Critical Analysis of Farmers’ Footfall at Krishi Vigyan Kendra for Assessment of Technological Problems

Identifying location specific problems of the farmers is of utmost importance. A new approach involving a critical and quantitative analyses of farmers’ footfall at Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) was applied for assessing the technological problems of the farmers in south-western Punjab. Of the total farmers’ footfall for scientific advisory, 11.3 per cent of farmers approached for weed management and ∼21.9 per cent for different nutrient management problems. Farmers’ footfall for insect-pest and disease management was highest and comprised ∼56.5 per cent of total annual footfall for scientific advisory. About 10.7 per cent total footfall for scientific advisory was related to the infestation of whitefly in Bt-Cotton only. For disease/physiological disorder (para-wilt in Bt-cotton and sheath blight in rice) management farmers’ footfall was mainly observed during July to October. Annually ∼10 farmers (0.9% of total footfall for scientific advisory) approach KVK for phyto-toxicity/injury induced on plants due to faulty spray practice.