Vol. 11, Special Issue 4 (2022)

Author(s):
Cheela Soumya and BL Patil

Abstract:
Coconut is a horticultural plant with monocotyledon palm, belonged to the order Arecaceae and the family Palmae. It is an oil seed palm. Among the major coconut producing countries, India ranked third in area and first in production during 2019. During 2019-20, regarding the coconut, Karnataka ranked second in area and third in production. In India more than one crore population were dependent on the coconut sector through cultivation, processing and trading activities. Despite its importance and economic contribution, coconut growers suffer from problems like low & fluctuating prices and low profitability. This study was aimed to find out the important marketing channels involved in the tender coconut marketing in the study area. The price spread was calculated for the marketing channels identified. Three important marketing channels were found in the study area. Among them, channel-I involving the preharvest contractor was preferred by majority of the respondents and channel-III was limited to the produce grown in universities or institutions. The price spread observed in three channels was ₹ 20, ₹ 18 and ₹ 15 respectively per nut. Highest producers’ share in the consumers’ rupee was obtained in channel-III and was found to be more efficient according to the shepherd’s value.