Perception of Farmers About Quality Seed

Abstract

The study was conducted purposively in Banaskantha district of Gujarat state. Four major crops of the district viz., Potato,  Bajra, Castor and Groundnut were selected to study the perception of farmers on quality seeds. These four crops are  predominantly grown in Deesa and Vadgam talukas of the district therefore; these two talukas were selected purposively  for the study. From each selected taluka eleven villages and from each selected village fifteen farmers were selected  randomly. Thus, the final sample of the study consists of 330 farmers. Result revealed that majority of the farmers were  middle aged (45.20%) and had primary to secondary level of education (71.50%), had social participation in one  organization (62.75%), had small and medium size of land holding (69.70%). The availability, accessibility and  affordability of quality seed in case of Pearl millet (bajra) and castor was found good but in case of potato and groundnut it  was poorly perceived by the farmers. Further, about three-fourth respondents had medium level of overall perception  towards quality seed and adopted quality seed produced either by the seed companies or seed aid organizations.