Performance of rice variety Khowai in rainfed lowland of West Tripura district

Introduction

Tripura is a small, landlocked state located in the North Eastern Region of India, which does not have good communication facilities with other parts of India. The geographical area of the state is 10,49,169 hectares of which 60% is high land. The economy of the state is mainly depends on agriculture and allied sectors. More than 70% of the population are dependent on agriculture for maintenance of their livelihood. Total 96% of the farmers are small and marginal with an average land holding of 0.49 ha (Source. Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Govt. of Tripura). The population of the state has been increased from 36.74 lakhs in 2011 to 42.85 lakhs in 2025. This ever increasing population will pose a serious threat to agricultural scenario of the state in the coming years. There is hardly any scope to bring additional land under cultivation. Rice serves as the primary food source for over two-thirds of the Indian population. (Sahu et.al 2015) [8] . But in case of Tripura, it is staple food for 100% population of the state. The cropping system of Tripura is characterized by predominance of Rice as a lead crop. In Tripura, rice alone occupies 58% (1.48 lakh ha) area of total net cropped (2.55 lakh ha). The average productivity of rice in the state is 3.3 MT ha -1 which is slightly higher than the national average of 2.7 MT ha - 1 (Source: Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). The total rice production of the state is 7.9 MT. But the requirement is 9.62 MT during 2024-25 (Source: Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare). There always exist gap between the production and requirement of food grain mainly rice in the state. Besides maintaining livelihood of the state, rice cultivation also provide direct employment opportunities to rural labourers of the rice growing areas of the state.

Food grain requirement and production of rice of last three years i.e from 2022-23 to 2024-25 is given below: Location and climate of the study area: West Tripura district lies approximately between latitude 23 degrees 16' to 24 degrees 14' north and longitude 91 degrees 09' east to 91 degrees 47' east. The total area of the district is 983.63 sq km. Around 75% of the total work force is depended on Agriculture for their subsistence. Total gross cropped area is 65,926 ha and net cropped area is 35,579 ha with a cropping intensity of 185%. The district is classified within Agro climatic zone III, which features humid dissected mounds and valleys alongside subhumid denuded hills of varying elevations. The physiographic characteristics of the district can be categorized into nine distinct units: high relief, medium relief, low relief, flat-topped, residual, undulating plain, flood plain, alluvial plain, and inter-hill valley. The climate in the district is marked by humid summers and dry, cool winters. The area received a mean annual rainfall of 1700 mm, the 80% of which was received during southwest monsoon. The maximum and minimum temperature recorded during the plant growth was 21 °C to 34 °C. The crop evapotranspiration of the district varied from 8.67 mm in April to 5.2 mm in December. The soil of the experimental site is strongly acidic with pH from 4.5 to 5.0. The programme on Front Line Demonstration of rice was carried out during the kharif season of 2023 and 2024 in different villages of West Tripura district.

Materials and Methods

The Front line Demonstration on rice var. khowai was conducted through a number of extension practices like awareness programme, group meeting, training, demonstration, field day etc. Based on the experiment conducted by ICAR, Tripura Centre, Khowai variety was chosen for demonstration in the farmers field. Total 50 nos. of demonstration covering 10 ha area were conducted in six selected villages namely Biswamanipara, Shantinagar, Janmejaynagar, Brajabashipara, Lankamura and West Bhubanban. Awareness programme followed by group discussion with the farmers was organised in each villages. Training programme on improved cultivation practices and integrated crop management was conducted before starting the FLD programme. The critical inputs like seed, fertilizer, insecticide/pesticides were supplied to the demonstration farmers by KVK, West Tripura. Regular visits by the KVK scientist were ensured to guide the farmers on all aspects of cultivation. These visits were also utilized to collect feedback for further improvement in research and extension programme. Field Day was organized at the demonstration site to provide opportunities for other farmers to witness the benefit of demonstrated technologies. Regular data on various parameters were collected both from the demonstrated variety and local check. The demonstrations were conducted to study the technology gap between the potential yield and demonstrated yield, extension gap between demonstrated yield and yield under existing practices and technology index. The yield data was collected from both the demonstration plot and farmers practice by random crop cutting method. The percent increase yield, technology gap, extension gap and technology index were calculated by using following formula as per Samui et al. (2000) [11] , as given below:

Result and discussion

Front Line Demonstration on rice variety Khowai was conducted during kharif season of 2023 and 2024 in the villages of West Tripura district. Major gap was observed between demonstrated technology and farmers' practice of rice cultivation in West Tripura district is given in Table 2. [10] . Under farmers practice, seed of local/nondescriptive type with low yield potential was sown instead of newly recommended varieties for the district with improper application of improved recommended technologies. On the basis of observed gap under the demonstration, seeds of improved variety of Kharif rice var, Khowai, fungicide, insecticide, etc. were provided to beneficiary farmers by KVK well in before taking the demonstration and other crop management practices were timely performed by the beneficiary farmer himself under the close supervision of KVK Scientist.

Rice Yield

Results obtained from two years of study are presented in Table 3. Results reflected that an average yield of 5752 kg ha -1 was obtained with demonstration of rice var. khowai as compared to 4322 kg ha -1 with farmers' practice. The highest rice yield of 5770 kg ha -1 in demonstrated plot was obtained during the year 2023. The percent increase in yield of rice variety khowai ranges from 32.31% to 33.88% over the farmers own practices during both the year. (Table 3). These results clearly indicated that the higher average seed yield in demonstration plots over farmers practice might be due to use of high yielding variety along with integrated crop management practices. Adoption of scientific package of practices along with need based plant protection measures resulted in higher yields. Similar result was obtained by Hashim et al. 2024 and Mauriya et al. 2023 [3,7] .

Kharif 2023 [13] 5800 5770 4361 32.31 30 1409 0.52 Kharif 2024 [12] 5800

Technology gap

The technology gap which is the difference between potential yield and demonstration yield is presented in Table 3. The technology gap observed during different years was 30 kg ha -1 and 60 kg ha -1 respectively. On an average technology gap of 45 kg ha -1 was observed during both the years. The technology gap reflects the lesser adoption of package and practices by the farmers. Hence, extension activities and location specific technological recommendation apper to be necessary to reduce the technology gap. The above findings are similar in lines with Meena et al. (2021) [6] and Keshavreddy et al. (2018) [4] .

Extension gap

Extension gap is considered as a parameter to know the yield difference between the demonstrated improved technology and farmers practices.

The extension gap ranges from 1409 kg ha -1 to 1451 kg ha -1 during both the year (Table 3). On an average 1430 kg ha -1 extension gap was observed. To enhance the farmers income, there is need to reduce extension gap. Therefore, it is necessary to educate the farmer's through various extension technique, trainings, awareness camp for more adoption of recommended improved technologies. The extension gap need to bring at minimum level. Consequently the farmers will be convinced to adapt the new technologies leaving the old ones. This result is at par with the findings of Singh et al. (2020) [9] , Girish et al.

Technology Index

The technology index is a parameter to show the feasibility of the improved technology at the farmers fields. The technology index of the present study was varied from 0.52 to 1.03. On an average technology index was 0.78 over the years. This lower technology index reflected the efficiency and effectiveness of extension services in transferring improved technologies among the farmers successfully. The results are in conformity with Girish et.al 2011 [1] .

Economics

Economic analysis was done on the basis of market prices of input and output. Economic analysis was done for both demonstrated and farmers' practices (Table 4). The cultivation of high yielding varieties of rice with scientific packages of practices fetches higher net return (Rs.67,110/-ha -1 & Rs.66,282/-ha -1 ) than the local check (Rs.36,803/ha -1 and Rs.35009/-ha -1 ) during both the year viz. kharif 2023 and kharif 2024. This result is in conformity with the findings of Kumar et.al 2020 [2] . Highest benefit cost ratio of 2.02:1 and 2.01:1 was obtained with demonstrated variety (Khowai) in comparison with local check (1.57:1 and 1.55:1) during both the years. [13] 25 5 65600 63500 132710 100303 67110 36803 2.02:1 1.57:1 Kharif 2024 [12] 25 The level of satisfaction with the support provided was also satisfactory (Table 5).

Conclusion

The Front Line Demonstration on rice var. khowai in different villages of West Tripura district made a positive impact among participating and nonparticipating farmers. The demonstration of new technology helps in increasing rice productivity up to 33.88% over the farmers' practice. Adoption of new technology helps in changing skill, attitude and knowledge of participating farmers. The Front Line Demonstration significantly motivated not only the beneficiary farmers but include the farmers of the nearby villages who witnessed the potentiality of the variety khowai during the field day programme, organised at harvesting stage. Demonstration on rice variety khowai also improved the relationship between the KVK scientist and the farmers of the district and also built confidence among them. The selected beneficiary of the demonstration also acted as a source of information and pure seeds of the variety for further dissemination of the technologies to the farmers of the district.

References

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