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Anand Agricultural University, Anand

Anand Agricultural University (AAU) was established in 2004 at Anand with the support of the Government of Gujarat, Act No.(Guj 5 of 2004) dated April 29, 2004. Caved out of the erstwhile Gujarat Agricultural University (GAU), the dream institution of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr. K. M. Munshi, the AAU was set up to provide support to the farming community in three facets namely education, research and extension activities in Agriculture, Horticulture Engineering, product Processing and Home Science. At present there seven Colleges, seventeen Research Centers and six Extension Education Institute working in nine districts of Gujarat namely Ahmedabad, Anand, Dahod, Kheda, Panchmahal, Vadodara, Mahisagar, Botad and Chhotaudepur AAU's activities have expanded to span newer commodity sectors such as soil health card, bio-diesel, medicinal plants apart from the mandatory ones like rice, maize, tobacco, vegetable crops, fruit crops, forage crops, animal breeding, nutrition and dairy products etc. the core of AAU's operating philosophy however, continues to create the partnership between the rural people and committed academic as the basic for sustainable rural development. In pursuing its various programmes AAU's overall mission is to promote sustainable growth and economic independence in rural society. AAU aims to do this through education, research and extension education. Thus, AAU works towards the empowerment of the farmers.

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20121
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Author: BADHE, DHIRAJ KADU × End date: 2019 × Type: Thesis ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    FARMERS' PERCEPTION REGARDING ENVIRONMENTAL RISK IN USE OF PESTICIDES IN ANAND DISTRICT OF GUJARAT STATE
    (AAU, Anand, 2012) BADHE, DHIRAJ KADU; Saiyad, A. S.
    With the growing demand for enhancing food grain production to feed more than 100 crore people at one end and increasing yield losses due to pest infestation on the other, the farmers of India till recently have been relying on pesticides and chemical fertilizers. It is estimated that about thirty percent of the potential of food production is lost due to insect pests, diseases, weeds, rodents and birds. In terms of money, it is estimated that every year crops worth Rs.6000 crore are lost due to pests. Exposure to pesticides both occupationally and environmentally causes a range of human health problems. It is estimated that nearly 10,000 deaths annually due to use of chemical pesticide worldwide, with about three-fourths of these occurring in developing countries. Horhgan, et al. (2006) Farmers are using excessive amount of pesticides in a wrong manner with disproportionate dosage, which leads to a higher cost of cultivation as well as ecological imbalance. Hence, reducing the hazards arising due to pesticides, needs immediate action to be taken by the environmentalists and all other concerned to mitigate the health hazards to the enormous human population. In a country like India where farming is a family affair, the problem of reaching the target group gets further compounded. The farming family as a whole needs to be educated, then only the damages could be checked or at least minimized to a safe level. Only when they start to understand and appreciate the risks involved in the use of pesticides, then only changes can take place in the desired direction i.e. IPM. Keeping all the above facts in mind, to identify the Environmental Risk Literacy (ERL) among the farmers of Anand district of Gujarat state, the present investigation "FARMERS' PERCEPTION REGARDING ENVIRONMENTAL RISK IN USE OF PESTICIDES IN ANAND DISTRICT OF GUJARAT STATE" was started with following objectives: 1.1 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: 1. To study the profile of farmers in Anand district of Gujarat state. 2. To develop scale to measure perception of farmers regarding environmental risk in use of pesticides. 3. To study the perception of farmers regarding environmental risk in use of pesticides. 4. To find out relationship between perception of farmers regarding environmental risk in use of pesticides and their profile. 5. To find out the constraints as perceived by the farmers in pesticide application and 6. To seek suggestions from farmers to overcome the constraints perceived by them. 1.2 METHODOLOGY Present study was carried out in Anand district of Gujarat state. Total four talukas namely Anand, Petlad, Tarapur, and Anklav were selected for this study. For this study, total 200 farmers who had minimum 3 years of experience in farming were selected randomly. Various characteristics of farmers were measured with using proper tools and techniques. Measurement of knowledge about different areas of pesticides among farmers was done by using teacher made test. Measurement of attitude of farmers towards pesticide use and attitude towards integrated pest management was done by scale developed by Patel (1994) and Patel et al, (2007), respectively. Measurement of farmers' perception regarding environmental risk in pesticide use was done by using scale developed by researcher. A simple ranking technique was applied to measure the constraints faced by farmers and suggestions given by them. An interview schedule was developed in accordance with the objectives of the study and it was pre-tested and translated into Gujarati. The data for this study were collected through personal interview. The data so collected were classified, tabulated, analyzed and interpreted in order to make the findings meaningful. The statistical measures such as; percentage, mean, standard deviation, co-efficient of correlation, stepwise multiple regressions and standard partial regression coefficient were used in the study. 1.3 MAJOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The important findings of the study are summarized as below: 1.3.1 Characteristics of the farmers 1. Slightly less than half of the farmers were found in the middle age group. 2. An equal number of the farmers had educated up to secondary level as well as primary level. 3. Majority of the farmers had medium level of experience in farming. 4. Majority of the farmers were found in large size of family i.e. more than 5 members. 5. More than half of the farmers were found in joint type of family. 6. Less than half of the farmers were found with membership in one organization. 7. Majority of the farmers were found in medium farmer group. 8. More than half of the farmers were found with medium annual income i.e. Rs. 50,001 to 1,00,000/-. 9. Majority of the farmers had medium level of contact with different extension agencies. 10. Slightly less than half of the farmers had medium level of extension participation. 11. Exactly three fifth of the farmers had medium exposure to mass media. 12. Majority of the farmers had medium level of cosmopoliteness. 13. Majority of the farmers belongs to medium economic motivation category. 14. Majority of the farmers had medium level of risk orientation. 15. Majority of the farmers had medium level of scientific orientation. 16. Majority of the farmers had medium level of knowledge regarding different areas of pesticides. 17. Less than one third of farmers had neutral attitude towards pesticide use. 18. More than two-fifth of farmers had neutral attitude towards integrated pest management. 1.3.2 Perception of farmers regarding environmental risk in use of pesticides Less than one-third of the farmers had medium level of perception regarding environmental risk iri use of pesticides. 1.3.3 Relationship between perception of farmers regarding environmental risk in use of pesticide and their profile. Variable age, experience in farming and attitude of the farmers towards pesticide use was observed negatively significant with their perception regarding environmental risk in use of pesticides, while other variables like education, social participation, annual income, extension contact, extension participation, mass media exposure, cosmopoliteness, economic motivation, risk orientation, scientific orientation, knowledge about different areas of pesticide and attitude towards IPM were observed positive and significantly related with their perception regarding environmental risk in use of pesticides. It was observed that size of family, type of family and land holding were observed non-significant with their perception regarding environmental risk in use of pesticides. 1.3.3.1 Extent of contribution of selected independent variables on the dependent variables The variable, education alone contributed to 51.40 per cent of total variation in perception of the farmers regarding environmental risk in pesticide use, followed by education + extension participation (60.00 per cent), education + extension participation + attitude towards pesticide use (63.50 per cent) and education + extension participation + attitude towards pesticide use + attitude towards IPM (65.40 per cent). 1.3.4 Constraints as perceived by the farmers in pesticide application The major constraints faced by majority of the farmers in pesticide application were non-availability of pesticide information in time (89.50 per cent), high cost of pesticides (84.00 per cent), lack of knowledge about recommended dose of pesticides (81.50 per cent), lack of knowledge about selection of the correct pesticides for a pest or diseases control (79.00 per cent), non-availability of plant protection chemicals at village place (74.50 per cent), lack of knowledge about usage, repair and maintenance of plant protection equipment (69.00 per cent) and high labour charges at the time of pesticide spraying (64.00 per cent). 1.3.5 Suggestions from farmers to overcome the constraints perceived by them Major suggestions given by farmers to overcome the constraints perceived by them are majority (90.00 per cent) of the respondent farmers had suggested that knowledge about selection of the correct pesticides and its recommended dose should be provided timely, training should be imparted to the farmers regarding the use of pesticides and maintenance of plant protection equipment before starting the season (81.50 per cent), knowledge about usage, repair and maintenance of plant protection equipments should be provided (79.00 per cent), repairing facility of plant protection equipments should be established at nearby place (71.50 per cent).