India is a world leader in groundnut farming. It is major oilseed legume crop and meets 30 percent of edible oil requirements of the country. They rich in protein and vitamins A, B and minerals like Ca, Mg, etc. A multistage, purposively, proportionate and random sampling technique was selected for the study. The study was conducted in Saurashtra region of Gujarat state. Total 12 talukas were selected purposively in which maximum FLDs given under NMOOP and among them 16 villages were selected for the study. Total 160 respondents were selected in which 80 demonstrators and 80 non-demonstrator farmers were selected for this study. Ex-post facto research design was used and data were collected by personal contact. The result revealed that the majority of demonstrator (68.75 per cent) and non-demonstrator (58.75 per cent) farmers had medium level of knowledge about the recommended groundnut production technology, whereas 17.50 per cent of demonstrator and 13.75 per cent of non-demonstrator farmers had high levels knowledge about recommended groundnut production technology. While 13.75 per cent and 27.50 per cent of demonstrator and non-demonstrator farmers had low level of knowledge about recommended groundnut production technology.

In recent years, SHGs have become significant institutions for rural development. It is now being increasingly realized that instead of targeting the individual in the process of development, it would be more useful to adopt the approach of group development. The group approach makes available the collective wisdom and combined resources for any task. With this background, a critical study of the evaluation of the profile characteristics of the SHGs and Non SHG members was carried out. Hence the present study has been formulated with the objective i.e. to study the profile characteristics of SHG and Non SHG members. The purpose of the study was to compare the SHG and Non SHG members with respect to their profile characteristics. The diagnostic study was confined to 10 villages from which 90 SHGs and 90 Non SHG respondents were selected for the study. The result revealed that the independent sample ‘Z’ test showed that there was significant difference in the mean values of SHG members and Non SHG members in case of education, family size, social participation, land holding, annual income, material possession whereas, there was no significant difference in the mean values of SHG members and Non SHG members in case of age and marital status. SHG and Non SHG members, Self Help Groups, Profile characteristics, Mean value, Significant difference by 15.83 per cent respondents. Technique of light intensity pruning was fully adopted by 62.50 per cent of total respondents, partially adopted by 29.17 per cent of total respondents and not adopted by 08.33 per cent respondents.

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