Analyzing the Association between Citrus Farm Income and Extension Service Providers of Citrus Farmers of Central India

Document Type : Original Research

Authors
S. Bhattacharyya 1
R. K. Sonkar 2
A. Saha 3
P. Pakhmode 4
K. Banerjee 5
P. Roy 6
T. N. Roy 7
1 Agricultural Extension, ICAR-Central Citrus Research Institute, Nagpur-440033, Maharashtra, India.
2 Horticulture, ICAR-Central Citrus Research Institute, Nagpur-440033, Maharashtra, India.
3 Indian Statistical Service, NSSTA, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation, Greater Noida-201310
4 Young Professional-II, Agricultural Extension Lab, ICAR-Central Citrus Research Institute, Nagpur-440033, Maharashtra, India
5 Scientist (Agricultural Meteorology), ICAR - Mahatma Gandhi Integrated Farming Research Institute, Motihari-845429, Bihar, India
6 Research Associate, KAB-II, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi-110012, India
7 Agricultural Economics, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal-736165
10.22034/JAST.26.3.465
Abstract
The agricultural extension system of India has various kinds of service providers like state agriculture departments, universities, research institutes, Farm Science Centers and private players. This study was conducted in 2020 and attempted to explore the association between average annual net income earned from citrus cultivation and the source of availing citrus extension services through Correspondence Analysis (CA) method of 300 citrus farmers selected from three districts in Maharashtra, India. The farmers with high income (1808.31USD to 2411.09USD/ha) received advisory services of the public research institute ICAR-Central Citrus Research Institute (CCRI) through either personal contact or electronic platforms. Awareness about CCRI services, source of seeking citrus cultivation related information, source of purchasing citrus planting material, using CCRI mobile app and website for citrus advisories, and contacting CCRI scientists for solving citrus farming related issues was found to have significant (P< 0.05) positive relationship with net income from citrus farming through Pearsons’ correlation coefficient, while cost of cultivation and orchard age had negative significant relationship. The multi-linear regression analysis, depicted cost of cultivation, awareness about CCRI services, source of seeking citrus advisories, and source of purchasing planting material had significant association with net income. The findings of correlation and regression thus emphasized the positive significant association of CCRI’s extension services to income from citrus farming. Identifying homogenous target groups of citrus farmers through Classification and Regression Tree (CART) method can serve as policy implication for extension service providers to deliver customized need-based advisories to target clientele.

Keywords

Subjects

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Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology
Volume 26, Issue 3
May and June 2024
Pages 465-481