IMPACT OF RECOMMENDED TECHNOLOGY IN COWPEA CULTIVATION IN SIKAR DISTRICT OF ZONE II-A OF RAJASTHAN

ABSTRACT An attempt has been made to assess the impact of recommended technology in cowpea cultivation and to identify major constraints in the adoption of recommended technology. For this purpose, a sample of 80 farmers was selected randomly from 4 villages of Laxmangarh tehsil of Sikar district. It was concluded that adoption of HYV seed was 23 per cent. Majority of farmers adopted optimum seed rate. Seed treatment, plant protection technology and fertilizers were adopted by few farmers in the study area. Ninety per cent farmers adopted up to 33.93 per cent improved technology. The cost and net returns increased with the level of technology adoption. The percentage net returns increased over I level of technology was 117.58 per cent for II level of technology and 200 per cent for III level of technology. In the study area, farmers were not using HYV seed of cowpea due to lack of knowledge about HYV seed and high cost of HYV seed (38.75 per cent). Seed treatment technology was not adopted by the farmers due to lack of knowledge about chemicals and quantity along with advantages of seed treatment technology. Fertilizers and plant protection measures were not adopted due to low productivity of cowpea, erratic rainfall, lack of life saving irrigation facilities and high cost of fertilizers and plant protection chemicals