A STUDY OF TECHNOLOGICAL GAPS IN KHARIF FENNEL CULTIVATION IN VIJAPUR TALUKA OF MEHSANA DISTRiCT OF GUJARAT STATE
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Date
1995
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AAU, Anand
Abstract
Fennel is an important spice crop of Vijapur taluka of Mehsana district of Gujarat state. Vijapur taluka has been considered as productively potential region of fennel crop due to assured irrigation facilities and favourable soil and climatic conditions. However, there is still a wide gap between the production protential and the actual production realised by the fennel growers. This may be due to partial adoption of recommended package of practices by the fennel growers. Technological gap is a major problem in increasing fennel production in Vijapur taluka. So far, no systematic effort was made to study the technological gap existing in various components of fennel cultivation, the present study was undertaken to find out the technological gaps in adoption of recommended kharif fennel production technology. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1 To study the personal, social, economic and psychological characteristics of the contact and non-contact fennel growers. 2 To find out the level of knowledge of the contact and non-contact fennel growers pertaining to recommended fennel production technology. 3 To know the extent of adoption of recommended fennel production technology by the contact and non-contact fennel growers. 4 To determine the technological gaps among the contact and non-contact fennel growers against selected recommended fennel production technology. 5 To ascertain the relationship between overall technological gap and selected personal, social, economic and psychological characteristics of the contact and non-contact fennel growers. 6 To find out the influence of technological gaps over yield gap. 7 To study the constraints experienced by the contact and non-contact farmers in adopting the recommended fennel production technology. 8 To seek suggestions from the contact and non-contact farmers to overcome the constraints. METHODOLOGY Present study was undertaken in Vijapur taluka of Mehsana district of Gujarat state. There were 30 villages in Vijapur taluka where fennel crop was grown by about more than 10 farmers in each village. Ten villages were randomly selected for the present study. From each of the selected villages, 5 contact and 5 non-contact fennel growers were randomly selected, making a total random sample of 100 fennel growers (50 contact and 50 non-contact). Ill The selected personal, social and economic characteristics were measured with the help of the scale developed by Pareek and Trivedi (1963) or schedule developed wherever necessary. Psychological characteristics were measured with the help of the scale developed by Supe (1969). Knowledge level of respondents about fennel production technology was evaluated by using the teacher made test based on the scale developed by Jha and Singh (1970). Extent of adoption was measured by using the scale developed by Sengupta (1967). Technological gap was measured with the help of the formula developed by Dubey et al. (1981). The yield gap was measured by deducting the actual yield of farmer from the potential yield of demonstration plot. A simple ranking technique was applied to measure the constraints and suggestions to overcome constraints in adoption of fennel production technology. The data were collected with the help of structured interview schedule. The statistical tools used to analyse the data were percentage, mean score, standard deviation, 't' test and co-efficient of correlation. MAJOR FINDINGS 1 Majority of the contact and non-contact fennel growers were having middle age, upto secondary level of education, joint families, large family size, membership in one organization, 'farming only' as their main occupation and tube-well irrigation facility. 2 Majority of the contact fennel growers were small to medium farmers, belonged to medium to high income group and having medium to high risk preference, whereas majority of the non-contact fennel growers were marginal to iv small farmers, belonged to low to medium income group and having medium risk preference. 3 Majority of the contact and non-contact fennel growers had medium scientific orientation and had medium to high economic motivation. 4 Majority of the contact and non-contact fennel growers had medium level of knowledge regarding the recommended fennel production technology. 5 Majority of the contact and more than half of the non-contact fennel growers were found to have medium extent of adoption. However, the contact fennel growers had significantly higher adoption of fennel production technology than the non-contact fennel growers. 6 In case of contact farmers, the maximum technological gap was observed in nursery raising, recommended variety, farm yard manure, plant protection measures and chemical fertilizers. The overall technological gap was found 44.00 per cent. In respect of non-contact farmers, the maximum technological gap was found in nursery raising, recommended variety, plant protection measures, farm yard manure and chemical fertilizers. The overall technological gap was found 49.16 per cent. The overall technological gap in adoption of fennel production technology in the non-contact fennel growers was found significantly higher than the contact fennel growers. 7 Among different personal, social, economic and psychological characteristics of the contact farmers, education, social participation, size of land holding, annual income, V scientific orientation, risk preference and economic motivation were found negatively and significantly related with technological gap in adoption of fennel production technology. But, in case of non-contact farmers except economic motivation all the above characteristics were found to be negatively and significantly related with technological gap. 8 The yield gap of contact farmers was 7.1 q/ha and of non-contact was 8.2 q/ha. The yield gap in the non-contact fennel growers was found significantly higher than that in the contact fennel growers. 9 The technological gaps in recommended variety, chemical fertilizers and plant protection measures were found positively and significantly related to yield gap in both contact and non-contact farmers. 10 Major constraints perceived by the contact and non-contact fennel growers were high cost of fertilizers, high cost of plant protection chemicals, non-getting remunerative price of the produce, high charge and irregular supply of electricity, lack of technical guidance and unavailability of certified seeds. 11 The important suggestions reported by the contact and non-contact fennel growers were reducing the price of inputs, providing remunerative price to fennel, imparting training on new production technology and regular supply of electricity for irrigation purpose.
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Keywords
Extension Education, A STUDY