Impact of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) frontline demonstrations in Akola district of Maharashtra

To assessthe determinants oftechnology adoption by sunflower farmers towards improved sunflower production technologies, a study was conducted in Akola district of Maharashtra. The assessment was done on a comparative basis between 60 each of farmers who participated in the frontline demonstrations (FLDs) organized by Crop Research Unit, Dr.Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV), Akola, Maharashtra (FLD farmers) and farmers who did not participate in the FLD programme but belong to the same villages wherein FLDs were organized (non-FLD farmers). The respondents were selected through multi-stage random sampling procedure. There was highly significant difference between FLD and non-FLD respondents with respect to their adoption behaviour and sunflower productivity. There wassignificant difference among non-FLD farmers with small, mediumand large size of land holdings with respect to their adoption behaviour and sunflower productivity, while there was no such difference was observed among the FLD farmers. Most of the non-FLD farmers had low to medium level of sunflower productivity, while most ofthe FLD farmers had medium to high level ofsunflower productivity. Overall, there was 11% mean seed yield increase obtained by the FLD farmers over that of non-FLD farmers with ` 2254/ha additional net returns. The personal,socio-economical, biotic and abiotic determinants ofsunflower production and perceived information needs were assessed and the strategies for improving the sunflower production scenario in the study area were suggested.