Enhancing Farmer Competitiveness– Case of Mango Post-Harvest Centre in Palakkad, Kerala

Mango is a crop that is being commercially cultivated over a substantial area in Palakkad District, Kerala. The crop has shown a steady trend with good opportunities not only for the small holder farmers but also entrepreneurs. However, the sector is not devoid of problems. Marketing, generally, is not very efficient for the small holders. The presence of many intermediaries in the value chain leaves the farmers at the mercy of the smarter players. To rectify this and to support farmers, marketing functions like collection, packaging, storing etc., can be done on a collective basis. This study attempted to focus on one such initiative, i.e., a post-harvest centre for fruits, operating in Palakkad, whose bulk produce dealt with were mangoes. Taking the center as a case, the marketing functions, marketing margins to two actors associated with the center were analysed. The traders were found to enjoy much higher marketing margin than the producer farmers. Though the farmers were showing entrepreneurial behavior through scientific cultivation of mangoes in leased land under the guidelines of the Farmer Producer Organization, they had a setback in the marketing function as the farmers were extensively dependant on traders. The major production constraints faced by the farmers were scarcity of labour, unpredictable climatic condition and incidence of pest and diseases. The major marketing constraints include dominance of middle men, lack of market information and price fluctuations in the market. The study indicated a great necessity for extension interventions aimed at entrepreneurship development among the small holder mango farmers.