Wankhade et al., International Journal of Theoretical & Applied Sciences, 16(1): 15-18(2024) 15 ISSN No. (Print): 0975-1718 ISSN No. (Online): 2249-3247 Socio-Economic Characteristics of Pearl Millet Variety AHB-1200 Adopters and Non-Adopters in Chhtrapati Sambhaji Nagar District of Marathwada Region Pallavi U. Wankhade 1 *, Digambar S. Perke 2 and Tukaram B. Munde 3 1 M.Sc. Student, Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Parbhani (Maharashtra), India. 2 Head and Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Parbhani (Maharashtra), India. 3 Teaching Associate, Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Parbhani (Maharashtra), India. (Corresponding author: Pallavi U. Wankhade*) (Received 27 November 2023; Accepted 05 January 2024) (Published by Research Trend, Website: www.researchtrend.net) ABSTRACT: Present study was designed to study Socio economic characteristics of selected Pearl millet growers in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar district of Maharashtra. The most important factor which decides the awareness and adoption level of any new varieties, methods or technology in agriculture sector is socio- economic conditions of farmers. Using multistage sampling technique two tehsil viz., Paithan and Vaijapur. from Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar were selected for study. Total 120 respondents were selected for study i.e. 60 adopter and 60 non-adopters. Paper is focused to assessment the socio-economic characteristics of AHB- 1200 adopters and non-adopters like age, gender, education, farm size, annual income, occupation, land holding, family size, farming experience, etc. Study conclude that average age of adopter and non-adopter was 43 and 48. Most of the respondents in study area were male. Average annual income of adopter and non- adopter was 202483.0 and 188800.0. Majority of respondents completed Secondary education. The average size of land holding of AHB-1200 adopter and non-adopter was 2.42 ha and 2.15 ha, respectively. Majority of respondents belongs to nuclear family i.e. 83.33 per cent in adopter and 61.67 per cent in non-adopter whereas just 16.67 per cent adopters and 38.33 per cent non-adopters in the study region are members of the joint family. The study findings demonstrated that adopters of AHB-1200 had higher average level of social participation 0.91 compared to 0.33 for non-adopters. Keywords: Pearl millet, occupation, family income, farm size, education. INTRODUCTION Millets are one of the traditional grains that have been used for food, animal feed and fodder. They are also popularly known as “Nutri-Cereals” because of their abundant nutritional content. They are the species of small-seeded grasses in the family Poaceae. The word millet comes from the French word “Mille” which means "thousand", meaning that a handful of millet can hold up to a thousand grains (Dayakar Rao et al., 2022). They can be grown in arid and semi-arid tropics in the world. Most of the millets are endemic to India. Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), also known as Bajra, is a cereal crop grown in tropical semi-arid regions of the world primarily in Africa and Asia. It is well adapted to production systems characterized by low rainfall (200- 600 mm), low soil fertility and high temperature, and thus can be grown in areas where other cereal crops, such as Wheat or Maize, would not survive. It has various names such as Pearl millet, cattail or spiked millet in English. It is known as ‘kumbu’ in Tamilnadu, ‘Dukhen’ in Arabic and ‘Mahangu’ in Africa (Gupta et al., 2022). Pearl millet is the sixth most important cereal crop after Rice, Maize, Barley, and Sorghum in the world. According to FAOSTAT (2021), the global millet production in 2019-20 was 84.17 million metric tonnes from an area of 70.75 million hectares, of which 20.50 per cent is produced in India. In 2022, the global area under millets stood at 71.70 million Hectares, with negligible change compared to 71.88 million Hectares area under millets in the year 2012. The global production of millets stood at 90.65 million metric tonnes in 2022, growing at a decadal (2012-2022) CAGR of 0.3 per cent from 88.31 million metric tonnes in 2012. India was the highest millets producing country in the year 2022 with 17.60 million metric tonnes production, contributing to 19 per cent of the global production. India is the largest producer of millets in the world. The total area under Pearl millet cultivation 7.55 million hectares. The production of Pearl millet is 9.22 million tones which stands the fourth after rice, wheat, maize and barley and productivity of 1374 kg/ha. Maharashtra state is the third largest in area and second in respect of production under Pearl millet. The area under Pearl International Journal of Theoretical & Applied Sciences, 16(1): 15-18(2024)