Comparative Analysis of Adoption Behaviour of Tenant vis-à-vis Owner Farmers for Rice Cultivation

Abstract

Punjab, one of the major rice-growing states in India, has been facing signifi cant challenges in its agricultural sector, such as declining productivity and increasing input costs. Therefore, this study on comparative analysis of adoption behaviour of tenant visà-vis owner farmers for rice cultivation in Mansa district of Punjab was conducted during 2021-2022. For the purpose of data collection, three blocks were selected and from each selected block fi ve villages were randomly selected. Further, from each village fi fteen farmers (ten tenant + fi ve owner) were randomly selected. Thus data were collected from 150 respondents. The results revealed that majority of the tenant and owner farmers had low level of extension contacts, social participation and mass media use. On average, majority of the tenant farmers had about six hectares of operational land holding, whereas majority of owner farmers had about fi ve hectares of operational land holding. It was noted that 30 % of the owner farmers sown recommended varieties of rice, however only 11 % of the tenant farmers adopted recommended rice varieties. Majority of the tenant and owner farmers adopted recommended chemicals for weed control and plant protection measures but did not adopt the recommended doses for the same chemicals. Tenant farmers applied 33 average number of irrigations to the rice crop, nevertheless owner farmers applied 26 average number of irrigations to the rice crop. Majority of the tenant farmers (94%) applied more than recommended dose of nitrogenous fertilizers but majority of owner farmers (56%) applied recommended dose of nitrogenous fertilizers. Only 10 % of the tenant farmers had high level of adoption index for GAP of rice crop but it was 40 % in case of owner farmers.