1Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla, 171 001, Himachal Pradesh, India.
2Central Potato Research Institute Campus, Modipuram, Meerut, 250 110, Uttar Pradesh, India.
*Present address: Vivekanad Parvatiya Krishi Anusandhan Sansthan, Almora, 263 601, Uttaranchal, India.
A survey of 129 farmers from 9 villages in Theog, Rohru and Tikkar blocks of Shimla district showed direct relationship of farm size with investment of fixed capital, being Rs. 3889/- on marginal farm and Rs. 94947/- on large farm. Analysis of technology adoption indicated that maximum technology adoption was in fertilizer use (57.23%) followed by seed (55.52%) and plant protection (46.51%) which revealed scope for transfer and subsequent adoption of these technologies. In the study area, the farmers earned net return of Rs. 7,940/ha while not considering the imputed value of family labour and output input ratio was 1.22 during 1998–99. The major constraints identified for low yield of potato were unavailability of good quality and quantity of healthy seed, lack of knowledge about the fertilizer and plant protection technologies.
