Adoption behaviour of tribal and non-tribal paddy growers

Abstract

Baksa district of Assam is bestowed with rich soil and suitable climate that favours the growth of paddy cultivation. Although a sizeable portion of rural community is engaged in paddy farming, yet the production is not satisfactory which might be due to traditional method of cultivation. As the district is tribal dominated, therefore, the study strives to explore the adoption behaviour of both tribal and non- tribal paddy growers. A total of 101 respondents (59 non-tribal and 42 tribal farmers) were considered as the final sample by proportionate random sampling method. The findings revealed that above sixty five percent of total farmers had overall medium adoption level. However, (52.54%) of non- tribal and 69.04 per cent tribal farmers exhibited medium level of adoption. The “t value” was found to be significant. Factors such as annual income and occupational status of the farmers had a positive and significant association with the extent of adoption. Further, these significant and nearly significant variables were taken for Tobit analysis to find the influence of these factors on extent of adoption, where none of the factors showed a positive and significant contribution towards adoption process.