No abstract

In India about 50 per cent of the population depends on agriculture, majority are small land holding farmers.As per world agriculture statistics (FAO, 2010). India is the world's largest producer of many fresh fruits and vegetables with a large and diverse agricultural sector in the world next to China. As of now, India ranks second worldwide in farm output. Agriculture with allied sectors contributed 13.7 per cent of the GDP during 2010-11 (CSO, 2011). This research paper aims to study the cost and returns of pandal vegetables cultivation in Coimbatore District. 120 farmers was interviewed from Anamalai and Madukkarai blocks of Coimbatore District. The total establishment cost for pandal was Rs.3.2 lakhs per hectare and the investment cost for drip irrigation was Rs.0.73 lakhs per hectare. Majority of the sample farmers had experience of 21-30 years in farming and most of the farmers had 6-10 years experience in pandal vegetables cultivation. The cost of production per quintal of bitter gourd, snake gourd and ribbed gourd was Rs.1103, Rs. 981 and 952.71, respectively.

A field experiment was conducted at the Main Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, India, on medium black soils during the kharif (wet) season of 1999. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with varying N/P ratios (0.67 to 2.00) along with a control with a constant level of potassium (60 kg ha -1). The results revealed that the number of green leaves plant -1 , the dry matter accumulation in the leaves, leaf area (dm 2 plant -1 ) and leaf area index (LAI) increased up to the flowering stage (65 DAS) and thereafter declined. In the early stages (seedling and button stages) there was no significant variation with respect to the number of green leaves plant -1 among the treatments except in the control. Similarly, leaf area and LAI did not vary at the seedling stage. Treatments receiving N/P ratios of >1.0 or 1.0 with higher doses of nitrogen (120 kg N ha -1 ) gave a significantly higher number of green leaves plant -1 , leaf area and LAI as compared to N/P ratios of <1.0 and the control in later stages. The dry matter accumulation in the leaves (g plant -1 ) differed in all the stages, but higher values were recorded in these same treatments. Thus, due to the higher number of green leaves, higher LAI and greater dry matter accumulation in the leaves, the treatments with an N/P ratio of >1.0 or 1.0 with 120 kg N ha -1 produced higher seed yields (3188 to 3554 kg ha -1 ) than other N/P ratios (2761 to 3009 kg ha -1 ). The highest yield (3554 kg ha -1 ) was recorded with an N/P ratio of 1.0 in the treatment receiving 120 kg N and 120 kg P 2 O 5 ha -1 . The correlation coefficients between these photosynthetic attributes and seed yield were also positive and significant.

Food purchase behaviour of consumers had significantly changed due to an increase in the per capita disposable income, awareness on health and food safety, urbanisation, changes in lifestyle and family structure. Convenience food products formed a range of food for households, being easy to use without any terminal processing. Consumer is the base for any marketer. Hence the present study aims to estimate the perception of consumers about convenience food products and also identify the factors discriminating the user and non-user of convenience food products. Coimbatore city and three convenience food products namely, Gulab jamoon mix, Payasam mix and Badham mix were purposively selected for the study. Totally 225 consumers who consumed any one of the selected three products were selected randomly. Rank Based Quotient and Discriminant analysis were used to find the factors influencing the purchase of convenience food products and the result showed that he respondents rated "saves time" was most important factor in purchasing convenience food products. Monthly income and family type were the main discriminating variables between the user and non-user of convenience food products.

Coffee, a predominant plantation crop is a highly traded commodity and mostly consumed as a hot beverage. India stands seventh among the world coffee producing countries. Consumption is higher in south India. India grows Arabica and Robusta coffee. Consumption of coffee in India increased at 2 percent per annum till 2020 and after that there was 5 per cent growth rate (ShrutiArun, 2020). The present study was proposed with the objective of studying the trend in area, production, yield of Arabica and Robusta coffee in India and Tamil Nadu and predicting the same. Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) Analysis was used to find the trend in area, production and yield of coffee. Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model was used for forecasting the area and production of Arabica and Robusta in India till 2025. Area, production, yield of Arabica and Robusta coffee in India showed a positive trend. A negative trend was observed in productivity of Arabica coffee in India. Whereas in Tamil Nadu, area of Arabica and Robusta coffee showed positive trend, a negative trend was seen in production and productivity of Arabica and Robusta. ARIMA (1, 1, 1) for Arabica and ARIMA (1, 1, 0) found to provide best fit for predicting the area and production of Robusta coffee in India.