Determinants of Adoption of Recommended Litchi Production Technology in Assam: Evidence from Agnigarh Producer Company Limited

Abstract

Farmer Producer Company is a company formed by a group of farmers who come together to form a company. Litchi cultivation provides livelihood security for a substantial population in litchi-producing states by offering both on-farm and off-farm work opportunities. The present investigation was conducted with the objective to assess the Factors influencing the adoption of recommended litchi production technology by the members of Agnigarh Producer Company Limited in Sonitpur district of Assam. Agnigarh Producer Company Limited was selected purposively, as the Farmer Producer Company dealing with commercial litchi production. The extent of adoption was measured by the procedure used by Structure Schedule. A sample of 80 respondents was selected from the 13 selected villages of Sonitpur district following a proportionate random sampling technique. The primary data for the study were collected from February 2023 to June 2023. 17 independent variables and 1 dependent variable were included in the study. The findings of the study revealed that the majority of the respondents (43.75%) belonged to middle-aged category followed by higher secondary level of formal education (41.25%). The majority of respondents (41.25%) belonged to the small size of operational land holdings category, and (60.00%) had a medium level of litchi yield index, with a medium level of farm mechanisation (70.00%) and a medium level of irrigated area under litchi cultivation (77.50%). The majority of them (80.00%) had a medium level of farm wage payment related to litchi cultivation, with 53.75% of respondents having a medium level of experience in litchi cultivation. Whereas (63.75%) of respondents had medium level of attitude towards modern agriculture with high level of training exposure (50.00%) The results of correlation analysis revealed that variables, viz., education level, size of operational land holding, annual net farm income, farm mechanization, level of wage payment related to litchi cultivation, experience in litchi cultivation, achievement motivation, attitude towards modern agriculture, risk orientation, extension contact and exposure to training on litchi cultivation showed significant relationship with the with the adoption of recommended litchi production technology by the members of FPC.The findings of regression analysis showed that variables, viz., experience in litchi cultivation, achievement motivation and attitude towards modern agriculture, significant towards variation in theadoption of recommended litchi production technology by the members of FPC. In future, a similar study may be undertaken covering more a larger number of districts in all the agro climatic zones of Assam with a larger sample size.