Adoption of Labour-saving Technologies in Paddy Transplantation — Micro-level Evidences from Punjab
2011
Kaur, Manjeet | Mahal, Amrit Kaur | Sekhon, M.K.
In Punjab, where agriculture is highly dependent upon migrant labour, labour scarcity, especially for paddy transportation is a major concern in the existing production system and the solution lies in direct sowing of rice (DSR) and mechanical transplanting (MT). The present study has analysed the yield, cost of production, and adoption behaviour of farmers towards these technologies by collecting primary data for the agriculture year 2009–10 from a sample of 15 farmers using DSR, 15 farmers using MT and 30 farmers (15 small and 15 large) using conventional method (CM) of transplanting. It has been observed that adoption of direct seeded rice and mechanical transplanting of paddy technologies was more by large farmers having higher off-farm income and extension contacts with the officials of PAU and State Agriculture Department than their non-adopter counterparts. In the case of DSR adopter farmers, the yield was lower and variable costs were higher due to higher expenditure on weedicides and fertilizers in both common paddy and basmati, thus yielding lower gross margins. In the case of MT adopter farmers, the yield was higher and cost was lower, resulting into high gross margins for both basmati and common paddy. The reasons behind adoption and non-adoption of these technologies have also been discussed. Considering the need of more technical knowledge for the adoption of DSR technology, the government should organize training programmes for skill development of farmers in this region.
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