Knowledge and adoption patterns of improved green gram varieties among farmers: Insights from KVK’s CFLDs

Abstract

Introduction: In Indian agriculture, the green revolution of the 1960s is pivotal and would not have occurred without the utilization of high yielding wheat and paddy varieties; therefore, variety plays an important role in replicating such a revolution in any other crop today. All other factors, such as increased crop output, reduced water consumption, fertilizer and pesticide use and reduced environmental effect, are dependent on variety. Realizing the importance of improved varieties in boostening up the Indian agriculture and enhancing the farmer’s income, the KVK- Dharwad has been promoting several varietal interventions under CFLDs since 2018-19. Context: Green gram is a significant pulse crop due to its high nutritional value and ability to improve soil fertility through nitrogen fixation. However, traditional farming methods and outdated seed varieties often limit productivity and profitability for smallholder farmers. To address these challenges, KVKs have been at the forefront of promoting agricultural innovation through interventions like CFLDs. The success of these initiatives depends heavily on farmers' knowledge of improved varieties, their willingness to adopt new technologies and the effectiveness of the CFLD approach. Objective: The study was conducted to find out the level of knowledge and adoption of improved green gram production technologies and also to assess the impact of the improved varieties promoted by the KVK through CFLDs on socio- economic conditions of the farmers. Methods: A sample of 120 farmers from the beneficiary list of KVK- Dharwad was drawn by following a simple random sampling technique from Dharwad district of Karnataka. The collected data was analyzed to find the level of knowledge and adoption of green gram production technologies and assess the impact on yield and income of the farmers. Results & Discussion: Nearly half (44.17%) of the green gram farmers had medium knowledge whereas 34.16 percent and 21.67 percent of the farmers had high and low knowledge levels, respectively. half of the farmers (50.00%) belonged to medium adoption level category whereas 26.67 percent and 23.33 percent of the farmers had high and low adoption levels of recommended cultivation practices of green gram. The results indicated the positive effect of new improved varieties of green gram (DGGV-2) over the existing practices with an increased net returns of Rs.57885/ha when compared to local variety Rs.44735/ ha with B: C ratio 2.13.