Promoting biological pest management in organic farming: Farmers’ awareness and adoption constraints under a NABARD-financed project in Kotabagh, Uttarakhand

Introduction

Hill agriculture in Uttarakhand is characterised by small, fragmented and family-owned landholdings, high dependence on vegetable and field crops, and increasing pest pressure that has driven farmers toward heavy and often indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides. While such practices offer short-term protection against crop losses, they are associated with rising input costs, pest resistance and resurgence, and well-documented adverse effects on human health, soil biodiversity, pollinators, natural enemies and water resources. At the same time, growing consumer demand for pesticide-residue-free and organically grown produce has opened new opportunities for smallholder farmers to shift toward ecologically sound pest management systems, provided they have access to appropriate knowledge, inputs and markets. Biological controlthe use of natural enemies such as parasitoids, predators and entomopathogenic microorganisms (e.g., Trichogramma, coccinellid beetles and entomopathogenic fungi)together with the broader framework of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Bio-Intensive Pest Management (BIPM), offers a scientifically validated and environmentally sustainable alternative to calendar-based chemical spraying. Successful adoption of these technologies, however, depends critically on farmers' awareness, their existing pest management practices, and the technical, economic and institutional constraints they face at the field level. Recognising this gap, a project titled 'Promotion of biological control-based pest management technology for organic farming in the Kotabagh block of Nainital district' was undertaken with financial support from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). Kotabagh block was selected as the project site owing to significant pest www.extensionjournal.com pressure in staple vegetable crops such as brinjal, tomato, cole crops and capsicum, heavy reliance of farmers on chemical pesticides, and the block's considerable untapped potential for organic farming among its predominantly small and marginal farm households. This paper reports the findings of the baseline survey conducted under the project, with the specific objectives of (i) assessing farmers' awareness of biological control, IPM and BIPM technologies; (ii) documenting prevailing pest management practices; (iii) identifying the technical, economic and institutional constraints to adoption of biological controlbased organic farming; and (iv) determining the training needs of farmers to inform subsequent capacity-building interventions.

Materials and Methods

Study Area

The study was conducted in Kotabagh block of Nainital district, Uttarakhand. Five villages -Bhatlani, Ginati Gaon-Ramdatt, Devirampur-Dohnia, Naudha-Kalyanpur and Kaptanganj-Selsiawere selected through purposive sampling, based on the predominance of agriculture as the main occupation, significant insect-pest pressure on vegetable and field crops, and heavy dependence on chemical pesticides. The demographic profile of the selected villages is presented in Table 1.

Sampling and Data Collection

A structured questionnaire was developed in simple Hindi to facilitate ease of understanding among farmers. The instrument covered sixteen major indicators relating to socioeconomic status, cropping pattern, membership in farmer institutions, major pest problems, pest identification methods, existing pest management practices, awareness of IPM and BIPM, awareness of and demand for training on biopesticides, extent and status of organic farming, organic certification, access to organic markets, and price realisation for organic produce; it also captured constraints faced and training needs. From each of the five villages, a representative sample of farm households was drawn using random sampling to ensure adequate coverage of different farm sizes and cropping systems.

Data Analysis

Collected responses were compiled, coded and entered into a spreadsheet for tabulation. Descriptive statisticsprincipally frequencies and percentageswere computed for each indicator, separately for each village, to enable village-wise as well as block-level comparison and to identify patterns underlying farmers' awareness, practices and constraints.

Awareness Programme and Selection of Farmers for Training

Following the baseline survey, awareness programmes on biocontrol-based pest management were organised in each of the five villages in coordination with local leaders (gram pradhans and farmer groups) at common gathering points such as panchayat halls, schools and farmers' fields. Each programme covered four themespest incidence in crops, harmful effects of indiscriminate insecticide use, importance of organic farming, and promotion of biocontrol-based pest managementsupported by pamphlets, booklets and PowerPoint presentations in Hindi, interactive lectures, question-answer sessions and success-story sharing to build farmer motivation. Subsequently, farmers for hands-on training were identified through preliminary village meetings, voluntary registration and brief interviews assessing interest, existing practices and willingness to adopt biocontrol technologies, applying selection criteria that ensured balanced representation of small and marginal farmers, women and unemployed rural youth alongside progressive farmers.

Results and Discussion

Consolidated Survey Findings

The village-wise responses on the sixteen survey indicators are consolidated in Table 2. The findings reveal broadly consistent patterns across the five villages, alongside notable village-level variation in organic farming activity and institutional membership.

Pest Identification Practices

Insect identification was overwhelmingly visual across all villages (82.8-100%), with only a small proportion of farmers using pheromone traps or seeking expert guidance (up to 14.2% in Naudha-Kalyanpur). While experienced farmers can identify common pests visually, reliance on this method alone increases the risk of misidentification and delayed response to outbreaks, underscoring the need for simple diagnostic aids and stronger technical support systems.

Awareness of IPM and BIPM

Awareness of Integrated Pest Management ranged from 17.1% (Naudha-Kalyanpur) to 46.1% (Bhatlani), remaining below 50% in every village. Awareness of Bio-Intensive Pest Management was markedly lower still, ranging from 5.7% to 11.5% across all five villagesbelow 12% everywhere. This wide gap between the availability of ecologically safer pest-management strategies and farmers' awareness of them represents the most fundamental barrier to adoption identified in this study, and points to an urgent need for targeted, sustained outreach and field demonstrations.

Demand for Biopesticide Training

Awareness of biopesticides varied considerably across villages, from as low as 18.5% in Ginati Gaon-Ramdatt to 65.3% in Bhatlani. Despite this variation, demand for training on biopesticide use was unanimous -100% of farmers in every village expressed a wish to be trainedreflecting strong latent willingness among farmers to adopt new, environmentally friendly pest-control methods once these are made accessible and comprehensible.

Status of Organic Farming

The proportion of farmers reporting some organic farming activity ranged widely, from 7.4% in Ginati Gaon-Ramdatt to 76.9% in Bhatlani, but the actual area under organic cultivation remained modest in every village, ranging from 3.12 acres (Ginati Gaon-Ramdatt) to 25.83 acres (Bhatlani). Organic certification was similarly limited, achieved by only 11.4% to 69.2% of farmers across villages. Most critically, access to reliable organic markets was poor everywhereas low as 3.7% of farmers in Ginati Gaon-Ramdatt and no higher than 34.6% in Bhatlaniand the great majority of farmers (over 90% in most villages) did not receive a price premium for organic produce. This absence of assured market access and price incentive appears to be a major disincentive to wider investment in organic and biological pestmanagement practices, irrespective of underlying awareness levels.

Farmer Institutional Membership

Membership in Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and cooperatives varied considerably across villages, with a substantial share of farmers remaining unorganisedas high as 56.5% in Kaptanganj-Selsia. Weak institutional membership restricts farmers' access to technical support, collective bargaining, financial schemes and market linkages, and strengthening such institutions emerges as an important lever for improving both awareness and adoption of biological control-based organic farming. www.extensionjournal.com

Constraints to Adoption of Biological Control Technologies

Based on the survey findings and farmer interactions, the constraints to adoption were classified into three categories:

(A) Technical Constraints • Low awareness of BIPM, ranging from 5.7% to 11.5% across the five villages. • Limited knowledge of biopesticides, as low as 18.5% in Ginati Gaon-Ramdatt and 28.5% in Kaptanganj-Selsia and Naudha-Kalyanpur. • Continued dependence on chemical pesticides, used by 96-100% of respondents in every village. • Weak pest-identification skills, with most farmers relying solely on visual identification and minimal expert involvement.

(B) Economic Constraints

• Poor access to organic markets, with over 90% of farmers in most villages lacking reliable market outlets for organic produce. • Low price realisation, with only 3.1-7.6% of farmers receiving premium pricing for organic produce. • Perception among farmers that biological inputs are more expensive or less immediately effective than conventional pesticides.

(C) Institutional Constraints

• Limited organisational support, with up to 56.5% of farmers in Kaptanganj-Selsia unaffiliated with any farmer group. • Low organic certification rates, below 25% of organic farmers in most villages. • Weak extension services, with inadequate on-ground staff or trained personnel to guide farmers on IPM/BIPM practices.

Training Needs Identified

Based on the gaps identified through the survey and farmer feedback, four broad areas of training need were prioritised:

Awareness Programme Outcomes

Five awareness programmes were conducted, one in each village, covering the ill effects of indiscriminate insecticide use, the advantages of biological control over chemical pesticides, identification of naturally occurring parasitoids and predators, and the role of microbial bioagents such as fungi, bacteria and viruses. Live demonstrations of bioagent application, discussion of BIPM technologies for major local crops (paddy, tomato, brinjal, soybean and cucumber), ecological farming practices such as crop rotation and intercropping, on-farm production of bioagents, and information on market avenues for organic produce were all incorporated, supported by distribution of pamphlets, posters and booklets for future reference. Following the awareness programmes, farmers were identified and selected for hands-on training through preliminary village meetings, voluntary registration and brief interviews assessing motivation and willingness to adopt biocontrol technologies, applying selection criteria to ensure balanced representation of small and marginal farmers, women and unemployed rural youth. A total of 125 farmers -25 from each of the five villageswere finally selected for training, as summarised in Table 3.

Conclusion

The baseline survey conducted under the NABARD-financed project in Kotabagh block reveals a clear paradox: farmers are universally aware of the hazards of chemical pesticides yet remain heavily dependent on them, while awareness of ecologically safer alternativesparticularly Bio-Intensive Pest Management and biological control agentsremains critically low, at well under 12% across all surveyed villages. At the same time, farmers displayed unanimous willingness to be trained in biopesticide use, indicating that the barrier to adoption is not one of attitude but of access to knowledge, inputs, technical support and remunerative markets. Organic farming activity, though present in varying degrees, remains constrained by small cultivated area, low certification rates and, most critically, poor market access and price realisation. Addressing the technical, economic and institutional constraints identified in this study through sustained extension, farmer institution-building and market linkage support is essential to translate the strong latent demand for training into durable adoption of biological control-based organic farming in the hill agro-ecosystem of Kotabagh.

Recommendations

• Scale up village-level awareness campaigns and field demonstrations on BIPM and biological control agents (e.g., Trichogramma, coccinellid predators, entomopathogenic fungi), given the very low baseline awareness (5.7-11.5%).

• Provide hands-on, farmer-participatory training on identification, mass production and field application of biopesticides and bioagents, in line with the unanimous training demand recorded in every village.

• Strengthen pest-monitoring capacity through simple diagnostic aids and pheromone traps to reduce overreliance on visual identification alone. • Facilitate organic certification and develop assured market linkages, given that over 90% of farmers in most villages lack access to remunerative organic markets despite practising some organic farming. • Strengthen and mobilise Farmer Producer Organizations and Self-Help Groups, particularly in villages such as Kaptanganj-Selsia with high proportions of unorganised farmers, to improve collective access to inputs, credit, extension and markets. • Institutionalise periodic follow-up and monitoring of the 125 trained farmers to assess adoption levels and coursecorrect extension strategy in subsequent project phases.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementThis study was carried out under a project financially supported by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for the promotion of biological control-based pest management technology for organic farming in Kotabagh block, Nainital district, Uttarakhand. The authors gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the farmers of Bhatlani, Ginati Gaon-Ramdatt, Devirampur-Dohnia, Naudha-Kalyanpur and Kaptanganj-Selsia, and the support of local gram pradhans and farmer groups during the survey and awareness programmes.

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