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Open Access
Technology assessment of plant protection practices of economically dominant crops in homegardens
(Department Of Agricultural Extension, College Of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2015) Sujitha, P S; KAU; Seema, B
The study entitled “Technology assessment of plant protection practices of economically dominant crops in homegardens’' conducted in the Thiruvanathapuram district of Kerala state covering 100 homegardens having an area more than 25 cents were selected from five Agroecological units (AEU) viz.. Southern coastal plains, Southern central laterites, Southern high hills, Southern central foothills and Southern laterites. Twenty operational homegardens from each of the five panchayats belonging to the selected AEUs were chosen making the total sample size to 100 respondents. Delineation of economically dominant crops in homegardens, levels of adoption of selected KALJ plant protection practices, technology need assessment, constraints in adoption of plant protection practices and suggestions as perceived by the farmers were the major objectives of the study. The independent variables selected through judges rating were age, education, occupation, effective homegarden area, family size, farming experience, information source utilization, rational orientation, extension participation, knowledge, evaluative perception on sustainability of plant protection practices and economic motivation. The independent variable selected was adoption of selected KAU plant protection practices. The economically dominant crops identified were coconut, banana, tapioca, pepper, vegetables, yams and colacasia and arecanut respectively in the homegardens. The overall level of adoption of selected plant protection practices showed that majority (70%) of the respondents had medium level of adoption followed by 16% having high level and 14% low level of adoption. The adopter category curve delineated for the overall adoption showed that 45% of the respondents fell under early majority followed late majority (21%), laggards (16%), early adopters (14%), with no innovators. Differences in adopter categories were observed for different crops. Age, information source utilization and extension participation were found to have significant positive relationship with the dependent variable adoption of selected plant protection practices of KAU. In coconut, banana, tapioca and arecanut ease in operation was perceived as the most preferred plant protection criteria in homegardens. The result showed that 45% of the farmers found the preferred KAU plant protection practices to be useful however only 40% of the respondents felt it effective. Of the 17 ITK plant protection practices, four were specific to vegetables and banana each. Two were specific to plant protection of coconut and six of general practices. Major constraints identified were, plant protection chemicals not effective in their recommended dosage, followed by climatic influence on pest and incidence and non availability of plant protection chemicals. Suggested refinement in plant protection technology as perceived by the homegarden farmers were in generating of ecofriendly and organic plant protection measures that are suitable for homegardens followed by timely availability of plant protection inputs and generation of more pest and disease resistant varieties.
Open Access
Impact of the rice variety,Uma (Mo16) on farmers
(Department of Agricultural Extension College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2015) Neshva; KAU; Sakeer, Husain
Rice is the staple food of the people of Kerala, and traditionally, the cultivation of rice has occupied pride of place in the agrarian economy of the state. Palakkad and Alappuzha are the two major rice-producing districts of Kerala. About 600 varieties of rice were grown in the sprawling paddy fields of Kerala. One of the most popular rice varieties of Kerala is Uma (Mo.16) developed by the Rice Research Station, Moncompu of Kerala Agricultural University and it occupies more than 60 percent of the paddy cultivation area in Kuttanad region. The study intended to analyse the attributes of the rice variety, Uma (Mo16) vis-a-vis other rice varieties as perceived by farmers and to assess the socio economic impact of Uma on rice cultivating farmers. The study was confined to Kuttanad tract of Alappuzha. An ex-post facto research design was adopted for the study. Five padasekharams were selected through simple random sampling method, and from each padasekharam, 20 farmers cultivating the rice variety, Uma were selected, thus constituting a sample size of 100. A pretested structured interview schedule and PRA techniques were employed for data collection. The results revealed that tolerance to pests and diseases was ranked first with an index of 94.60 followed by non-lodging nature of plant (92.60), non-shattering nature of panicle (86.70), amenability to mechanisation (75.40), millers’ preference (49.60) and cooking quality (42.00). Varietal comparison of other rice varieties prevalent in Kuttanad area with ‘Uma’ using PRA technique revealed that ‘Uma’ was perceived as the superior variety with a score of 520.42 followed by Jyothi (443.95) and Prathyasa (418.72). Results of SWOC analysis done using PRA techniques, revealed that among the strengths, ‘high yield’ ranked first with an index of 98.80 followed by ‘tolerance against pest and disease incidence’ (96.00), ‘high grain weight’ (91.00), ‘high tillering capacity’ (89.00) and ‘high seed dormancy’ (85.2). However, low cooking quality (96.10) and less preference of the rice variety by millers (94.2) were emerged as the major weaknesses. It was, also found that all the respondents were continuously cultivating ‘Uma’ without any varietal shift. Majority (56 per cent) of the farmers had been continuously cultivating the rice variety, Uma for the past 15-17 years. With regard to the social impact on farmers, it was revealed that social participation has improved significantly. Similarly, information seeking behaviour has also increased positively, where as labour use has decreased significantly. However, there was no significant change in the communication behaviour of farmers. As regards economic impact, ‘annual income’, ‘family expenditure’, ‘savings’ and ‘asset creation’ of farmers have increased significantly after cultivation of the rice variety, Uma as compared to pre-Uma period. Indebtedness of farmers was also found to have decreased. Thus, the rice variety Uma could make a very promising impact on the socio- economic variables of farmers. Regarding comparative income advantage of Uma, it was found that this variety had an income advantage of Rs.38000/- per ha over the variety, Jyothi and Rs.95000/- per ha over local varieties. Thus, for a single puncha season, Uma had given an additional income of Rs.104.30 crores as compared to Jyothi and Rs.260.75 crores as compared to local varieties, in Kuttanad tract of Alappuzha alone. With regard to constraints faced by Kuttanad farmers, ‘non-availability of labour’ was ranked first with an index of 98.60 followed by ‘high cost of inputs’ like fertilizers and pesticides (89.60), ‘vagaries of weather and climatic conditions’ (81.20) and ‘non fixing of floor price on time’ (70.80
Open Access
Effectiveness of training for facilitators of people's rural education movement (PREM)
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture,Vellanikkara, 2015) Remya, M; KAU; Alexander George
With financial sponsorship from Axis Bank Foundation, Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) conducted a series of training programmes for the facilitators of People’s Rural Education Movement (PREM) from May 2011 to July 2014. PREM is an NGO working for the upliftment of the tribal belt in Odisha. This study had three specific objectives: (1) To evaluate the effectiveness of the training for facilitators of the PREM (2) To make a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Constraints (SWOC) analysis of KAU’s training capability and (3) To suggest ways and means of improving training activity of the KAU. Ninety randomly selected trainees and 10 stakeholders representing officials of PREM, Axis Bank Foundation, resource persons and members of the Expert Review Team constituted the sample. Ex-post facto research design was adopted for the study. Data collection was carried out using mailed questionnaires and personal interview method. Secondary data available in the pre and post-training documents, the report of the Expert Review Team and specific cases of actual back home utility were also extensively used. Profile parameters of the respondents were documented and subsequent findings of the study reveal that high percentages of respondents fully adopted the practices learned at the training: organic and eco-friendly farming practices (89%), integrated pest and disease management (76%) and improved animal husbandry practices (74%). The percentages of respondents who partially adopted the practices taught were as follows: vermi-composting/medicinal plants and fruit crops/bee keeping/mushroom production/nursery management (80%); processing and value addition techniques (59%). However, nearly 50 per cent of respondents did not adopt farm mechanization. The training was perceived as rigorous by most of the respondents (80%). Wilcoxon signed rank test revealed that invariably all the respondents had gained knowledge through the training. That 52 per cent of respondents perceived that the knowledge gained in the training had applicability in their circumstances and 85 per cent of respondents perceived the training was helpful to their day-to-day work stands to validate the design element in conduct of the training. Majority (93%) of the respondents had opportunity to share information gained through training to others implying that the training impact went beyond the trainees. Invariably all the trainees had their expectations met and rated training useful for them at medium level. Correlation results show that land owned, land cultivated, extension agency and farming experience had a positive and significant relationship with adoption. Orientation towards scientific and modern agricultural practices and gender had a negative and significant relationship with training rigour. Orientation towards scientific and modern agricultural practices had a negative and significant relationship with knowledge gained through training. Kruskal Wallis one-way Anova results indicate that there was no significant difference between the respondents who attended training in different years 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14. Level of aspiration and perceived applicability of knowledge gained was significantly higher for the respondents who attended the training thrice. Kendall’s co-efficient of concordance showed that mushroom production technology as the most useful topic covered in training followed by bee keeping, making of ecofriendly products and tissue culture as the least useful topic. Topics perceived by the respondents as most important for necessary inclusion in future training programmes were medicinal plants, fish culture, tissue culture lab visit, mango cultivation, cashew apple processing and rubber cultivation. Seven strategic options arrived through SWOC analysis of KAU’s training capability were (1) undertake batch specific training need analysis (2) ensure highly effectual transfer of knowledge, attitude and skills (3) provide HRD training for support staff and Quality Improvement Programs for resource persons of KAU (4) enhance the number of resource persons and support staff (5) improve boarding and transportation facilities (6) develop e-training facilities and (7) focus on crop specific input. Suggestions on ways and means to improve training activities of KAU were: select training co-coordinator carefully, nominate resource persons based on previous training feedback analysis, have more the field visits and emphasize on skill component, adopt flexibility to modify the schedule based on the changing expectations of the trainees, handouts for each topic to be distributed at least one day before the session, reach out to prospective clients through modern marketing strategies, adopt video conferencing to reduce strain on resource persons, introduction of Massive Online Open Courses with facilities for on-line booking for training and making available the training calendar on the university website in the beginning of each financial year.
Open Access
Revitalization of agricultural technology management agency (ATMA)
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2015) Rubeena, A; KAU; Sreedaya, G S
The present study entitled “Revitalization of Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA): A comparative study in Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam districts of Kerala” was carried out at the Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani. The study aimed at comparing the implementation of revitalized ATMA activities in Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam districts with a view to suggest measures for further improvement. Since the study is participatory with multi-stakeholder involvement, four classes of stakeholders of ATMA were chosen as respondents namely implementing officials, members of decision making authorities, farmers and NGO and private partners from each district. Multistage random sampling was employed for the study. On analysis of data, it was found that for each category of respondents, the perception about the implementation of ATMA activities was highly positive and significantly higher in Kottayam district than that in Thiruvananthapuram district. Perception about implementation of ATMA was measured in terms of ten dimensions and it was found that almost all dimensions are found to be positive and significantly higher in Kottayam district than in Thiruvananthapuram district. Regarding impact parameters, around 50 per cent farmer respondents expressed that „productivity‟ of banana and vegetable showed 26-50 per cent improvement in both the districts after exposure to ATMA. „Connectivity‟ among the farmers has improved as a result of their participation in farmer oriented activities such as exposure visits, trainings, demonstrations and farm schools in both the districts. The profile characteristics of farmers such as economic motivation, extension contact, extension participation, number of trainings undergone showed positive and significant association with perception about the implementation of ATMA in Kottayam district whereas in Thiruvananthapuram district, age and economic motivation were associated significantly to the dependent variable. The farmers of both the districts felt that „ lack of coordination of line departments in providing service to the farmers‟ was the major constraint in the implementation of ATMA. „Assigning definite role and responsibility to the implementing officers‟ was the most important suggestion of officials in both the districts. „ATMA activities are to be planned in consultation with farmers‟ and „need of regular monitoring of ATMA‟ were the most important suggestions made by the farmers of Kottayam and Thiruvananthapuram districts, respectively. ATMA should enable the Research and Extension systems to become more dynamic and responsive to solving farmers‟ problems. Besides increasing the financial sustainability of the public extension system, new partnerships with private sector and better coordination among the line departments must also be fostered to ensure that the agricultural sector becomes vibrant and innovation-driven.
Open Access
Social capital formation through farm woman groups in vegetable production in Kollam district
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2015) Revathy, Chandran; KAU; Sreedaya, G S
The study entitled ‘Social capital formation through farm women groups in vegetable production in Kollam district’ was conducted in six panchayaths of Kollam district . The total number of respondents were 120 which included both farm women and extension facilitators. The main objectives of the study was to assess the scale of social capital formation, group efficiency, perception of farm women and extension facilitators regarding the group processes, constraints experienced by farm women in group process and comparing the efficiency of farming by individuals and by groups.
Open Access
Strategies for capacity building of extension personnel for using information and communication technologies
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2015) Chithra, Gangadharan; KAU; Helen, S
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) generally refer to expanding assembly of technologies that are used to handle information and aid communication. ICT in agriculture is an emerging field that involves application of innovative ways to use ICTs in the rural domain. The advancements in ICTs can be utilized for providing accurate, timely, relevant information and services to farmers, thereby facilitating an environment for more remunerative agriculture. The study intended to analyse the utilization pattern of ICTs, training needs and constraints faced by extension personnel, and to work out strategies for capacity building of extension personnel in using ICTs for agricultural development in Kerala. An ex-post facto research design was adopted. Five districts were selected from each agro climatic zone, and from each district, 30 Agricultural Officers were selected randomly, thus constituting a sample size of 150. It was observed that 66 per cent of the extension personnel were females, more than two-third of the extension personnel (71.33%) had only medium level of innovation proneness. High level of innovation proneness was noted among 14.66 per cent of the extension personnel. Three-fourth of the extension personnel (74.66%) did not receive trainings related to ICTs. With regard to the attitude towards ICTs, majority (86.66%) of the extension workers of all the districts were under medium category. Further, it is revealed that more than 85 per cent of the extension personnel had access towards ICT tools such as radio, television, land phone, mobile phone, computer, internet, e-mail, web based search engine and web-based agriculture information portals. The ICT tools with low extent of accessibility were Decision Support System, Video camera, Video conferencing and Kiosk, with less than 25 per cent. With regard to the utilization of ICT tools, the respondents were evenly distributed among the categories of very less frequent users, less frequent users, frequent users and most frequent users with 26 per cent each and most frequent users with 22 per cent only. More than 50 per cent of the extension officers mainly used various ICT tools for obtaining recent information to update their knowledge. Only less than 20 per cent of the extension professionals utilized majority of the ICT tools for offering advisory services and less than 10 per cent of the extension officials used various ICT tools for the purpose of teaching or training. More than 70 per cent of the respondents spent 1-5 hrs per week in using various ICT tools. The per cent of extension personnel who spent 5-10 hours per week for using various ICT tools ranged from 0.7 to 24.7.Very less per cent of the respondents spent 10-15 and above 15 hours per week on different ICT tools. ‘Sources of web based agricultural information’ was perceived as the most important training need related to knowledge level, with an index of 84.66, followed by ‘agricultural related websites (80) and basics of computer hardware and software (75.16). Regarding the skill level training needs, highest Training Need Index was obtained for ‘preparation of excel sheets and calculations’ (76) followed by ‘usage of agri portals’ with an index of 74.66 and ‘fertilizer recommendation systems’ (74.16). The major constraints faced by the extension personnel were lack of proper training facility with a mean score value of 9.48 followed by inadequate computer facility and poor technical knowhow and conducting trainings at inappropriate times with mean score of 8.32 each. Target specific training modules, hands on experience, well established infrastructure, adequate funds and personnel for repair and maintenance, computer based trainings and circulation of annual training calendars in advance are the suggested strategies for the capacity building of extension personnel of Kerala in using ICTs.
Open Access
Adoption of organic farming technologies in banana and vegetable crops in kasaragod district
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2015) Akshay, Sasidharan; KAU; Sheiref, A K
The study entitled ‘Adoption of organic farming technologies in banana and vegetable crops in Kasaragod district’ conducted in Kasaragod district covered 120 respondents with 30 from each Panchayath having maximum area under banana and vegetable crops under organic farming. Objective is to assess the extent of adoption and constraints in the adoption of organic farming technologies by banana and vegetable farmers, analyse the sustainability of cluster based approach of organic farming, constraints perceived by the extension functionaries and the role of KAU in promoting of organic farming in Kasaragod. Nine independent variables viz., age, education, experience in organic farming, area under organic farming, livestock possession, trainings attended, market perception, environmental orientation and information seeking behaviour were selected through judges rating. Dependent variables were awareness, knowledge, attitude and adoption. The result of study revealed that majority of the respondents had medium level of awareness (67%) and (75%), knowledge (70%) and (73%), attitude (72%) and (65%), and adoption (80%) and (72%) in vegetable and banana crops respectively. Results of path analysis of organic vegetable cultivation revealed that educational status, livestock possession, trainings attended, information seeking behaviour had direct effect on awareness. Knowledge of organic vegetable farmers were directly influenced by educational status, trainings attended, market perception and environmental orientation. Educational status, area under organic farming, livestock possession, market perception, and information seeking behaviour had direct effect on the adoption of organic farming technologies by vegetable growers. Livestock possession, trainings attended and environmental orientation had direct effect on all the dependent variables of organic banana cultivation. In addition to that information seeking behaviour had direct effect on awareness. Experience in organic farming and information seeking behaviour had direct effect on the knowledge. Area under organic farming had direct effect on adoption. Major constraints perceived by the extension functionaries were lack of marketing facilities, lack of sufficient funds, non availability of quality inputs, high cost of inputs, yield loss in the initial years, Organic farming programme is implemented through a system of the farmer cluster formed under each Krishi bhavan of the panchayat. The programme is well received and the result indicated that 92 % of the vegetable growers and 60 % of the banana growers had responded high sustainability of this system. Major constraints perceived by the farmers were lack of premium price for organic products, difficulty in selling the produce, high prevalence of pest and diseases, non-availability of quality planting materials, non-availability of organic inputs, high labour charge, and high cost of organic inputs. Kerala Agricultural University plays a vital role in the promotion of organic farming in the state, like publishing an adhoc POP for organic farming, tied-up with FACT for marketing of microbial inoculant and bio fertilizers, production and supply of organic inputs, on-learning programme for organic farming and initiating research and extension works on organic farming. Periodic bulletins from Pesticide Residue Research and Analytical Lab informing the residual level in vegetables acted as a catalyst in the boosting up of organic farming in the state.
Open Access
Perception of school students of Kerala on agriculture and its implications
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2015) Razia, Fathima; KAU; Jayasree, Krishnankutty
With growing urbanization, better literacy standards and greater skill attainment by rural youth, our younger generation is moving away from agriculture.In India, children get hardly any exposure to agriculture through a curriculum predominated by arts and science.This is all the more pronounced in Kerala, the state with highest degree of urbanization in India. In this background, the present study entitled ‘Perception of school students of Kerala on agriculture and its implications’ was taken up in the Department of Agricultural Extension, college of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, during 2013-15 to assess the awareness level and perception of today’s children on agriculture. Survey was conducted among higher secondary school students of Alappuzha and Thrissur districts of Kerala. From each district, one urban school each with CBSE and state syllabus and one rural school each with CBSE and state syllabus were selected. Thus a total of eight schools were selected, and from these schools, the entire students of one division, randomly selected, formed the respondents. Hence, three hundred and ninety three students were surveyed. In addition, a total of sixty four teachers from all these schools were randomly surveyed as it is important to know their awareness on agriculture and perception about agriculture as an occupation for prospective youth. The results revealed that there exists huge variation in the awareness level of students from rural to urban background and also between respondents from state and CBSE syllabus. The ANOVA analysis done proved that the highest level of awareness on agriculture, was exhibited by the students from rural state syllabus school of Alappuzha District closely followed by the students from rural state syllabus school of Thrissur district. The lowest awareness level was recorded for students from urban CBSE schools of Thrissur and Alappuzha districts with a mean value of awareness as 0.449 and 0.470 respectively. The results of Kruskal Wallis test showed that there exists statistically significant difference in awareness level among teachers from different schools, with teachers from rural state syllabus schools having the highest awareness with a mean value of 50.53 and from the urban CBSE schools having low awareness with a mean value of 20.34. On analysing the perception of students on agriculture, the salient features that came up include, close to 36 percent of the sampled respondents have a negative perception that farming occupation is meant for the less privileged in the society, and 44 per cent of the student’s felt it as better for educated youth to engage in industrial/service sector than earning a living through agriculture. Nearly 48 per cent of the students think about agriculture as a good occupation only for the rural youth. The analysis of perception of teachers revealed that though all of them believe that it is necessary for our youth to explore the immense opportunities offered by our agribusiness sector, close to 86 per cent of them consider agribusiness enterprises as highly risk oriented having unpredictable prospects. About 84 per cent of the teachers included in this study felt it as necessary to incorporate the agri based experiential learning module into the school curriculum. The simple correlation analysis between the independent variables included in the study ( namelygender, background, nature of landed property, crops grown, type of dwelling, rural contact, purpose of contact, familiarity with farming, participation in extracurricular activities, garden in home and income from agriculture)with the dependent variables awareness and perception separately revealed that there exist strong, positive or negative correlation between them. With a view to assess the relationship between the dependent set of variables with the independent set of variables, a canonical correlation analysis was done. The canonical correlation analysis yielded a canonical R value (Rc=0.691) and squared correlation value R²C= 0.477 and the same were found to be highly significant as revealed by Chi square value of 271.35 (p <.001). To find out the contributory factors affecting the dependent variables awareness and perception, a stepwise regression analysis of the two dependent variables on the vector of independent variables was conducted separately. The analysis revealed that background, garden in home, participation in extracurricular activities, familiarity with farming and income from agriculture were the key factors affecting awareness whereas background, income from agriculture, participation in extracurricular activities and gender were found to bethe key explanatory factors affecting perception of students. A principal component analysis was conducted to assess how the eight schools surveyed could be clustered based on the independent variables included in the study.The analysis yielded a correlation matrix wherein the rural schools of the two districts were found to be significantly correlated with each other. High correlation existed between the urban schools too.The component plot in rotated space clearly depicted the close relationship between the two sets of schools- rural and urban, irrespective of their syllabus, and indicated the existence of a rural-urban divide with regard to the awareness and perception on agriculture.
Open Access
Impact of eco-friendly farm technologies in rice promoted through farmers' field school (FFS)
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2015) Naveen, Kumar G; KAU; Sendilkumar, R (Guide)
Modern agriculture has been successful in meeting the increased needs of population, but the problems associated with it are high cost of external inputs, destruction of natural eco-systems and stagnated yield levels. Hence the current thrust is on eco-friendly farm technologies, whose objective is to minimise the use of external inputs to prevent degradation of eco-system. Farmers’ Field School (FFS) have been found to be an efficient mechanism for promotion of eco-friendly farm technologies and it involves non-formal learner centred educational process which is predominantly skill based. The study primarily intended to assess the impact of eco-friendly farm technologies in rice disseminated through FFS approach. It also attempted to explore the factors influencing adoption of eco-friendly farm technologies in rice and elucidate the constraints encountered by the participant farmers. The study also tried to prescribe suggestions to overcome these constraints. The findings of the study would help farmers formulate appropriate interventions to create awareness on ecofriendly farming and promote sustainable development. The study was conducted in the Palakkad district of Kerala State. Five FFSs were selected based on the opinion of the Programme Coordinator of KVK, Palakkad. Twenty farmers were selected from each FFS through simple random sampling method to make the sample size 100. A pretested interview schedule was used for data collection. The results revealed that 61 per cent of the respondents had medium knowledge level on eco-friendly farm technologies with Mean Score Index (MSI) of 66.54. Out of the practices identified, application of Pseudomonas was ranked first with MSI of 70.83 followed by application of Trichoderma (67.50), application of neem based pesticides and bio pesticides (64.33), use of light traps (62.50), use of Trichogramma cards (61.75), use of pheromone traps (59.50), application of PGPR (30.00) and use of Beauveria (29.00). Majority of the respondents reported medium level of adoption of eco-friendly farm technologies (70%), in which application of Pseudomonas was reported by 82 per cent, followed by Trichoderma (76%), and Trichogramma cards (76%), pheromone traps (72%), neem pesticides and bio pesticides (72%), light traps (49%) application of Beauveria (31%) and PGPR (29%). With regard to perceived environmental impact, increased knowledge about soil testing was ranked first with a mean score of 82.66 followed by favourable attitude towards conservation of natural enemies (72.33) and knowledge on toxicity of pesticides (59.33). In case of economic impact, decrease in the use of labour ranked first with a mean score of 93.66 followed by decrease in cost of cultivation (79.66), increase in income level of farmers (77.66), change in the price of the product (33.66) and improved marketability of the produce (33.66). With respect to technological impact, reduction in consumption of pesticides was ranked first with a mean score of 76.66 followed by improved knowledge about IPM/INM (74.66), orientation towards improved crop management practices (72.33), and shift towards conservation of environment (66.00). With regard to social impact, increase in sharing of experiences and key learnings were ranked first with a mean score of 86.66, followed by increase in social contacts (80.66), increased participation in training (79.66) and joint responsibility in resource conservation (65.33). Correlation of the profile characteristics with knowledge and adoption shows that education, innovativeness, scientific orientation, extension participation, institutional support, mass media utilization, number of trainings attended and group interaction exhibited positive and significant relationship with knowledge and adoption of ecofriendly farm technologies. On the other hand, characteristics like age, annual income, land holding, farming experience, and group cohesiveness had nonsignificant relationship with the knowledge and adoption of eco-friendly farm technologies. The major constraints encountered in adoption were low marketability, inadequate price, complexity of technology, non-availability of inputs, lack of knowledge and skill, low applicability, community participation and adulteration of inputs. The constraints could be overcome by imparting knowledge and skills, creating awareness, subsidizing supply of inputs at right time, technology assessment and refinement and ensuring adequate price. Eco-friendly technologies promoted through FFS had shown positive impact on reducing the consumption of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, increase in yield and income levels and decrease in cost of cultivation. In the light of these findings, Department of Agriculture should plan for more number of FFS on other crops and extend FFS approach to other areas of the state as well.

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