The study was undertaken to find out the pattern of decision making of the Irula  tribal farm women of Nilgiris district in farm and home. The study revealed that Irula tribal farm women took self decision in the case of irrigating fields (85.00) followed by using plant protection measures (83.33) in case of farm management and took self decision in cases like selection and preparation of food (100.00), decorating the house (70.00) They had least participation in decisions like construction of new house (63.33) followed by borrowing and giving loans (38.33)

Natarajan, Sujeetha

Palaniswamy, S

Journal of Extension Education

English

Sujeetha Natarajan

S Palaniswamy

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Pattern of Decision Making of Irula Tribal Farm Women in Nilgiris District

Journal of Extension EducationVol. 27  No. 4,  20151 -Ph.D Scholar,  Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology and 2 - Professor and Head, TrainingDivision, Directorate of Extension Education, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore - 3.Farmwomen are the backbone of Indianagriculture. Growing food has been aninterminable saga of their life (Suganthi,2013). Like other rural women, tribal farmwomen also play an important role inagriculture. Farmwomen play vital role withinhome as housewives in managing the domesticaffairs and they work as co-partners in thefarming profession. No field operation isbeyond the reach of women (Indumathy,2013). They have been playing significant rolein Home, farm and Allied activities (Das etal., 2011). The day of the tribal farm womenis starting from early morning and ending inlate evening. They remain engaged with home,crop and livestock management throughoutthe day (Chauhan, 2009). This study wastherefore designed to explain the decisionmaking pattern of tribal farm women relatedto home, farm and animal husbandrypractices. Results of the study reveal thattribal farm women play dominant role inmaking decisions related to animal husbandryPattern of Decision Making of Irula Tribal Farm Womenin Nilgiris DistrictT.N. Sujeetha1 and S. Palaniswamy2ABSTRACTA Study was undertaken to find out the pattern of decision making of the Irula  tribalfarm women of Nilgiris district in farm and home. The study revealed that Irula tribal farmwomen took self decision in the case of irrigating fields (85.00) followed by using plantprotection measures (83.33) in case of farm management and in cases like selection andpreparation of food (100.00), and decorating the house (70.00). They had least participationin decisions like construction of new house (63.33) followed by borrowing and givingloans (38.33).enterprise. Whereas, they had leastparticipation in decisions regarding farmoperations. It is surprising to note that excepthome decoration, in most of the areas of homemanagement the decision was dominated bymale/husband. It indicates that thedevelopment of any family in Indian contextignoring the farm women is out of theimagination. It’s an uphill task for government,policy makers and for all to empower the farmwomen.METHODOLOGYNilgiris district was selected for the studyby simple random sampling based on thehighest tribal population percentage recordedin the district. Out of four blocks in Nilgirisdistrict, Kotagiri and Udhagamandalamblocks were purposively selected because ofthe prevalence of more number of tribal farmcommunities. Among the six tribalcommunities, Irula community was selectedReceived : 22 Sep, 2015; Accepted : 09 Jan, 2016Journal of Extension Education5570for the study because this community isactively engaging themselves in farming. Asample of 60 tribal farm women from the Irulatribal community were considered as therespondents of the study. The response ofrespondents regarding the decision makingwas collected in “By self without consulting”,“Consulting the spouse or elder”, “Consultingall the family members”, “Help others indecision making” and “No participation indecision making”.FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONThe data collected from the Irula tribal farmwomen regarding their decision makingpattern in farm management are presentedin Table 1.The data on decision making pattern of theIrula farmwomen with respect to farmmanagement from the above table clearlydepict that the Irula tribal farm women tookself-decision in the case of irrigating fields(85.00), using plant protection measures(83.33) followed by maintenance of cattle(81.67) and quantity and type of fertilizers tobe used on the farm (61.67). The tribal womenconsulted with their spouse or elders indecisions related to buying farm equipment/machinery (100.00), selection of seeds (85.00)followed by selling of milk and milk products(81.67) and borrowing money for farmoperations (78.33).But the Irula tribal women had leastTable 1.Decision Making Pattern of Irula Farm Women in Farm Management (n=60)No % No % No % No % No %1. Introducing a new crop variety 26 43.33 34 56.672. Borrowing money for farm operations 13 21.67 47 78.333. Buying farm equipment/machinery 60 100.004. Quantity and type of fertilizers to be used on the farm 37 61.67 23 38.335. Subscribing farm publications 60 100.006. Hiring farm labourers 14 23.33 46 76.677. Adopting new farm practices 35 58.33 25 41.678. Deciding about area under each crop 20 33.33 40 66.679. Selection of seeds 9 15.00 51 85.0010. Irrigating fields 51 85.00 9 15.0011. Using plant protection measures 50 83.33 10 16.6712. Selling surplus farm produce 14 23.33 46 76.6713. Buying/selling land 17 28.33 43 71.6714. Maintenance of cattle 49 81.67 11 18.3315. Selling of milk and milk products 11 18.33 49 81.6716. Buying and selling cattle 36 60.00 24 40.0017. Size of the poultry 23 38.33 37 61.6718. Selling eggs and poultry birds 23 38.33 37 61.67Sl.No.Decision making AreasBy selfWithoutconsultingConsultingthespouse/elderConsultingall thefamilymembersNoparticipationin decisionmakingHelpothers indecisionmaking5571Pattern of Decision Making of Irula Tribal Farm Womenin Nilgiris Districtparticipation in case of decisions likesubscribing to farm publications (100.00)followed by buying/selling land (71.67). Thisfinding is supported by Chauhan (2009).The decision making pattern of Irula tribalwomen in home management is given in Table2.It indicates that the self decisions weremade by the Irula farm women in case ofNo % No % No % No % No %1. Construction of new house 22 36.67 38 63.332. Household repairs 17 28.33 43 71.673. Decorating the house 42 70.00 18 30.004. Deciding education of children 18 30.00 42 70.005. Deciding occupation of children 43 71.67 17 28.336. Settling marriage of children 27 45.00 33 55.007. Purchasing household articles 37 61.67 23 38.338. Selection and preparation of food 60 100.009. Borrowing and giving loans 37 61.67 23 38.3310. Deciding manner of saving 21 35.00 39 65.0011. Attending religious ceremonies/functions 13 21.67 47 78.3312. Attending social gatherings in the village 18 30.00 42 70.00Sl.No.Decision making AreasBy selfWithoutconsultingConsultingthespouse/elderConsultingall thefamilymembersNoparticipationin decisionmakingHelpothers indecisionmakingTable 2.Decision Making Pattern of Irula Farm Women in Home Management (n=60)Selection and preparation of food (100.00),decorating the house (70.00) followed bypurchasing household articles (61.67). TheHusband dominated decisions were found incases like household repairs (71.67) followedby deciding occupation of children (71.67).The Irula women consulted all the familymembers only in the case of attendingreligious ceremonies/functions (78.33),attending social gatherings in the village(70.00) followed by settling marriage ofchildren (55.00). Most of the Irula women didnot participate in decisions like constructionof new house (63.33) followed by borrowingand giving loans (38.33). The main reasonbehind their lack of participation in thesedecisions is that most of the Irula communitydo not construct their own houses, as theydepend on the government fully for theirconstruction of house. The findings of thepresent study were similar to findings earlierreported by Praveena et al., (2005).CONCLUSIONThe inference can be drawn from thefindings that adivasi farm women were takingself-decision in case of decorating the houseand selection and preparation of food. Ruralfarm women do not play dominant role inmaking important decisions related to farmJournal of Extension Education5572management whereas the decisions regardinganimal husbandry enterprise were dominatedby them.REFERENCESChauhan,N.M.2009 Role of Tribal FarmWomen in Crop and Animal Husbandry. PaperPresented in National Seminar at JAU,Junagadh on 31st August-2009.Das, M., N.N. Puzari and Dr. B.K. Ray.2011. Impact of Training on Skill andKnowledge Development of Rural Women.Agricultural Extension Review, April-June,22(2):26-29.Indumathy, K., P. Muthiah Manoharan, S.Sangeetha and M.V. Karuna Jebamary. 2012Relationship between Socio-PsychologicalCharacteristics and Attitude of JawadhuTirbes towards Tribal DevelopmentProgrammes. Journal of Extension Education25(4): 5154 -5159.Praveena, P.L., M. Achuta RamaRao andP.Venkata Rao, 2005. Decision makingpattern of Rural Women in Farm RelatedActivities. Agricultural Extension Review.17(6):3-5.Suganthi, N., J. Venkatapirabu and P.Muthiah Manoharan. 2013. CulturalCharacteristics of the Tribal Communities.Journal of Extension Education. 25(1) : 5054-5008.

Pattern of Decision Making of Irula Tribal Farm Women in Nilgiris District

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