Farmers’ Perception on Importance of Pollinators and Pollination in Karnataka State

Author: Marepally Udaya Sindhu and Y.N. Shivalingaiah

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Abstract

The study was conducted in Kolar and Chikkaballapura districts of Karnataka state during 2020-2021 to analyse the perception level of farmers on importance of pollinators and pollination. A total of 120 (60 small and 60 big) crop growers were selected by using simple random sampling technique from twelve villages from two districts. Personal interview method was used to collect data and appropriate statistical tools were applied to analyse the data. Among small farmers, it is observed that majority of the farmers perceived that only honey bees are the beneficial insects useful for the pollination activity with (Rank I) followed by observation of reduced crop yield due to non visit of pollinators (Rank II).In case of big farmers, perception towards extension training programmes would change the view of farmers on importance of pollination and conservation of pollinators was (Rank I) along with community driven pollinator monitoring for efficient management of pollinators. Pollinator population decline (Rank II). The findings revealed that more than two-fifth (43.33 %) of farmers were with good perception level followed by poor (31.67 %) and better (25.00 %). Ex-post facto research methodology was used to conduct the current study, making it unable to overcome respondents' memory bias. The study is restricted to just two districts in the state of Karnataka as a result of the discovery that it has its own time and resource limitations. However, a lot of thought and attention went into it to make this study as complete, scientific, and objective as possible. By educating farmers about their barriers to pollinator conservation and the solutions presented to overcome those barriers, the insights gained by this study will aid in their ecological and socioeconomic betterment. By educating farmers about their barriers to pollinator conservation and the solutions presented to overcome those barriers, the insights gained by this study will aid in their ecological and socioeconomic betterment.

Keywords

Pollinators, Pollination, Farmers, Perception

Conclusion

The study was undertaken to know the perception level of farmers on importance of pollinators and pollination in Kolar and Chikkballapur district of Karnataka. Though the districts have distinct crop diversification, the results suggest that there is still lot of scope for improvement through conservation of pollinators. Government has a obligation to reinforce the concerned organisations to conduct capacity building programmes on regular basis to the farmers on significance of conserving pollinators, their services provided to the nature and the crop production. There is a need to educate the farmers about importance of pollination services and conservation of pollinators through practices like crop rotation, IPM, educating farmers to take up disease tolerant varieties like BRG-5 in redgram (wilt tolerant), BSH-53 in sunflower (tolerant to powdery mildew), seed treatment with bioagents like Trichoderma can reduce the disease incidence in turn results in more yield and conservation of pollinators.

References

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How to cite this article

Marepally Udaya Sindhu and Y.N. Shivalingaiah (2023). Farmers’s Perception on Importance of Pollinators and Pollination in Karnataka State. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(8a): 480-487.