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Seed is a vital input and a dynamic component for increasing agricultural production. The development of seed enterprise is necessary in the context of modern agriculture. Much of our success in increasing food production has been due to the development of seed enterprise over the past decade. Demand at present is strong and expected to continue expanding. India is now embarked on the development of first class seed industry, which the country needs to the farmer all the scientific research, would be a little value unless he get seeds which are genetically pure and possess other desired qualities viz high germination percentage, high vigor, high purity and sound health. When the farmer does not get seeds possessing these qualities and values the yield they obtain may not be as expected. Only seeds with assured quality can be expected to respond to fertilizers and other inputs in the expected manner. Otherwise as has been aptly said, “What are known as the seeds of hope may turn into seeds of frustration” It has been noticed that among the inputs used by farmers cost of seed remains the lowest. It is a basic input and forms only a small part of the total expenses yet, without good seeds, the investment on other inputs will not pay the desired returns. India ranks third after Argentina and Brazil in production of soybean. In India area under soybean seed production was 103.33 lakh ha, yield 1127 kg/ha, and production 116.50 lakh MT in 2011 and in 2012 area 106.94 lakh ha, yield 1185 kg/ha and production was 126.77 lakh MT. (Source: National Seed Association of India 2011-12) and Maharashtra is the second largest producer after Madhya Pradesh. While in Mahrashtra area under soybean seed

Knowledge and Adoption of Recommended Seed Production Technology

by the Soybean Growers1 2 3P. B. Shinde , Dr. P. R. Deshmukh , Dr. R. D. Ahire

ABSTRACT

The present study was conducted in Parbhani district of the Marathwada Region of Maharashtra state.Parbhani district consist of 9 talukas out of these nine talukas three talukas were selected randomly. From each taluka four villages were selected. List of the soybean seed growers in Parbhani district were obtained from Mahabeej Office Parbhani. Thus 12 villages were selected for present study .The list of the seed growers of soybean crops in Parbhani district were obtained from Mahabeej Office Parbhani and ten soybean seed production growers from each village were selected randomly thus 120 respondents were selected randomly by following lottery method from selected villages they were interviewed, personally to collect the data with the help of structured interview schedule. The collected data were processed and statistically analyzed. The independent variables namely age, farm experience, education, annual income, social participation were highly significant and positively whereas sources of information, risk orientation and extension contact were significant and positively and land holding and economic motivation did not significantly related with the level of knowledge of recommended seed production technology of soybean seed growers . The independent variables namely age, farm experiences, education, annual income, land holding, social participation, and risk orientation were highly significant and positively whereas sources of information, economic motivation and extension contact were significant and positively related with the level of adoption of recommended seed production technology of soybean seed growers.

Corresponding author e-mail : priyankashinde1311@gmail.com

Key words : Knowledge; Adoption; Profile; Relationship, Soybean Growers.

production was 30.61 lakh ha, yield 1163 kg/ha and production 35.60 lakh MT in 2011 and in 2012 area32.13 lakh ha, yield 1243 kg/ha and production, 39.95 lakh MT (Source: The Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA) 2011-12) and the soybean seed total area sown and registered was 7038.8(ha) and total seed production of soybean 83856.58 (qtls) in 2012-13 of Parbhani. (Source: Regional office, Mahabeej, Parbhani 2012-13.)1. To study the profile of soybean seed growers.2. To delineate the relationship between profile of soybean growers with knowledge and adoption of recommended seed production technology.

METHODOLOGY The present study undertaken in Parbhani district of Marathawada region purposively. Parbhani district consist of 9 talukas out of these nine talukas three talukas namely Parbhani, Gangakhed and Purna were selected randomly. From each talukas four villages were selected. List of the soybean seed growers in Parbhani district was obtained from Mahabeej Office Parbhani and ten soybean seed production growers from each village were selected randomly by following lottery method. Thus the sample comprised of 120 respondents. Ex- post facto research approach of social research was used for the study. The data were collected with the help of pre tested structured interview schedule consisting of various items concern with the objective of study. The respondent was categorized with the help of mean and standard deviation.

International J. of Exten. Edu. Vol. XI: 86-89, 2015 ISSN : 2319-7188 NAAS Rating 4.15

1. PG student, 2. Associate Professor3. Head, Dept. of Extension Education, College of Agriculture, VNMKV, Parbhani

87Knowledge and Adoption of Recommended Seed Production Technology by the Soybean Growers

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONProfile of soybean seed growers : The data with

Table 1 Distribution of the respondents according to their profile

respect to profile of the respondents have been furnished in Table 1. The distribution of the respondents in Table shows that 70.01 per cent of the respondents were from middle age group, while nearly 19.16 per cent of the respondents were from young age group and only 10.83 per cent of the respondents were of old age group. This

observation is similar with findings of Sharnagat (2008). 68.33 per cent of the soybean seed growers had

experience of 18 to 32 years, while 18.34 per cent respondents had more than 33 years farming experience and 13.33 per cent had experience of up to 17 years in farming. This observation is similar with findings of Waghmare (2010). 32.5 per cent of the soybean seed growers were educated up to high school level, 23.34 per cent of the soybean seed growers were

Sr. No.

Profile of respondents

Category Respondents (N=120)

No %

1. Age (Years) Young (Up to 37 years) 23 19.16

Middle (38 to 56 years) 84 70.01

Old (57 years and above) 13 10.83

2. Farm experience

Low ( up to 17) 16 13.33 Medium (18 to 32 ) 82 68.33High (33 and above) 22 18.34

3. Education Illiterate 01 00.83 Functionally literate (can read and write only)

11 09.17

Primary school level (1 st to 4th std.) 19 15.83 Middle school level (5th to 7th std.) 22 18.33

High school level (8 thto 10th std.) 39 32.50College level 28 23.34

4. Annual income

Low ( up to Rs. 70,000) 00 00 Medium (Rs. 70,001 to 5,99,999) 99 82.5

High (Rs. 6,00,000 & above) 21 17.55. Land holding

Marginal land holding (Up to 1.0 ha.) 08 06.66Small land holding (1.1 to 2.0 ha.) 25 20.83Semi-medium land holding (2.1 to 4.0 ha.) 34 28.33Medium land holding (4.1 to 10.0 ha.) 46 38.35

Big land holding (10.1 ha. and above) 07 05.836. Social

participationLow ( up to 5) 37 30.83 Medium (6 to 8) 57 47.5High (9 and above) 26 21.67

7. Source of information

Low ( up to 17) 24 20.00 Medium (18 to 23 ) 68 56.67 High (24 and above ) 28 23.33

8. Risk orientation

Low (Up to 18) 31 25.83

Medium (19 to 23) 57 47.5High (24 and above) 32 26.67

9. Economic motivation

Low ( up to 17 ) 21 17.5 Medium (18 to 23 ) 76 63.33

High (24 and above) 23 19.1710. Extension

contact Low ( up to 5 ) 29 24.17 Medium (6 to 7) 68 56.67 High (8 and above ) 23 19.16

88 International J. of Exten. Edu. Vol. XI: 86-89, 2015 ISSN : 2319-7188

educated upto college level, 18.33 per cent of them had middle school level of education, 15.83 per cent were educated up to primary school level, 9.17 per cent of them were can read and write only while, 0.83 per cent of the soybean seed growers were illiterate. This observation is similar with findings of Katke (2011). The 82.5 per cent of soybean seed growers had medium annual income followed by 17.5 per cent of soybean seed growers and 0 per cent of soybean seed growers had high and low annual income, respectively. This finding is similar to Nemade (2007). Higher percentage 38.35 per cent of soybean seed growers were found in medium land holding category, 28.33 per cent of soybean seed growers were found in semi medium land holding category and 20.83 per cent of soybean seed growers and 06.66 per cent of soybean seed growers of them from small and marginal land holding category, respectively. Only, 05.83 per cent of the soybean seed growers were found in big land holding category. This observation is similar with finding of Athwale (2008). Majority 47.5 per cent of the soybean seed growers had medium social participation while, 30.83 per cent of them had low social participation. Only, 21.67 per cent of soybean seed growers were having high level of social participation. Similar types of findings were noticed by Pawar (2008). More than half 56.67 per cent of the soybean seed growers used medium sources of information while, 23.33 per cent of the soybean seed growers high and 20.00 per cent of the soybean seed growers had low sources of information category. This finding is in conformity with the findings of Pawar (2008), Dalvi (2009). It was observed that majority 47.5 per cent of the respondents were having medium risk orientation, while 26.67 per cent of the respondents had high risk orientation. Further it was found that 25.83 per cent of them had low risk orientation. Similar finding were quoted by Dalvi (2009) and Katke (2011). Majority 63.33 per cent of the respondents were having medium economic motivation, while 17.5 per cent of them had low economic motivation. Further it was found that 19.17 per cent of the respondents had high economic motivation. This finding is similar to those of Chahande (2012) and Jadhav (2013). Majority, 56.67 per cent of the respondents were having medium Extension contact, while 24.17 per cent of them had low extension contact. Further it was found that 19.16 per cent of the respondents had high extension contact. This finding is in line with the findings of Chahande (2012) ,Jadhav (2013) and Shinde (2013). Relationship between profile of soybean growers with knowledge and adoption of recommended seed production technology

The independent variables namely age, farm experience, education, annual income, social participation were highly significant and positive relationship with sources of information, Risk orientation and extension contact were significant and positive and land holding and economic motivation were not significantly related with the level of knowledge of recommended seed production technology of soybean seed growers .

Table 2 Relationship between profile of soybean

growers with knowledge of recommended seed production technology

* Significant at 0.05% level of probability ** Significant at 0.01% level of probabilityNS –Non significant

Table 3 Relationship between profile of soybean growers

with adoption of recommended seed production technology

* Significant at 0.05% level of probability ** Significant at 0.01% level of probability

Sr. No.

Profile Correlation coefficient

(‘r’)1. Age 0.337**

2. Farm experience 0.319**3. Education 0.401**4. Annual income 0.257**5. Land holding 0.125NS

6. Social participation 0.308**7. Sources of information 0.215*8. Risk orientation 0.226* 9. Economic motivation 0.054NS

10. Extension contact

0.232*

Sr. No.

Profile Correlation coefficient

(‘r’) 1. Age 0.281**

2. Farm experience 0.452** 3. Education 0.423** 4. Annual income 0.366** 5. Land holding 0.358**

6. Social participation 0.266** 7. Sources of information 0.235* 8. Risk orientation 0.269**9. Economic motivation 0.215*

10. Extension contact 0.223*

89Knowledge and Adoption of Recommended Seed Production Technology by the Soybean Growers

The independent variables namely age, farm experiences, education, annual income, land holding, social participation, and risk orientation were highly significant and positive whereas, sources of information, economic motivation and extension contact were significant and positively related with the level of adoption of recommended seed production technology of soybean seed growers.

CONCLUSION It was observed from study that the majority of respondents were from middle age group, medium level of farm experience, middle school level of education and medium annual income group, land holding, social participation, sources of information, risk orientation, economic motivation and extension contact. Independent variables i.e. age, farm experience, education, annual income, social participation, showed highly significant and positive relationship with knowledge level of soybean seed growers about recommended seed production technology. Whereas, sources of information, risk orientation and extension contact had significant and positive relationship with knowledge level of soybean seed growers about recommended seed production technology. While land holding and economic

1. Athwale V.S. 2008. Impact of Cotton Farmer Field School on Knowledge and Adoption of Cotton Technology among Trained Farmers. M.Sc. (Agri.) Thesis, MAU, Parbhani.2. Badale U.G. 2007 Knowledge and Adoption of Recommended Soybean Production Technology by the Farmers of Latur District in Marathwada Region. M Sc. (Agri) Thesis, MAU, Parbhani.3. Chahande A.B. 2012. Knowledge and Adoption of Recommended Pigeonpea Package of Practices the M.Sc. (Agri.) Thesis MKV, Parbhani.4. Dalvi P.L. 2009. Knowledge and Adoption of Pre and Post Harvest Technology by Soybean Growers. M.Sc. (Agri.) Thesis MAU, Parbhani.5. Ishwar Singh, K.K.Singh, S.S.Thakur, 2012. Adoption of Soybean Production Technology. Indian J. of Social Research Vol.53 (6) : 509-515.6. Jadhav S. R., 2013. Knowledge and Adoption of Recommended Package of Practices in Rabi Groundnut. M.Sc. (Agri.) Thesis, MKV, Parbhani.7. Karlinger F.N. 1964. Foundation of Behavioral Research. Surjeet Publication, New Delhi.8. Katke S.P. 2011. Knowledge and Adoption of Dryland Cotton Production Technology in Parbhani District M.Sc. (Agri.) Thesis, MKV, Parbhani.9. Nemade N.R. 2007 Knowledge and Adoption of Recommended Pre and Post Harvest Technology in Mango Cultivation. M.Sc. (Agri.) Thesis, MAU, Parbhani. 10. Pawar A.S. 2008 Knowledge and Adoption of Tissue Culture Banana Growers M.Sc.(Agri )Thesis MAU Parbhani.11. Sakharkar V.S., D.M. Nikhade and R.S. Bhopal 1992. Correlation of Knowledge and Adoption Behaviour of Soybean Growers. Maharashtra. J. Extn. Edn., Vol 11 : 212-217.12. Samanta R. and G. L. Ray 1989. Repayment of Agriculture Loans, Research Findings Notes Published by Communication Centre, Mohanpuri Nadia, West Bengal, B.C.K.V.13. Sharnagat P. M. 2008. Attitude of Beneficiaries Towards National Horticulture Mission, M.Sc. Thesis (Unpub.), Dr. P.D.K.V., Akola.14. Shinde B.N. 2013. Knowledge and Adoption of Seed Growers about Seed Production Technologies, M.Sc. Thesis Dr. P.D.K.V., Akola.15. Waghmare , O.R. 2010. Training Needs of Sweet Orange Growers. M.Sc. (Agri.) Thesis, MAU Parbhani.

REFERENCES

motivation had non significant relationship with knowledge level of soybean seed growers and with age, farm experiences, education, annual income, land holding, social participation, and risk orientation were highly significant and positive relationship with the level of adoption of recommended seed production technology of soybean seed growers. While the independent variables namely sources of information, economic motivation and extension contact had significant and positive relationship with the level of adoption of recommended seed production technology of soybean seed growers. General picture with respect to knowledge and adoption of recommended seed production technology of soybean by the Soybean seed growers highlighted that the level of knowledge and adoption of soybean seed recommended seed production technology was medium. This finding suggested that State Agricultural Universities and State Department of Agriculture should provide knowledge about recommended seed production technology of Soybean seed to the soybean seed growers on farm which will help to increase the production and net return to the farmers.

Paper received on : November 20, 2015Accepted on : December 04, 2015