Author(s): Prathibha Bharathi Chittem and Sumanth Kumar Kunda

Abstract: Litopenaeus vannamei (shrimp) farming is playing a pivotal role in the socio-economic development of India. India is exporting 4.4 lakh tones of shrimp products (2016-17) of which vannamei share is 3.30 lakh tonnes. The Andhra Pradesh state is the largest vannamei producer amongst the shrimp farming states of India contributing 2.31 lakh tonnes (70% of total Indian exports). The present study was conducted to evaluate socio economic status of the vannamei shrimp farmers in Andhra Pradesh. This study was conducted during the year 2014-15, in various districts of reorganized Andhra Pradesh state. The socio economic status of vannamei shrimp farmers were studied in terms of age education, family size and type, occupation status, caste, housing condition, income, experience, land holding, social participation and economic motivation. A three stage selection was adopted to finalize the respondents. Out of nine districts of Andhra Pradesh state, three districts viz. Prakasam, Guntur and Krishna were purposively selected for the present study. Ex-post-facto research design was used in the present investigation. The technique of proportionate and simple random sampling was adopted to select the required number of respondents. A sample size of 180 respondents was selected from the identified mandals of the three districts. Primary data was obtained through interview schedule from180 respondents selected for the specific purpose aided with well-structured questionnaire. It was found that most of the vannamei shrimp farmers in Andhra Pradesh were belonged to the age groups of 31-45 years (53.03%), majority (27.70%) growers had education of secondary school level (6^th -10^th class), Most (63.30%) of the respondents belonged to nuclear family type, majority (66.10%) of the respondents belonged to small family (possess up to 5 members), majority (61.60%) of the respondents had occupation of vannamei farming only, most (26.60%) of the respondents were involved in agriculture as subsidiary occupation, majority (47.22%) of the vannamei farmers belong to backward communities (BC), majority (54.44%) of respondents were holding 2.51-5.00 acres of land, majority (54.40%) of the vannamei farmers had RCC type of houses, 34.44 percent of respondents had annual income of Rs.1-2 lakh, majority (43.33%) of the respondents had low level of social participation and majority (55%) of vannamei farmers had medium level of economic motivation. The study concluded that the implementation of BMP’s in L. vannamei culture of the study area had shown socio-economic benefits.

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