Impact of front line demonstration on yield and economics of Wheat

The present investigation was done by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Manpur, Gaya in its 5 adopted villages (Bersima, Nawada, Mahmadpur, Sikahar and Sanaut) to know the Yield Gap, Economic Return, Extent of farmer’s satisfaction and Constraints faced by the farmers. In this study, 100 respondents selected were all those farmers on whose field FLD was conducted during the years 2015-16 and 2016-17. The plot size was 0.4ha for both Demonstration and Local Check. Before conducting FLD, the respondents were made abreast with the latest recommended package of practices of wheat. The demonstrated technologies under FLD resulted in an increase in yield by 19.15% over Local Check. It was also observed that there was technology gap (TG), extension gap (EG) and technology index (TI) of 9.11q/ha, 4.96 q/ha and 22.76 percent respectively. The economic performance of wheat under FLD showed an additional return of Rs.8085.5/ ha and additional cost of cultivation of Rs. 1525/ ha with BC ratio of 1.91 for demonstration and 1.70 for Local Check. The respondent satisfaction index (RSI) revealed that majority of respondent farmers expressed high (57.00%) level of satisfaction about Front Line Demonstration followed by medium (33.00%) and least under low category (10.00%). Unavailability of improved seed varieties of wheat in relation to climate change was found to be most confronting constraint as perceived by them and ranked I which was followed by Low technical knowledge about recommended package of practices (II) and Use of higher seed rate was identified as least important constraint and ranked as X in their priority list. The yield of demonstration was found higher than the local check but still lagging behind its potential yield. Thus, the yield could further be increased through effective extension methods like training and demonstration.

Agricultural activity in Gaya district is by and large confined to traditional cultivation depending primarily on monsoon rainfall and Rabi cultivation in localized patches where irrigation facilities are available. As per available statistics of the district, out of the gross cropped area of 203713 hectares, 164000 hectares are irrigated by different sources of irrigation e.g., tubewells, dugwells, tanks, rivers and age old ahar-pyne system (Dastidar et al., 2013 ). Major soil type is alfisols and entisols. KVKs are grass root level organizations meant for application of technology through assessment, refinement and demonstration of proven technologies under different ‘micro farming’ situations in a district (Das, 2007). Front line demonstration (FLD) is considered one of the most powerful tools for transfer of technology, as it establishes production potential of various crops and enterprises on farmers field through “learning by doing and seeing is believing”.

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