A STUDY ON FARMERS PERCEPTION ON PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMS OF POKKALI RICE FARMING IN THE STATE OF KERALA

The present study entitled `A Study on Farmers Perception on Prospects and Problems of Pokkali Rice Farming in the State of Kerala` had been initiated focusing on the documentation of status of Pokkali Rice Farming, farmers perception on prospects and problems of Pokkali Rice Farming, consequences of adoption & discontinuation of Pokkali Rice Farming, farmers perception on research and extension interventions and attributes of Pokkali rice. Ex-post facto research design was adopted in the present investigation. The state of Kerala was selected for study purposively as Pokkali farming system is unique to Kerala. The district Eranakulam was selected purposively, since out of total Pokkali cultivated area, major area is in Eranakulam district. Out of eight blocks of Eranakulam district, where Pokkali Rice Farming is concentrated, three blocks having largest area under Pokkali Rice Farming were selected. From each block, two villages were selected and from each village, 20 farmers engaged in Pokkali rice cultivation were selected making a total sample of 120 respondents for the study. Analysis of profile characteristics of respondents indicated that, majority of the Pokkali rice farmers belonged to middle aged group, had high school education, had marginal land holding, had medium socio economic status, had medium extension agency contact, had low credit orientation, had high input availability, had medium farming experience, had low scientific orientation, had medium economic motivation, had medium risk orientation, had low formal information sources utilization, had medium utilization of both informal and mass media sources, no training undergone, medium marketing orientation and low sociopolitical participation. Majority of the respondents perceived the status of Pokkali rice farming when compared to 10 years back as: the area under Pokkali Rice Farming has decreased, farmers cultivating Pokkali rice in the village has decreased, farmers using local Pokkali variety`Pokkali` has increased where as other local varieties such as `Cheru virippu` and `Chetti virippu` has decreased but high yielding Pokkali varieties such as Vyttila-4 and Vyttila-6 has increased, cost of cultivation of Pokkali rice has increased, yield/acre has decreased, market price and demand of Pokkali rice has increased, labour availability for Pokkali rice cultivation has decreased, labour wages for Pokkali rice cultivation has increased and no change in availability of seeds . Majority of the respondents had high perception (40.13%) on the attributes of Pokkali rice followed by low (30.00%) and medium (29.87%) perception on attributes of Pokkali Rice Farming. Majority of the respondents had medium perception (48.38%) on the prospects of Pokkali Rice Farming followed by low (34.95%) and high perception (16.67%) on prospects of Pokkali Rice Farming. Majority of the respondents had high perception (45%) on the problems of Pokkali Rice Farming followed by medium (34.17%) and low (20.83%) perception on problems of Pokkali Rice Farming. The consequences of adoption of Pokkali rice farming as perceived by scientists were “adoption is beneficial for subsequent shrimp cultivation which improves economic conditions of farmers” and “continuous adoption of Pokkali rice-shrimp rotational farming system may lead to shortage of prawn seeds which leads to reduction in annual prawn yield” whereas, majority of the officials of department and farmers did not perceive these consequences. Majority of scientists, officials of department and farmers perceived the consequences of adoption such as “Pokkali rice which has high quality, good taste and having international market value is highly beneficial to Pokkali farmers”, “The soil fertility in Pokkali Rice Farming increases due to tidal flows which is beneficial for ecosystem” and “Since Pokkali fields are highly organic, it does not require any external inputs like fertilizer or pesticides; which reduces the cost of cultivation and save money for farmers”. Majority of the Scientists and officials of department perceived that there is a scope for labour saving heavy equipments like tractors and harvesters in water logged Pokkali fields” whereas, only 10 percent of farmer could perceive this consequence. Majority of scientists, officials of department and farmers could perceive the consequences of discontinuation such as “discontinuation negatively affects prawn farming”, “as more area is being gradually brought under fallow-prawn and prawnprawn systems, it is leading to mono culture of prawn, which in turn disturbs ecological balance”, “discontinuation leads to loss of indigenous rice varieties having medicinal properties” and “monoculture of shrimp leads to serious social and environmental implications”. All scientists and officials of department perceived the consequences such as “The discontinuation results in the entire Pokkali fields getting flooded and more acidic that is detrimental to prawn larvae” and “The discontinuation of Pokkali rice cultivation leads to reduction of oxygen in the field affecting ecosystem adversely whereas, only 40-50 percent of the farmers perceived these consequences. Majority of the scientists, officials of department and farmers disagreed with the consequence that “if Pokkali Rice Farming is discontinued, the farmers can reap high profit by selling Pokkali fields to real estate people”. The results of correlation between the profile characteristics and perception of respondents towards prospects indicated that the profile characteristics such as socio economic status, extension agency contact, credit orientation, economic motivation, risk orientation, source of information utilized and socio political participation were found to be positively and significantly correlated with perception of farmers towards prospects of Pokkali Rice Farming whereas, the variables such as land holding, socio economic status, experience in Pokkali Rice Farming, sources of information utilized and socio political participation were found to be positively and significantly correlated with perception of farmers towards problems of Pokkali Rice Farming Majority of the farmers perceived that research is needed on development of high yielding, nonlodging and short duration varieties, development of land preparation and harvesting machinery for Pokkali fields. Majority of the farmers had an unfavourable opinion towards the research on value added products, research on development of winnowing and dewatering machinery. Majority of the farmers expressed a favourable perception towards training programmes on scientific methods of shrimp farming, demonstration of new machinery and pamphlets and leaflet distribution on implements whereas, the respondents had undecided and not favourable perception towards having training programmes in export oriented production, cultivation of improved varieties, demonstration of value added product preparation, pamphlet and leaflet distribution on importance of Pokkali Rice Farming and exposure visits. Suitable strategies developed for the promotion of Pokkali Rice Farming, which included interventions to be taken up by the government, research workers, extension personnel, NGO`s and PLDA (Pokkali Land Development Agency). Strategies for government included: establishment of agricultural labour bank, incentives and health insurance cover for harvesters, separate premium price for Pokkali rice, Pokkali agroservice centers, market infrastructure development, `ecological incentives` for Pokkali rice farmers, attractive credit policy, pollution control measures in back waters, strengthen PLDA, package for Pokkali farmers, establishment of ATIC model product cum service center etc. Strategies for research workers included: development of suitable machinary for land preparation and harvesting, research and development on high yielding, lodging resistant and short duration varieties, product diversification and value addition, collection and preservation of various landraces of Pokkali rice. Strategies for extension personnel included: awareness programmes on medicinal properties and organic nature of Pokkali rice, trainings, demonstrations and exposure visit to farmers for quality improvement and revitalisation of Padashekhara samithi activities. Strategies for NGO`s and private companies included: assist farmers to form organization for production, procurement and marketing of Pokkali rice, identify and motivate farmer innovators to develop location specific farm machinery and implements, assist farmers in identification of profitable markets, constitute a committee for obtaining organic certification or brand label for Pokkali rice. Strategies for PLDA included: assist farmers for organic certification, labeling and branding of Pokkali rice, monitor conservation acts of government, infrastructure development in Pokkali fields and multiplication and distribution of good quality seeds.