Analysis of Socio Economic Profile and Constraints Faced by the Banana Growers in Theni District of Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Economic gains are progressively becoming knowledge-based activities and are getting globalized faster which can be achieved through adopting advanced technologies. In India banana ranks first in production and third in area among fruit crops.  It accounts for 13% of the total area and 33% of the production of fruits. Production is highest in Maharashtra (3924.1 thousand tones) followed by Tamil Nadu (3543.8 thousand tonnes). Within India, Maharashtra has the highest productivity of 65.70 metric tones/ha against national average of 30.5 tonnes/ha. Mango and Banana are the leading fruit crops in Tamil Nadu, accounting for over 81% of the total fruit production. Hence, the present study was undertaken to explore the socio-economic characteristics of banana growers with a sample size of 120 farmers. The respondents were selected based on a purposive random sampling method. The data were collected from each respondent through a pre-tested interview schedule. The results of the study revealed that majority of the banana growers had high school education, had farming alone as their occupation, had medium level of experience in banana cultivation, medium level of social participation, risk orientation, had high level of innovativeness, economic motivation and had an annual income of more than one lakh rupees. It is concluded that the non-availability of labour during cultivation time was the major constraint reported by 70.83 per cent of the respondents, 79.17 per cent of the respondents who reported that High labour wages as a constraint for them.  The study reveals that the banana cultivation is most profitable to the small and large farmers. The government can pay attention by providing good facilitated market and providing subsidies, and also providing the organic manure at the appropriate time. This will enable the farmers to get a good yield of banana.