Constraints faced by the small and marginal farmers in integrated farming system in Amritsar district of Punjab

Integrated Farming System is an integrative whole farm approach that is successful in addressing the issues faced by small and marginal farmers. The aim of Integrated Farming System is to increase employment and income from small-holdings by combining multiple farm enterprises and recycling crop by-products and leftovers on the farm itself. Keeping in view the importance of Integrated Farming System the present study was conducted in the Amritsar district of Punjab. Amritsar district comprises of nine numbers of blocks namely Ajnala, Attari, Chogawan, Harsha China, Jandiala Guru, Majitha, Rayya, Tarsika and Verka. Out of nine blocks, two blocks were selected randomly. From each selected block, two villages were selected randomly and from each selected village 25 respondents were selected randomly to make a sample size of 100 respondents. The results of the study showed that the majority of respondents in the Verka block belong to the middle age group, while in the Attari block, the majority of respondents belong to young age group. The majority of the respondents in the Verka block were matriculated and 12th level qualified while in the Attari block, the majority of farmers were middle-level qualified. Farming and business were the major occupation of farmers in both blocks. Constraints were analysed by using Henry Garrett’s ranking technique the respondents ranked 1st to Lack of Banking facilities, Ranked 2nd to Non availability of bank loans. Lack of awareness was ranked 3rd, Unavailability of Farming system modules ranked 4th and so on upto the 10th rank by the respondents.