Awareness and Performance of Agricultural Development Schemes in Context of Farmers’ Welfare in Haryana

Abstract

The Government of India have introduced the innovative schemes of crop insurance however; most of the farmers are unaware of it. Therefore, it is necessary to check the awareness and performance of farmers about crop insurance and agricultural development schemes in Hisar and Fatehabad districts of Haryana state. Data was collected via interview schedule from 100 farmers selected randomly from these two districts. The study revealed that 86 per cent of the farmers were found aware about the crops included under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana (PMFBY) followed by premium paid for insurance of the crops (72 %). The data regarding awareness of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) showed that more than half of the respondents had aware about PMKSY. However, majority of respondents (above 64 %) were found not aware about subsidy pattern under scheme and additional benefits for small farmers. Performance of agricultural development schemes predicts that majority of the respondent (87 %) viewed that is performing well. Only 13 per cent of the respondents viewed that the scheme is performing not so good. In case of PMKSY, majority of the respondents (72 %) had opinion that the scheme is performing good. About half of the respondents (52 %) viewed that Agricultural Mechanization for In-Situ Crop Residue Management is performing good. The awareness regarding promotion of Agricultural Mechanization for In-Situ Crop Residue Management (CRM) indicated that two-third respondents had awareness about the scheme and 62 per cent of them agreed that custom hiring centre established under the scheme.