Household Level Assessment of Awareness of MSP and Source of Information Across States in India: Evidence from NSSO Data

The present study was planned to evaluate awareness of minimum support price (MSP) and households' preferred source of agricultural extension services for major cereals and coarse-cereals across the different states of India. Unit-level data of the Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of Agricultural Households in India for 2018–19 was used for the two visits, viz. Visit 1 (June-December, 2018) and Visit 2 (January-July, 2019). Major cereals and coarse cereals, namely Paddy, Jowar, Bajra, Wheat, Maize, Ragi and Barley, were selected as these contribute more than 70 per cent of the total food grains production of India. Sample of 44,770 agricultural households for both visits was chosen to interpret the results better. The detailed population estimates were examined using the sample and corresponding weights across different states and households. More than 80 per cent of the agricultural households access technical advice from progressive farmers, input dealers and Radio/TV. For input-wise source of information is concerned, for improved seed/variety, agricultural households rely upon progressive farmers and agricultural universities, for fertilizer application input dealers and KVKs are the major sources of information, for plant protection measures the source of information was private commercial agents and Kisan Call Centres (KCC) while for harvesting and marketing, FPOs and Private processors are the major sources of information. The findings of the study would be helpful for both the public and private extension services to know the preferences of the agricultural households for information access for strengthening extension services in India.