Management Ability of Potato Growers Regarding Sprinkler Irrigation System in Banaskantha District of Gujarat State

Land and water are important natural resources which play an important role in agricultural production. However, due to the scarce conditions of water for irrigation, many parts of the land were unutilized or underutilized. Gujarat is also facing this situation; shortage of water has become one of the main problem in Gujarat agriculture. Therefore, efficient use of available water has become extremely important which can be done through sprinkler irrigation. The main purpose of this study is to get a clear cut picture of the present situation of management ability of potato growers regarding sprinkler system in north Gujarat especially in Banaskantha district which is having good soil as well as climatic condition for potato cultivation. Dantiwada and Dessa Taluka were selected for the present study due to larger area of potato cultivation and from each Talukas, six villages were purposively selected. After selecting villages a list of farmers, who had adopted sprinkler system was obtained from concerned GSFC/Banks/irrigation department of District and Talukas. From each village 10 farmers were selected randomly making a sample of 120 respondents. Data were collected by personal interviews. For measuring the management ability structured schedule was developed. The score assign to these equations according to its important one score was assigned for each correct answer and zero score was assigned for wrong answer. The maximum score ranging from 0 to1 8. Than management ability index (MAI) was calculated for each respondents and categorized as low, medium and high management ability by calculating mean and standard deviation. While the relationship between independent and dependent variables were determined with the help of Karl Pearson's coefficient correlation. The statistical tools used were percentage, mean score and standard deviation. More than half (66.67%) of the potato growers were having medium level of management ability of sprinkler irrigation system followed by 18.33 per cent and 15.00 per cent with high and low level of management ability of sprinkler irrigation system. However independent variables like education, land holding, area under potato with sprinkler irrigation system, annual income, irrigation potentiality, economic motivation, risk orientation and source of information were significantly related, while age and size of family were not found significant relation with the study.