Impact of front line demonstration in adoption extent and horizontal spread of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) cultivation in Tarai region of Siddharthnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to found the yield gap through FLDS on tomato crop. The Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Siddharthnagar conducted Frontline demonstration on 10 farmers for each year since 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 in different locations of Tarai belt of Siddharthnagar district. Frontline demonstrations were conducted on tomato by the active participation of the farmers with the objective of improved technologies of tomato production potential. Use of hybrid variety, balanced use of fertilizer on the basis soil testing report and integrated pest and disease management etc are the main technologies to be tested in this demonstration. Tomato is a major vegetable crop of tarai belt of Uttar Pradesh. But the productivity of tomato is very low in this district due to lack of knowledge and partial adoption of recommended package of practice by tomato cultivators. The data of study revealed to the cost of cultivation, production, productivity, gross return and net return were collected as per schedule and analyzed. The result of present study revealed that average highest yield in demonstration was recorded 605.80 q/ha was obtained in demonstrated plot over control (505.30 q/ha) with an additional yield of 100.50 q/ha and the increasing the average tomato productivity by 19.88 per cent. The extension gap and technology gap ranged between 101.10 to 113.0 and 44.20 to 69.60 q/ha, respectively, with the technology index of 9.40 per cent during the demonstration years. Besides this, the demonstrated plots gave higher gross return, net return with higher benefit cost ratio when compared to farmer’s practice. In present study efforts were also made to study the impact of FLD on horizontal spread which was increased 209.52 %, if appropriate package and practices are followed.