Socio-economic Characteristics of Rice Farmers in the Combined State of Andhra Pradesh

Aims: The study was conducted in the combined state of Andhra Pradesh to investigate the socio-economic characteristics of rice farmers.

Study Design: Multistage stratified random sampling technique was adopted for the study.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in three regions of Andhra Pradesh viz., Telangana, Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions during the agricultural year 2013-14.

Methodology: The sample consisted of three districts, one each from the three regions of the state, six mandals (two mandals from each district), eighteen villages (three villages from each mandal) and 360 rice farmers (twenty rice farmers from each village).

Results: The average age, education and experience of the sample farmers was 46.04, 7.54 and 22.16 years respectively. Majority of the farmers owned small (54.44%) and medium sized (41.11%), nuclear families (68.61%), had agriculture as their primary occupation (99.44%), cultivated rice on own lands (71.94%), with canal as the major source of irrigation (71.11%), owned buffaloes (40%), had contact with extension agencies (67.22%) and had access to institutional credit (81.11%). It was found that 60.28% and 64.17% of the sample farmers were not members of Rythu Mitra Groups (RMGs) and cooperative societies respectively. The cost of cultivation for rice farmers was US$1048.65 ha-1 whereas the net returns were only US$179.62 ha-1.

Conclusion: Electronic media, mobiles and e-resources can be used to educate the farmers on improved technologies. Diversification in occupation within the farm families is to be encouraged by developing processing firms and creating non-farm jobs. Participation in farmers organization has to be encouraged. It is also essential to create awareness about the institutional sources of credit so that farmers may avail the credit from institutional sources.