Personal, Socio-economic, Communicational and Psychological Characteristics of Orange Growers

Maharashtra is the one of the largest producer of orange in the country. There is growing interest and awareness among the orange growers for adoption of latest technologies for commercial cultivation of citrus hence the research objective was formulated to study the personal, socio-economic, communicational and psychological characteristics of orange growers in Amravati and Nagpur district in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state. An ex-post facto research design of social research was used for present investigation. The study was conducted in Amravati and Nagpur district in month of December, January and February, 2021, with 300 orange growers. The findings revealed that, more than one third of the respondents (34.00%) had education up to higher secondary school. More than two fifth of the respondents (44.00%) had medium family size. More than one third (38.67%) of the respondents were engaged in agriculture+ horticulture+ allied occupation as their main occupation in earning. Nearly half (46.33%) of the respondents had semi medium land holding (2.01 to 4.00 ha). More than half (60.67%) of the respondents were having small size of orchard. More than one third (37.33%) of the respondents had medium experience in orange cultivation (15.36 to 26.66 years). more than half (57.33%) of the respondents were belonged to medium level of social participation. Nearly half (45.67%) of the respondents were having annual income up to Rs. 7,96,000/-. Majority of the social media user respondents (88.00%) had high availability of social media. More than half (55.67%) of the respondents were having medium sources of information. More than half (59.67%) of the respondents were having medium innovativeness. More than half (56.67%) of the respondents were having medium risk orientation. Majority (63.33%) of the respondents were having medium market orientation. Overall 70.00 Percent of the social media user orange growers were having high utilization pattern index. It is suggested that, efforts should made by authorities to involve and retain the interest of innovative orange growers in adopting modern agricultural practices.