Impact of Cluster Frontline Demonstration on Adoption of Improved Practices of Mustard Crop

The economics of agriculture depend significantly on oilseed in many regions of the world. The top five producers of oilseeds in the world are the United States, Brazil, Argentina, China and India which accounts for 82% of total production (Shenoi, 2003). After groundnut, mustard-rapeseed is the most significant oil seed crop in India, accounting for around 25% of all oilseed output. Oilseed crops, the second-largest group of agricultural products after grains because of their high fat content, are crucial to the Indian agricultural economy. After soybean and palm oil, rapeseed mustard is the third-largest group of oilseed crops in the world. Mustard, which accounts for nearly one-third of all oil produced in India, is the principal edible oilseed crop. Indian mustard seeds have an oil content that ranges from 30% to 48%. The remainder of this oil, which is also used to create medicines and animal feed, is a great source of energy. Due to its role as a food preservative, it is a highly popular media for prickles (Gopale et al., 2022). In addition to the benefits of oil made from mustard rapeseed, the seeds, sprouts, leaves and fragile plants provide health benefits when used as vegetables and seasonings. Selenium, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, manganese and other elements are present in them (Verma and Prasad, 2023).
       
Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) is grown across the country over an area of 8.06 million hectares, yielding 11.75 million tonnes and 1457 kg ha^-1, respectively. The state of Rajasthan has the greatest acreage dedicated to this crop, with the next-largest amounts being in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Assam and West Bengal. Haryana is the third-largest state in the country, producing 1.37 million tonnes across 0.71 million hectares with an average yield of 1914 kg ha^-1 in 2021-2022. Due to population expansion and growing living standards, India’s domestic usage of edible oils has greatly increased over time. When compared to the 115.71 lakh tonnes of net domestic edible oil availability in 2021-2022, it reached a level of 20.82 lakh tonnes, with imports covering the 141.94 lakh tonnes of necessary edible oil (Anonymous, 2022).
       
It demonstrates that there is still a sizable imbalance between the supply and demand of edible oil, which is covered by large imports that cost a sizable sum of foreign currency. The necessity to overcome various biotic, abiotic and socioeconomic restrictions that prevent the yield potential from being fully used. To overcome stagnant oilseed output and achieve self-sufficiency in the production of edible oilseeds, the government decided to push the most recent production technology in oilseed production. The National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP) authorized KVK to carry out the “Cluster Frontline Demonstrations on Oilseeds” project for ICAR-ATARI in Jodhpur. Cluster frontline demonstration is a novel strategy used by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research on Oilseed and Pulse crops to create a direct line of communication between scientists and farmers. During demonstrations, farmers are guided by KVK scientists in the application of improved technologies such as improved varieties, seed treatment, IPM, INM, land preparation, etc In order to increase production, productivity and interest in growing oilseed crops, which are losing significance as a result of the yield stagnation that farmers are currently facing, the stated goals of CFLDs were to show farmers the new technologies that Research Institutes and SAUs had recommended.
       
Keeping the above points in view, the 100 cluster frontline demonstrations (CFLDs) on rapeseed-mustard using production improved technologies were conducted with the objectives to evaluate the effect of cluster frontline demonstrations on improving mustard crop production and evaluating the technological gap in mustard production.

The present examinations on CFLDs were conducted  during rabi 2018-19 season by KVK, Sadalpur (Hisar) of Haryana state.An aggregate of 100 demonstrations were conducted in three clusters  namely Hisar-1, Hisar-II and Adampur Blocks of Hisar  district over an area of 40 hectares. Before conducting CFLD a list of farmers was prepared from group meeting and specific skill training was imparted to the selected farmers regarding different aspect of cultivation etc, were followed as suggested by Chaudhary (1999) and Venkatta Kumar et al., (2010). The chaudhary charan singh haryana agricultural university‘s recommended package of practices for oilseed were  followed in all   the demonstration plots. The demonstration at grower fields were regularly visited at different crop stages by KVK scientists.
       
The yield data and economic of demonstration and check plot were recorded and analysed. Different parameters like extension gap, technology gap and technology index as suggested by Dayanand et al., (2012) were used for calculating gap analysis, costs and returns. CFLDs were conducted at farmer s field so that maximum number of grower can observe the demonstration field and interact with each other so that interest for cultivation of mustard crop can be generated among the farmers as main idea of CFLD is seeing is believing.
          
The logical tool used for assessing the performance of the FLD is as under:
 

CCSHAU’s Hisar mustard variety RH 749, which has a production potential of 28.75 q ha^-1, was used in CFLDS experiments. Using mustard varieties grown locally, checks have been made locally. Farmers have been given a set of procedures to follow in order to implement the CCS HAU Hisar recommendations. The mustard technologies and input materials given to farmers based on their requirements were used to demonstrate these financial literacy tests, as shown in Table 1.
 

 
Yield analysis
 
According to the findings of the farmers’ field cluster frontline demonstrations, mustard yield was significantly higher under demonstration plots than check plots in all three clusters. In comparison to check plots, Cluster-II had the highest yield increase (28.00%), followed by Cluster-III (26.57%) and Cluster-I (24.90%). In demonstration plots a yield of 17.49 per cent more than in check plots was observed. Singh et al., (2014) also suggested that the use of high yielding improved variety under FLD programmes leads to increase in the production as well as productivity also.
       
FLD practices created great awareness and motivated the other farmers to adopt appropriate oilseed production technologies. Rana et al., (2017) assessed the management of stem rot disease in mustard crop and concluded that the seed treatment with Carbendazim @ 2.0 g kg^-1 seed controlled stem rot disease more efficiently in mustard crop.  The demonstrations resulted in significant average increase in yield of mustard crop and also higher net returns over check plots. The adoption of a set of practices for mustard crops, such as improved variety, seed treatment and integrated pest and disease management, may be the cause of the demonstrated plots’ increased yield. Similar type of results were obtained by Mandal et al., (2017) at birbhum region of west Bengal for lentil crop.
 
Gap analysis
 
Gap analysis was calculated to assess the extension gap and technology gap. The perusal of the data in Table 2 reveals    that extension gap in cluster-III was higher (5.50 q ha^-1) followed by cluster –II (5.46 q ha^-1) and Cluster-I (4.98 q ha^-1). Shivran et al., (2020) evaluated performa nce analysis of improved varieties of Indian mustard in terms of gap analysis, yield enhancement and economic viability through front-line demonstrations. The average yield gaps for technology, extension and technology index were significant and resulted in realizing higher benefit: cost ratio compared to the Farmers’ practice during six years’ study period.  The overall extension gap was observed 5.31 q ha^-1, which emphasized the need to educate the farmers through various extension means for adoption of improved mustard production technologies, to bridge the wide extension gap.
 

       
The technology gap showed the feasibility of the technology at farmers’ field. The lower the value of technology gap, more will be the feasibility of technology distributed. The data in Table 2 reveals that technology index range from 8.87 to 13.11 per cent in three clusters. The average technology index of three clusters was 11.2 per cent. Low value of technology index reflects adequacy of technology. This means that technology demonstrated through CFLDs was feasible in that region and needs to popularize through various extension departments for the benefits of farmers.
 
Economic analysis
 
Data regarding economic indicators i.e. cost of cultivation, gross returns, net return and benefit cost ratio are depicted in Table 3. Economic return was observed to be a function of grain yield and sale price or minimum support price. The data in Table 3 clearly shows that net return of demonstration plots was Rs. 56.04 thousand ha^-1 as compared to check plots (farmers’ practice) which was Rs.34.28 thousand ha^-1. The higher additional returns obtained under demonstrations could be due to improved technology, nonmonetary factors, timely operations of crop cultivation and scientific monitoring. Favorable benefit cost ratio proved the economic viability of intervention. The B: C ratio was 2.05 under demonstration, while it was 1.65 under control plots. Choudhary and Nehra (2021) found that average yield of sesame obtained from the three years of demonstrations was 24. 83 per cent higher and the average net returns obtained from demonstrations was Rs. 5900/hectare higher than the average net returns obtained from local check. Singh et al., (2014) also concluded that the FLD programme was found to be useful in imparting knowledge and adoption level of farmers in various aspects of oilseed production technologies. Kumar et al., (2019) also recorded higher yield of mustard under demonstrations against farmer practices during the year of experimentation and their results clearly indicated the positive effects of FLDs over the existing farmer’s practices.
 

From the above data it is inferred that the Cluster Front Line demonstration program was successful in influencing farmers’ attitudes toward growing mustard. Farmers’ skill and knowledge was increased as a result of the demonstration plots of mustard crop being grown using improved technologies. Through cluster demonstrations, farmers can be encouraged to adopt the cutting-edge production techniques that were shown to work in the CFLD plots, thereby increasing mustard crop production and productivity. It has been found that scientific knowledge transmission, provision of high-quality, need-based inputs and proper application of those inputs can all increase potential yield.
       
For a quicker and more extensive spread of the advised practices among other farmers, the front line demonstration concept may be applied to all farmer categories, including progressive farmers. The availability of soil moisture, rainfall amounts, climatic anomalies and disease infestation are also to blame for differences in crop yield. Additionally, it was found that farmers in the study area were ignorant of seed treatment for mustard crops, which led to significant losses from diseases spread by seeds like stem rot. It is further recommended that farmers be informed about seed treatment. As a result, the technologies presented under CFLDs helped to increase the area under mustard cultivation as well as production and productivity.

This is to declare that there is “No conflict of interest” among researcher.