Socio-Economic Status of Farming Community in Eastern Zone of Bihar under Changing Climate

A vigilant study of the socio-economic conditions of farmers is a precondition for implementing of government development programme in order to apply appropriate design. A survey was conducted in three districts of north alluvial plain zone of Bihar namely West Champaran, Sheohar, and Begusarai during the year 2019-20 keeping in view the changing climatic conditions. For this, primary data was collected through a set of structured questionnaires from a sample of 645 farmers. From the survey it was found that the farming community is dominated by male members and in only 19.07% family head was female member. The farmers had very small land holdings which is one of the major constraints. Illiteracy is the other major constraint in Bihar. The heads of 77.98% families had no matriculation degree. The participation of young people whose age was less than 35 years is only 27.29%. The farmers of these areas had limited plant protection and irrigation equipment. Among 645 respondents, only one had sprinkler and five had drip irrigation systems. The annual income of 92.40 farm families was less than 1.5 lakh per annum which indicates the poor economic conditions of farmers. However, they were aware of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The farmers prefer to visit these institutes seasonally. They were also interested in increasing their awareness through active participation in Kisan Gosthi, group discussions, etc. organized by the KVKs. Under differential climatic stress years, it was observed that cold stress and flood situations led to reduction in average annual income. By improving the socio-economic condition, it is possible to adapt during these stressful years.