Factors Associated with Adoption of Drip Irrigation System by the Farmers in Bikaner District of Rajasthan

Water is a most precious natural resource and vitally important for agricultural development and day-to-day living. In order to use such a precious natural resource economically, drip irrigation would be a possible solution which minimizes the losses of water and fertilizer as well as increase the yield of crops. the present study was conducted in four panchayat samities (out of six) in Bikaner district of Rajasthan on the basis of highest area and large number of beneficiary farmers under drip irrigation system. From the selected four panchayat samities, a total of 234 respondent farmers having drip irrigation system were selected randomly for the study purpose. The data were collected by personal interview method with the help of interview schedule. The collected data were classified, tabulated and statistically analyzed. The findings revealed that majority of the respondents (64.53%) were in middle age group, belonging to other backward and general caste (85.47%), agriculture work as their main occupation (72.22%), educated can read and write up to primary and middle levels (55.99%), member of one or more organizations (56.84%), having medium land holding (76.07%), had mansion type house (57.69%), medium farm power possession (61.97%), good account of farm implements (64.53%) & material possession (63.67%), member of joint family (61.11%) and having medium annual income of family (71.79%). Further it was observed that Knowledge, education, social participation, annual income, economic motivation and mass media exposure were found positively and significantly associated with the adoption of drip irrigation by the farmers, while size of land holding, experience in farming and irrigation potentiality were found non-significantly associated with the adoption of drip irrigation by the farmers.