A study on agro marketing strategies adopted by coffee growers in coorg district of karnataka state

Abstract

Coorg district in Karnataka state is the major producer of coffee. Majority of the coffee growers in this district are sons of the soil. They are mostly marginal and small farmers, economically weak and unable to focus their product in the market properly. They are exploited by the middlemen in their coffee trade. Coffee Board of India, the state government and Planters Associations have extended their support to the coffee growers in Karnataka. In spite of these, the price received by the growers is very low. Though many studies are found in the literature on Coffee production and marketing strategies, studies relating to coffee that to a major special coffee area like Coorg district are not much found in the theory. Hence, the researcher has attempted to undertake the present study on the agro marketing strategies of the coffee growers in Coorg district. The present study focused on the agro marketing strategies adopted by coffee growers in Coorg district. The study held the following objectives for investigation: (i) to analyze the socio economic profile of the selected coffee growers of Goorg District, (ii) to study the different marketing channels available for the coffee growers in Coorg district, (iii) to study the marketing strategies adopted by the coffee growers in Coorg District of Karnataka State, (iv) to study the relationship between the management strategies adopted by the coffee growers and their socio economic and demographic factors, (v) to study the marketing problems faced by the coffee growers in Coorg District of Karnataka State, (vi) to identify the factors influencing the choice of the buyers by the coffee growers and (vii) to make suggestions to the coffee growers of Coorg District and policy makers on future marketing strategies of coffee produce. The study confined to the geographical area of Kodagu (Coorg) District in Karnataka State. All the coffee growers of the district constituted the population for the study. This study has been carried out between the years 2013 and 2017. Data collection phase was held between November 2015 and June 2016. A well structure questionnaire was used in the collection of primary data after due validation and testing its reliability and pilot survey. Primary data on 400 randomly selected coffee growers were collected for the investigation. Analysis of data was taken up with the help of SPSS version 19.0 and necessary results were arrived at newline