Vol. 12, Issue 3 (2023)

Author(s):
K Navyasri, Dr. Ch. Srilatha, Dr. A Janaiah and Dr. K Suhasini

Abstract:
Irrigation plays an important role in raising and stabilizing the yield and maintaining quality of a crop like red chilli. The present study is an attempt to analyze the factors influencing the farmer’s adoption of different methods of utilizing the irrigation potential which helps to conserve water, increase water use efficiency and to reduce water use per hectare in line with the government’s motto of “More crop per drop”. Primary data from 180 sample farmers (@ 30 each from drip cum plastic mulch, drip and conventional systems) in six villages of Bhadradri Kothagudem district were collected. The Binary logit model was used to analyze the factors affecting farmers adoption of red chilli related improved technology consisting of drip irrigation and plastic mulches. Water conservation by using drip irrigation method is the practice of using water efficiently to reduce unnecessary water usage. Mulching is another important practice to conserve water. Micro-irrigation and fertigation are major methods to replace the conventional method of irrigation systems to achieve higher yields in red chilli cultivation. The use of drip cum plastic mulch irrigation system in red chilli cultivation has been a recent development in major chilli growing districts of Telangana such as Khammam, Bhadradri Kothagudem and Warangal etc. The education level, farm size, family size etc., have positively influencing the probability for adopting drip irrigation system and drip cum plastic mulch irrigation system in red chilli cultivation.