Nature of marketing practices adhered by the mushroom cultivators special reference to The Nilgiris District

Agricultural markets are special types of markets that have special characteristics that differ from other markets. These are mainly due to factors affecting supply of agricultural products, and the situation of producers in this business. The objective of the study is to identify the nature of marketing practices adhered by the mushroom cultivators. Primary data were used in the present study. Four hundred and fifty (450) sample households were selected. Cluster and snow-ball technique sampling were adopted. Weighted arithmetic mean, Likert's Summated scales and Percentage analysis were the statistical tools used. The study found that 98 per cent of the respondents target the middlemen for easy marketability of goods and 95.11 per cent of the mushroom cultivators prefer nearby towns for sales. The study suggests that farmers have to extend their target of sales by adopting various kinds of methods to fulfill their needs and farmers need to focus on factors such as better relationship with the buyers, availability of better channel partners, liquidity, prompt selling, less transport cost etc.