MANAGEMENT OF CONTRACT FARMING IN MARIGOLD (Tagetes ...

terms, clarifying the responsibilities of both farmer and company. The result of breach of
contract was included in order to control the possibility of extra contractual marketing. The
agreements were effective from the time of handing over the seeds to the farmer and
terminated upon the farmer handing over entire yield.
ABC has quite opposite to above system, it does not have written agreement.
Company personnel keep in touch with farmers and records the inputs given and take
signature of the farmer then and there itself. If we consider frequency of field visits, marigold
contract farmers had frequent contact with the officer, 48.44 per cent of AVT and 58.44 per
cent of ABC had opined that staff of the company visited at least once in a fortnight.
Usually in case of AVT, payment made within 15 days after harvest whereas ABC
company farmers got payment after a month of harvesting.
Services provided by the companies
Contract farmers of both companies have taken technical advise, input supply and
transportation facility. Eventhough, fertilizer is a important input, AVT does not supply it.
Services like packing material on payment and power spray on hire basis.
Factors favouring contract farming
Farmers had come to contract with companies, only became there was buyback
agreement, input supply, transportation facility and technical advise.
Inputs supplied
Both the companies have supplied seeds. AVT supplied seeds of about 0.375 kg per
ha for an account of Rs. 1125 and ABC supplied 0.312 kg per ha for Rs. 998.40. AVT does
not supply fertilizer, but ABC supplied 500 kg per ha of fertilizer for Rs. 2400. micronutrients
and growth regulators also supplied to increase the yield and to have better quality pigments.
Socio-economic features of marigold contract farmers
The average family size of the AVT contract farmers was six and eight in AVT and
ABC company respectively. Average age of contract farmer was 37 years and 42 years in
AVT and ABC company respectively, majority of them were educated. Young age coupled
with better education had made the farmer to increase their farm income by adopting
commercial agriculture.
Average land holding
The average size of land holdings of AVT contract farmer was 4.92 ha and the
average area under marigold was only 0.70 ha. Similarly, the average size of the land holding
of ABC contract farmer was 8.40 ha and 0.84 ha was found under marigold cultivation.Only
small farmers and some extent medium farmers were found under marigold contract farming.
Pattern of employment
Contract farmers of AVT employed about 94.9 mandays of human labour which 42
mandays for human labour was used. Whereas in case of ABC, employed 106.12 mandays of
human labour, of which 50.82 mandays of human labour was used for harvesting operations.
Input use pattern
It was found from the study that AVT contract farmers used about 0.375 kg seeds per
ha and 0.312 kg by ABC contract farmer. Contract farmer of AVT used 6.25 tonnes of FYM,
500 kg of fertilizer, 450 kg of micronutrients and 15 ml of growth regulators and 0.30 kg of
PPC.
Contract farmers of ABC found using 5.50 tonnes of FYM, 500 kg of fertilizers, 375 kg
of micronutrients, 15 ml of growth regulators and 0.25 kg of PPC.