Constraint analysis of farmers operating mixed farming in Kerala¹

The study was conducted to assess the constraints associated with production and marketing of mixed farming in Palakkad and Thrissur districts of Kerala. Sample size was 300 farmer members apportioned equally among costal, plain, and high range regions of the selected districts. Fifteen problems were reported by farmers in the production of crop and milk together, of which four were common to both activities. Low productivity was an important problem having second rank in both. While most crucial problem to crop production was non availability of land, it was feed cost to milk production. Twelve problems were reported in total by farmers for marketing of crop and milk, of which three problems were general to both activities. These general problems had more or less same rank in both crop and milk marketing. Low price for the product was the most crucial in both cases.Equally important were transportation problem (cost or distance) and lack of marketing facilities.