Hemchandra Saikia, Diganta Sharmah and Manoranjan Neog
Abstract
Assam is an agrarian state having net sown area and gross cropped area as 2801 and 4060 thousand hectares, respectively and resulting cropping intensity is about 145 per cent. Among vegetable crops potato is the most important crop occupying 115752 hectare area (4.13% of net cropped area) and its average productivity is 8513 kg per hectare. Present study was conducted in Dibrugarh district to know the impact of improved method of potato cultivation in enhancing the productivity and income of farmers. Data for the study were collected in specially designed pre-tested interview schedules from 100 randomly selected respondent farmers from two randomly sleeted blocks of Dibrugarh district of Assam which was selected purposively due to the prevalence of agricultural activities in the district. The result of the study revealed that the productivity of potato in improved cultivation increased by 9636 kg per hectare (82.11 % increases) over its traditional method of cultivation. The gross return per hectare in improved method of cultivation increased by 45.69 per cent over its cultivation without the use of improved technology. The net return per hectare in improved potato cultivation increased by 51.18 per cent (`67351/ha) over its cultivation without the use of improved technology. The benefit-cost ratios in both improved and traditional method of potato cultivation were 4.46 and 3.96, respectively. Thus, study established the positive impact of adoption of improved technology in potato cultivation.