Socio Economics Profile of Chilli Growers in District Baramulla (J&K)

The study was carried out during 2018-2019 to know the socio-economic status of the chilli growers, marketing of chilli and constraints faced by the chilli growers in district Baramulla. A sample size of 50 chilli growers was selected randomly from 5 villages of agricultural zone Nehalpora of district Baramulla. The study reveals that majority (60%) of the respondents were in the age group (35-53 yrs). It was found that 30 per cent of the respondents were illiterate. About 45% of the respondents were having farming as the main occupation. As far as annual income is concerned, major source of income of the growers was from agriculture (72 lakhs), followed by horticulture (39.70 lakhs) and vegetables (3.23 lakhs). About 45% of the area was irrigated in the village, 40.87% under orchards, 9.48% under chilli. Majority of the growers used television (74%) regularly as a source of mass media followed by other means of media like internet (30%). Majority (84%) of the growers had occasional extension contacts. About 56 per cent of the respondents were having medium level of scientific orientation followed by low (30%) and high (14%). As far as the marketing of the chilli is concerned, majority of the growers (56%) sold their crop in local market while only (44%) of the growers sold their crop at a distant market. The reason might be that the growers preferred their local market rather than going for distant places because of the less time available. The major resource constraints in chilli production technology as mentioned by the respondents were unavailability of improved seeds of vegetables (90%) high cost of pesticides (70%), scattered and small size land holdings (60%) and lack of irrigation facilities (40%) Poor marketing facilities (80%), distantly located markets (30%), bad condition of roads (90%), non-remunerative prices (84%) and lack of transportation facilities and high transportation charges (18%) were the major marketing constraints. 90 per cent of the farmers had a constraint of Lack of training on scientific vegetable production technology and Non-availability of facilities of soil testing (80% ), while as 40 per cent had mentioned Lack of knowledge about improved varieties, seed rate and sowing time as other constraint faced.