Validation of participatory farming situation identification: A case of rainfed rice cultivation in selected area of West Bengal, India

Abstract

<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: " times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-bidi-font-family:="" mangal;mso-ansi-language:en-gb;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:="" hi"="" lang="EN-GB">The present study was conducted to test the validity of a novel participatory field tool that can identify micro-farming situation with special reference to rain-fed rice cultivation in selected village of North 24-Parganas district of West Bengal, India. A micro-farming situation was conceptualised as a sub-system of a relatively large farming situation, which is relatively homogeneous in nature. Farmers of the village themselves classified their agricultural fields into distinct micro-farming situations through participatory mapping exercise. All the 70 farmers growing rainfed rice in that uninterrupted field were then interviewed for recording their rain-fed rice cultivation practices. Most of the rain-fed rice cultivation practices like <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">variety selection, time of sowing, transplanting and harvesting, seed rate, seedling age, spacing, plant protection practices, fertilizer management and yield differed significantly among these identified micro-farming situations. This indicated the effectiveness of farmers’ classification. However, more empirical evidence is needed – especially for different field crops – to establish the validity of this tool. The tool can help to offer appropriate technologies to the farmers for a technically precise and environmentally sound agriculture.</span></span>