Labour availability in coconut cultivation and impact on technology adoption as perceived by coconut farmers

Labour is an important resource for sustainable farming. Coconut, a perennial tree crop, requires skilled and unskilled labour components for adoption of scientific management practices. The study indicated that both hired and family labour were utilised in seedling planting and management, whereas family labour was prominently utilised in case of chemical fertiliser application and basin management with green manure. Hired labour was critical in basin opening, organic manure application, plant protection and harvesting. Most of the technologies adopted were irregular in nature which was indicated due to escalating input costs and declining output price. Majority of the respondents (76.32%) adopted keramithra for de-husking coconuts. Farmers who adopted mechanisation in land preparation opined 60-75 per cent reduction in expenditure compared to manual labour. Seventy eight per cent of respondents recorded scarcity in labour availability. The responses of the farming community towards the high wage rate and scarcity were discontinuation of milch animals in coconut homesteads, reduction in number of regular harvests, untimely harvests of coconut, reduction in intercropping, irregularity in basin opening and cultural practices, low level of organic manure application etc. Mechanization in coconut cultivation among small/marginal holders is meagre and needs impetus from supporting agencies. The constraints and suggestions of the farmers were also documented

Labour availability in coconut cultivation and impact on technology adoption as perceived by coconut farmers

Labour is an important resource for sustainable farming. Coconut, a perennial tree crop, requires skilled and unskilled labour components for adoption of scientific management practices. The study indicated that both hired and family labour were utilised in seedling planting and management, whereas family labour was prominently utilised in case of chemical fertiliser application and basin management with green manure. Hired labour was critical in basin opening, organic manure application, plant protection and harvesting. Most of the technologies adopted were irregular in nature which was indicated due to escalating input costs and declining output price. Majority of the respondents (76.32%) adopted keramithra for de-husking coconuts. Farmers who adopted mechanisation in land preparation opined 60-75 per cent reduction in expenditure compared to manual labour. Seventy eight per cent of respondents recorded scarcity in labour availability. The responses of the farming community towards the high wage rate and scarcity were discontinuation of milch animals in coconut homesteads, reduction in number of regular harvests, untimely harvests of coconut, reduction in intercropping, irregularity in basin opening and cultural practices, low level of organic manure application etc. Mechanization in coconut cultivation among small/marginal holders is meagre and needs impetus from supporting agencies. The constraints and suggestions of the farmers were also documented

Spatial and social dimensions of community extension approach in management of coconut red palm weevil

Coconut red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier is a killer pest of coconut posing threat of crop loss to small and marginal farmers. The participatory area wide study was conducted since 2014-15 in Bharanikkavu grama panchayat in an area of 2100 hectares involving 6249 households with 174667 coconut palms of various age categories. The interventions included assessment of RPW infestation through combing survey involving stakeholder teams, extension interventions, area wide surveillance, removal of infested palms, adoption of bio management in associated pest rhinoceros beetle and leaf rot disease, weekly coconut clinics, advisory support, technology backstopping and area wide adoption of management practices. The implementation area was mapped with remote sensing and GIS and the reduction in RPW mapped comparatively in pre and post intervention period as a tool to assess the results. The infestation reduced to 0.38 from 2.98 per cent in the pre intervention period. Cheap and simple early detection tools and biological control measures are badly needed for the small scale growers community for managing red palm weevil.Community Extension Approach was evolved for marginal land holdings of coconut with threat of red palm weevil infestation. Sustaining the interest, motivation and support of relevant stakeholders is the challenge in area wide community management which warrants sequential surveillance assessment and participatory social mechanisms

Leadership and social intelligence of coconut farmer leaders and implications in extension services

Coconuts cultivated in small and marginal holdings pose social and economic challenges in extension outreach programmes. A study was undertaken during 2016-17 regarding the leadership and social intelligence of coconut farmer leaders, to assess their socio-personal variables and their relationships in two blocks of Alappuzha district. The results showed 46 per cent of producer societies were of five or more years of activities and 86.7 per cent of the leaders holding positions in multiple organizations. Regarding the knowledge levels, 66.61 per cent had a medium level and 94 per cent had more than 15 years of experience in coconut cultivation. Coconut producers' societies could establish only a few linkages and time spent by farmer leaders for societies were found to be very low. Whereas 58 per cent of farmer leaders had a medium level of leadership practices and occupational status, the social intelligence of the leaders was positively correlated with leadership abilities. Social intelligence of 56 per cent of them was in medium level and experience in coconut cultivation was the only variable positively and significantly correlated. This study highlights the importance of identification of training needs in leadership and social skills of farmer leaders, evolving realistic criteria for leader selection, inclusive policy for gender and youth representations in leadership positions and pathways to evolve pro-active power dynamics in grass root level farmer organizations. Doubling farmers' income and enhancing the productivity of small and marginal farmers require vibrant and responsible social support through farmer producers' organizations in the coconut sector

Community farm school approach for coconut seedlings/juveniles through collaborative social actions

Three Grama Panchayats in Kerala's Alappuzha district undertook community-level participatory action research in 2019–2021. A total of 90 coconut farmers participated in the adoption of ICAR-CPCRI technology to produce West Coast Tall (WCT) coconut seedlings that are resistant/tolerant to the root (wilt) disease at the community level. Partners included extension agents, coconut producers' societies (CPS) and clusters, women self-help groups (WSHGs), and agricultural labor organizations. The characteristics of technologies that are suggested for adoption in root (wilt) disease-affected tracts, such as the scientific management of young coconut trees and the production of high-quality seedlings through community nurseries, challenge the idea of adoption. There are a lot of variances in the homestead gardens' marginal holdings, including expertise, the use of technology, and access to advisory services. Government agencies provided the majority of the seedlings and extension advisory services, emphasizing the necessity for FPO-based or private extension in the coconut growing industry. The coconut farmers' understanding has significantly improved as a result of the participatory interventions for managing seedlings. The participatory demonstration and community farm school (CFS) strategy is discussed in the paper as a way for homesteads to manage juvenile coconuts while integrating new ideas and fostering cross and reciprocal learning. Refining the current extension approach requires integrating new knowledge about the characteristics of seedling growth, future economic performance, and social evaluation of choices of technological, individual, and skill-oriented interventions in risk-prone areas with debilitating root (wilt) disease

Red palm weevil incidence: Spatial pattern and implications in technology adoption

Red palm weevil (RPW) is one of the major fatal pests of coconut. Conventional extension approaches need to be refined forachieving the desired outcome on adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) strategies against RPW, especially among smalland marginal farming communities. The pattern of incidence, severity of infestation and age of palms are the factors motivatingfarmers for adoption of IPM practices. Taking these into account, a technology delivery approach for RPW management wasevolved and implemented in the entire geographical extent of 520 ha area of Edava grama panchayat in Thiruvananthapuramdistrict of Kerala state, India. This approach involves farmer participatory surveillance and monitoring with technical facilitationfrom research institutions which is a paradigm shift to community based area wide management strategies. Besides holdings’profile, number of RPW infested/lost palms and GPS (i.e., latlong) coordinates of infested palms were recorded. The spatialdistribution pattern was analyzed using Indices of Dispersion (ID), Patchiness (IP) Cluster Frequency (ICF) and Mean Crowding(IMC) at different cluster levels (i.e., holdings, administrative segments and grids). ESRI GIS software was used to depict geospatialpatterns of RPW infestation. Among 5410 coconut holdings, 18.7 per cent were having RPW infested palms. The pest incidencein juvenile palms was significantly higher compared to adult palms. The distribution pattern of infested palms was observed to beaggregated. Knowledge level of farmers regarding aspects of pest and management was below 10 per cent. The proposedmethodology of participatory data documentation resulted in rapid and reliable collection of data from large area with an additionalbenefit of experiential learning for farmers in the locality

Constraints in adoption of integrated management for root (wilt) disease affected coconut areas - An analysis of Alleppey district

Analysis of the constraints faced by the farming community in root (wilt) affected area was done during 2010-2011 at Alleppey district, Kerala, India. It was found that irrespective of the holding size only 50 percent of the coconut trees were in bearing stage whereas around one third were seedlings and one fifth pre bearing stage. Adoption of recommended practices were statistically significant with the area under coconut cultivation. The farmers identified 30 major constraints which were categorized as technical, input, economic, social and biophysical constraints in order of importance. Participation of the coconut farmers in meetings related to farming was only 18.9 percent and participation in training programmes was meager and only 10 percent of the sample respondents were members in any farmer groups. The results indicated need for coconut farmers' clusters/ societies for improving technology adoption in community basis

Production forecasting of coconut: Variation in number of bearing palms and productivity in selected districts in India

Forecasting of coconut production in the country was attempted for three consecutive years from 2006-07. Stratified multistage sampling design was employed. At district level, forecasting of production was arrived by multiplying average predicted yield of palms with the 'harvested-area' of the crop in that district. Ratio estimator was constructed to obtain forecasting at different administrative levels. The all India forecasts of coconut production in the years 2006-07 to 2008-09 were obtained as 13448, 16331 and 14183 million nuts against the published values of 15840, 14743 and 15729 in order. On observing noticeable reduction in area under coconut in Kerala, the all India forecasting was revised as separately working out the forecasts for Kerala and rest of India and adding. By following this approach, the per cent difference of forecasts with published values were observed to be reduced from 15.1, -10.8, and 9.8 to 10.5, -5.2, and 6.0 in order in the years 2006-07 to 2008-09