Good Agricultural Practices Followed by Awardee Farmers of Department of Agriculture Development and Farmers Welfare in Southern Kerala

Abstract

This research study aimed to identify good agricultural practices followed by the awardee farmers of Thiruvananthapuram and Pathanamthitta districts of Kerala. Altogether, 70 awardee farmers, 35 each from the two districts constituted the sample. This research was to analyze the main good agricultural practices followed by awardee farmers in major crops of Kerala viz. coconut, rice, banana and vegetables. The major constraints faced by these farmers and the strategies to overcome it were also studied in this work. The results showed that majority of the awardee farmers followed good agricultural practices like application of a mixture of sand, salt and ash in the pit before transplanting of coconut, soaking of seeds in fresh water in jute sacks for one day and keeping wet seeds for three days for germination in the case of rice, covering of banana bunches with dried banana leaves to increase bunch size and spraying neem oil -garlic emulsion (2%) to control aphids of chilli. The main constraint faced by the awardee farmers was pest and wild animals attack.