Fish farmers development agencies and farmers empowerment: An impact assessment study in Uttar Pradesh

The paper has assessed the empowerment status of fish farmers after the intervention of Fish Farmers Development Agency (FFDA) in the four regions of Uttar Pradesh. From these four regions, one district each was selected. A sample of 159 FFDA beneficiary farmers was covered in this study following simple random sampling method and removing incomplete responses. The Empowerment Index consisting of knowledge, skill, social and economic dimensions has been developed based on the relevant literature and applied within the context of understanding development interventions. The empowerment score of the three-fourths of FFDA farmers has been found in the upper third quartile with an average score of 0.55 on a scale of 0 to 1, indicating that farmers benefitted moderately in terms of their knowledge, skill, social status and economic wellbeing with FFDA's support. The t-test has indicated that the level of economic empowerment was better in Lucknow and Aligarh districts than in Faizabad and Jhansi districts; however, knowledge, skill and social empowerment levels were found to be similar across the districts. The paired t-test has testified improvement in fish productivity (60%), profitability (41.5%) and culture area (72%) after FFDA's intervention. Farmers having FFDA contact for 10 years and above have been found significantly more empowered than those with a shorter duration of FFDA contact.