A Study on Role of Farm Women in Decision Making Process in Vegetable Cultivation in Panagar Block of Jabalpur District (M.P.)

Signature Signature Signature Head of Department Advisor Student 1. Title of the thesis : A study on role of farm women in decision making process in vegetable cultivation in Panagar Block of Jabalpur District (MP) 2. Student : PRAMOD SINGH THAKUR 3. Advisor : Dr. D.K. Singh 4. Degree awarded : Master of Science in Agriculture ( Agricultural Extension) 5. Year of award of degree : 2013 6. Major subject : Agricultural Extension 7. Total number of pages in the thesis : 75 8. Number of words in the abstract : 1238 Introduction: Women make essential contributions to the agricultural and rural economies in all developing countries. Their roles vary considerably between and within regions and are changing rapidly in many parts of the world, where economic and social forces are transforming the agricultural sector. Rural women often manage complex households and pursue multiple livelihood strategies. Their activities typically include producing agricultural crops, tending animals, processing and preparing food, working for wages in agricultural or other rural enterprises, collecting fuel and water, engaging in trade and marketing, caring for family members and maintaining their homes. Many of these activities are not defined as “economically active employment” in national accounts but they are essential to the well-being of rural households. This paper contributes to the gender debate in agriculture by assessing the empirical evidence in three areas that has received much attention in the literature: Decision making is the process of consciously choosing courses of action from available alternatives and integration of them for the purpose of achieving the desired goal. It is well known fact that the success of rural development process largely depends the participation of people at large irrespective of sex. The problem of involving women’s participation in the development process is now catching the attention of planners and policy maker because of increasing imbalance generation out of development process. In vegetable cultivation, decision making always remained associated with the female women utilization relating to various aspects in the study area, yet their involvement in this process has not been recognized. It was evident from vegetable cultivation, the joint decisions by male and female partners of the household are important. Objectives: 1. To study the profile of selected farm women. 2. To determine the role of farm women in decision making process related to vegetable, cultivation practices. 3. To find out the association between profile of selected farm women and decision making 4. To know the constraints faced by the farm women in decision making process in vegetable cultivation and suggestions to overcome them. In order to achieve these objectives, the investigation was carried out in Panagar block of Jabalpur district (M.P.). The district Jabalpur comprises of seven blocks, namely Jabalpur, Sahpura, Patan ,Panagar, Sihora, Majholi and Kundom. Out of which one block Panagar was selected purposively. The Panagar block comprised of 210 villages, out of which 05 villages were selected on the basis of large area coverage under Vegetable crops. From each village, an equal number of the vegetable growers were selected on the basis of random sampling method. Thus, the total sample size was 110 respondents for the purpose of investigation. The data were collected with help of pretested interview schedule. These were analyzed by investigator using frequency, percentage, chisquare test and rank order. In order to ascertain relationship between independent and dependent variables, the chi-square was worked out. Variables and their measurement: The relevant independent and dependent variables considered under the study were as: Independent Variables: Age, Education, Cast, Family type, Type of house, Size of land holding, Occupation, Annual income, Material possession, Social participation, Information seeking behavior, Economic motivation, Market orientation, Dependent Variable: Extent of decision making Conclusions: The analysis of the data led to the following conclusions: 1. To study the profile of selected farm women, Majority of farm women were from middle age group, can read and write, nuclear family type, pakka house type, vegetables + labor occupation and size of land holding,. Majority of the farm women had low information seeking behavior. Most of the farm women possessed medium mass media exposure and were from medium size of land holding, medium size annual income and were medium material possession, social participation, economic motivation, and market orientation from medium level. 2. Role of farm women in decision making process related to vegetable, cultivation practices : Majority of the farm women had moderate participation in decision making process, as related to vegetable operations During the research study, it was observed that majority of farm women had always taken decision regarding selection of crop, quantity of seed, sowing time of seed, weeding, use of manures, harvesting, picking and seed storage. They were rarely involved in decision making regarding nursery management, field preparation, selection of variety, irrigation, seed treatment and marketing and use of fertilizers, plant protection measures as it required more scientific knowledge and skill. 3. Association between Profile of selected farm women and extent of decision making Age had non-significant association and influenced the role in decision making process related to vegetable operations, whereas level of education, caste, family type, type of house, size of land holding, occupation annual income, material possession, information seeking behavior, economic motivation, and market orientation had significant association with extent of decision making process of vegetable operations of the farm women. 4. To know the constraints faced by the farm women in decision making process in vegetable cultivation and suggestions to overcome them: Male dominance, lack knowledge about improved technology and lack of education were the most important problems affecting the decision making process reported by tribal farm women. Other factors in order of sequence were, poor economic status of the family, management of time for farm and home activities, lack of information about the solution to the problem, lack of knowledge, higher time consumption for household works, inability to take decisions, family norms, lack of proper guidance for taking decisions, high cost of farm material, lack of marketing facilities and no permission to take decision due to younger age Suggestions: Some important suggestion given of proper vocational training in their work. Level of education, size of land holding and social participation of farm women should be take more decision for decision making. Therefore, efforts may be directed to organize training in such areas by extension workers or agriculture and social welfare department and NGOs. This will help to increase knowledge and skill of farm women. it is suggested that contact of farm women with extension workers and need-based seasonal training programme should be organized to increase skill and knowledge about vegetable technology. Campaigns for exposure to new ideas should be increased for making the ongoing programme successful. 3. Suggestions for further work: 1. This study was confined to Panagar block only, hence the results may not be applicable to a large area. For generalization, similar work should be undertaken in other blocks and districts. 2. In this study, the profile of selected farm women and extent of decision making were limited. Therefore, more number of variables may be included. 3. In the study the recommended improved vegetables practices were limited future research may broaden the scope of the study by including different and more number of improved farm practices. 4. More intensive statistical techniques should be used for improving the contribution of different variables which might be given more strength to the study. 5. The further study to be planned according to personal socioeconomic attributes.