A study on socio-economic impact of social forestry programme was carried out in two Districts (Kanpur Dehat and Mau) of Uttar Pradesh. The majority of beneficiaries (51.67%) were highly aware as compared to (26.25%) of non-beneficiaries farmers, which indicate that social forestry programme has created awareness and increased the knowledge level of the beneficiary farmers. There was a significant difference in the socio economic status of the beneficiaries and non-beneficiary respondents. It was also observed that beneficiary respondents were having high (54%) to middle (42%) level of socio economic status, whereas non-beneficiary respondents having lower (32%) to medium (32%) level of socio economic status. The beneficiary farmers were having 91.30 and 8.61 percent full and part time employment, respectively. Where as non-beneficiary farmers gained 55.00 and 45.00 percent full and part time employment, respectively. Further, it was noticed that fruit plants provided maximum employment to the farming community as compared to other plants.

Keyword: Social forestry; Awareness; Socio-economic; Employment