Assessment of stakeholders’ knowledge and attitude towards good agricultural practices for grapes

Abstract

The present study was undertaken in Nashik and Sangli districts of Maharashtra with a respondent set of 70 farmers along with 69 other stakeholders (19 scientists,30 line department staff and 20 exporters). The knowledge test revealed that majority of the GAP practicing farmers possessed medium to high level of knowledge whereas most of the non-GAP practicing farmers possessed low to medium level of knowledge. Mann-Whitney U test established significant difference in knowledge level between GAP practicing and non-GAP practicing farmers.Most of the GAP practicing and non-GAP practicing farmers had favourable (62.8%) attitude towards GAP. It was also found that most of the scientists and exporters hadhigh level of knowledge (52.63% and 45% respectively) and favourable attitudetowards GAP (68.42% and 65% respectively) while most of the line department staff had medium level of knowledge (43.33%) and neutral attitude (46.67%) towards GAP. The results of the study implied that extension interventions are required to enhance knowledge of non-GAP practicing farmers and to convert their neutral attitude towards GAP into favourable attitude.