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The study on “Technology assessment of rubber based intercropping systems
(RBIS) in South Kerala was undertaken with an objective to examine the evolutionary
dynamics of horizontal diversification in rubber gardens, its technology needs and
the decision-making factors influencing the adoption of rubber based intercropping systems
(RBIS). Farmer's attitude toward RBIS was determined and constraints as perceived by the
farmers pursuing RBIS were delineated. Sixty farmers practicing rubber based inter
cropping with an area of more than 50 cents were randomly selected from rubber
dominating agro ecological units of two districts namely Thiruvanathapuram and
Kottayam. Farmers from AEU8, AEU9 and AEU12 with 20 farmers from each AEUs were
the respondents selected for the study. Ten independent variables were selected through
judge’s rating. Adoption of inter crop management practices including nutrient
management, pest management and soil conservation measures were the dependent
variables of study.
On analysis, 66.66 per cent of RBIS farmers belonged to middle age (35-55) ,with
an education up to 10th (50%) and 61.67 per cent had family size up to four. Majority(70% )
of RBIS respondents have agriculture as primary occupation. Greater proportion (80%) of
RBIS farmers have medium level (1.1-2.95 acre ) of total land holding. About 46.67 per
cent of RBIS farmers had little water scarcity and 48.33 per cent had an effective
intercropping area of 100-150 cent. Majority of RBIS farmers had medium level of
extension participation (65%) and extension contact (65%). Over 53.33 per cent of RBIS
farmers had above mean level of market orientation.The distribution of RBIS based on the
dominance profile identified that banana was the most dominant intercrop based on
numerical dominance. Majority (61.67 %) of RBIS have more than 4 level of horizontal
diversification with a mean score value of 4.75.
The results on the extent of adoption on production and management technology
practices for RBIS revealed that majority of RBIS respondents i.e. 61.66 per cent belonged
to medium category followed by 21.67 and 16.67 per cent in low and high category of
adoption. On categorization of RBIS respondents into different adopter categories as
explained by Rogers, 30% of respondents each belonged to early majority and late majority
category, respectively. The result of correlation coefficient between selected independent
variable and the extent of adoption of production and management practices of intercrops
revealed that only market orientation was significant at 5 % level of significance. On
analyzing the different components of technology adoption by factor analysis, out of 13
factors three factors viz., nutrient management measures, pest management measures and
soil conservation measures explained 60.473% of the total variance.
Intercrop wise extent of adoption of production and management practices showed
medium level of adoption for banana (62%), cassava (64.29%), pineapple (56.52%) and
elephant foot yam (54.28%). Result of technology need assessment revealed that RBIS
farmers felt the need for drainage technologies (115), followed by nutrient management
technologies (142) and irrigation technologies (153). On analyzing the decision-making
factors influencing the adoption of RBIS, it was revealed that the distance between farmers
residence and rubber land was the most important factor. While considering the different
dimensions related to specialized components in rubber garden situations, income
generation potential was considered as the major dimension with rank 1 followed by
regularity of returns (2) and initial cost (3).
The percentage contribution from mean intercrop income to mean annual income
was 33.14%. The result of the Karl Pearson product moment correlation between the
percentage contribution of intercrop area and intercrop income was not significantly related.
The result of attitude of farmers towards intercropping system pointed that 55% of the RBIS
respondents was with neutral attitude. The major constraints experienced by the RBIS
farmers was the high cost of labour with mean score of 2.88.
To conclude, the present study indicated that the overall extent of adoption of
production and management technology practices of intercrops in RBIS was from medium
to low level. This shows the need for the improvement in adoption of technology for
production and management practices in RBIS and scaling up the adoption through suitable
extension interventions.Attitude plays an important role in the inclusions of intercropping in
rubber gardens. Only minority (15%) have negative attitude towards intercropping in rubber
gardens. This shows that in future intercropping would become a common phenomenon in
rubber gardens and technology options be made for RBIS farmers.