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A Study on Marketing Behaviour of Rural Youth Entrepreneurs  
Among Seven Different Ventures

S. Janani1,	V.	Ravichandran2 and T.N. Sujeetha3 

  Marketing behaviour indicates 
the mode of selling the products in 
the market. The agricultural sector 
contributes to more than one-third of the 
national income and provides livelihood 
to about 70.00 per cent of population. It 
also provides a substantial portion of the 
country’s export. An efficient agricultural 
marketing system can be an important 
means for raising the income levels of 
the farmers and increasing the consumer 
satisfaction. 

 Marketing efficiency can be 
improved in two ways ie., by increasing 
operational efficiency and through 
pricing efficiency. The former refers to 
input-output relationship and focuses 
attention on reducing costs in marketing 
factors like transportation, storage, etc. 
The latter refers to the situation where 
the seller gets the value of their produce 
and the consumers receive the value of 
their money.

 Marketing of agricultural produce 
is more complicated as majority of 
the respondents are unorganized and 
scattered. Most of them do not have 
knowledge and skill for marketing of 

1 - Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, TNAU, Coimbatore-3,  2 - Dean, Adhiyaman college 
of  Agriculture and Research, Krishnagiri  and 3 - Research Associate, e-Extension centre, TNAU, Coimbatore-3

Received : 1-6-2016; Accepted : 28-6-2016

their produce. Further, lack of storage 
facilities forced them to sell their 
produce immediately after the harvest 
at low prices in the village itself to the 
local traders. In addition, there are 
inadequate arrangements for grading, 
standardization, market information, 
credit availability, storage and transport. 
Moreover, the agricultural marketing is 
saddled with a long chain of middlemen 
between the farmers and ultimate 
consumers and they take away the lion’s 
share of the consumer’s price. So, the 
price of the farm produce is decided 
by the middlemen. In order to help the 
entrepreneurs to increase the income and 
profitability and avoid private merchants 
and intermediaries, there is a need to 
study the marketing behaviour of rural 
youth entrepreneurs.

METHODOLOGY

 The study necessitated  the 
selection of district where the scope for 
agri-entrepreneurship was  more. Hence, 
Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu was 
selected for the study. Based on the 
discussion with scientists of Regional 
Research Station, Paiyur, Dr. Perumal 

Research Note
Journal of Extension Education
Vol. 28  No. 1,  2016



5621

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Elumichangiri, 
MYRADA Training Centre, Achattipalli, 
officials of Department of Sericulture, 
Assistant Director of Horticulture, 
Assistant Director of Agriculture, 
Krishnagiri, the predominant rural 
enterprises in which the rural youth 
have mostly involved were identified. 
Accordingly seven entrepreneurial 
ventures were identified. Thirty 
respondents were selected from each of 
the venture. Altogether 210 rural youth 
were considered for the study. Further, 
these seven ventures were comparatively 
studied .

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

 Based on the details collected, the 
respondents were categorized into low, 
medium and high. 

 The overall analysis showed that 
more than half (66.19%) section of the 
rural youth entrepreneurs were seen 
in medium level category followed by 
low (18.57%) and high (15.24%) level 
categories of overall marketing behaviour.

 The category-wise analysis 
revealed that medium level of marketing 
behaviour was observed among the seven 
ventures. The probable reason for this 
result might be their good knowledge 
about the marketing trend so as to get 
good price for their produce. The previous 
studies revealed that respondents believe 
being independent will make them 

more adoptive to the market. The low 
marketing behaviour might be due to 
their ineffective advertisement and sales 
promotion in the marketing.

 The findings thus revealed that 
the overall marketing behaviour was 
medium. There existed differences 
between the seven enterprises with 
respect to marketing behaviour of rural 
youth. 

 These findings are in line with 
the findings of Karpagam (2012) and 
Thangaraja (2012) who found that 
majority of the entrepreneurs had 
medium level of marketing behaviour. 

REFERENCES

Karpagam, G. (2012) Technology 
Adoption and Marketing Behaviour 
of Turmeric Growers - An Analytical 
Study. Unpublished M.Sc. (Ag.) Thesis, 
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, 
Coimbatore.

Thangaraja, K. (2012). A Diagnostic 
Study on Promoting Entrepreneurial 
Behaviour among Coffee Growers and 
Strategies adopted by Entrepreneurs. 
Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Tamil Nadu 
Agricultural University, Coimbatore.

Thangaraja, K & Sasikala, R.(2015).  
Marketing strategies evolved by 
enterpreneurs in marketing coffee 
products. Journal of Extension 
Education. 27(1)

 

A Study on Marketing Behaviour of Rural Youth Entrepreneurs Among Seven Different Ventures