Exploring profile characteristics of millet farmers in Assam

The present investigation was conducted with the objective to know the socio-economics profile characteristics of the millet farmers towards millet cultivation in Golaghat district of Assam. The study, titled “Exploring profile characteristics of Millet Farmers in Assam” adopted a descriptive research design and employed a multi-stage, purposive-cum-random sampling technique to select 120 respondents from eight sampled villages in the Golaghat district of Assam. Data were collected using a pretested, semi-structured research schedule with the personal interview method. The results of the study indicated that the majority of the farmers belonged to middle age category (69.16%) with middle level school education (33.33%), nuclear family type (63.33%), cultivation as a primary source of occupation (46.67%) with small land holdings (52.50%), Mean value of area and production of millet crop reduces due to low income from millet cultivation but productivity remains constant. Annual income and savings of family is also reduced when compared to the before and after cultivation of millets and the reasons were low market prices for millet, limited access to harvesting and threshing machinery, high labor costs. Regarding expenditure, millet cultivation offers economic benefits as compared the other crops. More than half of the respondents (56.67%) were never attended any training programme regarding millet cultivation.