Participation of farm family women in sericulture in the Palakkad district

Abstract

A Research study entitled “Participation of Farm Family Woman in Sericulture in the Palakkad District” was conducted to identify the extent of participation of farm family woman in decision making and in the operations in sericulture in relation to their personal, socio-cultural and techno-economic factors and the constraints and consequences there of. The study area comprised of the four agricultural subdivisions of the Palakad district namely, Alathoor, Mannarkad, shornur and Chittoor. A stratified random sample of 150 sericulture units was selected for the study. Data were collected from the woman heads of sericulture units using a pre-tested structured interview schedule. Appropriate statistical techniques like correlation analysis, regression analysis and path analysis were done to analyse the data. The extent of participation of farm family women in sericultural operations (EPSO) was measured in terms of two dimensions namely actual hours of work and nature of participation in each of the operations. Nineteen operations in sericulture (seven under mulberry cultivation and twelve under silkworm rearing) were identified and included in the study. The extent of participation of farm family women in decision making in sericultural operations (EPDS) was measured in terms of two dimensions, nature of participation and frequency of participation. Thirty important areas of decision making in sericulture were identified and measured in the study. The study revealed that only a small percentage of the farm woman had put forth ‘high’ and ‘medium’ participation in sericultural operations while, a majority of them were of ‘low’ and ‘very low’ participation in various activities of sericulture enterprise. Operation wise analysis revealed that in almost all operations of mulberry, farm women had no major contribution. Only in the case of application of chemical fertilizers, pruning, weeding and harvesting of leaves at least some amount of participation could be accounted, which were carried out either ‘jointly’ or with ‘supervision’ only. Majority of the farm women spend 2-5 hours for chopping the leaves, feeding the worms, caring the worms at moulting, bed cleaning, protection of worms, moulting of worms, harvesting of cocoons and cleaning and grading of cocoons with ‘joint’ nature of participation. Regarding the extent of participation of farm family women in decision making in sericulture operations the study revealed that nearly one third of the farm women had ‘medium’ involvement, while a majority of them had either ‘low’ or ‘very low’ participation. A majority of the farm woman had ‘joint’ participation in decision making in all activities of mulberry cultivation none of the respondents had ‘solely’ participation in decision making in any of the activities of mulberry cultivation and silk worm rearing. More than fifty per cent of farm woman made ‘joint’ decisions in matters regarding number of feedings to be given to worms, size and quality of leaves, spacing of worms, caring of worms, method of bed cleaning, number of trays, time of mounting of worms, harvesting of cocoons, and grading and cleaning of cocoons with moderate frequent participation. The simple correlation analysis showed that out of sixteen variables, except age all variables were positively and significantly related with EPSO. Multiple regression analysis revealed that five variables namely experience in sericulture, scientific orientation, management orientaition, attitude towards sericulture and family income were significant in explaining the variability in EPSO. Except age and education all the variables showed positive and significant correlation with EPDS. Multiple regression analysis revealed that only two variables namely information source utilization and attitude towards sericulture were significant in explaining the variability in EPDS. The major constraints experienced by the farm family women in participation in sericulture and decision making were low price of the cocoons and price fluctuations in the market, lack of leisure time availability, lack of knowledge about the practices and death of worms due to diseases. Enhancement of managerial economy, economic utilization of leisure time and status elevation in the family were identified as the most important positive consequences experienced by the farm family women in sericulture. The major negative consequences experienced by the farm family women due to their participation in sericulture were lack of time to attend children and other farm and home operations, drudgery, exhaustion and frustration.