Socio-economic Profile of Farmers of North Eastern Haryana with Reference to Over-exploitation of Irrigation Resources

Abstract

Aim: The main aim of this study was to ascertain the socio-economic profile of farmers in North Eastern Haryana, in relation to over-exploitation of irrigation resources. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in the purposively selected five districts of Haryana state due to the intensification and extensiveness of agricultural practices in recent times. . Methodology: The data were collected from 150 respondents comprising 15 respondents from randomly selected ten villages through a well-prepared interview. Results: The study revealed that majority of respondents belonged to the middle age group, 34.00 per cent of the respondents had the level of education up to matric only, more than two-thirds of respondents were living in joint families, nearly half of the respondents had medium size family, majority of respondents had farming as major occupation, nearly one third of respondents had the medium size land holding, most of the respondents were following only double cropping pattern, most of the respondents were using only tubewell/borewell/submersible for irrigation, all respondents were using only flood irrigation method, vast majority of respondents had only natural pond as a water conservation structure, more than half of respondents had the medium level of mass media exposure, and majority of respondents had high level of extension contacts and high level of perception.