MSc

The study on “Yield gap and technology adoption of rice in North Kerala: A
multidimensional analysis” was conducted in the districts Kasaragod, Kannur, Kozhikode,
Wayanad, Palakkad, Thrissur and Malappuram districts representing the Northern part of
Kerala. One panchayath with maximum rice farmers from each district was selected in
consultation with the PAO office. Fifteen farmers from each panchayath with a minimum
holding of 50 cents of rice field were selected in consultation with the respective
Agricultural Officer, thus making a total of 105 respondents from seven districts.
Age, sex, education, farming experience, area under rice cultivation, income from
agriculture, income from paddy cultivation, trainings received, economic motivation,
innovativeness, scientific orientation, market orientation, extension orientation, level of
awareness and knowledge were the independent variables selected through judges rating.
Level of adoption and yield gap were the dependent variables. Sixteen recommended
practices in rice cultivation were selected after consulting the subject matter specialists for
the study on adoption.
Most of the respondents belonged to middle age category (48.57 %) followed by
old age (29.53%) and young age (21.90%). Majority of the respondents were males
(81.90%). Majority of the respondents had education up to 10th (57.54%) level. Only 4.76%
farmers possessed an education above graduation. A large proportion (69.52%) of the
farmers had a farming experience of more than 20 years and only 7.62 per cent of the
respondents had a farming experience of less than 10 years. 61.90 per cent of the
respondents had less than 2 Acres of land under cultivation, only 2.85 per cent of the
respondents had an area greater than 5 Acres.
43.80 per cent of the respondents had an income greater than one lakh, whereas
20.95 per cent of the respondents had an income less than Rs. 50,000. Majority of the
respondents (39.04 %) had an income from paddy cultivation in between Rs. 50,000 to one
lakh, however 27.61per cent had an income of less than Rs. 50000 from paddy cultivation.
75.23 per cent of the respondents had received less than five trainings, however only 0.95%
of the respondents had received more than ten trainings.
Most of the respondents belonged to a medium level of economic motivation
(56.19%). 20.95 per cent respondents had a high economic motivation. Majority of the
respondents had a medium level of innovation (64.76 %) with 12.38 per cent of respondents
possessing high level of innovativeness. Majority of the respondents belonged to medium
category of scientific orientation (55.23 %), and 21.90 per cent respondents had low
scientific orientation. Most of the respondents had a medium level of market orientation
(68.57%) with 11.42 per cent of the respondents owning a low market orientation. When
59.04 per cent of the respondents belonged to medium category of economic motivation
only 17.14 per cent of respondents had high economic motivation.
196
All the respondents were very much aware and had the knowledge about the
recommended moisture content of rice, 33.33 per cent were aware about the practice of
installation of bird perches to reduce pests and 63.33 % of the respondents were not aware
about spraying malathion solution in godown to check storage pest.
Most of the respondents belonged to a medium level of adoption (51.42%) followed
by 23.80% of respondents with high level of adoption. Independent variables viz.,
innovativeness, level of awareness and knowledge were significantly correlated to the
extent of adoption. Farmer respondents were categorized to different adopter categories as
explained by Rogers (1982). According to the findings 34.29 per cent of respondents were
late majority followed by early majority (33.33 %) and only 0.95 per cent of the farmers
were innovators.
The most widely cultivated rice variety was Uma (96.19%) followed by Jyothi
variety (17.14%). The yield gap was found to be highest for Jyothi variety of rice (29.86%).
Friedman test was performed to find out the most important factors affecting the yield gap
of rice in prominent rice varieties viz., Uma and Jyothi. Socio-economic and biological
factors were the most important components affecting the yield gap of both the varieties of
rice.
Transplantation @ 2-3 seedlings per hill and use of chemicals for weed
management were perceived as very useful by the respondents. 1000m2
seedbed for 1
hectare of rice field was a practice which was perceived very effective by the farmers.
Market availability was the most important reason for the preference of paddy cultivation.
Lack of awareness was the principle reason for non-adoption of recommended practices.
Flood (34.29%) was the most important constraint faced by the respondents followed by
lack of infrastructure (32.38%) and high labour cost (30.48%). The primary suggestion was
to develop more effective government policies to support marketing of produce.
To conclude, the study indicates, that innovativeness plays an important role in
adoption of technology. Yield gap can be significantly reduced by improving the socioeconomic factors corresponding to the farmers. The presence of 34.29 per cent of late
majority indicates that there exists enough space for improvement in paddy cultivation and
scaling up the adoption using appropriate extension interventions through an integrated
scientific approach.