Elective Proposal: Socio-economic Prospect of Organic Wheat Cultivation in Western Maharashtra

Abstract

Agriculture is an important livelihood strategy sector in the Indian economy and provides employment However, conventional farming practices, which rely heavily on HYV, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, have led to soil degradation, reduced biodiversity, and environmental concerns. In response, organic farming has emerged as a sustainable alternative that promotes natural farming methods and reduces dependency on synthetic inputs. This study aims to examine the socio-economic profile of organic wheat farmers in Western Maharashtra, compare with inorganic wheat farmers, and identify the major challenges faced by organic wheat farmers. For this purpose, data was collected for the agricultural year 2022-23 using a sample size of 72 respondent and data was analysed with help of simple tabular analysis and garret ranking technique. Result of tabular analysis revealed that, organic farmers had an average family size of 5.72, while inorganic farmers had 7.26, inorganic farmers generally had a higher level of secondary education (40.64 per cent) and organic farmers had higher level of primary level of education (36.93 %), 9.62 per cent of organic farmer’s families were illiterate, whereas only 2.62 per cent of inorganic farmer’s families fell into this category, organic farmers had a slightly smaller landholding of 3.19 hectares, compared to 3.43 hectares for inorganic farmers, organic farmers owned 49.34 per cent cows, while inorganic farmers had a higher percentage of buffaloes, while inorganic farmers hold 27.04 per cent cows, organic wheat farmers invest significantly more and had higher asset ownership (325238.53 rupees) as compare to inorganic wheat farmers (259314.62 rupees), organic wheat farmers had a cropping intensity of 167.55 per cent higher than the 151.19 per cent of inorganic wheat farmers. The findings of garret ranking analysis revealed that, no separate organic consumer was the main constraints in general constraint then low productivity in initial stage was the main constraint in technical constraint, organic markets are not well established was the main marketing constraints, certifying agency is not operated in area was the main administrative constraints, high cost of bio materials was the main financial constraint. Result concluded that, with adequate support, organic farming can be a viable and sustainable agricultural approach, benefiting farmers, consumers and the environment.