Impact of front line demonstrations on scientific temperament of wheat growers

Available agricultural technology does not serve its purpose till it reaches and adopted by its ultimate users, the farmers. FLDs educate farmers through results obtained in terms of higher yields and also provide an effective learning situation as farmers see the crops and participate in the discussion for getting maximum production. While a large number of studies have been made to discuss the yield potentialities and procedures for conducting these demonstrations, limited studies have been conducted to assess the impact of FLD on scientific temperament of farmers. The present study was therefore conducted to find the impact of front line demonstrations on scientific temperament of wheat growers. The study was conducted in Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh state, where Frontline Demonstrations were conducted by KVK, Tikamgarh and total 42 wheat growers from eight villages were benefitted by this programme. All 42 beneficiary farmers, and same number of non-beneficiary farmers, were selected randomly from same villages of Tikamgarh district. Thus total 84 respondents were selected for the study purpose. The finding of the study shows that majority of the respondents (beneficiaries of FLD programme and non-beneficiaries) possessed medium level of scientific temperament. The findings also indicates that correlation coefficients in respect of land holding, house type, farm power, occupation, annual income, mass media exposure, and adoption were found significant at 1 per cent level of probability except age, education, family size, family type and material possession. Regarding problems faced by the beneficiaries in adoption of new technology while conducting FLDs, majority of the beneficiaries reported untimely supply of agricultural inputs. Therefore, for improving FID majority of the respondents suggested timely supply of quality input in adequate quantity.