Farmers’ Utilisation Pattern of Soil Health Card’s Recommendation on Sali Rice Cultivation in Assam

Abstract

Aims: The present study was undertaken to examine the utilisation pattern of Soil Health Card’s (SHC) recommendation by the farmers on sali rice cultivation in Assam.
 Study Design: The numbers of respondents were selected by proportional allocation to size to make it 150 and the relevant data were cross-sectional.
 Place and Duration of Study: The study was undertaken at Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat. Respondents were selected from the Darrang district of Assam during the period 2017-18.
 Methodology: Descriptive as well as inferential statistical tools were employed in order to attain the objective of the study. The data was analysed by using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and Chi-square test.
 Results: The result revealed that 56.67 per cent of the respondents were unable to read the content of SHC, and 82.00 per cent of the respondents did not understand the content of SHC. Moreover, 74.66 per cent of farmers did not apply fertilisers and other nutrients as per the SHC recommendation. The chi-square test showed that application of urea, Diammonium Phosphate, Singe Super Phosphate and Muriate of Potash had a higher association with increased age, education, landholding, and gross annual income of respondents.
 Conclusion: The SHC scheme could not bring any positive changes to sali rice in the initial year at Darrang district. Thus, the study has suggested initiating the mass awareness campaign regularly using the concept of social marketing for judicious application of fertilisers and nutrients based on the SHC report. It is also necessary to provide technical backstopping to farmers on SHC recommendation and application to make agriculture productive, profitable, and sustainable.