A study on training needs of mushroom growers in Nainital district of Uttarakhand
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Date
2022-08
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, District Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand. PIN - 263145
Abstract
Total 70 percent of rural households depend primarily on Agriculture for their livelihood with 82 percent of farmers being small and marginal (Economic Survey 2021). Sources of income improvement for farmers is shift from farm to non-farm occupation as Dairy Poultry, Apiculture, Mushroom production, Piggery, Sericulture and Fishery. Uttarakhand has a huge and unwind potential for mushroom production as its climate cold and humid support mushroom growth and development. (State specific strategy, 2022 Doubling farmers income, ICAR). According to Karthik and Hamsalakshmi (2017), Mushroom Farming as an income source is helpful to stop migration. Total 60 percent of population in Nainital district depends on agriculture as primary source of livelihood. The main constraints faced by mushroom growers are mainly lack of technical know-how, lack of marketing channels, lack of availability of spawns and compost etc. (Shirur et al. 2016). The ratio between extension workers and farmers is quite wide (1:1000) due to which information gap prevails. To bridge the gap between the information sources and the beneficiaries, information and training needs of the beneficiaries is the essential step to formulate and implement any programmee and policies in thearea. Due to lack of need based training programs, mushroom growers are facing many problems. Thus, there is an urgent need to access, analyze and prioritize the needs of mushroom growers in this region. The study entitled “A study on training needs of mushroom growers in Nainital district of Uttarakhand” has been proposed to study the training needs and constraints of mushroom growers. A total of 120 respondents were selected through PPS sampling method, with the help of Pradhan, block officers and K.V.K personnel’s. Prestructured interview schedule was use for data collection for the present study. The statistical tools as frequency, arithmetic mean, percentage, calculated weighted mean scores, standard deviation, t-test, correlation coefficient and garrett ranking method were used to analyze the data collected for significant interpretation. The finding of the study reported that majority (68%) of the respondents were middle aged. Major portion of the sample size i.e.75 per cent were male respondents. About 41 percent of the respondents had attained formal education upto high school. It was found that majority (51.66) of the respondents belong to joint family system. The results indicate that 52 percent of the respondents depend primarily on farming along with mushroom cultivation for their livelihood security. The figures indicates that majority (75.83%) of the respondents were categorized in medium landholding (0.5-2.87 ha) category. According to the results, majority (68.33%) of the respondents falls under the medium category of annual income that is roughly 2.5 to 4.6 lakh per year. It was observed that majority (68.33%) of the respondents were categorized in the medium income category in case of annual income of the respondents category According to the figures analyzed it was observed major portion (68.33%) of the sample surveyed falls under medium experience with 2- 4.5 years of experience. It was also revealed that majority (68.33%) of the respondents had medium level of extension agency contact. When inquired about interpersonal of information seeking behavior, it was revealed that most of the respondents (60.83%) had medium level of interpersonal information seeking behavior. The training needs of the mushroom growers were assessed on the basis of Weighted Mean Score for every sub area. On the basis of ranking subareas were prioritized. Using garrett ranking method constrains faced by respondents were analyzed and ranked which shows lack of infrastructure as first ranked and lack of motivation as least ranked constraints faced by mushroom farmers in the region.