Factors Affecting Adoption Rate of Agro Forestry Technologies in Tamil Nadu^§

The paper has to determined the factors affecting the adoption of agroforestry technologies by farmers in Tamil Nadu. Despite the low rates of adoption, agro forestry remains an important component of sustainable land-use, development of agricultural production and reduction of food insecurity. For data collection, structured questionnaire were designed and administered to 240 farmers who were selected randomly from two villages in Dharmapuri district. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics regression analysis and pearson product moment correlation (PPMC). The study has indicated that the farmers were largely aware of agroforestry and had adopted silviculture/agrisilviculture technology. The mean adoption rate of agroforestry technologies was 79.0 per cent. The main determinants of the adoption were farmers’ age, household size, educational level, farm size, farming experience, income, access to credit and extension contacts. All these variables, except the age of farmers, affected the adoption rate of agroforestry technologies positively. The study has recommended that farmers be provided with loans at concessional interest rates for adopting innovations. Additionally, information on management of agroforestry systems needs to be communicated in a simpler local language for easy understanding and interpretation by the farmers in this region.