Constraints Faced by the Farmers in Adoption of Recommended Practices of Rice (Oryza sativa) Cultivation in Nagaland State

Abstract

Agriculture serves as a backbone for Nagaland’s economy where more than one-third of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihood. About 85 per cent of the cultivable land is occupied by cereals where rice, maize and millet are the major variants produced in the state. There are two methods of cultivation mostly practiced in the state i.e., jhum (shifting cultivation) and terrace which makes about 86 per cent of the total cultivable area. With the soar in population and the growing demands for food, there is a need to improve the farming systems so as to increase the production and productivity of agriculture to meet the growing demands, which can only be achieved by adopting improved and radical farming practices by the farmers. With a sample size of 300 rice farmers, a study was conducted in six districts of Nagaland to identify the constraints faced by the farmers while adopting recommended cultivation practices of rice (irrigated and upland). An open-ended questionnaire was administered to the respondents where ranking was done for each of the constraints based on the frequency and percentage. Findings revealed that the major constraints faced by the farmers while adopting recommended cultivation practices of irrigated rice were non-availability of quality seeds, lack of proper financial assistance/subsidies and non-availability of timely farm inputs and machineries whereas major constraints for upland rice were non-availability of quality seeds, lack of proper financial assistance/subsidies and lack of marketing facilities and channels.