A STUDY ON TECHNOLOGICAL GAP AND MARKETING BEHAVIOUR OF SWEET ORANGE GROWERS IN RAICHUR DISTRICT OF KARNATAKA

Karnataka stands third in area and production after Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The major sweet orange growing districts are Raichur Chitradurga Davanagere Koppal and Bellary. Among these sweet orange growing areas Raichur has maximum area of 1093 hectares with 25139 t and 24 t/ha of production and productivity respectively (Anonymous 2011).       Under the citrus improvement programme researchers have identified many new high yielding varieties and recommended improved package of practices for cultivation of sweet orange but most of these technologies are not utilized fully by farmers due to many constraints. The government of India initiated many horticultural programmes in all states to increase the fruit production. Numbers of improved production technologies are recommended to get maximum benefits yet the growers are reluctant to follow all therecommended cultivation practices. The knowledge level about the recommended technologies and their cultivation pattern varies from one farmer to another according to their personal socio-economic characters marketing pattern followed and problems in the cultivation and marketing.There are number of research studies conducted on the food crops to know the technological gap cost and returns and marketing behaviour but very few research studies have been conducted on fruit crops in this regard. So the present study was undertaken on sweet orange.