FARMERS’ UTILISATION PATTERN ON RECOMMENDATIONS OF SOIL HEALTH CARD IN SALI RICE - A STUDY IN DARRANG DISTRICT OF ASSAM
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Date
2018
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Publisher
AAU, Jorhat
Abstract
The imbalanced application of chemical fertilizer affects soil fertility, crop productivity and farmers’ net profit. Soil testing helps the farmer for judicious application of fertilizer to crops as it provides reliable information about the actual requirements of fertilizer dose. In India, the International Year of Soil was celebrated with the launch of an ambitious programme, i.e. Soil Health Card (SHCs) Scheme on 17 February 2015. So a research study was carried out during 2017-18 in order to examine the utilisation pattern of Soil Health Card by the beneficiaries on sali rice in Darrang district of Assam. In the first phase, 1000 farmers of 40 villages received the Soil Health Card at free of cost. A total of 10 numbers of villages were randomly selected for selecting the respondents who received the card. Total 150 respondents were selected through proportional allocation to size for the present study. The data were collected by personal interview method during 2017-18. The study investigated with ten profile variables of the respondents and two descriptive variables. Chi-square test was done in case of four profile variables to see the association of use of urea, DAP, SSP, and MOP. For analysing the data relevant descriptive statistical tools like Chi-Square test and paired “t” test was employed to conclude the result empirically. The findings showed that the mean age of the respondents was 44 years (SD=8.64) and majority of the respondents (34.67%) was upto primary school passed as far as their education was concerned. The mean family size of the respondents was 4.55 nos. The mean landholding of the respondents was 0.96 ha (SD=0.54). The mean gross annual income of the respondents was Rs.54,433.00 (SD= 29,495.68). Moreover, the average number of family members involved in sali rice cultivation was 1.31 (SD=0.83). Around 54.00 per cent of the respondents had a medium level of social participation. Most of the respondents had long experience in paddy cultivation (Mean=30.40 years and SD=10.49). In case of awareness about SHC programme before receiving the card, two third of the respondents (74.66%) were not aware of the scheme. Regarding the farmer's utilisation pattern on recommendations of SHC, the findings revealed that majority 74.66 per cent farmers didn’t apply fertilizers and other nutrients as per the SHC recommendation. It has also been observed that none of the
farmers used secondary and micronutrients like sulphur, zinc, boron, iron, manganese,
copper including biofertilizer and lime/gypsum as suggested by the SHC.
For examining average change in terms of fertilizer application pattern,
area and productivity of sali rice intended for before and after getting SHCs, no
significant changes have been observed using paired t-test. The chi-square test showed
that application of urea, SSP, MOP and DAP had higher association with increased age,
education, landholding and gross annual income of respondents.
In case of problems associated with utilisation of Soil Health Card’s recommendation in
sali rice, all the respondents had perceived the problem of occurrence of the regular
flood. No technical advice after distribution of SHC was the next pressing problem
faced by the respondents which accounted for 96.66 per cent of the respondents.
So it can be concluded that SHC scheme couldn’t bring any positive changes on
sali rice in the initial year at Darrang district. Thus, the study has suggested initiating
the mass awareness campaign using the concept of social marketing for judicious
application of fertilizers and nutrient based on SHC report. It is also necessary to give
technical backstopping to farmers on SHC recommendation and application to make the
agriculture productive, profitable and sustainable.