ECO–FRIENDLY CONSERVATION PRACTICES IN THE NILGIRIS DISTRICT OF WESTERN GHATS – AN ANALYSIS

ECO FRIENDLY CONSERVATION PRACTICES IN THE NILGIRIS DISTRICT OF WESTERN GHATS AN ANALYSIS By L. MURALI KRISHNAN, M.Sc. (Ag.) Degree : Doctor of Philosophy (Agriculture) in Agricultural Extension Chairman : Dr. H. PHILIP, Ph.D. Director of Extension Education, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641 003. 2015 The study entitled “Eco Friendly Conservation Practices in The Nilgiris district of Western Ghats An analysis” has been taken up to analyse the adoption and impact of the eco friendly conservation practices in The Nilgiris district. It examines how far the eco friendly conservation practices created the impact on status and level of living of the farmers of The Nilgiris district. Besides, an attitude scale was developed to measure the farmers’ attitude towards eco friendly conservation practices and standardized knowledge test also used for the study. Further, the study focused in identifying the associating and contributing variables towards the attitude, knowledge and extent of adoption in eco friendly conservation practices. Impact and constraints faced by the adopters of eco friendly conservation practices and suggestions to overcome the constraints were also studied. The Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu was purposively selected due to the prevalence of wide biodiversity. All four blocks were taken for this study. A sample of 80 farmers were selected from each block. Totally, 320 respondents were selected from the district. The respondents have been selected based on the simple random sampling technique with the support of the State Department of Agriculture. Post stratification was done to categorize the farmers into adopters of eco friendly conservation practices and non-adopters of eco friendly conservation practices. The data were collected using a pre-tested and well structured interview schedule. The data were analyzed by using appropriate statistical tools and presented logically. The salient findings of the study are given here under. The profile of the respondents revealed that majority of the farmers from The Nilgiris district was found to be middle aged (74.07%) and had high school education (30.62%) and higher secondary education (28.75%) and farming alone (63.75%) as occupation. Majority of the farmers (80.00%) had more than fifteen years of experience and had farm size between small to medium level. In the income category, 40.94 per cent of the respondents between range of Rs.50,000 to Rs.1,00,000. The Nilgiris district farmers were moderate level of economic motivation (52.81%), risk orientation (83.75%), scientific orientation (52.50%) , information seeking behavior (77.50%), progressiveness (71.25%), perception towards environmental degradation (86.56%), perception towards environment conservation (53.43%), social cultural linkage (44.69%) and leadership abilities (53.44%). Majority of the farmers undergone three to four trainings followed by lower level of social participation (61.25%), innovativeness (50.00%), self reliance (49.38%) and contact with extension agency (46.56%). Nearly half of the farmers (45.00%) had moderate level of knowledge about the eco friendly conservation practices, followed by more than half of respondents (55.31%) were found to possess moderately favorable attitude towards the eco friendly conservation practices. Major reason for adoption of the eco friendly conservation practices was, the relative advantage (52.54%), complexity (20.34%), compatibility (14.41%), trialability (9.32%) and observability (3.39%) of the practices. Adoption of the eco friendly conservation practices in The Nilgiris district was based on the needs of the local agro eco systems. In general, the practices of afforestation, shade trees inside plantations, mulching practices, crop rotation practices, green manuring, organic manure application, on farm residues for soil and water conservation, integrated nutrient management, non burning of crop residues and inter cropping system practices had more adoption rate. The study revealed that among the 20 independent variables studied, the variables viz., educational status, innovativeness, social participation, leadership abilities and contact with extension agency were found to have positively contributed to the attitude of the ecofriendly conservation practices. Out of 20 independent variables, contact with extension agency and leadership abilities were found to have positively contributed to the attitude of the eco-friendly conservation practices Out of 20 independent variables, educational status, risk orientation, training undergone, progressiveness, self reliance, innovativeness and contact with extension agency were found to have positively contributed to the adoption of eco-friendly conservation practices. Reduction in cost of cultivation, increased confidence level, improved fertility status of the soil and improved biodiversity in the farm fields were the salient impact of the study as perceived by the respondents. The study revealed that the constraints of labour scarcity, lack of skill about the eco friendly conservation practices, lack of credit facilities, high risk, insect pest and diseases management, lack of awareness of agro environmental problems and farmer's attitude towards the eco friendly conservation practices are the major constraints in the adoption of eco friendly conservation practices. Strengthening efforts on educational, extension and training requirements for the adoption of the eco friendly conservation practices were the salient suggestions offered by the respondents.