A Study on Farmers’ Opinion on Supply of Agri Inputs and Services Rendered by One-Stop Retail Agri-Input Outlets in Thorur Mandal of Warangal District

Indian economy has been growing almost at a rate of 8 per cent. The average agricultural growth has not only been lower during the past 5-6 years, but it has become more volatile on account of several factors like non-availability of quality inputs, seeds, pesticides, fertilisers and farm equipments. This has adversely affected the livelihood security of the poor farmers. There is need for a major improvement in agricultural productivity, income and livelihood security of farmers, which is paramount today. There are several pathways for accelerating agricultural growth and enhancing the livelihood of the poor. The important ones are: (i) yield enhancing, cost and risk-reducing technological changes in crops and animals; (ii) management of natural resources; (iii) diversification of production towards high-value commodities. Overarching factors in the success of these pathways are the institutions of input and service delivery. Unfortunately, the performance of the agricultural input and service delivery systems is rated to be disappointing, particularly for the small-holders in marginal and disadvantaged areas in terms of reach, access, quality and competition. An attempt has been made in this paper to study the farmers’ opinion on one-stop agri input outlets in the Thorur Mandal of Warangal district of Telangana. This paper focuses on agri inputs, onsite technical services, post-harvest services and other value added services. The study revealed that farmers of villages of Thorur Mandal are not satisfied with the quality and price of the agri inputs supplied by the retail channel.