Crop farm baseline survey in Eravur Pattu of Batticaloa district with special reference to socioeconomic factors, cultivation practices, extension services and constraints

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine factors influencing the adoption of agricultural practices among small holder farmers in Eravur Pattu of the Batticaloa District. Agriculture is the principal source of food and livelihood in Sri Lanka. Demographically it is the broadest economic sector and plays a significant role in the overall socio-economy of developing countries like Sri Lanka. A predesigned questionnaire was used to find out the socioeconomic factors, cultivation practices, extension services and constraints in crop cultivation. Primary and Secondary data were collected from the Agrarian service centres and crop farmers by means of a questionnaire survey among randomly selected 120 farmers during the period of April to June 2016 in 3 AI ranges in Eravur Pattu. The information regarding those factors and issues were analyzed using SPSS (Version 22) and Microsoft Excel package. It showed that 84% of the respondents were male and the majority of respondents (48%) fall between the age range of 30-40years. 48% are at primary education level and the size of the farming of 44% is 5 members. The main occupation of 56% is farming. The study further revealed that 54% of the farmers use Gravity irrigation (tank). When considering the land ownership, all farmers (100%) have their own land in the Maha season. But 58% of farmers have their own land cultivation in the Yala season. 64% of the farmers have leased land for doing cultivation in Maha season and 56% in Yala season. 82 farmers (68%) cultivate paddy in large scale at both Maha and Yala seasons. At the time of survey, Brinja, Maize and Groundnut are the crops being cultivated widely in large scale as well as in their home garden.