Adoption status of vegetable cultivation: A case study of sangrur district of punjab

The present study was conducted to find out the adoption status of vegetable cultivation in Sangrur district of Punjab. Four vegetable crops i.e. cauliflower, cucumber, okra and capsicum were selected for the study. A sample of 120 vegetable growers was taken randomly from the total number of vegetable growers in the area, keeping in view that at least 50 farmers of the sample should be cultivating each of the selected vegetable crops. The data was collected personally visiting and interacting the vegetable growers with the help of structured interview schedule. The analysis of the results revealed that majority of the respondents belonged to age group of 37–48 year and possessed the operational land holding of 2.5–5.0 acres. Most of the respondents (87.50%) had purchased the vegetable seeds from private seed shops in the market. In cucumber crop, more than half of the respondents (54.54%) have sown the unrecommended varieties and majority (85.72%) of them had used lesser seed rate per acre than the recommended by Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. It was also investigated that majority the farmers has planted the capsicum and okra crops at closer plant to plant and more row to row spacing than recommended by PAU, Ludhiana. The respondents preferably planted cauliflower in the months of the 8-September and applied higher than recommended doses of phosphatic fertilizer. Study also revealed that more number of pesticides sprays was applied to manage insect-pests and diseases in these vegetable crops. However, the farmers had obtained higher per acre yield than the average production of these vegetable crops. Almost all the respondents i.e. 99.16 per cent had marketed their vegetable produce to/through the commission agents in local markets and very less (3.33%) of the respondents adopted direct marketing channels to sell their produce.