No abstract

Indian agriculture is severely affected from climate change, fragmentation of cultivable land, water scarcity, rapid urbanization, declining crop production and productivity, crash in market price, declining biodiversity and ever-increasing population, demand for food, especially vegetables has increased manifold. Protected cultivation has offered a new dimension to produce more in a limited area. The study was undertaken during the year 2016-17 in the Kolar, Malur and Mulbagal taluks of Kolar district based on the maximum number of shade net structures growing tomato. From each taluk, respondents were selected by using purposive sampling procedure to constitute a sample size of 80 for the study. The study found that no one respondent raised nursery for seedlings. The probable reason might be lack of extension functionaries’ effort from respective departments. In the case of cultural practices, concerning ploughing, nearly two-thirds (62.50%) of the respondents partially adopted the recommended number of ploughings (2-3times). On the other hand, 100 per cent of the respondents didn't adoptthe digging practice, whereas more than half (53.75%) of the respondents had partially adopted the recommended size of the bed (1-meter width, 15 cm height and 0.5 meters between the rows) and nearly half (48.75%) of the respondents belonged to partial adoption category of bed treatment @ 4% formalin for tomato cultivation. The findings of Karl Pearson correlation coefficient showed that variables such as annual income, extension participation, exhibited a positive and significant relationship with the adoption behaviour of respondents at 1 per cent level of significance. Concerning the relationship of independent variables with the adoption of tomato, variables like annual income, extension participation, exhibited a positive and significant relationship with the adoption behaviour of respondents at 1 per cent level of significance.

No abstract

No abstract

Precision farming is an emerging, highly promising technology that helps in dealing with the present agricultural challenges by proper and effective management of soil and crop variability with the use of information technology. In order to initiate precision farming in India through state agricultural universities, the precision farming project in selected field crops was implemented in University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, Karnataka. The objective of the study was to assess the financial feasibility of project implementation at farm level in paddy. Primary data was collected with the aid of a well-structured, pre tested schedule. Findings showed that the project of precision farming in paddy which was implemented by the University was economically viable and financially feasible. The cost incurred in cultivation of paddy by adopting precision farming practices was ` 75,825.35/ha and gross returns were ` 1,22,656.30/ha. Results of financial feasibility measures showed that the Net Present Value at 12 per cent discount rate, at the end of ten years was found to be positive, Benefit-Cost ratio was more than one and Internal Rate of Returns of the precision farming in paddy was more than discount rate (12 %). It was also revealed that payback period was 6.84 months and profitability index due to adoption of precision farming was found to be 8.83. Hence it was concluded that investment on precision farming in paddy at farm level was feasible to operate at farm level with the technical assistance from University. Considering the adoption strategy of precision farming and its benefits, there is a need to bring awareness among farming community by the joint effort of public and private sectors through the extension agencies, non-governmental organizations and state agricultural universities