Evaluation of Frontline Demonstration on Mustard in Sunderbans, West Bengal

Transcription

1 From the SelectedWorks of Ganesh Chandra 2004 Evaluation of Frontline Demonstration on Mustard in Sunderbans, West Bengal Ganesh Chandra R L Sagar Available at:

2 Sagar,R.L. and Chandra,Ganesh (2004). Evaluation of Frontline Demonstration on Mustard in Sunderbans, West Bengal. Indian Journal of Extension Education. 40 (3&4): Evaluation of Frontline Demonstration on Mustard in Sunderbans, West Bengal R. L. SAGAR* and GANESH CHANDRA Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute Barrackpore, Kolkata, west Bengal India *Head EE & SE Section, Central Institute for Research on goats, Makhdoom, Mathura ABSTRACT Mustard is one of the most important oilseeds crop in West Bengal, which plays a major role in supplementing the income of small and marginal farmers of Sunderbans. One of the major constraints of traditional mustard farming is low productivity of local varieties. To replace this anomaly, Krishi Vigyan Kendra of CIFRI has conducted frontline demonstration at adopted farmers field in four development blocks viz. Kakdwip, Namkhana, Patharpratima and Kulpi of Sunderbans, West Bengal. Cultivation of high yielding varieties of mustard viz. Bhagirathi (RW-351), Sanjukta asech (4C-6-3/II), Jhumka (NC-1), Seeta (B-85) and Binoy (B-9) shows percentage increase of 57.51, 53.57, 50.97, and respectively over local check. The technology gap were 79 kg/ha for Jhumka (NC-1) to 748 kg/ha for Seeta (B-85). The highest extension gap of 446 kg/ha was recorded in variety Jhumka (NC-1) followed by Bhagirathi (RW-351) 444 kg/ha and Sanjukta asech (4C-6-3/II) 375 kg/ha. The high extension gap requires urgent attention by the extension and development agencies. The technology index is lowest for the variety Jhumka (NC-1) followed by Sanjukta asech (4C-6-3/II) and Bhagirathi (RW- 351) and highest for Seeta (B-85). This indicates that three varieties Jhumka (NC-1) Sanjukta asech (4C-6-3/II) and Bhagirathi (RW-351) have performed its best in Sunderbans conditions and this will accelerate the adoption of newer varieties to increase the productivity of mustard in this area.. There is a need to adopt multi pronged strategy which involves enhancing mustard production through area expansion and productivity improvements through better adoption of improved technology. (Key Words: Frontline Demonstration, Technology gap, Extension gap, Technology index) INTRODUCTION The oilseeds scenario in the country has undergone a sea change. The main contributors to such transformation have been i) availability of improved oilseeds production 1

3 technology and its adoption, ii) expansion of cultivated area, iii) price support policy, iv) institutional support, particularly establishment of technology mission on oilseeds in 1986 (Hegde 2004). The production of rapeseed and mustard in India for the year was 71 lakh tones. Rapeseed and mustard production in India had achieved three fold increases in the last two decades. Mustard has emerged as an important crop from the states like Gujarat, MP, Rajasthan whereas it recorded negative growth in UP and Punjab. The technology development with regard to improved varieties and other inputs have played important role in raising productivity (Singh 2003). Sunderbans the largest delta on the planet earth has its population wholly dependent on agriculture and allied activities. Rice is the main crop grown in this area. The mustard crop is mainly cultivated in rabi season in uplands and medium land with residual soil moisture. With the start of technology mission on oilseeds, frontline demonstration on mustard using new crop production technology was started with the objectives of showing the productive potentials of the new production technologies under real farm situation over the locally cultivated mustard crop. METHODOLOGY The present investigation was carried out during the rabi season in the four adopted blocks of Sunderbans namely Kakdwip, Namkhana, Patharpratima and Kulpi in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. Materials for the present study comprised five high yielding varieties of mustard viz. Bhagirathi (RW-351), Jhumka (NC-1), Seeta (B-85), Binoy (B-9) and Sanjukta asech (4C-6-3/II). Locally cultivated varieties were used as local check. The FLD was conducted to study the gaps between the potential yield and demonstration yield, extension gap and the technology index. In the present evaluation study the data on output of mustard cultivation were collected from FLD plots, besides the data on local practices commonly adopted by the farmers of this region were also collected. To estimate the technology gap, extension gap and the technology index the following formulae have been used. (Samui et al 2000) 1. Technology gap = Potential yield Demonstration yield 2. Extension gap = Demonstration yield- Farmers yield 3. Technology index = [(Potential yield Demonstration yield) / Potential yield] X 100 The soil type was gangetic alluvium (Entisols) and medium to low in fertility status. 2

4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Frontline demonstration was conducted on 140 hectare of land with 1102 demonstration plots covering all the five mustard varieties. On an average mustard variety Jhumka (NC- 1) has given the highest yield of 13.2q/ha followed by Bhagirathi (RW-351) and Sanjukta asech (4C-6-3/II). The results indicates that the Frontline demonstration has given a good impact over the farming community of Sunderbans as they were motivated by the new agro technologies applied in the FLD plots. Yield of mustard was, however varied in different years, which might be due to the soil moisture availability & rainfall condition, climatic aberrations, aphid infestation as well as the change in the location of trails in each year. The high yielding varieties has performed extremely well when compared to local check. Table-1 Productivity of Mustard, Yield gaps and Technology index Mustard varieties Bhagirathi (RW- 351) Jhumka (NC-1) Seeta (B-85) Binoy (B-9) Sanjukta asech (4C-6-3/II) No. of Demon stration s Area (ha) Yield (Kg/ha) Potential Demons. Local Ch. Percentage increase over local check Technolo gy gap Extensi on gap Technology index The percentage increase in the yield over the local check was 57.51, 53.57, 50.97, and for Bhagirathi (RW-351), Sanjukta asech (4C-6-3/II), Jhumka (NC-1), Seeta (B-85) and Binoy (B-9) respectively. The technology gap which corroborates to the gap in the demonstration yield over potential yield were 79 kg/ha for Jhumka (NC-1) to 748 kg/ha for Seeta (B-85). The technology gap observed may be attributed to dissimilarity in the soil fertility status and weather conditions. Hence location specific recommendation appears to be necessary to bridge the gap between the yields of different varieties. A wide gap was recorded in the productivity of the selected five varieties. The lowest yield was recorded in the demonstration plots of variety Seeta (B-85) which performed poorly showing the highest technology gap of 748 kg/ha. Binoy (B-9) has recorded a technology gap of 570 kg/ha which needs extra efforts from the extension agencies to bridge. The highest extension gap of 446 kg/ha was recorded in variety Jhumka (NC-1) closely followed by Bhagirathi (RW-351) 444 kg/ha and Sanjukta asech (4C-6-3/II) 375 3

5 kg/ha which emphasized the need to educate the farmers through various means for the adoption of improved high yielding varieties and improved agro technologies to reverse this trend of wide extension gap. More and more use of new HYV s by the farmers will subsequently change this alarming trend of galloping extension gap. The new technologies will eventually lead to the farmers to disenchantment discontinuance of old varieties with the new technology. The technology index shows the feasibility of the evolved technology at the farmers field. The lower the value of technology index more is the feasibility of the technology. The technology index is lowest for the variety Jhumka (NC-1) followed by Sanjukta asech (4C-6-3/II) and Bhagirathi (RW-351) and highest for Seeta (B-85). The technology index of variety Seeta (B-85) and Binoy (B-9) were and percent respectively, showing the worst performance of these varieties in Sunderbans conditions. The technology index of three mustard varieties Jhumka (NC-1), Bhagirathi (RW-351) and Sanjukta asech (4C-6-3/II) has indicates that these varieties has performed its best in Sunderbans conditions and this will accelerate the adoption of newer varieties to increase the productivity of mustard in this area. CONCLUSIONS Despite the low soil moisture availability in the rabi season, aphid infestation as well as delay in sowing owing to the late harvesting of kharif paddy crop, three varieties of mustard viz. Jhumka (NC-1), Bhagirathi (RW-351) and Sanjukta asech (4C-6-3/II) has given a very good yield in coastal agro-ecosystem of Sunderbans in comparison to local check. These varieties may be popularized in this area by the extension agencies to bridge the higher extension gap. Mainly small and marginal farmers are associated with the cultivation of mustard in Sunderbans. The use of new production technologies will substantially augment the income as well as the livelihood of local population. There is a need to adopt multi pronged strategy which involves enhancing mustard production through area expansion and productivity improvements through better adoption of improved technology. REFERENCE Hegde, D. M. (2004). Becoming self reliant. Hindu Survey of Indian Agriculture, Pp Samui S. K., Maitra S, Roy D.K., Mondal A.K., Saha D. (2000) Evaluation on Frontline Demonstration on Groundnut (Arachis hypogea L.), Journal of the Indian Society of Coastal Agriculture Research ; 18(2) : Singh, N. B. (2003). Accomplishment and challenges in Rapeseed and Mustard research in India in Salimath et al (Eds) Abstracts, National Seminar on advances in Genetics and Plant Breeding- impact of DNA revolution October 30-31, 2003 at UAS, Dharwad, Karnataka. 4