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1,3,4 Institute of Agribusiness Management, S.V Agricultural Campus, Tirupati 517502 2 Acharya Nagarjuna University Guntur
Cent per cent of the sample farmers in the study area have used acephate 75%SP and monocrotophos 36% SL for cotton. Next to follow were pendimethalin 30%EC by 95.56 per cent, Fipronil 5% SC by 94.44 per cent, chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC by 85.56 per cent, acetamiprid 20% SP by 80 per cent and flonicamid 50% WG by 78.89 per cent of farmers. Major pesticides used by the sample farmers in chilli crop were diafenthiuron 50% WP by 94.44 per cent, fipronil 5% SC by 93.33 per cent, chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC by 86.67 per cent, acephate 75% SP by 85.56 per cent carbendazim 12% + mancozeb 63% WP by 83.33 and streptomycin sulphate 90%w/w by 82.22 per cent of farmers. The use of pesticides among the sample farmers was found to be higher for chilli crop compared with the cotton crop. The farmers possessed adequate knowledge on issues like spraying techniques, pest enemies and type of sprayers available but they did not haveproper knowledge about pesticide types and brands
KEY WORDS: Pesticide consumption, pesticides usage, knowledge on pesticides
Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy. Agriculture accounts for 17.4 percent of India’s GDP. The increasing demand for agricultural products and the resultant commercialization of agriculture have induced a rising use of agricultural chemicals in India. The crop damage caused is highest by insects, followed by patho- gens and weeds. Consequently, the use of chemical pes- ticides in agriculture has been an integral part of crop production. The role of pesticides in augmenting agricul- tural output has been well perceived and these have been considered as essential inputs in agricultural production. Pesticides are generally classified into herbicides, insec- ticides, fungicides, rodenticides and nematicides.
India is the fourth largest global producer of pesticides with an estimated market size of around USD 4.9 billion in 2017 after United States, Japan and China. India’s share in global pesticide market is around 10 per cent in 2017. India’s pesticides consumption is one of the lowest in the world with per hectare consumption of just 0.6 Kg compared to US (5-7 Kg/ha) and Japan (11-12 Kg/ha).
Production of key pesticides for the year 2015- 16 was 187524 MT. To avoid crop losses farmers, have to use pesticides at optimum level in appropriate time. To achieve high yields without crop losses, farmers must have proper knowledge of product and its usages like right pesticide, right time of usage and the right method of spraying etc., (Mahantesh and Singh, 2009). Therefore farmers’ pesticides usage pattern and awareness towards pesticides usage is very important for crop production (Kumar and Pani, 2000; Ganganpreet et al., 2018). The present study has been taken up with this background.
Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh state was purposively selected to study the buying behaviour of farmers towards pesticides, as the district occupies a pride of place in con- sumption of pesticides, area and production of major crops like chilli and cotton in the state of Andhra Pradesh. All the mandals having maximum acreage of chilli and cotton were listed out and top three mandals viz.,Veldurthy, Gurajala and Dachepalli with highest crop acreage of chilli and cotton were purposively selected for the study. Fromthe selected three mandals all the villages having maximum acreage of chilli and cotton were listed out and top two villages from each mandal viz., Kandlagunta, Sirigiripadu from Veldurthy mandal, Gurajala, Madugula from Gurajala mandal and Dachepalli and Tangeda from Dachepalli mandal were selected purposively to make total six villages. Chilli and cotton growers of selected villages were listed and 15 farmers from each village were ran- domly selected for the survey thus making the total sample size to 90. The data pertaining to the agricultural year 2016-17 was collected by surveying method.
The data collected were subjected to appropriate set of statistical tools to arrive at valid conclusions. Data was statistically analyzed using SPSS program.
Some of the data were also subjected to and interpreted in terms of their frequencies and percentages wherever necessary to know the distribution pattern of respondents according to variables.
Likert’s scale is named after its creator, Rensis Likert, who developed it in 1932. Likert scale is a psychometric scale used to scale the responses of the consumers. It was used to give quantitative value on subjective or ob- jective dimensions, with various levels between agree- ment and disagreement. It is considered symmetric or balanced because there are equal numbers of positive and negative positions. Five-point scale was given to the dif- ferent parameters which are highly satisfied, satisfied, moderate, dissatisfied and highly dissatisfied to measure the pest management techniques adopted, services pro- vided by pesticide private companies, agriculture depart- ment and support given by private dealers and peer group.analysis is pertaining to used three-point scale to measure awareness to pesticides usage.
Farmers in the study area used a wide range of pesticides in cotton to control wide range of weeds, insects, fungal and bacterial organisms. The analysis of the same is presented in Table 1.
A perusal of Table 1 unveils that cent per cent of the sample farmers used acephate 75%SP and monocrotophos 36% SL for cotton, followed by pendimethalin 30%EC by
95.56 per cent, fipronil 5% SC by 94.44 per cent, chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC by 85.56 per cent, acetamiprid 20% SP by 80 per cent and flonicamid 50% WG by 78.89 per cent of farmers. Acephate 75%SP and Monocrotophos 36% SL were used as the first spray of insecticide in cotton to control sucking pests by all the farmer in the study area. Only around (8.89 %) of farmers used mancozeb 75% WP in minute quantity for cotton crop.
Chilli is another crop for which pesticides were used extensively, the details of which are presented in Table 2
A perusal of Table 2 unveils that major pesticides used by the sample farmers in chilli crop were Diafenthiuron 50% WP by 94.44 per cent, Fipronil 5% SC by 93.33 per cent, Chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC by
86.67 per cent, Acephate 75% SP by 85.56 per cent Carbendazim 12% + mancozeb 63% WP by 83.33 and Streptomycin sulphate 90%w/w by 82.22 per cent of farmers. Diafenthiuron 50% WP was used by highest per cent of farmers as it controls a wide range of sucking pests like thrips, mites, jassids, aphids and white flies with better results.
Aspects like awareness towards pest enemies, different types of pesticides, pesticide solution preparation, spraying techniques, pesticides dosage, different kinds of pesticides brands, time of spray, bio-pesticides and type of sprayer were considered to measure the level of awareness towards pesticides use by the sample farmers.
A three point rating scale was used for the analysis. The scores of 3, 2 and 1 were given against highly aware, aware and not aware levels respectively. Mean scores were calculated and ranks were given to the aspects according to the mean score obtained.
A perusal of Table 3 unveils that according to the sample farmers, their level of awareness was high on spraying techniques used to spray the pesticides and it secured a mean score of 2.41.The next was the pest en- emies and the least rank was given to the different kinds of brands available in the market. Many of pesticide com- panies are established in the market with wide range of products, hence most of the farmers are unaware of each kind of pesticide brands available in the market.
The use of pesticides among the sample farmers was found to be highest for chilli crop compared with the cotton crop. Cent per cent of sample farmers used Acephate 75% SP and Monocrotophos 36% SL for cotton crop. Major pesticide used by the sample farmers (94.44 per cent) in chilli crop were Diafenthiuron 50% WP. The farmers possessed adequate knowledge on issues like spraying techniques, pest enemies and type of sprayers available but they did not have proper knowledge about pesticide types and brands (Augustine and Comfort, 2011).
Augustine, J.U and Comfort, E.U. 2011. Utilization pa–ttern of pesticides by Nigerian farm households.Indian Research Journal of Extension Educa–tion.11(2): 6-14.
Ganganpreet, S.B., Surender,K.P, Jatiender,K.D and Gagandeep.S.2018.Survey on pesticide and farmers perception in cauliflower and brinjal growing areas in three districts of Himachal Pradesh. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences. 7(3):2417- 2423.
Kumar.S and Pani. D. (2000). Pesticide use in rain fed cotton frequency intensity and determinants. Agricultural Economics Research Review.13 (2): 107-122.
Mahantesh, N., and Singh, A.2009.A study on farmers’ knowledge, perception and intensity of pesticide use in vegetable cultivation in western Uttar Pra–desh. Pusa Agri Science.32(2):63-69.
