A Comparative Study on Socio-Personal and Economic Profile of Contract Farmers and Non-Contract Farmers in Jammu

Contract farming in simple terms, is an arrangement in which a firm purchases the crop produce from farmers under certain terms and conditions regarding price, quantity and quality.To find the socio-personal and economic profile of contract and non-contract farmers this study was conducted.Random sampling technique was used for selecting the sample of contract and non-contract farmers.The total sample size was 100 contract farmers and 100 non-contract farmers.Thus, making a total sample of 200.Interview schedule was used for the collection of data.The significance difference was observed between the contract farmers and non-contract farmers with respect to unirrigated land (t= 4.254, p=0.05), family type (t=2.830,p=0.01), occupation (Z= 2.388, p=0.016).Agriculture was the main source of livelihood for the contract farmers as compare to noncontract farmers.Majority of the contract farmers were illiterate, in comparison to noncontract farmers.But the contract farmers have more experience of agriculture than that of the non-contract farmers.There was significant association between the contract farmers and non-contract farmers in terms of the farm inventory possessed by them like cattle shed, storage facilities, milch animals, farm implements and machine.The gross value of the farm inventory of contract farmers was more than that of non-contract farmers.Television was the major source of information for both the contract and non-contract farmers followed by radio and newspaper.As compare to contract farmers, the non-contract farmers were not socially active as they rarely visit to the agriculture department, KVK, input dealer etc.