The Journal of Research ANGRAU
Contents of 41(1) 2013 - acharya ng ranga agricultural university
Contents of 41(1) 2013 - acharya ng ranga agricultural university
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<strong>Research</strong> Notes<br />
J.Res. <strong>ANGRAU</strong> 41(1) 101-104, 2013<br />
A STUDY ON DIFFUSION STATUS OF SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION (SRI)<br />
IN ANDHRA PRADESH<br />
K. NIRMALA and R. VASANTHA<br />
Department <strong>of</strong> Agricultural Extension<br />
College <strong>of</strong> Agriculture, Rajendranagar, <strong>ANGRAU</strong>, Hyderabad – 500 030<br />
Date <strong>of</strong> Receipt : 14.06.2012 Date <strong>of</strong> Acceptance : 27.09.2012<br />
Any efforts that successfully reduce the<br />
water allocation for rice even by 20 to 30 per cent<br />
will help in averting both the food and water crises<br />
as farmers can continue to grow more rice with less<br />
water.<br />
Frequent drought over the past 10 years has<br />
left the rice farmers <strong>of</strong> Andhra Pradesh in doldrums.<br />
Andhra Pradesh experienced severe drought in 1999-<br />
2000, characterized by water shortages, falling<br />
groundwater levels and increased risk <strong>of</strong><br />
contamination <strong>of</strong> surface water. Drought, followed by<br />
low rainfall (534 mm annual rainfall) in the south-west<br />
and north-east monsoons during 1999 was<br />
exacerbated by groundwater extraction. Agricultural<br />
production was seriously reduced in kharif 1999.<br />
<strong>The</strong>reafter, the thrust for conservative water-usage<br />
became the major concern for scientists and farmers.<br />
Depleted water resources, stagnated rice productivity,<br />
the growing importance <strong>of</strong> organic agriculture,<br />
increased production costs and the need for better<br />
utilization <strong>of</strong> family labour among small and marginal<br />
farmers, calls for a shift in cultivation practices. <strong>The</strong><br />
System <strong>of</strong> Rice Intensification (SRI) <strong>of</strong>fers a way to<br />
not only reduce the demand for water while growing<br />
irrigated rice, but also <strong>of</strong> simultaneously increasing<br />
rice production. SRI was introduced in Andhra<br />
Pradesh in kharif 2003 in all 22 districts <strong>of</strong> the state<br />
by Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University<br />
(<strong>ANGRAU</strong>). Since 2003, <strong>ANGRAU</strong> and State<br />
Department <strong>of</strong> Agriculture has taken several initiatives<br />
to promote SRI in Andhra Pradesh (www. sriindia.net,2009).<br />
Today, India has one <strong>of</strong> the largest numbers<br />
<strong>of</strong> SRI farmers in the world. Official record indicates<br />
that SRI diffused first to Tamil Nadu State, followed<br />
by Andhra Pradesh (Prasad, 2006). Though Andhra<br />
Pradesh was the first to start large scale promotion<br />
<strong>of</strong> SRI, but no substantial area could be covered<br />
during the last few years. Even after 9-10 years <strong>of</strong><br />
introduction <strong>of</strong> SRI technology among farmers <strong>of</strong><br />
Andhra Pradesh, the pace <strong>of</strong> spread <strong>of</strong> technology is<br />
not rapid.<br />
Hence the present study was conceived to<br />
know the status <strong>of</strong> SRI in terms <strong>of</strong> diffusion and<br />
adoption across the selected villages and mandals<br />
<strong>of</strong> Mahaboobnagar district.<br />
<strong>The</strong> present study was conducted in<br />
Mahaboobnagar district as it has highest cultivated<br />
area under SRI during 2008-09. Ex-post facto research<br />
design was followed. A sample <strong>of</strong> 120 SRI cultivating<br />
farmers from 12 villages <strong>of</strong> four mandals <strong>of</strong> the<br />
district was selected randomly. Measurement <strong>of</strong><br />
diffusion status was done under three dimensions<br />
i.e, Diffusion Status, spread <strong>of</strong> SRI in selected<br />
villages (secondary data) and adopter categories.<br />
Diffusion status <strong>of</strong> System <strong>of</strong> Rice<br />
Intensification was operationalised as the extent <strong>of</strong><br />
spread <strong>of</strong> SRI technology among the farmers from<br />
2006-07 to 2010-11. Diffusion status was measured<br />
with the help <strong>of</strong> developed schedule comprising <strong>of</strong><br />
various items that are pretested. <strong>The</strong> score obtained<br />
by a respondent on all items <strong>of</strong> diffusion status were<br />
added to get total score. Based on total scores<br />
obtained, respondents were grouped into 3 categories<br />
<strong>of</strong> low, medium and high according to equal class<br />
interval method.<br />
<strong>The</strong> second dimension i.e. spread <strong>of</strong> SRI in<br />
selected villages was studied in terms <strong>of</strong> number <strong>of</strong><br />
farmers adopting and number <strong>of</strong> acres. Year - wise<br />
data was collected starting from 2006-07 to 2010-<br />
2011 (5 years) from secondary sources such as<br />
Department <strong>of</strong> Agriculture and NGOs.<br />
<strong>The</strong> third dimension i.e. adopter categories<br />
was studied by categorizing adopters into five<br />
categories based on the criteria <strong>of</strong> innovativeness or<br />
email: drankamarajug@yahoo.com<br />
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