Pomegranate is popular fruit in the country, and Maharashtra is a major pomegranate$-$growing state.

Mr Nayar often toured the pomegranate$-$growing areas in the state, specially the Satara and Sangli

districts. His conversations with the farmers revealed that most of them do not have a proper

knowledge of the method of grading fruits, though they all claim to separate the diseased, defective,

and overripe fruit from the better$-$quality pomegranates before selling them. Most farmers grade

pomegranates by colour or weight. The fruit is then packed in cardboard cartons of standard size for

selling to middlemen or merchants, instead directly in the market. One of the major reasons for this

practice is that the markets are far away, and transporting their produce to these markets is an

expensive and time$-$consuming event. In addition, the available transportation facilities are expensive,

time$-$consuming and inadequate. Through his interaction with the farmers, Mr Nayar has drawn up a

fairly exhaustive list of the problems that the farmers faced in marketing pomegranates. These

constraints include cost and availability of packaging material, fluctuating market rates, high

commission by middlemen, delay and non$-$receipt of payment.

Mr Nayar wants to help farmers improve their marketing of pomegranates. He is also considering the

possibility of branding the pomegranate from the region and diversifying into items like bottled

pomegranate juice. He approaches your marketing research firm to professionalize the marketing of

pomegranates and make it profitable.

a$)$ Giving reasons, discuss the research design that you would undertake in this case. Explain any

one research method in your chosen research design.