Farmers’ Brand Preference and Loyalty towards Chilli Seeds in Guntur Districtof Andhra Pradesh

Brands are highly valuable chattels. Brand preference reflects customer allegiance, successful marketing campaign and Brand strength. Different seed brands are realised by public and private companies in the market which is becomes a challenge for the farmer to choose best quality seed brand for cultivation purpose. The study was conducted to analyze the farmer brand Preference and loyalty of chilli farmers while purchasing chilli seeds in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. For the study, 120 chilli farmers were selected randomly from two mandals i.e Sattenapalli and Vatticherukuru of Guntur district. Top eight brands of chilli seed were taken for study and ranking was done through simple weighted average method. It was found that majority of the farmers prefer 355-byadgi and BSS-355 because of its biotic and abiotic resistance and high yield potential. From the study it was also observed that, when a specific brand gives good crop yields the tendency of farmers increased to repetitive purchase of that brand and farmers will shift irrespective of considering the cost of seed.


INTRODUCTION
In India, total area under vegetables and horticulture crops is showing increasing trend when compared to commercial crops because of its short duration which it takes three to four months for production and provides immediate returns to the farmers once after sale in the market. Chilli is considered as one of the most important commercial spice crops and Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh is the largest chilli producing region, contributing 30 per cent to the total production of AP and the crop is cultivated in the area of 69,259 ha. For a good crop, farmer always prefer good seed variety and brand. Majority of the farmers used to prefer traditional, local varieties and the seeds of previous crops rather than hybrid seeds for cultivation. But due to drastic climate change and low soil fertility, traditional seed varieties yield potential has decreased than expected which made farmers unable to meet their cost of cultivation. Farmers facing a tough challenge while choosing a particular seed brand from a large number of existing seed brands of same crop. They gather information and take suggestions from different sources like dealers, fellow farmers, agricultural institutions which help them to pick a right brand according to their purchasing power and soil suitability. Due to increased awareness among the farmers regarding yield and quality of produce from hybrid seeds they are switching to hybrids from traditional seeds even though the cost of hybrid seeds is high. Hybrid seed of particular brand can be valued with regard to their potential and actual performance. A strong and good quality brand attains trust, confidence, comfort and reliability in farmer's mind. Farmer loyalty towards certain brand depends on the repeated purchase over time period. Farmers' brand loyalty depends on switching to the different brands based on price, quality, yield potential etc. This study analyses sample farmers brand preference and loyalty which makes them to choose the specific brand for their cultivation purpose. Since there are variety of different chilli seed brands like VNR-577, US-341, BSS-355, VIKRANTH, GAYATRI-155, 355-Byadgi, JINI-2626, ROMY-21etc. available in the Guntur district, so efforts are made to what kind of brands are preferred by the farmers in various income groups. Therefore, the main objective of the study is farmers' brand preference and loyalty towards chilli seeds in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh and also study the numerous reasons of farmers made them to choose a particular brand.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The present study focused on the chilli seed brand preference of sample respondents in Guntur district. Two blocks from guntur district were Purposively selected for the study i.e. Sattenapalli and Vatticherukuru. From each block, 60 farmers were selected constituting a total sample size of 120 farmers. The primary data was collected from farmers through personal interview method by using a structured questionnaire. The primary data pertained to the year 2019-2020.
The data was presented in tabular form to facilitate easy comparison. Statistical techniques like simple percentage analysis and weighted averages score method were used to analyse the data.
Weighted average score = W = Weighted factor for seed brand X = No of factors

Socio-Economic profile of respondents
As depicted in table 1, majority of the farmers 45.83 per cent belong to the age group of 40-49 years. 25.33 per cent and 15.83 per cent of the farmers belong to the age group of 30-39 and above 50 years respectively. Among the respondents 73.33 per cent of them have not attended any education level,16.66 per cent had primary education and 9.16 per cent had secondary education. In terms of land holding, majority of the farmers 49.16 per cent are small farmers. Medium and large farmers account for 33.33 per cent and 17.50 per cent respectively. 63.33 per cent of the farmers had an annual income of 1 lakh to 3 lakhs. Farmers having income of above 3 lakhs were 19.16 per cent, Rs. 50000 to 1 lakh were 15.83 per cent and only 1.66 per cent had an annual income less than Rs.50000.

Awareness among the samplefarmers about chilli seed brands
From the table 2, it can be interpreted that around 88.33 per cent of chilli farmers were aware about the brands of chilli seed. Only 11.67 per cent of chilli farmers were not aware about the brands of chilli seed because of lack of knowledge, lack of purchasing power and they depend upon dealer recommendation blindly without cross checking with officials of agriculture department.  Total 120 120 120 120 120 120 120 120  Farmers depend on other sources like agri fairs, newspaper, television, demonstrations, booklets with 7.50 per cent, 6.67 per cent, 5per cent, 4.17per cent and 3.33 per cent respectively.

Cost of seed in the market
The cost of 355-Byadgi brand for 10gm is Rs. 580 which is higher than other seed brands.
Despite of its higher cost, farmers preferred 355-Byadgi because of its resistance over pest and disesase.    (table 7).

Response to price change in preferred chili brands by sample farmers
The price of the chilli seed brands fluctuate every year so the data was collected from the sample farmers towards price change. The data revealed that 65 per cent of the farmers bought

BRAND NAME
Copyright © July-August, 2020; IJPAB 545 same brand and same quantity irrespective of the price change. 20.83 per cent of the respondents bought same brand but reduced quantity due to lack of credit available and 14.16 of them switched to low price brands to have required quantity for sowing.

Farmers decision during the non availabity of required brand seeds
Farmers were asked about their decision during the non availabity of required chilli seed brands. 68.33 per cent of the farmers were willing to wait untill they get the desired brand whereas 31.66 per cent will shift to other chilli seed brands that are available in the market.   Copyright © July-August, 2020; IJPAB 547

Test for significance between Seed characteristics and brand preference by sample farmers
The seed characters like price, yield, quality, resistance to pest and disease and timely availability of seed during sowing season were taken into consideration along with the information about brand preference by sample farmers towards different brands of chilli seed were collected and analyzed the reasons for choosing specific chilli brand for their cultivation purpose, Chi square analysis was used and results were presented in the table11.

Reasons for brand switching
 The main reason to shift to other brands by the farmers was resistance nature of seed variety towards drought, pest and disease followed by availability and high yield characters of the seed brand.  The main source of information about seed is relatives and fellow farmer friends, dealers with 51.67 and 21.67 percentage respectively.

CONCLUSION
From the study most of the farmers 45.83 per cent belong to the age group of 40-49 years. Even though 73.33 per cent of the farmers were illiterate but still 88.33 percent of the farmers are aware of the chilli seed brands available in the market. In terms of land holding, majority of the farmers 49.16 per cent are small farmers and 63.33 percent of the farmers had an annual income of 1 lakh to 3 lakhs. The major factors influencing the preference of brands by Farmers were biotic and abiotic resistance nature of variety, quality and yield. the price of the seed brand is Based on Performance of the seed at farmers field level. Major brands in Guntur district were 355-Bydagi, BSS-355, VNR-577 and ROMY 21. Further it was observed that artificial scarcity, lack of knowledge about new varieties and availability were the major constraints faced by the farmers in the procurement of chilli seeds. Suggestions  The private Companies should supply good quality seeds which may attract both dealers and farmers and which in turn may become brand loyal.  Private companies should be aware of fraudulent dealers who supply low quality seeds under their brand name and try to defame the company.  Government should provide subsidies to purchase quality seeds so that the overall production will rise.  Farmers should cross check about the seed brand before they make a final purchase decision.