Cognition level of farmers on the usage of farm machineries in selected crop cultivation: A comprehensive study in Assam

Introduction

Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy and forms an important part in maintaining the country's food security, employment and sustenance of life for a large part of its people. Many farmers depend directly or indirectly from agriculture and other allied activities as sources of their livelihoods. Improving the efficiency of production in field crops and making them more productive has been of prime concern to meet the growing demands of food and agricultural products. But there are many problems that the current agriculture is dealing with, like dearth of labourers, increasing labour costs, fragmentation of holdings and increase in cost of cultivation. Agricultural sector not only adds to the economy of the nation, but is also the source of food grains, oil seeds, fibres and raw materials needed by the agro-based industries. (Mehta et al. 2019) [6] . Thus, among the different types of field crops grown in India, paddy and toria occupies a significant place due to its economic, nutritional, and agricultural value. Paddy crop is one of the widely cultivated cereals and acts as the principal source of food for the majority of the people (FAO, 2004) [5] . Modern technologies includes improved seeds, irrigation systems, use of various plant protection chemicals. As rice is a major cereal crop which is cultivated over nearly 45 million hectares, producing around 87.8 million tonnes annually in India (Deshmukh et al.2019) [3] . Similarly, toria is an important oilseed crop and falls under the category of rapeseed-mustard that makes a vital contribution towards the production of edible oil and is equally significant in the agricultural sector in the northeastern part of India (Das et www.extensionjournal.com al. 2019) [3] . Hence, the cultivation of the two crops is highly important from the perspective of food and nutritional security, along with the income of the farming communities. The process of paddy and toria cultivation consists of many operations like land preparation, sowing or transplanting, interculture operations, irrigation, plant protection, harvesting, threshing, and post-harvest activities. These activities traditionally have been performed either manually or through conventional tools requiring intensive labour inputs, higher production costs, and more time. But owing to increased labour constraints, growing labour charges, fragmentation of landholdings, and prompt performance of field operations, the need for farm mechanization has grown significantly. Therefore the usage of farm machineries plays an essential role in reducing human drudgery, increasing efficiency of the operations, reducing loss, and increasing productivity and profits of agriculture (FAO, 2013) [4] . Hence, farm mechanization ensures a higher agricultural productivity by providing timely and efficient farm operations. Several pieces of research prove that mechanization makes a substantial contribution to improving productivity and economic efficiency of agriculture (Singh, 2006) [10] Moreover, mechanization also helps in achieving sustainability in agricultural development through better utilization of resources and reduced postharvest losses. (Tiwari et al. 2019) [11] . However, mechanization becomes especially important in the context of rice farming due to labour intensive process. The application of farm machinery like tractors, power tiller, puddlers, mechanical transplanter, drum seeder, power weeder, reaper, thresher, and combine harvester makes rice farming operations more timely and efficient as well as reduces manual labours for farm operations. Various research indicates that mechanization of rice farming operations makes a substantial contribution to reducing labour input and increasing farm productivity. (Vijayakumar et al. 2021) [12] . In the same way, mechanization in toria can be used for seed bed preparation, sowing, intercultural operations, plant protection, and harvest operations. Though the level of mechanization in oilseeds crops is relatively lower when compared to cereal crops, the application of appropriate farm machinery can result in higher efficiency and productivity in the use of resources and crop yield (Ramanjaneyulu et al. 2023) [8] . The use and effectiveness of farm machineries are primarily dependent on the degree of cognition the farmers have on the availability, operating skills, maintenance, and advantages of the machinery. Farmers who have appropriate cognition level on the improvement of farm machineries will be able to adopt echanization techniques more effectively. However, insufficient technical knowledge, inadequate training, lack of access to the machinery, and less cognition can become impediments in adopting mechanization by farmers. The cognition level of paddy and toria growers regarding the improved crop cultivation practices continues to be an important factor affecting the productivity and sustainability. (Priyanka et al. 2024) [7] . As cognition plays an important role in determining the production and productivity thereby it also helps to understand the behaviour of the farmers. (Bora et al.2023) [1] . Therefore, understanding the cognition level of farmers regarding farm machineries used in paddy and toria cultivation is essential to identify the existing gaps and developing suitable extension interventions for promoting agricultural mechanization. Agricultural mechanization involves the use of various power sources, machinery, tools, and equipment to reduce dependence on human and animal labour, enhance cropping intensity, improve precision and timeliness in applying crop inputs, and minimize losses during different stages of crop production.(Shivani et al. 2025) [9] . Keeping these aspects in view, the present study was undertaken to assess the cognition level of farmers regarding farm machineries used in paddy and toria cultivation and to examine their awareness and familiarity with different mechanized farm operations.

Methodology

The present study was conducted in 4 agro climatic zones of Assam where paddy and toria cultivation is being done extensively. From each zone one district of Assam namely i.e Jorhat from UBVZ, Sonitpur from NBPZ, Morigaon from CBVZ and Bongaigaon from LBVZ were selected for the study as in these areas rice and toria cultivation is found to be dominant. From each district 40 respondents were selected which comprised a total of 160 respondents for the final sample. The areas were selected purposively for the study. A multistage random sampling design was followed for the selection of respondents in the present study. The cognition level of the respondents was measured by using a structured schedule consisting of different statements related to the usage and operation of the farm machineries. Here, it is divided into three categories i.e to a greater extent, to some extent and do not know where, to a greater extent indicates that the respondents possessed a high level of cognition regarding the particular farm machinery practice, whereas to a lesser extent indicates the respondents possessed partial knowledge and do not know indicates that the respondents had no idea regarding the particular farm machinery practice.

Results and discussion

The table 1 respondents possessed a greater extent of cognition level on the operation of power-operated sprayers, followed by 28.75% of the respondents who had cognition level to a lesser extent, while 61.87% of the respondents did not possess proper cognition level at all. In relation to combine harvesters, 34.37% of the respondents had a greater extent of knowledge, while 40.00% had cognition level to a lesser extent and 25.63% did not possess proper cognition level at all. Further, 46.25% of the respondents had a greater extent of cognition level on the use of axial flow threshers, followed by 32.50% of the respondents who had cognition level to a lesser extent, while 21.25% of the respondents did not possess any proper cognition level at all. Only 7.50% of the respondents had a greater extent of cognition level about solar bubble dryers used for reducing moisture, followed by 21.87% of the respondents who had cognition level to a lesser extent, while 70.62% of the respondents did not have any cognition level at all. Similarly, only 5.62% of the respondents had a greater extent of cognition level on the usage of paddy winnowers, followed by 9.37% of the respondents who had cognition level to a lesser extent, while 85.00% of the respondents did not have any proper cognition level at all. The findings also reveal that 36.25% of the respondents had a greater extent of cognition level on the usage of portable rice mills, followed by 40.00% of the respondents who had cognition level to a lesser extent, while 23.75% did not possess proper cognition level at all. Likewise, 26.25% of the respondents had a greater extent of cognition level on mini combine harvesters, followed by 33.75% who had cognition level to a lesser extent, while 40.00% of the respondents did not possess proper cognition level at all. Finally, 59.37% of the respondents had a greater extent of cognition level regarding grinding machines used to prepare rice flour or rice powder, followed by 14.37% of the respondents who had cognition level to a lesser extent, while 26.25% of the respondents did not possess any proper cognition level about it. Table 2 reveals that majority of the respondents (61.25%) belongs to the medium category followed by 20.05% of the respondents who belonged to low category and 18.75% of the respondents belong to the high category with mean 24.50 and S.D of 5.20. The paddy growers had comparatively more cognition level than the toria growers which could be due to more exposure to machineries and mechanization in case of paddy cultivation. The farmers had information regarding the common machines like power tiller, tractor, thresher, and sprayer but they did not have sufficient cognition level regarding advanced and specialized farm machinery. It has been observed that even though the farmers have cognition level about farm mechanization, a lot of cognition level gap is present related to the use of modern farm machinery especially in case of toria growers. Therefore, it emphasizes the importance of organizing extension activities like training programs and awareness campaigns for improving the cognition level of the farmers about mechanization technology. Institutional support along with the right farm machinery easily available and affordable will help in enhancing agricultural production. Overall, 61.25 had medium level of cognition level in paddy cultivation practices, followed by 20.05 and 18.75 who had low and high level of cognition level respectively. Similarly in toria, 58.75 had high level of knowledge, followed by 23.75 who had low and 17.50 had high level of knowledge.

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