Coffee is a major commodity of export in developing countries. In India, it generates significant revenues besides providing employment to many. This book critically looks into various aspects of the coffee production and marketing industry and its potential for promoting sustainable development, poverty alleviation and providing decent work. The small-holder dominated coffee sector is under unprecedented crisis attributed to a host of factors like declining productivity, incidences of new pests and diseases, adverse price trends and issues related to global warming induced climate change. Supported with primary survey and secondary data, this book explores challenges related to coffee production and its economic importance in India. It analyses factors affecting productivity of Robusta and Arabica varieties of coffee— and offers important inferences about the relationship between age and productivity of the plants and factors that guarantee high productivity. The book also sheds light on institutional interventions and the use of IT applications, along with online trading, in the coffee sector. Comprehensive and insightful, the book will be of interest to students and researchers of agriculture studies, agricultural economics, horticulture with a special focus on spices and plantation, sustainability studies, development studies and crop science. It will also be useful to stakeholders of plantation crops, such as, growers, as well as policy makers, processors, traders and exporters at different levels.
Adopting a 'global value chain' approach, Value Chain Struggles investigates the impact of new trading arrangements in the coffee and tea sectors on the lives and in the communities of growers in South India. Offers a timely analysis of the social hardships of tea and coffee producers Takes the reader into the lives of growers in Southern India who are struggling with issues of value chain restructuring Reveals the ways that the restructuring triggers a series of political and economic struggles across a range of economic, social, and environmental arenas Puts into perspective claims about the impacts of recent changes to global trading relations on rural producers in developing countries
Conjoint Analysis is a statistical technique where respondents ranked preferences for different offers are decomposed to determine the person’s inferred utility function for each attribute and the relative importance of each attribute. It is a versatile marketing research technique that can provide valuable information for new product development and forecasting, market segmentation and pricing decisions, advertising and distribution, competitive analysis and repositioning. The aims of conjoint analysis were to identify attribute combinations which confer the highest utility to the consumers and to establish the relative importance of attributes in terms of their contribution to total utility. There are 5 basic steps to be taken by a Researcher interested in applying conjoint analysis namely Problem formulation, Determining the product profile, Sampling plan, Data collection and Analysis and interpretation of the results. Conjoint measurement is based on the assumptions that a product can be described according to levels of a set of attributes and the consumer’s overall judgment in respect to that product is based on these attributes level. This analysis is based on three models like Part -Worth Model, Vector Model and Ideal Point Model. An attempt was made to analyze the consumer preference of ragi using conjoint analysis in Bengaluru and Vijayapura districts of Karnataka. The results reveal that, among all the attributes of ragi studied in Bengaluru urban, fineness was found to be most important and first consideration of consumers accounting for 23.80 per cent of relative importance with superfine ragi having the utility of 1.45. In case of Bengaluru rural, price was found to be most important and first deliberation, accounting for 30.60 per cent of relative importance.Among all the attributes studied in ragi in Vijayapura urban, colour was found to be most significant and first consideration, accounting for 30.33 per cent. In case of Vijayapura rural, fineness was found to be the first contemplation and most important, accounting for 33.91 per cent of relative importance. Dhamotharan et. al. (2015), conducted a study using conjoint analysis to analyze consumers’ preferences for geographic indications (GI) bananas. The results show that consumers prefer GI bananas for their medicinal properties, natural production method, and lower price premium.Mangala (2010), conducted a study on Impact of food retail chains on producers, consumers and retailers. The results showed that, among all the attributes studied, quality of the produce found to have the highest relative importance of 33.8 per cent, with a preference for premium quality (utility value 2.77). Importance of 26.89 per cent was given to location of the outlet, with preference for nearness of the shop had utility value 2.16.Consumers are becoming more aware of the quality attributes of different commodities they are consuming, and consequently are choosing products that closely match their tastes and preferences. Demand for food products has increased among the consumers for a variety of reasons: unique quality, locality, supporting local producers. Researchers and managers in agricultural and food industries often face problems relating to new product development, forecasting, market segmentation and pricing decisions, advertising and distribution, competitive analysis and repositioning. So a conjoint measurement study can assist them in solving these problems.
The book traces the history of forestry since the middle of the 19th century in the erstwhile territorial units that constitute the present state of Karnataka, in India. It provides glimpses of the forest policy and management of the British Indian government which had laid the foundations of scientific forestry in the Indian subcontinent. A chronological account of the development of national forest policies, plans, and strategies in post-independent India has also been given in the context of their impact on forest management in the states. The book dwells comprehensively on multifarious aspects of forestry including the challenges faced by a forester in a situation of increasing demand and shrinking forest. It highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the forest administration and recommends strategies to protect the remaining natural forest and to increase the tree cover everywhere to effectively confront the specter of environmental catastrophes facing the planet earth. The book has brought out the inseparable and intrinsic relationship of mutual interdependence between forest and water – two of the most important natural resources on which the future of mankind depends, and calls for urgent action. With detailed data, analysis, and inferences derived with an open mind, the book forms a reference document for the present and future foresters. Problems of the forestry sector in the developing world are similar. Although the book focuses on the forestry scenario in Karnataka, lessons learned and strategies recommended for forest conservation are relevant across a larger landscape, with similar challenges and problems.
This book provides a detailed examination of the impact of globalisation on plantation labour, dominated by women labour, in India. The studies presented here highlight the perpetuation of low wages, inferior social status and low human development of workers in this sector and point out the movement of labour away from this sector and the resultant labour shortage. It also highlights the perils involved in doing away with the Plantation Labour Act 1951 and provides a plausible way forward for improving the conditions of plantation workers. Rich in empirical analysis, this volume will prove essential for scholars and researchers of labour economics, development studies, gender studies and sociology.
With this book, readers can see how and where tea is produced, and the differences between the various types. Equally of interest to both a novice tea-drinker and a devoted one, the book is packed with unusual anecdotes and observations, which will both entertain and inform. Color photos.
In recent years, especially with the approach of the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris in late 2015, the number of publications, conferences and meetings on climate change has been growing exponentially. Yet uncertainties remain concerning rural tropical areas where models are forecasting the onset of multiple disorders and trends are unclear. Meanwhile, the impact of climate change on the poorest communities is regularly documented, often prompting alarmist reactions. How can food security be achieved while adapting to and mitigating climate change? What are the main threats to agriculture in developing countries? How do farmers in these countries cope with the threats? What does agricultural research propose? What options have yet to be investigated? A broad scope of scientific research is underway to address these challenges. Diverse solutions are available, including new agricultural practices, water management, agricultural waste recycling, diagnosis of emerging diseases, payment for ecosystem services, etc. Gaining insight into the financial and political mechanisms that underlie international climate negotiations is also essential to design practical ways to deal with climate issues and meet sustainable development requirements in collaboration with farmers. This book pools the wealth of experience of dozens of researchers and development officers from a range of disciplines. We have focused on making it detailed, accurate and hopefully easy to read for researchers, students and all other informed readers.
