Abstract

The study pertains to data collected from randomly selected 100 lac growers in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh for the year 2008-09. The study indicated that 40% lac growers were medium farmers followed by small (27%), marginal (22%), semi-medium (8%) and large (3%). The majority of lac growers had education up to high school level. Share of income from lac was 17.3% and 33% of total income and farm income respectively of lac growers. In case of off-farm income, maximum income was contributed by forest produce which was 23.1% of total income of farmers. The host utilization percentage was maximum for Palas (44.3%) followed by Kusum (42.1%), other hosts (30.0%) and Ber (25.4%). About 59.0% lac growers produced lac with average production of 52.5 kg, 29.0% lac growers had average production of 135.2 kg and 12.0% lac growers had average production of 225.9 kg annually. The study of marketing behavior indicated that around 84% grower sold their produce either in village or in the market/ Haat up to 5 km radius. Grading practice was less operational in the area. Lac was used as a cash crop and majority of farmers sold lots of 5-10 kg. Around 88% farmers sold lac immediately after harvesting. Implications of the present study will be helpful in strengthening the socio-economic condition of lac growers and lac marketing scenario in Chhattisgarh.

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