Study of Socioeconomic Profile of Paddy Farmers Adopting Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) Technology in Odisha, India

Abstract

The study was conducted in Puri District of Odisha, India along with the introduction of a new technology Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) in Rabi 2015. AWD was a very low cost water saving technology and farmers were made aware about it in the selected study area in nine villages, three in each three blocks of Puri district. The selected 144 farmers, 16 from each village who had adopted AWD were interviewed through a pretested interview schedule. 15 variables were taken to assess the socioeconomic profile of the farmers. The variables were quantified in terms of frequency and percentage. Respondents were categorized with respect to variables like social participation, cosmopoliteness, mass media exposure, extension participation, extension contact, progressiveness and scientific orientation on the basis of mean score and Standard Deviation The study revealed that majority (57.63%) of respondents belonged to middle aged category, maximum of 44 respondents (30.5%) having primary level education, majority (68%) of the respondents were marginal farmers, majority (78%) of respondents had high level of social participation, there was homogeneity among extension participation, average annual income, extension contact, mass media exposure, social participation and heterogeneity among all other variables.