Consequences of front line demonstration of Tomato cv. Arka Rakshak in Pali district of western Rajasthan

Abstract

Tomato plays an important role in supplementing the income of small and marginal  farmers of major area of the India. The main constraints of low quality and productivity  of this vegetable in arid region of Rajasthan (India) may be due to partial adoption of  improved production technology practices by the tomato growers. The present study  was undertaken by ICAR-CAZRI, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Pali-Marwar (Rajasthan)  to address the yield gap through Front Line Demonstrations (FLDs) on tomato crop  during three different years (2019-20, 2022-23 and 2023-24) at three selected villages  (total 45 demonstrations) of the Pali district. Prevailing farmer’s practices were  treated as control for comparison with recommended practices. In the three years  data it was observed that improved practices helped in managed the incidence of  pest and diseases, increased productivity and quality of the produced. Due to this an  average yield of 429.17 q/ha was obtained in demonstrated plot over control (364.23  q/ha) with an additional yield of 64.94 q/ha and the increasing the average tomato  productivity by 17.75 per cent. The average extension gap and technology gap ware  64.94 q/ha and 320.83 q/ha, respectively, with the average technology index of 42.77  per cent during the demonstration years. Besides this, the demonstrated plots gave  higher gross return (Rs. 5,31,871), net return (Rs. 3,60,704) with higher benefit cost  ratio (3.08) when compared to farmer’s practice. The performance of demonstrated  package of practices even though after FLD programme, which shows positive impact  of FLD on adoption of demonstrated production technology.