A Study on Adoption Level of Good Horticultural Practices by the Vegetable Growers

Appropriate promotion and adoption of GHP from farm to fork will help improve the safety and quality of food and agricultural products. In addition, producers and consumers will benefit from global markets and improve their livelihoods and the national economy as a whole. The average productivity of majority of the vegetables in India is lower (12 t/ha) compared to that in other agriculturally developed countries of the world. It could be enhanced through adoption of improved technologies including weed management. The knowledge of farmers about vegetable varieties and their behaviour in adopting these varieties and other technologies including weed management have been assessed. This study is based on a total sample of 120 farmers selected randomly from 2 blocks of Ganjam district in Odisha. A majority of the farmers are reported to have high and medium level knowledge of improved technologies of tomato and cauliflower cultivation. However, only 17 per cent in Jagannathprasad and 35 per cent in Surada Blocks of Ganjam district are reported to be high adopters of the improved technologies including weed management in Cauliflower. A majority of the farmers have expressed that lack of control measures for weed, leaf curl in tomato, high cost of pesticide and fertilizer, lack of marketing, impure seeds and chemical, timely labour availability as the major reasons for non-adoption of improved technologies. A significant correlation between extension contact and knowledge and adoption of improved technology has been found. It is suggested that there is a need to strengthen communication methods like TV and radio by extending the duration of farm programs and providing specialized training to the growers by the state department in consultation with the KVK. Research efforts should be strengthened to develop multiple disease, pest and weed-resistant varieties and direct supply of these varieties to farmers. It is observed that co-operative farming or formation of FPO may solve the problem of small farmers in respect to post-harvest management and value-addition. Keyword: Behaviour, Adoption, Vegetable, Technology, Research Article Cite this article: Samantaray, S.K., Panda, P.K., Giri, B.P., & Nayak, M.P. (2019). A Study on Adoption Level of Good Horticultural Practices by the Vegetable Growers, Ind. J. Pure App. Biosci. 7(5), 154-159. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.18782/2320-7051.7456 Samantaray et al. Ind. J. Pure App. Biosci. (2019) 7(5), 154-159 ISSN: 2582 – 2845 Copyright © Sept.-Oct., 2019; IJPAB 155 INTRODUCTION India is blessed with diverse agroclimatic zones with distinct seasons, making it possible to grow wide range of vegetables. Vegetables are good source of nutrients, dietary fibers, phytochemicals and vitamins. Vegetables with higher productivity have resulted in greater economic returns to farmers. India is next only to China in area and total production of vegetables with an average productivity of 15.2 tonnes / ha. It occupies prime position in the production of cauliflower, second in onion and third in cabbage in the world. However, there is huge scope to further boost the production by increasing the productivity per unit area of land with the help of improved technologies. The average productivity of cabbage, potato and pea in India is 22.0, 19.4 and 6.7 tonnes / ha, respectively which is too low as compare to the per hectare production of cabbage 55.3 tonnes in Korea Republic, potato 44.8 tonnes in Netherlands and pea 16.6 tonnes in France (Gopalakrishnan, 2007). Vegetables are typically grown in India in field conditions; the concept is opposed to the cultivation of vegetables in green houses as practiced in developed countries for high yields. The vegetables sector also suffers from lack of availability of good quality planting material and low use of hybrid seeds (Reddy & Tirkey, 2004). Poor farm management and manual harvesting practices also apply to the vegetables cultivation in India. .Keeping this view in mind an attempt was made to study the adoption behaviour of vegetable growers towards improved technologies for tomato and cauliflower along with to document the possible reasons of non-adoption of the improved technologies with special reference to weed management in the Ganjam region of Odisha. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was conducted in Surada and Jagannathprasad blocks of Ganjam district of Odisha. A total of ten sample villages, five from each block, were selected in consultation with the local Asst. Horticulture & Agriculture Officers. A total sample size of 120 farmers was chosen by randomly selecting 12 vegetable growing farmers from each village. These selected farmers were personally interviewed using a pre-tested survey schedule to collect data on the recommended package of practices being adopted in cultivation of tomato and cauliflower. To understand the process and level of adoption, farm size, participation in extension programmes of various departments, contact with extension personnel and other subject matter specialist, exposure to mass media and social participation were considered as explanatory variables, and knowledge of farmers about latest technologies, adoption level, consultancy pattern and other possible reasons of non-adoption were considered as dependent variables. The variables were scored according to the scales already developed and in-use in the extension research studies. The data were analysed and interpreted in terms of frequencies, percentage and score values. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Knowledge of farmers about improved technologies in cultivation of vegetable crops: The result showed that majority of the farmers were having medium to high level of knowledge about improved technologies for tomato cultivation. It was found that 33.3, 41.7 and 25 per cent farmers fell in high, medium and low knowledge level category, respectively (Table1). Table 1: Knowledge of farmers about improved technologies in cultivation of vegetable crops (N = 120) Knowledge level Tomato Cauliflower Jagannathprasad (n=60) Surada (n=60) Jagannathprasad (n=60) Surada (n=60) High 15 (25) 25 (42) 10 (17) 17 (28) Medium 29(48) 21 (35) 4 (7) 6 (10) Low 16 (27) 14 (23) 46 (76) 37 (62) Note: Figures within the parentheses are per cent to total farmers (n) from respective blocks. Samantaray et al. Ind. J. Pure App. Biosci. (2019) 7(5), 154-159 ISSN: 2582 – 2845 Copyright © Sept.-Oct., 2019; IJPAB 156 However, the two blocks differed significantly in terms of distribution of farmers in a knowledge category. Forty two percent of the farmers from Panger showed high level of knowledge about improved tomato technologies as against only 25 per cent in Jagannathprasad. Whereas about half of the farmers (48%) in Jagannathprasad block were having medium level of knowledge in comparison to 35 per cent farmers of Surada. The numbers of farmers having low level of knowledge were almost similar in both the blocks. In contrast to improved tomato technologies, majority of the farmers showed low knowledge level of improved cauliflower cultivation technologies. Only 31percent of the total farmers were in medium to high level of knowledge categories while 69 percent of them were having low level of knowledge about improved cauliflower technologies (Table 2). The farmers from Surada were a bit more advanced than Jagannathprasad block interms of knowledge level. Seventy six percent of the farmers from Jagannathprasad showed low knowledge level as compared to 62 per cent in Surada. Table 2: Adoption of the improved technologies of Tomato and Cauliflower by farmers Adoption level Tomato Cauliflower Jagannathprasad (N=60) Surada (N=60) Total (N=120) Jagannathprasad (N=60) Surada (N=60) Total (N=120) High 17 (28) 19(32) 36 (30) 11(18) 19 (32) 30 (25) Medium 35 (58) 30 (50) 65 (54) 4 (7) 3 (5) 7 (6) Low 8 (14) 11(18) 19 (16) 45 (75) 38 (63) 83 (69) Note: Figure within the parentheses are per cent to total The data showed that the adoption level of technologies among the farmers were more or less similar in trend as recorded in case of knowledge level. Eighty four percent of the total farmers under study were in medium to high adoption categories in respect to improved tomato technologies. While 69 per cent of farmers were low adopters as far as improved technologies for cauliflower were concerned. In terms of distribution of farmers in different adoption categories, Surada block was slightly advanced than Jagannathprasad block. Considering the total responses recorded for tomato and cauliflower technologies, 32 per cent farmers of Surada were high adopters of technologies as compared to 23 per cent (28% for tomato and 18% for cauliflower) high adopting farmers in Jagannathprasad. The results of this study suggested that strengthening of the extension facilities could increase the knowledge and adoption behavior of farmers especially about improved cauliflower technologies in the study areas. A majority of the tomato cultivators in Surada were medium adopters of practices like suitable soil preparation, seed rate, fertilizer application, weed control, plant protection measures and disposal of produce (Table 3). While a majority of the cauliflower cultivating farmers were low adopters of these practices. It was observed that only the technology relating to transplanting of cauliflower seedlings was adopted by majority of farmers. These findings are in line with Horpar et al. (2006). This indicated that there was a need for strengthening the training and extension services for farmers at the village level especially in respect to the improved technologies for cauliflower production (University of Maryland, 2002). More or less similar trend was noticed in regard to the adoption of improved tomato and cauliflower technologies by the farmers of Jagannathprasad block (Table 4). Samantaray et al. Ind. J. Pure App. Biosci. (2019) 7(5), 154-159 ISSN: 2582 – 2845 Copyright © Sept.-Oct., 2019; IJPAB 157 Table 3: Adoption o