Exporter 4. Producer → Village Merchant → Commission agent → Wholesaler → Exporter 5. Producer → Commission agent → Wholesaler → Exporter 6. Producer → Village Merchant → Internal wholesaler (Consignment trade) The price spread in these six channels were worked out to be 28 per cent, 17.45 per cent, 12.65 per cent, 18.91 per cent, 14.11 per cent and 14.01 per cent respectively.ThesisItem Open Access Optimization of enterprise combinations with special reference to garden land agriculture(Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1985) Jayachandran, N V; KAU; Prabhakaran, TThis study on optimal enterprise combinations on garden land farms in Kerala was carried out using data collected from sample holdings selected from the ninth ward of Panancherry panchayath under Ollukkara block in Trichur district, through simple random sampling. The 72 holdings that formed the sample were grouped into four categories based on size of garden land holdings. The major constraints identified were land, labour in three seasons viz. June to September, October to December and January to May, irrigation and capital. Banana was identified as the most resource intensive activity followed by arecanut plus pepper. Cocoa was the least labour and capital intensive activity. Net margins calculated per unit of activity indicated that banana had highest net margin in all categories followed by arecanut plus pepper, coconut, cow, tapioca and cocoa in the decreasing order. Optimal plans worked out under existing conditions using linear programming technique for model farms under the four categories of holdings indicated a uniform tendency of increase in area under coconut over the existing plan. Except the optimal plan for the second category, which included arecanut plus pepper also, all other optimal plans had three enterprises viz. coconut, banana and cow. Cocoa and tapioca did not appear in any optimal plan. Maximum increase in net income of 52 per cent was recorded in optimal plan for first category. In other categories the increases were ten per cent in both second and third and nine per cent in the fourth category. Optimal plans resulted in more efficient use of resources. Sensitivity of optimal plans were tested by considering 25 per cent increases in prices of pepper and tapioca. The optimal plans at revised prices indicated decline in area under coconut over optimal plans at original prices in all categories simultaneously followed by appearance of tapioca in the first category and arecanut plus pepper in second, third and fourth categories. Banana was eliminated from second category and cow activity from the third category. Increase in net incomes on revised optimal plans over existing plans worked out to 54 per cent, 20 per cent, 13 per cent and 10 per cent respectively on categories I, II, III and IV.ThesisItem Open Access Work ,wages and wellbeing of agricultural labourers in Palghat district(Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1985) Sankar, P N; KAU; Radhakrishnan, VThe study was undertaken to understand the socio-economic conditions of agricultural labourers in Palghat district. The specific objectives of the study were 1. To study the level of education of agricultural labourers 2. To understand the extent of employment, under employment and unemployment 3. To study the wage rates and mode of payment of wages 4. To assess the level of income, expenditure, levels of living, savings, indebtedness and other aspects such as health, hygiene, aspirations, etc. Alathur and Chittur Blocks which are having the highest percentage of agricultural labourers in the district were selected for the study. One hundred agricultural labour households were selected from four villages belonging to two Panchayaths each from a Block, adopting a three stage random sampling. Unlike other parts of the country where the majority of agricultural labourers belonged to scheduled castes, only 23 per cent of the selected households belonged to scheduled castes. Seventy three per cent belonged to Ezhava and the rest to Muslim communities. The sex ratio worked out for the sample as a whole was 992 which was quite contradictory to the pattern for the district as well as the State. The average family size for the sample as a whole was found to be 5. The lowest income group had the lowest family size and the highest income group had the highest family size. It was found that 55.2 per cent of the population in the selected households constituted the potential labour force but only 49.4 per cent constituted the actual working labour force. The percentage of literacy of members in the age groups of six years and above was 52.01 which was below that of the district as well as the State. The per-centage of literacy of females was less than males at all levels of education. For the sample as a whole the average number of earners worked out as 2.47 and the dependency ratio was 1.02. Average annual employment per household for the sample as a whole was found to be 170.65 man days of which 77.5 per cent was in agriculture. The average annual employment per worker was found to be 79.45 man days which was very low. The severe drought which affected the crop during the reference period, large scale use of tractors, fragmentation of land, use of high yielding varieties, labour saving tactics of farmers, etc. were the possible reasons identified for the low level of employment per person. The months of Karkkitakam and Chingam were identified as the lean months and the months Edavam, Kanni and Tulam were identified as peak months as far as employment in agriculture is concerned. Nearly 80 per cent of the workers received employment for less than 120 days which indicated that the bulk of the workers remained unemployed for about 8 months in a year. It was also found that none of the workers was fully employed; 1.4 per cent of them was moderstely under employed, 98.6 per cent was severely under employed. The average level of under employment for the sample as a whole was 66.37 per cent of the total available man days. Under employment per man unit was 66.41 per cent of the total available man days per man unit. It was also found that 10.51 per cent of the potential labour force was unemployed. The wage rates of labourers ranged from Rs.10/- to Rs.15/- in the case of males and Rs.5/- to Rs.7/- in the case of females for employment in agriculture. Fon non-agricultural workers the rates ranged from Rs.10/- to Rs.20/- for males and Rs.5/- to Rs.8/- for females. There was striking wage differentials between men and women in both agricultural and non-agricultural employment. Payments made in kind ranged from 6 to 10 edangazhis of paddy for male and 5 to 8 edangazhis of paddy for females. Harvesting is paid exclusively in kind and the share of the land lord and the labourer ranged from 7: 1 to 6: 1. It was observed that the increase in the real wages of agricultural labourers during the period from 1971-72 to 1981-82 was only marginal. For the sample as a whole roughly 80 per cent of the total income accrued from wage employment; 57 per cent from agricultural and 14 per cent from non-agricultural employment. The rest was from other sources. The average per capita annual income for the sample as a whole was Rs.472.39. The per capita per day income was found to be Rs.1.29 and per day income per adult consumption unit was Rs.1.52. It was also observed that there was inequality in the distribution of income. On an average the households spent Rs.2925.78 annually of which 62.2 per cent was on food items. It was found that as income increased the proportion of total expenditure on food increased at first and then started declining. No correlation was observed in the case of non-food items to changes in income. The per capita per day consumption expenditure ranged from Rs.1.25 to Rs.2.01, the average for the sample as a whole being Rs.1.54. The consumption expenditure per day per consumption unit was Rs.1.82 for the sample as a whole. It was also found that all the households in sample were below poverty line. The per household income was found to be insufficient to meet the per household consumption expenditure in any of the income groups except in income group I5. Negative saving was noticed in 94 per cent of the households. The deficit per household for the sample as a whole was Rs.503.05. On an average for the sample as a whole indebtedness per family and per capita were found to be Rs.832.30 and Rs.166.45 respectively. Indebtedness per household or per capita did not show any correlation to changes in the per household income. The highest percentage of indebtedness was found to be incurred for meeting consumption expenses followed by social and religious functions. Ninety eight per cent of the houses of the labourers was found to be kutcha ones. Seventy two per cent was tiled and the rest thatched. On an average the number of rooms available per household was 2.62. It was found that all the selected households had accessibility to hospitals at distance ranging from less than 1 km to more than 2 km. Only two per cent of the households had their own source of drinking water and the rest had to depend on public taps, public or private wells and tanks. Similarly only 2 per cent of households had latrines. The number of man days lost due to disesees per family was found to be 4.44. Only the days lost during peak seasons were taken into account. It was observed that 77 per cent of the respondents preferred to have a days rest during a week. With regard to the educational aspirations of respondents for their children the majority of them desired high school education for their sons and daughters. As far as occupational aspirations are concerned 40.58 per cent desired government service for their sons while 37.68 per cent had no definite opinion. For female children 39.59 per cent aspired government service while 52.08 per cent had no definite opinion. It was found that 71 per cent of the respondents had membership in trade union organisations. The Kerala State Karshaka Thozhilali Union was found to be the most powerful trade union organisation absorbing 69 per cent of the respondents as its members.ThesisItem Open Access Economic enquiry into the impact of cement-kiln dust on agriculture based on perception of farmers(Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1989) Seema, P; KAU; Mukundan, KAn economic enquiry into the impact of cement-kiln dust on agriculture was carried out based on farmers perception during 1987-89. The objectives were to study the socio-economic situation in the polluted area and to arrive at the impact of cement-kiln dust on agriculture. Easterlies prevailing in November to March season determined the intensity and dispersal of cement kiln dust from the source of emission. Simple random sample of 105 cultivators with farms located at different distances from the plant upto 20 kms south west and 20 cultivators from the control zone were selected as informants. More than per cent of respondents in the first zone and 39 per cent in the control were- deriving their livelihood from farm sector alone. The maximum frequency class of holding size was between one and two hectares in the polluted zone (33.34 per cent) and less than one hectare in the control (47.84 per cent). The relatively illiquid assets (71.99 per cent of the total value was for agricultural assets in the polluted zone while it was 49 per cent in the control) possessed by farmers in the polluted area were also characterised by low value (109.78 (in Rs. ’000) in the first region and 175.70 in the control). As suggested also by liabilities largely comprising of overdues (68.70 per cent in the polluted zone and 49.75 per cent in the control), there was an over representation of economically weaker population in the polluted area.ThesisItem Open 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, VRegional 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.ThesisItem Open 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, TThe 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.ThesisItem Open Access Study on marketing margins and market structure of cashew nut in Kerala(Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1987) Rajasekharan, P; KAU; Radhakrishnan, VA study on marketing margins and Market Structure of Cashewnut in Kerala was conducted during 1985-’86 season and the main objectives were to analyse the present marketing costs and margins, to evaluate efficiency of transportation, storage, processing and to anlyse the likely impact of changes in marketing organization and structure on pricing efficiency. Two panchayats viz. Enmaje and Kottiyoor from Cannanore district and one panchayat viz. Karupra from Quilon district were selected for the study. Three wards from each panchayath and eight farmers from each ward and altogether 72 farmers were selected randomly. From the selected wards a sample of various intermediaries and few wholesalers from the nearest place were interviewed. Harvesting and marketing season for cashewnuts started by February and continued till May. The farmers in Enmakaje and Karupra panchayats harvested natured nuts and the farmers in Kottiyoor panchayat collected the fallen nuts. The various market functionaries involved in cashewnut marketing were the village merchants, petty traders, itinerant traders, semi-wholesalers, wholesalers and processors. Five marketing channels were identified in Enmakaje panchayat and the first channel viz. Producer-Village merchant-wholesaler-processor was found to be the main channel in moving rawnuts in the panchayat. Ninety two per cent of the farmers sold 72 per cent of the total quantity to buyers within the village and only 8 per cent sold outside the village. The sales of different types of traders to the wholesalers showed that 72.71 per cent of village merchants sold 86.81 per cent of nuts to the wholesalers which indicated a high degree of concentration in the volume of rawnuts purchased. Two marketing channels were identified in Kottiyoor panchayat and the first channel viz. producer- Village merchant- wholesaler – processor was identified as the main channel and eighty seven per cent of farmers sold their produce to the village merchant which constituted 74.31 per cent of total sales of sample. Three marketing channels were identified in Karupra panchayat and the first channel viz. Producer – Village merchant – Wholesaler – Processor was observed to be the main channel in moving nuts and 83.33 per cent of farmers sold 86.68 per cent nuts to village merchants. The market structure indicated large number of buyers at the farmer level, and a possibility of competition among the buyers was identified. Marketing costs of farmers and different agencies were worked out in three panchayats. Drying charges formed the major item of cost for the farmers in Enmakaje and Karupra and cost of transport formed the major cost item of farmers in Kottiyoor panchayat. Cost of transport, loading/unloading and cost of packing material formed the major cost item of various intermediaries in the three panchayats. The cost incurred by the processors were estimated on the basis of information obtained from sample factories in Quilon district and worked out to Rs.337.80 per quintal of rawnuts. Wages formed the major share of processor’s cost which constituted 27.71 per cent of the cost. Total recovery of kernels was estimated as 26.79 per cent and the returns from by-products such as cashewnut shell liquid, shell and skin were computed to Rs. 64.83 per quintal of nuts. Marketing margins were worked out from the stage of farmer sale of nuts to the stage of wholesale of kernels based on the New York market price using a variant of concurrent margin. The processors reaped very high profits of Rs. 356.86 (18.17 per cent of total realization), Rs.373.01 (18.37 per cent) and Rs.522.01 (25.71 per cent) per quintal of nuts in Enmakaje, Kottiyoor and Karupra panchayats, respectively. Marketing margins computed through concurrent margin showed exorbitant profit for the processors and the net margins of processors worked out through lagged margin method by taking into account driage and interest on inventory holding from April to November corresponding to processing period of rawnuts also were in consonance with that of results of concurrent margin method. Net margin of processors through lagged margin method varied from Rs.232.39 to Rs.819.32 (12.47 to 33.43 per cent of total realization) Rs.182.46 to Rs.769.39 (9.79 to 31.40 per cent) and Rs.335.67 to Rs.922.60 (18.01 to 37.65 per cent) per quintal of nuts in Enmakaje, Kottiyoor and Karupra panchayats, respectively from April to November 1986. High margins are a symptom of inefficiency.
