Farmers’ Perceptions about Constraints in Sustainability of Rice-Wheat Cropping System in Haryana

Abstract

Rice-wheat (RW) is the most important cropping system of irrigated areas and widely practiced in the Gangetic plains in Haryana. Stagnation in land productivity, particularly of the RW system, has been observed over the past few years in the northern and northwestern Indo-Gangetic Plains. A survey was undertaken in Haryana, covering the RW system in Karnal, Kurukshetra, Ambala and Kaithal districts. Using the multistage random sampling, 160 RW growing farmers were selected covering small, medium and large land owners. Data were collected by using personal interview method during 2011. The farmers perceived erratic power supply, non-availability of labour, non-availability of seeds of newly released variety, increasing incidence of insect, pest and diseases and lack of knowledge among farmers about newly released technology as the major constraints in sustainability of RW cropping system. Rice and wheat productivity in Haryana can be increased by making some policy decisions like providing regular power supply during crop growth period, good quality seed, fertilisers, pesticides and educating the farmers on latest technologies.