Communication and marketing suggestions expressed by the Paddy growers in Thanjavur District: An approach towards food security
*T Ram Sundar and **P Shanmugaraja
Department of Agricultural Extension, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University Annamalai Nagar-608002 (India) sundarramluck@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The aim of this studyis to identify the areaswhere communication and marketing behaviour could be improved by getting the suggestions expressed by the Paddy Growers. The presentstudy was taken up in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu.The district has fourteen blocks and out of fourteen blocks one block was objectively selected for the study. Orathanadu block is the high potential block in paddy production. A well-structured, pre – tested interview schedule was used to gather the data from the respondents. Proportionate random sampling technique was used to select the respondents of sample size of 300 and percentage analysis was carried out. The results revealed that there are eleven suggestions given by the farmers. Acceptable percentage of moisture content (95.00 per cent), Seniority in Procurement Schedule (92.66 per cent), Storage godowns must be constructed and made available to farmers (91.00 per cent), Transport facilities made available from Direct Procurement Centres (DPC’s)to the farmer’s field (88.33 per cent), Timely Procurement of produce (83.33 per cent), Market intelligence services must be provided (81.66 per cent), Open storage points to be avoided in low lying areas and placesadjacent to river beds (77.00 per cent), Man power to be increased in Direct Procurement Centres (76.00 per cent), Provision of good remunerative price (75.00 per cent), Supply of adequate storage materials to be ensured well in advance (73.00 per cent), Hustle – freepaddy movement chain from Direct Procurement Centre to Main Godown (54.00 per cent) Through this study farmers have expressed their valuable suggestions to improve the communication and marketing behaviour which will spur Paddy Cultivation to meet the food security. It’s a bottom-up approach with ground level realism.