Constraints in vegetable production in Char areas of Dhubri district, Assam

Abstract

Dhubri, the western-most district of Assam, is the most prominent region growing vegetables. Vegetables are the third most important crop grown in the district, next only to rice and toria. The area comprising riverine sandbars (Chars) of the district is the most prominent belt where Rabi and Kharif vegetables are extensively cultivated. Presently, there are 480 Char villages covering an area of 64,767 ha in Dhubri district. The district produces 58,782 t of Kharif and 172,172 t of Rabi vegetables annually. However, over the past few years, the noteworthy decline in vegetable production in the Char areas has become a matter of serious concern. A study was conducted using purposive random sampling technique in three Char villages viz., Faujdar Char, Simlabari and Bamunpara Part IV of Dhubri district. Responses of 300 farmers were collected using semi-structured survey schedule. Pest and disease, inadequate irrigation facilities, short supply of manures and fertilizers, lack of HYV, lack of knowledge about the occurrence pest and diseases etc. were identified as the important factors responsible for the decline in vegetable production. Further, the lack of knowledge about scientific crop production (55.00%), occurrence of insect pests and diseases (53.00%) and crop damaged due to flood (51.66%) ranked first, second and third, respectively among the technological constraints. Again, as regards to the infrastructural constraints, declining cultivable land (63.33%), non availability of quality seed (58.33%) and non-availability of processing industries (value addition) (52.00%) ranked first, second and third, respectively. Whereas, out of the all economical constraints; non-availability of labour during peak period ranked first (90.47%), non-availability of timely credit facilities ranked second (83.33%) and high cost of agricultural chemicals ranked third (74.28%).