Personal, Socio-economic and Psychological Characteristics of Horticulture Crop Growers Practicing Protected Cultivation: A Critical Analysis

The study was conducted during 2020 in Chikkaballapur district which comes under eastern dry zone (Zone-V) of Karnataka. In Chikkaballapur district, two taluks i.e. Sidlaghatta and Chikkaballapur taluks were purposefully selected for the stud, since this taluk are having more area under protected cultivation technology. The ex-post-facto research design was used for the study In the present investigation, ex-post facto research design was used. This design was considered appropriate, as it is a systematic empirical enquiry for measuring the phenomenon, which has already occurred and is continuing. The total sample size comprises 100 of which, 50 growers (25 Chrysanthemum and 25 Capsicum) were selected randomly from Chikkaballapur taluk. Similarly, 50 growers (25 Chrysanthemum and 25 Capsicum) were selected randomly from Sidlaghatta taluk. The results of the study show that more than half of the horticulture crop growers were comes under middle age category, nearly one-third of growers were educated up to high school, more than two-fifth of the growers were small farmers, nearly one-fourth of the growers belonged to medium experience category, more than two-fifth of growers belonged to medium mass media exposure category. More than two-fifth of Horticulture crop growers had high scientific orientation. Two-fifth of the growers had medium achievement motivation. two-fifth of the horticulture crop growers had medium extension participation, more than two-fifth of the growers had medium level management orientation, majority of the growers were accessibility to credit and subsidy and nearly half of the growers belonged to medium risk bearing ability.