Journal of FARM SCIENCES, Vol 29, No 5 (2016)

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Contribution of the selected parameters to the family quality index of organic and conventional farming families of agro-climatic zones of Northern Karnataka

RAJESHWARI DESAI, P. R. SUMANGALA, K. V. ASHALATHA

Abstract


The quality of life is the condition of life resulting from the combination of the effects of various variables presentin and around family. The present study has made an effort to delineate the quality life characteristic of organic farmingfamilies in comparison with the conventional farming families by assessing the Family Quality Index (FQI) and to assessthe contribution of selected parameters to it. A multistage sampling procedure with purposive sampling technique wasadopted to select the villages. Three villages namely, Hirehandigol, Ammangi and Kamadhenu villages were selected fromNorthern Dry Zone -3, Northern Transitional Zone-8 and Northern Hilly Zone-9 respectively. Fifty organic and conventionalfarm women from each village were selected randomly, thus comprising the total sample of 300. The quality index of eachfamily was calculated by analyzing the components viz., Expenditure pattern of the farm families, Socio Economic Statusof the farm families, Participation level of farm women in farming, Savings and investment of the farm families by givingweighted scores. The total scores obtained by the organic farming families viz., NDZ (872), NTZ (810) and NHZ (764) inall zones was found higher than conventional farming families of respective zones with the total scores of 848, 777 and 694respectively. The calculated Family Quality Index of organic farming families was significantly superior when compared toconventional farming families in all the three zones and also significant difference between the agro-climatic zones wasobserved. These results revealed that shift to organic production had positive impact on the socio economic status of thefarming in all the agro-climatic zones. This calls for farmers’ sensitization and encouragement to adopt organic farming thatwill not only cater for food and nutritional security but also quality life of farming families and sound management of theenvironment.

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