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ABSTRACT

During the efficient genetic transformation of plants with the gene of interest, some selectable marker genes are also used in order to identify the transgenic plant cells or tissues. Antibiotic and herbicide selective agents and their resistance gene are commonly used to introduce economically valuable genes into crop plants. According to the biosafety authority and consumer view points, the presence of selectable marker genes in released transgenic crops may be transferred to weeds or pathogenic microorganism in the gastrointestinal tract or soil, and will make them resistant to treatment with herbicides or antibiotics, respectively. Sexual crossing also raises the problem of transgene expression because redundancy of transgenes in the genome may trigger homology-dependent gene silencing. The future potential of transgenic technologies for crop improvement depends greatly on our abilities to engineer stable expression of multiple transgenic traits in a predictable fashion and to prevent the transfer of undesirable transgenic material to non-transgenic crops and related species. Therefore the development of efficient marker free transgenic plants system is very essential. That is why many technologies and various approaches designed to timely elimination of transgenes when their function is no longer needed. Due to the limited number of available selectable marker genes, in future the stacking of transgenes will be increasingly desirable. The production of marker-free transgenic plants is now a critical requisite for their commercial deployment and also for engineering multiple and complex trait. Here we describe the current technologies to eliminate the selectable marker genes (SMG) in order to develop marker-free transgenic plants and also discuss the regulation and biosafety concern of genetically modified (GM) crops.

Introduction

The main goal of plant breeding is to increase crop yield and the second goal is to improve quality, develop light- and heat-insensitive varieties, tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, simultaneous maturation, and water and nutrient use. Efficiency, elimination of toxins, and cultivation of different product groups allow to achieve high agricultural yields and sustainable development. Better understanding and development of genetics has increased the efficiency of plant breeding to achieve desired goals in agricultural crops. Effective and efficient use of molecular markers in crop improvement programs increases selection efficiency and productivity and accelerates the growth cycle to create new varieties with good results. Marker assisted selection (MAS) is a technique that uses markers (morphological, biochemical, or DNA/RNA variation-based markers) to indirectly select for traits of interest (e.g., productivity, disease, genetic determinants resistance, abiotic stress tolerance and/or quality). This process is used in plant and animal breeding. The rapid development of biotechnology has allowed breeders to develop better selections to replace traditional selections based on phenotypic pedigree.

1. Markers: Easily identifiable features are called markers or marker features.

2. Types of marker

These markers are three types

2.1.Morphological markers: These relate to the size, shape, color and surface area of different parts of the plant.

2.2.Biochemical markers: Such markers refer to changes in protein structure. For example, isozymes and storage proteins.

Introduction

Market access and supply chain innovation are two critical pillars that underpin the success and sustainability of agricultural produce in today's interconnected world. As the global population continues to grow, along with increasing consumer demands and evolving market dynamics, ensuring efficient access to markets and implementing innovative supply chain practices have become burning imperatives for agricultural producers worldwide.

The word market is derived from the latin word “marcatus” which means “merchandise or trade or a place where business is conducted “. The term market has been widely used in various means, such as:

• A place or a building where commodities are bought and sold (e.g. Super market)

1. ____________ aims at elimination of unhealthy and unscrupulous practices, reducing the marketing charges and providing facilities to producer and sellers in the market

a) Regional market

b) Controlled market

c) Regulated market

d) Revised market

2. The market charges are paid by the _____ of agricultural commodities in a regulated market.

a) Buyers

b) Traders

c) Farmers

d) Sellers

3. __________ is a voluntary business organization established by its members to market the farm products jointly to reap the direct benefit out of it.

a) Regulated market

Introduction

India now emerged as the world’s second largest producer of fruits, vegetables and tea holding a share of 10 percent. The production base of horticultural crops has been expending since independence (Chadha, 2009). But as a controversy to the previous statement there is a clear indication about the declining farm sector performance-in addition to its deleterious economic ramifications often causing large scale rural distress which often ends up in farmer suicides (Sundaresan, 2009). This distress conveys much on the economic rationale ruling the agri and rural domain for its incompatibility in the changing market environment. The identified major problems faced by farmers in the present scenario were non-availability of information about marketing services including availability of crop specific markets, existing demand of a commodity and daily market price for their produce which can be broadly categorized under lack of market-led extension services.

Market information

As defined by Philip Kotler, Marketing information system is continuing & interacting structure of people, equipment & procedure designed to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, distribute pertinent, timely and accurate information for use by marketing decision makers, to improve their marketing planning, execution and control.

It is the job of collecting, interpreting and disseminating large variety of data which are needed for the smooth operation of marketing processes. In many countries Government agencies undertake this function and sometimes organisations such as chambers of commerce, board of traders etc. perform this function. The Directorate of Economics and Statistics and concerned state marketing departments collect data regarding a) quantity of various products produced in different areas, b) quantities of products held in storage, c) arrivals in various markets, d) prices prevailing in local, regional, national and international markets. The informative data so collected is disseminated through radio, television, news papers, weekly and monthly bulletins. Daily prices are published in most of the news papers. The informative marketing data is also collected through sales executives and from those personnel who are specially appointed as specialists by various trading firms.

7.1. Marketing institutions

Business organizations which have come up to operate the marketing machinery.

Individuals, corporate, co-operative and government institutions are operating in agricultural marketing.

Introduction

A fundamental issue when analysing trade policy reform in global seafood market is the extent to which domestic agricultural commodity markets in developing countries respond to changes in international prices. Price trans mission from the world to domestic markets is central in understanding the extent of the integration of economic agents into the market process.

Studies on the transmission of price signals are founded on concepts related to competitive pricing behavior. In spatial terms, the classical paradigm of the Law of One Price, as well as the predictions on market integration provided by the standard spatial price determination models (Enke, 1951; Samuelson, 1952; Takayama and Judge, 1972) postulate that price transmission is complete with equilibrium prices of a commodity sold on competitive foreign and domestic markets differing only by transfer costs, when converted to a common currency. These models predict that changes in supply and demand conditions in one market will affect trade and therefore prices in other markets as equilibrium is restored through spatial arbitrage.

The absence of market integration, or of complete pass-through of price changes from one market to another has important implications for economic welfare. Incomplete price transmission arising either due to trade and other policies, or due to transaction costs such as poor transport and communication infrastructure, results in a reduction in the price information available to economic agents and consequently may lead to decisions that contribute to inefficient outcomes. Fisheries and seafood food trade policy reform, especially, is a priority issue in the next WTO negotiations, as trade liberalization is viewed as encouraging allocative efficiency and long run growth.

1. The expansion of firms by consolidating supplementary marketing functions and activities under a single management

a) Market Segment

b) Market integration

c) Market channel

d) Market Regulation

2. When a firm gains control over other firms which performing similar marketing functions are __________

a) Vertical co-ordination

b) Horizontal integration

c) Vertical integration

d) conglomeration

3. When a firm performs more than one activity in the order or sequence of the marketing process is known as _________

a) Vertical co-ordination

b) Conglomeration

c) Horizontal integration

d) Vertical integration

4.1. Definition

Kohls and Uhl refer to expansion of firms by consolidating additional marketing functions and activities under a single management.

Establishment of wholesaling facilities by food retailers and setting up of another plant by a milk processor.

Indian agriculture – the back bone of our economy accounts for about 65 per cent of the country’s employment and 20 per cent the total export earnings. Despite a drastic increase in the food grains production during the last five decades, the profit margins of farmers particularly small and medium farmers has declined due to certain serious problems like declining water table, deterioration in soil health, outbreaks of new pests diseases and weeds, and environmental pollution etc. With the globalization of market, the farmers will have to change themselves from mere producers’ in the domestic markets to producer cum seller in a wider market sense in order to best realize the returns for his investments, risks and efforts. Now the focus should be on high quality produce, low cost of production and high productivity.

Introduction

Focus of extension agencies on production technologies yielded very good results andhence India become self reliant on food production. Significantly,the extension systemhadplayedits role untiringlyintransfer ofproductiontechnologies from lab to land, besides the agricultural scientists, farmers and marketing network. But the farmers at individual level are not realizing remunerative prices for their produce. Add to this, the Indian farmers have to face challenges of global force that are affecting or are likely to affect Indian agriculture. This assumes greater significance in the light of the new international trading regime under WTA and the export opportunities being opened up. 

Introduction

As India was struggling to feed her population through “ship-to-mouth” strategy, the agricultural scientists focused on the enhancing the food grain production of India so that the country became self-sufficient. Through tireless efforts our country ushered into Green Revolution which marked the beginning of the era of self-sufficiency for India. The efforts of researchers were seamlessly taken to fields and communicated to masses by the efficient extension professionals of our country. The focus of extension was “Production Led”. But as time passed, India became self-sufficient in major food crops, the farmers started facing problems of marketing their surplus produce. Market gluts, non-remunerative prices, distress sales and emergence of exploitative middle men made farmers all the more helpless. It was at this time when the concept of “Production Led Extension” was thought of being reformed to “Market Led Extension” (MLE). As of today, MLE has helped many farmers market their produce easily and fetch remunerative prices of the produce. Agricultural, livestock, fisheries and all allied sectors have received benefit from this approach of extension.

When it comes to the fow of goods and services from the point of production till they reach the hands of fnal consumers, marketing is defned as “the performance of all business operations involved in that fow.”

Market structure is defned as “those aspects of the market’s organisation that appear to strategically infuence the nature of competition and pricing inside the market.”The market structure is decided by the following factors in general.

1. Number and size of the frms.
2. Degree of product differentiation.
3. Conditions for entry and exit.
4. Flow of market information.
5. Degree of integration.

Abstract

Entrepreneurs take responsibility of their ‘business’ tad differently than their counterpart, the traditional businessman. A businessman walks on the pre-defined route whereas the entrepreneur creates his own alley-way, which if successful, becomes the rulebook for that trade. Lately, ecological issues have taken centre-stage as climatic changes have endangered the sustainable growth of the business. A new breed of entrepreneurs, alias ecopreneurs, functions in this ‘new’ space and endeavour to frame an innovative business landscape. Ecopreneurs possess singular focus on the safe-keep of the ecology. But in order to sustain the efforts of businesses in ecology, it is imperative that they remain economically viable too. Thus, ecopreneurial process is not only about fulfilling the business’ responsibility towards ecology, but also about the marketability of the product or service. In order to evaluate the ecopreneurial process, organic farming is considered as a case. In this paper, selected organic farms are analysed in an environment - market continuum, developed particularly for this study which is in tandem with the works of Schaltegger (2002) and Blake and Mouton (1964).The study reveals inadequacy of market performance of the individual and farm level ecopreneurs in the state of West Bengal, in spite of their strong inclination towards care for the environment.

A concentrated, hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds obtained from aromatic plants is referred to as essential oil. It is so-called to indicate that the oil is the fragrant essence of the plant from which it is extracted generally through various distillation methods. The economics working behind essential oils has three components. First, the cultivation of herbs and plants used to extract essential oils; second, the actual process of extraction of the oils; and, third, the marketing and actual sale of these oils. But the major emphasis is often given to the agrotechnology, since the crop yield and yield of the essential oil depends on the quality of cultivation. The cost of cultivation of herbs in the developing countries per hectare is estimated at US $ 600 to 1100. This cost mainly comprises labour cost and as such this industry is uniquely suitable only for developing nations. The revenue from essential oils after the extraction per hectare is estimated to be around US $ 2500 to US $ 6500. According to industry sources, more than 3,500 essential oils are known. Out of these, some 400 are used for commercial purposes on a regular basis. These are obtained mostly from agricultural plants, some from wild plants that may be seasonal or perennial. Oil can be extracted from any part of plants—from leaves, flowers, fruits, roots etc. Whatever the source of essential oils, they have complex compositions, containing alcohol, aldehydes, ketones, phenols, esters, ethers and turpenes in varying proportions.

2.1. Market structure

Refers to those organizational characteristics of a market which influence nature of competition and pricing, and affect the conduct of business firms.

Those characteristics of market which affect the traders behavior and their performances.

Formal organization of functional activity of a marketing institution.

A knowledge of structure is essential to identify imperfections in performance of a market.

Market survey and analysis of different types of home appliances available in the market.

What new research is needed, what trials and how will the ultimate consumer and Industry benefit?
 
In Brazil, the sales of functional foods amounts to US $ 500 million per year representing about 1% of the total sale of the Brazilian food processing industry. According to a report the interests are mainly for dairy products, nutraceuticals and soy-based products. ABIA forecasts a substantial growth of 4.5-5% for this segment of the market (Stanton et al., 2001). In order to exert the health benefits beyond inherent basic nutrition, it is necessary that the activity of the probiotic culture should be maintained at very high levels during the shelf life of the product.

Concept and Meaning of Market

Agricultural marketing management offers key insights into the agricultural and rural development today. Agricultural marketing and its management is an essential element of every economic activity. It is a most creative, dynamic and challenging activity for every kind of enterprises. Agricultural marketing management has significantly changed and it comprises numerous aspects of the needs of the customers over the selling and distribution of agricultural goods and services to customer and adds value to agricultural products and facilitates marketing and agribusiness opportunities in the economy. It deals with identifying and meeting human and social needs.

The word ‘market’ is a derivative of the Latin word _____

a) Marcatus

b) Markus

c) Marcat

d) Martus

2. ‘Marcatus’ is a _____ word.

a) Greek

b) Latin

c) French

d) Spanish

3. The word ‘Marcatus’ means 

In India, about 46 per cent of the milk produced is either consumed at the producer level or sold to non-producers in the rural area, the balance 54 per cent of the milk is available for sale to organized and unorganized players. The organized sector comprises of Government, Producers’ Owned Institutions (Milk Cooperatives & Producer Companies), and Private players which provides a fair and transparent system of milk collection round the year at the village level. The unorganized/informal sector involves local milkmen, dudhias, contractors, etc. and they are mostly found to be opportunistic, as there is no uniformity of milk price paid to producers and it varies depending upon the situation. The possibility of adulteration of milk is higher among these unorganized groups. In the areas where competition is high and the presence of the formal sector is strong, the unorganized sector generally gives higher prices and at the same time, the unorganized sector doesn’t offer remunerative prices to the producers where the organized sector is not present.

In India, we have mostly two types of standards, which govern the sale of foods including milk and milk products.

These are: Legal standards and Quality standards.

Legal standards

Legal standard means the specifications or the requirements which pertain to the law of the Govt. and are set up by the Govt. to meet certain minimum requirements in terms of chemical quality (i.e. composition), bacteriological quality (i.e. hygienic quality), and labelling and packaging requirements.

In our country, legal standards are given under Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Rules, 1954-1955 (which are amended from time to time). Legal standards or PFA standards prescribe the minimum requirements for all types and categories of food. These standards are consistent with the minimum quality that is attainable under Indian conditions by the majority of the farmers, producers, processors, sale agencies etc. Further, any food that does not confirm to the minimum standards laid down by the legal rulers (PFA rules) is said to be adulterated, irrespective whether anything has been added to or removed from the original food.

1.1. Concept and definition

1.1.1. Marketing

Process of getting right goods or services or ideas to right people at right place, time, and price using right promotion techniques and utilizing appropriate people to provide customer service associated with those goods, services, or ideas.

In a commercial horticultural enterprise, if the product is not marketed properly, safely and beneficially, all the investment, inputs, hard work goes in vain. Basically every commodity that is produced should reach the consumer and marketing is all about how the commodity reaches the consumer. There is no fun of producing any commodity if it does not reach the consumer.

The word market has been derived form Latin word “marcatus” meaning merchandise, where people conduct business. Market therefore refers to place where goods/ commodity and services are bought and sold.

Marketing is a sum total of business activities through which the goods and services are either bought or sold. Cundiff and Still defined marketing as “the business process by which products are matched with markets and through which transfer of ownership are affected.

Why Marketing of Fruits and Vegetables is Complex and Risky as Compared to Other Goods

Marketing is one of the most important factors in determining the success of any vegetable farming enterprise. Marketing includes all the operations and decisions taken by the producers. These decisions range from determining the most marketable crops for production to deciding how to best deliver quality produce to the consumers at a profit. However, contrary to popular belief, marketing does not begin after a crop is produced. Instead, marketing alternatives need to be considered even before the start of production.

However, vegetable marketing in India has not yet been organised so far. The long route from the grower to the retailer and ultimately to the consumer involves a chain of middlemen, transport contractors and wholesale merchants. Very often, there arises stagnation of the produce in the peak season or in the year of good production. The large number of intermediaries in the vegetable marketing channel grab maximum share of the consumer’s price and as a result, the producers’ profit becomes marginal. Vegetable cultivation is a capital intensive venture, and huge production alone cannot fetch profit for the growers. Organised marketing, storage and transport facilities are the key factors for making vegetable farming profitable which ultimatily boost vegetable cultivation.

Rabbit-based cuisine has been made and enjoyed on a regular basis since the first early civilisations in the Mediterranean region. Rabbit is an easy-care plant that grows well in backyards and on farms. There are notable differences in rabbit production between nations. In 2020, Asia produced 70.5% of the world's rabbit meat, with Europe coming in second. Based on estimated figures obtained from FAOSTAT, there was a 24.1% decline in the global production of rabbit meat between 2010 and 2020.

Introduction

Marketing and promotion are important for any organization that provides services to consumers. Marketing and promotion allow an organization to inform, remind, or persuade the consumers by sharing information about goods or services, community involvement, or societal impact. Simply stated, these efforts encompass anything libraries do to let the community know who they are, what they do, and what they offer. The goal of marketing is to keep the product in the minds of the customer: in the case of libraries it is to keep the customer aware of the library, to provide them with knowledge about the library’s physical features, resources, services, programs, and events, and to let them know about the benefits libraries offer. Marketing and promotion benefit the library by increasing usage, educating users, and increasing or at least maintaining a positive perception of the library.

Demand and Supply of Horticulture Produce

India’s horticulture production rose 30 per cent in the last five years — an impressive rise, considering growth in the preceding five years stood at about 23 per cent. India is currently producing 257.2 million tonnes of horticulture produce from an area of 23 million ha.The area under horticulture grew by about 3.8% per annum but production rose by 7.6% per annum. Improvement in productivity of horticultural crops was noted by about 28% between 2001-02 and 2011-12. Of the 140 million farmers in the country, horticulture engages about 20 million and also contributes about 30 per cent of India’s agricultural GDP. Horticulture contributes 37% of total exports of Agricultural commodities. India is among the foremost countries in horticulture production, just behind China.

The world trade in flavour and fragrances in 1987 was US $ 7,000 million and at present, it is estimated at more than $ 10,000 million annually. In 1975, perfume was used by one woman in ten, but today it is used by eight out of ten women; even reticent Japanese women are adopting the habit (Anonymous, 1995 c). The average annual industry growth rate in perfumes of India is valued at about US $ 20 million with an annual growth rate of 12% (Murty, 1993),while the UK market is Rs. 2000 crores and the US market supersedes it by Rs. 4000 crores (Walia, 1997). However, the domestic luxury perfume market is estimated to grow at a rate of 20-25 % (Biswas, 2012). Besides domestic market, India earns a lot of foreign exchange from the export of total essential oils and perfumes and is fast growing as it is showed from the trends in export earnings of Rs. 11.1 corers in 1982-83 rose to 4-fold in 1986-87 of Rs. 41.1 crores (CHEMEXCIL, 1988). According to a market survey report, Ahmed (1999) reported that the daily turn over of the attar market in India is more than 50 crores.

Middle East countries continue to be the big buyers of our traditional perfumes. Kewda flavour which is used in pan masala and tobacco is a familiar one in this part of the world. Kewda essence, being one of the few flavouring oils, has a good scope for export to other developed countries where the food flavouring industry is well developed. India is the leading producer of kewda perfumes in the world and the market for kewda perfumes is fast expanding specifically in the Arab countries. India exported the kewda water of Rs. 266.2 lakhs in 1986-87 which rose to Rs. 276.4 lakhs in 1987-88 (CHEMEXCIL, 1990). Anonymous (2007) reported that about 140 distilleries (bhattis), both local and outsider, earn about Rs.1.3 crore by way of extraction charges and annually they extract 332 kgs of kewda oil (Rs.8.3 crore), 7823 kgs of kewda attar (Rs.15.65 crores) and 150 MTs of kewda water (Rs.4.47 crore), the total coming to around Rs.28 crore. For extracting attar , the extractors use about Rs. 8 crore worth of sandal wood oil procured mainly from other states, while Rs.18 crore goes to the plantation owners as flower cost and to the flower collectors.

Ornamental fish culture has made giant strides in many countries in recent years. The industry is growing in leaps and bounds with involvement of even increasing number of aquarium hobbyists. A lucrative export market and high domestic demand have made ornamental fish industry a potential source for income generation. The range of species of ornamental fish available to the hobbyists is very large, with estimates of up to 1,500 species. As popularity of ornamental fish keeping has gained momentum, the need to transfer ornamental fishes from the resource abundant places to resource deficient places resulted in the marketing of ornamental fishes. In order to assess the marketing opportunities for ornamental fish, it can be classified as:

Indian dairy sector has made significant progress over the last few decades. Despite three decades of cooperative movement in India, however, a large proportion of milk and milk products in India continues to be marketed through the ‘informal or unorganized sector’. Although the share of organized market has steadily increased over the last few decades, the informal sector comprising middlemen, private milk traders and direct sale from producer to consumer, still accounts for nearly 80 percent of existing milk marketing pattern in the country. Milk contributes more to the national economy than any other farm commodity more than 10.5 billion dollars in 1994-95 (Dairy India 1997). In the context of poverty and malnutrition, milk has a special role to play for its many nutritional advantages as well as providing supplementary income to some 70 million farmers in over 500,000 remote villages (Dairy India 1997).  In their study, Datta and Ganguly (2002) reported that if the current growth continues for the next twenty years (the nation has been growing at a rate between 5 and 7 percent over past five years), milk consumption is likely to more than double by 2020. So above the discussion drives us to analyse the marketing behaviour of dairy farmers.

The study area, Tamilnadu, was selected purposively and out of seven agro-ecological zones in Tamil Nadu, western region has been selected purposively as it highest share in both the bovine population and milk production in the state. And both organized and unorganized milk marketing system working in this zone with largest number of milk plants.

Introduction

India is the second-largest producer of vegetables in the world after China. India accounts for 16 percent of the world’s production of vegetables. India home to 17.74% of the world’s population has only accounted for about 2.4% of the world’s geographical area and 4% of its water resources. Vegetables play an imperative role in nutritional security, economic viability and fit well into the predominant intensive cropping systems prevailing in different parts of our country. More than 60 kinds of vegetables are grown in India in tropical, subtropical and temperate agro-climates. India is the largest producer of okra and ranks 2nd in the production of potato, onion, cauliflower, and cabbage. During 2013-2014, India produced 162.19 million tonnes of vegetables and vegetable export from our country was worth Rs. 5462.93 crores. For a balanced diet, an adult who works moderately needs about 300 grams of vegetables per day, of which about 50 grams should comprise root vegetables, 50 grams of leafy vegetables and 200 grams of other kinds of vegetables as per Dietary Guidelines for Indians, NIN, 2011.

The vegetable is one of the important crops of Jharkhand, which is being cultivated on a commercial scale. About 3.2% of the gross cropped area of the State is devoted to vegetable crops. Vegetable development depends not only on production but also on the marketing system. Vegetable cultivation being labour intensive can substantially increase employment and livelihood avenues too. Vegetable growers face many challenges in the course of marketing their products and their marketing behaviour varies under different circumstances. Keeping this in view, the present investigation entitled “Marketing Behaviour of vegetable growers in East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand” was undertaken.

Marketing Channel

Marketing Channel is an organised network of agencies and institutions which in combination perform all the activities required to link producers with users to accomplish the marketing tasks.
Marketing channel is the route taken by a product as it moves from the producer to the consumer.
It is a part of value chain – what the customers are prepared to pay for goods and services and all activities carried out in chain.
Marketing channels are sets of interdependent organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use/consumption. Channels normally describe a forward-movement of products from sources to user. Reverse flow channels is used to reuse or recycle products, and to recycling or disposal of solid waste (ecological goods).

1. Price spread will be the minimum in

a) Coconut

b) Rice

c) Milk

d) Green leaves

2. Farmers share in consumer rupee will be the minimum in

a) Gram

b) Milk

c) Cotton

d) Rice

3. Marketable surplus is equal to

22.1 What is Livestock Product Marketing?

Livestock Products Marketing is the change of ownership of livestock derived food products. It links the livestock production and food consumption. There are three aspects of livestock market transactions:

1. Spatial – transactions occur across space

2. Temporal – transactions occur across time

3. Form – transactions occur in a certain form

Marketing channel can be defined as the path that a livestock commodity follows from the farmer?s gate to the consumer?s plate. A marketing channel involves a set of separate but interdependent organizations involved in the process of making a product available to consumers.

Importance of Marketing Channels

1. Little attention by companies or enterprises to marketing channels may damage profit, brand and number of customers.

2. Companies can change their products, advertising and pricing easily but it is not easy to change marketing channels.

3. Marketing channels are particularly convenient when the producer does not have time or financial means to carry out direct marketing.

4. Intermediaries in marketing channels are usually able to make the product widely available and accessible because they are specialized, have experience and contacts. They also have a better understanding of the market. Intermediaries take the risks involved in marketing and also pay for the produce immediately.

3.1 Communicating to the Customers

Philip Kotler defined IMC as, “the concept under which a company carefully integrates and coordinates its many communications channels to deliver a clear, consistent message”.

The Marketing Communications Mix consist of eight Major modes of communications which includes advertising, Sales Promotion, Events and Experience, Public relations and Publicity, Direct marketing, Interactive Marketing, Word of mouth Marketing and personal selling.

3.1. Marketing efficiency

Degree of market performance.

Whether it fulfills objectives assigned or maximizes fulfillment of objectives with given level of resources (or costs)

Whether it is responsive to impulses generated through environmental changes and whether impulses are transmitted at all levels in the system.

For example

Farmers expect quick market clearance and higher prices for their produce

Consumers expect ready availability of products in form and quality desired at lower prices

Traders and other functionaries expect steady and increasing incomes

Government expects system to safeguard interest of all three sections to maximize welfare of society.

3.1. Marketing efficiency

Degree of market performance.

Whether it fulfills objectives assigned or maximizes fulfillment of objectives with given level of resources (or costs)

Whether it is responsive to impulses generated through environmental changes and whether impulses are transmitted at all levels in the system.

For example

Farmers expect quick market clearance and higher prices for their produce

Consumers expect ready availability of products in form and quality desired at lower prices

Traders and other functionaries expect steady and increasing incomes

Government expects system to safeguard interest of all three sections to maximize welfare of society.

Marketing functions

The process of marketing involve a number of marketing functions. They may be grouped under:

Functions of exchange which include

1) Buying and assembling and

2) Selling.

B. Functions of physical supply which include

1) Transportation and

2) Storage or warehousing.

Marketing Information System (MIS)

Market information is crucial to effective marketing management. Business success now requires a sustainable and cutting-edge knowledge base. Information becomes knowledge when it is discriminated, classified, processed and assembled in an appropriate manner. Knowledge is the final entity in the sequence.
Marketing decisions are based on marketing information and research. The scientific decisions are based always on the facts and figures. The information based decisions are useful for solving day to day problems. Marketing information are the facts and figures required for taking the marketing decisions. Marketing information assists marketing decisions in right perspectives. The marketing managers are expected to get all the relevant information. They have to evaluate the information for their purposes. The utilities of each source of information are assessed to have optimum use of the resources. Good information improves decision making process. The marketing managers have to make decisions based on available information and try to collect adequate and correct information from all sources. Establishment of an effective marketing information system (MIS) is essential for adequate and correct marketing decisions.

1. Government is concerned with the marketing system for

a) The quality of commodities at the lowest price

b) Maximum price for surplus produce

c) Steady income from marketing of commodities

d) Safeguard the interests of the groups associated in marketing

2. Which of the following statements are correct ?

i) The Jute Corporation of India is providing minimum price support that assists jute cultivators in all the states of India.

ii) The company purchases jute at the fixed minimum price when market prices declined and later sells to jute mills.

iii) The jute industry suffers from wide fluctuations in supply and price due to changes in the cultivated area and due to the effects of the factors associated with weather.

a) i and ii only

b) i and iii only

c) ii and iii only

d) All of the above

Marketing management refers to distribution of the firm’s product or service to the customers in order to satisfy their needs and to accomplish the firm’s objectives.

Marketing includes developing the product or service, pricing, distribution, advertisement, merchandising, doing personal selling, promoting and directing sales and service to customers.

Marketing is an essential function because unless the firm has a market, or can develop a market for its product or service, other functions of staffing, producing and financing are futile. Marketing functions are schematically given below :

5.1 Introduction

India ranks 10th in the world in pesticide consumption as its total consumption amounts to about 500 million tonnes. India is presently the largest manufacturer of basic pesticides among the South Asian and African countries, with the exception of Japan. The Indian pesticides market is the 12th largest in the world with a value of US $ 0.6 bn, which is 1.6% of the global market pie. India is one of the most dynamic generic pesticide industries in the world, having a total installed capacity of technical grade pesticides consisting of large and medium scale and 400 pesticide formulators (of all sectors) spread all over the country for use in agriculture, public health, household and plant protection. Overall, it can be said that there is a bright future for agro-chemical companies in India in the post-patent era. This paper focuses on the opportunities arising for companies dealing in pesticides because of the agrarian nature of the Indian economy. Besides, it presents a conceptual framework of the situation prevailing in the marketing of pesticides in India with special reference to Punjab.February 13,2009 (FPRC) — Indian Pesticides Industry - Vital for ensuring food security. Agriculture is the lynchpin of the Indian economy. Ensuring food security for more than 1 bn Indian population with diminishing cultivable land resource is a herculean task. This necessitates use of high yielding variety of seeds, balance use of fertilisers, judicious use of quality pesticides along with education to farmers and the use of modern farming techniques. It is estimated that India approximately loses 18% of the crop yield valued at Rs.900 bn due to pest attack each year. The use of pesticides help to reduce the crop losses, provide economic benefits to farmers, reduce soil erosion and help in ensuring food safety & security for the nation. The Indian pesticide industry with 85,000 MT of production during FY 07 is ranked second in Asia (behind China) and twelfth globally. In value terms, the size of the Indian pesticide industry was estimated at Rs.74 bn for 2007, including exports of Rs.29 bn.Globally, due to consolidation in the industry, the top five global MNCs control almost 78% of the market. In India, the industry is very fragmented with about 30-40 large manufacturers and about 400 formulators.The per hectare consumption of pesticide is low in India at 381 grams when compared to the world average of 500 grams. Low consumption can be attributed to fragmented land holdings, low level of irrigation, dependence on monsoons, low awareness among farmers about the benefits of usage of pesticides etc. India, being a tropical country, the consumption pattern is also more skewed towards insecticides which accounted for 64% of the total pesticide consumption in FY 07.

Introduction

Livestock sector has been an integral component of Indian agriculture since time immemorial due to its multifarious contributions to the society in the form of nutrient-rich food products, clothing, drought power, income and employment. India has huge population of livestock. Of the total livestock population of the world, India alone has about one-fifth cattle population. As per the 20th livestock census estimate, total livestock population in the year 2019 was over 535 million. Among the livestock products, milk is the most important. India has a glorious history of outstanding achievement in transforming itself from milk deficit country to world’s biggest milk producer over the span of three decades. With over 300 million bovines and producing over 198 million tonnes of milk in 2019-20, the Indian dairy sector exhibits strong growth potential. Despite COVID-19 induced restrictions, which has thrown the smallholder milk producers from the frying pan to fire, the organized dairy sector showed positive growth rate of around 1% in the last f iscal– the lowest in a decade. Despite these proud boasts, poor productivity potential of Indian milch herd is a major cause of concern that may threat its numero one position in future.

The major causes of low milk productivity in India are both intrinsic (low genetic potential) and extrinsic (poor nutrition/feed management). Empirical studies in India have shown that enhancing quality and quantity of feed and fodder has greater impact than breed improvement on increasing milk productivity (Lalwani, 1989; Gaddi and Kunal, 1996; IAEA, 2006; Roy et al., 2020). The timely unavailability of nutritionally rich feed and fodder is a major hitch that impinges on the productivity growth of farm animals in the country. Nonetheless, with increase in agricultural production over the time, the animal feed availability has also improved, but its supply always falls short of the aggregate demand. At national level, the recent reported shortage in green fodder, dry fodder and concentrates is 11.24%, 23.4% and 28.9%, respectively (Roy et al. 2019), and the scenario is more unnerving in few Indian states where the fodder deficit is above 25% (Fig 1).

4.1 Introduction

Issues of productivity growth and patterns of substitution in the fertilizer sector as well as in other energy intensive industries in India have been discussed from various perspectives. Historical estimates vary from indicating an improvement to a decline in the sector's productivity. The variation depends mainly on the time period considered, the source of data, the type of indices and econometric specifications used for reporting productivity growth. Regarding patterns of substitution most analyses focus on inter fuel substitution possibilities in the context of rising energy demand. Not much research has been conducted on patterns of substitution among the primary and secondary input factors: Capital, labour, energy and materials. However, analyzing the use and substitution possibilities of these factors as well as identifying the main drivers of productivity growth among these and other factors is of special importance for understanding technological and overall development of an industry.In this paper we contribute to the discussion on productivity growth and the role of technological change. We introduce the fertilizer industry in more detail taking into account industry specific aspects such as structural composition, production, technologies, energy consumption within processes, sector specific policies etc. This following we derive both statistical and econometric estimates of productivity growth for the fertilizer sector over time. For the statistical analysis we develop the Kendrick and Solow indices while for the econometric analysis a translog cost function approach using both cross-state and national thime series data is employed. The results are then interpreted within a broader context of structural and policy changes in the sector as well as other sector specific aspects.

1. Introduction

Libraries and information services have traditionally been seen as quiet sanctuaries of knowledge and learning. However, in today’s rapidly evolving digital age, libraries must actively market their services to ensure they remain relevant and accessible to diverse user groups. Marketing these services involves not only promoting the library’s offerings but also effectively communicating its value to the community. Marketing in case of libraries is necessary to offer benefits to users’ want, reduce barriers to use and access, persuade and inform the users, and carefully plan to satisfy users’ needs effectively. “Marketing is so basic that it cannot be considered a separate function within the library. Marketing is a central dimension of the entire library. It is the entirety of the library’s operations and services seen from a point of view of its final result, that is, from the customer’s point of view” (Gupta and Savard, 2010). Marketing library and information service is an established sub-set of management practices which identifies customer wants and needs and meets those needs within the resources of the organization (Gupta, Koontz & Massisimo, 2013).