RURAL MARKETING
ENVIRONMENT
It is ironic that the
census of India defin considering that there were only villages before the
development of cities and towns.
Population
There are currently
more than 20,000 villages in the 5,000-10,000 population strata as per the
Census of 2001, so any population cut-off criteria should definitely include
these villages as rural areas.
Occupation pattern
o
The occupational pattern of people in a segment naturally affects their buying
behavior.
o
A daily wage earner has to account
for variations in income, whereas a salary earner brings home an assured fixed
amount and therefore can plan expenses in a better way.
o
Three-fourths of rural household heads are either cultivators or wage earners,
whereas three-fourths of urban household heads are salary earners, petty
shopkeepers and wage earners.
o The cultivator‘s
disposable income is highly seasonal, with more disposable income available
immediately after the harvesting season. This is therefore the time when he
is more inclined to make purchases,
especially of durables and high-involvement products. Basic occupations that
exist and help directly agro-related works are:
o
Farm Labourer –The
farm labourer helps a village through his agricultural activity directly.
The labourer works by tilling, weeding out, sowing, reaping, cleaning the
o
Produce, guarding the field at harvest time and many other odd jobs related to
agriculture.
o
Priest –He
reads horoscopes, arranges poojas, tells villagers regarding auspicious dates
for marriages, house warming, sowing in addition to his duties in the
temple.
o
Blacksmith – The
agricultural implements are made and repaired by the village blacksmith.
o Carpenter o
Washerman o Barber
o Shoe maker o
Potter
o
Milk man
Demographic profile of
people in a segment naturally affect their buying behavior. The wage earner and
salary earner cannot be expected to behave in the same way. A daily wage earner
has to account for variations in income, whereas a salary earner brings home an
assured fixed amount and therefore can plan expenses in a better way.
Three-fourth of rural
household heads for either cultivators or wage earners, whereas three-fourth of
urban household heads are salary earners, petty shopkeepers and wage earners.
The cultivator‘s
disposable income is hig available immediately after the harvesting season.
This is therefore the time when he is more
inclined to make
purchases, especially of durables, and high-involvement products. The purchases
at such times are quite significant, as 40% of the rural population, i.e. 50
million families, are farmers.
Income generation
The pattern of income
generation in rural areas based on agriculture is seasonal and highly
unreliable unlike the fixed monthly income in the urban areas. This created a
consumption pattern that is quite different from the urban one.
By sale of agricultural produce
By sale of animal produce
By service –Rendered by teacher, doctor or nurse. By
interest on investment
Government subsidies and grants By mortgage of
properties and gold By charities and donations
By labour and wages –Labourers do jobs in
construction of roads, bridges and buildings.
Income of Rural Sector is rising at a considerable
rate. Percentage of Very Rich, Consuming Class, and Climbers are rising whereas
Aspirants and Destitutes are
declining.
The structure of Rural Income depicts the following
trends:
1. On
the income ladder, the top two slots are occupied by the non-farm sector,
whereas the farmer is at the third place and wage earner is at the bottom.
2. The
highest per capita income in rural comes from the formal segment of the
non-farm sector at Rs. 19514 which is higher than the urban per capita income
at Rs. 19407.
Location of rural population
It has been observed
that the majority of rural institutions, agri markets and rural banks are
located in larger villages and towns, upto 10,000 populations. Moreover, the
characteristics in terms of occupation, consumption, and buying behavior change
from rural to urban in locations of more than 10,000 population.
Expenditure pattern
Per capita consumption expenditure in rural has
increased four times over last 20 years.
Rural spending in
non-food items is increasing; out of a total per capita spending of Rs.486,
approximately 40% is spent on non-food items. This shows an encouraging trend
for consumer durables and non-durables (non food item)
Analysing the
consumption patterns of non-food items of rural consumers, we find that the
major share of spending goes to clothing, medical services and fuel needs,
whereas urban consumers spend much more on rentals, education and conveyance.
Literacy level and Rural demand
Lower level of
education in rural sector (approximately 60% of the population lies below the
middle education bracket) lead to little or low demand for a range of products
such as literacy books, magazines, notebooks, pen/pencils, drawing instruments,
calculators, digital diaries, computers, etc.
But change is taking
place because the literacy retain the rural sector has risen 23% over the last
20 year. This has contributed significally to an improvement in the
socio-economic status of the
people. With this
growth, the demand for educational products has increased. Overall, products
and brand awareness have increased and rural consumers have become more mature
in purchase decision.
Land use pattern
Land Management is gaining importance because of
increasing demands on land and growth of the population.
Forest area and cultivable land percentages have
increased. Forest has increased from a
level of 14% to 22%. Area sown has increased from
20% to 43%. Area not available for cultivation has reduced .
Change of mindset of common man towards ecology,
increasing greenery and that every square meter of land be used gainfully.
Multi-storeyed buildings form part of the city‘s landscape.
Irrigation
In last four decades, the irrigated area has
doubled.
For centuries, Indian agriculture has depended on
rains. The special programmes launched by Government of India to increase the
irrigation facilities along length and breadth of India have yielded results
and reduced dependence on rain.
There is considerable difference in irrigation
patterns from state to state in India. States like Punjab and Haryana, where
there are enough natural water resources have a good percentage of gross
irrigated area to total crop area.
If a farmer owns many patches scattered at
distances, it makes the entire efforts in
agriculture less remunerative.
Mechanical farming or agricultural methods cannot be
adopted for small land holdings.
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