eChapters

Coffee is grown at higher elevation across the Western Ghats between 750 and 1200 m amsl. It requires a certain degree of shade for its better performance. The annual rainfall over the coffee growing tracts varies between 1400 and 2600mm, having uni/bi-model rainfall with prolonged dryspell from November to May. It is more so over North of the Western Ghats. The mean annual maximum temperature varies between 24 and 30⁰C while the minimum between 15 and 18⁰C. The difference between maximum and minimum temperatures (temperature range) varies between 5 and 16⁰C across the coffee tract. The ‘Monsooned Malabar Coffee’ is a specialty coffee produced from the erstwhile ‘Malabar Region’. It undergoes certain changes in physical and biochemical characters when the coffee beans are processed during the summer monsoon (June to September). It is processed at Mangalore, located in Coastal Karnataka. The processing location experiences heavy rainfall of more than 1000 mm in July, followed by 950 mm in June and 600 mm in August. Out of 3264 mm of annual rainfall, 2852 mm is received during the monsoon period. It accounts more than 80 per cent of annual rainfall. The maximum temperature during the monsooning varies between 28 and 30°C while night temperature revolves between 22 and 24°C. Being located in the tropics along the West Coast, the crop processing environment in terms of surface air temperature is relatively uniform and moderate with a characteristic feature of heavy clouds and continuous rainfall during the monsoon period.

The State of Kerala under the Humid Tropics is one of the wettest places in the Humid Tropics where annual rainfall is of the order of 3000 mm, ranging from less than 1000 mm to greater than 5000 mm. About 68 per cent of the rainfall is obtained during southwest monsoon while 16 per cent in post monsoon and the rest from summer (14 per cent) and winter rainfall (2 per cent). Bi-model rainfall pattern is noticed towards southern districts due to influence of both southwest and northeast monsoons while uni-model rainfall pattern towards northern districts of Kerala. Coconut productivity is better towards south despite dreaded disease of root-wilt when compared to that of northern districts due to less dryspells during summer. Floods during monsoon adversely affect paddy production in the State while prolonged droughts during summer in the absence of post monsoon rainfall adversely affect plantation crops’ production to a considerable extent. The wetlands in Kerala are rich sources of water during summer and act as sink during monsoon season. Such wetlands are fast declining in Kerala and converted as garden lands. Decreasing wetlands might be one of the reasons for frequent floods and droughts in Kerala in recent years. The forest cover of Kerala also declined from 70 per cent to 24 per cent over a period of one- hundred- and - fifty years due to deforestation and forest fires.

Tea (Camellia sinensis) is one of the most important beverage crops in the World and the second most commonly drank liquid on earth after water. It has numerous medicinal benefits mainly due to its antibacterial and antioxidant properties. The major tea growing regions of the world are South-East Asia (India and Sri Lanka), Eastern and South Africa consisting of Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique. All these countries are producers of black tea. China and Japan are the major producers of green tea.

Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.), famous as “Black Gold” and also known the “King of Spices” is the most important agricultural commodities of commerce and trade in India. It is the most important, most popular and most widely used spice in the World. Of the total spices traded internationally, black pepper accounts for 34 per cent. South West India is the traditional home of this important spice, particularly the Malabar Coast. Black pepper is also grown in tropical zones such as the Asia Pacific Region, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, China, Vietnam and Cambodia. Outside the Asia Pacific region, the crop is distributed in Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, etc., totaling about 26 countries. It is grown successfully between 20°N and 20°S latitude and from mean sea level to 1500 meters above sea level. World’s black pepper production varies in the range of 2.7 to 3.35 tonnes annually.

The natural habitat of rubber (Heavea brasiliensis) is rain forests of the Amazon basin, situated within 5° North and South at altitudes below 200m. The climate of this region is equatorial monsoon type characterized by mean monthly temperature by 25 to 28°C, well distributed rainfall and no marked dry weather. Though it is originated in the Amazon basin, it is now predominantly grown in the tropics where an equatorial monsoon type climate prevails. Regions between 8°N and 10°S which includes Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, southern part of Sri Lanka and some other Islands, are better suited to rubber cultivation. The production of natural rubber in the country was 8.65 lakh MT in 2008–09, registering a 4.74 per cent growth compared to the previous year.

Small cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton), popularly known as the “Queen of spices”, occupies an important position among the foreign exchange earning commodities. Cardamom is cultivated on a commercial scale in Sri Lanka, Guatemala, Tanzania and Papua New Guinea. Guatemala is the largest producer of cardamom in the World. In India, it is confined to the States of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, accounting for an area of 41588 ha, 25021 ha and 4561 ha, respectively (Spices Board, 2009). Among these States, Kerala accounts for the major portion of production (58.4 %), followed by Karnataka (35.2 %) and Tamil Nadu (6.4 %). In Kerala, Cardamom is mainly grown in the erstwhile Travancore area in the present Idukki district and it is known as the Cardamom Hill Reserve (CHR), which was specially reserved, denotified and removed from the control of forest development by the orders of the Travancore Government. By a Royal Proclamation in Medam 997(ME) 334 square miles (86,506 ha) area in Devikulam, Udumbanchola and Peermedu taluks of the present Idukki District was declared as CHR for the promotion of cardamom cultivation (Miniraj and Nybe, 2007). Cardamom is a native of the moist evergreen rain forests of the Western Ghats of South India and is grown extensively in the hilly regions at elevations of 700 to 1300 metres as an under crop in forest lands. Cardamom thrives well within certain thermal regimes. It is believed that diurnal symmetries in temperature trends, if any, have close links with the changes in cloudiness, humidity, atmospheric circulation pattern, winds and soil moisture (Kumar et al., 2002).

The global production of cocoa is around 36.49 lakh tonnes against the demand of 37.37 lakh tonnes. Ivory Coast leads in cocoa production in the world with a contribution of 38 per cent, followed by Ghana and Indonesia. Unlike in other crops, it appears that the production and demand of cocoa at the global level match each other to a large extent. However, the recent trends in the world production of cocoa beans indicated that there was a drop of nine per cent in 2006–07, declining from 3.8 million tonnes in 2005–06 to 3.4 million tonnes in 2006–07 (Table 9.1). It was attributed to unfavourable conditions in many cocoa producing areas. West Africa, the main cocoa producing region, was hit by a severe harmattan (dusty dry wind from November to March) and its inherent dry weather, which lasted from the end of 2006 to February 2007, had a strong negative impact on global cocoa production. In Asia and South America, El Nino- related weather conditions developed in September 2006 and continued until the beginning of 2007. It led to relatively low cocoa production in 2007–07. However, it was rebounced in 2007– 08 to some extent though it was low (36.49 lakh tonnes) when compared to that of 2005–06. The favourable weather which prevailed over most of the cocoa growing regions during 2002–03 and 2003–04 helped to achieve better production during the above years while dip in the global production in 2006–07 due to unfavourable weather. It reveals that the weather abnormalities like floods, droughts, cold and heat waves across the cocoa growing regions of the world adversely affect the Coca production and the cocoa industry is likely to suffer.

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) is a very important horticultural crop which fetches considerable foreign exchange to India. The crop is a native of Brazil and was introduced in India by the Portuguese during 16^th Century. It is grown in India, Brazil, Vietnam, Tanzania, Mozambique, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and other tropical Asian and African countries. The crop is grown within the latitudinal belt of 27°N and 28°S of the equator experiencing a tropical temperature for its growth and development (Rao and Gopakumar, 1994). The trend in productivity has a phenomenal bearing to the distance from the equator. The world production of cashew is estimated to be around 20.8 lakh tonnes. The global productivity level of cashew is 690 kg/ha. Since 2000, the world raw cashewnut production registered an increase of 40 per cent. India’s share in the world raw cashewnut production accounts to about 25 per cent. In recent times, India is facing tight competition from Vietnam and Indonesia in international cashew trade. Since its introduction in the Country, cashew has well adapted to the Indian climatic conditions and is grown in the East and West Coasts of India. Now, India is the largest producer, processor, consumer and exporter of cashew in the world (Bhat, 2009 a). In India, cashew is grown mainly in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala along the West Coast and Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal along the East Coast.

The Coconut palm, also known as the Cocos Nucifera L., is one of the most fascinating and beautiful palms in the world. Epigraphical, literary and sculptural evidence provide proof that coconut has served humanity for more than three millennia. The palm is looked upon with reverence and affection and is referred to by such eulogistic epithets as “Kalpavriksha”, tree of heaven, the tree of abundance, nature’s super market, king of palms and the tree of life. The coconut is believed to have originated in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines) or Micronesia (Harries, 1977; Purseglove, 1968 and 1972). Coconut has been cultivated in India since ages and plays an important role in social, economic and cultural activities of the people. The palm is amenable to both plantation and homestead management and it can be either a major crop or a minor one in a homestead garden of mixed crops. While responding favourably to scientific management, the palm also tolerates negligent farming to a certain extent. Thus, it can adapt to the divergent farming situations and management practices that are prevalent in different agro-climatic regions. The coconut palm is usually found near the sea on sandy beaches where it can tolerate salt spray and brackish soils. It is also grown under different soil types such as loamy, laterite, coastal sandy, alluvial, clayey and reclaimed soils of the marshy low lands. The ideal soil conditions for better growth and performance of the palm are proper drainage, good water-holding capacity, and presence of water table within three metres and absence of rock or any hard substratum within two meters of the surface. The coconut palm can also grow well inland, within altitudinal limit of 600 m to 1752 m in the Tropics. It requires an equatorial climate with high humidity. A year-round warm and humid climate favours the growth of coconut. The ideal mean annual temperature, which can be tolerated by coconut palm, is around 27ºC with 5–7ºC diurnal variation. The palm does not withstand prolonged spells of extreme weather/climate variations under rainfed conditions. A well-distributed rainfall of 1300–2300 mm per annum is preferred. It is known as a coastal tree since it is grown along the Coasts and Islands and does not tolerate high temperature range, that is the difference between the maximum and minimum temperatures.

Of the various weather elements affecting crops, temperature and rainfall are perhaps the most important. It is the reason for the development of special flora and fauna in different climatic zones of the world as seen in the tropical, temperate and frigid zones. The tropical regions get abundant solar heat and the vegetation is high while it is low in the temperate regions. The vegetation is very little in the frigid zones. Similarly, natural vegetation is at its poor growth in the Arid Climates and better in the Humid Tropics. Xerophytes are confined to the Arid Climates where low rainfall is seen, while hydrophytes are confined to the Humid Tropics. Mesophytes are intermediate in their water requirement. Most of the crops are included in this group. If the crops are selected for cultivation on the basis of the optimum climatic requirements, it is likely that crop production can be maximised under rainfed as well as irrigated conditions. For example, coconut is grown in vast areas across the East and West Coasts of the Country in different agroclimatic zones and known as a coastal tree. It gives reasonably better yield in terms of quantity and quality in the Humid Tropics under rainfed conditions. However, the coconut yield scenario is totally different when the crop is cultivated in Semi-arid Tropics under irrigation. Therefore, it is a complex phenomenon to understand the influence of weather and climate on crops under rainfed and irrigated conditions in various climatic zones. The production potential of crops under field conditions could be explained through crop-wise agroclimatic zonation, whether the crop is well-suited with minimum inputs for maximising yields under rainfed conditions, but not under irrigated conditions due to crop manipulation. Many attempts were made to explain the climatic boundaries for various crops based on agroclimatic indices under rainfed conditions.

Rice is one of the major staple food of the world’s population. About 114 countries grow rice and more than 50 have an annual production of 100,000 tonnes or more. Asian farmers produce about 90 per cent of the total, with two countries, China and India, growing more than half of the total crop. For most rice producing countries where annual production exceeds one million tonne, rice is the staple food. In Bangaldesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmer, Thailand and Vietnam, rice provides 50–80 per cent of the total calories consumed.

Kerala, popularly known as the God’s own country, is situated at the southern tip of India between latitude range 8°15‘ N to 12°50’ N and 74°50’ E to 77°30’ E longitude. The State is graced with 44 rivers and numbers of streams and has rich biodiversity and tropical rain forests spread in 13 agro-ecological zones under humid tropics. Kerala is the Gateway of monsoon in India. Though Kerala is identified as Plantation State, the major staple food is rice. The annual rainfall in Kerala is about 2.7 times the national average. More or less assured amount of rainfall is being received in almost every year over the State, though inter-annual variability is felt more in recent decades. Uncertainties in rainfall are also felt much in the recent decades. Droughts during summer and floods during rainy season are frequent. Natural disasters like landslides/mud slips during rainy season are common across the mid and high lands of Kerala as the intensity of rainfall is high. Atmospheric temperature across the State is increasing. 1983 was a disastrous drought year in Kerala. The severe summer affected the State’s plantation crops economy to a considerable extent. Insignificant rainfall led to the severe summer drought during 1982–83.

Food security is one of the most important issues during this century under the projected climate change scenario. The world is facing severe food crisis due to weather vagaries as a part of global warming and climate change. One sixth of world’s population is under starvation. It is estimated that 300 million people in the world do not get food three times a day. About 18,000 children die every day due to malnutrition. Many Asian-African countries are under severe food crisis. It is also estimated that out of the World’s most hungry people, 29 per cent is in India. 47 per cent of children below three years of age are suffering from malnutrition problem. 75 per cent of world’s population is dependant on agricultural activities for their livelihood. Therefore, there is an urgent need to produce more and more foodgrains at the global as well as national levels to meet the food requirement of growing population under the projected climate change scenario. There has been a major decline in world rice production since late 2007 due to various reasons including global warming and climate change in top rice producing countries. Deficit monsoon over India during 2009 resulted to poor foodgrains production including rice as the area under rice cultivation was less. There were also devastating floods in southern States of India viz., Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Andhra Pradesh, one of the major rice producing states of India, was affected first by drought and then by floods. Thus rice production decline in India was a real set back in 2009. Similar was the case in 2010 due to excess rain during monsoon and floods during NE monsoon across the rice growing regions. At the same time, Philippines got hit by two major typhoons in September-October, 2009 causing damage to rice crop on ground. Approximately one million tonnes of rice in storage also got damaged. These events resulted to low world rice production over the country in 2009. The immediate impacts of global warming and climate change on rice production systems and food security will be felt in the form of adverse effects of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, heat and cold waves, hailstorms and cyclones on rice production. Less immediate but significant impacts are anticipated due to changes in mean temperatures, increasing weather extremes and sea level rising.

India is the seventh largest country in the world with 17 per cent of the world’s population and with a total geographical area of 329 Mha, extending from 8°4’ to 37°6’ in the North and 68°7’ to 97°25’ in the East. It is bounded by the World’s highest mountains- the Himalayas in the North and surrounded by the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal in the South. The Indian Coastline along the southern part of the Country is over 7500 km long. The Country includes vast plains like the Indo-Gangetic Plains, and the Central Deccan Plateau, bordered by the Western Ghats on either side in the West and the South. The biodiversity in the terrain leads to a wide variety of climatic conditions, ranging from tropical to temperate climates across the Western Ghats. These range from permanent snowfields to tropical coastlands; areas of virtual desert in the northwest to fertile intensively cultivated rice fields in the northeast. A large proportion of India’s population continues to live in rural areas and depends heavily on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, animal agriculture and forestry for its livelihood. Agriculture is the mainstay of Indian economy. The Indian climate is dominated by the great wind system called the Monsoons, on which the Indian agriculture is dependant. The southwest monsoon is critical to the kharif crop (first crop), which accounts for more than 50% of the foodgrains production and 65% of the oilseeds production in the Country. The inter-annual monsoon rainfall variability in India leads to large-scale droughts and floods, resulting in a major effect on Indian foodgrain production (Parthasarathy and Pant, 1985; Parthasarathy et al., 1992; Selvaraju, 2003; Kumar et al., 2004) and on the economy of the Country (Gadgil et al., 1999a; Kumar and Parikh, 2001). Climatic variability and occurrence of extreme events are major concerns for the Indian subcontinent as they are inbuilt features under the projected climate change scenario. All the projections on climate change are based up on the General Circulation Models (GCMs). All the models project increase in temperature over the Country under different GHG emission scenarios. Rainfall variability is felt in different sub-meteorological divisions across the Country. Though the GCMs have been successful in depicting the gross features of the observed large scale climatological features, there is large uncertainty associated with these projections on regional scale, since the GCMs are yet to realistically reproduce the observed features at regional scale, particularly over the monsoon region (Kumar, et al., 2002). Several downscaling approaches are being used to derive the regional features from large scale model simulations. Under the projected climate change scenario, India will be one of the Countries facing the adverse impacts of climate change as agriculture is the mainstay of people of India. Hence, understanding of rainfall and temperature variability across the Country deserves attention in the projected climate change scenario.

Climate Change has emerged as one of the most serious environmental concerns of recent times. The most imminent climate change is increase in atmospheric temperature due to increased levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O) and hydrochlorofluoro carbons (HCFCs). Because of increasing concentrations of the greenhouse gases in atmosphere, there is much concern about future changes in the climate system viz., Atmosphere, Lithosphere, Biosphere, Hydrosphere and Cryosphere. Direct or indirect effects on the society linked sectors like water, forestry, agriculture, animal agriculture, fisheries, land and marine biodiversity and health due to climate change/variability are many-fold and economic impact of climate change is enormous. The recurrent drought and desertification threaten seriously the livelihood of over 1.2 billion people who depend on land for most of their needs.

Introduction

Flowers are the most fascinating objects in the world and many poems are written glorifying them. They are associated with mankind from the dawn of civilization. Flowers are an integral part of our day to day life and they find a place in worshiping, religious and social functions, wedding, interior decoration and self adornment. Flowers are used to convey the human feelings. To say it with flowers is very common in western culture. Emergence of a strong middle class and changing life style has created a great demand for cut flowers in India.

Introduction

Fruits are undoubtedly God’s gift to mankind. Fruits are protective foods as they contain vitamins, minerals and enzymes, necessary for better functioning of human body and for fighting diseases. History of fruits is as old as that of Adam and Eve who ate the forbidden apple. Date palm seems to be the earliest fruit cultivated by man as early as 7000 B.C. Pomegranate is also one of the oldest fruits which was under cultivation as early as 3500 B.C. During ancient times, monks survived solely on fruits and milk giving an indication about importance of fruits and antiquity of fruits in India. India is the place of origin of mango, banana, phalsa, jack fruit, bael, aonla and a few citrus fruits whereas all other fruits are introduced from foreign countries. Litchi, loquat, persimmon, peach and sweet orange are from China; papaya, guava, sapota, avocado, custard apple and pineapple are from tropical America; and apple, plum, pear, date palm, mangosteen, strawberry, cherry, almond, walnut, apricot, grape and pomegranate are from the Central Asiatic Regions.

Introduction

Survey sampling is a method of drawing inference about the characteristics of a population by securing a sample. Sample survey techniques are extensively used by government bodies throughout the world and researchers for assessing, for planning and for projection future economy.In a sample survey, the final step of the analysis and drawing inferences from a sample to a population is a very vital and fascinating issue. Since the results of the survey are the basis for policy making, it is the most essential part of the sample survey and should be handled carefully.The object of designing a sample survey is to minimize the error in the final estimates. Any survey involving data collection and analysis of the data is subject to a variety of errors. The errors may be classified into two groups viz., (i) non-sampling errors (ii) sampling errors.

Organizations Indebtedness Towards Society

The organizations in the present world operate as an open system by having ongoing interactions with the society for their existence and effective functioning. There is an interdependence between corporations and societies and as such, company’s activities have a direct impact on the communities with which they work.  As a part of such interactions, the organizations use valuable resources of the society, for producing goods and services, which are exchanged with the customers for a profit margin. Due to these exchanges, the business organizations take away the profits reflecting the debt they owe to the society and the world.

Introduction

Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy and helps the system as a whole for socio-economy development of the country. Despite 51 per cent of arable land of total geographical area and about 100 million hectares of potential irrigated area, the highest for any country in the world, unfortunately the contribution of agriculture to the grass domestic product is as low as 22 per cent. India is endowed with a wide spectrum of agro climatic conditions and a large variety of fruit crops ranging from tropical, sub­tropical and temperate are grown. In India, the area under fruit crops is 3.5 Mha with a production 45MT which accounts 9.6 % of total worlds production and ranks 2nd in fruit production (Anon., 2005). The country has become self-sufficient in food grains production, second largest producer of fruits and vegetables, but still the per capita consumption per day is hardly of the order of 70 g for fruits and 140 g for vegetables.

Introduction

The term value chain was first used and popularized by Michael Porter in his book “Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance” in 1985.

The value chain concept separates useful activities which allow the company as a whole to gain competitive advantage from the wasteful activities (which hinder the company from getting a lead in the market). Focusing on the value-creating activities could give the company many advantages. For example, the ability to charge higher prices; lower cost of manufacture; better brand image, faster response to threats or opportunities.

Introduction

Labour markets, poverty and inequality in the growth process
 
The theoretical discussion on the changes in the incidence of poverty and inequality in the growth process of agrarian economies from low levels of income has been a major topic in development economics. The impact of growth is delineated through the labour market, and any predictions about the impact on poverty and inequality must be based on some implicit or explicit view of the structure of labour markets and their functioning.

In the recent years, rural markets have acquired significance in developing countries like India and China, as well as the overall growth of the economy has resulted into substantial increase in the purchasing power of the rural communities. On account of technological change during 1966-67, rural areas are consuming a large quantity of industrial and urban manufactured products. In this context, a special marketing strategy i.e. rural marketing has taken place. Sometimes, rural marketing is mystified with agricultural marketing the later denotes marketing of agricultural commodities of the rural areas to the urban consumers or industrial consumers, whereas rural marketing involves delivering manufactured or processed inputs or services to rural producers or consumers or rural marketing determines the carrying out of business activities bringing in the flow of goods from urban sectors to the rural regions of the country as well as the marketing of various products manufactured by the non-agricultural workers from rural to urban areas. Also, when we consider the situation of developing countries, there is a picture that comes out, huge market for the development products as well as the labour support.

Introduction

The National Commission on Agriculture defined agricultural marketing as a process which starts with a decision to produce a saleable farm commodity and it involves all aspects of market structure of system, both functional and institutional, based on technical and economic considerations and includes pre and post- harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, transportation and distribution. The Indian council of Agricultural Research defined involvement of three important functions, namely (a) assembling (concentration) (b) preparation for consumption (processing) and (c) distribution.

Introduction

Agriculture is an important sector for countries like India, who have majority of its population, directly or indirectly depend upon agriculture. The sector which feeds the majority of population of any country needs special attention for its all round development. Marketing is such a crucial aspect related to agriculture that is probably not developed in any of such countries which largely depends upon agriculture. Underdeveloped and lack of resources are the main reasons behind the underdeveloped nature of agricultural marketing. In simple terms, agricultural marketing means the buying and selling of agricultural produce. The Indian council of Agricultural Research defined involvement of three important functions, namely assembling, preparation for consumption and distribution.

Introduction

Agriculture, in most developing countries is the major industry. More than 50 percent of the labour is working in this sector and its industrial and commercial branches. In these countries, also more than 50 percent of the households‘ incomes are spent for low quality and value foods. Inefficiency of the agricultural products marketing system is the starting place of these problems.

Meaning of Marketing

Marketing is an important function of management. Marketing makes the economy strong. Production is meaningless unless the goods and services are exchanged for money. Marketing is related with movement of good from producer to consumer.

Various people have defined marketing differently. A majority of people consider it as selling while some people prefer to call it shopping. Similarly, some people call it merchandising. All these meanings of marketing are partially correct.

Marketing is the sum total of all those activities which move goods and services from the producers to the consumers.

Meaning of Advertising

According to Concise Oxford Dictionary, the word to advertise means to make generally or publicly with a view to increasing sales. The word ‘advertising’ is derived from the Latin word ‘advertese’ which means ‘to turn (the mind) to’. Advertising means providing adequate knowledge about some special product/service/idea to potential consumers so that they are stimulated to buy it. Adequate knowledge about a product means to let people know the name of the product, its function, size, price and place of its availability. The organizations providing service or idea give information regarding where, how and on what conditions their service or idea can be made available and how the same can be helpful to the people. Today is the age of competition. Consumers buy commodities after careful consideration. Under the circumstances, manufacturers are faced with the problem of how to motivate the consumers to buy their product. To find a solution to this problem, manufacturers make use of advertising.

Indian agriculture – the back bone of our economy accounts for about 65 per cent of the country’s employment and 20 per cent the total export earnings. Despite a drastic increase in the food grains production during the last five decades, the profit margins of farmers particularly small and medium farmers has declined due to certain serious problems like declining water table, deterioration in soil health, outbreaks of new pests diseases and weeds, and environmental pollution etc. With the globalization of market, the farmers will have to change themselves from mere producers’ in the domestic markets to producer cum seller in a wider market sense in order to best realize the returns for his investments, risks and efforts. Now the focus should be on high quality produce, low cost of production and high productivity.

In India farming was traditionally subsistence in nature but with the passage of time, the nature of farming has changed to commercialized system faming. With the commercialization of farming, price of the product along with its quality has become an important factor in marketing. Quality and safety issues have also gradually gained importance as people in general have become conscious and aware of the hygiene, health and safety issues related food and food products. Perishability of food items requires more emphasis on its quality and safety. The formal system of regulations in quality and safety standard has been mainly the contribution of the developed world. The International market has set a high standard of quality and safety of agriculture products. In the country the standardization of quality and safety of agricultural products has gained momentum in the last 10-15 years.

Introduction

Marketing as we know plays an important role in the proper utilization of any crop irrespective of its type and variety. Unless and until producer is not able to market his crop efficiently, he will not get the remunerative price for his produce. For the past few years marketing part is getting more attention than production as giving 100 per cent to the production side only will not pay much to the farmers. Proper distribution of the product to its proper place where demand is more and that too in time is also important. Government is also encouraging the farmers for marketing of their produce in a right and effective manner. No doubt every crop is in need of efficient marketing but fruits because of more perishable in nature require advanced marketing facilities.

Introduction

Floriculture is the branch of horticulture concerning cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens and floristry. It includes cut flowers, cut greens, bedding plant, houseplants, flowering garden and pot plants etc. It is a fast growing industry. Urbanization and rising living standards of the people has lead to steady increase in demand of flowers and flower products making floriculture as one of the most important commercial trades in Agriculture. It has been found that commercial floriculture has higher potential per unit area than most of the field crops and is therefore a lucrative business.

Abstract

This paper illustrates the summary of work by different groups on the potential for agribusiness and marketing research by agricultural economists over the past decade. Methodology to establish research priorities in agribusiness and marketing are reviewed. This review leads to a consideration of the agribusiness research issues including the funding sources, identifying users of agribusiness research, data needs, and limitations of agribusiness research programs. This paper also presents a potpourri of  suggested research initiatives in agribusiness research for agricultural economists. Research in these areas may be difficult for a number of reasons including, decreased reliance on economic theory as the soleparadigm, providing competitive advantage to a single agribusiness firm while balancing public and private needs, funding sources, and data confidentiality. Recommendations for outlets for academic research are presented.

Introduction

In recent past vegetable cultivation took enormous turn over because of increased population, inflow of tourists and increased per capita income in the Bay Islands as well as India. Population in these islands is increasing due to immigration of people from main land and the land area is limited.

Introduction

Potato is the fourth most important food crop in India after rice, wheat and maize. India is second largest producer of the world after China having a production of more than 45 million tones. The major producers of potato  are Uttar Pradesh (14.43 million tones) followed by West Bengal (11.6 million tones) and Bihar (6.6 million tones) during 2012-13. In Uttar Pradesh during rabi 2013-14 the total production of potato is expected to be 46.2 million tones. The major potato producing districts in Uttar Pradesh are Agra, Farrukhabad, Firozabad, Hathras, Kannauj and Barabanki. Potato arrival is maximum in Farrukhabad, Kanpur and Varanasi  APMC Mandi and the highest arrival is in the month of march and lowest is in the month of October.

Introduction

Mushrooms are very nutritious products that can be generated from lignocellulosic waste materials; and are in rich in crude fibrend protein. In fact, mushrooms also contain low fat, low calories and good vitamins. In addition, many mushrooms possess multi-functional medicinal properties. Edible mushrooms once called the “food of the gods” and still treated as a garnish or delicacy can be taken regularly as part of the human diet or be treated as healthy food or as functional food. The extractable products from medicinal mushrooms, designed to supplement the human diet not as regular food, but as the enhancement of health and fitness, can be classified into the category of dietary supplements/mushroom nutriceuticals (Chang and Buswell, 1996).

Abstract

India, ranks first in marigold production among the loose flowers followed by chrysanthemum, jasmine and tuberose. Today, there is huge demand for natural colours of marigold, calendula, hibiscus, Petunia etc.in the international market.
 
A study on primary data was done to examine the production and marketing cost and profitability of marigold flowers. Data were collected through multistage sampling technique from farmers of Bhaderwah tehsil of Doda district in Jammu And Kashmir State.

Introduction

Our national food security depends on our ability to conserve all our biological wealth.

Dr. M.S. Swaminathan (Biodiversity, Principle and Conservation, 2002)

Variation is the law of the nature. It occurs everywhere and every moment. The variety and variability of organisms and ecosystem is referred to as biological diversity. Biodiversity is the most significant asset and constitutes enduring resources for supporting the continued existence of human societies. The agricultural biological diversity more commonly referred to as agro-biodiversity, has been fast emerging as a strong, evolutionary divergent line from the biodiversity, which deals with life form at large (Kumar and Asija , 2002). Agro-biodiversity is basic to the farming system.

Introduction

India is the largest producer of vegetables in the world after China, contributes over 13% to world vegetable production and occupies first position in the production of cauliflower, second in onion and third in cabbage. Amongst vegetables, India is the largest producer of Ginger and Okra and ranks second in Potatoes production (10%), Onions, Cauliflowers, Brinjal, and Cabbages, etc. During 2012-13, India exported vegetables worth  1516.33 crores. The average productivity of vegetables in the country is 17.61 t/ha.

In the recent years it has been increasingly realized that only increase in physical production of crops no longer guarantees the smooth development of agriculture at both the farm and the national economy levels unless and until it is linked with efficient system of marketing. As such, now a day in planning for agricultural development specially in developing economies marketing system had drawn much more attention than customarily assigned to it. Efficient marketing of agricultural commodities in general and fruits crops in particular plays an important role in safeguarding the interest of producer as well as consumer.

Abstract

In this paper we studied the economics of marigold flower in Eastern Uttar Pradish Floriculture has assumed a definite commercial status. Its potential as a viable agribusiness has also been recognized. Diverse agro-climatic conditions permit perennial production in one part of the country. This sector provides employment to millions. Floriculture was practiced only on small farms but now a few large ones have been set up. The collected information were analyzed and presented in tabular form. Making small size mala on small and large farms were higher than the large size mala. There return per Rupee of investment were estimated that the  1.66, 2.08 and  1.84, in the account of small size, large size farms and overall, respectively. The percentage of total marigold produce sale indifferent marketing channels indicated that 90 per cent produce sold in II marketing channel where as next 10 per cent marigold flowers sold directly to the consumer i.e. channel I. The retailer’s level the marigold flowers were sold to the consumers in different forms such as flower basket, bouquet and in other farms as demanded by the buyers. The marketing cost and marketing margin (Price spread) may differ from the channel to channel. The marketing cost and margins also depend upon the form in which the product reaches the ultimate consumers.

Abstract

India is the prevalent prime producer of moringa [drumstick] with an annual production of 2.2 million tonnes of tender fruits from an area of 38,000 ha. Among the states, Andhra Pradesh leads in both area and production [15,665 ha] followed by Karnataka [10,280 ha] and Tamil Nadu [7,408 ha]. In other states, it occupies an area of 4,613 ha. Tamil Nadu is the pioneering state in so much as it has varied genotypes from diversified geographical areas, as well as introductions from Sir Lanka. Farmers found that growing moringa crops during summer season was remunerative. Thus, moringa gained a foothold as a summer vegetable. Its unique flavour and aroma became very popular. For South Indian any meal without moringa and pulses is considered incomplete. The demand for the moringa pod also increased due to increased urban settlements and migration of people to urban colonies. Based on the significance of moringa in the human diet this study might more viable with the specific objectives of to assessing the marketing strategies for promotion Periyakulam annual moringa seeds in Tamil Nadu.

Agricultural sector need efficient functioning of its markets to stimulate economic growth and incomes of the large rural population dependent on agriculture. More than three-fifths of India’s population draws their livelihood from agriculture that adds just one-fifth to its GDP. There should be obvious serious concerns about efficient functioning of this sector both in terms of its output / productivity and its marketing. While output and productivity are supply side factors, markets provide an intermediate link between producers and final demand by consumers. An efficient marketing system is pertinent for optimization of the resource use, output management, improving farm incomes, growth of agro -based industry and enhancing value addition. The efficient markets are also important for the stable consumer prices, higher returns to the farmers and reducing post harvest losses. Efficiently functioning markets add to welfare of producers as well as consumers. For markets to work efficiently it is pertinent to link the farm gate with retail outlets so as to reduce losses and marketing costs. However, it requires an institutional framework and infrastructure to prepare the produce in the form demanded by the consumers.

Introduction
India possesses wide range of climatic and physio-geographical conditions, which are favourable for the production of various kinds of horticultural crops such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, nuts, spices, plantation crops (coco nut, cashew nut and cocoa) etc. The production of fruits and vegetables (F&Vs) in India is 81.2 million tonnes and 162.2 million tonnes from an area of 6.9 million hectares and 9.2 million hectares respectively during 2012-13 (NHB, 2013).  India is the second largest producer of F&Vs in the world after China. India’s share in the world production of F&Vs is 11.84 per cent and 13.36 per cent respectively (Lagzi, 2013). The importance of horticultural sector can be gauged from the fact that the contribution of horticulture sector in agricultural gross domestic product (agri-GDP) stands at around 30 per cent (Economic Survey, 2013-14).

Abstract

Inspired by the human eye to brain assessment process, computer vision technology has demonstrated its potential for monitoring and controlling of several operations in food industry. Computer vision technology is, therefore, applied extensively in food drying process for monitoring nutritional value and sensorial characteristics because of its promising characteristics such as reliable objectivity and repeatability. In this chapter, after providing a brief explanation of the computer vision technology and its prerequisites and principles, an example is given to elucidate how this technology is used for monitoring the visual attributes of foodstuffs during drying process. Overall, monitoring the visual properties of food products like size, shape, color, and texture in off-line mode are the most popular issues to fascinate researchers’ attention to apply the computer vision technology in food drying. Nevertheless, industrial applications of the computer vision technology for real-time monitoring and control of food drying facilities as final goals of its introduction in food drying industry seem to be limited. For future studies, it is suggested to apply this unique technology along with advanced soft computing methodologies for in-line monitoring and control of food drying process in order to achieve high quality dried products. Finally, outlooks and potential employment of this technology in food drying domain are discussed as well.

Abstract

By loosely inspiring the actions of neurons in the human brain, artificial neural networks (ANNs) are widely accepted as a powerful nonlinear adaptive approach to tackle complex, dynamic, highly nonlinear, and ill-defined problems in an increasing number of fields of food industry.They have been used extensively in food drying to solve problems of nonlinear function approximation, pattern recognition, data description, optimization, simulation, pattern recognition, control, data sorting, clustering, and noise reduction, due to their massively parallel structure and capability to learn from examples. In this chapter, after providing a brief description of ANN technology and its principles as well as the structure of the most commonly employed ANNs in this context, an example is given to explain how the ANN technique is used for modeling and controlling food drying process. Generally, modeling, prediction, and optimization of heat and mass transfer, thermodynamic performance indicators, and quality parameters as well as physico-chemical attributes of dried foods are the most popular subjects to attract researchers’ attention to apply the ANNs in food drying industry.

Abstract

Packaging plays an important role in the food processing Industry. It makes food more convenient as well as gives the food greater safety assurance from microorganisms, biological and chemical changes such that the packed foods can have longer shelf life. In order to meet the huge demand of processed food with longer shelf life, various methods of preservation and packaging are being used in the food processing industry. Drying and dehydration is one of the method which helps preservation of a perishable commodity against deterioration or spoilage.

Abstract

Most dryers operate at low thermal efficiency. The development of models and control systems offers an opportunity to improve dryer operation and efficiency. Dryer control is very important and with deeper understanding of the drying concept, new “smart” dryers can be made more reliable and more cost-effective than classical dryers. This chapter will provide an overview of necessity of control and safety measure in food drying system, and terminology related with drying control system. Different control strategy includes conventional and advanced techniques implemented in drying operation are reviewed  here and simple outline of intelligence control system in drying technology are briefly described in succeeding section. Various hazards in drying process and risk and safety management will also be discussed.

Abstract

Water, the most important component of common foods, is considered to be desirable as well as undesirable in the different food systems. Water-solid interaction in food systems controls various biological, biochemical and biophysical reactions affecting their acceptability. The retention or release of water from solid has been quantified in the terms of sorption isotherm. Sorption isotherm techniques have been used to characterize and identify the type of water-solid interaction in different food products. Sorption isotherm provides various information useful in designing and optimization of drying, storage, packaging, predicting quality and shelf life of the product.

Abstract

Dietary antioxidants can be found naturally in various fruits, vegetables and food products.Typically, antioxidant phytochemicals commonly found in food products are Vitamin C, Vitamin E, carotenoids, polyphenols, melanoidins and indoles. The main characteristic of an antioxidant is its ability to scavenge free radicals and form stable end product which inhibit the chain oxidative mechanisms that lead to degenerative diseases which are harmful to human health. Drying is widely used in food processing to minimize food wastage and to extend food shelf-life. Pretreatment, drying methods and storage conditions are some of the processing parameters affecting the quality of dried products. Selection of processing conditions and storage environment are therefore critical in maximizing the retention of food antioxidants. This chapter aims to compile and summarize studies carried out for antioxidants namely antioxidant contents in dried food products, effect of processing parameters and quantification methods in the analyses of antioxidants.