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Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar
After independence, development of the rural sector was considered the primary concern of the Government of India. In 1949, with the appointment of the Radhakrishnan University Education Commission, imparting of agricultural education through the setting up of rural universities became the focal point. Later, in 1954 an Indo-American team led by Dr. K.R. Damle, the Vice-President of ICAR, was constituted that arrived at the idea of establishing a Rural University on the land-grant pattern of USA. As a consequence a contract between the Government of India, the Technical Cooperation Mission and some land-grant universities of USA, was signed to promote agricultural education in the country. The US universities included the universities of Tennessee, the Ohio State University, the Kansas State University, The University of Illinois, the Pennsylvania State University and the University of Missouri. The task of assisting Uttar Pradesh in establishing an agricultural university was assigned to the University of Illinois which signed a contract in 1959 to establish an agricultural University in the State. Dean, H.W. Hannah, of the University of Illinois prepared a blueprint for a Rural University to be set up at the Tarai State Farm in the district Nainital, UP. In the initial stage the University of Illinois also offered the services of its scientists and teachers. Thus, in 1960, the first agricultural university of India, UP Agricultural University, came into being by an Act of legislation, UP Act XI-V of 1958. The Act was later amended under UP Universities Re-enactment and Amendment Act 1972 and the University was rechristened as Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology keeping in view the contributions of Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant, the then Chief Minister of UP. The University was dedicated to the Nation by the first Prime Minister of India Pt Jawaharlal Nehru on 17 November 1960.
The G.B. Pant University is a symbol of successful partnership between India and the United States. The establishment of this university brought about a revolution in agricultural education, research and extension. It paved the way for setting up of 31 other agricultural universities in the country.
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ThesisItem Open Access An economic analysis of farmer producer organizations in Garhwal division of Uttarakhand(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2021-12) Neema; Chaudhary, ShwetaAgriculture is the main occupation in developing countries like India, where the majority of rural peoples depend on it for livelihood and income. To overcome the problems and multifold the income of these small and marginal farmers, the government has launched a new form of collective organization called Farmers Producer Organization. In Uttarakhand, average land holding constitutes around 1.15 hectare. There are 98.2 millions marginal farms holding and 24.8 millions are small farm holders. One of the major challenges is aggregating small and marginal farmers to enable them to integrate with agricultural market. Thus produce grown in these land holding constitute small marketable surplus. The present study was based on 90 samples of FPOs selected from two districts viz. Dehradun and Pauri Garhwal of the Garhwal Division. The study was aimed to achieve three objectives viz., to examine the business performance of selected farmer producer organizations, to analyze the marketing efficiency of farmer producer organizations and to identify the constraints faced by members of Farmer Producer Organizations and various non-members. Balance sheet analysis revealed that the current ratio and acid test ratio of selected six FPOs was more than one which indicate the sound financial status. The debt- asset ratio of all the six FPOs was good enough so that the debts can be paid off by selling its assets in case of liquidation. The net capital ratio and equity to asset value ratio of all six FPOs were more than one which means the fund of lenders is safe and also highlights the profit of the organization. Income statement analysis revealed that the efficiency ratio and profitability ratio of selected six FPOs was less than one which indicates that organization was able to meet out its expenses. The ratio within one indicates that the organization spent less than what it earned in carrying out its operation .Among the six FPOs, the SBSS had highest marketing efficiency (2.7) followed by BDFPCL (1.41), BBSS (1.11), KUSSS (1.08), PSS (1.06) and HKSS (0.99). Channel II was more efficient than channel I as there were less number of intermediaries in channel II. The Garrett’s ranking analysis depicts that major constraints faced by members of FPO was lack of proper infrastructure, unawareness of credit facilities, price fluctuations over the year where untimely, costly and poor quality inputs and lack of awareness about grading and packaging were minor constraints. The important constraints faced by non- members were delay in payment, exploitation by middle men , lack of market information, lack of facilities of transportation , poor market linkage , lower price for produce and distress sale and lack of extension facilities. Suitable recommendations from the study were FPO farmers should be trained about strategic decisions, awareness and knowledge about management and marketing skills, because small and marginal farmers were primary producers they need to learn modern marketing tactics.ThesisItem Open Access Women empowerment through SHG promoted enterprises IN U.S. Nagar district of Uttarakhand(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2021-12) Sachin Kumar; Gangwar, Ruchi R.India is a rapidly developing country but apart from this fact, India is also afflicted with societal issues of socio-cultural hegemony and gender inequality that cause disparities of income and opportunity. While India's GDP has increased by around 6% over the last decade, female labour force participation has decreased dramatically from 34% to 27%. As a result, a movement for women's empowerment is needed, particularly among rural women, so that they can be economically independent and self-reliant. Women's empowerment is a multi-dimensional and multi-directional process in this way. Present study was conducted in Udham Singh Nagar district, from which 2 blocks Gadarpur and Khatima were selected purposively for the study. The study was based on sample size of 120 with 80 SHG members selected from 2 blocks and 40 non-SHG members selected from the same locale. The study had following five objectives: 1. To study the socioeconomic status of the SHG members. 2. To examine the factors determining the participation of rural women in the SHG programme. 3. To estimate the cost and returns from various income generating enterprises. 4. To assess the contribution of SHGs in women empowerment. 5. To identify the constraints faced by the SHG members. To meet the various objectives, simple descriptive analysis, binary probit regression model, cost and returns concept, three-point continuum scale and Garrett Ranking technique were used. The results showed that the majority of members were falling into middle age group and their average family size was 6.18. Average number of females per household was discovered to be 1.57. The average size of operating land holding was 0.53 ha. The probit model estimation showed that probability of participation in the SHG programme increased with the increase in the family size i.e., a positive relationship while it decreased with the increase in age or landholding size i.e., a negative relationship. The enterprises promoted by the majority of SHGs in Udham singh nagar district were milk production, vegetable production and masala making. Milk production turned out to be most profitable enterprise (returns per rupee invested was 2.04.) followed by Vegetable production (1.56) and masala making (1.13) in the area. For all the three dimensions of empowerment i.e., economic, social and personal, majority of the respondents fell in the category of medium empowerment while the category of high empowerment covered the minimum number of respondents. The major social problems faced by the respondents were lack of formal education, lack of training, conflicts among members and lack of social mobility. The major economic problems were low product price, lack of local buyers, lack of market information and long distance to the market, lack of credit sources, lack of quality inputs, lack of technical know-how and non-availability of equipments. Government and other organisations working in this sphere should strive to amplify such programmes in the local areas with the help of SHG members in order to bring more women in the ambit of such programmes. Income generating enterprises should be diversified to include non-agricultural activities as well. There should be proper marketing facilities provided through cooperatives and government outlets so that the producer could obtain fair and remunerative prices and maximum share of consumer’s rupee. There should be adequate, well qualified staff for providing extension facilities, imparting necessary training for better utilization of locally available resources. A suitable arrangement from financial institutions should be made to shorten & simplify the loaning procedure for SHG members.ThesisItem Open Access Economic performance of soil health card holders in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2021-11) Dhoundiyal, Himani; Tripathi, A.K.Agriculture sector provides employment to more than 50% of population in India. Since independence an effort has always directed to increase the socioeconomic condition of farmers by launching number of farmers oriented schemes and policies. Soil health card scheme is one of the scheme launched by the government of India under the ministry of Farmers and Social Welfare with the aim of increasing farmers yield, distributing the soil health card to every farmer such that farmer can judiciously use the fertilizers. In Uttarakhand, over 55% area is rainfed leading crops to suffer from frequent moisture stress, in addition, the soils are already low to medium status. In 1960s Green revolution has been proved to be a miracle for farmers but with the passage of time the imbalance of fertilizer use has depleted the soil nutrient status. Soil health card scheme has shown positive results in terms of soil testing and soil health card distribution. The study has been based on 80 sample soil health card holders selected from 4 villages. Three objectives were taken for the study i.e. to study socioeconomic status of soil health card holders, to evaluate the cost and returns of soil health card holders and to identify the major constraints in soil health card use. Simple descriptive analysis, paired t test, partial budgeting and Garrett Ranking have been done to achieve the various objectives. On an average size of operational land holding was 3.01 ha while average number of farm families was 6.93. The cropping intensity of all farmers found to be 189.78 per cent. On an average, cost of cultivation of paddy after applying soil health card recommendation has increased by Rs. 2117 from Rs. 67499 to Rs. 69616, whereas average cost of cultivation of wheat has increased by Rs. 3201 from Rs. 65124 to Rs. 68325.Overall an average yield of paddy has increased by 1.94 q. from 50.40 q. to 52.34 q. whereas in wheat it was 2.10 q. from 46.57 q. to 48.67 q. Partial budgeting analysis shows the soil health card holders change in income (net gain) per hectare increases in both crops paddy and wheat. In paddy net gain was Rs. 1661/ ha while in wheat it was Rs.1873/ ha. Deviation in macronutrients (NPK) application between before soil health card use and after soil health card has been reduced .The major constraints in soil health card use found in the study area was less availability and high cost fertilizer in the local market followed by absence of soil testing mobile vans , unable to understand the soil health card recommendation, problem in fertilizer dose calculation for own individual plots and lack of training regarding the soil health card. Suitable recommendations from the study were timely availability of macronutrients and micronutrients should be provided at cheap rate, the soil testing and recommendation of fertilizer dose in soil health card should be done according to the individual plot of farmers, time to time monitoring of farmers should be done by the extension workers to quench their queries regarding soil health card use.ThesisItem Open Access Economics of postharvest losses in vegetables marketing: a study of Dehradun district of Uttarakhand(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2021-11) Gupta, Sangeeta; Srivastava, S.K.Food is lost or wasted throughout the supply chain through all the way production to final consumption. Globally around 1.3 billion metric tons of food, which is 33 per cent of the total produce, is lost in the postharvest stage and it also predicts that if the current practices continue, then the loss would be around 2.1 billion metric tons by 2030. India’s share in vegetable production is about 60 % from all horticulture crops and the Uttarakhand got 19th rank in the country in terms of production. But state suffers from various inadequate facilities that lead to the postharvest losses. Therefore, the present study has been conducted with reference to postharvest losses in vegetables marketing in Dehradun district to examine the marketing pattern followed by producer-seller of vegetables, to estimate the marketing cost, marketing margins of marketing functionaries and marketing efficiency in different marketing channels of vegetables, to estimate the extent of postharvest losses of major vegetables, and to identify the major factors affecting postharvest losses. The multistage sampling has been done for selection of blocks, villages and farmers in the study area. The data have been collected from 60 selected farmers from 3 different blocks for the year 2020-21 while, 15 market intermediaries have also been selected are involved in vegetables marketing. Descriptive statistics has been used to estimate the marketing pattern followed by producer-seller of vegetables, simple descriptive analysis is done to estimate the marketing cost, marketing margin, price spread and producer share’s in consumer rupee in disposal of vegetables across the observed marketing channels, descriptive statistics has been used to calculate postharvest losses at producer-seller level, and the ordinary least square technique has been used to identify the factors affecting postharvest losses at producerseller level. The results of the study indicate that vegetables have been graded at the producer level to fetch higher prices in hills as well as plains. Generally gunny bags, plastics crates and wooden boxes have been used for packaging in hills whereas, in plains gunny bags as well as poly bags/mesh bags, plastics crates have been used. Hilly farmers used hired mule or hired head load to move the produce from farm to motorable road while only hired head load has been used in plains. Trucks and bolero in hills and trucks and mini pick-up truck in plains have been used for transportation of vegetables from motorable road to markets. Commission paid by producer-seller is found (6.25%) which is contrary to the bye-laws of the regulated market. In hills as well as in plains, channel I (producer-wholesaler-cum-commission agent-retailer-consumer) is the principal channel for marketing and the channel II is producer-retailer-consumer to more the vegetable to nearby consumers. In channel I, under hilly region marketing cost incurred by producer-seller varied from Rs. 379.79 per qt for tomato to Rs. 626.81 per qt for okra, and by retailer, it varied from Rs. 177.79 per qt for cauliflower to Rs. 396.06 per qt for tomato. However, in plains, it ranged from Rs. 219.62 per qt for tomato to Rs. 458.65 per qt for okra for producer and by retailer it varied from Rs. 88.47 per qt for cauliflower to Rs. 297.81 per qt for tomato. The net income realized by WCA in channel I ranged from Rs. 44.16 per qt (cauliflower) to Rs. 320.15 per qt (okra). For retailer, it varied from Rs. 98.87 per qt (cauliflower) to Rs. 553.94 per qt (okra) in hills whereas, in plains, it ranged between Rs. 188.2 per qt for cauliflower to Rs. 540.67 per qt in okra. Price spread in channel I was highest for cauliflower (51.73%) and lowest for pea (34.85%) in hills, while, in plains highest for cauliflower (39.36%) and lowest for okra (25.66%). In hills, marketing cost incurred by producer on channel II was highest for pea (Rs. 102.3 per qt) and lowest for brinjal (Rs. 91.24 per qt) and for retailer, it varied from Rs. 65.36 per qt for cauliflower to Rs.78.91 per qt for pea. Whereas, in plains, marketing cost incurred by producer on channel II was highest for pea (Rs. 66.74 per qt) and lowest for tomato (Rs. 50.98 per qt), whereas, for retailer it ranged from Rs. 46.7 per qt for cauliflower to Rs. 59.12 per qt for tomato. The net margin realized by retailer in channel II varied from Rs. 84.64 per qt for cauliflower to Rs. 276.73 per qt for okra in hills, whereas, in plains, Rs. 99.71 per qt for cauliflower to Rs. 317.73 per qt for okra. Price spread in channel II is found highest for cauliflower (22.98%) and lowest for okra (12.67%) in hill, while, in plains highest for tomato (22.05%) and lowest for okra (12.08%). Channel I is found comparatively more efficient in plains, with the efficiency indices varied from 1.21 (cauliflower) to 1.84 (okra), while, in hills, the efficiency indices varied from 0.78 (cauliflower) to 1.42 (okra). Channel II is found more efficient in plains, with the efficiency indices varied from 3.90 (tomato) to 7.53 (okra), while, comparatively less efficient in hills, with the efficiency indices varied from 3.53 (tomato) to 7.27 (okra). The maximum post harvest losses are found in hills, in case of tomato i.e. 15.60% of total production during grading, packaging, transportation and selling stages followed by brinjal (9.18%), pea (9.07%), French bean (8.83%), okra (8.25%), potato (8.16%) and cauliflower (7.72%). Whereas, in plains less losses have been observed in case of tomato (13.80%) followed by brinjal (8.09%), French bean (7.51%), okra (7.23%), pea (7.01%), cauliflower (6.71%) and potato (6.20%) at producer-seller level. Educational status of farmers, type of family (joint fmaily), labour availability and availability of non-farm income are found negatively affecting post harvest losses while, production, distance of market from farm and operational area are the factors affecting it directly. Although vegetable production has been found increasing oven time in the study area, the net returns of farmers can be enhanced by extending training and awareness programs to reduce postharvest losses. There is a need to develop infrastructure, especially in hills like roap-ways, etc., to reduce transportation costs and postharvest losses. Provisions of APMC act should be faithfully executed in order to reduce market malpractices such as charging commission from producer-seller of vegetables and charging more than the prescribed commission from the buyers.ThesisItem Open Access An economic analysis of organic farming in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2021-10) Bisht, Neelam; Chandra DevOrganic term is used to mean “healthful” or “close to nature”. It can also be described as crops grown without using any artificial chemicals. Organic farming is a technique in which crop cultivation is done in natural ways without using agrochemicals. Organic agriculture is practiced more than 180 countries of the world. Among all the countries, Australia has the largest organic agricultural land. India stands in first position in terms of highest increase of organic land (3,61,002 ha) in 2019 and contributes 30% of total organic producers in the world. Uttarakhand is one of the states of India leading in organic farming, having predominance of mostly traditional integrated crop livestock farming closed to organic system including relatively unpolluted ecosystem. This study was conducted in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand to study the socioeconomic status of the farmers, to examine the comparative economics of organic farming and non-organic farming and to find out the constraints faced by farmers in adoption of organic farming. A sample of 60 farmers comprising 30 organic farmers and 30 non-organic farmers were drawn from district by using multistage sampling technique. Organic farmers have been found middle-aged group, more educated and greater land holdings than non-organic farmers. Total cost of cultivation incurred in organic and inorganic paddy cultivation was Rs. 47564/ha and Rs. 49999/ha. Respectively. Net returns over cost C3 from organic and inorganic paddy were Rs. 25348 /ha and Rs. 20899 /ha respectively. Cost C3 in organic and inorganic maize cultivation was Rs. 38932/ha and Rs. 40546/ha and for finger millet cultivation was Rs. 39792/ha and Rs. 41919/ha respectively. Net returns in case of maize were Rs. 60094/ha from organic and Rs. 55619/ha from inorganic and in case of finger millet Rs. 36611/ha and Rs. 30061/ha from organic and inorganic respectively. It was observed that most of the farmers expressed the problem regarding lack of knowledge of organic production technology, requirement of long period to get positive response from the ecosystem, lack of specialized markets for organic produce, initial yield loss and lack of knowledge about certification process, uncertainty of irrigation water and small land holding or land in patches.ThesisItem Open Access An economic analysis of production and marketing of fish in West Bengal(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2021-10) Chatterjee, Saikat; Singh, H.N.Fisheries sector have been identified as one of the most important sectors of agriculture. Fish is a valuable source of food enriched with animal protein. Asia is the largest center of aquaculture production, and currently more than 90 percent of the global aquaculture production comes from Asian countries. Presently, India is the third largest fish producing country in the world with total production of 14.164 million tonnes followed by China and Indonesia. West Bengal is the sixth largest economy of India and constituting about 23.09 per cent of Inland water resources of India. West Bengal (1.62 million tonnes) ranks second in Inland fish production after Andhra Pradesh. The present study was conducted in West Bengal to study the trends in production of Inland fisheries in the state, to work out the cost of and returns from fish farming in the study area, to identify the marketing channels and to work out the efficiency of different channels, to identify the constraints in the production and marketing of fish farming. Fish producing farmers have been found middle aged group (36-50), mostly educated up to primary with average land and pond holding of 1.29 and 0.73 hectare, respectively. The total investment for establishing fish pond in the study area was worked out to be around Rs. 192168.00/- per hectare. The total cost of production was Rs. 4,58,182.07/- per hectare. Variable cost constituted about 95.07 per cent of the total cost of Rs. 435618.40/- and fixed cost about 4.92 per cent of the total cost (Rs. 22,563.67/-). The gross and net return from fish production was Rs. 10,29,000.00/- and Rs.5,70,817.93/- per hectare, respectively. The return per rupee investment in the study area was around Rs.1.24 /-. The resource use efficiency revealed that the resources are not optimally utilized in the fish production. Majority of the fish producers marketed their fish in channel III followed by channel II and channel I. Producers share in consumer rupee and marketing efficiency was highest in channel I followed by channel II and III for all the three breeds (catla, rohu and mrigal) of fish. It was observed that majority of the fish producers expressed the problem on loss of produce due to perishability, shortage of water during summer and non-availability of labour in time. Marketing problem associated with fish producers were high marketing cost, lack of organized marketing system and non-availability of cold storage.ThesisItem Open Access Economics of production and marketing of mushroom in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2020-12) Dhiman, Shivam; Gangwar, Ruchi RaniMushroom cultivation may be one of the important subsidiary enterprises for raising income and employment of small and marginal farmers. Thus, in view of the low level of farm income and employment in Dehradun District, mushroom may serve as an important source of additional income and utilize surplus family labour. Therefore, studies were needed to investigate economics aspects of mushroom production. The study was conducted in Vikasnagar, Sahaspur, Doiwala, and Raipur blocks of Dehradun District of Uttarakhand with the following objectives. 1) To work out the cost of and returns from mushroom cultivation. 2) To examine resource use efficiency of Mushroom production. 3) To identify the existing marketing channels and determine their marketing efficiency. 4) To identify and rank various constraints faced by mushroom growers. The data for fulfilling different objectives were procured for selected mushroom growers and various concerned offices (District Department of Horticulture). In total 60 number of growers were selected from the study area. The study revealed that the cost of production per bag was Rs 134.08. However, the yield of mushroom per bag was obtained 2.134 kg. The average price received per kg of mushroom by the mushroom grower in the study area was Rs 120. Net returns from mushroom cultivation were Rs 58 per kg. The value resource use efficiency for number of bags (1.36), straw (1.16), spawn (2.78), casing (1.69), and chemicals (1.46) came out to be greater than unity indicated under-utilization of these resources. However, for labour value of MVP/MIC came out to be less than unity revealed the over-utilization of the resource. With the presence of three marketing channels in the study area, the channel-II (4.40) was found more efficient as compared to channels-III (4.27). The most important and severe constraints prevail were marketing of produce and lack of non availability of suitable marketing for produce for the sale of mushroom at low prices. There is an urgent need for re-organizing the various agencies involved in promotion and development of production of mushroom production, need for adequate and well technical qualified staff for providing extension facilities, imparting necessary training and for supplying inputs and there should be a competitive market for the marketing of produce.ThesisItem Open Access A study of the impact of National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) in Uttarakhand(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2020-12) Adhikari, Komal; Singh, VirendraIndia is a country of villages and its development means the development of the people living in the rural areas. About two-third population of India resides in the rural areas. Due to fast growing population and mismatch between skills and requirements imbalances prevail in the employment opportunities. In view of wide spread poverty a number of schemes have been devised and implemented in the country over time with the objective of uplifting the standard of living of people residing in rural areas. The NRLM was launched by Government of India in the year 2011 with an aim to reduce poverty and to provide gainful employment and income generating opportunities and has been working in mission mode since April 2013. The mission insists on organizing the poor into their grass root level institutions. Uttarakhand, a hilly state, characterized by difficult geographical situations, and meager employment opportunities, therefore there is a need to provide with income generating activities to the people of the state to enable them to lead a better standard of living. Thus, NRLM has been implemented with the expectation that the mission would improve the livelihood of rural people. A multistage sampling technique was used to collect the primary data. From the two regions of state one district each from hills and plains were selected randomly. Further, from the selected districts one community development block was selected purposively with the highest number of self help groups operating under NRLM. From each selected community development block three SHGs were selected randomly; and from each SHG five participant-beneficiaries were selected; and a same number of non-beneficiaries were also selected from the same locality, thus making a sample of 120 respondents. The study was conducted using both primary and secondary data. Analysis was done using binomial logit regression model, livelihood index, Garrett ranking technique along with descriptive statistics. The average age of the participant-beneficiaries (37.35) was lower as compared to the non-beneficiaries (40.63) whereas the educational status of the non-beneficiaries was found to be better than participantbeneficiares. The average family size of the participant-beneficiaries (4.73 persons per family) was significantly larger than that of non-beneficiaries (4.25 persons per family). The average size of holding and annual income were found to be higher in case of non-beneficiaries. The logit model revealed that the family size and social backwardness had a positive relation with the probability of participation in the mission, whereas annual household income exhibited a negative relation with the same. The mission was found to have a significant positive impact on various aspects of livelihood viz. human capital, physical capital, social capital, financial capital and food security after participating in the mission. The findings revealed a poor linkage among the mission participants and the development institutions except banks. The most severe constraint faced by the participant-beneficiaries while participating in the mission was the insufficiency of training opportunities for skill enhancement along with inadequate support for the income generating activities The mission was found to be performing well at the ground level, as it included the deserving people as participants and had a positive impact on various aspects of the livelihood of participant-beneficiaries. Appropriate training facilities should be arranged for the participant-beneficiaries for skill enhancement. Needed facilities and raw materials should be provided along with arranging better marketing facilities for marketing of products produced under the mission.ThesisItem Open Access A study of financial inclusion of farmers in Uttarakhand with special reference to Kisan Credit Card Scheme(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2020-12) Dyundi, Ekta; Sharma, M.L.Financial inclusion plays an important role in the overall economic development of the people and helps the masses to break the vicious cycle of poverty and become financially stable. It makes the people better aware of the various schemes launched by the government for the betterment of the people. In terms of agriculture, Kisan Credit Scheme was launched by the government in 1998 to cater the credit needs of the farmers. It also aimed to decrease the dependency of the farmers on the non-institutional sources of the credit. Uttarakhand has an un-tapped potential for variety of high-value crops which requires some external sources of credit. Since more than 85 per cent of the farmers in Uttarakhand are small and marginal, the need for credit becomes even higher. The farmers can take the advantages of such schemes only if they are aware if it for which financial inclusion is the key. In the backdrop of these problems, the present study was conducted in Uttarakhand. All the thirteen districts of the state were considered for the objectives for which the required information was based on secondary sources of data whereas, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts were considered for the objectives for which the required information was based on primary sources of data. Multistage sampling technique was used to collect the primary data pertaining to the year 2019- 20 from forty-eight KCC holders and forty-eight non-KCC holders across Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts to find out the factors affecting the possession of KCC by the farmers. Time-series data was also collected from the year 2009-10 to 2019-20 to examine the coverage of financial inclusion and growth of institutional credit across the state. To achieve the various objectives of study, descriptive and econometric methods were used. The results revelated that people possessed only the basic knowledge regarding the various banking facilities but lacked the practical knowledge about the same. It was also revealed that only four districts of the state namely Dehradun, Nainital, Bageshwar and Champawat falls under high financial inclusion category based on the CRISIL score. Commercial banks recorded the highest growth rate in 10 years (35.15 %) in terms of growth of institutional credit towards agriculture as well in terms of distribution of KCC (16.09 %). Years of education, operating land holding size and economically active members of the family exhibited a positive relationship with the probability of possessing a KCC whereas income from the farm-sector possessed a negative relationship with the probability of possessing a KCC. Large farmers were found to be using the KCC most efficiently. Whereas on other hand, small category farmers were not able to reap the benefits of the KCC to the fullest. It is advised that more steps should be taken by concerned authorities in order in increase the level of financial inclusion. Farmers unwillingness towards the KCC should be tackled efficiently. For this some workshops should be organized for the farmers in which all their queries can be identified and a more friendly and comfortable environment can be created which will increase farmer’s participation under the scheme. Also, the KCC scheme should be extended to larger mass of people either by decreasing the rate of interest or increasing the repayment time.
