Performance of frontline demonstration on kharif rice (Oryza sativa L) in Garo Hills, Meghalaya Performance of frontline demonstration on kharif rice (Oryza sativa L) in Garo Hills, Meghalaya

Abstract

Rice is the major crop and stable food as well as the
livelihood security for small and marginal farmers’
and farming community in Garo Hills of Meghalaya.
One of the major constraints in traditional local rice
farming in Garo Hills district of Meghalaya is lower
productivity. To replace the local tall long duration
traditional cultivars, ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, West
Garo Hills was conducted frontline demonstrations
in five different blocks viz., Rongram, Selsella,
Betasing, Dalu, Gambegre and Zikzak in West and
South West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya during
2010 to 2013 in kharif season. The high yielding
varieties of rice was performed extremely well when
compared with local check variety Champali. The
percentage increase in yield was 68.89, 73.64 and
77.00 in Ranjit, Swarna Mahsuri and Gomati,
respectively with average increase of 73.18 in yield
of four HYVs. The technology gap which
corroborates to the gap in demonstration yield over
potential yield of 71 kg/ha for Ranjit to 544 kg/ha for
Gomati. The highest extension gap was found in the
variety Gomati followed by Swarna Mahsuri and
Ranjit which emphasized the need to educate the
farmers through various means of adoption of
improved high yielding varieties and improved agrotechnologies
to reverse the trend of wide extension
gap. The lowest technology index of 1.48 for the
variety Ranjit and highest technology index of 9.89
with Gomati was recorded. But the range of
technology index showed that the gap of new
technologies evolved at research stations and
farmers’ field was 1.48 to 9.89 percents. The higher
net return and benefit cost ratio was fetched by the
Gomati variety closely at par with variety Ranjit.