Knowledge and Adoption of Drip Irrigation System and Its Management Practices by Bt Cotton Growers in Parbhani District of Maharashtra

There is a water scarcity problem in Marathwada region of Maharashtra, and cotton is the major crop in the region which required water very precisely at every stage. As a result, it was thought that the research would be very useful in determining the level of knowledge and adoption of drip irrigation system of Bt cotton growers. The study was conducted in Parbhani district of Marathwada region of Maharashtra state. A total number of 120 respondents were selected by purposive sampling from 12 villages under Selu, Jintur and Pathri Taluka as they have highest area in drip irrigation in Bt Cotton. Descriptive research design was adopted for the study and data were collected by personal interview method by using pre structured interview schedule. The findings of the study reveal that the majority (75.83 per cent) of the respondents had medium level of knowledge about drip irrigation system followed by 15 per cent and 9.17 per cent of the respondents having low and high level of knowledge, respectively. It also reveals that 61.67 per cent respondents of had medium level of adoption of recommended management practices related to drip irrigation system for Bt cotton followed by 24.16 per cent respondents having a low level of adoption and 14.66 per cent had high level of adoption. It was found that independent variables i.e., education, size of land holding, area under drip irrigation, annual income, source of information, social participation, mass media exposure, risk orientation and economic motivation were positively and significantly related to the dependent variable, i.e., knowledge and adoption of management practices of drip irrigation for Bt-cotton.