MSc

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz.) commonly called tapioca is the king of tropical tubers which assures food security for millions of people especially in the developing countries of the globe. In India, cassava production is mainly confined to the South Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. India is the ninth largest producer of
cassava with a total area of 0.24 million hectares and production of 5.1 million tones. (GOI, 2019)
The study titled “Technology adoption behaviour of cassava growers in Kollam district” consist of a sample size of 80 farmers from 2 selected blocks of Kollam based on area under cassava cultivation. Data were collected on profile characteristics, attitude, knowledge and adoption of cassava production technology of both POP (Package of practices) of KAU and CTCRI and finally the constraints with the help of structured and pretested interview schedule.
The results of independent variables showed that majority of farmers belonged to old age group (57.5%), education of high school (36.25%), family size of 2-4 members (51.25%), means of livelihood being agriculture (57.5%), farming experience of 10-20 years (45%), less farm size (42.5%), less area under cassava cultivation (76.25%), medium innovativeness (42.5%), medium information seeking behavior (65.00%) and medium attitude (76.25%).
Taking into account the dependent variable, knowledge about POP of KAU farmers had good knowledge about harvesting time (98.75%), the best method of planting (90.00%), time for intercultural operations (88.7%). Overall 83.75 per cent of the farmers had medium level of knowledge about cassava production technology. While for CTCRI practices high level of knowledge were found on first intercultivation operations (90%), mulching and green manuring practices (90%). Majority of farmers were adopting, vertical storage of harvested stems to be used as planting materials (99.2%), discarding ends of stems for planting (99.20%), and true sett size for planting (89.6%). Overall 66.25 per cent of the farmers had medium level of adoption of cassava production technology (POP of KAU). While for CTCRI practices,72.5 per cent respondents showed medium level of adoption, of which intercultural operations (81.25%) and mulching and green manuring technique (89.16%) were adopted widely.
In correlation analysis, the selected variables like education, farming experience, information seeking behavior innovativeness and attitude showed positive and significant relationship with knowledge, whereas, age, farm size, means of livelihood, area under cassava cultivation, were non-significant with the knowledge. Education, information seeking behavior, innovativeness, attitude and knowledge were positively significant with adoption of cassava production technologies and age, family size, means of livelihood,
farming experience, farm size, area under cassava cultivation, were found to be non-significant with adoption. The major constraints faced by the farmers were high labour cost, followed by high cost of inputs, incidence of pest and diseases etc.