INTRODUCTION:

Jasmines are native to tropical and subtropical climates and were introduced in the second half of the sixteenth century. Only three species have achieved commercial importance among the many that exist. Jasminum sambac is the botanical name of Arabian Jasmine, which is familiar cultivation and the most popular in Tamil Nadu. The flower is commonly seen in the East Indies. Jasmine is an Arabic name that is thought to be derived from Yasmin. It is said that the peak of its popularity occurred two to five centuries ago in a canton provincial metropolis of southern China.

Floriculture has a long history in India. Flowers and gardens are mentioned in ancient Sanskrit classics such as the Rig Veda (C 3000-2000 BC), Ramayana (C1200-1300 BC), Mahabharata (prior to the fourth century BC), Shudraka (100 BC), Ashvagodha (C 100 AD), Kalidasa (C 400 AD), and Sarangdhara (C 1200 AD). However, the social and economic dimensions of flower production were not recognized until much later. Flowers have become a fundamental element of human life, being offered and exchanged on all social events, in places of worship, and used for hair adornment by women and home decoration.

Floriculture has been developed a unique commercial position in recent years as a result of changing lifestyles and greater urban prosperity. Recognizing the possibilities of commercial floriculture contributed to in the industry growing into a viable agri-business choice. The availability of natural resources, such as different agro-climatic conditions, allows for the cultivation of a vast range of temperate and tropical flowers virtually all year in some region of the country or another¹. Improved communication facilities have improved their accessibility throughout the country. Millions of people work as part of the commercial activity of producing and marketing floriculture products².

In India, jasmines are grown all through the country and highly cultivated in some different regions in Tamil Nadu (Coimbatore, Madurai, Dindugul), Karnataka (Kolar, Bangalore, Bellary, Mysore), Uttar Pradesh (Knnauj Jaunpur and Gazipur), Rajasthan (Ajmer along with Kota), West Bengal (Ranaghat, Kolaghat, Pancskura), and some regions in Andhra Pradesh along with Maharastra.

Jasmine is one among the oldest and most fragrant flowers cultivated. The jasmine blossom is used for a variety of reasons, including bouquets, embellishing women's hair, constructing garlands, and religious offerings³. Jasmine is often utilized in the manufacture of fragrances and cosmetics. More than 50 jasmine species are produced in India, but only three are commercially farmed: Jasminum Sambac (Madurai Malli/ Gundumalli), Grandifloru (Jathimalli/Pitchi), and Auriculatum (Mullai). The first and final species are mostly planted for sale as fresh flowers, whereas the middle kind is farmed for concrete extraction⁴.

Tamil Nadu is India's largest producer of jasmine⁵. Flowers grown in Tamil Nadu are sold to nations such as Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Middle East⁶. The primary districts in Tamil Nadu that cultivate jasmine are Salem, Trichy, Tirunelveli, Dindugul, Madurai, and Virudhunagar. Because the jasmine crop needs a large amount of labor for harvesting along with additional procedures, few small farmers are keen in cultivating it⁷. Jasmine cultivation is a suitable crop for small farmers with little land (less than two acres).

Climatic condition required for jasmine plantation:

Jasmine flourishes on well-drained, sandy loam soils that are high in organic matter. The best agro-climatic conditions for good jasmine growing are warm summers with enough of water and bright days with humid weather⁸.

Suitable Soil for Jasmine Plantation:

Jasmine may be cultivated in a variety of soil types, including clay and sandy loam soils with adequate drainage⁹. To improve productivity, enrich the soil with organic compost or Farm Yard Manure (FMY).

Inter-cultural operations and pruning of jasmine crop:

Weeding in jasmine cultivation and building irrigation canals and bunds should be included in intercultural operations¹⁰. The initial weeding should be done 3 to 4 weeks after planting the jasmine, with successive weedings every 2 to 3 months. Training is primarily used to form the jasmine plant, while pruning is used to produce the required crop yield¹¹. Usually, water is withheld prior to trimming, and plants are trimmed by eliminating all previous season shoots, including dead as well as diseased jasmine branches. To get a higher yield and greater bloom quality, prune the plants around the last week of November¹².

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

Jasmine flower production is a profitable enterprise for many producers, and it is an important crop that helps to improve the economic situation of jasmine growers. At the same time, jasmine cultivation is not an aromatic proposition, and jasmine marketing is mostly unorganized¹³. Jasmine is marketed by market agents. After deducting their commission to growers, the agents pay. Growers must also bribe bus drivers and conductors to guarantee that their produce arrives at the market on time. Growers have no control over the flowers after they are brought to the market¹⁴. They never find out how much their bloom sells for on the market. They must accept whatever their agency offers¹⁵.

Marketing of jasmine creates more challenges than marketing of other agricultural commodities since it has a high degree of perishability, a gradual fall in price, a greater number of middlemen, and is farmed primarily by small and marginal growers¹⁶. Furthermore, jasmine growers face issues such as sales timing, price fluctuations, a lack of fertile seedlings, a high wage rate, a lack of laborers, a high shipping cost, a high commission, and middlemen malpractice¹⁷. On the other hand, insufficient technical know-how and the government's careless attitude have aggravated the crop's production and marketing challenges. As a result, growers have a number of challenges in marketing their products¹⁸.

The jasmine marketing is mostly confined to private traders, who are largely controlled by a few commission agents¹⁹. The interests of jasmine growers have been systematically neglected, resulting in significant financial losses²⁰. The intermediaries take advantage of the circumstance by offering low prices to growers under the guise of limited demand and erroneously rejecting the produce as sub-standard²¹. Jasmine flowers can also accumulate in a specific place as a result of meteorological factors or a strike by transport owners²². There are many struggles are there in cultivation of jasmine and facing the problems in marketing the flowers²³. Hence an attempt has been made by the researcher to analyse on “Sustainability Challenges and Issues of Jasmine flowers based on Business Ventures”.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

To analyse the challenges and issues of Jasmine flowers by using SEM model.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

The research on sustainability challenges and issues based on agricultural venture has been evolved with the contribution of different researchers but only few researches have been done on agricultural ventures. The study covers the different issues such as raw material issues, financial issues, production issues, marketing issues, logistics and transportation issues, profitability issues and HR issues of the marketers²⁴.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The study was blend of both analytical and descriptive in nature. The researcher has used both primary and secondary data. The primary data were collected from the jasmine flower’s marketers. The secondary data were collected from the magazines, newspaper, e-journals and so on.

Sampling design:

Table 1: Total production of flowers and jasmine flowers in Tamil Nadu

S. No	Districts	Total Flowers		Jasmine Area
S. No	Districts	Area hectare (ha)	Share in Total	Area (ha)	Share in total
1	Thirunelveli	1596	6.23	1267	11.93
2	Madurai	1658	6.47	1220	11.48
3	Erode	1437	5.61	1061	9.99
4	Thiruvallur	1134	4.43	800	7.53
5	Thiruchirapalli	927	3.62	503	4.74
6	Krishnagiri	2552	9.96	754	7.10
7	Salem	2097	8.19	576	5.42
8	Vellore	1878	7.33	492	4.63
9	Thiruvannamalai	1620	6.33	391	3.68
10	Coimbatore	781	3.05	158	1.49
11	Dindugal	3499	13.66	703	6.62
12	Dharmapuri	2133	8.33	400	3.77
	State Total	25610	100	10623	100

Source: Secondary Data (Season and crop report, Tamilnadu (Various year issues)

The statistical data obtained from the season and crop reports²⁵. Thirunelveli is taking the first place in the large number of shares in land (11.93) area in hectares 1267 followed by the Madurai kept in second place then other districts such as Erode, Thiruvallur, Thiruchirapalli, Krishnagiri, Salem, Vellore, Thiruvannamalai, Coimbatore, Dindugal, Dharmapuri, Salem, and Vellore districts in Tamilnadu. The district-wise assessment of jasmine emerges found that Thirunelveli district has the biggest area (12%) in the state, followed by Madurai (11%), and Erode (9.99%).

Hence, the researcher has chosen the sample area from the top 12 jasmine cultivating districts in Tamil Nadu.

Population identification-sample size for marketers:

The researcher was administered the sample size drawn from the 12 districts. The snowball methods were adopted for this study. Hence the total population sizes are 572.

Data processing:

After collecting the data, a comprehensive review was performed, and the entire interview schedule was analyzed for recording the data in MS Excel. The coded data were uploaded to the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 23). The data were then analyzed using SPSS with Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS 23).

Structural Equation Model- Sustainability Challenges and Issues of Jasmine Flowers based Business Ventures:

The jasmine plant is native to the Indo-Malayan area and is a member of the Oleaceae family. Jasmine is cultivated to produce garland that is used to honour the gods at religious ceremonies and to extract essential oils, which are a raw material of the perfume industry²⁶. Stress, nervous weariness, and despair have all been reported to be treated by the scent that jasmine blooms release (Mahesh Vijapurkar). Jasmine is known as the "Belle of India" or the "Queen of Fragrance" because to its wonderful perfume that soothes and refreshes²⁷.

The study has examined the raw material issues, financial issues, marketing issues, production issues, logistics and transportation issues, profitability issues and human resource issues of jasmine cultivation, by determining the channels for selling, estimating the cost of marketing, and recording the challenges associated with sustainability challenges and issues of jasmine flowers agriculture-based business ventures in the 12 districts of Tamil Nadu are the aim of the study²⁸. The structural model is employed to determine and assess the link between constructs. The constructs are put together into the structural model based on the hypothesis were framed.

Figure:1 Standardized Model

			Estimate	S.E.	C.R.	P	Result on Hypotheses
LT.tot	<---	SCIAB	0.79	-	-	-	-
PRO.tot	<---	SCIAB	0.89	17.625	0.745	0.051	Accepted
MR.tot	<---	SCIAB	0.83	43.805	0.746	0.000	Accepted
FN.tot	<---	SCIAB	0.63	21.686	0.746	0.000	Accepted
RM.tot	<---	SCIAB	0.03	24.439	0.746	0.000	Accepted
Profitability.tot	<---	SCIAB	0.06	0.689	0.663	0.005	Accepted
HR.tot	<---	SCIAB	0.03	3.096	0.493	0.002	Accepted

The independent (X) variables are known as exogenous variables. Endogenous variables refer to the dependent (Y) variables. A path coefficient denotes the direct influence of one variable considered to be an initiating factor on another variable supposed to be a result. Path coefficients are normalized since they are derived from correlations (a path regression coefficient is unstandardized). As a result, examine the standardized co-efficient path. Figure 1 depicts the path (arrow), and the coefficients represent the impacts of each exogenous construct on the corresponding endogenous construct.

The Table 2 presents the regression weights for every path and its significance in the model. The path coefficient of the Sustainability Challenges and Issues of Jasmine flowers-based Business Ventures to logistics and transportation issue is 0.051. This value indicates that there is a significant relation between the logistics and transportation issues and Sustainability Challenges and Issues of Jasmine flowers-based Business Ventures. Thus, the results of every hypothesis are explained in Table 3.

Table 3 shows the structural model's overall fitness by giving the fit indices used to measure model fit.

Table 3: Model Fit Summary

Name of Index	Value	Acceptance Level	Comments
Chi-Square	3.086	<5	The required level achieved
P-Value	.0427	>.05	The required level achieved
GFI	.931	>.90	The required level achieved
AGFI	.916		The required level achieved
CFI	1.000		The required level achieved
NFI	.947		The required level achieved
RMSEA	.006	<.08	The required level achieved
RMR	.007	<.08	The required level achieved

Source: Primary data

The table 3 describes the fit indices of the structural model of satisfaction of Sustainability Challenges and Issues of Jasmine Flowers based Business Ventures in Tamil Nadu. The chi-square value is 3.086 and P-value is 0.0427. In most cases, the chi-square would be non-significant, suggesting no meaningful difference between the model and the data. The preceding table clearly reveals that the chi-square value is smaller than 0.05, indicating that the model fits better. The goodness of fit index (GFI=0.931) measures how much of the observed covariance can be explained by model covariances. GFI represents the model's best fit. The adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI=0.916) should be more than 0.90, and the Table illustrates that the AGFI value indicates model fit. The comparative fit index (CFI) of 1 indicates a perfect fit. The Normed fit index (NFI =0.947) indicates that the model is fit.

The Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA = 0.006) and root mean residual (RMR = 0.007) both fall under the suggested threshold value of 0.08, suggesting a satisfactory degree of overall fit. These fit measurements indicate that the suggested model of Sustainability Challenges and Issues of Jasmine Flowers-Based Business Ventures in Tamil Nadu fits pretty well.

CONCLUSION:

Recognizing the importance across promotion, this paper is a simple attempt to determine the existing channels of advertising with jasmine in 12 districts of Tamil Nadu. This article examines the rationale for channel selection, shipping and packaging techniques, marketing costs, margins of various intermediaries, marketing efficiency, and price spread of the three identified major marketing channels. In order to analyze all of these, the needed data are obtained from the chosen 572 sample dealers by personally contacting them using a pre-tested interview the schedule.

As a result, jasmine demand is mostly concentrated in metropolitan and semi-urban locations. Every day, individuals of all religions utilize them in a variety of ways. Jasmine is also highly valued by rural people for religious and social events. However, rural women are unable to utilize more jasmine as urban women, maybe due to economic and societal factors, in their daily make-up (or) beauty routines. As a result, market demand for jasmine is heavily influenced by women's lifestyles and attitudes. Jasmine is not as popular in our nation as it is in France or nations in the West, where it is utilized as a raw material for the production of flowery oil or concrete. When the breadth of derived demand expands, there will be increase, the potential consumer interest in flowers. When this occurs, a plan for increasing the area beneath jasmine cultivation will be required to fulfill the increased demand.

Jasmine harvested from plants needs to be sold promptly. It means that harvesting and selling should take place concurrently. Time is an important factor in jasmine marketing. Markets differ in terms of the amount of time it takes for the forces of the supply and demand to balance out.

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Received on 04.04.2024 Modified on 19.04.2024

Asian Journal of Management. 2024;15(2):127-131.

DOI: 10.52711/2321-5763.2024.00021