STUDY ON KNOWLEDGE AND ADOPTION OF RECOMMENDED … › d87f › 69f947025c... · study on knowledge and adoption of recommended rice cultivation practices in southern province of

STUDY ON KNOWLEDGE AND ADOPTION OF

RECOMMENDED RICE CULTIVATION PRACTICES

IN SOUTHERN PROVINCE OF RWANDA

NZIGIYIMANA AUGUSTIN

PAK 9113

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION

UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES

GKVK, BANGALORE 560065

2011

STUDY ON KNOWLEDGE AND ADOPTION OF

RECOMMENDED RICE CULTIVATION PRACTICES

IN SOUTHERN PROVINCE OF RWANDA


PAK 9113

Thesis submitted to the

University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore

in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the award of the degree of

MASTER OF SCIENCE (AGRICULTURE)MASTER OF SCIENCE (AGRICULTURE)MASTER OF SCIENCE (AGRICULTURE)MASTER OF SCIENCE (AGRICULTURE)

inininin

AGRICULTURAL EXTENSIONAGRICULTURAL EXTENSIONAGRICULTURAL EXTENSIONAGRICULTURAL EXTENSION

BANGALORE JUNE, 2011

Affectionately Dedicated to

My Parents:

Late N. Philomena & N. Tharcisse

My Beloved Wife:

M. YVON BIENAIMEE

My daughter Gahebuzo &

my son Gashema

My sisters, brothers, cousins,

grandmother, aunts & uncles

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION

UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES

GKVK, BANGALORE

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the thesis entitled” STUDY ON KNOWLEDGE

AND ADOPTION OF RECOMMENDED RICE CULTIVATION

PRACTICES IN SOUTHERN PROVINCE OF RWANDA” submitted by

Mr. NZIGIYIMANA AUGUSTIN, ID No. PAK 9113 for the award of the

degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE (Agriculture) in Agricultural

Extension to the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, is a

record of bonafide research work carried out by him during the period of

his study in this University under my guidance and supervision. The

data of this thesis has not previously formed the basis for the award of

any degree, diploma, associateship, fellowship or other similar titles.

BANGALORE Dr. M.S. Nataraju JUNE, 2011 Major Advisor APPROVED BY:

Chairman : ____________________________ (M.S. Nataraju)

Members : 1. ____________________________ (B.K. Narayana Swamy)

2. ____________________________ (G.N. Nagaraja)

3. ____________________________ (D.M. Gowda)

4. ____________________________ (V. Govinda Gowda)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTACKNOWLEDGEMENTACKNOWLEDGEMENTACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I kindly place before the throne of Almighty God my most sincere gratitude for

creating me end His daily protection towards me. I am very thankful and I give glory and

praise to my Almighty God for giving me intelligence, beloved family, friends and enabling me

to succeed in my endeavors.

My sincere thanks are availed also to the Government of Rwanda to support

financially my post graduate studies

I would like to express my profound gratitude and sincere respect to my guide

Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. M.M.M.M.S. NATARAJU,S. NATARAJU,S. NATARAJU,S. NATARAJU, Professor of Extension & Coordinator of Regional Center, National

Afforestation & Eco-Development Board, UAS Bengaluru. I sincerely thank him for the time

he willingly spared; even in the midst of his schedule of work in order to give me constructive

advises to complete the present work accurately.

I take this opportunity to express my deep sense of gratitude and indebtedness to

Dr. B.K. NARAYANA SWAMYDr. B.K. NARAYANA SWAMYDr. B.K. NARAYANA SWAMYDr. B.K. NARAYANA SWAMY, Professor & Head, Department of Distance Education

(Former HOD Agril. Extn) and Dr. D. NANJAPADr. D. NANJAPADr. D. NANJAPADr. D. NANJAPA, Professor & Head, Dept. of Agril.

Extension, UAS Bengaluru for their timely support and help during the course of study.

My sincere and heartfelt thanks to members of my research advisory committee

Dr. B.K. NARAYANA SWAMY,Dr. B.K. NARAYANA SWAMY,Dr. B.K. NARAYANA SWAMY,Dr. B.K. NARAYANA SWAMY, Professor & Head, Department of Distance Education,

Dr. V. GOVINDA GOWDA,Dr. V. GOVINDA GOWDA,Dr. V. GOVINDA GOWDA,Dr. V. GOVINDA GOWDA, Asst. Professor, Dr. S.N. NAGARAJADr. S.N. NAGARAJADr. S.N. NAGARAJADr. S.N. NAGARAJA, Professor and Head,

Dept. of Agril. Marketing, Co-operation & Business Management, Dr. D.M. GowdaDr. D.M. GowdaDr. D.M. GowdaDr. D.M. Gowda,

Professor and Head, Department of Agril. Statistics, UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru for their

valuable help and guidance during course of this research.

I wish to avail this opportunity to express my warmest thanks to my teachers in M.Sc

Studies in UAS GKVK Bangalore viz. Dr. K.C. Lalitha, Dr. M.Dr. K.C. Lalitha, Dr. M.Dr. K.C. Lalitha, Dr. M.Dr. K.C. Lalitha, Dr. M.S. Nataraju, S. Nataraju, S. Nataraju, S. Nataraju,

Dr. B.Dr. B.Dr. B.Dr. B.K. Narayana Swamy, Dr. N. Narasimha, Dr. Shivalinge Gowda, Dr. Manjunath, K. Narayana Swamy, Dr. N. Narasimha, Dr. Shivalinge Gowda, Dr. Manjunath, K. Narayana Swamy, Dr. N. Narasimha, Dr. Shivalinge Gowda, Dr. Manjunath, K. Narayana Swamy, Dr. N. Narasimha, Dr. Shivalinge Gowda, Dr. Manjunath,

Dr. V.Dr. V.Dr. V.Dr. V.R.R.R.R. Naika, Dr. Shivaramu, Dr. Nagara Naika, Dr. Shivaramu, Dr. Nagara Naika, Dr. Shivaramu, Dr. Nagara Naika, Dr. Shivaramu, Dr. Nagarajaiah, Dr. G.R. Pennobaliswamy, jaiah, Dr. G.R. Pennobaliswamy, jaiah, Dr. G.R. Pennobaliswamy, jaiah, Dr. G.R. Pennobaliswamy,

Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mallikarjun, Dr. P.KMallikarjun, Dr. P.KMallikarjun, Dr. P.KMallikarjun, Dr. P.K. . . . Mandanna, Dr. M. Shivamurty, Mandanna, Dr. M. Shivamurty, Mandanna, Dr. M. Shivamurty, Mandanna, Dr. M. Shivamurty, Dr. B. KrishDr. B. KrishDr. B. KrishDr. B. Krishnamurty namurty namurty namurty and non

teaching staff.

Selfless love is the dearest one on this Earth. It is difficult to find word in which I can

express my thanks towards my Beloved Wife M. YVON BIENAIMEEM. YVON BIENAIMEEM. YVON BIENAIMEEM. YVON BIENAIMEE for her courage,

perseverance of staying alone, love, fidelity and support she manifested during this period.

May forever God bless her.

I cannot forget to use this opportunity to sincerely thank my friends classmates

Shankaraiah, Devaraja, Ananthnag, Pradipkumar Shankaraiah, Devaraja, Ananthnag, Pradipkumar Shankaraiah, Devaraja, Ananthnag, Pradipkumar Shankaraiah, Devaraja, Ananthnag, Pradipkumar and others mainly Rwandan friends

Leoncie, Prosper, and AimableLeoncie, Prosper, and AimableLeoncie, Prosper, and AimableLeoncie, Prosper, and Aimable as well as my seniors ShankarShankarShankarShankar and MahatabMahatabMahatabMahatab for their

friendship, help and care to make these two years study enjoyable and memorable.

I am finally thankful to the rice farming cooperatives (officers and farmers) for their

collaboration and provision of required data to this study. Thanks very much to all

contributors from near or far to the completion of this study. Any omission in that brief

acknowledgement does not mean ingratitude

BENGALURU (NZIGIYIMANA AUGUSTIN)(NZIGIYIMANA AUGUSTIN)(NZIGIYIMANA AUGUSTIN)(NZIGIYIMANA AUGUSTIN)

JUNE 2011

Study on Knowledge and Adoption of Recommended Rice Cultivation Practices in

Southern Province of Rwanda


Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa) is a popular staple food for nearly half the World‘s

population. It is easy to store, easy to cook, easily digestible, ideal for babies and sick

people. It provides the basis for food security, employment and income for rural people.

Rice production has been given high priority by the Government of Rwanda, especially

in the valley bottom marshlands. In order to increase the crop yield, the level of

knowledge and adoption of improved farm practices ought to be increased. Several

agencies are involved in this direction, hence, an attempt was made to know the

socioeconomic profile of rice farmers, their knowledge and adoption level about rice

cultivation practices besides documenting constraints encountered by them in rice

production.

A total sample of 80 rice growers were interviewed during August-September

2010 in four rice farming cooperatives spread over Huye and Gisagara districts of

Southern Province of the Republic of Rwanda using a pre-tested schedule. The collected

data were analyzed using appropriate statistical tests. Results showed that majority of

farmers (41.25%) were under medium overall knowledge category whereas 38.75 per

cent of farmers belonged to medium overall adoption level. About individual rice

cultivation practices, 100 per cent of respondents had correct knowledge about bush

clearing and puddling, 81.25 per cent had incorrect knowledge about nursery

dimensions, 100 per cent had incorrect knowledge about quantity of FYM to apply.

More than 78 per cent had fully adopted practices like land preparation, harvesting.

Rice farming experience, social participation, mass media exposure, extension contact

and cosmopoliteness of rice growers were significantly related to their knowledge

whereas rice farming experience, extension contact and cosmopoliteness had significant

relationship with the adoption level of farmers. Respondents expressed mainly

constraints relevant to pest and disease control (90%), insufficient water for crop

irrigation (62.50%), high cost of inputs (48.75%), lack of trainings (50%), low price of

rice in market (86.25%) and 47.25 per cent mentioned the lack of crop insurance fund.

NZIGIYIMANA AUGUSTIN (M.S. NATARAJU)

Major Advisor

CONTENTS

CHAPTER No.

TITLE PAGE No.

I INTRODUCTION 1-5

II REVIEW OF LITERATURE 6-39

III MATERIAL AND METHODS 40-55

IV RESULTS 56-76

V DISCUSSSION 77-89

VI SUMMARY 90-95

VII REFERENCES 96-112

APPENDICES 113-122

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE No.

TITLE PAGE No.

1 Overall knowledge of rice growers with respect to the recommended rice cultivation practices.

57

2 Specific knowledge level of rice farmers with respect to individual recommended cultivation practices

60-61

3 Overall adoption level of farmers with respect to recommended rice cultivation practices

63

4 Adoption of recommended rice cultivation practices among rice growers

64

5 Distribution of respondents according to age 65

6 Distribution of respondents according to sex 66

7 Education level of rice growers 66

8 Family size of respondents 67

9 Distribution of respondents according to their occupation 67

10 Distribution of rice farmers according to their land holding size

68

11 Distribution of rice farmers according to their rice farming experience

68

12 Distribution of rice farmers according to their annual income

69

13 Distribution of rice farmers according to their social participation

69

14 Distribution of rice farmers according to their mass media exposure

70

15 Distribution of rice farmers according to their extension contact

70

TABLE No.

TITLE PAGE No.

16 Distribution of rice farmers according to their innovativeness

71

17 Distribution of rice farmers according to their cosmopoliteness

71

18 Chi-square test indicating the association between independent variables and knowledge level of the farmers

72

19 Chi-square test indicating the association between independent variables and adoption

73

20 Constraints faced by rice growers in paddy production 76

LIST OF FIGURES

FIG.

No. TITLE

BETWEEN PAGES

1a Map showing the study area 41-42

1b Chart showing the selection of respondents 41-42

2 Conceptual model of the study 55-56

3 Overall knowledge of rice growers with respect to the recommended rice cultivation practices

57-58

4 A view of paddy field and nursery during survey 61-62

5 A view of paddy drying after harvesting at rice farming cooperative office

61-62

6 Overall adoption level of farmers with respect to recommended rice cultivation practices

63-64

7 Adoption of recommended rice cultivation practices among rice growers

64-65

8 Rice farmers during the survey work 66-67

9 Empirical Model of the study showing association between independent variables with knowledge level

72-73

10 Empirical Model of the study showing association between independent variables with adoption level

73-74

11 Constraints faced by rice growers in paddy production

76-77

I. INTRODUCTION

Rice (Oryza sativa) is a popular staple food for nearly half the

World‘s population whom most of them live in Asia. That is true because

rice is easy to store, easy to cook and it is easily digestible, ideal for

babies and sick people. Rice is rich in complex carbohydrates, does not

contain much fat, is cholesterol free and has low content in sodium.

The cultivation of rice is the main source of livelihood for rural

population in developing countries where their important objectives are

to achieve self- sufficiency in rice production and maintaining price

stability. As a staple food it provides the basis for food security,

employment opportunity and income for rural people. The consumption

pattern of rice in different regions of the world is as follows: Asia

(416,459,000t), Latin America (17,188000t), Africa (15,741,000t), USA

(2,704,000t), Australia (215,000t), rest of the world (36,000t). Total World

consumes 457,451,000t (Goel, 2005).

Major advances have taken place in the world rice production

during the last four decades because of the adoption of Green Revolution

technology. Rice production increased 130% from 257 million tons in

1966 to 598 million tons in 1999. Average rice yield increased from 2.1 to

3.9 t ha–1 during the same period. In 2000, average per capita food

availability was 18% higher than in 1966. According to the International

Food Policy Research Institute, rice production must increase 38% by

2025 to feed 4 billion rice consumers. The area under rice is declining

because of the pressure of urbanization and industrialization. Availability

of water for agriculture is declining and labor is moving to industry.

To meet the challenge of producing more rice under these

constraints, we need new technologies. These include rice varieties with

higher yield potential, greater yield stability and adapted to changing

global climate, as well as more efficient management practices. We need

rice varieties with more durable resistance to diseases and insects and

tolerance of abiotic stresses such as drought, submergence, and salinity

(Gurdev, 2005).

It is seen that productivity level of rice crop is low. In order to

increase the crop yield, the level of adoption of improved farm practices

ought to be increased. Knowledge of recommended technologies is a

prerequisite to adoption process. Knowledge of the innovation is the

basic requirement as it gives impetus to adopt technology (Anon,. 1998).

The adoption of any new knowledge, formulation of favorable attitude

and investment of resource of an individual is the prime attention for

increasing crop production. Adoption by the farmers is the ultimate test

of research and technology in agriculture development and should be the

ultimate goal as well.

Statement of the problem

Rice has been grown in Africa for some 3,500 years ago but was

only introduced to Rwanda in the 1950's. Rice is the staple diet for more

than half of the world's population, and offers numerous advantages to

the Rwandan people over the existing staple foods which currently

include bananas, sorghum, cassava and maize. Rwanda produces low

land irrigated rice (99.9%). Rice crop in Rwanda is grown in developed

flood valleys or in the marshland. The elevation of the rice

cultivation area in Rwanda varies between 900m and 1400m of altitude.

The favorable temperature varies between 19 and 29 degree Celsius. The

country has a suitable climate for rice production, capable of growing two

crops a year in a single field. Topography and water availability limit the

areas suited for rice growing to the valley floors of numerous specific

river systems. Production of rice has been given high priority by

Government of Rwanda, especially in the valley bottom marshlands and

Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources has identified 66,000

hectares suitable for rice production.

Since the 1980s, Rwanda is suffering from a structurally food

deficit situation, resulting mainly from poor management of natural

resources, overexploitation of land without restitution of nutrients

removed by crops or leached by erosion, and from subsistence farming

strategies characterised by lack of professionalism. This has resulted in

low levels of production and, as a consequence, domestic production has

not been able to meet food needs of the population resorting to

commercial imports and food aid which is unacceptable and should be

avoided.

To reverse the trend, the country has embarked on a strategy of

intensification, with emphasis on a strategic food crops such as rice,

maize, beans, Irish potato and wheat. The inclusion of rice among the

selected strategic food crops is justified mostly by the following reasons:

• Rice crop gives a good option to combat the problem of food insecurity

because it has high yield. It gives about 7 tons /ha of paddy, which

no other food crop can make in flood prone valleys.

• The rice crop allows the exploitation of flood prone valley bottoms,

contrary to most of the other food crops. This reduces pressure on

the hill side land, making it possible to grow other food crops, thereby

allowing optimal utilisation of land.

• Rice production is a factor of monetization of the rural economy as

almost the total production is easily commercialised, generating

income for producers and other stakeholders.

• The by-products of the rice crop are utilised in the preparation of

animal feeds, therefore also supporting the development of the

livestock sector, which holds a key position in the support of the

livelihood of the population especially by the protein supplement as

well as household income.

This shows that Rwanda has great potential in rice production. It

is established that Rwanda can, with good application of fertiliser, good

agronomic practices and appropriate seeds, attain an average yield of 7

tons per hectare. But the poor organization of producers and inadequate

crop extension programs with respect to input supply, plant protection

measures, field’s management as well as maintenance of the various

infrastructures for production, handling, processing and marketing lead

till now to low rice productivity

For these reasons, there is a need to conduct a research in this

field to know the level of knowledge and adoption of rice cultivation

practices by concerned farmers in order to achieve the overall objective of

the rice program of ensuring national food security, facilitating economic

growth and contributing to the fight against poverty. With this

background, the study is taken up to identify and know the level of

knowledge and adoption of recommended rice cultivation practices

among the farmers of Southern Province of Rwanda and to find out the

relationship between knowledge and adoption levels and their personal,

socio-economic and psychological characteristics. The specific objectives

of the study are:

1. To study the knowledge level of farmers about rice cultivation

practices,

2. To analyze the adoption of improved rice cultivation practices

among the farmers,

3. To find out the relationship between personal, socio-economic

characteristics of farmers and their knowledge and adoption

behavior and

4. To document the problems in the adoption of improved rice

cultivation practices.

Scope of the study

This study is expected to throw a light on the level of knowledge on

rice cultivation practices and their adoption. This study aims at finding

out various personal, socio economic and psychological characteristics of

rice growers influencing their knowledge and adoption level. The

knowledge of such information throws a light on the extension gap

among the extension personnel in the rice cultivation practices and it will

help in developing suitable extension strategies for improving the

knowledge and adoption of rice cultivation practices among the farmers.

Besides the inability and problems faced/perceived by the farmers to

adopt rice cultivation practices, the study would draw attention of the

policy makers of the farming community.

The study also delineated the characteristics of different levels of

farmers which would influence the adoption of rice cultivation practices.

This would help the extension workers to concentrate on such farmers

who had the set of characteristics to pursue the technologies.

Limitations of the study

This is a student’s research work, with a limitation of time,

financial resources and physical facilities available for the student

researcher. The study was restricted only to selected districts of

Southern Province of Rwanda. Therefore, in spite of certain practical

limitations, every effort was made by the student researcher to keep the

study objective by deliberately following all the norms of scientific

research with a structured interview schedule, pre– testing and objective

measurement.

II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A review of the existing literature relevant to the study helps the

researchers to design the theoretical frame of the study and also to

assess the nature and quantum of studies already undertaken in that

particular area of research. In the light of the objectives of the study, the

relevant literature is reviewed and presented under the following

headings.

2.1 Personal, socio-economic and psychological characteristics of

farmers

2.2 Knowledge level of farmers regarding improved cultivation practices

of different field crops

2.3 Adoption level of farmers regarding improved cultivation practices of

different field crops

2.4 Relationship between personal, socio-economic and psychological

characteristics of farmers and their knowledge level of improved


2.5 Relationship between personal, socio-economic and psychological

characteristics of farmers and their adoption level of improved

cultivation practices

2.6 Constraints faced by farmers in the adoption of rice production

practices.


farmers

2.1.1 Age

Karpagam (2000) conducted a study in Erode district of Tamil

Nadu state and indicated that, majority (65%) of the turmeric growers

belonged to middle age group.

Babanna (2001) conducted a study on arecanut growers in

Shimoga district and stated that 38.40 per cent of growers belonged to

old age, 35 per cent were middle aged and 26.66 per cent of the growers

were young.

Sunilkumar (2004) indicated that majority (53.30%) of the tomato

growers belonged to middle age group.

Gangadhara (2006) found that 40.60 per cent of demonstrator

farmers in aerobic rice cultivation belonged to middle aged, 37.50 to

young aged and 21.90 per cent belonged to old aged group.

Rizwana (2006) in her study on rice production technology in

Raipur district of Chhattisgarh State said that majority (50%) of the

female respondents belonged to middle age group and equal number of

respondents (25%) belonged to young and old age group whereas

majority of male respondents (72.5%) belonged to middle age group.

Mahatab (2010) reported that majority of aerobic rice growers

(62.22%) were middle aged, 22.22 per cent were old aged and only 15.56

per cent were young aged.

2.1.2 Education

Vijaykumar (1997) in his study on rose growers in Bangalore

district revealed that, 22 per cent of the rose growers were illiterate.

Majority of them studied up to high school (42%) followed by middle

school (20%), pre-university college (11%), primary school (4%) and

graduation (1%).

Shashidhara (2003) in his study on drip irrigation in Shimoga and

Davanagere districts noticed that 31.11 per cent were studied up to high

school, 20.00 per cent had the graduation and 24.44 per cent educated

up to pre-university, whereas middle and primary school education was

possessed by 8.89 and 5.56 per cent.

Gangadhara (2006) found that 47.70 percent of demonstrator

farmers were educated up to high school, 28.10 per cent up to college,

18.75 per cent up to middle school, 6.25 per cent up to primary school

and 4.20 per cent were illiterate.


Raipur district of Chhattisgarh State said that majority (72.55%) of the

female respondents had education up to primary level and equal number

of male respondents (45%) were educated up to primary , middle and

high school levels whereas only 10 per cent were educated up to college

level and above.

Mahatab (2010) reported that majority (47.78%) of the aerobic rice

growers belonged to medium education category followed by 41.11 per

cent belonging to low education category whereas 11.11 percent belonged

to high category of education.

2.1.3 Family size

Nataraju and Nagaraja (1990) found that majority (65%) of youth

belonged to medium size family.

Vinayaka Reddy (1991) in his study conducted in Chitradurga

district of Karnataka reported that 47 per cent of registered cotton seed

growers had medium size family.

Ghargi (1994) conducted her study in Darwad district of Karnataka

and reported that half of the total respondents (53.4%) had medium

family size.

Thombre and Chole (1995) in their study conducted in Latur

district of Maharashtra reported that it was the joint family that

prevailed with 50 per cent of families having big family size.

Shailaja et al. (1997) reported that 46.79 per cent of selected

families had small family size up to 5 members and 53.21 per cent of

respondents had large family size with more than 5 members.

Puthiraprathap et al. (1999) reported that majority of the

respondents had a family size of less tha 5 members.

Shankuntala and Chaman (2000) in their study conducted in

Bangalore rural district of Karnataka state revealed that 25 per cent of

the families had less than 5 members and 65.2 per cent of them had 3 to

7 members in their families.

Hiremath (2000) in the study conducted in Darwad district of

Karnataka state reported that among nuclear families, more than 70 per

cent had family size of 5-8 members and more 75 per cent of joint

families had family size of more than 8 members because of 2 or more

couples living in joint families and 65.2 per cent of them had 3 to 7

members in their families.

Prasad (2002) reported that 48 per cent of the respondents had 5-8

members in their families and 26.67 per cent had family size of more

than 8 members.

Mahatab (2010) found that 38.89 per cent of the aerobic rice

growers belonged to large family size followed by 36.67 per cent

belonging to medium family size whereas 24.44 percent were in the low

category of family size.

2.1.4 Occupation

Shinde (1991) in his study concluded that ‘farming’ was the major

occupation for 48.53 per cent of the local leader, while 40.44 per cent of

them had ‘service’ as major occupation and 8.09 per cent had ‘business’

as their major occupation. Only 2.p4 per cent leaders had ‘independent

profession’.

Singh et al. (1995) found that 79.31 per cent of Gram Panchayat

members were engaged in agriculture and 20.69 per cent of them were

engaged in other occupations.

Kalakanavar (1999) indicated that majority (50.00%) of the

respondents did agriculture as their primary occupation. Agricultural

labourers were 35.00 per cent while service and business were 12.00 and

13.00 per cent, respectively.

Shantha Sheela (2002) revealed that 56.16 per cent of respondents

helped their husbands in the agricultural activities.

2.1.5 Size of land holding

Kumar (1998) revealed that 47 per cent of the banana growers had

low farm size followed by medium (27%) and high (27%) farm size.

Natikar (2001) in his study reported that majority of subscriber

farmers (63.00%) belonged to big farmers’ category with land holding of

more than 25 standard acres.


farmers had a land holding of 2.5 to 5.0 acres followed by 40.63 per cent

who had more than 5.0 acres and only12.50 per cent had up to 2.5 acres

of land holding.

Mahatab (2010) reported that more than half (68.89%) of the

aerobic rice growers had big land holding followed by 16.67 per cent

having medium sized land holding and 14.44 percent with lower sized

land holding.

2.1.6 Farming experience


Raipur district of Chhattisgarh State said that majority (77.5%) of the

farm women possessed low to medium farming experience and 40 per

cent of men were having medium farm experience.

2.1.7 Annual income

Shashidhara (2004) conducted a study on drip irrigation farmers

in Bijapur district of Karnataka reported that, 49.17 per cent of the

farmers belonged to medium income category followed by low (26.67%)

and high (24.16%) income category, respectively.

Sunilkumar (2004) indicated that majority of the farmers belonged

to medium income category (48.33), followed by 32.50 per cent and 19.16

per cent were under low and high income category, respectively.

Mahatab (2010) found that majority (60.00%) of the aerobic rice

growers belonged to medium range of annual income followed by 33.33

per cent belonging to the high income category and 6.67 percent with low

annual income.

2.1.8 Social participation

Srinivasreddy (1995) found that 57 per cent of mango growers had

medium level of social participation followed by low (33.00%) levels and

high (10.00%) level of social participation.

Gangadhara (2006) found that 50 percent of demonstrator farmers

had medium social participation followed by 42.7 per cent who had high

social participation and the remaining 7.30 per cent had low social

participation.


Raipur district of Chhattisgarh State found that majority (90%) of the

farm women had low social participation whereas amongst men, 45 per

cent, 35 per cent and 20 per cent had low, medium and high social

participation, respectively.

Mahatab (2010) found that more than half (54.44%) of the aerobic

rice growers belonged to medium social participation category followed by

26.56 per cent and 20.00 per cent having low and high social

participation respectively.

2.1.9 Mass media exposure

Patil (1995) noticed that 47.5, 20.00 and 18.75 per cent of

commercial growers of sunflower were daily users of radio, television and

newspapers, respectively. On the contrary, 43.75, 25.00 and 23.75 per

cent of seed producers were regularly using radio, newspapers and

television, respectively.

Ramanna et al. (2000) revealed that 48 per cent of hybrid

sunflower growers had medium level of mass media exposure, while

12.00 and 40.00 per cent of respondents had low and high level of mass

media exposure.

Vedamurthy (2002) in his study on arecanut growers of Shimoga

district observed that, relatively more number of growers (48.00%) were

medium mass media users, while 37.00 per cent were high mass media

users and 15.00 per cent were of low mass media users.


Raipur district of Chhattisgarh State found that majority (92.5%) of the

farm women had low mass media exposure and 45 per cent of the male

farmers also belonged to this category.

Mahatab (2010) found that more than one third (40.00%) of the

aerobic rice growers had high level of mass media exposure, 37.78 per

cent were in medium category and 22.22 per cent had low level of mass

media exposure.

2.1.10 Extension contact

Ramanna et al. (2000) revealed that, 70 per cent of the

respondents had medium level extension agency contact and 30 per cent

of the respondents had high level extension contact.

Sriram and Palaniswamy (2000) in their study found that majority

of the respondents (84.35%) had medium level of extension agency

contact, followed by 5.45 per cent and 10.20 per cent of the respondents

who had low and high level of extension agency contact, respectively.


farmers had medium level of extension contact, whereas 30.20 per cent

had high level and only 7.30 per cent had low level extension contact.

Mahatab (2010) found that half (50.00%) of the aerobic rice

growers had medium extension contact whereas 41.11 per cent and 8.89

per cent had low and high extension contact respectively.

2.1.11 Innovativeness

Balasubramani (1997) studied on rubber growers in Dakshina

Kannada district of Karnataka State reported that, 37.00 per cent were

found to be in medium innovativeness category followed by 35.00 per

cent and 28.00 per cent in high and low innovativeness category,

respectively.

Shashidhara (2003) in his study on socio-economic profile of drip

irrigation farmers in Shimoga and Davanagere district found out that,

majority of the farmers belonged to medium innovativeness category

(47.50%) followed by low (31.66%) and high (20.83%) innovativeness

category respectively.


farmers had high innovativeness, 36.45 per cent and 2.10 per cent

belonged to medium and low innovative proneness categories,

respectively.

Mahatab (2010) found that 46.67 per cent of the aerobic rice

growers belonged to medium level of innovativeness followed by 41.11

per cent and 22.22 per cent with low and high level of innovativeness,

respectively.

2.1.12 Cosmopoliteness

Chandregowda (1997) reported that many of the chrysanthemum

growers (60%) had medium cosmopoliteness followed by low (23%) and

high (17%) cosmopoliteness.


Raipur district of Chhattisgarh State found that majority (70%) of the

farm women had low cosmopoliteness whereas in case of men 65 per

cent had medium cosmopoliteness.

Mahatab (2010) found that majority (70.00%) of the aerobic rice

growers had high level of cosmopoliteness, 23.33 per cent had mediium

level of cosmopoliteness whereas 6.67 per cent had low level of

cosmopoliteness.

2.2 Knowledge level of farmers regarding improved cultivation

practice of different field crops

Sithalaxmi(1975) revealed that even though women supervise all

farm activities, their knowledge in scientific methods of crop cultivation

and profitable utilization of the produce was very much limited.

Vijayaraghavan and Somasundram (1979) revealed a low level of

knowledge among marginal farmers with respect to high yielding varieties

of paddy.

Kantharaj (1980) found that majority of farmers had possessed

medium level of knowledge with respect to season (sowing time), seed

rate, spacing, pests and diseases and utilization of plant protection

chemicals and only 16 per cent of farmers had low knowledge with

respect to suitability of soils, manures and mineral fertilizer application.

Manjunath (1980) in his comparative study on farmers’ training

reported that trained farmers had higher knowledge score in contrast to

untrained farmers with regard to cultivation practices.

Basavaraja (1987) found that majority of farmers had medium

knowledge about simple low cost practices like seed rate, spacing and

sowing time; he also found that only a few number of farmers had the

knowledge on complex and costly practices like use of chemical fertilizer,

seed treatment and plant protection chemicals.

Sharma and Sharma (1988) reported that majority of the contact

farmers (70%) possessed low to medium level of knowledge of

recommended wheat production practices and 30 per cent were found to

have high level of knowledge.

Mehta et al. (1989) found that only 26 per cent of farmers knew

two improved varieties of rice, 22 per cent knew the main purpose behind

seed treatment, 85 per cent knew the recommended method of planting

the seedlings. A very less number of farmers had knowledge about

herbicide application in rice nursery, names of two nitrogenous

fertilizers, names of two important diseases of rice and two main control

measures for blast disease of rice.

Dube and Sawarkar (1992) observed that about 50 per cent of

small and marginal farmers had partial knowledge about rice production

practices. And, knowledge level of small and marginal farmers was found

to be significantly associated with their adoption level.

Balasubramanian and Knight (1997) reported that 49 per cent of

farmers had inadequate and incorrect knowledge about fertilizer dose for

paddy.

Bordoloi (1997) indicated that the highest percentage of the

respondents (55.33%) had a low level of knowledge regarding improved

sali rice production technology.

Barman and Pathak (2000) in their study found that the majority

of the farmers had not adequate knowledge on production

recommendations and that more than half of complex practices like seed

treatment, disease and insect pest management were much higher side.

Kubde et al. (2000) conducted a study in Pune district of

Maharashtra and reported that, a large majority of the potato growers

had complete knowledge about recommended varieties, time of sowing

(95.50 %), soil type required for cultivation of potato (79.00 %), seed rate

(67.50 %), name of pests and their control measures (54.00 %).

Vinod Gupta et al. (2001) conducted a study in Jammu and data

pertaining to overall knowledge of farmers about improved cultivation

practices of rice, indicated that 62.00 per cent of the respondents had

medium level of knowledge, followed by 20.67 per cent and 17.33 per

cent had high and low level of knowledge, respectively.

Ramachandra (2002) reported that, thirty seven per cent of farmers

had high level of knowledge on nutrient management practices.

Therefore, it is not a matter of satisfaction because there are still 63 per

cent of the farmers in medium and low level of knowledge.

Shinde (2002) conducted a study in Trichirapalli district of Tamil

Nadu pertaining to overall knowledge of farmers about improved

cultivation practices of groundnut indicated that 65.65 per cent of

respondents had medium level of knowledge. About one seventh (17.22%)

each of groundnut growers were having low and high knowledge level.

Ramesh and Santha Govind (2003) showed that majority (60.00%)

of the respondents belonged to high knowledge category, followed by

medium (35.00%) and low (5.00%) knowledge level categories.

Rizwana (2006) found that majority of female farmers had correct

knowledge about the seed treatment(95%), age of seedlings and spacing

of crops in main field (80%), seed rate (87.50%), time of sowing (85%) and

harvesting (80%) of paddy crop.

Kishor Babu et al. (2007) under taken the study in Ranga Reddy

district of Andhra Pradesh and revealed that, 70.00 per cent of the small

farmers had medium knowledge and 30.00 per cent had high knowledge.

Among the medium category of farmers, 60.00 per cent had medium

knowledge and 40.00 per cent high knowledge. Among the big farmers

73.33 per cent had high knowledge and 26.27 per cent had medium

knowledge.

Pottapa (2008) found that majority of potato growers (65%) were

under medium overall knowledge category, whereas 21.67 and 13.34 per

cent of them belonged to low and high overall knowledge category,

respectively.

Sathasivam et al., (2009) carried out research in Bhuvanagiri block

of Cuddalore district; the results showed that majority of respondent

(43.34%) were found to have medium level of knowledge about bio-

fertilizers followed by low (33.33 %) and high (23.33%) level of knowledge.

Mahatab (2010) reported that knowledge of majority of aerobic rice

growers about recommended practices of aerobic rice cultivation, was

medium followed by low and high levels. Majority of farmers (53.33%)

were under medium overall knowledge category, whereas 14.44 and

32.22 per cent of them belonged to low and high overall knowledge

category, respectively.

2.3 Adoption level of farmers regarding improved cultivation

practices of different field crops

Channe Gowda (1971) revealed that majority of paddy farmers

adopted improved variety, organic manure, recommended seed rate

whereas method of transplanting, fertilizer application and plant

protection measures were found to be low adopted.

Ramachandran (1974) identified that majority of big farmers

adopted recommended varieties, seed rate; as compared to small

farmers. They have also adopted recommended level of fertilizers and

plant protection measures as compared to small farmers.

Veeraswamy and Tej Bahadur (1979) found that 74 per cent of the

small farmers were medium adopters of rice technology followed by 16

per cent of farmers under high and low adoption categories respectively.

Appa Rao and Singh (1981) revealed that with respect to adoption

status, it was found that the key communicators were better than non-

key communicators in adopting the high yielding varieties of rice.

Himantharaju (1984) in his study on adoption level of selected

practices of summer paddy found that a large majority of farmers were

following the selected practices like improved variety, seed treatment,

age of seedlings, time of transplanting and irrigation schedule, depth of

transplanting, use of plant protection measures and weed control.

Besides, practices like seed rate, area of nursery, number of seedling per

hill, spacing, use of recommended dose of fertilizer (NPK) and split dose

of nitrogen were found low adopted.

Dwarakanath (1987) reported that in paddy and cabbage

cultivation, only 21 per cent and 40 per cent of farmers had adopted seed

treatment, respectively. Majority of them adopted recommended spacing

in paddy cultivation.

Nagaraja and Sreenivasmurthy (1987) studied the pattern of

application of fertilizers to paddy in three types of villages viz 1) village

which had irrigation infrastructure for over 50 years, 2) villages which

were then developing light irrigation and 3) villages depending upon

rainfall. The data revealed that fertilizer use was most common in canal

irrigation area and percentage of farmers using fertilizer reduced in

villages where irrigation was from other sources and it was much less in

rain fed areas.

Jayaragavendra Rao (1988) found that majority of the irrigated

paddy and dry land ragi growing farmers had not adopted all the

recommended low cost and no cost technologies. In irrigated paddy

cultivation, under the low cost technologies, majority of the farmers had

not followed the salt water treatment, correct method of fertilizer

application, line planting of paddy, chemical weed control, correct

method of top dressing of fertilizers and gap filling.

Rajendra Prasad (1989) found that 80 per cent of the farmers were

using seeds up to fourth generation, while 20 per cent were still using

seeds beyond fourth generation. An average of 27 kg/ acre was adopted

as seed rate. Only 8 per cent had used treated paddy seeds, whereas 92

per cent of the farmers used untreated seeds for sowing.

Jaiswal and Sharma (1990) reported that with regard to adoption

of fertilizers, 72 per cent of the farmers were using nitrogen, 49 per cent

were using phosphorus and only 18 per cent used potash, although the

farmers were convinced regarding balanced use of fertilizers.

Rajendra Prasad et al. (1991) revealed that hardly 23 per cent of

paddy farmers used recommended varieties and more than 90 per cent of

the farmers did not treat seeds before sowing.

Sawant and Nirban (1992) in their study found that majority (76%)

of the farmers were non-adopters and only 23 per cent of farmers

adopted gall midge varieties of paddy.

Gopi Krishna (1993) while studying the yield gap and adoption of

improved practices of paddy under different irrigation systems observed

that 80 per cent of farmers had adopted improved varieties under canal

irrigation system in contrast to cent per cent of farmers adopting

improved varieties under tank and well irrigation system.

Chandra Naik (1993) reported that beneficiaries of integrated

programme for rice development had fully adopted simple practices as

well as complex and costly practices, in contrast to the non-beneficiaries

who mostly adopted the simple and non-cash practices. The practices

involving monetary investment, risk in adoption of complex practices led

to partial adoption or non-adoption by the non-beneficiaries.

Ravishankar (1995) observed that majority of the potato growers

had medium (43%) adoption level, followed by high (30%) and low (27%)

levels.

Kushwaha and Pande (1998) revealed that the potato growers had

low adoption behavior: 63.34 per cent. While 23.23 per cent of farmers

had medium adoption behavior, 13.33 per cent of farmers had high

adoption category.

Kubde et al. (2000) in their study conducted in Pune district of

Maharashtra reported that majority of the potato growers had partially

adopted recommended spacing (97.00 %), followed by application of plant

protection measures (82.00 %), manures (64.00 %) and fertilizers

(55.50 %).

Ramachandra (2002) conducted a study in Kolar district of

Karnataka revealed that adoption behaviour of farmers with respect to

nutrient management practices in cabbage-potato cropping system was

respectively low, medium and high at an extent of 40 per cent, 26.60 per

cent and 33.30 per cent.

Bhagwat and Gohad (2003) found that the majority of respondents

(53.33%) were medium adopters, whereas 26 and 20.66 per cent were

found to be in low and high adopters respectively.

Bhagwan Singh (2004) in his studied on the arid zone of Rajasthan

revealed that 33.33 per cent farmers were in low adoption category.

While, 33.34 per cent of farmers were in medium adoption category,

other 66.66 per cent of farmers were in high adoption category.

Rizwana (2006) reported that all the paddy farmers (100%) of IVLP

villages (exposed villages) adopted completely certain practices like

improved variety, time of sowing/ raising nursery, age of seedlings, and

dose of fertilizers. But farmers adopted completely the seed rate and

number of seedlings per hill were 97.50 per cent and 93.75 per cent,

respectively.

Pottapa (2008) showed that majority (60%) of the respondents

belonged to medium adoption category, whereas 23.34 and 16.67 per

cent of the respondents belonged to low and high adoption categories,

respectively.

Varadaraju et al. (2009) conducted a study in Chintamani taluk of

Chikkaballapura district of Karnataka state. The result revealed that 40

per cent of the tomato growers had low level of adoption, whereas 35 per

cent and 25 per cent of tomato growers had medium and high level of

adoption of improved cultivation practices

Vishvanath Hiremath et al. (2009) conducted a study in Kolar

district of Karnataka, revealed that half (50%) of the respondents were

under medium adopter category while 29.2 per cent of the farmers were

under high adopter category and only 20.8 per cent of them were under

low adopter category.

Mahatab (2010) found that majority of farmers (56.67%) belonged

to medium adoption category, whereas 22.22 and 21.11 per cent of the

farmers belonged to low and high adoption categories, respectively.

The review of literature cited on the adoption level of farmers

shows that majority of the farmers adopted mostly the simple practices

like improved varieties, age of transplanting or sowing, etc. whereas ,

practices like seed treatment, use of recommended dose of fertilizers(N P

K) and split dose of nitrogen and other complex practices were found to

be low adopted.

Hence, it would be interesting to know whether the findings of the

study being conducted are in line or in contradiction with the findings of

the different researches cited in this literature review.

2.4 Relationship between personal, socio-economic and

psychological characteristics of farmers and their knowledge

level of improved cultivation practices

2.4.1 Age and knowlege

Sunderraj (1978) reported that there was an association between

age and knowledge among tomato growers.

Sudheendra (1986) cited that there was no association between age

and knowledge of farmers about sunflower cultivation.

Kalasriya et al. (1997) observed that there was a relationship

between the age and knowledge level of Hybrid-6 cotton growers.

Ramesh and Santha Govind (2003) found that age was found to be

significant in its relationship with the knowledge level of the

respondents.

Sunilkumar (2004) reported that there was no relationship

between age group of tomato growers and their knowledge level.

Rizwana (2006) in her study on rice production technology found

that there was association between age and knowledge of male

respondents at 0.01 level of significance.

Tarde et al. (2006) conducted a study in Solapur district of

Maharashtra and data revealed that age of respondents in pomegranate

cultivation did not have any significant association with their level of

knowledge.

Pottappa (2008) observed in potato growers that age of farmers was

significantly related to their knowledge level at 5 per cent level of

significance.

Pankaja et al. (2009) found that age of vanilla growers was

significantly related to their knowledge level.

2.4.2 Education and knowledge

Geetha Kutty (1982) found a positive and significant relationship

between education and knowledge level of rice growing farmers.

Chauhan et al. (1994) observed that education was associated with

the knowledge level of the farmers about pigeon pea technology.

Patel et al. (1994) found no relationship between education and

knowledge level of the sugarcane growers.

Lakshmi et al. (1998) found no relationship between education and

knowledge level of farm women in turmeric cultivation.

Gupta et al. (2001) revealed that education had a relationship with

knowledge level of the rice farmers.

Ramesh and Santha Govind (2003) found that education was

found to be significant in its relationship with the knowledge level of the

respondents.

Rizwana (2006) in her study found that there was an association

between education and knowledge level of female respondents at 0.05

level of significance.


Maharashtra and data revealed that regarding pomegranate cultivation of

farmers, their educastion had highly significant relationship with their

level of knowledge.

Pottappa (2008) observed in potato growers that education of

farmers was significantly related to their knowledge level at 5 per cent


2.4.3 Family size and knowledge

Ramesh and Santha Govind (2003) found that family size of

farmers was significant in its relationship with the knowledge level of the

respondents.

Pottappa (2008) observed in potato growers that family size of

farmers was not related to their knowledge level.

Pankaja et al. (2009) found that family dependent ratio of vanilla

growers were significantly related to their knowledge level.

2.4.4 Occupation and knowledge

Ramesh and Santha Govind (2003) found that occupation of

respondents was found to be significant in its relationship with their

knowledge level.

2.4.5 Land holding and knowledge

Singh and Singh (1970) reported that land holding of farmers was

not associated with the level of their knowledge on sugarcane cultivation.

Pandya and Vekaria (1994) found that land holding had

association with knowledge of banana growers.

Patel et al. (1994) revealed that there was an association between

land holding and knowledge level of sugarcane growers.

Gupta et al. (2001) revealed that size of land holding had a

relationship with knowledge level of the rice farmers.


between size of land holding and knowledge level of male respondents at

0.05 level of significance.

Pottappa (2008) observed in potato growers that land holding was

significantly related to their knowledge level at 5 per cent level of

significance.

Pankaja et al. (2009) found that land holding of vanilla growers

was not significantly related to the knowledge level.

2.4.6 Farming experience and knowledge.

Lakshmi et al. (1998) found a positive relationship between farming

experience and knowledge of farm women in turmeric cultivation.

Ramesh and Santha Govind (2003) found that farming experience

was significantly related to the knowledge level of the respondents.

Pankaja et al. (2009) found that farming experience of vanilla

growers was not significantly related to the knowledge level.

2.4.7 Annual income and knowledge

Ramesh and Santha Govind (2003) found that annual income,

farming experience was found to be significantly related to the knowledge

level of the respondents.

Shashidhara (2003) found that there was no relationship between

annual income and knowledge level of farmers.


that there was an association between annual income and knowledge

level of male respondents at 5 per cent level of significance.

Pottappa (2008) observed in potato growers annual income of

farmers was not related to their knowledge level.

Pankaja et al. (2009) found annual income of vanilla growers was

not significantly related to the knowledge level.

2.4.8 Social participation and knowledge

Kantharaj (1980) observed that social participation was associated

with the knowledge level of sunflower growers.

Chandra Naik (1993) observed that there was a positive

relationship between the social participation and knowledge level of rice

growers.

Ramesh and Santha Govind (2003) found that social participation

was found to be significant with the knowledge level of the respondents.


that there was an association between social participation and knowledge

level of male respondents at 1 per cent level of significance.


Maharashtra and data revealed that regarding pomegranate cultivation,

social participation of farmers did not have any significant association

with their level of knowledge.

Pottappa (2008) observed in potato growers that social

participation of farmers was not related to their knowledge level.

Pankaja et al. (2009) found that social participation of vanilla

growers was significantly related to their knowledge level.

2.4.9 Mass media use and knowledge

Singh and Singh (1970) reported that there was a positive

relationship between newspaper reading behavior of farmers and their

gain in knowledge.

Lakshmi et al. (1998) found a positive relationship between mass

media exposure and knowledge level of farm women in turmeric

cultivation.

Ramesh and Santha Govind (2003) found that mass media use of

respondents was found to be in significant relationship with their

knowledge level.


that there was an association between mass media exposure and

knowledge level of male respondents at 0.05 level of significance.

Pottappa (2008) observed that the potato growers and their mass

media participation was significantly related to their knowledge level at 5

per cent level of significance.

2.4.10 Extension contact and knowledge

Ramesh and Santha Govind (2003) found that extension contact of

respondents was found to be significant with their knowledge level.

2.4.11 Innovativeness and knowledge

Pottappa (2008) observed that the potato growers and their

innovativeness was not related to their knowledge level.

Pankaja et al. (2009) found that innovation proneness of vanilla

growers was significantly related to their knowledge level.

2.4.12 Cosmopoliteness and knowledge

Vijayaraghavan and Somasundram (1979) revealed that there was

a significant and positive relationship between cosmopoliteness and

knowledge level of marginal farmers.

Patel et al. (1994) found a relationship between cosmopoliteness

and knowledge of sugarcane growers.


between cosmopoliteness and knowledge level of male respondents at

0.05 level of significance.

Pankaja et al. (2009) found that cosmopoliteness of vanilla growers

was not significantly related to the knowledge level.

Tarde et al. (2006) revealed that regarding pomegranate cultivation,

cosmopoliteness of farmers had highly significant relationship with their

level of knowledge.

2.5 Relationship between personal, socio-economic and

psychological characteristics of farmers and their adoption level

of improved cultivation practices

2.5.1 Age and adoption

Sawant and Patil (1997) observed that age had no relationship with

the adoption level of improved rice cultivation practices.

Saxena and Singh (2000) found that age has positive relationship

with the adoption level of organic farming practices.

Ankulwar et al.(2001) carried out a study in Latur district of

Marathwada region of Maharashtra state and indicated that age had

established negative relationship with adoption.

Bhagwat and Gohad (2003) indicated that age was not positively

significant with adoption of dry land cotton cultivation technologies.

Gurprit Singh and Kuldip Kumar (2004) found that age had

significant and positive correlation with the level of adoption.

Pottappa (2008) found that age of potato farmers was not

significantly related to their adoption level.

Varadaraju et al. (2009) found that age had no significant

relationship with the adoption level of improved tomato cultivation

practices.

2.5.2 Education and adoption

Meti and Hanchinal (1994) found no relationship between

education and adoption level of sunflower growers.

Jaiswal and Sharma (1990) found that education and adoption of

high yielding varieties of rice cultivation practices, chemical fertilizer and

insecticide application by farmers were positively related.

Ankulwar et al.(2001) carried out a study in Latur district of

Marathwada region of Maharashtra state and indicated that education

was found to be positively and significantly related with adoption of the

recommended package of practices of sunflower growers.

Bhagwat and Gohad (2003) indicated that education was positively



that there was an association between education and adoption of

respondents in IVLP villages at 0.01 level of significance.

Pottappa (2008) revealed that education of potato farmers was

significantly related to their extent of adoption level at 0.05 level of

significance.

Ramesh and Santha Govind (2008) observed from their study that

educational status showed positive and significant relationship with the

extent of adoption of organic farming practices.

2.5.3 Family size and adoption

Varadaraju et al. (2009) indicated that family size had no

significant relationship with the adoption level of improved tomato


2.5.4 Occupation

Ramesh and Santha Govind (2003) found that occupation of

respondents was found to be significantly related to their adoption level.

2.5.5 Size of land holding and adoption

Channe Gowda (1971) reported that there was no association

between the level of adoption of recommended practices by farmers and

size of their land holding.

Pandya and Vekaria (1994) found that land holding was associated

with adoption level of banana growers.

Sarkar and Bandopadhayay (1996) found a relationship between

land holding and adoption of scientific farm innovations by farmers in

red and lateritic zone of West Bengal.

Saxena and Singh (2000) reported that land holding had positive

relationship with the adoption of organic farming practices.

Ankulwar et al. (2001) indicated that land holding was found to be

positively and significantly related with adoption of the recommended

package of practices of sunflower growers.

Bhagwat and Gohad (2003) found that land holding was positively



between land holding and adoption of respondents in IVLP villages at 1

per cent level of significance.

Pottappa (2008) revealed that land holding of potato farmers was

significantly related to their adoption at 0.01 level of significance.


farm size showed positive and significant relationship with the extent of

adoption of organic farming practices.

Varadaraju et al. (2009) found that farm size had non-significant

relationship with the adoption level of improved tomato cultivation

practices.

2.5.6 Farming experience and adoption


farming experience and adoption of scientific farm innovations by

farmers in red and lateritic zone of West Bengal.

Deshmukh et al. (1997) revealed no relationship between farming

experience and adoption of summer ground nut production technology

by growers.

Bhagwat and Gohad (2003) found that farming experience was

positively significant with adoption of dry land cotton cultivation

technologies.

2.5.7 Annual income and adoption

Patel et al. (1994) indicated an association between annual income

and adoption level of sugarcane growers.


annual income and adoption of scientific farm innovations by farmers in

red and lateritic zone of West Bengal.

Farooquee et al. (1997) reported a relationship between annual

income and adoption of dry farming practices.

Ankulwar et al. (2001) carried out a study in Latur district of

Marathwada region of Maharashtra state and indicated that annual

income was found to be positively and significantly related with adoption

of the recommended package of practices of sunflower growers.


between annual income and adoption level of respondents in IVLP

villages at 1 per cent level of significance.

Pottappa (2008) found that family income of potato farmers was

not significantly related to their adoption level.


annual income showed positive and significant relationship with the

extent of adoption of organic farming practices.

2.5.8 Social participation and adoption

Desai (1975) found that there was a positive relationship between

farmers’ social participation and their adoption behavior.

Ansari (1979) indicated a negative relationship of social

participation with the adoption behavior of cotton growers.

Pamadi (1980) reported a negative relationship of social

participation and the adoption behavior of ground nut growers.

Thimmappa (1981) found a positive relationship between farmers’

social participation and their adoption behavior with respect to coconut

cultivation.

Pandya and Vekaria (1994) found that social participation was

associated with adoption level of banana growers.

Ankulwar et al. (2001) indicated that social participation was found

to be positively and significantly related with adoption of the

recommended package of practices of sunflower growers.

Bhagwat and Gohad (2003) reported that social participation was


technologies.


that there was an association between social participation and adoption

level of respondents in IVLP villages at 1 per cent level of significance.

Pottappa (2008) found that social participation of potato farmers

was not significantly related to their adoption level.

Ramesh and Santha Govind (2008) observed that social

participation showed positive and significant relationship with the extent

of adoption of organic farming practices.

Varadaraju et al. (2009) found that social participation had no

significant relationship with the adoption level of improved tomato


2.5.9 Mass media exposure and adoption

Kittur (1976) found a positive relationship between mass media

use and adoption behavior of marginal farmers.

Jayaragavendra Rao (1988) found a positive relationship between

mass media use of farmers with the adoption in case of ragi growers but

it was no significant in case of paddy growers.

Saxena and Singh (2000) found that mass media exposure had

positive relationship with the adoption of organic farming practices.


between mass media exposure and adoption level of respondents in IVLP


Pottappa (2008) revealed that mass media participation of potato

farmers was significantly related to their extent of adoption level at 0.05


Ramesh and Santha Govind (2008) revealed that mass media

exposure showed positive and significant relationship with the extent of


Varadaraju et al. (2009) found that mass media use had a

significant relationship with the adoption level, a highly significant

relationship was observed between adoption level and mass media

participation of tomato growers.

2.5.10 Extension contact and adoption

Bhagwat and Gohad (2003) found that extension contact was


technologies.

Pottappa (2008) found that extension contact of potato farmers

was not significantly related to their adoption level.

Ramesh and Santha Govind (2008) found that extension agency

contact had positive and significant relationship with the extent of


2.5.11 Innovativeness and adoption

Pottappa (2008) found that innovativeness of potato farmers was

not significantly related to their adoption level.

2.5.12 Cosmopoliteness and adoption

Venkataramu (1983) observed a positive relationship between

cosmopoliteness and adoption behavior of contact farmers.

Siddeshwara (1988) found a positive relationship between

cosmopoliteness and adoption of improved practices among groundnut

growers.

Chandra Naik (1993) found that there is a positive relationship

between cosmopoliteness and adoption in case of beneficiaries as well as

non-beneficiaries of rice development programme.


between cosmopoliteness and adoption level of respondents in IVLP


2.6 Constraints faced by farmers in achieving their farming

goal/objectives

Jaiswal and Duboliya (1990) reported the non-availability and high

cost of seed as the reasons for non-adoption of the improved variety of

wheat.

Vedini (1994) identified the major problems in the production of

jasmine in Mysore district as, inadequacy of financial resources, lack of

technical know-how, non-availability of labor and incidence of pest and

diseases.

Ranghanathan, G., (1995), in his study on rainfed sorghum

concluded that unpredicted rainfall and unpredicted income from the

crop, lack of knowledge on some technologies were the main reasons for

non-adoption of improved practices.

Govinda Reddy et al. (1997) identified the problems faced by

mango growers in Srinivaspur taluk of Kolar, which were mainly, lack of

technical know-how, lack of awareness on drip irrigation technology,

non-availability of credit and labor, high cost of inputs, high incidence of

pests and diseases and non-availability of quality grafts. The major

constraints in mango exports were lack of nearby processing units,

storage facilities, pre-cooling units, knowledge in chemical treatments of

units, regulated markets and improved harvest. Other problems were

exploitation by middle men, lack of grading etc.

Ravishankar and Katteppa (1997) in their study on potato in

Chikkamagalur district of Karnataka state reported that, the farmers

expressed the problems like lack of technical guidance, more pests and

diseases incidence, less storage facilities, high cost of transportation and

high commission charges.

Sharma et al., (1997), in their study on maize in Udaipur,

Rajasthan revealed that lack of knowledge about improved variety, timely

unavailability of improved seeds, high cost of inputs like fertilizers,

pesticides, etc., lack of know-how about educational facilities and poor

net returns than other crops were realized as the most important

constraints in adoption of imported maize production technology by the

farmers.

Ravishankar and Katteppa (2000) conducted a study on potato

growers in Chikkamagalore district of Karnataka State. They reported

that 94.16 per cent respondents faced the problems of lack of technical

guidance. More pests, more diseases, high cost of fertilizers, high cost of

plant protection chemicals and non-availability of fertilizers in time were

the problems faced by 90.00, 83.33, 85.00, 81.66 and 68.33 per cent of

the respondents, respectively.

Sunil Kumar (2004) in his study on tomato growers in Belgaum

district of Karnataka reported that, majority of the farmers (75.83 per

cent) faced the problem of technical knowledge and guidance about

improved cultivation practices as well as post-harvest technology.

Gangadhara (2006) conducted a study on Knowledge, Perception

and Decision Making among Demonstrator and Non-Demonstrator

Farmers of Aerobic Rice Cultivation in Eastern Dry Zone of Karnataka

reported that majority of demonstrators expressed major constraints for

Aerobic Rice Cultivation viz., Weed management problem (91.66%), lower

yield (49.95%), lack of proper guidance(41.66%), high weeding

cost(41.50%). 23.95 per cent and 22.92 per cent of the demonstrators

expressed difficulty in water management and chaffiness in grain,

respectively.

Mahatab (2010) found that the aerobic rice growers expressed

constraints related to weed management (81.11%), lower yield (57.78%),

difficulty encountered in gap filling in aerobic rice crop (53.33%),

difficulty in maintaining plant protection (41.11%), non availability of

sowing equipments (32.22%), difficulty in water management (25.56%),

poor germination of seeds (20.00%) and micronutrients deficiency

problem (13.33%).

By this review, it is seen that majority of studies reported a positive

and significant relationship between many variables and knowledge level

of respondents, while few studies indicated non-significant relationship

which, however, requires further confirmation

III. MATERIAL AND METHODS

The material and methods used in conducting this research study

have been presented under the following headings:

3.1. Research design

3.2. Locale of the study

3.3. Selection of respondents for the study

3.4. Variables used and their measurement

3.5. Development of interview schedule

3.6. Collection of data

3.7. Statistical tests used

3.1. Research design

Based on the objectives of the study, ex-post facto research design

was adopted for this study. According to Kerlinger (1973), ex-post facto

research design is a systematic empirical inquiry in which the scientist

has not any control of influencing (independent) variables because their

manifestations have already occurred or because they are inherently not

manipulated. Inferences about relations among variables were made

without direct intervention but from concomitant variation of

independent and dependent variables.

3.2. Locale of the study

The study was conducted in Southern Province of Rwanda.

Rwanda is a landlocked country (26,338 km2) situated in central Africa

(1°57’S, 30°4’E). Also known as ’the land of a thousand hills’, Rwanda

has five volcanoes, twenty-three lakes and numerous rivers, some

forming the source of the River Nile. The country lies 75 miles south of

the equator in the Tropic of Capricorn, 880 miles ’as the crow flies’ West

of the Indian Ocean and 1,250 miles East of the Atlantic Ocean. Rwanda

is bordered by Uganda to the North, Tanzania to the East, Burundi to the

South and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the West. Rwandan

population is around 11millions (10,746,311) and its economy is based

predominantly on agriculture as 75 % of the active population is engaged

in agriculture (Anonymous, 2010).

Description of Southern Province of Republic of Rwanda

Southern Province (Kinyarwanda: Intara y'Amajyepfo) is one of

Rwanda's five provinces. It was created in early January 2006 as part of

a government decentralization program that re-organized the country's

local government structures. It has a geographic area of 6,118 km²

(2,362 sq mi). Its population is around 2,376,741 (2010) with a

population density of 370/km² (959/sq mi). Southern Province comprises

the former provinces of Gikongoro, Gitarama, and Butare, and is divided

into 8 districts such as: Gisagara, Huye, Kamonyi, Muhanga,

Nyamagabe, Nyanza, Nyaruguru and Ruhango.

It is bordered by Northern Province in the North, Eastern Province

and Kigali capital city in the East, Western province and Nyungwe

National Park in the West, Republic of Burundi in the South.

3.3. Selection of respondents

Taking in consideration the local administrative structure and the

grouping of rice farmers in cooperatives in Rwanda, the selection of

respondents in order to collect data on the knowledge and adoption of

improved rice cultivation practices, has been done as follows: Two

districts having more area under rice cultivation among four main rice

cultivation districts in Southern Province have been selected for the

study. The selected districts are Huye and Gisagara.

Fig.1a: Map of Southern Province of Rwanda

Fig.1b. Chart showing the selection of respondents

Southern

Province of

Rwanda

Huye

district Gisagara

district

Rwasave

rice farming

cooperative

Cyili rice

farming

cooperative

20

farmers

20

farmers

20

farmer

s

Rusuli rice

farming

cooperative

Ngiryi rice

farming

cooperative

20

farmers

From each selected district, two rice cooperatives have been

selected using simple random sampling. Those are Rwasave Rice growers

cooperative (COAIRWA) and Rusuli rice growers cooperative in Huye

Disrict and in Gisagara district, those are Cyili rice growers cooperative

and Ngiryi rice growers cooperative.

Using also simple random sampling technique twenty rice farmers

have been selected from each of the selected cooperative, making total

eighty respondents for the study.

Southern Province Cooperative Respondents (Farmers)

Rwasave rice growers cooperative 20 Huye District

Rusuli rice growers cooperative 20

Cyili rice growers cooperative 20 Gisagara District

Ngiryi rice growers cooperative 20

Total 80

3.4. Variables and their measurement

The two dependent variables used in this study are:

Variable Measurement

Knowledge level of rice growers Scale suggested by Anastasi in1961

Adoption level of rice growers Scale suggested by Sengupta in 1967

The independent variables used in the study were:

Sl No.

Variable Instrument used

I Personal

1 Age Schedule developed for the study

2 Sex Schedule developed for the study

2 Education Scale developed by Sundaraswamy(1987)

4 Family size Scale developed by Hosamani(1993)

II Socio-economic

5 Occupation Schedule developed for the study

6 Land holding Schedule developed for the study

7 Experience in rice farming Schedule developed for the study

8 Annual income Schedule developed for the study

III Socio-psychological

9 Social participation Scale developed by Patil(1990)

10 Mass media exposure Scale developed by Byra Reddy(1971)

11 Extension contact Schedule developed for the study

12 Innovativeness Scale developed by Feaster(1968)

13 Cosmopoliteness Scale developed by Desai(1981)

3.4.1. Operationalisation and measurement of dependent variables

Knowledge level of farmers

Knowledge refers to information possessed by an individual. It

refers to those behaviors and test situations that emphasize the

remembering either by recognition or by recall of ideas and materials of

some phenomenon. Knowledge level of paddy farmers refers to the

information they possessed with respect to improved technologies of

paddy.

For this study, an operational measurement for knowledge was

developed by constructing a teacher made knowledge test as suggested

by Anastasi (1961). The knowledge test was constructed based on the

package of practices for rice cultivation as recommended by the Ministry

of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Government of Rwanda.

Thirty-three items in the nursery and main field operations of

paddy cultivation were selected from the package of practices.

Each practice was put in the question form to obtain response

from the respondents; the correct response (Knowledge) was given a

score of ‘one’ and the incorrect response (incorrect knowledge) was given

a score of “zero”. The total score for each respondent was computed by

summing up the scores on all knowledge items. The maximum and

minimum score obtained for each respondent was 33 and zero,

respectively. Based on the total scores obtained, the knowledge index

was worked out as follows:

Number of correct responses Knowledge index = --------------------------------------------- x 100 Total number of knowledge items

Respondents were further categorized into three groups of

knowledge level based on Mean (x̄) and Standard deviation (SD).

Category Criteria Mean score

Low < x̄ - ½ SD <54.54

Medium x ̄ - ½ SD to x ̄ +½ SD 54.54 to 63.87

High >x̄ + ½ SD >63.87

x̄=59.20 SD=9.34

Adoption level of farmers

Adoption refers to the extent of use of recommended practice of

crop cultivation by the farmers.

Full adoption:

If the respondent has adopted recommended practices as indicated

in package of practices without any deviation.

Partial adoption:

If the respondent has adopted recommended practices indicated in

package of practices with any deviation.

Non adoption:

If the respondent has not adopted any of the recommended

practices indicated in package of practices.

The package of practices recommended by the Ministry of

Agriculture of the Republic of Rwanda in rice cultivation has been

considered in this study. The maximum and minimum scores obtained

for each respondent were 58 and 0. The scores were assigned for the

adoption of each of the recommended practices by farmers in the

following way:

Adoption pattern Score

Full adoption 2

Partial adoption 1

Non adoption 0

Based on total score, the adoption quotient was worked out as

suggested by Sengupta (1967):

Adoption score of respondent Adoption quotient =----------------------------------------------------- x 100 Maximum adoption score one could get

The respondents were categorized into three categories (low,

medium, high) based on Mean(x̄) and Standard deviation (SD).


Low < x̄ - ½ SD < 46.59

Medium x̄ -½ SD to x ̄½ SD 46.59 to 54.31

High > x ̄ +½ SD >54.31

x̄=50.45 SD=7.72

3.4.2. Operationalisation and measurement of independent variables

Age

Age was operationalized as the number of years completed by the

respondent at the time of investigation. The age of respondent in

completed years was considered for the purpose of analysis. The

respondents were also categorized into three groups as detailed below for

the use in descriptive analysis of data.

Classification Age group

Below 35 years Young

35 -50 years Middle

Above 50 Old

Sex

The sex was operationally defined as either of the two main

categories (male and female) into which respondents belonged on the

basis of their reproductive functions or person’s genital organs.

Respondents were classified into 2 groups using codes 1 and 2 where

”one” was assigned to male respondent and “two” to female respondent.

Education

The education was operationally defined as the numbers of years of

formal education acquired by a respondent. Education of a respondent

was quantified using procedure followed by Sundaraswamy (1987). One

score was assigned to each year of schooling and the respondents were

classified into 4 categories for studying their characteristics.

Category Score

Illiterate 0

Primary school 1

Middle School 2

High school 3

Graduate 4

The respondents were classified into 4 groups of educational levels

as detailed below, for the purpose of analyzing the characteristics of

respondents.

Level of education Classification

Illiterate Very low

Primary school Low

Middle and high school Medium

Graduates High

Family size

Family size of the respondents was operationalized as total number

of members residing in the family of the respondent. The size of the

family was categorized as small, medium and large. The procedure

followed by Hosamani (1993) was adopted to categorize the family size of

respondents.

Category Family members Score

Small 1-4 members 1

Medium 5-8 members 2

Large Above 9 members 3

Occupation

It refers to the job or profession of respondents. In this study

respondents had to show whether agriculture is their main or subsidiary

occupation in that way score 1 is given to agriculture as main occupation

and score 2 is given to agriculture as subsidiary occupation.

Land holding

Land holding refers to the total land cultivated by the respondents’

family. The information on the total land holdings of respondents’ family

were of two kinds namely wet land, dry land. Finally the two types were

converted into a common dominator. All the respondents were small

farmers because the average land holding of Rwandan is 0.7 ha, but the

respondents have been classified into three categories based on the

information obtained about their land holdings and score has been given

to each category.

Land holding category Score

Less than 1 ha 1

Between 1ha and 2ha 2

More than 2ha 3

Farming experience

It refers to the total number of years of experience in cultivating

paddy crop by the respondents at the time of investigation and each year

of experience is given one score. The farming experience of the

respondent in completed years is considered for analysis. The

respondents were categorized into low, medium and high based on years

of experience recorded using the statistical devices i.e. mean and

standard deviation.


Low < x̄ - ½ SD < 3.06

Medium x ̄ - ½ SD to x̄ + ½ SD 3.06 to 6.10

High >x̄ + ½ SD >6.10

x ̄ =4.59 SD=3.04

Annual income

It refers to total income in Rwandan francs (Rwf) earned by the

respondents from both agriculture and allied enterprises in one year as

expressed by the respondents in Rwf. The total annual income in Rwf

was used for purpose of analysis. The farmers were further grouped into

low (Below 100,000 Rwf), medium (Between 100,000 and 500,000Rwf)

and high (Above 500,000Rwf) levels using mean and standard deviation.

Scores were assigned to these categories as follows: 1 for low, 2 for

medium and 3 for high category of annual income.

Category Criteria Score

Low < 100,000Rwf 1

Medium 100,000Rwf - 500,000Rwf 2

High >500,000Rwf 3

Social participation

It refers to the degree of involvement of an individual in formal

organizations as member and or as an office bearer. Social participation

was empirically measured by using the procedures followed by Patil

(1990).

Membership Participation

Organization Non-member

Member Office bearer

Regular Occasional Never

Agricultural Cooperative

0 1 2 2 1 0

Local leadership 0 1 2 2 1 0

Ubudehe 0 1 2 2 1 0

Rural Micro-finance institution/Bank

0 1 2 2 1 0

Itorero cultural group

0 1 2 2 1 0

Others 0 1 2 2 1 0

The composite score was arrived at by summing up the scores

obtained by the respondents on each item used. High score reveals

greater involvement of an individual in formal organizations, as member

/ office bearer. The respondents were further categorized into three

groups (low, medium and high social participation) on the basis of mean

and SD.


Low < x̄ - ½ SD <7.18


High >x̄ + ½ SD >9.99

x ̄ =8.59 SD=2.81

Mass media exposure

In order to assess the extent of participation of respondents in

mass media, different mass media sources were listed and the

respondents were asked to indicate their extent of participation in each

of the listed mass media sources. The procedure suggested by Byrareddy

(1971) was used in assigning weightages.

Score Items


Reading habit of farm magazines, leaflets, newspapers, books or any other literature on agriculture/ rice farming

2 1 0

Listening to agricultural programme on radio

2 1 0

Watching Television programme on agriculture

2 1 0

The total score obtained by a farmer indicated his / her degree of

participation. The respondents were further categorized into low, medium

and high on the basis of mean and standard deviation.


Low < x̄ - ½ SD <2.60


High >x̄ + ½ SD >3.00

x ̄ =2.20 SD=1.19

Extension contact

It refers to the contact made by the respondents with different

extension agencies like extension services of MINAGRI(Ministry of

Agriculture and Animal Resources), cooperative officers, faculty of

agriculture of National University of Rwanda, NGOs. Respondents were

asked to indicate the frequency of contact with extension agents, and the

scores are given as follow:

Category Score

Regular 2

Occasional 1

Never 0

Based on the mean and standard deviation, the respondents were

classified into 3 categories as suggested by Gangadhara (2006).


Low < x̄ - ½ SD <2.40


High >x̄ + ½ SD >3.64

x ̄ =3.03 SD=1.24

Innovativeness

It refers to the behavioral pattern of an individual who has interest

and desire to seek change in farming techniques and ready to introduce

such changes into his operation when found practical and feasible,

within a short period of time compared to other contemporaries.

The scale developed by Feaster (1968) was followed to measure the

innovativeness of rice growers with slight modification in number of

statements and scoring pattern. In the scale eight statements were

included with two response categories namely “Yes” and “No” with

scoring pattern of 0 and 1. For the present study, four statements were

used; the scoring pattern 1 and 0 for respective response categories

‘agree’ and ‘disagree’ was applied to two first statements and reversed for

the last statements.

Based on the mean and standard deviation of the total score

obtained by the farmers, they were grouped into 3 categories as follows:


Low < x̄ - ½ SD <1.55


High >x̄ + ½ SD >2.18

x ̄ =1.86 SD=0.63

Cosmopoliteness

Cosmopoliteness is defined as the degree to which an individual is

motivated to look beyond his environment, when most others are

contented to maintain a localistic frame of reference. This variable was

measured using the scale developed by Desai (1981). The dimensions of

the variable considered in this case are:

a. The frequency of the visit to the nearest town

b. The purpose of visit to the town

The items and scoring pattern followed in quantifying the frequency of

visit are as follows:

Items Score

Two or more per week 5

Once a week 4

Once in 15 days 3

Once in a month 2

Once in the while(6months) 1

Never 0

The item and scoring procedure to quantify the purpose of visit are

as follows:

Items Score

Some visits related to agriculture 5

Administration purpose 4

Personal/ domestic 3

Medical purpose 2

Entertainment & others 1

Respondents were categorized into low, medium and high levels on

the basis of mean and standard deviation.


Low < x̄ - ½ SD <3.94


High >x̄ + ½ SD >5.74

x ̄ =4.84 SD=1.80

Constraints of rice growers in paddy production

To study the constraints in paddy production, respondents were

asked to enlist the constraints pertaining to time, technologies, financial

resources, labor, infrastructures, inputs, market, etc which hinder

paddy production and make low rice farmers motivation. The respondent

facing the same constraints were counted i.e. frequencies were taken and

their percentage was calculated.

3.5. Development of interview schedule

The interview schedule was sketched on the basis of objectives,

dependent and independent variables under study. All the questions

were scrutinized by the advisory committee before finalizing the interview

schedule. The questions were framed in such a manner so as to facilitate

the understanding of questions by respondents. The interview schedule

was pre-tested and the necessary amendments were done before it was

finalized.

3.6. Collection of the data

Personal interview was conducted to obtain the information on the

personal, economic and psychological characteristics apart from the

information regarding their participation and constraints in rice farming

activities. In addition, technical knowledge and adoption aspects of the

study were also obtained. The data collection was done in August-

September 2010.

3.7. Statistical tests used

The following statistical tools were used for analysis of the data,

after the tabulation and scoring of those data.

a) Frequencies and percentage

Frequency and percentage were used to identify number of rice

growers distributed into different groups and to make simple comparison

of different groups. They were used also to interpret the findings

pertaining to constraints and suggestions of respondents.

b) Mean and standard deviation

Mean and standard deviation have been computed to classify the

respondents into different categories.

c) Chi-square test

The test was used to find out the nature of relationship or

association between independent variables and dependent variables of

the study.

Fig. 2: Conceptual Model of the study

ADOPTION

KNOWLEDGE

Age

Sex

Education

Family size

Occupation

Land holding

Farming experience

Annual income


Mass media

exposure

Extension contact

Innovativeness

Cosmopoliteness

IV. RESULTS

The results of the study are presented in this chapter on the

following headings.

4.1. Knowledge level of rice farmers with respect to the recommended


4.2. Adoption level of rice farmers regarding the recommended


4.3. Personal, socio-economic and psychological characteristics of rice

farmers

4.4. Association between personal, socio-economic and psychological

characteristics of rice farmers and their knowledge level on

recommended rice cultivation practices.


characteristics of rice farmers and their adoption level of


4.6. Constraints faced by rice farmers in the adoption of rice production

practices.

4.1. Knowledge level of rice farmers with respect to recommended


4.1.1 Overall knowledge level of rice farmers with respect to

recommended cultivation practices

The results presented in Table 1 reveal that majority of

respondents (41.25%) were in the medium overall knowledge category

followed by 30.00 per cent and 28.75 per cent who belong to high and

low overall knowledge category respectively.

Table 1. Overall knowledge of rice growers with respect to the


(n=80)

Category Number Percentage

Low (<54.54) 23 28.75

Medium (54.54-63.87) 33 41.25

High (>63.87) 24 30.00

Total 80 100

Mean: 59.20 SD: 9.34

Fig. 3: Overall knowledge of rice growers with respect to the

recommended rice cultivation practices

4.1.2 Specific knowledge level of rice farmers regarding the

individual recommended cultivation practices

In order to analyze in detail the knowledge level of farmers on

selected recommended rice cultivation practices, the respondents were

grouped into two categories as those who have correct knowledge and

those having incorrect knowledge about the recommended practices.

The data regarding specific knowledge on improved rice cultivation

practices are presented in Table 2.

Land preparation

The Table 2 reveals that among land preparation practices, cent

per cent of respondents had correct knowledge about bush clearing and

puddling. However, more than three fourth of farmers (86.25%) had

correct knowledge about tillage practice.

Nursery raising techniques

Results about nursery technology revealed that a large majority of

respondents had incorrect knowledge about nursery dimensions

(81.25%), seed rate (83.75%) and names and quantity of chemicals for

seed treatment (93.75%) whereas 62.5 per cent of respondents had

correct knowledge about rice varieties.

Seedling transplantation

Regarding seedling transplantation, data in Table 2 revealed that

little more than three fourth of farmers(76.25%) had correct knowledge

on age of transplantable seedlings, 73.7 per cent of respondents had

correct knowledge on plant spacing, 65 per cent had correct knowledge

on rice cultural seasons and 56.25 per cent had correct knowledge on

number of seedlings per hill.

Farm yard manure (FYM) application

Data showed that knowledge about farm yard manure use in rice

cultivation was very low. Majority of the respondent had incorrect

knowledge in this category of practices viz quantity of FYM (100 per

cent), method of application (76.25%) and time of application (86.25%).

Chemical fertilizer

As it is shown in Table 2, cent per cent of respondent had correct

knowledge about method of application of chemical fertilizers followed by

names of fertilizers (90%) and time of application (65%). However, 56.25

per cent of farmers had an incorrect knowledge on the quantity of

fertilizers to be applied and majority of respondents (83.75%) had

incorrect knowledge on the different phases of fertilizer application.

Intercultivation practices

The table 2 reveals that all the farmers had correct knowledge

about manual weeding while they had incorrect knowledge about gap

filling of seedlings and application of herbicides.

Irrigation and drainage

More than two third of respondents had correct knowledge on

irrigation and drainage practices in rice cultivation like irrigation and

drainage phases (72.5%), maintenance of water level in field (66.25%)

and irrigation channel maintenance (85%).

Pests and diseases control

About pest and disease control, findings revealed that 67.50 per

cent and 53.75 per cent of farmers had incorrect knowledge on names of

rice pests & diseases and the control measures of pests & diseases

respectively, while cent per cent of farmers had possessed correct

Table 2. Specific knowledge level of rice farmers with respect to

individual recommended cultivation practices

(n=80)

Correct knowledge

Incorrect knowledge Sl.

No Rice cultivation practices

No. % No. %

Land preparation

1 Bush clearing 80 100 00 0.00

2 Tillage 69 86.25 11 13.75

3 Puddling 80 100 00 0.00


4 Nursery dimensions 15 18.75 65 81.25

5 Rice varieties 50 62.50 30 37.50

6 Seed rate 13 16.25 67 83.75

7 Names of seed treatment chemicals 05 6.25 75 93.75

8 Quantity of seed treatment chemicals

05 6.25 75 93.75

Seedling transplantation

9 Age of transplantable seedlings 61 76.25 19 23.75

10 Number of seedlings per hill 45 56.25 35 43.75

11 Spacing 59 73.75 21 26.25

12 Cultural season/ Time 52 65.00 28 35.00

Farm yard manure application

13 Quantity of FYM(Rate/ha) 00 0.00 80 100

14 Method of applying FYM 19 23.75 61 76.25

15 Time of spreading FYM 11 13.75 69 86.25

Chemical fertilizers

16 Names of chemical fertilizers 72 90.00 08 10.00

17 Quantity/rate of chemical fertilizers 35 43.75 45 56.25

18 Time for fertilizer application 52 65.00 28 35.00

19 Phases of fertilizer application 13 16.25 67 83.75

20 Method of fertilizer application 80 100 00 0.00

Inter-cultivation practices

21 Gap filling of seedlings 00 0.00 80 100

22 Manual weeding 80 100 00 0.00

23 Application of herbicides 00 0.00 80 100

Irrigation and drainage

24 Irrigation & drainage phases 58 72.50 22 27.50

25 Water level in paddy field 53 66.25 27 33.75

26 Maintenance of irrigation channels 68 85.00 12 15.00

Pest and disease control

27 Names of main pests and diseases 26 32.50 54 67.50

28 Parts attacked on plant 80 100 00 0.00

29 Pest & disease effect on yield 60 75.00 20 25.00

30 Measures of pest& disease control 37 46.25 43 53.75

31 Adequate time for disease control 45 56.25 35 43.75

Harvesting

32 Appropriate time of harvesting 71 88.75 09 11.25

33 Favorable time for threshing 68 85.00 12 15.00

Fig. 4: A view of paddy field and nursery during survey

Fig. 5: A view of paddy drying after harvesting at rice farming

cooperative office

knowledge on parts attacked on plant. Further, three fourth of the

farmers had known the negative effect caused by pests & diseases on

yield and 56.25 per cent of farmers had a knowledge on adequate time of

pests & disease control.

Harvesting

With respect to harvesting practices, more than eighty per cent of

the rice farmers had correct knowledge on appropriate time of paddy

harvesting (88.75%) and threshing (85%).

4.2. Adoption level of rice farmers regarding recommended rice


4.2.1. Overall adoption level of farmers with respect to


As presented in Table 3 and Figure 4, more number of respondents

of the study (38.75%) belonged to medium adoption category followed by

31.25 per cent and 30 per cent who belonged to low and high adoption

categories respectively.

4.2.2. Adoption behavior of rice growers regarding individual


The results presented in Table 4 showed different levels of adoption

behavior of respondents such as full adoption, partial adoption and non-

adoption with respect to individual recommended rice cultivation

practices.

It is evident from the results that the practices like land

preparation, harvesting, seedling transplantation and irrigation and

drainage had been fully adopted by 81.25 per cent, 78.75 per cent, 38.75

per cent and 20 per cent of respondents, respectively. On the other hand,

farm yard manure application and inter-cultivation practices had never

Table 3. Overall adoption level of farmers with respect to


(n=80)

Category Number Percentage

Low (<46.59) 25 31.25

Medium (46.59-54.31) 31 38.75

High (>54.31) 24 30.00

Total 80 100

Mean: 50.45 SD: 7.72

Fig. 6: Overall adoption level of rice growers with respect to


Table 4. Adoption of recommended rice cultivation practices among

rice growers

Full adoption

Partial adoption

Non-adoption Sl.

No. Recommended rice cultivation practice

No. % No. % No. %

1 Land preparation 65 81.25 15 18.75 0 0.00

2 Nursery raising techniques

6 7.50 27 33.75 47 58.75

3 Seedling transplantation

31 38.75 49 61.25 0 0.00

4 Farm yard manure application

0 0.00 7 8.75 73 91.25

5 Chemical fertilizers 5 6.25 75 93.75 0 0.00

6 Inter-cultivation practices

0 0.00 80 100 0 0.00

3 Irrigation and drainage 16 20.00 64 80.00 0 0.00

8 Pest and disease control

4 5.00 76 95.00 0 0.00

9 Harvesting 63 78.75 17 21.25 0 0.00

Fig. 7: Adoption of recommended rice cultivation practices among

rice growers

been fully adopted by any respondents but inter-cultivation practices

were partially adopted by 100 per cent of respondents whereas farm yard

manure application observed a non-adoption by 91.25 of respondents.

Between 61 per cent and 95 per cent of rice growers had partially

adopted practices like seedling transplantation, irrigation and drainage,

chemical fertilizers and pests and diseases control measures.

It was found that nursery raising techniques were fully adopted by

7.5 per cent, partially adopted by 33.75 per cent and non-adopted by

58.75 per cent of rice growers.

4.3. Personal, socio-economic and psychological characteristics of

rice farmers

The results on personal, socio-economic and psychological

characteristics of rice farmers are presented as follow:

4.3.1. Age

The results presented in the Table 5 revealed that majority of

respondents (65%) belonged to middle age category followed by 28.75 per

cent and 6.25 per cent belonging to young and old age categories,

respectively.

Table 5. Distribution of respondents according to age

Category Number Per cent

Young (<35 years) 23 28.75

Middle (35-50 years) 52 65.00

Old (> 50 years) 5 6.25

Total 80 100.00

Mean: 38.38 SD: 7.41

4.3.2. Sex

The distribution of respondents according to sex is depicted in

Table 6. The results showed that 57.5 per cent were males and 42.5 per

cent were females.

Table 6. Distribution of respondents according to sex


Male 46 57.50

Female 34 42.50

Total 80 100.00

4.3.3. Education

The results in Table 7 pertaining to education level of respondents

revealed that 78.75 per cent of rice growers had low education (primary

school), 11.25 per cent were illiterate (very low level) and 10.00 per cent

had middle level education (middle or high school). In this study, it was

found that no respondent belonged to high level of education.

Table 7. Education level of rice growers


Very low (0) 9 11.25

Low (1) 63 78.75

Medium (2-3) 8 10.00

High (4) 0 0.00

Total 80 100.00

Mean: 0.98 SD: 0.46

Fig. 8: Rice farmers during the survey work

4.3.4. Family size

As shown in Table 8, it was found that majority of the respondents

(63.75%) belonged to medium family size, 33.75 per cent belonged to

small family size whereas only 2.5 per cent were belonging to the

category of large family size.

Table 8. Family size of respondents


Small 27 33.75

Medium 51 63.75

Large 2 2.50

Total 80 100.00

Mean: 1.69 SD: 0.52

4.3.5. Occupation

The results of the study provided in Table 9 revealed that a large

majority of respondents (92.5%) did ‘agriculture’ as their main

occupation while only 7.5 per cent of them did agriculture as subsidiary

occupation.

Table 9. Distribution of respondents according to their occupation


Agriculture as main occupation (1) 74 92.50

Agriculture as subsidiary occupation (2) 6 7.50

Total 80 100.00

Mean: 1.10 SD: 0.27

4.3.6. Size of land holding

It was observed from the Table 10 that nearly half of respondents

(48.75%) were in small land holding category having less than 1ha of

land followed by 38.75 per cent possessing between 1ha and 2ha of land

holding whereas only 12.5 per cent had more than 2ha and belonged to

large land holding category.

Table 10. Distribution of rice farmers according to their land

holding size


Small (< 1ha) 39 48.75

Medium(1-2ha) 31 38.75

Large(> 2ha) 10 12.50

Total 80 100.00

Mean: 1.64 SD: 0.70

4.3.7. Rice farming experience

Considering the rice farming experience, more than half of

respondents (51.25%) were in the low category followed by 28.75 per cent

who were in the medium category and 20 per cent belong to high farming

experience category (Table 11).

Table 11. Distribution of rice farmers according to their rice farming

experience


Low (<3.06) 41 51.25

Medium(3.06 -6.10) 23 28.75

High (> 6.10) 16 20.00

Total 80 100.00

Mean: 4.59 SD: 3.04

4.3.8. Annual income

A critical glance at Table 12 reveals that majority of respondents

(63.75%) were in the range of medium annual income (100,000Rwf -

500,000Rwf) followed by 27.5 per cent in the low income category

(<100,000Rwf) and only 8.75 per cent in the high annual income

category (>500,000Rwf).

Table12. Distribution of rice farmers according to their annual

income


Low (<100,000Rwf) 22 27.50

Medium(100,000-500,000Rwf) 51 63.75

High (> 500,000Rwf) 7 8.75

Total 80 100.00

Mean: 1.81 SD: 0.58

4.3.9. Social participation

Regarding the social participation, results in Table 13 revealed that

42.5 per cent of farmers belonged to medium category whereas 37.5 per

cent and 20 per cent were in high and low categories of social

participation, respectively.

Table 13. Distribution of rice farmers according to their social

participation


Low (< 7.18) 16 20.00

Medium (7.18 - 9.99) 34 42.50

High (> 9.99) 30 37.50

Total 80 100.00

Mean: 8.59 SD: 2.81

4.3.10. Mass media exposure

It is observed from Table 14 that majority of respondents (58.75%)

belong to low category of mass media exposure followed by 25.00 per

cent in medium category and 16.25 per cent in high category of mass

media exposure.

Table 14. Distribution of rice farmers according to their mass media

exposure


Low (<2.60) 47 58.75

Medium (2.60-3.00) 20 25.00

High (> 3.00) 13 16.25

Total 80 100.00

Mean: 2.20 SD: 1.19

4.3.11. Extension contact

It is evident from Table 15 that almost equal number of

respondents had low, medium and high extension contact: 36.25 per

cent of rice farmers had medium level of extension contact, 33.75 per

cent had high level of extension contact followed by 30 per cent with low

level of extension contact.

Table 15. Distribution of rice farmers according to their extension

contact


Low (<2.40) 24 30.00

Medium (2.40 -3.64) 29 36.25

High (>3.64) 27 33.75

Total 80 100.00

Mean: 3.03 SD: 1.24

4.3.12. Innovativeness

From the Table 16, it was observed that more than half of rice

farmers (58.75%) belong to medium level of innovativeness followed by

27.5 per cent and 13.75 per cent belonging to low and high levels of

innovativeness respectively.

Table 16. Distribution of rice farmers according to their

innovativeness


Low (<1.55) 22 27.50

Medium (1.55-2.18) 47 58.75

High (>2.18) 11 13.75

Total 80 100.00

Mean: 1.86 SD: 0.63

4.3.13. Cosmopoliteness

A glance at the Table 17 reveals that 42.5 per cent of respondents

belong to medium cosmopoliteness category, 37.5 per cent belong to high

cosmopoliteness category while 20 per cent belong to low category of

cosmopoliteness.

Table 17. Distribution of rice farmers according to their

cosmopoliteness


Low (<3.94) 16 20.00

Medium (3.94-5.74) 34 42.50

High (>5.74) 30 37.50

Total 80 100.00

Mean: 4.84 SD: 1.80

4.4. Association between personal, socio-economic and

psychological characteristics of rice farmers and their

knowledge on recommended rice cultivation practices

As presented in Table 18, social participation, extension contact

and mass media exposure of rice growers were significantly associated

with their knowledge level at 5 per cent level of significance, whereas rice

farming experience and cosmopoliteness of rice growers were

significantly associated with their knowledge level at 1 per cent of

significance. Other characteristics namely age, sex, education,

occupation, family size, land holding, annual income and innovativeness

of farmers were not associated with their knowledge level.

Table 18. Chi-square test indicating the association between

independent variables and knowledge level of rice growers

Independent variables Chi-square P –value C-value

1 Age 5.243 NS 0.263 0.248

Sex 1.210 NS 0.546 0.122

3 Education 2.709 NS 0.608 0.181

4 Family size 6.147 NS 9.488# 0.267

5 Occupation 0.552 NS 0.759 0.083

6 Land holding 6.295 NS 0.178 0.270

7 Rice farming experience 20.749** 0.000 0.454

8 Annual income 3.433 NS 0.488 0.203

9 Social participation 13.069* 0.011 0.375

10 Mass media exposure 10.395* 0.034 0.339

11 Extension contact 11.359 * 0.018 0.353

12 Innovativeness 4.430 NS 0.351 0.229

13 Cosmopoliteness 16.620** 0.002 0.415

*: significant at 0.05 level of significance

**: significant at 0.01 level of significance

N.S: Non –significant

#: Chi-square from table

Fig. 9: Empirical Model of the study showing association between

independent variables with knowledge level

KNOWLEDGE

• AGE

• SEX

• EDUCATION

• FAMILY SIZE

• ANNUAL INCOME

• OCCUPATION

• LAND HOLDING

• INNOVATIVENESS

Non-significance

Significant at 5%

• SOCIAL

PARTICIPATION

• MASS MEDIA

EXPOSURE

• EXTENSION

CONTACT

• FARMING

EXPERIENCE

• COSMOPOLIT

ENESS

Significant at 1%

4.5. Association between personal, socio-economic and


adoption level of recommended rice cultivation practices

The table 19 reveals that rice farming experience and extension

contact of farmers were significantly associated with the adoption level of

farmers at 0.05 level of significance, whereas cosmopoliteness was

significant at 0.01 level of significance. Other characteristics like age,

sex, education, family size, occupation, annual income, land holding,

social participation, mass media exposure and innovativeness were not

associated with the adoption level of rice farmers

Table 19. Chi-square test indicating association between

independent variables with adoption level of farmers

Independent variables Chi-square P-value C-value

1 Age 4.250 NS 0.373 0.225

2 Sex 2.872 NS 0.238 0.728

3 Education 1.613 NS 0.806 0.141

4 Family size 3.258 NS 9.488# 0.198

5 Occupation 1.163 NS 0.559 0.120

6 Land holding 6.297 NS 0.178 0.270

7 Farming experience 12.993* 0.011 0.374

8 Ann income 6.579 NS 0.160 0.276

9 Social participation 8.704 NS 0.069 0.313

10 Mass media exposure 6.266 NS 0.180 0.270

11 Extension contact 11.957 * 0.038 0.361

12 Innovativeness 3.706 NS 0.447 0.210

13 Cosmopoliteness 14.140** 0.007 0.388

*: significant at 0.05 level of significance **: significant at 0.01 level of significance

N.S: Non –significant #: Chi-square from table at 5% level of significance

Fig 10: Empirical Model of the study showing association between

independent variables with adoption level

ADOPTION

• AGE

• SEX

• EDUCATION

• FAMILY SIZE

• ANNUAL INCOME

• OCCUPATION

• LAND HOLDING

• SOCIAL PARTICIPATION

• MASS MEDIA EXPOSURE

• INNOVATIVENESS

Non-significance

Significant at 5%

• FARMING

EXPERIENCE

• EXTENSION

CONTACT

• COSMOPOLITENESS

Significant at 1%

4.6. Constraints faced by rice farmers in the adoption of rice

production practices

Using the interview schedule, rice growers were asked to give their

point of view on the occurrence of the listed constraints but also to give

other non-listed constraints they are facing in rice farming. Those

constraints have been grouped under four categories such as technical

constraints, financial constraints, extension constraints and marketing

constraints. The rice grower responses were analyzed with frequency and

percentage and results are presented in Table 20.

4.6.1. Technical constraints

It could be observed from Table 20 that majority of respondents

expressed constraints related to pest and disease control (90%) followed

by farm yard manure misuse (70%), insufficient water for crop irrigation

(62.50%), lower yield (37.50%), inadequate availability of inputs on time

(23.75%), non-availability of labor on time (15%) and lack of agricultural

machinery (7%).

4.6.2. Financial constraints

As presented in Table 20, results reveal that high cost of inputs,

lack of finance and expensive labor were expressed as major constraints

faced by 48.75 per cent, 45.00 per cent and 41.25 per cent, respectively.

4.6.3. Extension constraints

With respect to extension constraints, 50 per cent of respondents

reported lack of trainings on new technologies of paddy production,

46.25 per cent reported lack of proper demonstrations and field visits

and 12.50 per cent reported lack of technical guidance.

4.6.4. Marketing constraints

With respect to marketing constraints, 86.25 per cent of

respondents reported low price of rice in market, 47.25 per cent reported

lack of crop insurance in case of production loss caused by natural

calamities and 3.75 per cent reported lack of incentives to innovative rice

growers.

In order to improve rice production and to overcome occurring

constraints, rice growers had given some suggestions to different

stakeholders in agriculture especially in rice farming. They suggested the

construction and regular maintenance of adequate rice farming

infrastructures particularly those related to irrigation and drainage, the

improvement of extension system (training, demonstration, information

through different channels), the availability of inputs at reasonable price

and the provision of crop insurance which help the farmers to recover

losses which may be due to natural calamities.

Table 20. Constraints faced by rice growers in paddy production

(n=80)

Sl. No.

Particulars Frequency Percentage

A. Technical problems

1 Non availability of inputs at time 19 23.75

2 Low yield 30 37.50

3 Difficulty in pest and disease control 72 90.00

4 Water unavailability for crop irrigation 50 62.50

5 Non availability of labor on time 12 15.00

6 Difficulty in getting FYM 56 70.00

7 Non availability of agricultural machineries 4 5.00

B. Financial problems

1 High cost of inputs 39 48.75

2 Lack of finance 36 45.00

3 Expensive labor 33 41.25

C. Extension constraints

1 Lack of technical guidance 10 12.5

2 Lack of proper demonstrations and field visits

37 46.25

3 Lack of trainings 40 50.00

D. Marketing constraints

1 Low market price 69 86.25

2 Lack of crop insurance 38 47.50

3 Lack of incentives to innovative farmers 3 3.75

Figure 11: Constraints faced by rice growers in paddy production

V. DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the results of the present study on knowledge and

adoption of recommended rice cultivation practices are discussed under

the following headings:

5.1. Knowledge level of rice farmers with respect to the recommended


5.2. Adoption behavior of rice farmers with respect to recommended

rice cultivation practices

5.3. Personal, socio-economic and psychological characteristics of rice

farmers


characteristics of rice farmers and their knowledge level about



characteristics of rice farmers and their adoption level of


5.6. Constraints faced by rice farmers in adoption of rice production

practices.

5.1 Knowledge level of rice farmers with respect to the

recommended cultivation practices

As seen in Table 1, the knowledge level of rice growers about the

recommended rice cultivation practices was medium for majority of rice

farmers followed by high and low knowledge levels. The probable

explanation for this situation may be the medium level of extension

contact and low level of mass media exposure.

It is seen from Table 2 that more than 86 per cent of respondents

had correct knowledge about land preparation practices i.e. bush

clearing, tillage and puddling. This is understandable because any

farmer who wants to be a rice grower should know at least how to

prepare land before taking such decision.

Data about nursery technology revealed that more than 65 per

cent of respondents had incorrect knowledge about nursery dimensions,

seed rate and chemicals for seed treatment. This may be explained by the

fact that many farmers were not interested in nursery technologies; they

bought seedlings from their neighbors who had raised nurseries during

cultural season. Another issue was that some rice cooperatives organized

nursery raising plots under group approach depending upon the area

under rice cultivation controlled by that cooperative, so many farmers

came to nursery sites to pick seedlings without knowing the appropriate

technology for growing seedlings in nursery.

With regard to seedling transplantation, data in Table 2 revealed

that correct knowledge on age of transplantable seedlings, plant spacing

and rice cultural seasons was located between 56 per cent to 76 per cent.

The high knowledge about these cultivation practices may be due to the

effort made by different extension partners in diffusing these practices to

rice growers through government crop intensification program (CIP).

Results in Table 2 showed that knowledge level about use of farm

yard manure in rice cultivation was very low; the incorrect knowledge in

this category of practices was from 76.25 per cent to 100 per cent.

Farmers did not have will to learn more about organic manure in rice

cultivation in swamp areas thinking that marshlands are rich in organic

manure.

As it is shown in Table 2, more than 65 per cent of respondents

had correct knowledge about names of chemical fertilizers, time and

method of their application, irrigation and drainage practices. The high

knowledge regarding chemical fertilizers and irrigation was due to the

impact of rice farmers’ sensitization through crop intensification program

of Government of Rwanda.

About pests and diseases control, the findings revealed that 67.75

per cent and 53.75 per cent of rice farmers had incorrect knowledge on

rice pests & diseases and the measures of their control, respectively. The

low knowledge on names of pests and diseases as well as control

measures might be due to the complexity of the subject which is not easy

to understand where different rice pests and diseases which are new in

nature, need more effort to be known and controlled. The occurrence of

incorrect knowledge in rice pest and diseases control might be due to low

mass media exposure and medium extension contact of respondents. The

findings about knowledge level in this study are in some cases in

contradiction with the findings of Ramesh and Santha Govind (2003),

Rizwana (2006), Pottappa (2008) and Mahatab (2010).

5.2 Adoption behavior of rice farmers regarding the recommended

rice cultivation practices

Results presented in Table 3 showed that more number of

respondents of the study (38.75%) belonged to medium adoption

category followed by 31.25 per cent and 30 per cent who belonged

respectively to low and high adoption level categories. The medium

overall adoption level of farmers might be due to low purchasing power

which do not facilitate easy access to some agricultural inputs; it might

also due to low mass media exposure and low extension contact of

farmers.

The results presented in Table 4 showed that practices like land

preparation, harvesting, seedling transplantation and irrigation and

drainage were fully adopted by 81.25 per cent, 78.75 per cent, 38.75 per

cent and 20 per cent of respondents, respectively. On the other hand,

farm yard manure application and inter-cultivation practices had never

been fully adopted by any respondent but inter-cultivation practices were

partially adopted by 100 per cent of respondents whereas farm yard

manure application observed a non-adoption by 91.25 of respondents.

Also, it is seen that between 61 per cent and 95 per cent of rice growers

had partially adopted practices like seedling transplantation,

irrigation/drainage, chemical fertilizers and pests and diseases control

while only 7.5 per cent of farmers had fully adopted nursery raising

techniques.

It was noted from these findings that simple rice cultivation

practices were adopted by majority of farmers to a high extent whereas,

complex practices were adopted at a lower rate. The absence of full

adoption of farm manure application was due to lack of livestock for

organic manure production, low knowledge in compost making

techniques and lack of awareness about the importance of organic

manure in rice farming.

The low level of adoption of nursery technology might be due to

complex techniques involved to get strong and disease free seedlings and

also to the cooperative measures to prepare nurseries in groups, where

small number of farmers participate in that activity of nursery raising.

The high adoption level of practices like land preparation, seedling

transplantation, irrigation and drainage, chemical fertilizers, pests and

diseases and harvesting might be due to the efforts of Ministry of

Agriculture and Animal resources trough crop intensification program by

government subsidy on agricultural inputs (seeds, mineral fertilizers,

etc.), regular follow-up and advises to rice farmers.

These findings are in conformity with the findings of Pottapa (2008),

Varadaraju et al. (2009) and Mahatab (2010).


rice farmers

5.3.1 Age

It could be seen from the Table 5 that majority of respondents

(65%) were middle aged followed by 28.75 per cent and 6.25 per cent

belonging to young and old aged categories, respectively. This means that

more than three fourth of rice farmers were above 35 years of age.

The large number of farmers belonging to middle age group may

have meaning in the way that people within middle age are responsible

for their families, work hard for increasing income to feed their family

members and improving family welfare. These results are in line with the

findings of Sunilkumar (2004) and Mahatab (2010).

5.3.2 Sex

Among respondents, results in Table 6 showed that 57.5 per cent

were males and 42.5 per cent were females. This is due to the hard work

in rice cultivation practices mainly land preparation where men are

favorable for completion of those activities. But this does not exclude use

of women labor by rice farmers in some of the cultivation practices.

Therefore women participation in rice farming is not so very low (42.5%).

5.3.3 Education

The results in Table 7 revealed that 78.75 per cent of rice growers

had low education (primary school), 11.25 per cent were illiterate (very

low level) and 10.00 per cent had middle level education (middle or high

school). In this study it was found that no respondent belonged to high

level of education. These results give information on the educational

profile of farmers in general and rice growers in particular in Rwanda

where majority of farmers have low educational level.

5.3.4 Family size

It was found in Table 8 that majority of the respondents (63.75%)

belonged to medium family size, 33.75 per cent belonged to small family

size category whereas only 2.5 per cent were in the category of large

family size.

The government policy on family welfare put emphasis on the

minimization of family members; the 1994 genocide and war

consequences had also decreased the active population and family

members. Another issue is that majority of respondents belonged to

middle age group and their families were newly formed having not more

than 3 children. These might be the probable reasons for which majority

of respondents belonged to medium family size.

5.3.5 Occupation

The results of the study revealed that majority of respondents

(92.5%) did ‘agriculture’ as their main occupation while only 7.5 per cent

of them did agriculture as subsidiary occupation.

The fact that 75 per cent of Rwandan active population is engaged

in agriculture (Anonymous, 2010) the requirement of self-determination

in rice cultivation because of many and hard cultivation practices and

the income generation from rice farming might be the reason for majority

of respondents to make agriculture as main occupation.

5.3.6 Size of land holding

It was observed from the Table 10 that nearly fifty per cent of

respondents (48.75%) were in small land holding category having less

than 1ha of land followed by 38.75 per cent possessing between 1ha and

2ha of land holding whereas only 12.5 per cent had more than 2ha and

belonged to large land holding category. This might be true as supported

by the general population census made in 2002 where the average land

holding of Rwandan was only 0.7 ha with the total national area of

26,338 km2 (MINECOFIN, 2003).

5.3.7 Rice farming experience

With respect to rice farming experience, majority of respondents

(51.25%) were in the low category (those who had at most 3 years of

farming experience) followed by 28.75 per cent who were in the medium

category (between 3 and 6 years of farming experience) and 20 per cent

belonging to high category (above 6 years of farming experience).

In this study the minimum rice farming experience was one year

and the maximum experience was eighteen years. The reason for

majority of respondents to belong in low farming experience category

might be due new rice crop improvement and intensification program in

some concerned rice marshlands like Rwasave and Rusuli after

irrigational infrastructure building in 2006 and 2007.

5.3.8 Annual income

It was found that great majority of respondents (63.75%) were in

the medium annual income category (100,000Rwf - 500,000Rwf) followed

by 27.5 per cent in the low income category (<100,000Rwf) and 8.75 per

cent in the high annual income category (>500,000Rwf). As rice is an

income generating crop with high production cost, it may be the reason

for majority of rice farmers belonging to medium annual income category.

The findings are in line with the study of Sunil Kumar (2004) and

Mahatab (2010).

5.3.9 Social participation

Regarding the social participation of respondents, the study

revealed that 42.5 per cent belonged to medium category whereas 37.5

per cent and 20 per cent were in high and low categories of social

participation, respectively. This may be due to the efforts of government

involving different programs like leadership decentralization and poverty

reduction.

5.3.10 Mass media exposure

It is observed that majority of respondents (58.75%) belonged to

low category of mass media exposure followed by 25.00 per cent in

medium category and 16.25 per cent in high category of mass media

exposure.

It could be inferred from Table 7 that more than 78 per cent of rice

farmers had low education level which could influence their mass media

exposure. Another issue might be the scarcity or lack of availability some

mass media like newspapers, farm magazines and books in rural areas.

Another contributing factor is the low purchasing power of farmers.

5.3.11 Extension contact

It was evident from Table 15 that 36.25 per cent of rice farmers

had medium level of extension contact, 33.75 per cent had high level of

extension contact followed by 30 per cent with low level of extension

contact. This trend might be sometimes due to the availability of labor

alone in rice fields during extension worker visit without fields’ owners. It

might also due to unorganized extension work and low awareness of

farmers about the importance of extension contact.

5.3.12 Innovativeness

From the Table 16, it was observed that 58.75 per cent of rice

farmers belonged to medium level of innovativeness followed by 27.5 per

cent and 13.75 per cent belonging to low and high levels of

innovativeness respectively. Most of the socio-economic characteristics of

respondents were in the medium to high or low levels; hence majority of

respondents had also medium level of innovativeness. These results are

in line with the findings of Shashidara (2003) and Mahatab (2010).

5.3.13 Cosmopoliteness

The results of cosmopoliteness of rice farmers revealed that 42.5

per cent of respondents belonged to medium cosmopoliteness category,

37.5 per cent belonged to high cosmopoliteness category while 20 per

cent belonged to low category of cosmopoliteness. The frequent visits of

rice farmers to nearby cities and agricultural institutes might be mainly

for the marketing of their produce, agricultural input provision, buying

food and domestic items and participating to the meetings. Hence their

cosmopoliteness level was generally in the range of medium to high. The

results are in line with the findings of Mahatab (2010).

5.4 Association between personal, socio-economic and


knowledge level about recommended rice cultivation practices.

Data in Table 18 revealed the significant association between

knowledge level of farmers and their social participation, extension

contact, mass media exposure, rice farming experience and

cosmopoliteness.


The significant association between knowledge level of farmers and

their social participation might be due to the gain of supplemental

knowledge of an individual while participating in community

organizations or in social and administrative ceremonies where different

interactions with neighbors, friends, leaders and farming cooperative

officers had occurred. In this, the individual learns more from his/her

interlocutors even about rice farming. These findings are on one hand in

relation with the findings reported by Kantharaj (1980), Chandra Naik

(1993), Ramesh and Santha Govind (2003), Rizwana (2006) and Pankaja

et al. (2009) in their studies and on the other hand in contradiction with

the findings of Tarde et al. (2006) and Pottappa (2008).

Extension contact

The explanation for significant association between knowledge level

of farmers and their extension contact could be due to supplemental

knowledge gained by a farmer while contacting extension agent who gives

him updated information about innovative rice farming practices. These

findings are in conformity with the findings of Ramesh and Santha

Govind (2003).

Mass media exposure

The probable reasons for significant association between

knowledge level of farmers and their mass media exposure may have a

link with the considerable knowledge gained by the rice grower while

exposed to different media like booklets, leaflets, magazines, newspapers,

radio, video show and television where he/she can get more information

about new technologies in rice farming. The findings of the present study

on relation between mass media exposure of farmers and their

knowledge are related to those reported the following researchers: Singh

and Singh (1970), Lakshmi et al. (1998), Ramesh and Santha Govind

(2003), Rizwana (2006) and Pottappa (2008).

Cosmopoliteness

To explain the significant association between cosmopoliteness of

rice farmers and their knowledge level, we should consider the gain of

supplemental knowledge of an individual when he/she makes visits to

nearest or far cities in order to see the new achievements made by

research institutions, universities, progressive farmers and to interact

with them with objective of improving rice cultivation practices on

his/her own field. These results are in line with the findings of studies

made by Vijayaraghavan and Somasundram (1979), Patel et al. (1994),

Rizwana (2006) and Tarde et al. (2006) but are contradictory with

findings of the study of Pankaja et al. (2009).

Farming experience

The significant association between knowledge and farming

experience might be explained by the performance of a farmer when

doing rice farming for more years where he/she is eager to learn more in

order to improve the rice productivity. The present findings are

corresponding with the results found by Lakshmi et al. (1998) and

Ramesh and Santha Govind (2003) in their studies but are contrary to

the findings reported by Pankaja et al. (2009).

5.5 Association between personal, socio-economic and

psychological characteristics of rice farmers and their adoption

level of recommended rice cultivation practices

The Table 19 revealed that rice farming experience and extension

contact of farmers were significantly associated with the adoption level of

farmers at 0.05 level of significance whereas cosmopoliteness was

significant at 0.01 level of significance.

Farming experience

The possible reason for farming experience to be in significant

association with adoption might be linked to the fact that every season or

year of rice farming experience helps the farmer to make some trials on

small piece of land followed by evaluation of results which will inspire

that farmer to adopt or reject the concerned technology. The present

findings of the study are in conformity with findings reported by Sarkar

and Bandopadhayay (1996), Bhagwat and Gohad (2003).

Extension contact

The significant association between extension contact and

adoption level of rice farmers could be explained by the advantages of

farmer to get motivating information or field demonstration from

extension personnel which push him to adopt innovative technologies.

The findings on this study are in relation with findings reported by

Bhagwat and Gohad (2003) and Ramesh and Santha Govind (2008).

Cosmopoliteness

To explain the significant association between cosmopoliteness of

farmers and their adoption, the observation of performing rice farming

technologies in visited research institutions, universities, progressive

farmers and markets in addition to the interaction made with the

contacted experts and progressive farmers may influence the farmer to

apply those cultivation practices in his/her own field. The above findings

are in conformity with those reported in their studies Venkataramu

(1983), Siddeshwara (1988), Chandra Naik (1993) and Rizwana (2006).

5.6 Constraints faced by rice farmers in adoption of rice production

practices

The results presented in Table 20 show that more respondents

expressed technical constraints related to pest and disease control (90%),

farm yard manure (70%), insufficient water for crop irrigation (62.50%),

lower yield (37.50%) and inadequate availability of inputs (23.75%).

These constraints might be mainly relevant to the complexity of

pest and disease control, lack of awareness about the importance of farm

yard manure in rice cultivation, insufficient and sometimes inadequate

irrigational infrastructures, low commitment in implementing

appropriate package of rice cultivation practices, low erosion control,

climate change and use of uncertified seeds.

As presented in Table 20, besides technical constraints, results

reveal constraints like high cost of inputs, lack of finance and expensive

labor as main financial constraints rice farmers were facing at 48.75 per

cent, 45.00 per cent and 41.25 per cent, respectively. The probable

reason of these constraints could be found in the low purchasing power

compared with cost of daily life in its different angles.

Regarding extension and social constraints, half of the respondents

(50%) reported lack of trainings on new technologies of paddy

production, 46.25 per cent reported lack of proper demonstrations and

field visits, 86.25 per cent of respondents reported low price of rice on

market, 47.25 per cent reported lack of crop insurance in case of

production loss caused by natural calamities and 3.75 per cent reported

lack of incentive to innovative farmers.

These constraints could be due to the high cost of training for all

farmers, less number of qualified extension personnel, lack of reward

system to progressive farmers, lack of agricultural insurance fund,

common market in East African Community countries where there was

free entry of cheap and high quality rice to Rwanda from Tanzania. These

results are somehow in line with the findings in the study of Gangadhara

(2006) and Mahatab (2010).

VI. SUMMARY

Rice (Oryza sativa) is a popular staple food for nearly half of the

World‘s population. It is easy to store, easy to cook, easily digestible,

ideal for babies and sick people. The cultivation of rice is the main source

of livelihood for rural population in developing countries. As a staple food

it provides the basis for food security, employment opportunity and

income for rural people. Rice has been introduced to Rwanda in 1950's

and offers numerous advantages to the Rwandan people over the existing

staple foods which currently include bananas, sorghum, cassava, Irish

potato and maize. Rwanda produces low land irrigated rice (99.9%), its

production has been given high priority by Government of Rwanda,

especially in the valley bottom marshlands. Therefore the poor

organisation of producers and inadequate crop extension programs with

respect to input supply, plant protection measures, field’s management

as well as maintenance of the various infrastructures lead till now to low

rice productivity. In order to increase the crop yield, the level of

knowledge and adoption of improved farm practices ought to be

increased. Hence an attempt was made to know the knowledge and

adoption of rice cultivation practices in Southern Province of the

Republic of Rwanda with the following objectives:

1. To study knowledge level of farmers about rice cultivation,

2. To analyze the adoption of improved rice cultivation practices

among the farmers,

3. To find out the relationship between personal, socio-economic

characteristics of farmers and their knowledge and adoption

behavior and

4. To document the problems in the adoption of improved rice


This study was conducted in Southern Province of the Republic of

Rwanda where, taking in account the local administrative structure and

the grouping of rice farmers in cooperatives in Rwanda, two districts

Huye and Gisagara having more area under rice cultivation among four

main rice cultivators in Southern Province have been selected. From each

selected district, two rice cooperatives have been selected using simple

random sampling. Those are Rwasave Rice growers’ cooperative

(COAIRWA) and Rusuli rice growers’ cooperative in Huye Disrict; and in

Gisagara district, those are Cyili rice growers’ cooperative and Ngiryi rice

growers’ cooperative. Using also simple random sampling, from each

selected cooperative, twenty rice farmers have been selected totalling 80

respondents for the study. The data were collected through personal

interview method using pretested interview schedule, analyzed using

appropriate statistical tools and techniques.

Salient findings of the study

� Majority of farmers (41.25%) were under medium overall

knowledge category. whereas 30.00 per cent and 28.75 per cent

belonged respectively to high and low overall knowledge category.

� In the case of individual rice cultivation practices, 100 per cent of

respondents had correct knowledge about bush clearing and

puddling, 81.25 per cent had incorrect knowledge about nursery

dimensions, 76 per cent had correct knowledge on age of

transplantable seedlings, 100 per cent had incorrect knowledge

about quantity of FYM to apply and more than two third of

respondents had correct knowledge on irrigation and drainage,

53.75 per cent had incorrect knowledge on measures of control of

rice pests & diseases.

� With respect to overall adoption level, more number of respondents

(38.75%) belonged to medium adoption category followed by 31.25

per cent and 30 per cent who belonged respectively to low and high

adoption level categories.

� It was found that more than 78 per cent of farmers had fully

adopted practices like land preparation, harvesting. However, farm

yard manure application and inter-cultivation practices had never

been fully adopted by any farmer but inter-cultivation practices

were partially adopted by 100 per cent of respondents whereas

farm yard manure application observed a non-adoption by 91.25 of

respondents. More than 60 per cent of farmers had partially

adopted practices like seedling transplantation, irrigation/

drainage, chemical fertilizers and pests & diseases control.

� Nearly two third of respondents (65%) belonged to middle aged

category followed by 28.75 per cent and 6.25 per cent belonging to

young and old aged categories, respectively. The results revealed

that 57.5 per cent of rice growers were males, 78.75 per cent had

low education (primary school), majority of the farmers (63.75%)

belonged to medium family size category and 92.5 per cent did

‘agriculture’ as their main occupation.

� It was observed that 48.75 per cent of rice farmers were in small

land holding category having less than 1ha of land, 51.25 per cent

were in the low category of farming experience, 63.75 per cent were

in the range of medium annual income (100,000Rwf - 500,000Rwf)

and 42.5 per cent belonged to medium category of social

participation.

� More than half of the respondents (58.75%) belonged to low

category of mass media exposure while almost equal number of

respondents had low, medium and high extension contact (30%;

36.25% and 33.75%). The results revealed that more than half of

rice farmers (58.75%) belonged to medium level of innovativeness

and 42.5 per cent belonged to medium cosmopoliteness category.

� Based on Chi-square test results, social participation, extension

contact and mass media exposure of rice growers were significantly

associated with their knowledge level at 5 per cent level of

significance, whereas rice farming experience and cosmopoliteness

were significantly associated with farmers’ knowledge at 1 per cent

of significance.

� Rice farming experience and extension contact of farmers were

significantly associated with adoption of farmers at 0.05 level of

significance whereas cosmopoliteness was significantly associated

with extent of adoption at 0.01 level of significance by using Chi-

square test.

� Majority of rice growers expressed constraints related to pest and

disease control (90%), insufficient water for crop irrigation

(62.50%), lack of finance (45%). lack of trainings on new

technologies of paddy production (50%), lack of proper

demonstrations and field visits (46.25%), low price of rice in

market (86.25%) and lack of crop insurance (47.25%).

Implications of the study

1. The findings of this study undoubtedly brought out the knowledge

and adoption level of rice growers. Many of the farmers were not

adopting rice cultivation practices like FYM application and

nursery preparation techniques. So, there is a need for the

extension services to focus on these aspects in order to increase

the adoption level besides providing required financial support.

2. Around fifty per cent of the farmers possessed incorrect knowledge

about pest and disease control measures. There is a need to

organize educational activities on these aspects using combination

of extension methods in general and demonstrations in particular.

3. The study revealed that farming experience, social participation,

mass media exposure, extension contact and cosmopoliteness of

rice growers influenced their knowledge whereas farming

experience, extension contact and cosmopoliteness influenced the

adoption level of paddy farmers. Hence, different stakeholders in

rice cultivation mainly government and non-government extension

agencies need to consider these variables while organizing and

implementing extension programmes in relation to rice cultivation.

4. Farmers had expressed difficulty in pests and diseases control,

difficulty in FYM use, constraint in timely availability of water for

irrigation and the need for crop insurance. This implies that

farmers need to be educated on integrated pest management,

integrated farming system and to be helped in establishment of

crop insurance fund.

5. Almost all the farmers had declared to get information related to

paddy farming from their farming cooperatives societies. Therefore,

it is necessary to put more emphasis on rice farming cooperatives

organization in order to facilitate the flow of information to

farmers.

Limitations of the study

Since this is a student’s research work, there were limitation of

time, financial resources and physical facilities available for the student

researcher. The study was restricted only to selected districts and rice

farming cooperatives of Southern Province of Rwanda. Therefore,

researchers can in this way conduct the similar study in other rice

growing Provinces of Rwanda where some personal, socioeconomic and

psychological characteristics differ.

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* Original copy not found

APPENDIX I

INTERVIEW SCHEDULE

Title of Thesis Research: “Study on knowledge and adoption of

recommended rice cultivation practices in Southern Province of Rwanda”

PART –A: GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Name of farmer…………………………………………………………………

2. Sex: a) Male b) Female

3. Age: ……years

4. Rice growers cooperative: Administrative Sector:

District:

5. Education :

a) Illiterate

b) Primary school

c) Middle school

d) High school

e) Graduate

6. Family size:

a) 1-4 members

b) 5-8 members

c) 9-12 members

7. Occupation: Say if agriculture is your main or subsidiary occupation

a) Main:

b) Subsidiary:

8. Total land holding (ha): ……....

a} Irrigated (under rice crop): ………

b) Rainfed (dry land): ……

9. Rice farming experience ( years):

10. Annual income (RWF): a) Below 100,000

b) 100,000- 500,000

c) Above 500,000

11. Social participation:

Are you a member of the following organizations/groups?

Membership Participation Organization/Group

Non

member

Member Office

bearer

Regularly Occasionally Never

Agricultural.

Cooperatives

Local leadership

Ubudehe activities

Rural Micro-finance

Institutions/Bank

Itorero cultural

group

Any other

13. Mass media exposure:

Extent of exposure Media


Leaflet/ pamphlet on agric.

Farm magazines

Newspapers

Books on agriculture

Radio

Television

Video/film show

14. Extension contact:

Extension Agency Regularly Occasionally Never

Cooperative officers

NGOs

Extension workers from

MINAGRI

NUR/Faculty of agriculture

Any other

15. Innovativeness

Indicate your point of view to the following statements (Agree or

disagree):

Statements Agree Disagree

I try to keep myself up to date with information on new rice cultivation practices

I feel restless till I try out a new rice cultivation practice I have heard about

Usually I wait to see the results obtained by my neighbors before I try out those practices in my field

Somehow I believe traditional ways of rice farming are the best

16. Cosmopoliteness

a. How many times have you visited the nearest town in the three last

months?

Once in the while

Once in a month

Once in 15 days

Once in the week

Twice in a week

Other option:………….

b. What would be the main purpose of your visit?

Agriculture: To agril. Officer, to buy inputs

Personal/Domestic

Entertainment

Medical purpose

Other purpose:………………………..

PART- B: KNOWLEDGE AND ADOPTION LEVEL OF THE FARMERS

ON CULTIVATION PRACTICES OF PADDY CROP

Knowledge Adoption Sl

No.

Particulars

C.K I.K F.A P.A N.A

A Land preparation

1 Bush clearing

2 Tillage

3 Puddling

B Nursery making techniques

1 Nursery dimensions

2 Rice varieties

3 Seed rate

4 Names of seed treatment chemicals

5 Quantity of seed treatment chemicals

C Seedling transplantation

1 Age of seedlings

2 Number of seedlings per hill

3 Spacing

4 Cultural season/ Time

D Farm yard manure application

1 Quantity(Rate/ha)

2 Method of spreading

3 Time of spreading

E Chemical fertilizers

1 Names

2 Quantity/Rate

3 Time of application(flooded,wet or dry

field)

4 Growing phase of application

5 Method of application

F Inter-cultivation practices

1 Gap filling of seedlings

2 Manual weeding

3 Application of herbicides

G Irrigation and drainage

1 Irrigation & drainage phases

2 Water level in paddy field

3 Irrigation channels maintenance

H Pest and disease control

1 Names of main pests and diseases

2 Parts attacked

3 Their damage effect on yield

4 Measures of control

5 Adequate time for control

I Harvesting

1 Appropriate time of harvesting

2 Favorable time for threshing

C.K: correct knowledge; I.K: incorrect knowledge; F.A: full adoption; P.A:

partial adoption; N.A: non-adoption

PART –C: CONSTRAINTS IN RICE CULTIVATION

What are the problems you are facing in rice cultivation?

Occurrence Problems

Yes No

Suggestion of solution

Lack of technical guidance

Non availability of inputs timely

Difficulty in FYM production

High cost of inputs

Lack of finance

Non availability of irrigation water

timely

Difficulty in pest and disease

control

Non availability of labor on time

Expensive labor

Non availability of agril.

Machineries

Lower yield

Low price of rice on market

Lack of trainings on farming

practices

Any other(specify)

Give your suggestions to different stakeholders in order to increase the

adoption of cultivation practices in rice production

………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Thank you for your responses!

APPENDIX 2

PACKAGE OF RECOMMENDED PRACTICES FOR RICE CULTIVATION

IN RWANDA

Practice Recommendations

Cultural practices before transplantation

Selection of varieties : Zhong Geng, Yun Keng, Basmati, BR, IR

68, Facagro, Tox 4331,Wat 1276-22-2, Wat 91-3-1-1-1,

Wat 1395 B-24-2, Muturage, Gakire


Type of nursery : Dry and irrigated with raised seed bed

Area of nursery : 500 m2 /ha (nursery is 1/20 of main field)

Size of nursery : 50 - 100 m2

Seed rate : 10 to 20 kg in nursery/ ha of main field (2kg/ 50 m2)

Seed treatment : 2g of Beam75 WP/ 1kg of seeds in 12 t0 16

hours before sowing in nursery

FYM in nursery : 125 g/ 50 m2 or 25 kg/ ha

NPK for nursery : 0.5 kg/ 50 m2

Field preparation

Erosion control : 1 week before irrigation channels cleaning

Irrigation canals cleaning: 1- 5 days before bush clearing or tillage

Tillage (1st and 2nd) : 15 days before transplanting

Leveling : 7-10 days before transplanting

FYM application : 2.5 tons /ha (basal fertilizer)

Puddling : 1-2 days before transplanting, add 200 kg of

NPK/ ha before puddling

Transplantation

Age of seedlings : 15 to 21 days old

Number of seedling/ hill : 1 – 2 seedlings /hill

Spacing : 20cm x 20 cm

Time of transplanting : - December –January (Season B)

- June – July (Season A)

Cultural practices after transplantation

Gap filling of seedlings : 5 days after transplantation

Manual weeding : 1st weeding, 15 days after transplantation

2nd weeding, 30 days after transplantation

3rd weeding, 42 days after transplantation

Mineral fertilizer application:

33kg of urea, 15 days after transplantation (1day after 1st weeding)

33kg of urea, 42 days after transplantation (1 day after 3rd weeding)

33kg of urea, 65 to 85 days after transplantation

Diseases and pests control (chemicals):

- 30 days after transplanting, fungicide applicationslike

Beam75 WP if necessary, against Pyricularia oryzae

- 42 days after transplantation, adequate chemicals against

pest and diseases

- 55 to 60 days after transplantation (depending on the case)

- 65 to 85 days after transplantation (depending on the case)

- 85 t0 100 days after transplantation (depending on the case)

Irrigation & drainage phases :

- 1 to 2 cm of water during transplantation

- Drainage for 5 days after transplantation to allow rooting

of seedlings

- 1-2 cm of water till the 1st manual weeding and fertilizer

application

- Drainage for 1 to 3days after 1st weeding

- 2 cm of water after 1st weeding

- 2 to 5 cm of water 30 days after transplantation

- Drainage between 38th and 45th day after transplanting

- 10 to 15 cm of water between 50th and 55th day after

transplanting till flowering stage

- 3 to 5 cm of water between 65th and 125th day after

transplantation

- Drainage 14 days before harvesting

Harvesting : 155th to 160th day after transplantation {with

90% of seeds dry/ripened}

Threshing : When seeds have 14% of humidity rate

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