Impact of Mulberry Cultivation on Beneficiary Farmers in Amravati District, India

The present study was conducted in Amravati district in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state. Six villages were selected from one taluka respectively. The 80 respondents were selected from 6 villages. The data were collected by personal interview method with the help of a structured interview schedule. The data were tabulated, analyzed and interpreted. The variables namely occupation, land holding, annual income, income from sericulture, farming experience, sources of information, training received and marketing facilities are positively and highly significant with social and economic impact at 0.01 level of probability. The variables namely education and extension contact are positively significant with social and economic impact at 0.05 level of probability. Whereas, the age of the respondent sericulturists had a non-significant relationship with the social and economic impact of mulberry cultivation. The financial gain by the beneficiaries of mulberry cultivation from one acre per year (4 rotations) was Rs.1,00,000. The majority of the respondent sericulturists faced problems related to the shortage of irrigation water, high labour charges, markets far away from the sericulture unit and lack of knowledge about disease control in mulberry.