Growth and Popularisation of Cultivation of Watermelon in Deogarh District, Odisha

The present study was conducted in purposively selected Deogarh district of Odisha coming under North western plateau agro-climatic zone. A field survey was undertaken to find out the trend in area, productivity and adoption of technologies in relation to cultivation of watermelon. The experimental yield was found to be 77.25% higher than the district average and 91.4% higher than the farmer's practice. Level of education and caste of the farmers were reported having no significant relationship with the yield of the crop. Higher return was found to be the major reason for popularisation of cultivation of watermelon. Increasing cost of inputs and instability in market prices were found to be the most important drawbacks in commercialisation of watermelon in the study area.