Socio-economic profile and constraints faced by rice farmers in tribal areas of Nalgonda district of Telangana

Majority of the farmers were of middle age group, illiterate, had small land holding and red soil type, bore as major irrigation source, low farming experience and medium family size. Majority of the tribal farmers had not taken any agricultural loans from Government agencies but had taken loan from informal sources i.e., neighbors. More than fifty per cent of the respondents had no membership in any agricultural society/ farmer groups, no leadership in any society and had not availed any subsidy on agricultural inputs and farm machinery. More than 62.73 per cent of the respondents had not insured their crop against natural calamities and crop failure. The gross returns obtained per hectare was Rs. 68006/-. The net returns per hectare was Rs. 14,223/- with a benefit cost ratio of 1.26. Non- availability and high charges of labour during the critical operations viz., transplanting and weeding, loss of crop yield due to pests and diseases were the major constraints ranked by the tribal farmers. Large scale awareness programmes need to be organized to motivate tribal farmers to avail crop subsidy, crop insurance and other benefits of government schemes specially being offered for tribal farmers to improve their socio-economic status.