Extent of Adoption of Tomato Cultivation Practices among Farmers under Shade Nets in Kolar District of Karnataka

Indian agriculture is severely affected from climate change, fragmentation of cultivable land, water scarcity, rapid urbanization, declining crop production and productivity, crash in market price, declining biodiversity and ever-increasing population, demand for food, especially vegetables has increased manifold. Protected cultivation has offered a new dimension to produce more in a limited area. The study was undertaken during the year 2016-17 in the Kolar, Malur and Mulbagal taluks of Kolar district based on the maximum number of shade net structures growing tomato. From each taluk, respondents were selected by using purposive sampling procedure to constitute a sample size of 80 for the study. The study found that no one respondent raised nursery for seedlings. The probable reason might be lack of extension functionaries’ effort from respective departments. In the case of cultural practices, concerning ploughing, nearly two-thirds (62.50%) of the respondents partially adopted the recommended number of ploughings (2-3times). On the other hand, 100 per cent of the respondents didn't adoptthe digging practice, whereas more than half (53.75%) of the respondents had partially adopted the recommended size of the bed (1-meter width, 15 cm height and 0.5 meters between the rows) and nearly half (48.75%) of the respondents belonged to partial adoption category of bed treatment @ 4% formalin for tomato cultivation. The findings of Karl Pearson correlation coefficient showed that variables such as annual income, extension participation, exhibited a positive and significant relationship with the adoption behaviour of respondents at 1 per cent level of significance. Concerning the relationship of independent variables with the adoption of tomato, variables like annual income, extension participation, exhibited a positive and significant relationship with the adoption behaviour of respondents at 1 per cent level of significance.