Small Millet Farming Drifting towards Progression: An Attitudinal Study
P. Jaisridhar
Department of Social Sciences, Horticultural College and Research Institute for Women, Trichy, India.
P. Parasuraman
Centre of Excellence in Millets, Athiyandal, Tiruvannamalai, India.
Shashikant Divakar *
Department of Extension Education, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
As farmers have started to grow millets in recent times, farming is taking a slow drift towards progression. Past studies justifies this with various reasons viz., reduced water table, labour shortage, progressive market for millets and so on. Is it really because of this reason farming is taking a drift or is it because of farmers themselves. To understand this, the current study was conducted in Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts where millet is being extensively cultivated. A 3-point Likert Summated Scale containing pre-tested statements was developed and used to measure the perceived factors favouring millet farming in the current scenario. The total sample size was 120 and most of respondents belonged to small and marginal farming category. The results revealed that, 85.00 percent of the respondents’ in Tiruvannamalai district and 80.00 percent of the respondents in Vellore district agreed towards, supportive role of millets in marginal farmer’s life followed by 55.00 percent of the respondents in Tiruvannamalai and 70.00 percent of the respondents in Vellore agreeing to lack of awareness on environmental sustainability and nutritional health benefits of millets. Factors that have contributed towards favourable attitude towards millet farming were use of communication tools & participation in trainings for information utilization and utilization of media sources to gain knowledge over cultivation and market trends.
Keywords: Millet farming, attitude scale, Likert’s method, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai.