A study on relationship of socio-economic variables with knowledge and adoption of rural women in Bihar

Introduction

Agriculture is the major sector for poverty alleviation. But this sector fails to do many countries because of women face constraints that reduce the productivity. Women have had a crucial role in both farming and the family. Women's status has fluctuated over time, and currently, their place in society is determined by the norms of social organisation. The word empowerment is the key topic now. The empowerment of women is the central importance to political thinkers, social scientists, and reformers.Agrobased businesses have paved the way for rural women's economic independence and development. Socioeconomic opportunity, property rights, political representation, social equality, personal rights, family development, market development, community development, and national development all improved because of women's economic advancement. Women's participation in home and farm activities in social, cultural, and economic conditions in the area. It varies from reason to reason, family to family cast, class, and socio-economic status. Women of rural areas work as agricultural labour and their contribution in the production of vegetables and fruits, poultry, livestock, fish cultivation tree planting, crop processing, bee keeping, mushroom cultivation. In the present scenario of globalization, liberalization and privatization in agricultural sector, the sustainable development and empowerment of farm women is considered as a key factor for development of any country. Women play a variety of tasks in the home and in agriculture, yet their labour is underestimated and underappreciated. They have access to innovative agricultural technologies that provide them with a stable income. They have not yet been affected by science or technology. Their workload is backbreaking since they continue to use traditional tools, skills, and indigenous technologies. Women therefore play a vital role in agriculture, participating in all aspects of agricultural operations and working in related fields. They directly contribute significantly to the creation of family income, which raises their families' social standing. The ICAR has created KVKs across the nation by providing for interdisciplinary scientific teams. The organisation plays a part in knowledge management, technology backstopping, and stakeholder advisory services for farmers, farm women, young people in rural areas, and extension agents. To improve the well-being of farm women by increasing output, productivity, and profitability, the KVK, Samastipur www.extensionjournal.com has implemented several interventions, including training in beekeeping, mushroom cultivation, vermicomposting, and other capacity building programs. To improve the wellbeing of rural women, KVK Samastipur has implemented a few initiatives, including training in beekeeping, mushroom cultivation, vermicomposting, and other capacity building programs. This study also throws light on the obstacles faced by the rural women in adoption of agro-based enterprises.

Materials and Methods

The Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Birauli, Samastipur district, Bihar, was the site of the study. Bihar state's Samastipur district was chosen for the research. Samastipur district's Pusa and Kalyanpur blocks are divided into landless, marginal, small, and medium-sized farmers according to the size of their landholdings. This study looked at how women farmers participate in the agricultural industry, how they make decisions, and how they adopt new agricultural technologies. Due to the availability of sufficient women who attended the Krishi Vigyan Kendra training on the chosen enterprises, ten villages-six from Pusa block and four from Kalayanpur block-were purposefully chosen. Twelve trainees were identified from each village, for a total of 120. For this study, an ex-post facto research design was used. A pretested interview plan was used to help gather data from the chosen respondents. With the aid of statistical tools such as frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Pearson correlation, and others, the data was analysed using statistical tests and procedures.

Knowledge of agrobased enterprises

In the present study knowledge refers to the condition of being aware of something. It is cognitive processing of information which includes recall, recognition, understanding, application and evaluation of facts and concepts. It is the amount of correct information of individual trainees passes. Yes and No type questions were selected, the respondents were also asked multiple choice categories that is correct and incorrect. Marks for correctly answered questions were used to determine each respondent's knowledge score. Every right response received a score of 1, while every wrong response received a score of 0. There was total 27 questions.

Adoption of agrobased enterprises

Adoption in this context refers to "use adoption," which includes both the acceptance of new technologies or practices in theory and their practical implementation in a farm setting. Questions of the yes/no variety were chosen. Additionally, the respondents were asked to select whether their response was correct or incorrect in a multiple-choice format. Each respondent's adoption score was determined by allocating points for accurately responding to questions. For every correct answer '1' score was given and for every incorrect answer '0' score was given. There was total 27questions.

Results and Discussion 1. Measurement of Socio-economic and educational profile of the women of agro-based enterprises. a. Age

Following that, the respondents' ages were split into three groups: Young (60), Middle (56), and Old (4).

S. No Age group (years)

i. Landholding

As mentioned above, the respondents' land holdings were separated into five categories: no land, marginal land (up to 2.5 acres), small land (2.6 to 5 acres), medium land (5 to 10 acres), and large land (above 10 acres). Of these, 77 respondents had marginal land, 27 had small land, 9 had medium land, and none had large land.

m. Cosmopoliteness

The three categories of cosmopoliteness were Low, Medium, and High. Of these, 59 respondents had a medium level of interaction with people outside their village, 56 had a low level, and 5 had a high level of contact with people outside their village.

S. No. Cosmopoliteness

Once in a month 56 46.66 2.

Once in a week 59 49.17 3.

Twice or thrice in a week 5 4.17 Total 120 100.00 www.extensionjournal.com

Results

Relationship of socioeconomic variables with adoption Age

It is clear from the table that age was positively significant with adoption. At the 0.05 level of significance, their computed value exceeds the table value. It means that there was a positive relationship exists between age and adoption.

Caste

It is clear from the table that caste was positively significant with adoption. At the 0.05 level of significance, their computed value exceeds the table value. It means that there was a positive relationship exists between caste and adoption.

Education

It is clear from the table that education was positively significant with adoption. At the 0.05 level of significance, their computed value exceeds the table value. It means that there was a positive relationship exists between education and adoption.

Marital status

It is clear from the table that marital status was positively significant with adoption. At the 0.05 level of significance, their computed value exceeds the table value. It means that there was a positive relationship exists between marital status and adoption.

Family size

It is clear from the table that family size was negatively significant with adoption. At the 0.05 level of significance, their computed value exceeds the table value. It indicates that there is a negative correlation between adoption and family size. There was negative effect of family size at their adoption level.

Family type

It is clear from the table that family type was positively significant with adoption. At the 0.05 level of significance, their computed value exceeds the table value. It indicates that there is a favourable correlation between adoption and age.

Occupation

It is clear from the table that occupation was not significant with adoption. At the 0.05 level of significance, their computed value exceeds the table value. It signifies that there was a no association existed between occupation and adoption. It means no effect of occupation on adoption.

Annual income

It is clear from the table that annual income was positively significant with adoption. At the 0.05 level of significance, their computed value exceeds the table value. It indicates that there is a favourable correlation between adoption and yearly income.

Land holding

It is clear from the table that land holding was not significant with adoption. At the 0.05 level of significance, their computed value exceeds the table value. It indicates that there was no connection between adoption and land ownership. It means no effect of land holding on adoption.

Type of house

The table makes it evident that adoption was favourably correlated with the type of home. At the 0.05 level of significance, their computed value exceeds the table value. It indicates that there was a favourable correlation between adoption and home type.

Organizational membership

It is clear from the table that organizational membership was positively significant with adoption. At the 0.05 level of significance, their computed value exceeds the table value. It indicates that adoption and organisational membership have a beneficial association.

Mass media exposure

The chart makes it evident that exposure to the media has a positively significant relationship with adoption. At the 0.05 www.extensionjournal.com level of significance, their computed value exceeds the table value. It indicates that exposure to the media and adoption have a good association.

Cosmopoliteness

Marital status

It is clear from the table that marital status was not significant with adoption. At the significance level of 0.05, their computed value is less than the table value. It indicates that knowledge and marital status are unrelated. It means no effect of marital status on knowledge.

Family size

It is clear from the table that family size was negatively significant with knowledge. At the significance level of 0.05, their computed value is less than the table value. It indicates that there is a negative correlation between knowledge and family size. There was negative effect of family size at their knowledge level.

Family type

It is clear from the table that family type was not significant with adoption. At the significance level of 0.05, their computed value is less than the table value. It indicates that there was no connection between knowledge and family type. It means no effect of family type on knowledge.

Occupation

It is clear from the table that occupation was not significant with adoption. At the significance level of 0.05, their computed value is less than the table value. It indicates that there was no connection between knowledge and occupation. It means no effect of occupation on knowledge.

Annual income

It is clear from the table that annual income was not significant with knowledge. At the significance level of 0.05, their computed value is less than the table value. It indicates that there was no correlation between knowledge and yearly income. It means no effect of annual income on knowledge.

Land holding

It is clear from the table that land holding was not significant with knowledge. At the significance level of 0.05, their computed value is less than the table value. It indicates that there was no connection between knowledge and land ownership. It means no land holding on knowledge.

Type of house

It is clear from the table that type of house was not significant with knowledge. At the significance level of 0.05, their computed value is less than the table value. It indicates that there was no connection between knowledge and the sort of home. It means no effect of type of house on knowledge.

Organizational membership

It is clear from the table that organizational membership was not significant with knowledge. At the significance level of 0.05, their computed value is less than the table value. In other words, there was no correlation between knowledge and the type of house. It means no effect of organizational membership on knowledge.

Mass media exposure

It is clear from the table that mass media exposure was not significant with knowledge. At the significance level of 0.05, their computed value is less than the table value. It indicates that exposure to the mainstream media and expertise are unrelated. It means no effect of mass media exposure on knowledge.

Cosmopoliteness

It is clear from the table that cosmopoliteness was negatively significant with knowledge. At the significance level of 0.05, their computed value is less than the table value. It indicates that knowledge and cosmopoliteness have a negative association. There was negative effect of cosmopoliteness at their knowledge level.

Conclusion

The extent of adoption was found to be significantly correlated with age, caste, marital status, family type, occupation, annual income, landholding, house type, organisational membership, mass media exposure, and cosmopoliteness. Additionally, a non-significant correlation was found between the extent of adoption and family size. It was discovered that age and knowledge level are significantly correlated. Additionally, it was noted that caste, marital status, education, family size, family type, occupation, annual income, landholding, house type, membership in an organisation, exposure to the media, and cosmopoliteness do not significantly correlate with knowledge level.

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