Behavioural dynamics of farmers towards adoption of organic dairy farming in sub-tropics of Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir state
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Date
2021-09-17
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Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology, Jammu (J&K)
Abstract
Organic farming is becoming very popular worldwide and is practiced in 187 countries. It has gained importance worldwide because of increased environmental awareness, consumer preferences, and sustainability of farm resources. The Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Agency (APEDA) has notified the Organic Livestock and Poultry standards developed under the National Program for Organic Production (NPOP) 2014 for implementation since June 1, 2015, but they are not yet known to the stakeholders, indicating the need to fill this gap. The farmers wishing to switch from conventional dairy production systems to organic dairy farming need information, knowledge, and skills to follow organic dairy standards, where there currently exists a big gap. In this context, the study entitled ‘Behavioural dynamics of farmers towards adoption of organic dairy farming in sub-tropics of Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir state’ was undertaken for ascertaining the knowledge and attitude of farmers towards organic dairy farming as well as to find out the gap between standardized and actual organic dairy practices of the farmers in the study area. The study also identified and documented the constraints in the adoption of organic dairy standards. Further, to disseminate the holistic information on dairy farming in general and organic dairy farming in particular, an ICT enabled web module on organic dairy farming (WMODF) has been developed, and a WhatsApp group of dairy farmers was created to share need-based information and for getting feedback of the problems and to provide proper solutions. A sample of 180 dairy farmers from OFC (Organic Farming Cluster-experimental group) and 60 dairy farmers from non-OFC (non-Organic Farming Cluster-control group) from sub-tropics of the Jammu region was selected by employing purposive cum random sampling technique. For studying the knowledge and attitude quasi-experimental/posttest-only control group research design was used, and for studying the impact of WhatsApp/Web Module on dairy farmers’ knowledge about organic dairy farming practices, difference-in-differences (DiD) quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group (pretest/posttest) was used. The results revealed no significant difference in socio- personal and economic variables of the dairy farmers of OFC and non-OFC except for average organic farming experience, operational land holding, social participation, and annual income. The average knowledge score of dairy farmers of OFC about organic dairy farming practices/standards was 15.04, and that of non-OFC was 8.86. The difference in average knowledge was significant. Eighty-one percent of OFC respondents had a medium level of knowledge, while only 18 percent in non-OFC knew organic dairy farming practice/standards. There was a significant knowledge gap in dairy farmers of OFC and non-OFC related to major practices/standards of organic dairy farming. It was also found that experience in organic farming, extension contact, and mass media exposure significantly affected the knowledge about organic dairy farming practices of dairy farmers of OFC. Regarding the attitude of dairy farmers towards organic dairy farming, in OFC, 61 percent had more favourable, and 39 percent had less favourable attitude. Similarly, in non-OFC dairy farmers, 67 per cent had less favourable, and 33 per cent had a more favourable attitude towards organic dairy farming practices. Statistically, there was a significant difference between the attitude level of dairy farmers of OFC and non-OFC towards organic dairy farming practices. It was revealed that knowledge about organic dairy farming practices, experience in organic farming, extension contact, and social participation significantly affected the attitude about organic dairy farming practices of dairy farmers of OFC. The mean adoption level of organic dairy practices of the dairy farmers in OFC was 12.27, whereas, in non-OFC, it was 10.88. The difference was statistically significant. A good majority (86%) of the dairy farmers in OFC and majority (62%) of non-OFC dairy farmers had a medium level of adoption of organic dairy farming practices. It was revealed that among all the factors, knowledge about organic dairy farming practices significantly affected the adoption of organic dairy farming practices by the dairy farmers of OFC. Dairy farmers of both OFC and non-OFC ranked ‘lack of knowledge about organic dairy standards’ as the number one constraint followed by ‘lack of knowledge about prohibited practices, drugs, hormones, etc. in organic dairy farming, ‘lack of awareness about organic inputs to be used in organic dairy farming’ etc. as other major constraints in following the standards/practices of ODF. ICT tool WhatsApp was found to be more effective in information dissemination on dairy farming in general and organic dairy farming in particular among dairy farmers with DiD score of 4.68 compared to the Web module with DiD score of 2.00 only. The study provides empirical evidence about dairy farmers' knowledge, attitude, and adoption level about organic dairy farming standards/practices and constraints faced by respondents in following the organic dairy standards.