Impact of on-campus training programme on knowledge level of arecanut growers

Introduction

Arecanut (Areca catechu) is a palm tree species which belongs to the family Arecaceae. The economic produce is the fruit called betelnut or pan supari. It is widely used for masticatory purpose and it is also being used in ayurvedic and traditional veterinary medicines. India is a traditional arecanut-growing country in the world, where the cultivation of arecanut can be traced back to the Vedic periods. Even though India has the large number of native arecanut varieties in its soil. Philippines is the origin of arecanut (Bibi Saleema, et al., 2025). It is emerging as leading commercial crop in south India and North-eastern India. Arecanut is Karnataka's highest value plantation crop, generating Rs. 2 lakh to 5 lakh per acre annually in malnad and coastal districts. Karnataka produces over more than four lakh tonnes of areca annually, with Dakshina Kannada, Shivamogga, Udupi, Uttara Kannada and Hassan districts dominating arecanut production. Areca palm is an important cash crop in these regions. Due to higher returns compared to traidtional crops (paddy, ragi, etc.,) and increased access to irrigation, areacnut is spreading to other districts of Karnataka (Anonymous, 2023; Anonymous, 2024; Sumukha P Tamankar, et al., 2026) [1, 2, 11] .

Training consists largely of well-organized opportunities for participants to acquire necessary knowledge and skill. It is a part of human growth and development. Training has been referred to as planned instruction to guide behavior. The transfer of modern agricultural practices to the farmers with pre-conceived thought of traditional farming calls for a welldeveloped and organized training programmes for the farmers. Training is a critical input for quick transfer of technology and a way to improve agriculture and to uplift the socio-economic condition of the farmers. With a view to implement the new agricultural strategy successfully, it is essential to provide production oriented training and education to farmers. The farmer's training fits in very well in the present context of agricultural extension strategy in India and has become significant to influence the agricultural production and development. Realizing the importance of training and education, need-based on campus training are formulated and conducted by various agencies to upgrade the farmers knowledge on improved farm technologies leading to adoption of the same in the field. Evaluation of any training programme organised for the farmers will help to empirically verify the knowledge gain for its further refinement. Hence, the present study was carried out with the following specific objectives: 1. To know the profile characteristics of trainees 2. To study the impact of training programme on the knowledge level of trainees regarding improved cultivation practices in arecanut 3. To find out the association between the profile characteristics of trainees and their knowledge level. [6] . A set of 20 knowledge items on improved arecanut cultivation practices were present to the trainees. In the present study, the knowledge level of the trainee was taken dependent variable, while the personal and socioeconomic characteristics of the trainees were considered as independent variables to find out the relationship between them. The collected date was scored, tabulated and analysed using frequency, mean zero order, correlation test, multiple regression analysis and path analysis.

Methodology

Results and Discussion

Profile characteristics of trainees

The data in respect of the profile characteristics of trainees are presented in Regarding experience in arecanut cultivation, 44.40 per cent of the respondents had moderate experience of 10-20 years, while 35.60 per cent had more than 20 years of experience and 20.00 per cent had less than 10 years of experience. In terms of family size, nearly half of the respondents (47.80%) belonged to medium-sized families with 5-8 members, followed by 36.70 per cent having small families of up to four members and only 15.50 per cent had large families with more than eight members. [9] , Pavan, et al., (2024) [7] , Chethan Kumar, et al., (2026) [4] . These characteristics suggest that the growers had a reasonable socio-economic and informational base for adopting improved arecanut production technologies.

However, the substantial proportion of respondents falling under the low categories for extension contact, innovativeness, risk orientation and mass media exposure highlights the need for strengthening extension interventions, farmer training, demonstrations, exposure visits, ICT-based advisory services and regular technical guidance to enhance the knowledge level on improved arecanut cultivation practices.

Impact of training on knowledge level of trainees on the improved arecanut cultivation practices

The findings in a Table 2 clearly indicate that the training programme substantially enhanced the knowledge of the trainees across all the selected improved arecanut cultivation practices. Before training, the knowledge level of the trainees across the 20 statements ranged from 29.00 to 42.00 per cent, indicating a relatively low level of awareness about improved arecanut cultivation practices. The highest level of pretraining knowledge was observed for "Training helps improve adoption of scientific technologies" (42.00%), followed by "Harvesting at proper maturity improves quality" (40.00%) and "Application of organic manure improves soil health" (39.00%). In contrast, the lowest knowledge was recorded for "Soil testing should be done before fertilizer application" and "Cocoa can be grown successfully in arecanut gardens", each accounting for only 29.00 per cent. This suggests that the trainees had some familiarity with general cultivation practices but possessed inadequate knowledge about soil testing, nutrient management and diversified arecanut-based cropping systems.

After training, a remarkable improvement was observed in the knowledge levels for all the practices. The post-training knowledge ranged from 82.00 to 93.00 per cent, indicating that most trainees acquired a high level of knowledge after attending the training programme. The highest knowledge level was recorded for "Training helps improve adoption of scientific technologies" (93.00%), followed by "Application of organic manure improves soil health" and "Intercropping increases farm income", both with 91.00 per cent knowledge. Knowledge regarding harvesting at proper maturity and regular field sanitation was also high at 90.00 per cent each. The highest percentage increase in knowledge was observed for "Soil testing should be done before fertilizer application" (57.00%), followed by "Intercropping increases farm income" (55.00%). A gain of 54.00 per cent was recorded for recommended spacing, balanced fertilizer application, drip irrigation and mulching. These substantial gains suggest that the training was particularly effective in addressing the information gaps that existed among trainees before the programme. With respect to varietal selection and spacing, knowledge regarding the use of improved arecanut varieties increased from 37.00 to 88.00 per cent, representing a gain of 51.00 per cent. Similarly, knowledge regarding recommended spacing increased from 32.00 to 86.00 per cent, with a gain of 54.00 per cent. While, knowledge about soil testing increased from 29.00 to 86.00 per cent, recording the highest gain of 57.00 per cent. Further, knowledge regarding organic manure increased from 39.00 to 91.00 per cent, while balanced fertilizer application increased from 35.00 to 89.00 per cent. Knowledge about integrated nutrient management increased from 31.00 to 84.00 per cent, and micronutrient application from 32.00 to 84.00 per cent. The Knowledge about drip irrigation improved from 33.00 to 87.00 per cent, while knowledge about mulching increased from 31.00 to 85.00 per cent.

A substantial improvement was also observed in knowledge about intercropping and crop diversification. Knowledge on intercropping increases farm income increased from 36.00 to 91.00 per cent, similarly, knowledge about black pepper as a profitable intercrop increased from 35.00 to 86.00 per cent, while knowledge regarding banana increased from 33.00 to 85.00 per cent. Knowledge concerning cocoa cultivation in arecanut gardens increased from 29.00 to 82.00 per cent. The training also resulted in improvement in knowledge regarding integrated pest and disease management. Knowledge about integrated pest management increased from 32.00 to 83.00 per cent, with a gain of 51.00 per cent.

Similarly, knowledge about preventive management of bud rot disease increased from 33.00 to 82.00 per cent, knowledge regarding proper drainage for preventing root diseases increased from 37.00 to 89.00 per cent. Regarding harvesting and post-harvest management, knowledge about harvesting at proper maturity increased from 40.00 to 90.00 per cent, knowledge regarding scientific post-harvest practices increased from 35.00 to 87.00 per cent and knowledge about regular field sanitation increased from 38.00 to 90.00 per cent.

The statement "Training helps improve adoption of scientific technologies" recorded the highest post-training knowledge level of 93.00 per cent, compared with 42.00 per cent before training, resulting in a 51.00 per cent increase. This finding reinforces the overall effectiveness of the training programme and indicates that the trainees recognized the importance of capacity building in facilitating the adoption of scientific agricultural technologies. The findings of this study are concurrent with the findings of Mohanraj, et al., (2021) [5] , Sujit Sarkar, et al., (2024) [10] and Pavan, et al., (2024) [7] . The findings suggests that training programmes can serve as an effective means of bridging knowledge gaps and improving farmers' understanding of recommended technologies. However, knowledge improvement alone may not necessarily result in immediate field-level adoption. Therefore, regular follow-up visits, method demonstrations, field days, farmer-to-farmer extension, provision of technical literature and continuous advisory services should be undertaken to translate the enhanced knowledge into actual and sustained adoption of improved arecanut cultivation practices. The observed increase in knowledge was tested statistically using the 't' test, and the calculated 't' value was 1.98, which was reported as significant at the one per cent level. This indicates that the difference between the pre-test and post-test knowledge levels was statistically significant and was not merely due to chance. Therefore, the training programme can be considered effective in enhancing the knowledge of trainees regarding improved arecanut cultivation practices.

Overall knowledge level of trainees on improved areacanut cultivation practices

The findings of this study are concurrent with the findings of Mohanraj, et al., (2021) [5] and Pavan, et al., (2024) [7] . The substantial improvement from 34.60 to 86.80 per cent may be attributed to the systematic presentation of technical information, practical exposure, demonstrations, interaction with experts and clarification of doubts during the training programme. The training appears to have effectively addressed the knowledge gaps related to improved varieties, recommended spacing, soil testing, nutrient management, irrigation, mulching, intercropping, integrated pest and disease management, harvesting and post-harvest practices.

The findings also suggest that the trainees were receptive to the technical information imparted during the programme. The high post-test knowledge score indicates that the training was successful not only in introducing improved technologies but also in enhancing the trainees' understanding of their relevance and application in arecanut cultivation.

Association between profile characteristics of areacanut growers and their knowledge level on improved cultivation practices

Table 4 presents the association between the profile characteristics of the trainees and their knowledge level regarding improved arecanut cultivation practices. The Chisquare test was used to determine whether the observed association between each selected characteristic and knowledge level was statistically significant. With four degrees of freedom for each characteristic, the results revealed that education, experience in arecanut cultivation, extension contact, innovativeness, risk orientation and mass media exposure had significant to highly significant associations with the knowledge level, whereas age, family size, land holding, area under arecanut cultivation, annual farm income and social participation of arecanut growers did not show significant association with their knowledge level on improved cultivation practices. The findings of this study are concurrent with the findings of Mohanraj, et al., (2021) [5] , Pavan, et al., (2024) [7] , Preeti, et al., (2025) [8] and Sumukha P Tamankar, et al., (2026) [11] .

Conclusion

The study demonstrated that on-campus training was effective in enhancing the knowledge of arecanut growers regarding improved cultivation practices, with the overall mean knowledge score increasing from 34.60 per cent before training to 86.80 per cent after training, resulting in a knowledge gain of 52.20 per cent. Education, experience in arecanut cultivation, extension contact, innovativeness, risk orientation and mass media exposure were significantly associated with knowledge, while the other profile characteristics showed no significant association with the improved arecanut cultivation practices. The findings highlight the importance of need-based, practical and continuous training programmes, supported by regular extension contact, demonstrations and agricultural advisories, particularly for growers with limited access to information. As a policy implication, agricultural universities and extension agencies should institutionalize periodic training and post-training follow-up to facilitate translation of knowledge into field-level adoption of improved arecanut cultivation practices.

References

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