A CRITICAL STUDY ON THE ADOPTION OF HOMESTEAD TECHNOLOGIES OF RAJENDRA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY (RAU) BY RURAL WOMEN OF BIHAR STATE

Name of the author : VEENITA KUMARI Title : A CRITICAL STUDY ON THE ADOPTION OF HOMESTEAD TECHNOLOGIES OF RAJENDRA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY (RAU) BY RURAL WOMEN OF BIHAR STATE Degree : Doctor of Philosophy Faculty : Home Science Department : Extension Education Chairperson : Dr. R. VASANTHA University : PROFESSOR JAYSHANKAR TELENGANA STATE AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY Year of Submission : 2014 An ex-post facto research study was carried out on the title “A Critical Study on the Adoption of Homestead technologies of Rajendra Agricultural University (RAU) By Rural Women of Bihar State” to study knowledge, attitude and extent of adoption of Homestead technologies of RAU by rural women of Bihar and also to unearth problems in generation, dissemination and adoption of Homestead technologies. After pre-testing, nine Homestead technologies viz. Fruit & Vegetable preservation, Stitching & Embroidery, Value Addition to Garments, Arts & Craft Making, Value added products from Cereals & pulses, Mushroom production, Value added mushroom products, Vermicompost technology and Apiculture were finally selected to study the adoption of Homestead technologies of RAU by the rural women. The study included three dependent variables viz. knowledge, attitude and extent of adoption and eighteen independent variablesage, education, family size, occupation, family income, family support, information source utilization, economic motivation, scientific orientation, innovativeness, perceived attributes of Homestead technologies, value orientation, risk orientation, input availability, rural customs, market intelligence, institutional support and socio-capital aspects. The findings of the study showed that the respondents had medium level of overall personal, socio-economic, communicational, psychological and situational profile characteristics. Majority (65.78%) of the respondents possessed medium level of knowledge on Homestead technologies of RAU. Majority of them had medium level of knowledge on stitching & embroidery, value added products from cereals & pulses, mushroom production, vermicompost and apiculture technology while majority of them had low level of knowledge on fruit & vegetable preservation, value addition to garments, art & craft making and value added products from mushroom technology. None of them had high knowledge level on these technologies. Majority (65.78%) of the respondents had favourable attitude towards Homestead technologies of RAU. More than half (53.33%) of the respondents had medium level of adoption of Homestead technologies. Majority of the respondents were found not to adopt six technologies out of the nine selected Homestead technologies. Out of them a small percentage of the respondents were found to discontinue these technologies except Value Addition to Garments and Value Added Mushroom Products. The variables age, education, information source utilization, innovativeness, input availability, rural customs, market intelligence and institutional support of the respondents were significantly related with knowledge level of the respondents. Education, family support, information source utilization, scientific orientation, innovativeness, perceived attributes of Homestead technologies and input availability were positively significant with the attitude of the respondents towards Homestead technologies of RAU. Age, occupation, family income, information source utilization, economic motivation, innovativeness, input availability, rural customs, market intelligence and institutional support of the respondents were significantly associated with the extent of adoption of Homestead technologies. Multiple linear analysis showed that only five variables education, information source utilization, input availability, rural customs and market intelligence were positively and statistically significant with the knowledge level of the respondents on Homestead technologies. The variables information source utilization, scientific orientation and input availability were positively significant for attitude of rural women towards Homestead technologies of RAU. The variables occupation, information source utilization and rural customs were positively significant to explain the adoption behaviour of the respondents. The major problems expressed by the University Scientists wereexcessive work load, lack of adequate fund, lack of adequate laboratories, lack of interdisciplinary approach in conducting research, lack of support and coordination among faculties and with higher authorities, lack of knowledge and unfavourable attitude of rural people towards these technologies. The solutions to these problems opined by them were to lessen the work load, release of adequate fund for research and laboratory set up, conducting multi disciplinary research, developing support and coordination among faculties and with higher authorities, educating and imparting proper training to rural women and motivating rural people to develop positive attitude. The major problems expressed by the Extension Scientists wereinadequate and untimely release of fund, lack of transport and mobile unit facilities, insufficient deployment of SMSs and other staff, excessive work load, illiteracy of rural women, high cost of some of the technologies and taste of some value added products not liked by rural people. The solutions to these problems given by them wererelease of adequate and timely fund, providing sufficient vehicles for field visits, recruitment to the vacant posts, lessen the work load and developing low cost Homestead technologies. The major problems stated by the respondents werepoor family income, less number of trainings conducted, too short duration of the training, lack of awareness among rural women about these technologies, lack of knowledge about these technologies, unavailability of input materials, difficulty in selling the products, lack of food labelling & quality certification, middlemen exploitation, lack of subsidy, no buy-back policy and lack of Government encouragement. The solutions given by the respondents wereconducting regular training with sufficient time duration, making inputs accessible within the village, University and other development institutions assistance in marketing the produce and obtaining food labels and quality assurance certificate, subsidy, buy-back policy and encouragement from the State Government. Appropriate strategies were formulated to improve the adoption rate of Homestead technologies and to overcome the problems faced by the Scientists, extension personnel and respondents at generation, dissemination and adoption of Homestead technologies.