MSc

The
study
entitled
‘Technology
utilisation
of
bittergourd
in
Thiruvananthapuram district’ conducted in Thiruvananthapuram involved 90
bittergourd farmers, with 30 each from Kalliyoor, Manickal and Vembayam
Panchayats, during the period, 2015-2016. The study was done to determine the
levels of adoption of varieties cum the selected KAU production technologies,
factors associated with the adoption of the agricultural technologies, its relation
with level of adoption and constraints experienced by the bittergourd growing
farmers with suggestions for refinement.
Twelve independent variables, namely, age, education, occupation, farm
size, area under bittergourd cultivation, annual income, farming experience,
irrigation potential, extension orientation, innovativeness, market orientation and
economic motivation were selected through judges rating.
Along with the
selected variables, two additional variables like extent of awareness and
knowledge were also included purposively.
The level of adoption was the
dependent variable. Sixteen recommended practices in bittergourd were selected
consulting the subject matter specialists.
Knowledge level was high for 20.00 per cent of farmers, medium for
58.89 per cent of farmers and low for 21.11 per cent of farmers.
Perceived effectiveness was high for practices like cue lure trap and weeding
and raking at the time of fertilizer application where 76.67 per cent of farmers
reported it as ‘very effective’. Eighty two percent of the farmers reported that cue
lure trap was ‘very useful’ followed by 78 per cent for weeding and raking at the
time of fertilizer application.
Technology assessment revealed that 65.55 per cent of farmers belonged to
medium category of adoption, followed by 17.78 per cent with low adoption level
and 16.67 per cent with high adoption level. In the case of recommended varieties,adoption was higher for the variety Preethi (71.11 %) followed by Priyanka
(18.89 %).
Farmer respondents were categorized to different adopter categories as
explained by Rogers (1982). According to the findings major portion of farmer
respondents were late majority (42.22 %) followed by early majority (25.56 %)
and about 2.22 per cent of the farmers were innovators.
The main factors of influences on technology adoption of recommended
practices were farm size, extension orientation, annual income, market
orientation, irrigation potential, innovativeness, knowledge and awareness at 1%
significance followed by education, economic motivation and farming experience
at 5% significance.
Technology needs assessment as perceived by bittergourd farmers revealed
that maximum need was observed for value addition technologies. The major
reason for non adoption as perceived by the non adopters was ‘lack of awareness’.
The major constraint experienced by the farmers was incidence of pests and
diseases.
The primary suggestion for refinement was follow up and support by
extension agents on adoption of recommended practices.