Augmenting the livelihood of coconut farmers through resilient extension approach
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Date
2019
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Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani
Abstract
The study entitled “Augmenting the Livelihood of Coconut Farmers through Resilient Extension Approach” was undertaken in the year 2017-19. The objectives were to study the extent of knowledge and adoption of technologies among the coconut farmers, to study the impact of the different extension approaches being used by different extension agencies in coconut farming and identify the resilient one, to identify the constraints faced by the coconut farmers and to suggest methods to augment the livelihood of coconut farmers. A total of 120 respondents were selected from Kozhikode district for the study. The results of the study on socio-economic profile of coconut farmers revealed that 75 per cent of the respondents were middle aged (42-57 years). 54.17 per cent of the respondents had only farming as the sole occupation wherein 67.5 per cent of the respondents possessed an area ranging from 51-111 cents under coconut. Majority (80% and 85%) of the respondents had more than high school level of education and fifteen years of experience in coconut cultivation. The mean annual income of the coconut farmers was Rs. 52125. Innovation proneness was high (mean=14.36) for the coconut farmers and 74.17% of respondents belonged to medium category. Majority of the respondents (72.5%) had medium level of decision making ability and 90 per cent of the respondents seeks information from other fellow farmers regularly. The respondents (50%) had low level of social participation. Majority of the respondents (76% and 72.5%) had medium level of scientific orientation and risk orientation respectively. More than 60 per cent of the respondents participated in different extension activities like seminars, exhibitions, demonstrations, etc. The dependent variables of the study were ‘extent of knowledge’ and ‘adoption of technologies’. About 56.67 per cent of the respondents had medium level of knowledge on coconut cultivation. Correlation of extent of knowledge with the 14 independent variables revealed that eight variables had positive and significant relationship at 1% level of significance. 91 The adoption quotients were worked out for 12 selected practices under plant production and five practices under plant protection. Selection of recommended varieties (84.72) and roguing/ cut and removal of diseased and infected palms (85.73) were the practices with maximum adoption quotient. Correlation of adoption of technologies with the 14 independent variables revealed that five variables had positive and significant relationship. Among these, four variables, viz., annual income, information seeking ability, decision making ability and extension agency contact were significant at 1% level of significance. The extension approaches inventorised were, production and distribution of planting material, expansion of area under coconut, technology mission on coconut, integrated farming for productivity improvement, technology demonstrations - INM, IPM, IDM and post-harvest technologies, schemes for market promotion, coconut palm insurance scheme, Keragramam and institutional on or off campus training programmes. The impact of different extension approaches in coconut farming were studied on the basis of social impact, technological impact and economic impact. It revealed that there was significant difference between the selected extension approaches (5% level of significance) and between the impacts (1% level of significance). Keragramam had the maximum social, technological and economic impacts and hence, this approach was found to be the resilient extension approach. Finally, the study explored the constraints faced by the respondents. High cost of labour (7.29) was one of the major constraints. Non availability of labourers in time (6.77) and lack of adequate finance (6.60) were the important constraints. Inadequate and untimely supply of coconut seedlings, high cost of inputs, lack of awareness about the different extension approaches, lack of proper support from extension agents, low knowledge on plant protection practices, and non-availability of sufficient water for irrigation during summer months were the other constraints faced by the coconut farmers. Major suggestions to overcome the constraints as perceived by the farmers was to explore policy initiatives to mainly reduce the labour cost through 92 mechanisation and low cost production and protection technologies, creating awareness about damaged and deteriorated quality of coconut caused by pests and diseases, establishment of market facilities at local level, fixing reasonable price of pesticides and fertilizers, providing subsidy for chemical fertilizer by government and conducting short term training programme on use of herbicide and plant protection measures. It is necessary to intensify the extension efforts to increase the knowledge level and adoption of recommended coconut technologies, which would help in increasing the production and productivity of coconut at farm level.
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