Author(s): Sewali Gogoi, Shilpa Saikia, Monimala Saikia, Debajit Borah, Abhyarthana Hazarika and Rimpi Rani Saikia

Abstract: A study was performed on 160 randomly selected sericulture farmers in 8 selected villages of Golaghat district of Assam during 2021-22. A total of fourteen socio-economic and psychological characteristics of eri, muga and mulberry silkworm rearers were considered. The study revealed that majority of the respondents (60.63%) belonged to middle age group, 50.00% belonged to OBC category with education up to middle school (41.25%). Small-sized (55.00%) families were found to be dominant with farming was their primary occupation and medium level of income ranging from Rs. 45630.07 to Rs. 124682.43. Regarding the size of operational land holdings, a major part (60.62%) of the silkworm rearers owned operational land holdings below 1 ha resided in semi pucca house (40.62%). Majority of them (63.75%) had farming experience between 5.27 to 19.53 years. Most of the respondents (73.13%) had medium level of extension contact, mass media exposure (75.00%), and the marketing channel producer-consumer was found to be more prevalent among the majority of respondents (59.38%). Regarding, social participation and training exposure, only 39.38% of the silkworm rearers had participated in any social activities and 25.63% had received training. Among the variables, extension contact had positive and significant impact on training needs of eri (0.263) and muga (0.806) rearers, whereas social participation also influenced significantly on training needs of eri (0.315) and mulberry (0.322) rearers. Farming experience followed same trend as well in case of muga (0.511) and mulberry (0.307) rearers.

DOI: 10.33545/26174693.2024.v8.i6d.1323