Attitude of the farmers towards watershed development program in Haryana, India

Watershed management is an effective tool for uplifting the socio-economic status of rural community in rainfed areas of the country. Empirical evidences have been supporting that attitude of respondents is very important factor for the success of watershed development program (WDP) in Indian condition. The present study was conducted in Panchkula district of Haryana to find out the level of attitude of respondents about recommended practices in WDP. The attitude towards WDP was measured at planning, implementation and maintenance stages. Data were collected from 240 farmers of eight villages by personal interview with the help of structured interview schedule and focussed group discussion. Majority of the respondents had moderate level of participation in different stages of WDP. Results showed that 80% of the respondents had favourable attitude at planning stage, whereas at implementation stage, and maintenance stage it was 52.50 and 41.66%, respectively. The percentage of farmers having highly favourable attitude increased from zero in planning stage to 18.75 and 29.58% at implementation and maintenance stages, respectively. The independent variables like land holding, material possession and scientific orientation of respondents were having significant contribution in shaping the favourable attitude of farmers towards WDP.