A study on Instigation of Farmer-Led Innovations and Its Spread

Abstract

To assess the process of origin and spread of farmer-led innovations, this study was conducted in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh during 2015-16.A sample size of 50 innovators and 50 non-innovators constituting 100 farmers selected by stratified sampling. The socio-economic profile was compared between innovators and non-innovators, the results showed that there is significant difference between two groups. Wilcoxon Mann Whitney test results showed that innovators have comparatively high mean rank for innovativeness (mean rank =67.11, U=419.50) and risk orientation (mean rank = 71.27, U=211.50) than non-innovators. Study also found significant difference of level of social empowerment between innovators and non-innovators by using Wilcoxon Mann Whitney test. The results revealed that innovators have comparatively high mean rank of 60.94 than non-innovators (mean rank 40.06) due to their active social involvement and striving for recognition in the society. The major stimulants for different category of innovations identified were ‘Problem faced by self ’ for crop production (70%) and horticulture (50%), ‘innovation induces innovation’ for farm machinery (80%), ‘experimented purposefully with curiosity’ for processing and value addition (70%) and animal husbandry (60%). The time gap from idea generation to innovation is more (4-6 years) for farm machinery and processing and value addition innovations and less for horticulture innovations (1-6 months). Majority of the respondents received technical support (mean rank 3.07) from the institutes followed by input support (mean rank 2.76), extension support (mean rank 2.46) and financial support (mean rank 1.71). Friedman test analysis revealed that major means of spread by farmers is through linkage with organizations (mean rank 5.50) and by institutions is through melas/exhibitions (mean rank 4.99) conducted by different institutions involved in scaling up of innovations. The major reasons for low adoption of innovations by the non-innovators identified were location specificity of the innovations (mean rank 6.52) and lack of demonstrations (mean rank 4.66).