Cultivating cotton the smart way: A glimpse into Bathinda farmers’ adoption of Bt cotton cultivation practices

Abstract

Cotton is one of the oldest and most significant commercial crops in terms of global economic, political social concerns. Farmers in Punjab began to switch their crops from non-Bt cotton to Bt cotton. Since Punjab is one of the top producing states for cotton, experts were interested in the potential for growth and productivity of Bt Cotton farming. Given Bathinda's prominence as Punjab's cotton-growing district, a study was carried out there. Bathinda district comprises nine blocks. Out of nine blocks, two were selected randomly. From each selected block, two villages were selected and from each village, 20 respondents were selected randomly to make a sample size of 80 respondents. Study showed that less number of farmers adopted the recommended seed rate in the Sangat block and none of the farmers in Talwandi Sabo block adopted the recommended seed rate. Less than 50 per cent farmers in both the blocks were adopted recommended dose of urea. None of the farmers adopted the recommended quantity of DAP and SSP in both the blocks. Only 7 per cent of farmers in Sangat block adopted the recommended quantity of MOP none of the farmers adopted the recommended quantity of MOP in Talwandi Sabo block. Very low percent of farmers were adopted recommended dose of herbicide and pesticide in both the blocks.