International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (IJHSS) ISSN(P): 2319-393X; ISSN(E): 2319-3948 Vol. 5, Issue 1, Dec – Jan 2016, 173-178 © IASET ASSOCIATION BETWEEN INDEPENDENT VARIABLES AND TRAINING NEEDS OF VEGETABLE GROWERS IN VEGETABLES CULTIVATION TECHNOLOGY GONDKAR SACHIN. S1, CHAUDHARI POOJA2, VISTER JOSHI3 & R. S. HUDDA4 1Assistant Professor, College of Agriculture Business Management, Loni, Maharashtra, India 2M.Sc Scholar, Dept. Extension Education, Dr. B.S.K.K.V. Dapoli, India 3Research Associate, Pusa, New Delhi, India 4Additional Director (Farm Advisory Services), DEE, CCSHAU, Hisar, India ABSTACT In state of Haryana vegetables cultivation play a very important role in agricultural operations dueto several unique factors like options for diversification to rice-wheat cropping system and high market potential in the state itself as well as metropolitan market Delhi and Chandigarh. The present study was undertaken in four districts of Haryana to assessthe training needs of vegetable growers in vegetable cultivation technology and finds the association between independent variables and training needs. From four selected districts total 160 vegetable growers were interviewed with the help of well structured interview schedule. It was assessed that vegetable growers most needed training in areas like disease and IPM, knowledge of improved varieties, seed treatment, spacing, and weed control, marketing, package of practices, management of fertilizers, quality improvement andnursery raising.The study further indicated that age, education, occupation, social participation, extension agency contact, mass media exposure, locus of control, risk taking willingness, attitude towards vegetable cultivation and adoption propensity significantly correlated with the training needs of vegetable growers about improved vegetable production technology. KEYWORDS: Training Needs, Plant Protection, Vegetable Protection Technology INTRODUCTION Agriculture plays an important role in Indian economy. Whereas vegetables play a important role in agriculture as most remunerative agricultural activity for small and marginal farmers and also a vital aspect of nutritional security. Growing of vegetables is 4 to 8 times more remunerative than cereals and it also generate employment in the rural areas. Average productivity of vegetable crops in Haryana is very low and far from the national average yield of 154. 6 q/ha. But there is gap between the current production and potential productivity of vegetable crops. Vegetable production, like all other aspects of primary production, requires a wide range of skills. Some of these skills, for example, are harvesting at the correct stage of maturity, at first sight appear to be simple, but in many cases are only acquired by experience and training. Other key areas of expertise include using appropriate sowing (or planting) dates, correct plant spacing, fertilizer rates, choice of site, weed control, irrigation strategy, pest and disease management, marketing, etc. Thus, for getting higher quality and productivity of vegetable crops farmers requires skills and knowledge about scientific cultivation practices. It has been proved through various impact studies that the production and productivity of vegetables can be increased many times by adopting scientific technologies including use of high yielding varieties. Information on training needs will help to formulate the training courses in vegetable production technology. Well planned and comprehensive study to gather the www.iaset.us [email protected] 174 Gondkar Sachin. S, Chaudhari Pooja, Vister Joshi & R. S. Hudda desired information was felt necessary. Hence various important practices involved in vegetable production technology like improved variety, seed treatment, seed rate, sowing time, nursery raising, spacing, use of organic manures, management of fertilizers, irrigation, intercultural operations, weed control, disease and IPM, harvesting, quality improvement, package of practices and marketing were included in the study. The training needs and knowledge gap of the various practices were measured using tools specially design for the study. And attempts have also been made to find out the association of various independent variables with training needs with view to identify their significance. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The present study was conducted in four districts of Haryana vegetable cultivation. Four districts of Haryana namely, Sonipat, Faridabad, Rewari and Jhajjar, were selected and two blocks each from these districts were selected randomly. Two villages from each block were randomly selected, making a total of 16 villages. From this selected villages 10 vegetable growers were randomly selected for the study. Collection of data was accomplished by supplying the well- structured schedule from vegetable growers. As the study was aimed to measure level of training needs and association between independent variable i.e.training needs. The tool consisted of 16 statements on training needs of vegetable growers in vegetable cultivation covering various aspects like improved variety, seed rate, seed treatment, sowing time, nursing raising, transplanting and spacing, use of organic manures, use of fertilizers, irrigation, intercultural operation, weed control, diseases & IPM, harvesting, quality improvement, package of practices and marketing was developed. The responses of vegetable growers were recorded on 3 point continuum i.e. most needed, somewhat needed and least needed with weight-age of 3, 2 and 1, respectively. The association between independent variables and training needs was analyzed with correlation and regression with the help of SPSS software. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Training needs of Vegetable growers: The training needs of vegetable growers in various aspects of vegetable cultivation technology were assessed with the scale of 3 point continuum i.e. most needed, somewhat needed and least needed with weight-age of 3, 2 and 1, respectively. Mean score of the training needs obtained for different aspects are presented in Table-1. Most of the vegetable growers felt that they needed training in the area of diseases and IPM with the mean score of (2.31) followed by improved varieties, seed treatment, transplanting and spacing, weed control, marketing, package of practices, management of fertilizers, quality improvement, and nursery raising with the mean score of 2.28, 2.19, 2.11, 2.04, 1.90, 1.80, 1.86, 1.82and 1.75 respectively. The least training needs preferred practices were sowing time (1.42), harvesting (1.57), seed rate (1.54), intercultural operations (1.60), irrigation (1.61) and use of organic manures (1.70). These findings are accordance with the findings reported by Rajput et al. (2005) and Bhagat and Nain (2005). Table 1: Training Needs of Vegetable Growers in Vegetable Cultivation Technology Training Needs Vegetable Total Knowledge NSro.. CPurlaticvtaictieosn NMeeodsetd SWomhaet- NLeeeadsetd O(Sbctoarinees)d PerGceanpt age Ranks Needed Improved/Hybrid 1. 81 41 40 365 2.28 II variety 2. Seed treatment 75 41 44 351 2.19 III 3. Seed rate 20 47 93 247 1.54 XIV 4. Sowing time 16 36 108 228 1.42 XVI 5. Nursery raising 40 40 80 280 1.75 X Impact Factor (JCC): 2.7367 NAAS Rating: 3.19 Association between Independent Variables and Training Needs of 175 Vegetable Growers in Vegetables Cultivation Technology Transplanting & 6. 71 37 74 339 2.11 IV Spacing Use of organic 7. 32 48 80 272 1.7 XI manures Management of 8. 55 31 72 299 1.86 VIII fertilizers 9. Irrigation 28 43 89 259 1.61 XII Intercultural 10. 24 48 88 286 1.60 XIII operation 11. Weed control 67 33 60 327 2.04 V 12. Diseases and IPM 83 45 32 371 2.31 I 13. Harvesting 16 44 100 236 1.47 XV 14. Quality improvement 48 36 76 292 1.82 IX 15. Package of practices 52 36 72 300 1.8 VII 16. Marketing 63 29 68 315 1.9 VI Relationship of socio-economic and socio-psychological variables with training needs of vegetable growers: The correlation coefficient was computed to know the existence of relationship between the various characteristics of vegetable growers and their training needs in vegetable cultivation. The data depicted in Table 2 show that, among 17 characteristics studied 10 characteristics, namely, age, education, occupation, social participation, extension agency contact, mass media exposure, locus of control, risk taking willingness, attitude towards vegetable cultivation and adoption propensity were found to have positive and significant correlation with training needs at 0.01 level of probability. Whereas family income, economic status and achievement motivation showed positive and non-significant relationship Age had a negative and significant relationship with training needs at 0.01 level of probability. While the family type, family size and caste were negative and non-significantly related with training needs. Education had a positive and significant relationship with training needs. It means, as the education level of the farmers increased, the training needs also increased. It is due to the fact that more educated farmers are aware about the importance of training and they want to learn skills involved in advanced vegetable cultivation. The findings of the present study are consistent with the findings of Garav and Kamble (1995) and Rajput et al. (2007). The training need increases with the increase in social participation, extension agency contact and mass media participation due to the fact that as the participation in social organization, extension activities and mass media increases the exposure to modern and up to date technologies is more and there-by awareness for training needs in the vegetable cultivation are high. This result is in agreement with the findings of Ingole et al. (1993) and Rajput et al. (2007). As adoption propensity, attitude towards vegetable cultivation and locus of control increase the training needs also increase. These variables indicate favourable direction of having positive attitude towards adoption innovation for getting more production and earning high profits. The necessity of economic prosperity motivates farmers for acquiring various skills for earning more by utilizing available resources. Table 2: Relationship of Socio-Economic and Socio-Psychological Variables With Training Needs of Vegetable Growers in Vegetable Cultivation Technology S. No Independent Variables R Value 1. Age -.226** 2. Caste 0.480 www.iaset.us [email protected] 176 Gondkar Sachin. S, Chaudhari Pooja, Vister Joshi & R. S. Hudda 3. Education 0.468** 4. Family type -0.110 5. Family size -0.850 6. Family income 0.134 7. Occupation 0.280** 8. Economic status 0.570 Resources mobilization 9. 0.760 potentiality 10. Social participation 0.204** 11. Extension agency contact 0.443** 12. Mass media exposure 0.504** 13. Achievement motivation 0.840 14. Locus of control -0.241** 15. Risk taking willingness -0.375** 16. Adoption propensity 0.371** Attitude towards vegetable 17. 0.492** farming ** Correlation is significant at 0.01 levels Table 3: Multiple Linear Regression Analysis of Selected Independent Variables with Training Needs in Vegetable Cultivation Technology S. Regression Independent Variables No. Coefficient 1. Age -0.194** 2. Education -0.010 3. Occupation 0.086 4. Economic status 0.085 Resources mobilization 5. -0.030 potentiality 6. Social participation -0.019 7. Extension contact 0.004 8. Mass media exposure 0.150 9. Achievement motivation 0.093 10. Locus of control -0.067 11. Risk taking willingness 0.099 12. Adoption propensity 0.152* Attitude towards vegetable 13. 0.138* farming Significant at *P = 0.05 and **P = 0.01 levels respectively. R2 = 0.444 Multiple linear regression analysis of the characteristics of vegetable growers with training needs in vegetable cultivation technology: The method of multiple linear regression analysis (Table 3) was used for predicting the relative contribution of independent variables to influence the dependent variables i.e. training needs. All the selected socio- economic and socio-psychological variables were subjected to multiple linear regression analysis. The coefficient of determination (R2) revealed that 44.40 per cent of the variation in the training need was explained by the variables. Out of all the selected variables, three variables were found to be significant. Age showed negative but significant relationship at 0.01 level of probability. That means respondents with lower age were highly oriented towards training in Impact Factor (JCC): 2.7367 NAAS Rating: 3.19 Association between Independent Variables and Training Needs of 177 Vegetable Growers in Vegetables Cultivation Technology advanced vegetable cultivation. Similarly, the adoption propensity and attitude towards vegetable cultivation were also found to be significant at 0.05 level of probability. Vegetable growers had favourable attitude and hence showed high interest in training needs for advance vegetable cultivation technology. Similarly, vegetable growers young in age had high adoption propensity and better attitude were more active and better motivated to learn new skills in order to improve their living conditions. Similar finding are reported by Rajput et al. (2007).and Venkataramulu (2010). CONCLUSIONS It can be concluded from the investigation that majority of the vegetable growers had expressed their need for training in vegetable cultivation technology. It can be concluded that majority of vegetable growers gave highest emphasis of training needs on diseases and IPM, seed treatment, transplanting and spacing, weed control, marketing, package of practices and management of fertilizers in order, respectively. So, while preparing training programmes for vegetable growers aspects identified in the study should be focused on priority basis. Such type of need based training programmes will help them to increase the production and productivity of vegetable crops in sustainable way. Further, extension agencies and change agents should also concentrate on major areas, identified in this study. From multiple linear regression analysis of independent variables like age (negative but significant relationship), adoption propensity and attitude towards vegetable cultivation showed significant relationship which gives the better understanding of background variables affecting the training needs of vegetable growers. REFERENCES 1. Bhagat, G.R. and Nain, M.S. (2005). Training needs of farmer in Shivalik hills of Jammu and Kashmir. Indian Research Journal of Extension Edcation5 (2&3):44-46. 2. Garav, K.V., and Kamble, L.P. (1995).Training Needs of Rural Women.Maharashtra Journals of Extension Education 14: 93-96. 3. Ingole, P. G., Dakhore, K. M., and Dikle, R. N. (1993). Training needs of dairy farmers. Maharashtra Journal of Extension Education 12: 271-274. 4. Rajput, H. D., Supe, S. V., and Chinchmalatpure, U. R. (2007). Farmers Training Needs on Bt. Cotton Technology. Indian Research Journal of Extension Education (1): 14-16. 5. 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