Technology assessment in the homegarden systems

Abstract

Homegardens of Kerala presents a traditional agroforestry system designed to meet the food, fodder, fuel wood and timber requirement of the farm households and to generate supplementary income through the sale of surplus (Salam and Sreekumar, 1991). The homegarden system has its unique structural configuration and cropping patterns. The structural and functional diversity of this farming system makes it a unique one. It is the predominant type of agricultural production system in the state of Kerala (Shehana et al., 1994).

This study was undertaken in the Southern Kerala comprising Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta districts covering a sample size of 208 homegardens using multi-stage stratified random sampling technique which, examines the structural configuration, cropping system, type of homegardens, extent of contribution of dominant homegarden components to the annual homegarden income, marketing channels of major products contributing to the homegarden annual income, extent of adoption of technology/scientific practices, its relationship with the socio-personal characteristic of individual farmers, identifying the technology need of the homegarden farmers, the delineation of dimension of technology suited for homegardens and constraints experienced by homegarden farmers.

The structural configuration, cropping patterns and type of homegardens were identified using the measure of Shannon and Wiener diversity index (Sagar and Singh, 1999), species richness (Margalef, 1958) and measure of evenness (Pielou, 1969). The measure of dominance in terms of structural, numerical and economic dominance was developed for the study. Based on this, ten major dominance systems were observed in homegardens.

Types of homegardens were delineated based on added components to the homegarden primary structure. Six types of specialised homegardens were thus identified based on the additions to primary structure. Two more types were identified based on socio-cultural components in homegardens. On the economic front of homegardens, the extent of contribution of major components towards annual homegarden income, it was found that livestock, rubber and tapioca in Thiruvananthapuram; rubber, livestock, pepper and coconut in Kollam; livestock, coconut, arecanut and pepper in Alappuzha and rubber, livestock and coconut in Pathanamthitta contributed to a greater extent in terms of annual homegarden income. Marketing channels for the different crops in four districts were also identified and classified.

Technology assessment revealed that a limited quantity of technology reached the homegardens. Only two-third of the respondents fell under medium category of adoption of scientific practices/technology. Factors influencing the adoption of scientific practices were identified as education, annual homegarden income, extension contribution, market orientation and knowledge on technology in homegardens. Fifty-four indigenous practices (ITK practices) were observed to be followed by the homegarden farmers. Maximum technology need was reported for unexploited and under exploited horticultural tree crops which was on par with fruit tree crops (mango and jack) and followed by beverage crops. Processing, value addition and storage requirements were immediate technology needs of the homegarden farmers. Drainage and soil amendment technologies were reported to be important for Alappuzha homegarden farmers. On delineation of dimensions of technologies as perceived by homegarden farmers, agricultural officers and scientists, twenty-four dimensions were felt important by all categories of respondents. Additional nine dimensions perceived by the farmers were found to fall out of the ambit of extension and scientific community revealing that there is a major requirement either overlooked by the scientific/extension system, which is yet to be bridged. The foremost constraint identified was surplus produce but that was insufficient for marketing.

To conclude, primarily a system with dominance has been developed which is again derived from diversity index, species richness, evenness and measure of dominance. Variability in homegardens exists within regions, within and between districts, but was not influenced by holding size. Above all constraints, technology requirement and delineated dimensions of technology was worked out based actual homegarden situation, thus providing a holistic approach to the entire homegarden scenario of the four districts under study.