IMPACT OF FARMER FIELD SCHOOLS (FFSs) ON THE RICE FARMERS IN NELLORE DISTRICT OF ANDHRA PRADESH
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Date
2015
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ACHARYA N.G. RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY, GUNTUR
Abstract
The Farmer Field School (FFS) approach is a participatory methodology of technology development and dissemination, which gives the farmer an opportunity to learn through practical field activities (Pontius et al. 2000). The special feature of FFS is field based learning and acts as a primary venue of learning for farmers. The FFS programme also empowers the farmers to take economically viable decisions by adopting the practices of Integrated Crop Management (ICM). For the success of any programme, there should be a periodical appraisal and evaluation of what is being done, so that suitable changes can be made for effective functioning. Since Department of Agriculture organized many number of farmer field schools on rice in Nellore district, an attempt was made to study the impact of the FFS programme in terms of knowledge gained, extent of adoption, productivity and profitability levels of ICM practices by the participant and non participant farmers of rice FFS.
Ex-post-facto research design was used in the present investigation. Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh was purposively selected as rice was being extensively cultivated in the district and also more number of Farmer Field Schools (FFSs) on rice were bring successfully organized in the district. Out of 46 mandals of Nellore district, 3 mandals were purposively selected based on the highest number of FFS conducted on rice. Two categories of villages i.e. one FFS village and another non FFS village from each selected mandal was selected randomly thus making a total of six villages for the study. From each selected FFS village, 25 farmers were selected randomly from the list of the participant farmers of rice FFS obtained from the officials of the state department of agriculture making a total of 75 respondents under the participant category. Further, from each non FFS selected village, 25 respondents were selected by using simple random sampling procedure, making a total of 75 respondents under nonparticipant category. Both the respondents put
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together constitute a total sample of 150 respondents for the study. The data were collected by personal interview method through structured interview schedule and analyzed by employing suitable statistical tools.
Majority of the participant farmers were middle aged with primary to intermediate level education, big to small land holding, medium to low farming experience, medium to low social participation, medium to high mass media exposure, medium extension contact, medium to high innovativeness, medium scientific orientation, medium achievement motivation, high to medium management orientation and medium economic orientation. Whereas in case of non participant farmers majority were middle aged with primary to intermediate level education, small to marginal land holding, medium to low farming experience, medium to low social participation, medium to low mass media exposure, medium to low extension contact, medium to low innovativeness, medium scientific orientation, medium to low achievement motivation, medium to low management orientation and medium economic orientation.
Majority of the participant farmers had medium to high level of knowledge, medium to high level of adoption, medium to high level of productivity and medium to high level of profitability. Whereas in case of non participants, medium level of knowledge, medium level of adoption, medium to low level of productivity and medium to low level of profitability was observed.
The independent variables viz., education, social participation, mass media exposure, extension contact, innovativeness, scientific orientation, achievement motivation, management orientation and economic orientation were found to be positively significant with the knowledge level of participant farmers. Whereas in case of non participant farmers education, social participation, mass media exposure, extension contact, innovativeness, scientific orientation, achievement motivation and management orientation were found to be positively significant with the knowledge level. All the selected 12 independent variables put together explained about 86.10 per cent variation in the knowledge level of participant farmers and 59.30 per cent variation in the knowledge of non participant farmers of rice FFSs.
The independent variables viz., education, social participation, mass media exposure, extension contact, innovativeness, scientific orientation, achievement motivation, management orientation, and economic orientation were positively significant with the extent of adoption of participant farmers. Whereas in case of non participant farmers education, social participation, mass media exposure, extension contact, innovativeness, scientific orientation, achievement motivation and management orientation were found to be positively significant whereas age, farming experience were found negatively significant with the extent of adoption. All the selected 12 independent variables put together explained about 79.90 per cent variation in the extent of adoption of participant farmers and 58.70 per cent variation in the extent of adoption of non participant farmers of rice FFSs.
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The independent variables viz., education, social participation, mass media exposure, extension contact, innovativeness, scientific orientation, achievement motivation, management orientation, and economic orientation were found to be positively significant with the productivity level of participant farmers. Whereas in case of non participant farmers education, social participation, mass media exposure, extension contact, innovativeness, scientific orientation, achievement motivation and management orientation were found to be positively significant whereas age, farming experience were found negatively significant with the productivity level. All the selected 12 independent variables put together explained about 77.60 per cent variation in the productivity level of participant farmers and 60.90 per cent variation in the productivity level of non participant farmers of rice FFSs.
The independent variables viz., education, social participation, mass media exposure, extension contact, innovativeness, scientific orientation, achievement motivation, management orientation, and economic orientation were found to be positively significant with the profitability level of participant farmers. Whereas in case of non participant farmers education, social participation, mass media exposure, extension contact, innovativeness, scientific orientation, achievement motivation and management orientation were found to be positively significant whereas age, farming experience were found negatively significant with the profitability level. All the selected 12 independent variables put together explained about 77.20 per cent variation in the profitability level of participant farmers and 69.40 per cent variation in the profitability level of non participant farmers of rice FFSs.
The ‘t’ test indicated that participant farmers had higher level of knowledge, extent of adoption, productivity and profitability levels when compared to non participant farmers of rice FFS with regard to recommended ICM practices. Chi-square test indicated that there was significant association between ‘participation in FFS’ and the level of knowledge, extent of adoption, productivity and profitability levels of the respondent farmers.
The most important problems encountered by the FFS farmers in rice cultivation were ‘inability to take risk without usage of insecticides’, ‘shortage of labour for agricultural purpose’, ‘lack of remunerative price’ and ‘exploitation by middlemen’ followed by ‘unfavorable climate’, ‘lack of community participation in adoption of ICM practices’, ‘difficulty in estimation of Economic Threshold Levels’, ‘high cost of labour’, and ‘non availability of inputs in time’. The important suggestions given by the majority of the participant farmers to overcome the problems were ‘supply of bio products by Department of Agriculture and KVK’ followed by ‘bringing social movement to adopt ICM practices by the farmers’ and ‘convergence of Mahatma Ghandi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for agricultural activity’ followed by ‘arranging practical training for farmers other than FFS training’ and ‘convergence of MGNREGS for agricultural activity’, ‘timely supply of inputs by the government through department of agriculture’, ‘government should provide subsidy on labour wages’ and ‘agricultural scientists should focus their research on climate change scenario’. A suitable strategy has been formulated for effective functioning of FFSs.
Description
D5124
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