Constraints Perceived by Rural Agro-Processors in Adopting Modern Post-Harvest Technologies

Abstract

In developing countries, most of the farmers have small landholdings, limited resources and excess family labour. This makes technological up-gradation of agriculture-based enterprises imperative. This study documents the socio-economic attributes and prevailing constraints in adoption of post-harvest technologies, which strictly control the adoption behavior of farmers’ (especially farm women, small and marginal farmers). A Likert-type-scale was developed to assess the constraints, which contained five sections viz., namely socio-economic; technological; farming; marketing; and extension. The data were collected from eighty rural agro-processors on three-point continuum namely never; sometimes; and always basis. The study reveals that socio-economic, technological and farming constraints were more prominent than extension and marketing constraints. Most of the rural agro-processors perceived the constraints on “sometimes” basis. This paper also carries measures for removing the constraints as well as suggestions for appropriate policy interventions for boosting-up the rural agro-processing sector.