Impact of Cluster Front Line Demonstration (CFLD) on productivity and profitability of blackgram (Vigna mungo L.) under rainfed condition in Dibrugarh district of Assam

Introduction

In India, pulses play a vital role for their high nutritional value, environmental benefits such as soil health improvement, nitrogen fixation and economic advantages for farmers. In the world, pulse production was 97.39 million tonnes, cultivated over 95.97 million hectares with an average productivity of 1015 kg/ha (Anonymous, 2022) [1] . India is the world's leading producer and consumer of black gram produces about 13.02 lakh tonnes from about 21.01 lakh hectares area with an average productivity of 657 kg/ha (Anonymous, 2022) [2] . Black gram is an important kharif pulse crop in Dibrugarh district of Assam. In Assam, blackgram occupies an area of 129.16 thousand hectares producing 51.50 thousand tonnes with a productivity of 398 kg/ha (Anonymous, 2022) [3] . The productivity of blackgram in Assam is low as compared to national average, mainly due to lack of technical knowledge, poor farming practices like lack of availability of good quality improved varieties of seed, injudicious use of fertilizer, lack of pest and weed management practices, lack of soil moisture during critical growth stages (Sahare et al. 2018) [10] . Black gram (Vigna mungo L.) is a widely grown legume, with special characteristics of soil fertility restoration through fixing atmospheric nitrogen in symbiotic association with Rhizobium bacteria present in root nodules. The main objective of Cluster Front Line Demonstration (CFLD) under National Food Security Mission (NFSM) was to demonstrate improved crop production technologies of Pulses in the farmers' fields and to popularize the newly notified and improved varieties/technologies for varietal diversification and efficient management of resources. Therefore, CFLD programme on blackgram variety SBC 40 with the improved package of practices was conducted in farmers field in a participatory mode with the objective to enhance the production and productivity of pulse crop.

Materials and Methods

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Assam Agricultural University, Dibrugarh conducted Cluster Front Line Demonstration (CFLD) programme on blackgram variety SBC 40 with improved package of practices in 35 ha area of nine different villages covering 78 farmers during kharif season under rainfed condition of 2022-23 and 2023-24. The demonstrated practice as well as farmers traditional practice along with local variety were detailed in Table 1. The soils of farmers field were sandy loam in texture with pH 6.3, medium in available nitrogen (397 kg/ha), available phosphorous (25.7 kg/ha), available potassium (183 kg/ha) and organic carbon (0.67%). The data were collected from both the years 2022-23 and 2023-24 from demonstrated plots as well as control plots (farmers plots) and after that technology gap, extension gap, technology index, % increase of demo yield over farmers yield and economics of production were worked out (Samui et al., 2000) [11] as mentioned below:

Technology gap = Potential yield -Demonstration plot average yield Extension gap = Demonstration plot average yield -Farmers plot average yield

Results and Discussion

The results of the study have been discussed under the following points:

Grain yield: The data presented in Table 2 revealed that higher average seed yield of blackgram was obtained with improved package of practices followed in Cluster Frontline Demonstration (CFLD) plots as compared to farmer's traditional practice during both the years ie. 2022-23 and 2023-24. The mean seed yield during both the years of demonstrated plots recorded 9.1 q/ha which was higher when compared with farmers plots which was 5.8 q/ha. The mean percentage seed yield of demonstrated plots over farmers plots was 56.89%. The yield enhancement through adoption of improved technology was also reported by Kumar et al., 2019 [9] and Jamwal et al., 2020 [8] . Yield of demonstration trials and potential yield of the crop was compared to estimate the yield gaps which were further classified into technology and extension gaps (Hiremath and Nagarju, 2009) [7] .

Extension gap:

The mean extension gap between demonstrated practices and farmers practices recorded 3.3 q/ha (Table 2) which suggested that there is a need to motivate and aware the farmers for adoption of improved production technology in blackgram over the existing traditional famers practice. The similar findings were also reported by Devi et al., 2018 [6] and Jamwal et al., 2020 [8] .

Vegetative stage

Pod formation stage

Field day

Technology gap and technology index: The technology gap observed may be attributed to the dissimilarity in soil status, non-congenial weather conditions, disease pest infestation. The mean technology gap of the study was 2.79 q/ha. The technology index was 25.15% and 21.78% during 2022-23 and 2023-24 respectively. Lower the value of technology index more is the feasibility and applicability of the tested technology which showed that a gap existed between technology evolved and technology adopted at farmer's field. Similar findings were also showed by Choudhary et al., 2009 [5] , Devi et al., 2018 [6] and Jamwal et al., 2020 [8] .

Economic analysis:

The data in Table 3 depicted that the mean cost of cultivation during both the years of demonstrated plots (Rs. 23200/ha) which was higher as compared to farmers plots (Rs. 17590/ha). Similarly, the mean gross return (Rs. 68250/ha), net return (Rs. 45050/ha) and benefit-cost ratio (2.94) was also higher in demonstrated plots. Improved monetary return and benefit-cost ratio had also been reported by Bairwa et al., 2013 [4] and Jamwal et al., 2020 [8] . Seed rate (kg/ha) 22.5 25 5.

Seed treatment Rhizobium and PSB @ 50g/kg of seed -7.

Sowing time First fortnight of November First fortnight of November 8.

Fertilizer doses Vermicompost @ 1t/ha along with Urea: SSP: MOP:: 16: 110:13 kg/ha applied as basal Imbalance use of fertilizer 9. Plant Protection measures IPM practices like use of yellow sticky traps, spraying of neem oil and rouging More use of pesticides 10.

Weed management One hand weeding at 25-30 days after sowing (DAS) Nil 11.

Technical Guidance Time to time -

Conclusion

By conducting Cluster Frontline Demonstration (CFLD) programme with the use of improved blackgram variety and production technology along with active participation of famers had positive effect on increasing the seed yield as well as economic return of blackgram which motivated the farmers towards adoption of improved technologies in Dibrugarh district of Assam.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementThe authors are thankful to the ICAR-ATARI, Zone VI, Guwahati and Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam for providing the financial support required for the research study. Disclaimer (Artificial intelligence)Authors hereby declare that no generative AI technologies such as large language models (Chat GPT, COPILOT etc.) and textto-image generators have been used during the writing or editing of this manuscript.

References

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2. Anonymous. Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. Government of India; 2022.
3. Anonymous. Directorate of Economics and Statistics. Government of Assam; 2022.
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