MARKETING BEHAVIOUR OF JASMINE GROWERS IN DINDIGUL DISTRICT OF TAMIL NADU

Jasmine flower is used for various purposes viz. making garlands, bouquets, decorating hair of women, religious offerings etc. Scientific cultivation of jasmine is one of the important prerequisites for increasing the production and productivity among the jasmine growers. Since the crop requires huge manpower for harvesting and other operations, only small farmers are cultivating the crop. In general, it is felt that studies on marketing behaviour of jasmine growers is neceessary. Hence, the present study was undertaken with the objective to study the marketing behaviour of Jasmine growers in Nilakottai block of Dindigul district. The respondents were selected based on proportionate random sampling method. The data were collected from respondents through pre-tested interview schedule. The results of the study revealed that majority of the respondents received full payment and it is seen that 76.60 per cent of the respondents sold their produce in the markets. More than two-fifths of the respondents considered the immediate payment as the main criteria for the selection of market followed by receipt in advance (10.00%). 53.30 % growers sell their produce with middle man involvement. Majority of the respondents reported that existing marketing facilities were not sufficient and the rest 40.00% and 60.00% were satisfied with the existing market facilities.

Jasmine flower is used for various purposes viz. making garlands, bouquets, decorating hair of women, religious offerings etc. Scientific cultivation of jasmine is one of the important prerequisites for increasing the production and productivity among the jasmine growers. Since the crop requires huge manpower for harvesting and other operations, only small farmers are cultivating the crop. In general, it is felt that studies on marketing behaviour of jasmine growers is neceessary. Hence, the present study was undertaken with the objective to study the marketing behaviour of Jasmine growers in Nilakottai block of Dindigul district. The respondents were selected based on proportionate random sampling method. The data were collected from respondents through pre-tested interview schedule. The results of the study revealed that majority of the respondents received full payment and it is seen that 76.60 per cent of the respondents sold their produce in the markets. More than two-fifths of the respondents considered the "immediate payment" as the main criteria for the selection of market followed by receipt in advance (10.00%). 53.30 % growers sell their produce with middle man involvement. Majority of the respondents reported that existing marketing facilities were not sufficient and the rest 40.00% and 60.00% were satisfied with the existing market facilities.

Introduction:-
Flowers are an important part of our societal life and they are seen in almost every occasion. Flowers have generated regular sustained demand in worship places, festivals. Indian weather with light rains, moderate winter, and appropriate sunlight even during the heavy rains provides a good opportunity for growth of flowers and the industry is blessed with skilled human resources and association of traders.
The term jasmine is derived from an Arabic word "Jessamine" and in Persian language it is called as "Yasmin" or yasmyn" which means fragrance. As many as 90 species of jasmine are grown in India, out of these 20 species are cultivated in south India. The most commonly cultivated Jasmine species are Jasminum multiflorum (kakada), Jasminum sambac (gundumalli) Jasminum grandiflorum (Jathi Malli) and Jasminum auriculatum (Soojimalli). The country exports Jasmine flowers to the neighbouring countries viz; Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia and to the Gulf countries.
Flowers are used for the production of perfumed hair oils and attars. The flowers produced in the state are being exported to the neighbouring countries such as Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia and Middle East countries. The 869 major jasmine producing districts of Tamil Nadu are Dindigul, Salem, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Virudhunagar and Trichy.
Tamil Nadu are produced in an area of about 32,400 hectares with the production of 3,13,535 Million Tonnes (Jasmine, Chrysanthemum, Marigold, Rose, Crossandra and Nerium). Cut flowers are produced in an area of 700 ha with a production of 12,900 MT of cut stems per annum. Jasmine covers an area of 15,584 ha with a production of 1,42,397 tonnes contributing a major share to the floriculture trade. Tamil Nadu ranks first among the flower producing states of India. It occupies 25% of the country"s flower production. Cut flowers are cultivated in Hosur, Nilgiris, Kodaikanal (both upper and lower Palani hills) and Yercaud of Shevroyan hills.
In general, it is felt that studies on marketing behaviour of today"s jamine growers is necessary.Hence, the present study was undertaken with the objective to study the marketing behavior of Jasmine growers in Nilakottai block of Dindigul district.

Methodology:-
The Present study is conducted at Nilakottai block of Dindigul district. The district is bounded by Tirupur, Karur, and Trichy districts in the north, the Sivagangai and Tiruchi districts in the east, the Madurai district in the south, and the Theni and Coimbatore districts and the state of Kerala in the west.Flowers especially Jasmine are the next most important cashcrop of the district. Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu was purposively selected as it was famous for marketing of jasmine.Dindigul district consists of 14 blocks, out of which Nilakottai block was selected for our study, as this block is famous for its flower markets. In Nilakottai block, export of flowers especially jasmine, to all parts of India and overseas was done. The Nilakottai assembly segment in Dindigul district is predominantly an agrarian base, with a large number of farmers involved in raising jasmine. The flowers are distributed throughout the state as well as abroad. Thousands of people are involved in the production and trade. Among the 43 revenue villages Malayangoundenpatty, Nariyuthu, Kottur, Gullalagundu, Nakkaluthu, Noothulapuram, Silukuvarpatty, Nilakottai, Nadukotti, Patchamalayankottai are the main villages which was purposively selected in Nilakottai block where maximum jasmine cultivation was done. The Jasmine growers were selected by random sampling method. Thus thirty Jasmine growers were selected. An interview schedule based on specific objectives was designed after detailed study of the available literature on the topic and the situation reviewed. The data collected was processed and the established parameters are used.

Findings and Discussion:-
Marketing Behaviour explores the nature of buyer psychology and its influence upon buying behaviour in the context of marketing. This unit provides a broad understanding of the factors and psychological processes shaping buyer behaviour in both consumer and business-to-business marketing

Marketing behaviour of jasmine growers Mode of Packing
Majority of the respondents 60.00% were found using polythene bags for packing the produce. Gunny bags were used by the remaining 40.00 percentage of the respondents. It was observed during the survey that polythene bags were the easily available packing material to the villagers and they felt that the polythene bags would prevent aeration inside, which will prevent the buds from blooming. Hence, majority of the farmers used polythene bags as packing material. Big farmers use gunny bags as packing material because polythene bags will not be sufficient to pack their produce.

Mode of Transport
Hundred per cent of the jasmine growers reported that they transported produce to markets. With regard to mode of transport, 50.00 percent of the jasmine growers had used moped for transporting their produce. There were 36.60 per cent of the respondents who used tempo van for transporting the produce. It was observed during the survey that the farmers themselves form groups and make arrangements for transporting their produce. They also used bicycles 13.30 % for transporting the produce. It was observed during the survey that considerable proportion of the respondents had owned mopeds and therefore they utilized the moped to transport their produce. Bicycles were used for transporting the produce within the village.

Place of Sale
Majority of the jasmine growers 63.30 % sold their produce in the local market with the help of moped and bicycle. Following this 23.30 per cent of the jasmine growers had sold their produce in nearby towns and only 13.30 per cent of the jasmine growers sold their produce in faraway places with the help of tempo vans.

Sales Agency
From Table 1, it is inferred that majority of the respondents 66.00 % sold their produce through commission agents, followed by contractors 13.30%.Only 10.00% of growers sold their produce to contractors and local merchants. The commission agents and local merchants also supply gunny bags and provide financial assistance during the time of cultivation of jasmine. Further, they are also easily approachable and familiar to the respondents. The above reasons would have motivated them to sell their produce through commission agents.

Weighing Behaviour
From the table 1, it could also be seen that 100.00 per cent of the jasmine growers were found to be checking the weights. Since the commission agents and contractors had friendly relationship with farmers and also the familiarity among the jasmine growers would have made the respondents to readily accept the weights.

Open Market Sale
It could be inferred from the table 1, that majority 86.60 % of the jasmine growers did not sell their produce in open market. Only 13.30 per cent of the jasmine growers sold their produce in open market due to immediate payment. The reason might be because village merchants, commission agents and the wholesalers to whom the produce was sold by the farmers showed positive attitude in getting back the money in right time and hence they did not go to open market to sell their produce.

Payment Pattern
Majority of the respondents 80.00% received full payment and the rest 20.00% received only partial payment. The wholesaler, commission agents and village merchant who procure the entire produce from the farmers pay them the entire amount during procurement. The farmer who sells their produce to the contractor is paid partially because the farmer had got money from the contractor in advance.

Distance of the Market
It is seen that 76.60 per cent of the respondents sold their produce in the markets located within the distance of 10 km.

Reasons for Selection of Market
More than two-fifths 13.30% of the respondents considered the "immediate payment" as the main criteria for the selection of market followed by receipt in advance (10.00%). The commission agents in nearby towns give immediate payment to the farmers. Hence, majority of the respondents expressed "immediate payment" as reason for selection of the market.

Middlemen Involvement
53.30 % growers sell their produce with middle man involvement. Remaining 46.60% farmers sell their produce with partial involvement of middle man.

Opinion about Existing Market Facilities
Majority of the respondents 33.30% reported that existing marketing facilities were not sufficient and the rest 40.00% and 60.00% were satisfied with the existing market facilities. Some studies reported by different researchers related to this study are Rajamohan, S., Sathish, A., (2019), conducted a study on Cultivation and Marketing Constraints of Jasmine in Tamilnadu. Keeping in view of realities and challenges faced by jasmine farmers, this study aimed to undertake a secondary data based descriptive research to identify the challenges and constraints faced by the jasmine growing farmers during cultivation and marketing in Tamilnadu. The statistical information has been retrieved from the various years Season and crops reports from the Department of Economics and Statistics in Tamilnadu, besides, various research papers published in related journals, magazines and related theses listed in Shodhganga have been used. From the above discussion of various difficulties among the Jasmine cultivators of Tamilnadu has raised a number of inevitable queries and important issues. These issues are vital and not ignorable for the real development of farmers and especially the jasmine cultivator"s socio-economic profile of Tamilnadu state. The study identified that the Jasmine growers and cultivators are merely belongs to the small and marginal farmers and also they are highly rely on the market middlemen to sell their produce. Since the maximum farmers are less educated and illiterate, they not aware the knowledge about the market. The farmers are good in cultivation practices but not in marketing. So that, they maximum incurred less profit and sometimes even loss. The jasmine farmers and generally the farmers are unaware about agricultural insurance to overcome from the natural disasters like flood and storms and government subsidy schemes for agriculture capital in order to fulfill their needs wants of capital and other development purpose.

Conclusion:-
Flowers are an important part of our societal life and they are seen in almost every occasion. In a Agrarian country like India, National economy is based on agricultural industry. Majority of the respondents were found using polythene bags for packing the produce. It was observed that polythene bags were the easily available packing material to the villagers and they felt that the polythene bags would prevent aeration inside, which will prevent the buds from blooming. Big farmers use gunny bags as packing material because polythene bags will not be sufficient to pack their produce. Hundred per cent of the jasmine growers reported that they transported produce to markets. With regard to mode of transport, 50 percent of the jasmine growers had used moped for transporting their produce. Majority of the jasmine growers sold their produce in the village itself with the help of moped and bicycle. Majority of the respondents sold their produce through commission agents.100.00 per cent of the jasmine growers were found to be checking the weights. Since the commission agents and contractors had friendly relationship with farmers and also the familiarity among the jasmine growers would have made the respondents to readily accept the weights. They did not sell their produce in open market. Most of the respondents reported that existing marketing facilities were not sufficient and the rest 40.00% and 60.00% were satisfied with the existing market facilities.