Managing paddy residue with rice straw baler: A sociological insight into farmer attitudes and adoption constraints

Abstract

Paddy - wheat crop rotation is the most common practice among farmers of the Northen India. And huge amount of paddy straw is wasted annually either by burning in the fields or due to poor utilization which otherwise could contribute to the income of farmers. These crop residue if left as it is in the field, create problem during the sowing of wheat crop. So, there is a way through adoption of straw baler to manage the residue in an economic and sustainable way. A study was planned to observe the attitude of farmers towards straw baler along with constraints in adoption. The findings revealed that attitude level of the respondents regarding baler technology was found high (46.25%) followed by low (31.25%) and medium (22.50%). A significant majority of respondents (68.75%) had favorable attitude that it is a profitable technology while more than one fourth of the respondents (27.50%) indicated that the sale of balers poses a problem which is the major constraint. Moreover, straw baler is a very profitable farm machine.