Vol. 5 (3) : May-June 2014 issue
Green Farming Vol. 5 (3) : 429-434 ; May-June, 2014
Impact of Farmers’ field school approach on adoption of integrated crop management practices in paddy cultivation
A. MANOJ1* and K. VIJAYARAGAVAN2
Division of Agricultural Extension, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Pusa, New Delhi - 110 012
Designation : 1Res. Scholar *(alajangimanoj@gmail.com), 2Joint Director
Subject : Agriculture Extension Education
Paper No. : P-1301
Total Pages : 6
Received : 10 January 2014
Revised accepted : 10 May 2014
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Citation :
A. MANOJ and K. VIJAYARAGAVAN. 2014. Impact of Farmers’ field school approach on adoption of integrated crop management practices in paddy cultivation. Green Farming Vol. 5 (3) : 429-434 ; May-June, 2014
ABSTRACT
The present study was conducted in Andhra Pradesh with the objective to find out the effectiveness of Farmers' Field Schools (FFSs) on adoption of Integrated Crop Management (ICM) practices in paddy cultivation. A total of three districts were selected purposively from all three regions of Andhra Pradesh. The selected districts were: West Godavari from coastal Andhra region, Warangal from Telangana region and Kurnool from Rayalaseema region. Respondents were selected through simple random sampling procedure. The total sample size was 240 comprising 120 FFS farmers and 120 non-FFS farmers. The extent of adoption was measured as the percentage of actual practice to recommended ICM practices. The data were collected though interview schedule. The study revealed that adoption levels of farmers of FFS were higher than the adoption of non-FFS farmers with regard to all ICM practices such as Integrated Nutrient Management, seed management, water management and Integrated pest management. The results of the t-test showed that the difference between the adoption level of the FFS and non-FFS farmers was statistically significant for all the components of ICM practices. Therefore, it can be concluded that FFS methodology is an effective extension tool to enhance farmers' adoption related to complex crop management practices in paddy cultivation.
Key words :
Adoption, FFS, ICM practices, Paddy cultivation, Seed management.