Rice farmers' adoption of recommended rice technologies in Paro District, Butan

The study aimed to describe the socio-demographic, economic, communication-related characteristics of rice farmers, and physical infrastructures like irrigation facility and distance to the market outlet; determine the extent of the adoption of recommended rice technologies; identify the factors that influence adoption, and analyze extent of their contribution to adoption of recommended rice technologies. The study was conducted among 132 farmers from Dotent, Lamgong, Lungnip and Shapa sub-districts in Puro, Bhutan. Data were gathered using interview schedule and were analyzed using the Statistical System Analysis (SAS) Program. Descriptive statistics such as mean, frequency, percentage and range were employed. Spearman Correlation Coefficient and Multiple Regression were used to determine the factors that influence the adoption of the rice technologies introduced. Results showed that rice famers were mostly female, middle-aged, with large households. Most of them cannot read and write but had more than 20 years of farming experience. They often had contacts with extension workers and had small landholding which were highly fragmented into parcels. They had annual gross income of Nu. 38,000. Most of them did not avail of credit since they were ignorant of the loan procedures. Governmental institutions like Agriculture Extension Centers, National Plant Protection Center, and Agriculture Machinery Center were the main sources of production inputs like seeds, plant protection chemicals and improved farm tools. While the District Development Committee appointed Commission Agents were the main supplier of production inputs like fertilizers and herbicides. Majority of the respondents owned radio and thus had higher frequency of listenership. Since most of the respondents could not read and write, they were less exposed to print media. Since there were few farmers' organizations in the district, respondents were not exposed to discussions on new technologies. Irrigation and road facilities were found to be adequate. Among the 16 variables tested through Spearman Correlation Coefficient, only 5 variables were found significantly associated to the adoption of recommended rice technologies. However, subjecting the data further to the multiple regression analysis, only income and irrigation were found to best explain the adoption of recommended rice technologies. This implies that more emphasis should be given to expanding opportunities to increase income and improve irrigation facilities especially in the allocation of resources and prioritization of program thrusts for agricultural development in Paro district, Bhutan.