Adoption of Recommended Package of Practices by Rice Growers in District Baramulla

Abstract

The present study was conducted to measure the adoption levels of rice growers in 3 tehsils of Baramulla district namely Sopore, Bomai and Pattan. Four villages from each tehsil were selected randomly which makes a total of 12 villages and 10 rice growers from each village those were having above half an acre under rice were purposively selected that makes a sample of 120 rice growers for the study. It was found that majority (55.00 %) of the respondents had medium level of adoption. Majority of the respondents had full adoption of recommended rice varieties (55.83%), sowing time (93.33%), number of ploughings for puddling (71.66%) time of application nutrients for nursery (100%), dosage of nutrients (50.83%), time of application of FYM (97.50%) and time of application of weedicide(74.16%) whereas no adoption regarding seed treatment and dosage for seed treatment (76.66%) and none of respondents had adopted either disease management practices or pest management practices. The main reasons for non adoption were very poor knowledge about SKUAST-K recommendations (51.66%), producing only for consumption purpose (36.66%), poor contacts with officials of agriculture department about acquiring of knowledge regarding rice cultivation (27.50%) as mentioned by rice growers. The present study was not focused solely on adoption level of rice growers but also on constraints in adoption of recommended package of practices which can be the basis for further studies.