A study on stubble burning behaviour of farmers in Punjab
| dc.contributor.advisor | Bhardwaj, Neelam | |
| dc.contributor.author | Huria, Arpit | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2021-07-29T05:07:06Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2021-07-29T05:07:06Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2021-03 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Rice-wheat cropping system is the most widely followed cropping systems in India. In northern states of India specifically Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, majority of the farmers harvest these crops using combine harvesters. The mechanized harvesting of paddy leaves a large quantity of stubble which takes a lot of time to decompose in the soil. Despite knowing alternative methods of stubble management, farmers burn a significant portion of the stubble on-farm. Stubble burning not only causes environmental pollution but also harms the soil and human health. Over the years, the stubble burning has become a major issue, threatening the air quality with numerous other ill effects. Despite this, it seems that the problem of stubble burning is difficult to be solved by technical or legal interventions alone. Research studies suggest that there is a need to identify the determinants of certain behaviours to change them. In order to understand and change behaviour, scientists rely heavily on appropriate behavioural theories to identify determinants of a particular behaviour. The present study has utilized the Theory of Planned Behaviour for understanding the determinants of stubble burning behaviour of the farmers. This may further prove helpful in designing appropriate and suitable interventions to bring change in this behaviour. Keeping this in mind, “A study on Stubble Burning Behaviour of farmers in Punjab” was undertaken. The study was carried out in Malwa region of Punjab as it recorded the maximum number of stubble burning incidents in the state. For selecting the respondents, multi stage sampling procedure was adopted. The selection of districts, blocks and villages were conducted using simple random sampling without replacement. From Malwa region, three districts, viz. Bathinda, Sangrur and Ludhiana were selected respectively. One block from each selected district, i.e. Bathinda, Sunam and Khanna were selected at random. The villages namely Khialiwala and Amargarh from Bathinda block; Goh and Lalheri from Khanna block; and Lakhmirwala and Kharial villages from Sunam block were selected for the study. The selection of a total of 246 respondents from these villages was made on proportional allocation method. Descriptive research design was followed to meet the objectives of the study. The quantitative information was collected through pre-tested and modified semi-structured interview schedule. The data collected were coded, tabulated, analysed and interpreted with the help of SPSS and AMOS software programmes. The profile characteristics of the respondents revealed that most of the respondents were middle-aged (65.46%) between 26-50 years, male (91.06%), had formal education up to intermediate level (21.95%) and possessed semi-medium land holding (27.24%), i.e. between 5-10 acres. Majority of the farmers (51.46%) belonged to low annual income category i.e. between Rs. 50,000- Rs. 4,50,000 per annum, and were practising specialized farming (45.93%). Overall, 51.63 per cent of the farmers were categorized under medium information seeking behaviour. It was also found that most of the farmers possessed medium level of innovativeness (49.19%), risk orientation (47.15%) and scientific orientation (57.32%) while high levels of ecological consciousness (45.53%) and economic motivation (42.28%). The findings also revealed that most of the farmer respondents (45.93%) showed medium level of awareness towards various stubble management measures and had medium cropping intensity (67.48%). It was found that maximum number of respondents showed positive attitude towards stubble burning (51.63%), strong subjective norms associated with stubble burning (42.68%), high perceived behavioural control (58.54%) and medium level of behavioural intention regarding stubble burning (41.06%). Majority of the farmers (58.13%) have been burning the paddy stubble on their field since last five or more years. Also, most of the farmer respondents (49.19%) burnt more than 80 per cent of the total stubble produced and manages the rest by other measures such as incorporation using Super Seeder etc. It was also found that the majority of farmer respondents (53.66%) showed ‘high’ performance of the overall stubble behaviour. The findings of Structural Equation Modeling revealed that attitude, perceived behavioural control and subjective norms were in a positive and significant relationship with behavioural intention Among profile characteristics, economic motivation had a positive and significant relationship with stubble burning behaviour of the farmers. The social marketing plan for the study was proposed on the basis of BEHAVE framework. The plan consisted of two components; the first focussing on the attitude change while the other considering the overall behaviour change. It was concluded that the findings of the present study may help and provide guidance to the extension personnel, the planners, policy makers and agencies which are working towards putting a halt at stubble burning in northern states. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810171056 | |
| dc.keywords | stubble management, farmers, climate change, Punjab | en_US |
| dc.language.iso | English | en_US |
| dc.pages | 265 | en_US |
| dc.publisher | G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand) | en_US |
| dc.research.problem | Punjab | en_US |
| dc.sub | Agricultural Extension Education | en_US |
| dc.theme | Farmers | en_US |
| dc.these.type | Ph.D | en_US |
| dc.title | A study on stubble burning behaviour of farmers in Punjab | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |