Constraints and Suggestions of Fruit Crop Growers of Vijayapura District, India

The study was conducted in Vijayapura district of Karnataka during 2019-20 to analyse the constraints and suggestions of fruit crop growers. Forty each grape, lime and pomegranate growers were selected by use of simple random sampling technique. Thus, making a total sample size of 120. Personal interview method was used to collect data and appropriate statistical tools were applied to analyse the data. The findings revealed that, with respect to the constraints faced by fruit crop growers in fruit crop production, production constraints were lack of irrigation facilities (87.50%) followed by high cost of inputs (73.33%). Major financial constraints were non-availability of credit at right time (73.33%) followed by inadequate credit (70.83%). High wages (70.00%) and non-availability of labourer (61.67%) were the main issues relating to labour constraints. Regarding marketing constraints, fluctuating price (87.17%) followed by delayed cash payment and exploitation by middlemen (77.50%) were the major constraints. The suggestions offered by the fruit crop growers are provision for irrigation facility (85.00%) followed by provision of timely and adequate market information (76.67%), protection from exploitation by middlemen (75.00%). Provision for suitable market infrastructure, timely and adequate credit, timely and adequate cash payment, continuous power supply, interest free credit and longer repayment period for credit were other suggestions offered to improve the returns from fruit crop cultivation.