Factors Determining Awardee Farmers’ Decision Making: A Principal Component Analysis

Abstract

Decision-making is central to agricultural productivity, sustainability and risk management, yet farmers often encounter multi-dimensional challenges that make this process complex. Despite its importance, limited research has systematically explored the key factors that shape the farmers’ decision-making behaviour. To address this gap, the present study was conducted to check the factors that determine the decision making of the awardee farmers. For this purpose, 120 awardee farmers from two districts of Karnataka was taken as sample for the study. Data was collected through personal interview and was analysed using principle component analysis. The analysis revealed six distinct factors influencing decision-making and they were ranked. Financial and institutional decisions ranked first, followed by marketing decisions (Rank II), technical decisions (Rank III), society-related decisions (Rank IV), climate and weather-based decisions (Rank V) and post-harvest management decisions (Rank VI). these findings highlight the multi-faceted nature of farmers’ choice and provide valuable insights for policymakers, extension agencies and development practitioners to design more targeted interventions that support informed and resilient farm decision-making.