Vol. 10, Special Issue 12 (2021)

Author(s):
RS Karangami, SB Bhange, MC Ahire, AM Chavai, GB Kabre and VS Wani

Abstract:
Agricultural information provided to farmers at the appropriate time, in the right format and from reliable sources is very vital for improving agricultural production. This study aims to identify sources of and preferences towards agricultural information among grape farmers in utilization pattern of pesticides. In India, agriculture is the most important economic sector. Maharashtra is the country's largest grape-producing state. The Maharashtra government has proposed establishing an agriculture export zone that would include Nashik, Sangli, Pune, Solapur, Satara, and Ahmednagar, to export table grapes and value-added products like wine in a coordinated manner. Chemical control of pests is a common practice in agriculture. In 2016-17, the area under grapes in Maharashtra was 90000 ha. The annual production was around 2048000MT. The productivity was 22.73MT/ha. The use of pesticides in modern agriculture practices is one of the necessary measures for protecting crops from pests due to over-dependence and indiscriminate use of pesticides, which causes residues problems in fruits, one of the major concerns in most countries, including India. The research was carried out in the Nashik district. Twenty-four villages were chosen at random. A total of 240 farmers were chosen from each community, with ten grape growers chosen from each village. The information was gathered through personal interviews. In research result indicated that that 11.67 per cent of the grape growers had a high level of sources of information towards utilization pattern of pesticides, followed by 67.92 per cent of the grape growers had a medium level of sources of information towards utilization pattern of pesticides, and only 20.41 per cent of the grape growers had a low level of source of information utilization pattern of pesticides. Agriculture extension is an important tool for disseminating information to farmers, and has been highlighted as critical agent for transforming subsistence farming to modern and commercial agriculture, thereby improving household food security, incomes, and reducing poverty. Hence, more effective on ground efforts by agricultural university and agriculture department should be taken by giving right information about the same.