A Relational Analysis of Level of Knowledge and Adoption of Mango Growers in Odisha, India

Abstract

Odisha is the 8th largest producer of Mango state in India and occupies 61.00 % of total fruit cultivated areas of the state. The present research has been conducted to ascertain the level of knowledge and adoption of improved farm practices by the Mango farmers as well as to ascertain the association between selected socio-personal, agro-economic, and communication variables with level of knowledge and adoption. The study was conducted in two purposively selected One District One Product (ODOP) districts for Mango, i.e. Subarnapur & Angul district of Odisha.  Ten aspects of knowledge and nine broad aspects of adoption were considered for the present study. Data were collected from 180 respondents, 90 from each study district and analysed through statistical tools like Knowledge and Adoption Index, frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, correlation, multiple and step wise regression and ANOVA. It was found that Majority of the respondents were having medium and semi-medium level of overall knowledge and adoption respectively with no significant difference between study districts in this regard. Selected variables i.e. age, self-education, family-education, Mango farming experience, social participation, land holding, cultivable land, area under Mango, annual family income, overall information seeking behaviour, overall marketing behaviour, and overall adoption were found influencing the overall knowledge. Whereas, in case of level of adoption, all 11 variables out of the above mentioned 12 variables except overall level of adoption along with Mango yield index and overall knowledge were found having significant and strong correlation with overall adoption. The adjusted R2 were found 0.788 and 0.766 respectively for regression of overall knowledge and overall adoption with selected socio-personal, agro-economic and communication variables. The step wise regression of overall knowledge with selected variables showed that, 5 variables viz, overall information seeking behaviour, overall marketing behaviour, self-education, Mango yield index and family education appeared as most important variables that explained the variation in overall knowledge level. Similarly, while doing regression of overall adoption with selected variables, 3 variables viz., overall knowledge, cultivable land, Mango yield index appeared as most important variables that explained the variation in overall adoption.