Performance analysis of the self help groups in vegetable production in Thiruvananthapuram district

Abstract

The study was carried out in Thiruvananthapuram District. of Kerala among the six selected self help groups, 3 each from KHDP and IVDP. The study aimed to analyse the group characteristics of self help groups, planning, production and marketing aspects of vegetables, extent of adoption of recommended practices with regard to vegetables, constraints faced by the farmers of SHGs and to analyse the perception of officials about SHGs. The respondents consisted of 120 farmers selected from SIX Panchayaths namely Kalliyoor, Venganoor & Vembayam under KHDP and Anad, Pothencode & Sreekaryam under IVDP. The second category of respondents included extension personnel of KHDP and IVDP who were actively associated with vegetable production. The dependent variable for the study were group characteristics, planning, production & marketing aspects of vegetables & extent of adoption of recommended practices. The independent variables included the personal, socio-pshychological characteristics of farmers. The correlation analysis was done to find out the relationship between the independent variables and all the dependent variables and also between the ,- dependent variables. To compare the groups under KHDP and IVDP 't' test was done, which revealed that there existed significantance difference between these groups with respect to annual income, farm size, credit orientation, market perception, knowledge in vegetable cultivation, group cohesion, group leadership, need satisfaction, team spirit and equity. The major constraint felt by KHDP SHGs was marketing through field centres where as IVDP SHGs faces planning, production, marketing and organizational constraints. The analysis of the perception of officials about SHGs revealed that all of them had fairly high perception about SHGs.