Knowledge Level and Adoption of The Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Techniques: A Study Among the Vegetable Growers of Katwa Sub-Division, Bardhaman District

In this paper, the authors tried to locate the factors that affected the knowledge level as well as the level of adoption of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques by the selected vegetable growers. All the farmers who had grown the four major vegetables viz. Brinjal, Pointed Gourd, Cauliflower and Cabbage commercially in more than 0.33 acre of farm land within the 5 km. radius of Katwa town in Katwa Sub-Division of Bardhaman District were selected for the present study. The present investigator found out from the present study that (1) a majority of the respondents had low knowledge index and low level of adoption of the IPM techniques, (2) age, caste, educational status, total monthly income of the family of the respondent, material possession, type of farm power used in vegetable cultivation, experience of respondent in vegetable cultivation, social participation, respondent's family contact with extension agencies and exposure of the respondent to mass media sources were significantly and positively correlated with Knowledge Index of the vegetable growers, (3) caste, educational status, total monthly income, type of dwelling and experience of respondent in vegetable cultivation were significantly and positively correlated with the adoption level of the respondents and (4) the knowledge index and adoption level of the respondents regarding the IPM techniques in the selected vegetable cultivation were highly and positively correlated.