Vol. 11, Special Issue 8 (2022)

Author(s):
Dipak Nath, Diana Sagolsem, Sunilkumar Chongtham, Y Rupert Anand, S Vinodh, M Victoria Devi and Ph. Ranjit Sharma

Abstract:
The study was conducted in East Sikkim and South Sikkim districts of Sikkim state with 110 randomly selected women members of Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs) of Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana (PMVDY). The study found that majority of the respondents (70.00%) received farm information regularly from friends followed by 60.91per cent from panchayat member/Pradhan as a localite source of information. It was also observed that not a single respondent received any farm information from family members; whereas 12.73 per cent of the respondents never received any farm information from village leaders as a localite source of information. The study also revealed that 76.36 per cent of the respondents received farm information regularly from NGO/ SHG leader followed by 48.18 per cent from social worker as a cosmopolite source of information. It is interesting that 79.09 per cent of the respondents often received farm information from Kisan Mela; whereas 22.73 per cent of respondents never received any farm information from bank. Under mass media as information source, 50.00 per cent of the respondents received farm information from television followed by 35.45 per cent from newspaper and 79.09 per cent never received any farm information from radio. Majority of the respondents (55.45%) participated independently in washing clothes followed by 50.91 per cent in maintenance of house; whereas 64.55 per cent of the respondents participated jointly in care of children/ elderly person. The study also reveals that 35.45 per cent of the respondents involved independently in feeding animals and 28.18 per cent participated jointly in caring of animal; whereas 32.73 per cent of the respondents had not participated participation in milking of animal followed 28.18 per cent in cleaning animal shed. Majority of the respondents (81.82%) independently participated in processing food followed by preservation of fruit/ vegetable (80.91%) and 80.91 per cent of respondents had not participated in tailoring. There is some evidence that despite the contribution made by rural women in food security they are not being well served by the existing extension system in developing countries. They are in urgent need of understanding and acquiring new knowledge and skills on cultivation of different crops, so that they could contribute more effectively to the production process.