CONSTRAINT ANALYSIS OF RICE FARMERS OF NELLORE DISTRICT OF ANDHRA PRADESH
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Date
2013
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ACHARYA N. G. RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY RAJENDRANAGAR, HYDERABAD
Abstract
Rice has shaped the cultures, diets and economies of thousands of
millions of people in the world. India occupies first position in the area
(44.6 m ha) which is the highest area occupied by a single crop in the millionhectares.
It contributes 21.5 per cent of global rice production and a share of
15 per cent in global rice export. In Andhra Pradesh rice is the Principal food
crop cultivated throughout the state providing food for its growing population,
fodder to the cattle and employment to the rural masses.
In Andhra Pradesh, area under rice mostly depends on the monsoon
pattern and availability of water in reservoirs. Area under rice was high during
2008-09 (43.87 l.ha) and lowest is in 2002-03 (28.22 l.ha). There is no scope
for increasing area under rice and rice area is replaced by some profitable dry
crops due to insufficient water. Rice is grown in 28% of gross cropped area and
50% of area under food crops round the year in all the districts. Though there is
a rise and fall of area and production of rice based on water availability, but
there is a constant increase in productivity. In the context of food security such
decline in area and production is not good to meet the future rice requirement.
In the coastal districts the area under rice is declining because of aquaculture
activities.
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Hence the study to analyze the constraints faced by the farmers in rice
production in was undertaken. The investigation was carried out in four
mandals of Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh which were purposively selected,
where rice were intensively grown. Ex- post- facto research design was adopted
for the study. A sample of 120 farmers were randomly selected from the eight
selected villages. The data were collected by personal interview method and
analyzed by employing suitable statistical methods. Fourteen independent
variables were subjected to statistical analysis for the purpose of categorization
of the respondents and for studying their relationship with the dependent
variable i.e. constraints faced by the rice farmers.
Majority of the rice farmers engaged in rice farming were middle aged,
medium farmers with medium farming experience, training undergone, credit
orientation, social participation, mass media exposure, extension contact,
economic motivation, scientific orientation, management orientation and
innovativeness and with high risk orientation.
Correlation analysis revealed that there was a negative and significant
relationship between education, training undergone, credit orientation, social
participation, mass media exposure, extension contact and scientific orientation
of rice farmers. While risk orientation had positively and significant
relationship with the dependent variable. However, age, farming experience,
farm size, economic motivation, management orientation and innovativeness
had non significant relationship with the dependent variable i.e. constraints
faced by the rice farmers.
Regarding constraints expressed by rice farmers in rice production,
inadequate family labour was ranked first by all the rice farmers followed by
unskilled labour / inadequate availability of skilled labour, younger generation
not interested in rice farming, lack of cooperation among the farmers, scarcity
of labour due to MGNREGS, increasing processing costs, lack of awareness on
various departmental subsidy schemes, high cost of farm machinery, Lack of
processing facilities at local level, lack of proper storage facilities, high cost of
FYM / chemical fertilizer, high cost of labour, low labour productivity, lack of
skill in using machinery, high rental charges of certain farm machinery during
peak season, weed infestation and epidemics of pest and diseases.
Among the suggestions proposed by the respondents to overcome the
constraints, availing better market prize was ranked first to overcome the
constraints in rice production followed by giving priority to rice farming in
NREGP programme, adopting full mechanization in rice farming , formation of
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procurement centre at panchayat level, implementation of interest free loan
scheme to all the farmers through co-operative societies, establishment of rice
mills at local level, increasing of subsidy and support for rice farming,
increasing the efficiency of the extension staff , adoption of group farming
approach in rice farming, implementation of schemes to provide green manure
to farmers under different projects, prevention of illegal clay mining in rice
farming, creating awareness among the people about the ecological importance
of paddy lands were the suggestions made by the rice farmers.
To overcome the constraints faced by the rice farmers and to fulfill their
suggestions some of the strategies were made like contract labour schemes can
be implemented with the support of panchayat and local bodies; arranging
contractors who will organize a group of labourers and train them to be more
skillful and efficient to work as a team; encouraging the younger generations by
the extension personnel making them to know the potential of agriculture at
present; making the farmers aware that agriculture can be more profitable if
they join in groups to take up large scale cultivation; prioritization of
agricultural works related to rice farming should be routed through NREGP
helping the farmers and as well as agricultural labourers; creation of proper
storage facilities at panchayat or mandal levels; provision of storage facilities
where ever possible by the market yards to the farmers at lower rents; and
fertilizer dealers involved in black marketing, stocking of fertilizers and selling
at higher prices at peak requirement should be blacklisted and denied of their
license.
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Keywords
CONSTRAINT, ANALYSIS, RICE FARMERS, NELLORE DISTRICT, ANDHRA PRADESH