Year: 2019 | Month: June | Volume 64 | Issue 2
Severity Analysis of Problems Faced by Maize Growers in Punjab
Yugraj Singh
Baljinder Kaur Sidana
DOI:10.30954/0424-2513.2.2019.6
Abstract:
The area under maize crop has been consistently decreasing in the Punjab state over the last few decades, despite its multiple uses. Ineffective implementation of price policy along with certain problems, the maize growers could not earn remunerative returns form maize cultivation in the state. The present study was designed to highlight the various problems in the context of production and marketing front of maize crop in the Punjab state. The data with respect to various problems being faced by the maize growers were collected through well structured pre-tested schedule. The data recorded on scales and severity analysis was carried out by using mean rank score. Garret ranking technique was applied to extract the important problems that influence the maize cultivation in the Punjab state. The severity analysis indicated that among biotic constraints, the emergence of diseases (mean score=1.82) was reported as the most severe problem faced by the maize growers. Plant protection measures being adopted by the maize growers for effective control of insect, pest and management of diseases could increase the production cost of maize. Based on the value of mean score, shortage of labor supply during peak season (mean score=2.82) was the most important problems amongst abiotic problems, while the intensity of the problems like price variability, shortage of farm machinery was moderately high in the study area. Low price of the produce was exposed as the most influential problem by applying Likert scale. Shortage of labour supply during peak season, emergence of diseases, insect-pest attack and weeds infestation were exposed as moderately severe problems. Hence, the effective and suitable measures to address the highlighted problems of maize could provide impetus to increase maize acreage in the Punjab state.
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