Constraints Faced by Farmers in Adoption of Soil Reclamation Technology in Upper Krishna Command Area of Karnataka, India

Abstract

Agriculture plays a crucial role in India’s economy, providing a livelihood for over 54.60 per cent of the rural population. The Northern Karnatak faces major challenges due to irrigation induced problematic soils, as worsened by upper krishna project. The present study examines the constraints faced by the farmers in the adoption of soil reclamation technology in the upper krishna command area of Karnataka. Multi-stage purposive random sampling technique was employed for the selection of the sample respondents with sample size of 240 among these 180 farmers have degraded lands who faced constraints in adoption of reclamation technology. To study constraints, Rank Based Quotient (RBQ) method was employed results of the same revealed that in economic constraints cost-intensive reclamation technology was the most critical issue, with the highest RBQ mean score of 75.46 and it ranked first and least mean score of 57.87 for non-availability of assured markets for agricultural produce with ranked sixth. While in case of technological constraints transfer of half-backed technology was ranked first as the most severe constraint with mean score of 78.42 and lack of knowledge about water management rank least with mean score of 63.22. Participatory technology development, demonstration in the region, and long‐term training programs need to be accorded high priority so that solutions are not only technically feasible but also economically acceptable. Institutional linkages between research, extension, and farmers will be important in order to facilitate broader dissemination and sustained adoption of reclamation procedures in challenging soils.