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Abstract
The study has reported the impact of training on lac growers in terms of host utilization, livelihood
conditions and income and employment generation. The study is based on the data collected from
randomly selected 500 lac growers (trained and untrained) in the Ranchi and West Singhbhum districts
of Jharkhand in the years 2003-04 and 2004-05. The host utilization has been found to increase
significantly after training of lac growers in comparison to untrained lac-growers for all the three
hosts, viz. palas (Butea monosperma), ber (Zizyphus mauritiana) and kusum (Schleichera oleosa). A
significant shift from lower production group to higher production group has been observed by trained
lac-growers. The share of lac income in total income has increased in the case of trained lac-growers
from 18.5 per cent to 24.0 per cent. More employment generation and increase in net returns have
been found in lac cultivation on all the three hosts for trained lac-growers. Higher level of broodlac
(seed) production has resulted in self-sufficiency in broodlac and more utilization of host trees for lac
cultivation. Higher BC ratio and reduction in cost of production of broodlac and sticklac have been
found in trained than untrained lac-growers for lac cultivation on all the three hosts. The study has
emphasized on the need of strengthening and widening the extension activity to empower the lac
growers with scientific knowledge on lac cultivation for increasing their income level.