Impact of interactive cardboard game on cotton growers in Punjab and Madhya Pradesh

Games are especially pertinent to agricultural field research since other experimental methods may be-prohibitively expensive and impractical and they are also often used for non-experimental and experimental-reasons including simulating educational experiences and fostering community engagement. Board games-offer a methodological approach for increasing, extrapolating and validating relevant information and overall understanding of a difficult and extensive land use pattern. The games have become popular as a main ingredient for participatory approaches and they can be very efficiently used in engaging the local communities. So, the main objective of this study was to assess the impact of interactive cardboard game on cotton growers of Punjab and Madhya Pradesh. For the farmers of Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, the game was developed in Punjabi and Hindi language respectively. For selection of area, three districts from Punjab were purposively selected with respect to highest area under cotton crop and one district (Maheshwari) from Madhya Pradesh was selected randomly. Thus,40 farmers from each district were selected. Therefore, a sample of 160 respondents was selected for the study. An interview schedule was prepared for the collection of data in which statements regarding input usage in cotton crop has been included. Then the data regarding the existing practices of the cotton crop was collected from the respondents. The respondents played the interactive cardboard game and then same statements regarding input usage were recorded through questionnaire to check their gain in knowledge after exposure to the cardboard game. The findings revealed that there was a significant difference after the exposure to the cardboard game. The farmers were now well aware about the recommended practices of cotton growing after the exposure of the interactive cardboard game. The study recommends that the interactive cardboard game would be an excellent disseminating tool for extension workers. This interactive cardboard game will be instrumental in making decision, for the farmers of Punjab and Madhya Pradesh for judicious usage of inputs.