Knowledge and adoption level in sericulture: A study in the district of Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

The study was conducted during 2014-2016 in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu. With these objectives, 90 farmers were randomly selected from Pappireddipatti, Pennagaram and Dharmapuri blocks. Thus, the total sample size was 90 for the study. The knowledge and adoption level of the mulberry and silkworm rearing technologies of the marginal farms was found to on the higher side when compared to small farms and so also the case with respect to, in large farms, the adoption level of silkworm rearing technologies in respect of silkworm race and shoot rearing were found to be encouraging. However, the majority of the sample farmers had knowledge of bed cleaning in marginal farms but practically not followed. The knowledge index of mulberry cultivation technologies in marginal farms was 57.69 per cent and small farms 55.69 per cent. In large farms the index was 56.76 per cent. The adoption index of mulberry cultivation technologies of the sample farmers in marginal farms was 34.09 per cent and small farms 35.54 per cent. In large farms the index was 40.81 per cent respectively. It was observed that the knowledge and adoption indices of silkworm rearing technologies were higher than mulberry cultivation technologies.