Socio-economic evaluation of households practicing organic farming in vegetable crops: A case study of mid hill zone of Himachal Pradesh

The present study was conducted to study the socio economic status of organic and inorganic vegetable growers. A sample of 100 respondents were chosen at random from the mid hill zone of Himachal Pradesh using a simple random sampling design. The farmers were divided into two categories: marginal (less than one hectare) and small (less than one hectare). The study incorporated combined primary and secondary data. Farmers had an average size of 4.26 members, with a literacy rate of 97.54 per cent and an index of 3.91, according to socioeconomic analysis. The study area has a dependency ratio of 0.18. Cultivated land contributed for 90.34 per cent of total land holdings, with vegetable crops representing for 10.90 per cent of total land holdings. The estimated value of cattle units was 2.16, with buffaloes accounting for 37.33 per cent of the total. It was concluded that at an overall level, the socio-economic condition of the sampled respondents was above average and are socially and economically sound.