A Study on the Extent of Adoption of Various Recommended Technologies in Wheat Cultivation in Punjab

The extent of adoption of various recommended production technologies and returns from wheat crop in Punjab have been studied for the years 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09. The results reveal that the area under recommended varieties of wheat has decreased from 95.29 per cent in 2006-07 to 90.63 per cent in 2008-09. At the same time, it has been observed that a majority of the sample farmers grow wheat at recommended time by using recommended quantity of seed per acre. Although the percentage of farmers who treat the seed before sowing wheat crop has increased from 27.81 per cent in 2006-07 to 39.00 per cent in 2008-09, still a majority of the farmers do not follow this technology. It has been advocated by the PAU that zero tillage of wheat can save up to Rs 1000 per acre but this technology was adopted by 13.94 per cent, 13.64 per cent and 14.22 per cent of the sample farmers respectively during the above said years. Despite various shortcomings, it has been found that about 31.82 per cent, 25.37 per cent and 29.14 per cent of the sample farmers had sown the crop through broadcasting method during 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09, respectively. The study has concluded that nitrogen was being applied at more than the recommended level, phosphorus was being applied at the recommended level and potash was not being applied by the farmers in wheat crop in Punjab. It has been noticed that 55.95 per cent, 41.00 per cent and 71.58 per cent of the sample farmers applied herbicides in wheat crop after the recommended period. The study has brought out that there exists a number of gaps in the adoption of recommended production technology of wheat crop, which need to be plugged properly to enhance productivity as well as net returns to wheat producers in Punjab.