Socio-economic Status and Constraints Faced by Chow-chow [Sechium edule (Jacq.) Sw.] Growers in Aizawl District, Mizoram, India

Chow-chow [Sechium edule (Jacq.) Sw.] is a popular Cucurbitaceous vegetable of hilly regions of North Eastern Region (NER) of India, Himachal Pradesh, J&K and Uttarakhand and known by different names. It is an exception that all parts of chow-chow, namely, fruits, tender shoots and leaves, and the tuberous root, are edible and used to consume. Mizoram of NER is one of the leading states in respect of area production and productivity of chow-chow and selected for the present study. This paper is an attempt to assess the socio-economic status of the growers and constraints involved in chow-chow cultivation in Aizawl district of Mizoram. Data were collected from 100 respondents by personal interview method and using the interview schedule developed for the study. The study showed that the average age of the respondents was 50.29 years, and 48 per cent of the respondents had attained high school education and 61 per cent of the farmers were from medium-size family. Most of them were living in the pucca house and agriculture was the primary occupation for the farmers. Majority of the respondents (56%) were found to be actively engaged in one or more social organizations, and 62 per cent had a medium level of farming experience. Further, 2/3^rd of the respondents had a medium size of land holding, and 77 per cent of them had a medium level of annual income. Around, 70 per cent of the respondents had favourable / highly favourable attitude towards chow-chow cultivation. Most of the farmers (99%) were interested in increasing the area under chow-chow cultivation. The major constraints involved were ‘Transportation’ followed by ‘Weed infestation’, ‘High cost of wire and fertilizers’, ‘Land preparation’, ‘Site selection’, ‘Storage’ and ‘field management’.