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The study entitled “Augmenting the Livelihood of Coconut Farmers
through Resilient Extension Approach” was undertaken in the year 2017-19. The
objectives were to study the extent of knowledge and adoption of technologies
among the coconut farmers, to study the impact of the different extension
approaches being used by different extension agencies in coconut farming and
identify the resilient one, to identify the constraints faced by the coconut farmers
and to suggest methods to augment the livelihood of coconut farmers. A total of
120 respondents were selected from Kozhikode district for the study.
The results of the study on socio-economic profile of coconut farmers
revealed that 75 per cent of the respondents were middle aged (42-57 years). 54.17
per cent of the respondents had only farming as the sole occupation wherein 67.5
per cent of the respondents possessed an area ranging from 51-111 cents under
coconut. Majority (80% and 85%) of the respondents had more than high school
level of education and fifteen years of experience in coconut cultivation. The mean
annual income of the coconut farmers was Rs. 52125.
Innovation proneness was high (mean=14.36) for the coconut farmers and
74.17% of respondents belonged to medium category. Majority of the respondents
(72.5%) had medium level of decision making ability and 90 per cent of the
respondents seeks information from other fellow farmers regularly. The
respondents (50%) had low level of social participation. Majority of the respondents
(76% and 72.5%) had medium level of scientific orientation and risk orientation
respectively. More than 60 per cent of the respondents participated in different
extension activities like seminars, exhibitions, demonstrations, etc.
The dependent variables of the study were ‘extent of knowledge’ and
‘adoption of technologies’. About 56.67 per cent of the respondents had medium
level of knowledge on coconut cultivation. Correlation of extent of knowledge with
the 14 independent variables revealed that eight variables had positive and
significant relationship at 1% level of significance.
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The adoption quotients were worked out for 12 selected practices under
plant production and five practices under plant protection. Selection of
recommended varieties (84.72) and roguing/ cut and removal of diseased and
infected palms (85.73) were the practices with maximum adoption quotient.
Correlation of adoption of technologies with the 14 independent variables revealed
that five variables had positive and significant relationship. Among these, four
variables, viz., annual income, information seeking ability, decision making ability
and extension agency contact were significant at 1% level of significance.
The extension approaches inventorised were, production and distribution of
planting material, expansion of area under coconut, technology mission on coconut,
integrated farming for productivity improvement, technology demonstrations -
INM, IPM, IDM and post-harvest technologies, schemes for market promotion,
coconut palm insurance scheme, Keragramam and institutional on or off campus
training programmes. The impact of different extension approaches in coconut
farming were studied on the basis of social impact, technological impact and
economic impact. It revealed that there was significant difference between the
selected extension approaches (5% level of significance) and between the impacts
(1% level of significance). Keragramam had the maximum social, technological
and economic impacts and hence, this approach was found to be the resilient
extension approach.
Finally, the study explored the constraints faced by the respondents. High
cost of labour (7.29) was one of the major constraints. Non availability of labourers
in time (6.77) and lack of adequate finance (6.60) were the important constraints.
Inadequate and untimely supply of coconut seedlings, high cost of inputs, lack of
awareness about the different extension approaches, lack of proper support from
extension agents, low knowledge on plant protection practices, and non-availability
of sufficient water for irrigation during summer months were the other constraints
faced by the coconut farmers.
Major suggestions to overcome the constraints as perceived by the farmers
was to explore policy initiatives to mainly reduce the labour cost through
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mechanisation and low cost production and protection technologies, creating
awareness about damaged and deteriorated quality of coconut caused by pests and
diseases, establishment of market facilities at local level, fixing reasonable price of
pesticides and fertilizers, providing subsidy for chemical fertilizer by government
and conducting short term training programme on use of herbicide and plant
protection measures. It is necessary to intensify the extension efforts to increase the
knowledge level and adoption of recommended coconut technologies, which would
help in increasing the production and productivity of coconut at farm level.