Farmer's perception towards adoption of bamboo in Mahi ravines

Abstract

In this paper, a PRAstudy was carried out in Khorwad watershed located on the bank of the river Mahi in Umreth taluka of Anand district in Gujarat state during December, 2011. The farmers’ perception towards adoption of bamboo in Mahi ravineswas studied with the help of PRAtechniques in detail. Mapping of social habitation and resources availability in Khorwad watershed was done. It was found out that few farmers of Khorward watershed were cultivating bamboo in ravine wastelands and boundaries of their farms, whereas they were cultivating crops and fruits trees on leveled lands on upper side of Mahi ravines. Seasonal analysis of bamboo cultivation activities in Mahi ravines is also dealt in the paper. The different activities of bamboo cultivation were carried out by the farmers and they were very much busy in the month of April to June. The transect walk was also carried out along with the local farmers to verify and observe the information provided by the villagers during PRA exercise. The preference of bamboo adoption inMahi ravines by the farmers was studied and it was found out that the 33.3 per cent of farmers of Khorwad village preferred bamboo plantation in ravine beds. A few farmers of other villages preferred bamboo plantation in ravine wastelands. The problems faced by farmers in bamboo adoption in Mahi ravines were found out with the help of matrix analysis technique. The farmers of Khorwad watershed perceived the wild animals attack and termite attack as major problems in theMahi ravines area in bamboo cultivation.