Perception of farmers about Krishi Mela

Introduction

India, an agrarian country where most of the people are dependent on agriculture and allied sector. Agriculture is the backbone of India and it contributes about 18.00 per cent in total GDP of the country [Anon. (2021)] [1] . The growth of agricultural sector is not up to the mark despite the government efforts to accelerate this important sector. The information needs of the farmers is changing day by day and the farmers do access the information from various sources as per their needs. Nowadays there are many information sources but the farmers only rely on those sources which are credible and use them informally [Jitendra Pratap, et al., (2019)] [4] . A cent per cent each of the farmers identified farm and home visit, office call, result demonstration, field day, agricultural show and method demonstration as the extension teaching methods used for them by the extension agents. About 96.25 per cent identified posters while 93.75 per cent identified exhibits. Other extension teaching methods identified are leaflets (87.50), radio programme (83.75%) video tapes (68.75%), slides (62.50%), audio-cassettes (62.50%) television programme (25.00%) and telephone call (12.50%) [Okunade. (2007)] [7] . The research organization and government efforts to increase the production of agricultural and allied sectors by developing the newer technologies and other means which boost the income of the farmers. Scientists, policy makers, extension workers and other private sector stake holders develop a lot of literature in the area of agriculture which has to be transmitted to the farmers. The fast growth of agriculture sector can only be achieved by transferring the new information from lab to land [Jitendra Pratap, et al., (2019)] [4] . Krishi mela is an important mass contact method for farmers to gaining momentum over the years. This event is conducted by the Agricultural Universities every year for the benefit of stakeholders. Krishi mela envisages a large-scale display of improved agricultural technologies and farm inputs for the benefit of farmers [Manjula and Sheikh. (2010)] [5] . It is an organized educational activity for involving and educating farmers by bringing all stakeholders together, where the farmers can seek first-hand knowledge about the latest technologies and developments in agriculture and allied aspects. It is an integrated extension approach consisting of individual, group as well as mass contact methods with appropriate audio-visual aids and it is powerful in changing the behaviour of farmers, farm women and youth in terms of knowledge, skill, attitude and symbolic adoption [Sipai, et al., (2017)] [10] . Krishi mela is a fair organized by an agricultural institution to diffuse new farm technologies through participation of several farmers on the campus by different means [Shah, T. et al., (2013)] [10] . Krishi mela was organised by Keladi Shivappa Nayaka University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shivamogga with the motto to bridge the gap between technology and farmers enabling technology diffusion among farming community upholding principle of "seeing is believing". Because learner possess the ability to retain 50.00 per cent of what they see and hear [Wittich and Schuller, (1973)] [11] . The adoption of any technology by farmers depends on perception about the performance of technology displayed in Krishi melas. Positive perception is very important for to identify the strength and weakness of the Krishi mela and overcome weakness using opportunities with this concept the present study was conducted with the following specific objective to study the perception of farmers about Krishi mela.

Methodology

The present study was conducted in the five districts namely Shivamogga, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Chikkamagaluru and Udupi which were coming under Keladi Shivappa Nayaka University of agricultural and Horticultural Science (KSNUAHS), Shivamogga, Karnataka in 2021-22. For the selection of sample, the list of farmers participated in Krishi Mela from 2016-2022 were listed, among these listed participants, farmers who had participated Krishi mela at least twice were listed as mentioned in Table 1. Proportionate sampling method was done to select the sample for the study from the list of farmers participated atleast twice in Krishi Mela with total sample size of 120 using the formula and were randomly selected for the study. Perception can be defined as how individuals recognize and interpret sensory information from the environment [Ray, (1991)] [8] . In the present study, the perception is operationalized as the general feeling of various respondents about the Krishi mela. Schedule was developed to measure the perception of farmers. The perception of farmers was captured using already developed Likert summated rating scale. A number of items were enlisted for accessing perception level of farmers about Krishi mela. In this regard, all possible perception items were developed from review of literature and discussion with extension experts. In these process thirty statements were finalized to access the perception of participated farmers towards Krishi mela using four different components like, concept, objectives, activities, and perception towards usefulness of Krishi mela. Among these, fifteen were positive and fifteen were negative. The responses were collected on a five-point continuum scale viz., Strongly agree, Agree, Un-decided, Disagree and Strongly dis-agree, with a score of 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, respectively for positive statements and reverse for negative statements. The individual score was obtained by summing up the scores of all the statements. The maximum score one could obtain was 150 and the minimum score was 30. The respondents were grouped into three categories as low, medium and high, based on the mean and half standard deviation as a measure of a check. The data collected from the respondents are coded, tabulated, analysed and presented in the form of tables. The data were analysed using simple statistical tools like frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviation and chi square test to draw meaningful inferences. Frequency is the number of items a variable is repeated. This measure was used to know the distribution pattern of respondents variable wise and to categorize the respondents based on their opinion on each activity. Percentage is the number, amount and rate etc., expressed as it is part of a total which is 100. This measure was used for a simple understanding of numeric with different groups. For calculating percentage, the frequency of particular set was divided by the total number of observations multiplied by 100. Mean is defined as the ratio of sum of all the observations to the total number of observations. This measure was used to categorize the dependent and independent variables into low, medium and high categories. Mean was used as a measure to classify the respondents into various categories.

Sample size = Sample size Population size × Stratum size

𝑋 = Σ𝑋 𝑛

Where, =Mean  X= Sum of all the observations n = Number of observations Standard Deviation defines as the square root of the mean of the square of the deviations of the set of observations from their mean. This measure was used to categorize the dependent and independent variable into low, medium and high categories. 𝑆 = √ ∑(𝑋 -𝑋) 2 𝑛 -1

Where, O i -Observed value r-number of rows E i -Expected value c-number of columns The result depicted in Table 2 revealed that, nearly half of the farmers strongly agree (50.83%) with that 'Krishi mela provides a forum for interface with stakeholders of agriculture', 54.16 per cent of the farmers strongly agreed to that 'Krishi mela helps in getting effective feedback', 53.34 per cent of farmers perceived that they didn't get inputs at reasonable rate in Krishi mela and 54.17 per cent of farmers strongly disagree with that 'Krishi mela are not needed since farmers carryout better agricultural technologies'. This may be due to the fact that Krishi mela was organized to create awareness among farmers about the latest agriculture related technological developments and solve their problems. Farmers expressed Krishi mela helps in giving effective feedback this might be because compared to the other mass media communication, Krishi mela might help in getting feedback from the farmers and here farmers directly interact with the scientists and extension workers regarding the advantages and disadvantages of any technology or information. Most of the farmers participated in Krishi mela for the purchase of seeds and it is the place where a number of improved varieties of seeds, fertilizers and machinery were displayed and demonstrated to create awareness among the farmers. So, that farmer purposely participated in Krishi mela to purchase inputs and to practically apply in their farms. The result is confirmed with the result of [Gangil Deepak, et al., (2019] [3] . Results revealed from Fig. 2 showed that, 45.83 per cent of farmers had a medium perception towards Krishi mela. Whereas, 28.34 per cent had high and 25.83 per cent of them had low perception about Krishi mela to gain knowledge on agriculture and allied sectors. This may be because of farmers participating in Krishi mela with motto to full fill need-based purposes availing easily on the same platform, catering needs of farmers ranging from youth, adult and old. Interactive sessions among scientists and farmers have helped both in understanding the conditions on the field and test the applicability of the knowledge. It help farmers to enhance their knowledge on new technologies and often attract an umpteen number of farmers, scientists, students and extension personnel from agriculture and allied departments. These might be the reasons for the medium-to-high level perception towards Krishi mela. The present finding corresponds to that of [Shah, et al., (2013)] [9] and [Ansari and Paswan, (2018)] [2] . It could be inferred from the Table 3 that, out of twelve profile characteristics of the farmers, six characteristics such as occupation, extension contact, extension participation, mass media participation, innovativeness and time spent were found to have a significant association at 5 per cent level of significance with the perception level of farmers. In contrast, four characteristics, namely age, education, land holding and annual income had highly significant relationship at 1 per cent level of significance. Remaining two characteristics, namely experience in farming and economic motivation showed non-significant relation with perception level.

Results and Discussion

Conclusion

It could be concluded from the study that majority of participants strongly agree with that 'Krishi mela provides a forum for interface with stakeholders of agriculture and it helps in getting effective feedback and farmers perceived that they didn't get inputs at reasonable rate in Krishi mela. It having wider scop need to enhance better agriculture technologies supporting farmers in agriculture. Most of the farmers had medium and high level of perception towards Krishi mela. Hence, there is wide scope to improve the Krishi mela with respect to new technologies suitable to needs and resource available with the farmers. Whereas age, education, land holding and annual income had high significant association with perception and experience in farming and economic motivation had non-significant association with perception level.

References

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