The main focus of this study is the cultivation and marketing of palmyra and its value-added products in the Thoothukudi district of southern Tamil Nadu. The supply chain of palmyra products is represented in a block diagram that explains the complete marketing channel through which products move from farm to the ultimate consumer. The accumulative added value per tree gives the benefits of palmyra growing and its value addition. According to the findings, the highest profit was shared by farmer cum processors (31.33%) followed by wholesalers (21.58%) for palm sugar, and for palm, jaggery wholesalers had the maximum profit (28.86%) followed by the marketing cooperatives (28.47%). Base on the accumulated added value the payback period of the palmyra tree is the 12th year and the lifetime added value per tree can reach up to Rs. 36000 during the peak period from 41 to 60 years of its age. Growing palmyra has the feasibility of giving more income and strengthening the marketing channel by reducing the intermediaries can give additional income to the farmers in the consumer price.

Aim: The present study was conducted with the aim to analyze the marketing cost, margin, price spread and marketing efficiency of farmers in different marketing channels of Black pepper in Kolli Hills of Namakkal district. Methodology: About 80 farmers were interviewed for this study. Data related to marketing performance of black pepper was collected using the well-structured pre tested interview schedule and the results were tabulated. Results: Among the different marketing channels, total marketing cost was low in channel III (Rs.39/Qtl) as compared to channel II (Rs.92/Qtl) and channel I (Rs.74/Qtl). This shows that marketing cost was low if the channel does not have any market intermediaries. The best channel for both producer and consumer were found to be channel III in which producers receives the maximum share of consumers rupee (89.46 per cent) and consumers purchase the produce at the low price of Rs. 370/Qtl. Conclusion: This study reveals that, among the other marketing channels, channel III has the highest marketing efficiency of 9.48 per cent and 8.48 per cent. Middleman exploitation was the major problem which reduce the net income of the farmers in the study area.

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Market integration in agricultural commodities is vital for both developed and developing countries alike. If prices are not perfectly transmitted, then it may lead to distortions in production and distribution. The strength of interdependence among markets and the speed in which the changes are passed through determine the degree of integration and the global efficiency of markets. This study examines the long-run and short-run integration of domestic and international maize markets using Co-integration approach within the framework of Vector Error Correction Mechanism (VECM). A sample of five domestic maize markets comprising two from the traditional maize growing states of Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan and three from the non-traditional Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu were selected along with two international maize markets comprising from United States and Argentina. Analysis was carried out using the monthly price data between January 2003 and Dec 2013. Findings revealed that the prices became stationary only upon first differencing. The existence of integration was confirmed among markets implying that there is price transmission. The estimated error coefficients revealed that in Tamil Nadu market disequilibrium got corrected within a month by changes in its own prices with speed of convergence at 28 per cent in the long-run path. But for other markets the speed of convergence ranged from 20 per cent to 57 per cent for short-run price movements to become stable along long-run equilibrium path in one or two-month lagged period.

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