A study on the constraints faced by mustard growers: A study of Mirzapur district of eastern Uttar Pradesh
Abstract
Mustard (Brassica juncea L.) is an economically important rabi oilseed crop that occupies a significant place in the agricultural economy of Mirzapur district, Uttar Pradesh. Despite favourable production potential, growers in the district continue to face a range of constraints that limit their adoption of improved cultivation technologies, thereby holding back productivity and farm incomes. This study was undertaken in Mirzapur district during 2024-25 with the aim of identifying and prioritising the constraints experienced by mustard cultivators through Garrett's Ranking Technique. A sample of 120 respondents was drawn using a multistage random sampling design from two contrasting blocks - Haila, a high mustard-producing area, and Narayanpur, a low-producing area - with two villages selected from each block and 30 respondents interviewed per village. Primary data were gathered through structured interview schedules and examined using frequency distribution along with Garrett's Ranking Technique. The findings indicate that inadequate knowledge of high-yielding varieties (Average Percentage Score 69.17, Rank I) was perceived as the most severe constraint, followed by the high price of improved seed (64.90, Rank II), limited awareness of seed treatment methods (63.86, Rank III), weak economic capacity of growers (62.14, Rank IV), delayed access to farm inputs (52.52, Rank V), scarcity of high-yielding seed in the local market (46.63, Rank VI), costly plant protection inputs (40.37, Rank VII), inadequate irrigation infrastructure (36.92, Rank VIII), poor marketing arrangements (35.10, Rank IX), and unfavourable produce prices at harvest (33.40, Rank X). The study recommends strengthening KVK-led extension outreach, improving seed and input supply chains, and extending institutional financial support to raise mustard productivity in the district.
Full Text
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Introduction
Mustard (Brassica juncea L), an oilseed crop of the Brassica genus, is the third-largest crop of edible oil in the world after palm and soybean oil (Gogoi, 2023). Its seed contains 28-32% oil and 28-36% protein, with a favourable fatty-acid composition (Sonvanee et al., 2016), and the crop underpins rural livelihoods by supplying edible oil, livestock feed, and farm income [8,14] . Globally, Canada is the leading mustard producer with a 23.32% share, followed by the European Union (22.97%) and China (18.54%), while India ranks fourth with a 13.99% share (USDA Oilseeds, 2025) [17] . World production stood at about 85.77 million tonnes in 2024-25 and is estimated to have risen to nearly 95.51 million tonnes in 2025-26 (Kumar et al., 2025; USDA, 2026). India's productivity of 1,470 kg/ha, however, remains well below the world average of 2,144 kg/ha and the European Union's 3,000-3,500 kg/ha, pointing to considerable scope for improvement (USDA, 2025) [17,18] . In India, mustard contributes nearly 28-30% of total oilseed production and about 25% of domestic edible-oil output, with Brassica juncea L accounting for more than 80% of the country's rapeseed-mustard area and production (ICAR-DRMR, 2023) [9] . Even so, India continues to import 55-60% of its edible-oil requirement (DES, 2024) [1] . National production increased from 6.8 million tonnes in 2015-16 to about 12.61 million tonnes in 2024-25 -a rise of nearly 85% -driven largely by improved varieties and better agronomic www.extensionjournal.com practices although area and productivity continue to fluctuate from year to year (DA&FW, GOI, 2025) [5] . Among Indian states, Rajasthan leads mustard cultivation with 3.49 million hectares and 5.42 million tonnes of production (productivity 1,552 kg/ha), followed by Uttar Pradesh, the second-largest producer, with 1.63 million hectares, 2.41 million tonnes of production, and productivity of 1,474 kg/ha (Anonymous, 2025). Uttar Pradesh as a whole cultivates mustard on about 14.23 lakh hectares, producing 15.60 lakh tonnes at an average productivity of 1,483 kg/ha, supported by the fertile Indo-Gangetic plains and a welldeveloped irrigation network (IGrain India, SEA, 2024-25). Eastern Uttar Pradesh, in particular, holds considerable potential for productivity improvement through wider adoption of high-yielding varieties such as Narendra Ageti Rai-4, Pusa Mustard-25, Varuna, and Kranti (Bhanu et al., 2019) [3] . Mirzapur district, situated in the Vindhyan agro-climatic zone of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, is dominated by small and marginal farmers who typically follow mixed cropping systems (KVK, Mirzapur). The district records mustard production of about 4,202 tonnes with a comparatively modest productivity of around 1,230 kg/ha (UPDES, 2023), Mustard production in the region has fluctuated due to environmental and socio-economic challenges, affecting farmers' livelihoods and agricultural stability. Therefore, analysing its trends and growth is essential for developing effective policies to promote sustainable farming, strengthen food security, and enhance farmers' incomes (Dubey et al., 2025) [7] .
Materials and methods
The study was conducted in Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh during the 2024-25 agricultural year using a multistage sampling design for the selection of respondents. In the first stage, Haila and Narayanpur blocks were purposively selected to represent, respectively, high and low mustard-producing areas. In the second stage, two villages were randomly selected from each block, namely Kotar and Mahugarh from Haila block, and Jalalpur Mafi and Nekahara from Narayanpur block. In the final stage, 30 mustardgrowing farmers were randomly selected from each village, giving an overall sample of 120 respondents (2 blocks x 2 villages x 30 respondents). Primary data were collected through personal interviews using a pre-tested structured schedule, while secondary data were obtained from the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), the Department of Agriculture, and other relevant government publications. The data so collected were compiled, tabulated, and analysed using appropriate statistical tools to fulfil the objective of the study.
Measurement of Constraints -Garrett's Ranking Technique:
Respondents were asked to rank ten preidentified constraints to the adoption of improved mustard cultivation practices. The list of ten constraints was drawn from earlier literature and refined through pilot testing. Each respondent assigned ranks from 1 (most important) to 10 (least important) to the constraints. The rank data were then analysed using Garrett's Ranking Technique, in which every rank is converted into a percent position using the following expression:
Percent Position = 100(𝑅 𝑖𝑗 -0.5)
𝑁 𝑗
Where; 𝑅 𝑖𝑗 = Rank given to the i th constraint by the j th respondent 𝑁 𝑗 = Total number of constraints ranked by the j th respondent
The percent position values were converted into Garrett scores using Garrett's conversion table; the scores corresponding to ranks 1st to 10th are 82, 70, 63, 58, 52, 48, 42, 36, 30 and 24, respectively. For each constraint, the total Garrett score was obtained by multiplying the number of respondents assigning a particular rank by the corresponding Garrett value and summing across all ranks. Dividing this total by the number of respondents (N = 120) gave the Average Percentage Score. Constraints were then arranged in descending order of their Average Percentage Score; with Rank I assigned to the constraint having the highest score.
Results and discussion
The Garrett scores (frequency), Average Percentage Scores, and ranks obtained for all ten constraints are presented in Table 2.
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