Level of Technology Adoption in Groundnut (<em>Arachis hypogeae</em> L.) Production: A Case Study in Batticaloa District

Abstract

Groundnut is a major commercial crop cultivated in Sri Lanka, especially in the dry zone depending on the monsoon seasons. However, groundnut cultivation has been significantly affected by contemporary challenges, such as irrigation, climate change, methods of land preparation and selection of good seeds, which require adoption of new technologies. Especially, seed production aspects for groundnut cultivation requires a higher attention to maintain the sustainability and cost-efficiency of the process. Nevertheless, farmers are reluctant in utilizing new technology, considering their dependency on traditional methods passed through previous generations. Therefore, the current study was conducted to determine the knowledge level of farmers on technology adoption in groundnut production. A total of one hundred farmers from Eravur Pattu DS division in Batticaloa district were recruited for the current study, based on the stratified random sampling technique. An interviewer administrated pre-tested structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive analysis techniques were used to summarize the socio-demographic data and the cultivation practices among the farmers. The Chi-square test of association was used identify the significant driving factors on the level of technology adoption by farmers for groundnut seed production. It was noted that around 52% of the farmers were characterized with a moderate level of technology adoption, followed by 37% of farmers denoting a higher technology adoption level in groundnut production. According to the Chi-square statistics, the technology adoption level in groundnut seed production among the studied farmers denoted significant associations with age (p=0.049), education level (p=0.015), monthly income (p=0.047), farming experience (p=0.005), and farming extent (p=0.006). Provision of more training programmes on technology adoption for groundnut farming, extension services and insurance schemes are important to promote the technology adoption among farmers for groundnut seed production.