Analysis Of Marketing Constraints Faced By Cotton Growers In The Core Cotton Zone Of Pakistan Using The Principal Component Analysis Approach

Abstract

Cotton is a cash crop in Pakistan which supports the textile industry in particular and the livelihood of thousands of people in Pakistan. The profitability of the cotton crop is decreasing over the years and farmers are found not getting the right price of their produce in the market. Farmers have to face varying extent of marketing challenges. To explore those challenges empirically a quantitative survey was conducted with 392 cotton growers in the district of Rahim Yar Khan, Punjab province. Data were collected using face-to-face interviews on a structured interview schedule whereas co[1]llected data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). We divided results into three sections (i) demographic profile of respondents (ii) marketing challenges (iii) Principal component factor analysis. The demographic profile revealed that the mean age was 40.47 years, education was 7.98 years, land size was 25.38 and the area under cotton cultivation was 13.07 acres. Inflation (x̄=4.653), fluctuation in the prices of inputs (x̄=4.507), non-availability of mechanical pickers (x̄= 4.456), middleman monopoly (x̄=4.392) and the illiteracy rate among farmers (x̄=4.239) were top ranked marketing challenges. Whereas, PCA showed that PCA showed that (i) ineffective marketing system (34.32%) (ii) poor quality of cotton (15.81%) (iii) high cost of production (11.33%) (iv) inflation (9.53%) and (iv) lack of incentives (9.41) were the leading contributors in making marketing ineffective. There is a need to increase the support price, ensure the right price in the market, limit the role of the middle man and provide farmers with incentives for clean cotton production.