INTRODUCTION Fruit cultivation was crucial to agricultural diversity and the provision of food and nourishment for the world's population, which is constantly expanding. Fruit crops thrive in Bihar's agro-climatic conditions, which are very favourable. The state is third in the nation for vegetable output and fourth for fruit production. The papaya, or Carica papaya, has a prominent place among the fruits. Similar to the banana, it is readily accessible all year long and is simple to grow. Only the banana generates more money per square foot and has more nutritional and therapeutic value. The pharmaceutical, textile, apparel, and other sectors all utilize it. With an annual output of over 5.988 million tones and a surface area of 0.138 million hectares, India is the world's top producer of papaya (Horticulture Statistics at a Glance-2018). Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh are the two states that generate the most papaya in our nation (1.68 million tonnes each) (1.257 million tons). Bihar produces almost 0.043 million tonnes of papaya over an area of 1900 acres, placing it in 15th place overall (Horticulture Statistics at a Glance-2018). Papaya is mostly grown in the districts of Vaishali, Samastipur, Begusarai, Patna, and Muzaffarpur in Bihar. Bihar has a lower papaya output on average than the rest of the country. However, if the present technology is efficiently distributed to the farmers, papaya yield might be significantly boosted. Our training programmes need to focus more on transferring new technology from the confines of laboratories and research institute to the farmers and make then result oriented. The profitability of papaya farming still has to be improved, however this is due to the numerous production and marketing-related challenges that papaya producers must overcome. As a result, in order to increase papaya output and productivity, papaya producers must receive the most up-to-date training in growing techniques. Training in organizational skills is intended to put information into practise rather than to impart it. Every training session must increase output. Application is more important than theory. The main goal of training is to increase performance. Training need is a gap between the existing and desired level of competency of farmers. As a result, if the gap is substantial, training is required since farmers' knowledge, attitude, and abilities fall short of what is expected. The current study was conducted with all of these factors in mind in order to identify the training need for enhanced papaya farming and plant protection strategies for papaya producers. According to a study by Kumari and Laxmikant (2016), beekeepers need the most training in a variety of areas to protect themselves from pests, diseases, and other risks. These areas were followed by the beekeeping industry, beehive products and the value of their extraction, processing, and medicinal uses, management of bee colonies throughout the year, and basic tasks. Sharma (2016) found that the majority of marigold producers need instruction in 64% of cases. The farmers discussed how they would like to be trained in many areas, including plant protection, nursery management, fertilizer management, field management, and marketing management. The results of a correlation study showed that education, farm size, yearly income, decision-making behaviour, risk orientation, and marketing orientation were all positively and substantially connected with training needs, whereas age and caste were not. Sharma and Sharma (2014) found that all krishi input merchants (100%) believed that training was necessary in the seed-related sub-areas of type, germination power, viability, and enhanced crop varieties included in the top rank. All respondents (100%) said that there was a need for training in the sub-areas of fertilizer, such as fertilizer type, fertilizer composition, fertilizer application techniques, fertilizer dose calculation, and bio-fertilizer mentioned in the top three. Similarily, all Krishi input dealers (100%) perceived training needs in seed sub-areas such as kind of pesticides, calculation of pesticide dose/ha, major crops pests, and pests management by pesticides included in top rank. According to Verma et al. (2013) research, determining the need for training is the first and most important step in programme development. To fit and be effective in doing their jobs, they need receive suitable training based on their needs, which would assist to enhance output. Following the management of fertilizer, nursery growing, marketing, and field management, the farmers identified a need for instruction on plant protection. It also showed that more than three-fifths of marigold producers (61.66%) fit into the medium category, while 20.00% and 18.34% of marigold growers, respectively, were placed under the high and low groups of training needs. According to Verma and Ansari (2013), all of the chosen potato producers placed the area of high yielding variety as their second top priority after training in plant protection measures. The seed treatment was ranked third in terms of the training requirements for potato producers, behind sowing technique and sowing window. According to the order of merit and their average mean scores of 2.38, 2.31, and 1.88, respectively, the manures and fertilizer management, irrigation and drainage, and weed management were afterwards identified as the key related training requirements areas among the potato producers. The survey found that potato producers desired knowledge on the use of different insecticides and pesticides, the identification of common insect pests and diseases, the causes of spread, as well as the timing and technique of treatment. According to Naik (2006) research, 43.34 percent of groundnut farmers fell into the medium training needs group, followed by the high (29.33%) and low (27.33%) categories. According to Maneria, et al. (2002), the majority of respondents, or 62.50 percent, fall into the medium level of training need category, while 20.83 percent were kept in the high level of training need category, and the remaining 16.67 percent had low level training needs regarding soybean production technology. According to Leihaothabam et al. (2002), the majority of the farmers had medium level (58.33%) of training needs followed by low level (23.34%) and high level (18.33%) of training needs. METHODOLOGY Begusarai district of Bihar state has been identified as the area for present research work in view of its importance in terms of area and total production of papaya crop in the state. There are eighteen blocks in Begusarai district. Five of the eighteen blocks that had the most land planted with papayas were chosen. Two villages from each of the five blocks that had the most land planted in papaya were chosen. Ten communities in all were thus chosen as example villages for this study. There were taken six papaya farmers from each of the chosen villages. Thus a total number of sixty papaya growers was constitute as the sample for the present study and the survey details are presented in Table 1. According to the results in Table 2, the majority of respondents (61.67%) fell into the category of medium need for training, while 20.00% went into the area of low need, and the remaining 18.33% fell into the category of high need. Due to the farmers' medium level of education, moderate level of extension interaction, moderate level of economic motivation, preference for high risk situations, and small and marginal agricultural holdings, the demand for training was determined to be in the high category. As a result, the government must focus more on implementing need-based training programmes that include course material organized according to the primary areas that have been identified. The urgent need is for district-level extension and training centres to be established, along with vigorous attempts to expand their services to farmers. The results were in line with Adebisi-Adelani et al. (2020); Pale et al. (2019); Pujari et al. (2018); Sahoo and Satapathy (2021); Verma and Ansari (2013). Further, the data relevant to the various papaya producers' agricultural practices was gathered, tallied, and examined. Fig. 1 displays the findings. According to data from Fig. 1, high yielding varieties (about 71.67%) and manure and fertilizer management (roughly 46.67%) were the two areas where papaya producers most urgently needed training. Plant protection measures (76.67%) and high yielding varieties (roughly 71.67%) were the other two. It was found that seed treatment, irrigation, and drainage management, seed bed preparation, marketing, and storage, and raising seedlings, sowing method and sowing time were the areas where papaya growers had the greatest need for training. Weed management was the area where the greatest need for training was found in 56.67% of papaya growers. Additionally, it was found that 55.00% of papaya producers had the least need for training in weed picking, followed by the method and timing of transplanting (50.00%), and 48.33% of papaya growers had the least need for training in post-harvest management. There are thirteen distinct cultivating activities for training needs that have been found and are categorized into categories like most needed, needed, and least needed. 3 points, 2 points, and 1 point were used for scoring. Based on the mean score, the order of the major regions was selected. Figure-1 presents the findings. Training needs of papaya growers for different cultivation activities: The respondents' perceptions of the relative training needs of farmers in the thirteen distinct cultivation activities with regard to better papaya farming are shown in Table 3. On perusal of data presented in the Table 3 revealed that the Plant protection measures came in first place and were deemed to be the most important training need, with a mean score of 2.77. High yielding varieties came in second place with a mean score of 2.72, while manures and fertilizer management came in third place with a mean score of 2.15. Weed management came in fifth and had a mean score of 2.07, followed by "marketing and storage" in sixth place with a mean score of 1.93, "sowing methods and sowing time" in seventh place with a mean score of 1.82, "raising seedlings" in eighth place with a mean score of 1.78, and "seed bed preparation" in ninth place with a mean score of 1.73. The fourth rank was "seed treatment". Other significant activities are the transplanting method and time (10th rank), irrigation and drainage management (11th rank), post harvesting management (12th rank), and harvesting (13th rank), all of which show mean scores of 1.62, 1.60, 1.58 and 1.47 respectively. The majority of papaya producers believed that these tasks were most important. In reality, several diseases and pests frequently impact papaya harvests. Therefore, it seems sense that plant preservation is seen as the top concern. The next crucial topic was thought to be one that farmers had limited opportunity to learn about: high yielding varieties. Therefore, they have acknowledged it as an important area of training needs. The result is similar to the findings of Verma and Ansari (2013); Raina, et al. (2014); Sharma, et al. (2021); Kumar et al. (2020). Training need of papaya growers in the sub-areas of plant protection measures: Table 4 displays the data of the relative requirement for papaya growers training in the sub-areas of plant protection measures. The results shown in Table 4 show that the sub-areas of identification of major insect pests and diseases for cultivation were considered by the chosen papaya farmers as having the greatest need for training, with a mean score of 2.85. The second and third-placed sub-areas of awareness about use of various insecticides and pesticides as well as residual effects of insecticides and pesticides, respectively, earned mean scores of 2.70 and 2.63. The sub-area connected to "cause of spread" was found to be the fourth most necessary, with a mean score of 2.57, while "preparation of pesticides solution" was found to be the fifth most necessary, with a mean score of 2.52. The papaya producers said that among the six sub-areas under "time and method of control," with a mean score of 2.47, they felt that training was most necessary. In the sub-area of "handling of plant protection implements" where papaya producers scored a mean of 2.25, they demonstrated the least amount of training that was necessary. Controlling infections has long been a significant issue for papaya farmers among the several facets of identifying plant protection. The crop's yield is significantly decreased once the diseases occur. Consequently, it makes sense that papaya farmers felt the need for training to take preventative measures against the diseases. The results were in line with Pujari et al. (2018); Raghav & Singh (2020); Sharma (2016); Verma and Ansari (2013); Verma, et al. (2013).