1 -1574 30 March 2016.pmd Journal of Extension Education Vol. 27 No. 3, 2015 Factors Influencing Farmers Decission in Rainfed Areas P.L. Manohari1 and G.R. Desai2 ABSTRACT The study was undertaken to understand the different production factors affecting decision making process of the farmers in rainfed areas of ten states in India. From each state 40 farmers were selected from the lowest rainfall raining areas as respondents. Data were collected using specially designed structured pretested schedule. The results show that in rainfed areas majority of the farmers considered factors related to inputs along with other factors viz., risk bearing ability, agro-climatic conditions and market situation for taking divisions in Agricultural production. 1-Assistant Director, National Institute of Agrl.Extension Management, Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad and 2- Former Director (ODPC) MANAGE, Hyderabad. Rainfed Crops are prone to breaks in the monsoon during the crop growth due to water stress. This water stress may be due to variability of rainfall, delay in sowing, diversity in crop management practice and variability of the soil type. The prolonged breaks can result in partial or complete failure of the crops. In the resource constrained and dry areas, the farming is a survival mechanism rather than a growth oriented activity. Still farmers use to take many decisions like selection of inputs (seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides), marketing, processing etc. for bringing agricultural production. Successful farm management depends on farmer’s ability to take correct decisions. There are so many alternatives available to the farmers. Before making decisions all alternatives should be evaluated from which the advantages and disadvantages are known. It helps to make the best decisions. Situation specific Decision- making has becoming more complicated for the farmers with the locally available information. Certain factors are influencing in selecting the best among the different alternatives. An attempt was made in the study to understand the factors that influenced farmers decision making in relation to the choice of crops, cropping pattern, enterprises, investments to be made etc. Keeping the situation in view the present study was taken up with the following objectives. 1) To understand the different production factors affecting decision making process of the farmers in rain fed areas. 2) To observe the risk bearing ability of the farmers. 3) To know the extent of utilization of farm machinery in rainfed areas. METHODOLOGY Ex-post -Facto Research Design was followed. The study was carried out in 10 Journal of Extension Education5478 states since many developmental activities have been undertaken in all the areas over a period of time. One district representing the lower levels of irrigated area in the state was selected randomly from among the districts with lower rainfall in each state. From each district one block with lowest rainfall was selected. Two villages from each block was selected comprising of 20 villages for the study. From each one of the villages, four categories of the farmers were selected representing marginal, small, medium and large holding categories. Five farmers from each of the categories were selected on a random sampling basis. In all 20 farmers from each village comprising 400 farmers were included in the study. The data were collected by using a specially designed structured pre tested schedule. Interview method was adopted to collect the primary data from the farming community. For collecting the data, various institutions were involved in collaboration viz., State Agricultural Universities, ICAR Institutes, State Department of Agriculture and NGOs in different states. The data collected have been analyzed by using means and percentages. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION The results and discussions pertaining to the factors influencing farmer’s decisions in Rain fed Areas were presented below. 1. Andhra Pradesh The factors influencing farmer’s decisions in agriculture in Andhra Pradesh state are presented below. A perusal of the table 1 indicates that the major factors influencing decision making were found to be the availability of labour (78 %) followed by irrigation potential (63 %), home needs (56 %) , market situation (55 %) and availability of credit (27.8 %). A similar pattern of factors was found among most of the indicators. However, in the case of marginal farmers, the home needs were found to be a crucial factor among only 33 % of the community. This was possibly seen since these farmers being marginal had also the access to other supplies through the public distribution system at a cheaper cost, hence, could meet their home requirements. Any further intervention for improving the farmer’s situation should take into account that the factors considered by the farmers are crucial to take up decisions. The situation demands promotion of labour saving devices so that availability of labour may not act as a major factor to influence adoption decisions. Similar is the case with credit, markets etc. which can help to improve the risk bearing ability of the farmers and influence faster decision making in favour of improved technologies. 2. Gujarat Availability of irrigation, seeds and labour were found to be crucial to decide the type of technology being followed by the farming community. Apart from this, the soil type and 5479Factors Influencing Farmers Decission in Rainfed Areas fertility was also considered by the farmers. Since, the first three factors are management related it would be necessary to create an appropriate infrastructure for regular supply of these inputs so that they do not affect the decision making among the farming communities. Table 1. Factors Influencing Farmers' Decisions in Andhra Pradesh Sl.No. Factors Category of farmers (%) Average Marginal Small Medium Large 1 Availability of Labour 78 64 80 90 78.0 2 Availability of Irrigation 67 55 70 60 63.0 3 Availability of Credit 33 18 30 30 27.8 4 Availability of Animal labour - - 10 10 5.0 5 Availability of Machinery - - - 10 2.5 6 Crop varieties and their duration 11 - - - 2.8 7 Home needs 33 73 70 50 56.5 8 Market situation 56 45 80 40 55.3 9 Agro climatic conditions - - 20 - 5.0 10 Availability of seeds - 18 20 - 9.5 11 Availability of Fertilizers - - 10 20 7.5 12 Risk bearing ability 44 64 50 70 57.0 n = 40 Table 2. Factors Influencing Farmers’ Decisions in Himachal Pradesh Sl.No. Factors Category of farmers (%) Average Marginal Small Medium Large 1 Availability of Labour 100 87 89 100 94.0 2 Availability of Irrigation 42 67 56 100 66.3 3 Availability of Credit 17 7 22 25 17.8 4 Availability of Animal labour 67 80 78 100 81.3 5 Availability of Machinery 25 20 11 - 14.0 6 Crop varieties and their duration 42 93 78 75 72.0 7 Home needs 92 93 89 100 93.5 8 Market situation 33 67 100 75 68.8 9 Agro climatic conditions 33 13 56 25 31.8 10 Soil type and fertility 83 87 89 50 77.3 11 Availability of Seeds 75 80 89 100 86.0 12 Availability of Fertilizers 17 53 56 100 56.5 13 Risk bearing ability 17 60 44 100 55.3 n = 40 Journal of Extension Education5480 3. Himachal Pradesh Many factors influence the decision making of the farmers. Some important factors are mentioned in Table 2. It could be observed from the below table that the crucial factors influencing farmer’s decision making irrespective of the category of farmer was the home needs. Farming Table 3. Factors Influencing Farmers’ Decisions in Madhya Pradesh Sl.No. Factors Category of farmers (%) Average Marginal Small Medium Large 1 Availability of Labour 86 100 100 100 96.5 2 Availability of Irrigation 43 82 67 85 69.25 3 Availability of Credit 57 45 67 69 59.5 5 Availability of Machinery 71 91 78 100 85 6 Crop varieties and their duration 86 91 89 100 91.5 7 Home needs 86 100 78 92 89 8 Market situation 86 100 78 92 89 9 Agro climatic conditions 86 100 78 100 91 10 Soil type and fertility 86 100 89 100 93.75 11 Availability of Seeds 86 91 100 92 92.25 12 Availability of Fertilizers 86 100 89 92 91.75 13 Risk bearing ability 29 64 33 62 47 14 Others - - - 8 26 n = 40 activity is being undertaken by the farmer to meet the personal needs of the farm family. This was followed by availability of major resources like labour, seeds, fertilizers etc. The third set of factors relate to natural conditions such as soil type with fertility and agro climatic situations. The fourth one relates to risk bearing ability of the farmers. However, the crucial factors seem to be family needs, availability of inputs. 4. Karnataka Major factors influencing the farm decisions by the farmers were availability of labour, irrigation, credit, machinery, animal labour, seeds apart from the home needs. The farmers in the rainfed areas seem to be operating not only on the uncertainties of the rainfall but also the uncertainties of the input supplies during the needed times. Hence, there seems to be an uncertain start for the farming activity, this reveals lack of management of supplies and planning by the concerned. Hence it is necessary to develop a system of formulating a development strategy document incorporating needs of all the farmers for the district that could be supported by each actor. 5481Factors Influencing Farmers Decission in Rainfed Areas Table 4. Factors Influencing Farmers’ Decisions in Orissa Sl.No. Factors Category of farmers (%) Average Marginal Small Medium Large 1 Availability of Labour 62 57 100 - 73.0 2 Availability of Irrigation 100 100 100 - 100.0 3 Availability of Credit 75 71 100 - 82.0 4 Crop varieties and their duration 31 7 - - 12.7 5 Home needs 56 64 20 - 46.7 6 Market situation 25 100 100 - 75.0 7 Agro climatic conditions 38 43 60 - 47.0 8 Soil type and fertility 38 - - - 12.7 9 Availability of Seeds 56 64 20 - 46.7 10 Availability of Fertilizers 25 - - - 8.3 n = 40 5. Madhya Pradesh Various factors influence the decision making at farm level. An attempt was made in the study to understand the factors that farmers use to make their decisions. The information in table 3 reveals that availability of various inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, labour, irrigation, credit have been one of the key sources for the farmers to undertake decisions for crop production apart Table 5. Factors Influencing Farmers’ Decisions in Rajasthan Sl.No. Factors Category of farmers (%) Average Marginal Small Medium Large 1 Availability of Labour - 64 11 55 32.5 2 Availability of Irrigation 33 36 89 55 53.3 3 Availability of Credit 11 - 11 9 7.8 4 Availability of Machinery 67 91 89 73 80.0 5 Crop varieties and their duration 67 27 56 36 46.5 6 Home needs 100 73 89 82 86.0 7 Market situation 67 55 78 45 61.3 8 Agro climatic conditions 44 18 22 9 23.3 9 Soil type and fertility 22 55 44 36 39.3 10 Availability of Seeds 22 64 33 64 45.8 11 Availability of Fertilizers 22 73 33 36 41.0 12 Risk bearing ability 11 - 22 9 10.5 n = 40 Journal of Extension Education5482 from the requirements from the home front to meet the home needs. The second type of factors were to agro climatic conditions, crops and their duration, market situation and soils and soil fertility. The third type of factor was risk bearing ability of the farming community. Since most of the factors indicated by the farmers are manageable within the capacities of the delivery systems, it is necessary that the support systems for agricultural development are streamlined so that farmers do not feel a constraint in taking farm decisions at their level. 6. Orissa Many factors influence the production decisions being taken by the farmers. An attempt was made in the study to identify the factors being considered by the farmers. Table 6. Factors Influencing Farmers' Decisions in Tamil Nadu Sl.No. Factors Category of farmers (%) Average Marginal Small Medium Large 1 Availability of Labour 40 58 73 57 57.0 2 Availability of Irrigation 100 83 100 100 95.8 3 Availability of Credit 70 83 73 100 81.5 4 Availability of Machinery - 8 18 29 13.8 5 Crop varieties and their duration 40 25 18 14 24.3 6 Home needs 40 42 55 29 41.5 7 Market situation 40 67 55 57 54.8 8 Agro climatic conditions 80 75 45 57 64.3 9 Soil type and fertility 60 17 36 29 35.5 10 Availability of Seeds 40 58 64 57 54.8 11 Availability of Fertilizers 20 42 27 29 29.5 12 Risk bearing ability 20 - 9 - 7.3 n = 40 The results table 4 indicate that farm decisions were mainly influenced by the availability of the inputs such as irrigation, credit, market situations, labour, seeds and fertilizers. Nearly half of the farmers were influenced by the home needs. 7. Rajasthan Farm decision making is influenced by various factors for the rain fed farmers. The data presented in table 5 highlights that meeting home needs was found to be a crucial factor among all the farmers. This was followed by the availability of animal labour and machinery being crucial to undertake any agricultural activity. The other important factors influencing farm decision making were the market situation and the availability of irrigation. Apart from this, availability of inputs and the risk bearing ability of the 5483Factors Influencing Farmers Decission in Rainfed Areas farmers were found to influence quick decision making among the farmers. 8. Tamil Nadu Many factors influence the farm decision making by the farmers in rain fed areas. The results in table 6 highlight the availability of irrigation and credit as the crucial factors influencing in more than 80 % of the cases followed by agro climatic conditions, availability of labour, seeds and market situation. The third set of factors influencing farm decisions were soil type and fertility, crop duration and availability of fertilizer. However, home needs were found to be crucial among 40 – 55 % among different categories of farmers. 9. Uttar Pradesh The table 7 indicates that the various factors considered by the farmers in taking decisions relating to farming activity. It could be observed from the table that the availability of irrigation has been a major factor in deciding the technology to be used by the farmers and the cropping pattern. This is followed by availability of seeds, soil fertility, availability of labour, risk, home needs, market, credit etc. The crucial factors in making decisions relating to farm activity were found to be home needs, availability of inputs including irrigation and labour, market situation and the risk involved in undertaking the activity. Any strategy to improve the farming systems has to consider the criteria set by farmers to evaluate their own situations. 10. West Bengal Farm decision making is influenced by various factors among different categories of farmers. Table 7. Factors Influencing Farmers’ Decisions in Uttar Pradesh n = 40 Sl.No. Factors Category of farmers (%) Average Marginal Small Medium Large 1 Availability of Labour 44 67 57 62 57.5 2 Availability of Irrigation 78 100 86 75 84.8 3 Availability of Credit 56 44 50 38 47.0 4 Availability of Machinery 56 33 36 12 34.3 5 Crop varieties and their duration 33 44 36 38 37.8 6 Home needs 56 44 50 62 53.0 7 Market situation 33 67 57 62 54.8 8 Agro climatic conditions 56 67 43 50 54.0 9 Soil type and fertility 22 33 100 50 51.3 10 Availability of Seeds 78 67 79 62 71.5 11 Availability of Fertilizers 44 33 57 38 43.0 12 Risk bearing ability 67 56 57 25 51.3 Journal of Extension Education5484 The major factors influencing were found to be availability of seeds, labour, machinery, fertilizers etc. 56 % of the farmers indicated home needs as a factor influencing farm decision. Apart from the above factors, agro climatic situations, market situations, credit availability, risk bearing ability etc. also influence the farmers decisions. It could be observed from the result indicate that the major factors influencing decisions were the input availability, home needs apart from agro climatic situations. Since agro climatic situations cannot be modified, the possibility of organizing appropriate input supply and meeting the home requirements of the farming community by effective planning process is a crucial requirement in improving the condition of the rainfed farmers. CONCLUSION In rain fed areas farmers considered not only factors related to inputs but also other factors like risk bearing ability, agro climatic conditions & market situations for taking decisions in Agricultural production. Keeping this scenario in the view the Agriculture and allied departments including marketing has to retune their delivery mechanisms for increasing productivity in rainfed areas.