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A FINANCIAL ANALYSIS AND CREDIT GAP ASSESSMENT OF M ADURAI MALLI FLOWER IN MADURAI DISTRICT OF TAMILNADU

Global competitive environment in recent trend shifts towards traditional products of quality with a strong cultural link particular geographical origin, with the opportunity to move away from commodity markets into more profitable markets through differentiation. Thus, geographical indications(GI) act as a protection measure for both consumers and producers apart from solving problems that arise from information asymmetry and free riding on reputation. One such GI tagged product from Tamil Nadu is Madurai malli. The paper has determined to assess the financial feasibility of Madurai malli cultivation in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu. Primary data was collected with the aid of a well-structured and pre tested schedule from a random sample of 120 farmers. The findings showed that Madurai malli cultivation was economically viable and financially feasible in the area of study. The average cost of establishing a Madurai malli farm was found to be Rs. 204224.00/acre for the first year. The cost and returns incurred in cultivation for the subsequent years after establishment was calculated on an annual basis. Results of the financial feasibility measures show that the Net Present Value at 12 per cent discount rate, at the end of seven years was found to be positive, BenefitCost ratio was more than one and Internal Rate of Returns for Madurai malli cultivation was very high with a payback period of around 1year and 3 months. Credit facilities for the crop is solely provided by the National Agricultural Bank for Rural Development (NABARD) through cooperatives functioning in the study area from which the credit gap prevailing was assessed from the total variable costs incurred annually. The credit gap was found to be Rs. 144734.00/acre/year over the variable costs on an average. The study has recommended that farmers investment on Madurai malli cultivation was feasible but the credit needs of the farmers has to be fulfilled by the financial institutions.


INTRODUCTION
Floriculture is an important component of Agriculture which has gained commercial tone in the recent years and has a very significant share in the economy of the country. India is the largest producer of Jasmine and marigold. Jasmine (Jasminum sambac) also called the "Queen of fragrance" is one among the leading exported is the first flower crop to gain Geographical indication (GI) in Tamil Nadu. The specialty of Madurai malli is its unique fragrance which is absent in jasmine flowers from other parts of the state. It is mainly due to the soil which has got aromatic alkaloids like "jamone" and "alpha terpineol". Geographical indications tend to enhance the market price of a product thereby ensuring the livelihood of the producers. Similarly, the consumers are provided with guaranteed quality of products which can have a significant influence on the economic performance of the product. Modernisation of agriculture has increased the use of inputs especially seed, fertilizers, irrigation water, machineries, implements etc. which has further increased the demand for agricultural credit. There is a positive association between agricultural credit and agricultural production in India and the agricultural sector deserves continued policy support in credit in order to move onto a sustainable and higher growth path (Pallavi chavan et al. ). World Bank has also stated that "Training farmers combined with increasing access to finance or the inputs required for agriculture acts as an impetus for improving agricultural productivity. Also providing cooperatives with resources improves linkages between agribusinesses along the value chain." (World Development Report, 2019). In this context, the present study was taken up to analyse the financial feasibility of Madurai malli farms and to assess the credit gap prevailing at the farm level.

METHODOLOGY
The study was carried out in Madurai district as it is one of the major Jasmine Producing areas of Tamil Nadu and it occupies about12.6 per cent of total Jasmine cultivated area. Primary data was mainly cross-sectional collected from 120 Madurai malli growing farmers randomly selected from a list of Malli growers in the following blocks: Thiruparankundram and Thirumangalam for the 2017-18 production seasons. In each block, 60 Malli growing farmers were randomly selected. Structured questionnaire was the main instrument used to collect the primary data. Primary data from the sample farms were collected with the help of a pre-tested interview schedule through personal interview. The The discount rate was assumed as 12 per cent for the analysis of the present study since the prevailing rate of interest for long term commercial banks is around 12 per cent. The credit gap prevailing among the jasmine farmers in the study area was calculated from the details obtained from the Cooperative banks.
Pay Back Period: The Pay Back Period (PBP) is the duration of time in years taken to liquidate the investment.
The payback period was estimated by summing up all the undiscounted net benefits over the years to make up the initial investment incurred for establishment.

Credit Gap Analysis
Total variable cost of a farm is dependent on production output. As the volume of production and output increases, variable costs will also increase. Credit provided should be able to cover the variable expenses of the farm.
Hence the difference over the variable cost is calculated every year to find the credit gap prevailing in the farm.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Establishment Cost of Jasmine Garden
The establishment cost per acre of the jasmine garden in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu was estimated for the year 2017-18 with the quantity of inputs and labour used at current market prices in Table 1   weeding decreases with the increasing age of the crop. This is due to the fact that as the crop grows, it establishes a smothering effect on weeds which naturally reduces the weed incidence in the field.

Cost and Returns Structure of Madurai Malli
The costs, and returns structure of jasmine in different age plants have been presented in table 4. It is evident that the yield per hectare was increasing year by year and will be reaching its maximum

Financial Feasibility of Investment in Madurai Malli Gardens
Net present value, benefit cost ratio, payback period and internal rate of return were employed to evaluate the feasibility of investment in Madurai malli orchards which is presented in table 5. The net present worth was Rs.1063636.00 per acre at 12 per cent discount rate. Thus it could be concluded that investment in Madurai malli cultivation is economically feasible. The higher magnitude of the net present value may be attributed to the fact that the initial investment and maintenance costs in Madurai malli cultivation was lesser when compared to the returns realised.
The benefit cost ratio at 12 per cent discount rate was found to be 1.95 which was more than unity indicating that investment in Madurai malli cultivation is financially viable. Similar findings were reported by Kumar et al., (2013) who observed that the benefit -cost ratio for jasmine was 2. This could be because of less initial investment for establishment of a jasmine orchard. The payback periodof the present study was found to be 1 year and 3 months. This clearly indicates that it would take a period of more than a year to recover the entire investment. This could be attributed to the fact that the initial investment itself was lower, besides higher rate of returns. However, this criterion neglects the net returns realized by the farmers in the subsequent years which may be more significant in the case of a long term enterprise like Madurai malli. The Internal rate of return was found to be very high, compared to the opportunity cost of capital indicating that the investment in Madurai malli cultivation was highly profitable, economically feasible and financially viable.

Credit Gap Analysis
The sample Madurai malli growers in the study area avail credit facilities only from the cooperative society

CONCLUSIONS
From the results of the study, it can be observed that the total costs incurred in cultivating Madurai malli increased gradually for the total period of crop whereas the gross returns from the crop increased till the year 6 and later decreased.
Net return of the crop increased till year four and then declined due to diminishing marginal returns implying Madurai malli growers to take up replanting after the sixth year of cultivation to acquire better profits from the enterprise.
The results of the multiple linear regression emphasize that the size of farm holdings, the institutional credit, labour usage, fertilizer used, non-farm income and net returns were the major determinants of total farm investment in Madurai malli farms.
The ability to invest largely depended upon farm income surplus and the extent of credit availed.
On the basis of above study it can be concluded that increasing the investment in floriculture helps in the growth of this sector in various aspects. But sufficient credit facilities are required in order to increase the investment since it is evident that the credit amount provided was not enough for the Madurai malli growers in the study area. Hence the following measures can be taken up to solve these problems. Steps should be initiated by the financial institutions to provide credit facilities to floriculture crops. The base of agricultural credit should be enhanced to the large proportion of rural population. Financial institutions however should simplify procedures so that the institutional agencies can become small farmers friendly.
The role of credit can be further enhanced by much greater financial inclusion by involving of region-specific market participants, and credit suppliers ranging from public sector banks, co-operative banks, the new private sector banks and micro-credit suppliers, especially self-help groups. The cost of cultivation of the crop may be used by the financial institutions as guidelines for fixing the scale of finance so as to bridge the credit gap prevailing in cultivation. Initiatives can be taken in upgrading the standard of flowers through modern technologies and practices to improve the export of Jasmine in the international market. The beneficiaries should recognize the practice and advantages of accumulated savings, which is often allowed to group when existing facilities are not fully adjusted. This can help the banks to hope that the loan will be paid and usher sustainability of bank and customer friendly relationship. To make the loan more productive special instructions and supervision should be carried out by loan issuing authorities.