Socio-economic Status and Attitude of Farmers of Santhal Pargana Division of Jharkhand, Eastern India - A Benchmark Analysis

A survey was carried out to study the socio-personal characteristics and attitude of farmers among 360 respondents of Jamtara and Dumka districts of Jharkhand state using a pre-structured interview schedule. Multi stage random sampling was used which covered Jamtara, Narayanpur, Dumka and Jama blocks. In each of these blocks, five villages were randomly selected. Among these village 18 farmers were selected on the basis of their land holdings as landless, marginal, small, medium and semi medium household. Analysis of data showed that majority of the farmers, engaged with agricultural occupation, were in the age group between 31 and 45 years. They owned one or two hectares of land and belonged to Schedule Tribes and educated just ‘can read only’ group and lived in nuclear type of family system. Status of the majority of the farmers may be described as medium in ‘farm experience’ and ‘market orientation’ but low in source of information utilized and scientific orientation. The study revealed that the variables viz., age, farm experience, land holding size and sources of information utilized had positive and significant association with the attitude of farmers towards improved practices of cultivation. Hence, attempts were needed to be made by the Government, Agricultural Universities, ICAR and other extension agencies for providing information on improved farming practices so that it could bring positive changes in their living and help in improving the socio-economic status of Jamtara and Dumka farmers.