Adoption of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana by Farmers in Bikaner District of Rajasthan, India

Abstract

India's diverse heritage and rich culture are well-known throughout the world. When time passed and the population suddenly increased, farmers were obliged to utilise various agro-chemicals to feed the large population, even though they had previously grown a variety of crops without the use of these pesticides. In Bikaner district of Rajasthan state, coarse cereals are mostly grown without using any chemicals because Bikaner is a water scarce area and prone to crop failure hence farmer generally does not spend so much money on chemicals like fertilizers, insecticide-pesticides, herbicides etc. Looking to the virginity of land, the Rajasthan government has launched the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) in this district. As a result, the greatest numbers of clusters under PKVY were developed during 2015-18. Thus, the study was carried out in the purposely chosen Bikaner District of Rajasthan state in order to gauge the respondents' level of adoption of PKVY. There are eight tehsils in the Bikaner district; three tehsils, Nokha, Sridungarhgarh, and Bikaner, were specifically chosen for the current study due to the maximum number of clusters formed under PKVY. A total of 180 respondents, out of which 90 beneficiary who were registered in PKVY selected by using proportionate random sampling method and to constitute the other half of sample size same number of farmers i.e. 90 were also selected randomly from the same villages who have not registered in PKVY and they were called as non-beneficiary respondents included in the current investigation. The results of the study concluded that majority of the respondents had medium level of extent of adoption of PKVY in the study area. They had highest extent of adoption on the aspect of “nutrient management” and least extent of adoption of “technical knowledge”. There was significant association found between education, mass media exposure, information seeking behaviour, information sharing behaviour and knowledge of respondents about PKVY.