MADRAS AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL

Role of Actors in Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) based Millet Value Chain

Abstract

                               Farmers’ collectives such as co-operatives and farmer producer organizations emerged as alternatives for increasing market participation and reducing transaction cost through collective action (Markelova et al., 2009; Valentinov 2007). Farmer producer companies can be considered as a hybrid between private companies and co-operatives (Trebbin 2014). The present study aims to identify the role of value chain actors like farmers, Farmer Producer Organization by mapping the value chain of millets and the retailers and the constraints faced by the farmers in the production of millets. The primary data was collected from the sample respondents of 60 farmers, one millet based FPO and three retailers of the FPO. Data were collected using a pretested well-structured interview schedule. The role of actors was constructed using the generic worksheets along with mapping of value chain millets and the constraints faced by farmers were analyzed using Garrett’s ranking technique. The results of the study revealed that the farmers are not involved in the value addition for their produce. Monsoon failure, erratic rainfall and the non-availability of the quality seeds were the major constraints faced by the farmers.

Key words : Farmer Producer Organization, Millets, Value chain, Constraints

Copyright @ 2019 Madras Agricultural Journal | Developed by Crystalpro All right reserved.

Abstract

                                An incubation and pot culture experiments were conducted during kharif season of 2017-18 at Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, TNAU, Coimbatore to assess the nutrient release pattern from different macronutrient mixtures in soil and to evaluate the effect of crop specific nutrient mixtures on yield and quality of redgram (Cajanus cajan L.) under irrigated condition. The experiments were laid out in completely randomized design (CRD) with ten (incubation) and eleven (pot culture) treatments. The treatments comprised of two sources of nitrogenous fertilizers viz., Urea and Calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN), one source of phosphatic fertilizer viz., Single Superphosphate (SSP), three sources of both nitrogenous and phosphatic fertilizers viz., Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP), Mono-Ammonium Phosphate (MAP) and Ammonium Sulphate Phosphate (ASP) and two sources of potassic fertilizers viz., Muriate of Potash (MOP) and Sulphate of Potash (SOP). The results of incubation study revealed that application of CAN + DAP + SOP mixture resulted to higher release of nitrogen (2.78 to 18.51 kg ha-1), phosphorus (4.16 to 22.06 kg ha-1) and potassium (0.66 to 23.09 kg ha-1 ) from 1 to 60 days of incubation (DOI)and the same treatment recorded higher plant height (95.2 cm), number of primary branches (9 plant-1), number of root nodules (19 plant-1), dry matter production ( 129 g plant-1), number of pods ( 77.9 plant-1), number of seeds (4.2 pod-1) and 100 seed weight (14.5 g), seed yield (772 kg ha-1), stalk yield (3210 kg ha-1) and harvest index of redgram (19.92 %) in pot culture experiment at harvest stage.

Key words : Incubation, Nutrient mixtures, Fertilizers, Yield attributes, Dry matter production, Harvest index.

Copyright @ 2019 Madras Agricultural Journal | Developed by Crystalpro All right reserved.