Pesticide Use Behavior of Farmers in Rice-Onion Production System

The present study was conducted to assess the pesticide application behavior of farmers with respect to rice-onion production system in Sheikhpura district of Bihar. A total of 200 farmers were selected as respondents through three stage sampling procedure. The selected respondents were interviewed personally using pre-tested well structured interview schedule. Results of the study showed that almost all the farmers were dependent on chemical pesticides for the management of pests. The respondent farmers were using a variety of pesticide formulations. The most frequently used were insecticides followed by fungicides, weedicide, acaricide and bactericide. The data revealed that majority of farmers had low to medium knowledge on various aspects of pesticide use. A majority of the farmers were dependent mostly on input dealers, neighbourer and fellow farmers for their need of technical information.