Relationship between Personal, Socio-demographic, Communication and Psychological Characteristics of Farmers and Farm Level Agricultural Sustainability in Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

In the context of environmental preservation, rural development and global food security, agricultural sustainability has become a crucial issue of concern. Sustainability at the farm level is affected not only by economic and ecological factors but also by the personal, socio-demographic, communication and psychological characteristics of farmers. To improve sustainability, farmer-centric and region-specific solutions must be designed with an understanding of these relationships. The study attempted to find the relationship between selected characteristics of farmers of Uttarakhand and their extent of farm-level agricultural sustainability. The study was conducted in the four districts of Uttarakhand which represents the four agro-climatic zones of Uttarakhand and from each district, two villages were selected by random method of sampling. Total 270 respondents were interviewed personally by the researcher with help of pre tested interview schedule. Descriptive research design was used to carry out the investigation. The relationship was determined between farm level agricultural sustainability (dependent variable) and 11 independent variables. The coefficient of correlation was calculated to determine the relationship and to find the significance between two variables, p-value from the t-test was used. Farmers' readiness and capacity to embrace farm-level agricultural sustainability was found to be influenced by variables such as size of land holding, family size, extension contact, scientific orientation and economic motivation. The creation of tailored methods to facilitate the shift towards more resilient and sustainable agricultural systems in Uttarakhand's varied biological terrain can be guided by a deep understanding of farmers' characteristics.