IMPACT OF FARMER'S FIELD SCHOOL (FFS) ON COTTON ICM PRACTICE BY FARMERS IN DHARWAD DISTRICT

The study conducted to know the impact of FFS on adoption level of ICM practices and mean yield levels of cotton revealed that almost all FFS farmers had adopted the majority of the Integrated Crop Management practices of cotton such as integrated seed management, integrated nutrient management, integrated water management and integrated pest and disease management. Whereas, non FFS farmers had adopted the simple practices in cotton such as seed rate, hybrid/variety, spacing, FYM application and summer ploughing. Majority of FFS farmers had fully adopted the ZnSO4 application, germination test, use of beneficial insects and biological preparations in cotton. Whereas, none of the non-FFS farmers adopted these practices. FFS farmers obtained higher mean yield (7.85 q/acre) of cotton than the non- FFS farmers (6.25 q/acre). The gap between overall mean adoption index of FFS and non-FFS farmers (62.71 and 32.71%) was high.