Knowledge Level of Self Help Group Members (SHG) of Anantapur District on Various Farm Enterprises

Self Help Groups (SHGs) are small voluntary association of people from the same socioeconomic background with a purpose of solving their common problems through self-help and mutual help. Expos facto research design was used with well constructed interview schedule. Annatapur district was purposively selected based on the highest number of SHGs in Andhra Pradesh. Three Mandals namely Bukkapatnam, Kothacheruvu and Puttaparthi were randomly selected for the research study. Two villages from each mandal were randomly selected and from each village 20 SHG members were selected thus making the total number of respondent 120. During the year 2019-20 the number of SHGs increased by 2.29 lakh with a corresponding increase in saving by Rs. 2,827.57 crore as on March 2020.The saving outstanding of SHG with Banks as on March 2020 has reached an all-time high of Rs. 26,152.05 crore. In view of the economic importance of SHGs in women empowerment a study on Knowledge level of women on various enterprises were taken. Study revealed that 31.66 per cent women SHG members had sound knowledge about Vermicompost bed preparation while 67.5% members possessed partial knowledge about different species of earthworms used. Majority (54.16%) of respondents possessed good knowledge about stage of cutting of fodder and 41.66 per cent women SHG members knew about different products of handy craft.


INTRODUCTION
The origin of SHG is from the brainchild of Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, which was founded by Mohammed Yunus. SHG were started and formed in 1975. In India NABARD is initiated in 1986-87 but the real effort was taken after 1991-92 from the linkage of SHGs with the banks. Self-help group is a small group of people who are living in the same area in similar or varied activities, maintaining almost equal living standard a political and secular, aiming to achieve a common goal that is prosperity through thrift and credit and also facing similar problems, help each other to solve their problems (Raheem & Sultana, 2007). SHGs are given freedom of charging interest from their members at the rate as decided by group consensus.
Recovery is to be mechanism of peer pressure. The process helped SHG members imbibe the essentials of financial intermediation, including prioritization of needs, setting terms and condition and maintaining books of accounts. This was their learning ground before they could be in a position to handle bigger size funds by way of credits from banks. (NABARD, 2020). Self Help Groups (SHGs) are small voluntary association of people from the same socio-economic background with a purpose of solving their common problems through self-help and mutual help. In other words, it is an association of people who have common problems that cannot be solved individually, but only through joint action. These groups are known by different names in different places. Some of the terms used in India for these groups are -Sangha, Samooh, Mandal, Dangham and Samiti etc. depending upon the region (Kumar, 2006). During the year 2019-20 the number of SHGs increased by 2.29 lakh with a corresponding increase in saving by Rs. 2,827.57 crore as on March 2020.The saving outstanding of SHG with Banks as on March 2020 has reached an all-time high of Rs. 26,152.05 crore. In view of the economic importance of SHGs in women empowerment a study on Knowledge level of women on various enterprises were taken.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Expos facto research design was used with well constructed interview schedule. Annatapur district was purposively selected based on the highest number of SHGs in Andhra Pradesh. Three Mandals namely Bukkapatnam, Kothacheruvu and Puttaparthi were randomly selected for the research study. Two villages from each mandal were randomly selected and from each village 20 SHG members were selected thus making the total number of respondent 120.
Knowledge level of SHG members denoted the extent of knowledge possessed by a SHG members on different enterprises at the time of inquiry. The Knowledge level on various enterprises was measured by means of a 'Teacher Made Test' developed for the study, based on the SHG enterprises adopted by the members of SHG. The test consisted of 35 questions with multiple choice answers. The knowledge level of the women SHG members was conceptualized as the awareness of the respondent about various enterprises. To make the enterprise a profitable business, it is essential that SHG members should know the recent developments and acquire all the necessary skills involved in its management. Level of knowledge is a pre-requisite to acceptance of any technology. The knowledge level of SHG beneficiaries were measured on various components by using teacher made test. Knowledge level of SHG beneficiaries is measured on various components like Cattle rearing, Vermicompost, Poultry, mushroom production, fodder cultivation and Handi crafts.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 1. Knowledge on Poultry enterprise:
Poultry farming is quite profitable in the sense that it gives good returns for the amount invested, the time and energy spent on it and the labour employed in it. Poultry farming is small scale requires only minimum space and they can be reared in backyards of homes and it is the source of continuous income. It plays a role in bringing socioeconomic improvement among the more vulnerable sections of society, especially among women in rural areas. Here an attempt was made to know the knowledge level of the women SHG members about Poultry enterprise and the results are presented below in a tabular form i.e. in table 1.

Knowledge on Mushroom Production
Cultivated mushroom have now become popular all over the world. Mushroom cultivation can directly improve the livelihood through economic, nutritional and medicinal contribution. It will improve the socio economic condition of women and employment problem. Mushroom cultivation is an agricultural activity which women can utilize their spare time and play a vital role without sacrificing their household responsibilities. An attempt was made to investigate the knowledge of the respondents about Mushroom which was presented in Table 2.

Knowledge on fodder cultivation
Fodder crops are crops that are cultivated primarily for animal feed. Fodder refers particularly to food given to the animals rather than that which they forage themselves called (forage). Milk production and productivity depends on quality and quantity of fodder. Fodder has an important role in meeting requirement of various nutrients to dairy animals for producing milk more economically as compared to concentrates. An attempt was made to investigate the knowledge of the respondents about fodder cultivation which was presented in table 3.

Knowledge on handy craft:
A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by hand or by using only simple tools. The crafts sector has the potential to provide a stable employment and income generation opportunity to diverse communities. Crafts production presents an opportunity to otherwise low skilled, home based women, to improve their status within the household by providing a source of earning and employment. So an attempt was made to investigate the knowledge of the respondents about handy crafts which was presented in table 4. The knowledge gap about credit availability was 49 per cent followed by 46.33 per cent knowledge about skill competency. It may be concluded that the respondents need timely availability of credit and also training for skill competency.
All the respondents were grouped in to three categories basing on their knowledge level about various enterprises which was reflected in table 5.