Work

Assessment of constraints faced by beneficiary and non-beneficiary farmers under NGO-led agricultural interventions: Evidence from Marathwada region of Maharashtra

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: The Marathwada region is drought-prone and has a heavy burden of socio-economic, institutional and environmental challenges in agriculture. The present study is an attempt to study the problems of the beneficiary as well as non-beneficiary farmers of the Global Vikas Trust (GVT), a non-governmental organization working in Marathwada region of Maharashtra. A multistage purposive sampling technique was used to select 240 farmers (120 beneficiaries and 120 non-beneficiaries) from three districts of Marathwada region. Primary data were collected through structured interviews for the agricultural years 2019-20 and 2024-25 and Garrett’s Ranking Technique was used to rank the constraints. The results show that initially the beneficiary farmers had awareness and knowledge gaps regarding adoption and later moved towards economic and market related challenges after the intervention, especially high input costs and poor farm-gate prices. On the other hand, non-beneficiary farmers remained stuck in persistent structural bottlenecks: poor irrigation, poor-quality inputs and little access to technical guidance. The study concludes that although NGO interventions make a meaningful difference to reducing informational and knowledge barriers, deeper structural challenges persist that continue to undermine farm sustainability, including market inefficiencies, credit access, labour shortages and climate variability. There is an urgent need to build stronger institutional bridges, improve market connectivity and mainstream climate-adaptive farming for the long-term agricultural sustainability of the region.

Source: International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development

DOI: 10.33545/26180723.2026.v9.i5e.3604