Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2018) 7(7): 2635-2640 2635 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2018.707.309 Profile Characteristics of Maize Farmers in Mahmud-i-Raqi District of Kapisa a Province of Afghanistan Tamana Kohisatani*, S.V. Prasad, P.V. Satya Gopal and G. Prabhakara Reddy Department of Agricultural Extension, S.V Agricultural College, Tirupati-517502, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Maize enjoys an important position in the existing cropping systems of Afghanistan. It ranks third after wheat and rice in country for its grain production. Maize is grown in almost all the provinces of the country. It is not only consumed by human beings in the form of food grain but it is also used as feed for livestock and poultry besides being a good forage crop. In Afghanistan, it is grown on 0.142 million hectares in all of the provinces in irrigated and rainfed areas. The total production of maize in the country is 0.312 million tons with the average productivity of 2.20 tons per hectare. The average grain yield of maize is not only substantially lower compared with other important maize growing countries even though the soil and climatic conditions of Afghanistan are favorable for maize production Maize is grown twice a year in Afghanistan (Spring and Autumn). Mahmud-i-raqi district of Kapisa province is one of the major maize growing areas of Afghanistan. Farmers are still using traditional low yielding varieties and not adopting the latest production recommendations leading to low yields of maize. The present research paper focuses on the profile characteristics of maize farmers actually studied in the main International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 07 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com The Present investigation was carried out to study the profile characteristics of maize farmers in Mahmud-i-raqi district of Kapisa one of major maize production province in Afghanistan .Ex-post facto research design was followed for the study and a sample of 120respondents were drawn. The results of the study revealed that most of the respondents were young aged (39.17%), illiterate middle to school educated (30.00%),had medium experience in maize cultivation (63.33%),small farm size (58.33%), had medium mess media exposure (63.33%), medium extension contact (69.17%), low social participation (59.17%), medium scientific orientation (64.17%), medium economic orientation (65.00%), medium innovativeness (63.33%), medium achievement motivation (66.67%) and medium deferred gratification (77.50%). Keywords Profile characteristics, Maize farmers, Extension contact Accepted: 20 June 2018 Available Online: 10 July 2018 Article Info