Effectiveness of Training on Bio-intensive IPM Practices in Vegetables among Tribal

Introduction

Training is denoted as imparting a particular skill  to the trainees to a desired standard through operating instructions and practice and it is a highly useful tool  that will bring desirable changes in the behaviour of trainees. (1). Farmers in the developing countries are mainly depending on the pesticides and chemicals for managing the pests and diseases in majority of the crops (2). The development and promotion of alternative pest control methods is an important component of a wider effort to reduce pesticide risk and to promote a more sustainable form of agricultural production. Such alternatives are usually packaged in the form of integrated pest management (IPM), which aims at a more rational deployment of a variety of pest control methods designed to complement, reduce or replace the application of synthetic pesticides (4). IPM is a method that involves the use of resistant varieties, crop rotation, catch crop/ cover crop, use of bio pesticides and bio control agents, and use of pheromone traps and sticky traps. Evidence for the impact of IPM on pesticide use, crop yields and household well-being remains patchy and there is a lack of sound impact evaluation. (9) reviewed 25 studies of IPM training through farmer field schools and found relatively strong evidence for pesticide reductions, particularly in Asia. (4) reviewed 85 IPM projects from 24 countries in Africa and Asia for their effect on crop yield and pesticide use. They also found relatively strong evidence that IPM projects reduced pesticide use, but concluded that the impact on crop yield is more complex, depending, among other factors, on pest incidence and severity. IPM is an alternative strategy to control pests in less expensive and environment-friendly way. Hence, IPM practices are now being considered as the most appropriate one to control pests

Around the world, IPM has been widely adopted as a rational strategy to manage pests in crop cultivation. There are few studies examining the effectiveness of an IPM programme on tomato cultivation. (5) found that IPM farmers reduced the number of pesticide use applications up to 89 percent and at the same yield increased to 10 percent. (6) reported that IPM trained farmers reduced the number of pesticide application up to 88% while at the same yield increased to 9%. To minimize the chemical inputs and save environmental damage, the IPM approach has been globally accepted for achieving sustainability. Further, one of the important mandated activities of the Extension system is to impart training on improved and modern technologies to the farming community. Keeping this point in mind this study was conducted to know the effectiveness of training on IPM practices in Vegetable cultivation  in the Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu

Materials and Methods

Methodology

This study was conducted at KVK, Dharmapuri with a sample of 60 active trainees who participated in training of IPM on Vegetables were selected. Two variables namely, respondents socio-economic status and their knowledge levels about the IPM practices learned in the training programme were measured by a structured interview schedule to study outcome of the training. The impact was evaluated by knowing the adoption status of IPM practices by the trainees, and the problems faced by them in the adoption of this practice.

            The present study was conducted in the Pappireddipatty block of Dharmapuri district. Three villages having a maximum number of tribal farmers  viz., Saalur, Bothakkadu and Ajjampatty were randomly selected. From these selected villages about  tribal farmers were selected to create awareness on IPM technologies and training was given to 60 tribal farmers based on their interest. Data was collected with well- structured pre -tested interview tool and data were analysed using frequency, Percentage and Weighted Mean Score (WMS). The training effectiveness was measured using the following formula

Training Effectiveness Index (TEI)      :    TS Obtained by Respondents

                                                         __________________________________   X 100

                                                                         Maximum Possible Score

TEI = Training Effectiveness Index

TS = Training score

Data was collected by using a well-structured interview schedule and analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) software. Suitable statistical tools like frequency, percentage, weighted mean score (WMS) etc were utilized for analysis of data.

Results and Discussion

            Awareness knowledge of the trainees was low before the training programme and after the training the awareness knowledge was increased from 36 per cent to 86 per cent. The majority of the tribal farmers were aware about Trichoderma viridi (50%) followed by Bacillus subtilis (41.66%) and Pseudomonas fluorescence (36.66%). before attending the training programme as knowledge on these bio inputs was given by KVK, Dharmapuri various pieces of training, and further these bio inputs were supplied to the farmers on subsidy from State Department of Agriculture and Horticulture. A significant awareness knowledge was created due to the training programme. After the training programme significant awareness knowledge was created on Neem oil & NSKE (86.67%) followed by Pheromone and Sticky traps  and application of Trichoderma viridi (80%) followed by Light traps and bird perches (75%) and these findings are line with the (3) and (7)

Training Effectiveness on IPM technologies

The Effectiveness of the training programmes organized was measured on a five-point continuum ranging from very high to very low effectiveness. Table 2 indicated that a majority (55.0%)of beneficiary farmers reported ‘High level’ of effectiveness for training programmes while 21.7 per cent of farmers found these training were medium effective. Only 15 per cent of respondents reported ‘low level’ of  training effectiveness.

       The effectiveness was further measured based on eight various aspects of training. It can be observed from the Table.3 that ‘adequate information in particular area’ with a weighted mean score of 3.05 and ‘easy understanding’ with a weighted mean score 2.95 were the most important aspects where training was found effective. The training also revealed that effectiveness was rated low in terms of ‘immediate usefulness’, relevancy of the course contents’ and timeliness of the training.

         The overall training Effectiveness Index was calculated based on Individual score and it was found to be 64.5 per cent which implies that the training conducted was successful and rated as Good. This suggested that this type of training should be conducted for the benefit of farmers periodically.

Regarding the perceived benefits of the training programme it was found that an increase in knowledge and gain in skills were found to be the most important benefits from training. A majority of the farmers  (58.3%) perceived that they were highly benefited interms of  increase in knowledge followed by a gain in skills (48.3%). Moreover it was found that only 15 percent of farmers were of perception that they would start a new enterprise as a result of training. The result shows that although training increases the knowledge and skills of large no.of farmers, only a  few of them are ready to start new enterprise or diversify their farming systems. This may be due to high risk involved in the initiation of new enterprise. If further financial, technical and marketing support will be provided to tribal farmers definitely try new enterprises or go diversification of existing enterprises.

Conclusion

The present study was conducted in the Pappiredipatti block of Dharmapuri district with 150 tribal farmers for awareness creation on bio intensive pest management technologies and training on Bio control technologies and honey bee rearing for 60 farmers. The results revealed that the Awareness knowledge of the trainees was low before the training programme, and after the training, the awareness knowledge was increased from 36 per cent to 86 per cent. The  majority of the tribal farmers were aware of Trichoderma viridi (50%) followed by Bacillus subtilis (41.66%) and Pseudomonas flouresence (36.66%) before attending the training programme as the knowledge on these bio inputs were given by KVK, Dharmapuri various pieces of training and further these bio inputs were supplied to the farmers on subsidy from State Department and Agriculture. A significant awareness knowledge was created due to the training programme. After the training program, significant awareness knowledge was created on neem oil and NSKE (86.67%)  followed by Pheromone Sticky traps and application of  Trichoderma viridi  (80%) followed by light traps and Bird perches (75%)

         Training and demonstration on IPM technologies viz., type of bio inputs, bio inputs usage, method of application, neem -based bio inputs, its usage, use  of solar insect light traps, yellow sticky traps, blue sticky traps etc. to the tribal farmers. Among the tribal farmers who attended the training about 75.00 per cent of the participants started an enterprise on Honey bee rearing and continuing and about 25 per cent of the participants started and did not continue the enterprise due to poor maintenance of bee hives.

Regarding the effectiveness of the training programme majority (55%) of the beneficiary farmers expressed that high level of effectiveness for the training programme while 21.70 per cent of the respondents reported medium level of effectiveness . Only  15 per cent of the farmers found low level of effectiveness. The effectiveness was further measured based on eight various aspects of training. It could be observed from the Table that ‘adequate information in a particular area’ with a weighted mean score of 3.05 and ‘easy understanding’ with a weighted mean score 2.95 were the most important aspects where training was found effective. The training also revealed that effectiveness was rated low in terms of ‘immediate usefulness’, relevancy of the course contents’ and timeliness of the training.

            The overall training Effectiveness Index was calculated based on Individual scores and it was found to be 64.5 per cent which implies that the training conducted was, successful and rated as Good. This suggests that, this type of training should be conducted for the benefit of farmers periodically. Regarding the perceived benefits of the training programme, it was found that an increase in knowledge and gain in skills were found to be the most important benefits from training. A majority of the farmers  (58.3%) perceived that they were highly benefited interms of  increase in knowledge followed by gain in skills (48.3%) as some of the bio inputs were supplied to them on subsidy basis from the Department of Horticulture.

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