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The Journal of Research ANGRAU

Contents of 41(1) 2013 - acharya ng ranga agricultural university

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<strong>Research</strong> Notes<br />

J.Res. <strong>ANGRAU</strong> 41(1) 96-100, 2013<br />

PROFILE CHARACTERISTICS OF SUGARCANE FARMERS IN<br />

CHITTOOR DISTRICT OF ANDHRA PRADESH<br />

S. RAMALAKSHMI DEVI, P. V. SATYA GOPAL, V.SAILAJA and S.V. PRASAD<br />

Department <strong>of</strong> Extension Education, S.V. Agricultural college, Tirupati-517502<br />

Date <strong>of</strong> Receipt : 26.09.2012 Date <strong>of</strong> Acceptance : 11.01.2013<br />

Sugarcane is the world’s largest crop and is<br />

grown in over 110 countries. In 2009, an estimated<br />

1,683 million metric tons were produced worldwide<br />

which amounts to 22.4% <strong>of</strong> the total world agricultural<br />

production by weight (FAO, 2009). India ranks second<br />

in cane area and sugar production after Brazil. <strong>The</strong><br />

states <strong>of</strong> Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka,<br />

Tamil Naidu and Andhra Pradesh together produce<br />

nearly 90 per cent <strong>of</strong> the cane and sugar in the<br />

country. Andhra Pradesh ranks fifth in sugar cone<br />

area <strong>of</strong> the country with a share <strong>of</strong> 4.83 per cent.<br />

<strong>The</strong> average production <strong>of</strong> Andhra Pradesh is about<br />

20.30 million tons contributing to 5.83 per cent <strong>of</strong><br />

the total production <strong>of</strong> the country. In Andhra<br />

Pradesh, the major sugarcane growing districts in<br />

Telangana, coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions<br />

are Nizamabad, Visakhapatnam and Chittoor districts<br />

respectively.<br />

<strong>The</strong> significant contribution <strong>of</strong> researchers,<br />

extension functionaries and farming community plays<br />

pivotal role in achieving the above success. On one<br />

side, the researchers developed sustainable<br />

technologies to meet the production requirements <strong>of</strong><br />

the farmers followed by effective dissemination <strong>of</strong><br />

technologies by the extension functionaries so as to<br />

bring the technologies to the farmers for adoption.<br />

On the other side, the farming community is<br />

successfully adopting those technologies so as to<br />

increase the productivity levels <strong>of</strong> sugarcane. As the<br />

farmers are the key contributors <strong>of</strong> production, the<br />

present study was taken up to study the pr<strong>of</strong>ile<br />

characteristics <strong>of</strong> sugarcane farmers.<br />

Ex-post-facto research design was adopted<br />

for the study. <strong>The</strong> investigation was carried out in<br />

Chittoor district <strong>of</strong> Rayalaseema region. Four<br />

mandals were selected in Chittoor district purposively<br />

that have highest area under sugarcane. From each<br />

mandal 3 villages were selected purposively. From<br />

each village 10 sugarcane farmers were selected<br />

randomly thus making a total <strong>of</strong> 120 respondents .<br />

<strong>The</strong> data were collected by personal interview method<br />

through structured interview schedule.<br />

<strong>The</strong> sugarcane farmers were distributed into<br />

different categories based on their selected pr<strong>of</strong>ile<br />

characteristics and were presented in the Table 1<br />

and interpreted through frequencies, percentages,<br />

mean and standard deviation.<br />

Age<br />

Majority (57.50%) <strong>of</strong> the sugarcane farmers<br />

belonged to middle age category followed by young<br />

(31.66%) and old age (10.83%) categories. <strong>The</strong><br />

probable reason for distribution might be that the<br />

agriculture in the present situation has been perceived<br />

as a pr<strong>of</strong>itable enterprise in particular as sugarcane<br />

is one <strong>of</strong> the remunerative crops for the farmers.<br />

Middle age and young age farmers were motivated<br />

to cultivate sugarcane by adopting latest production<br />

technologies and obtaining good returns.. Hence the<br />

above trend was observed. It is in conformity with<br />

Reddy (1997) and Gowda et al., (2011).<br />

Education<br />

Majority (90.00%) <strong>of</strong> the respondents were<br />

educated, 4.17 per cent were under can read and<br />

write only category and only 5.00 per cent were<br />

illiterates. <strong>The</strong> probable reason for the above<br />

distribution might be that, as education was gaining<br />

importance for the past three decades and brought<br />

out awareness among the farming community about<br />

the functional literacy. Majority <strong>of</strong> the sugarcane<br />

farmers were under middle and young age lead to<br />

the proper educational status among the farming<br />

community. It is in conformity with Latha (2002) and<br />

Gowda (2011).<br />

email: shilpamohan5050@gmail.com<br />

101

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