International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development

author(s)
Manunayaka G and K Ponnusamy

abstract
The rural society is a mix of people belonging to various caste, creed and religion. Also there are agricultural labourers, tenants and share croppers who are socially weak and economically poor. Many of these farmers come from socially backward groups such as scheduled castes (SC) which is found at the bottom of rural social hierarchy. This study was undertaken in the State of Karnataka to compare the socio-economic status of SC and non-SC farm families and develop strategies to empower SC farm families. The results indicated that middle aged farmers (36-50 years) from both SC and non-SC community dominated in agriculture, female labour participation rate was higher among SC farm families (29.17%), more than 90 per cent of the SC and non-SC respondents were married, nuclear families were predominantly found, SC farm families involved more in agricultural labour, higher educational qualification was rarely found among SC farm families, more than one third of SC farm families (38.33%) were landless while only 11.25 per cent of the non-SC farm families did not own any land and agricultural labour was the main source of livelihood to SC farm families in the study districts. The stark differences in socio-economic status of SC and non-SC farm families calls for strategies to bring them on to the forefront of mainstream society.