A Study on Adoption of Improved Sericultural Practices at Farmers Level in Major Traditional Districts of Sericulture in West Bengal

Sericulture is an age old industry in West Bengal. At present mulberry is cultivated in 33560 acres of land and 107000 families are engaged in mulberry sericulture. Estimated mulberry raw silk production during 2004-2005 was 1520 MT (10.39% of total mulberry raw silk production in India). But still a heavy decline in sericulture is seen in West Bengal. In 1997-1998 mulberry was cultivated in 53,395 acres (21358 ha) of land but it is now reduced to merely 33560 acres of land. There are several factors behind that downfall of sericulture in this state. Lack of adoption of improved sericultural practices may one of them. Hence, in the above context it is worthwhile to conduct research studies in two major traditional districts of West Bengal i.e., Malda and Murshidabad. The present study was conducted in the Nabagram Block of Murshidabad district and Kaliachawk Block-2 of Malda district to assess farmers' knowledge and their adoption level in respect of recommended sericulture practices so that field extension workers could develop appropriate educational approaches to upgrade their adoption level for increasing the cocoon yields, thus aiding in generation of higher income and employment among the rural mass. The findings of the present study indicated that only 50% of big farmers and 25% of small farmers had planted improved variety of Mulberry and followed recommended spacing and recommended system of planting. The present study also reveals that farmers have very low level of knowledge with respect to work spacing, number of feeds, types of leaves to be fed to different instars, leaves preservation methods, number of bed cleanings, temperature manipulation measures and prevention measures for various silkworm diseases. In general, irrespective of the category, sericultural farmers are not applying recommended dosage of fertilizers to mulberry crop.