MSc

This study entitled ‘Technology need assessment on horizontal and
vertical diversifications for the economically dominant crops in homegardens’
was conducted at Thiruvanathapuram district comprising 5 agro ecological units
covering 100 respondents with 20 each from each agro ecological units. The
objective of the study was to determine the technology needs of horizontal and
vertical diversifications for the economically dominant crops in the homegardens.
The study also aimed to identify the diversification preferences and knowledge
level on both horizontal and vertical diversifications within each homegardens.
Constraints experienced by farmers in the process of these diversifications in the
homegardens was delineated, categorized and documented.
The maximum economic dominance was noticed for coconut followed by
banana, tapioca, pepper, vegetables, yams and colocasia and areca nut in the
decreasing order of economic dominance.
The personal characteristics of the homegarden respondents which
constituted the independent variables selected for the study were age, education,
occupation, family size, annual income from homegarden, effective homegarden
area, social participation, market orientation, risk orientation, mass media
contribution and evaluative perception of homegarden respondent farmers in
relation to sustainability of the homegardens with reference to horizontal and
vertical diversification
The technology needs of horizontal and vertical diversifications for the
economically dominant crops in the homegardens revealed that extend of
Horizontal diversification in 62 per cent of the homegardens are 4 tier or above
and 38 per cent of homegardens are less than 4 tier. 58 per cent of the
homegardens had 3 or less level of vertical diversification and 42 per cent had 3
or more level of vertical diversification. Detailed study revealed that for each
economically dominant crops the maximum vertical diversification level was
three which was noticed for coconut, pepper, tapioca and arecanut, followed by 2
levels of diversification for banana and tubers (yams and Colocasia) and the least
vertical diversification was noticed in vegetables with one level of vertical
diversification, that is they sell produce as such.
The result of the knowledge on horizontal diversification revealed that
majority (60%) homegarden respondents had fairly high level knowledge on
horizontal diversification but 66% of homegarden respondents had low level of
knowledge on vertical diversification and only 34 per cent had high level of
knowledge on vertical diversification with mean value as check.
Results on relationship of personal and social characteristics of the
respondents on the knowledge on horizontal diversification and vertical
diversification revealed that effective homegarden area and mass media
contribution had positive and significant relationship with knowledge on
horizontal diversification. Education, risk orientation and mass media contribution
had positive and significant relationship with knowledge on vertical
diversification.
The result of the diversification preferences showed that respondents
prefer diversification mainly to cater the family needs which ranked topped with a
mean rank value of 6.85 followed by for profit making, to reduce risk and for
increasing shelf life, and employment generation.
Majority of the respondents (55%) perceived less need for technologies on
horizontal in case of vertical diversification 67 per cent perceived that they require
more technology. Technology needs assessment as perceived by homegarden
farmers revealed that maximum technology need was reported for storage
facilities/technologies. The major constraints experienced by farmers were poor
harvesting technologies, lack of homegarden suited post harvest technologies,
lack of varieties suited for value addition, non availability of supplies and
services, lack of homegarden suited post harvest implements and high labour cost.
Thus the study revealed that the technology needs for vertical
diversification as perceived by homegarden farmers was high, when compared to
the technology needs for horizontal diversification. The homegarden farmers
preferred diversification mainly to cater the family needs followed by profit
making, reducing risk and increasing the shelf life of the produce. When the
majority (60 per cent) of the homegarden respondents had fairly high level of
knowledge on horizontal diversification, 66 per cent of homegarden respondents
had low level of knowledge on vertical diversification. The major constraints
experienced by homegarden farmers were poor storage facilities, poor harvesting
technologies, lack of knowledge on post harvest handling, lack of homegarden
suited post harvest technologies and lack of varieties suited for value addition in
decreasing order of importance.