Enhanced Diffusion and Scaling of Seed, Varietal Knowledge through Comparative, Experiential Learning
2022
Nayak, S | Dwivedi, R | Dar, M | Hossain, S M
Comparative farmer field trials can be an important channel for the successful evaluation, reliable evidence, and acceptance of agricultural technologies. Farmer-managed comparative trials reinforce the agricultural extension system as they validate new technologies in farmers’ field conditions. Thus, on-farm comparative trials allow the farmers to evaluate the differentiable impact of tested technology in their settings. The ingrained concept of “learning by doing” in such trials creates or improves the knowledge of farmers, and enhanced knowledge cascades into the scaling of technology. Climate resilient high yielding rice varieties are considered the most efficient solution against stagnating yields and recurrent abiotic stresses to consolidate the nation’s food security. Despite the development and availability of several new varieties, farmers in South Asia, including India, continue to cultivate older varieties owing to poor varietal awareness and knowledge, especially among small and marginal farmers with less resource endowment. Therefore, awareness of the benefits of modern varieties among farmers is likely to motivate them. This concept has been ascertained by the present study. It verifies the positive effect of comparative learning of varieties through on-farm trials in the popularization of new stress-tolerant rice varieties (STRVs). Further, the impact of the gender and institutional linkage-based (through women self-help groups (SHG)) introduction of STRVs on scaling is also proven. The analysis and inferences are based on the findings of a randomized control experiment conducted in the state of Odisha in India using the STRV, BINA Dhan 11 in Head-to-Head (H2H) trials.
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