Conception of Improved Blackgram (Vigna mungo L.) Production Technology and its Propagation among Farmers for the Development of a Sustainable Seeds Production Strategy

Abstract

Having a strong seed system that could spur agricultural expansion would be the first and most important step toward achieving food security in the nation of India. The main objective of this study was to investigate the impact of Improved Production Technology (IPT) on the production of high-quality seeds of blackgram (Vigna mungo L.) cultivar VBN 6 in a farmer-participatory mode in Tamil Nadu, India’s Ponnanaiyar subbasin during kharif and rabi 2017–18. In total, 985 farmers from 235 places throughout chosen Pudukkottai and Tiruchirappalli districts received frontline IPT demonstrations and IPT was applied in their agronomic practices afterwards. Compared to traditional approaches, our study demonstrated that IPT not only facilitated the production of high-quality seeds, but also a 25.14% higher seed yield of blackgram. Furthermore, the average water productivity was improved from 0.116 kg ha−1 m−3 to 0.154 kg ha−1 m−3. This study indicated IPT was effective in guaranteeing a system of sustainable seed production and thus was of great value in raising the farmers’ net incomes, profitability, and cost-benefit ratios. There is little well-documented data on how the farmer-participatory approach improves seed production technology in a sustainable way in the case of pulses when adopting improved production technologies in arable crop farming. Our creative method of having farmers participate in the demonstrations allowed us to evaluate how these extension programs affected the technology utilized to produce high-quality seeds. This study indicated IPT was effective in guaranteeing a system of sustainable seed production and thus was of great value in raising the farmers’ net incomes, profitability, and cost–benefit ratios.