Adoption Level of Masumbi (Citrus sinensis) Growers and Its Relationship with Their Personality Traits in Haryana, India

Abstract

Fruits have great importance in human dietary system and it is generally stated that the living standard of people can be judged by the production as well as consumption of fruits. Now a day’s citrus becomes a major commercial fruit crop in the Haryana state and keeping this in view the present study was conducted in Bhiwani district of the state as it have vast area under citrus cultivation. Further 3 blocks viz. Dadri, Badhra and Loharu were selected purposively and from each block 40 farmers were selected randomly, making a total of 120 respondents. The major thrust of study was the determination of citrus growers existing level of adoption towards recommended farm practices and association of their personality traits with adoption level. About 71 per cent of the farmers had medium to high level of adoption category. Time of planting, recommended cultivators, fruit drop were highly adopted agronomic practices, whereas least adopted agronomic practices were packaging, disease and their control and insect pest and their control. Personality traits like education (r = 0.563), extension contact (r = 0.233), mass media exposure (r = 0.339), risk orientation (r = 0.497), scienticism (r = 0.395) and economic motivation (r = 0.428) with adoption level had positive and significant correlation. To improve the adoption level, extension agencies should give more emphasis on the practices which require specialized skills like post-harvest technology and packaging.