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Current Economic Statistics and Review For the
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Theme
of the week:
Access to Modern Technology for Farming*
1.
Introduction Modern
agricultural technology has vast potential to increase the productivity of
agriculture, which is of great interest to policy makers. The survey
collected data on the extent of adoption of the ‘modern technology in
farming’ by farmer households.
The
reference period of collection of data was January to December 2003. A
total of 51,770 farmer
households spread over 6,638 sample villages has been covered in the
survey. This note is based on the data collected during the survey on
various facets of
‘
Access to Modern Technology of Farming’, and
attempts to review briefly three aspects: access to source of
information, effectiveness of the source in terms of adoption and
subjective assessment of the quality of information. 2.
Different sources There
are 16 sources from where information on ‘Modern Technology of
Farming’ has been accessed by farmer households. These sources can be
categorized according to a) whether it is a multipurpose or specified
source and b) whether it involved one way or two-way transaction. Among
the 16 sources reported in the survey, Radio, Television, Newspaper and
Village fairs are multiple ones whereas the remaining are specified
two-way sources. Krishi Vigyan Kendra, extension workers, government
exhibition, input dealers, farmers’ study tour, other progressive
farmers, Para technician, output buyers/food processors and others; fell
in the second category. Details of these sources are given below: Krishi
Vigyan Kendra (KVK):
Krishi vigyan Kendra are centres set up by the Extension
Worker:
Extension worker is an employee of the government in the department of
agriculture/horticulture/animal husbandry/forestry/soil conservation or of
agricultural universities or of ICAR institutes, and provide necessary
information and guidance to the farmers. Para-technicians/ para-veterinarians
visiting from government departments are also classified as extension
workers. Radio/Television:
Radio and
television supply information to the farmers regarding weather, farming
practices to be followed in different seasons, methods of farming
different crops, technological developments on farming etc. through
different programmes on a regular basis. It can be private or government
channels. Newspaper:
Newspaper provide information on different aspects of farming regularly
through special columns or pages provided for this purpose. It includes al
type of print media and includes newspapers, agricultural magazines,
bulletins and leaflets published periodically. Village
Fair:
Village fair includes the fairs sponsored by the government or private
agencies as well as the normal religious and cultural fairs in the area.
It also includes kisan mela or a stall setup by the government/private
agency in a religious/cultural fair visited by farmers regularly. Government
Demonstration:
Government demonstration refers to demonstration or exhibitions on farming
by any government agency. Input
Dealer: Input dealer
includes all the individuals or agencies dealing in seeds, fertilizers,
pesticides etc., whether wholesale or retail. This dealer in order to
increase their sales gives various information regarding farming and the
use of fertilizer and pesticides, etc. Other
Progressive Farmers:
Other progressive farmers include different farmers’ organizations or
associations, whether registered or not. Many associations of growers of a
particular farm produce such as grapes, mangoes, onion, litchi, guava,
etc. exist in different regions and they often serve as important sources
of information to the farmers. Farmers’
Study Tour: Farmers’
study tour includes all types of educational tours arranged by some
agency, sponsored by government or some private party. Output
Buyers/ Food Processors: These
sources include all those agencies or individuals who advise the farmers
to cultivate a particular variety of a crop with the opinion to buy those
products. These agencies may also provide information on cultivation
practices to be followed for growing that particular crop. Others:
Others include friends, relatives, neighbors, etc. who are knowledgeable
of modern technologies for farming. Similarly, Internet services,
documentary films, video shows, etc., may be considered as others. 3.
Relative Importance of Different Sources of Information Out of 89.4 million farmer households, only 36.1 million or 40.4 per cent of farmer households reported about accessing any source to receive information on modern agricultural technology; which means nearly 60 per cent households continued farming in the traditional way.
Out
of the 16 sources, only 3 sources were accessed by more than ten per cent
of farmer households. ‘Other progressive farmers” have been approached
by 14.9 million farmer households forming about 16.7 per cent of the total
farmer households for obtaining information on modern agricultural
technology. ‘Input dealer and Radio have been accessed by about 11.7
million farmer households or about 13 per cent each. Television served as
a source of information on modern agricultural technology to 9.3 per cent
of farmer households and newspaper to 7.0 per cent. While 5.7 per cent
farmer households had received information from extension workers; 3.6 per
cent farmer households received information from primary co-operative
societies. Output buyers/ food processors, village fairs, government
demonstration and credit agencies each served as a source of information
to about 2 per cent of farmer households. Among the remaining sources,
krishi vigyan Kendra is an important one accounting less than one per cent
of farmer households, which have been setup for specified purpose by
different institutions/universities The
share of farmer households accessing specific a source in the total farmer
households reporting information on their access to any source, can also
gauge the relative importance of different sources. Even by this measuring
stick, it can be seen that ‘other Progressive Farmers’, ‘Input
Dealer’, and ‘Radio’ were the three important sources of
information. Inter-state
variations in the proportion of farmer households accessing information on
modern technology for farming through 6 dominant source and number of
farmer households accessing any source for acquiring information are given
in Table 2. Farmer
households in the states in southern region, western region and
northeastern region have reported more than all-India average ( 40.0 per
cent) of them have accessed any source for information on modern
technology on farming. On the other extreme, farmer households in
Rajasthan (14.7 per cent) are the least among all the states who have
accessed any source for acquiring information on modern technology on
farming. It can be seen from the Table that among different regions farmer house holds in southern region reporting the access to any source of modern technology accounted for thehighest share of 54.4 per cent. Farmer households in Andhra Pradesh (62.7 per cent) and Kerala (58.0 per cent) have the maximum share among all states. In Andhra Pradesh farmer households prefer information from ‘other progressive farmers’ (34.1 per cent) and Input dealer (30.1 per cent) and in Kerala farmer households access information mainly from radio (30.6 per cent), TV (22.6 per cent) and Newspaper (37.8 per cent). About
50 per cent of farmer households in the western region have accessed any
one of the sources for gathering information on modern agricultural
technology. While farmer households in Gujarat depend upon other
progressive farmers (30.0 per cent) and input dealers (24.3 per cent) for
getting relevant information; the farmer households in In
northeastern region states, radio is the main source of information for
more than 16 to 41 per cent of farmer households. Radio and TV had also
been the major medium to collect the information on modern technology on
farming among farmer households of northern states viz., Haryana, Himachal
Pradesh, J & K,
4.
Frequency of Contact with the Sources of Information Table 3 shows the farmer households preference of the frequency of contact. Farmer households contact their relevant sources daily or weekly or monthly or seasonal or need based or casual requirements. Among
the sources used by the farmer households to obtain information on modern
technology for farming, the farmer households reported that radio, TV and
newspaper are the sources accessed daily and also by weekly. It can be
seen from Table 3, seasonal and need based contact has been more prominent
among majority of all other sources. Need based contact with output
buyer/food processors, extension workers, primary co-op. society and
credit agency were also favoured with more than 45 per cent of farmer
households in each case seeking the information. More than 25 per cent of
farmer households contact seasonally extension
workers, primary co-operative society, government demonstration, village
fairs, and participation in training, KVK, and para technician/NGO for
getting information on modern technology on farming. Input dealers were
sought after by large proportion of farmer households seasonally (36.1 per
cent) and on a need based basis (51.8 per cent). Other progressive farmers
- the most sought after source out of the sixteen sources - had been
approached by 47.2 per cent farmer households on a need based basis for
getting required information.
5.
Information on Cultivation Received Through Any Source Table
4 presents the number of households accessing information and especially
on cultivation through any source on modern technology on
cultivation. Any source means that the households availed of at least one
of the sixteen different sources. It may be noted that a household may
avail two or more different type of information from more than two
different sources. Out of 89.4 million farmer households 36.1 million or
40.4 per cent have requested any kind of information from at least any one
source. Among them at all- More
than 60 per cent of farmer households in Andhra Pradesh and From
the Table it can be seen that out of all the information seeking farmer
households, more than 90 per cent have requested information on
cultivation in all states except those of in Punjab, In
6.
Type of Information Sought and Received about Cultivation
Farmer
households usually access any source of information for getting knowledge
on different aspects of cultivation such as improved seed/variety,
fertilizer application, plant protection, farm machinery, harvesting and
marketing and others. Out
of 36.1 million households receiving information from any source, 34.6
million farmer households or 96.0 per cent have received information on
cultivation. Among them, on an all-India basis 20.7 million or 59.6 per
cent have required information on improved seed/variety, followed by about
17.1 million farmer households forming 49.4 per cent, wanted information
on fertilizer application. Knowledge on plant protection has been sought
by 24.0 per cent of farmer households.
Harvesting and marketing information have been priority for another
3.7 million or 10.7 per cent of farmer households. Information
on improved seeds has been sought by a large number of farmer households
in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttranchal, Uttar Pradesh,
Gujarat, A
very high number of farmer households in eastern region, western region,
and southern region are interested in getting information on fertilizer
application. More than 50 per cent of the farmer households in many of the
states in these region have sought for knowledge on fertliser application Information on plant protection, and harvesting and marketing have acquired by about 25 to 40 per cent of farmer households in the states of western and southern regions. (Table 6) 7.
Accessing Radio for Information on Cultivation At
all- A
large share of farmer households in At
the all-India level, 4.9 million forming about 45 per cent of farmer
households have got information on improved seed /variety through radio
daily. Knowledge of fertilizer application has received by 29.3 per cent
of farmer households and 15.8 per cent on plant protection and another
10.3 per cent on other aspects of cultivation such as farm machinery,
harvesting/marketing etc.
Among
farmer households in different states, 60 per cent in UP, 59 per cent in
Haryana, 54 per cent in Madhya Pradesh, 53 per cent in Chattisgarh, 48 per
cent in Rajasthan, 46 per cent each in Bihar and Karnataka and 45 per cent
in Jharkhand have got information on improved seeds through radio daily.
States where farmers used the radio for cultivation related information,
showing more interest in fertilizer application included Punjab (52 per
cent), followed by Assam (42 per cent), Jammu and Kashmir (41 per cent),
Kerala, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat(each having 34 per cent) and
Tamil Nadu (33 per cent). (Table
7) 8.
Contacts with Input Dealer for Information on Cultivation Input
dealer may be an individual or an agency dealing in different agricultural
inputs such as seeds, fertilizer, manure, pesticides, etc. Only
13 per cent of farmer households have accessed information on modern
technology for farming through input dealers and of these 98 per cent farmer
households have received information on cultivation. Input dealers played a
big role in disseminating information on cultivation among farmer households
of Haryana, At
all-India level, among the farmer households who accessed information from
input dealers, 41 per cent received information on fertilizer application,
39 per cent on improved seed/variety, 14 per cent on plant protection and 6
per cent on other aspects (Table
8).
Among
farmers who obtained cultivation related information from input dealers,
those interested in techniques of fertilizer application constituted 100 per
cent in Tripura, 90 per cent in Meghalaya, and 87 per cent in Orissa. Above
40 per cent of farmer households in Punjab, Assam, Manipur, Bihar, Jharkhand,
West Bengal, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Those interested in
improved seed/variety formed
80 per cent in Rajasthan,74 per cent in Jamuu and Kashmir, 74 per
cent in Uttranchal, 63 per cent in 9.
Contacts with Other Progressive Farmers for Information on Cultivation Other Progressive farmers are individual farmers and also include different farmers’ organization or associations, whether registered or not. There are associations of growers of a particular crop or farm produce, who serve farmers with important information for improvement of that crop or produce.
At all-India
level, about 17 per cent of farmer households accessed information on modern
technology for farming through ‘other progressive farmers’. Of them, 94
per cent farmer households received information for improvement of
cultivation. Major states where ‘other progressive farmers’ has played
an important role were Orissa, (Table
09) Madhya
Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Haryana, Bihar,
Among the farmer households who accessed information on cultivation
from ‘other progressive farmers’ at all-India level, 40 per cent
received information on improved seeds/variety, 31 per cent on fertilizer
protection, 15 per cent on ‘plant protection and 14 per cent on ‘other
aspects.
Information about improved seeds/variety was sought
by more than 50 per cent of the farmer households in Haryana, Punjab,
Rajasthan, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Uttranchal, Uttar Pradesh, 10.
Information on Animal Husbandry Received through Any Source. Information received on animal husbandry was mainly on breeding, feeding, health care, etc.; and the prominent sources were radio, TV, news paper, extension worker input dealers and other progressive farmers. The number of households obtaining information on animal husbandry is very small compared to that of cultivation. On an all-India basis, less than 2 million households forming about 5 per cent of farmer households have received information from any source. ‘Other progressive farmers’ is most important source from whom the farmer households accessed information on animal husbandry. The major area of concern for farmers, who sought information from these sources, had been health care, with 52.0 per cent of them enquiring about health care. Other areas of interest in the new technique in animal husbandry are breeding (24.4 per cent) and feeding ( 18.1 per cent). Management was another area of concern for farmers with 9.3 per cent requesting information and the major source of information was input dealer.
11. Information on Fisheries Received through Any
Source. Information on seed production, harvesting, management and marketing etc in respect of fisheries has been obtained by farmer households; and the major information providers have been radio, TV, newspaper and input dealer and other progressive farmers.
Percentage of households obtaining information on fisheries was not
more than 3 per cent for each of the major source of information. Marketing
and management had been were the main thrust of information sought by the
farmer households from all the sources of information. 12.
Quality of Information Received from Different Sources The survey evaluated through the farmer households about the quality of information received by them from various sources described earlier. The results reveals that at all India level, more than 50 per cent of farmer households, which accessed different sources for information reported that the quality of information received by them from majority of the sources as good and satisfactory (Table 12).
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