Perception of the rice growers of Bhadrak district of Odisha towards hybrid rice cultivation

Hybrid rice is of great prominence in the modern farming era due to its potential to enhance productivity, resilience, and sustainability in rice cultivation with the given set of conditions, ultimately towards securing food security and financial progress of the farming community. Even though the folklore of its advantages is well announced in the scientific fraternity, it is of great importance to explore its presence amidst the mindsets of the farming communities who are the real intended beneficiaries of such innovations. In this context, a research study was conducted to evaluate and assess the levels of perception of rice farmers in Odisha. This study was conducted in the Bhadrak district of Odisha. 80 farmers were chosen as samples by multistage sampling in a purposive manner. Data collection was executed using a personal interview method, where perception was measured using the Likert scale with modifications. The majority of respondents had a favourable assessment of soil and climate under ecological conditions since they were judged to be acceptable for hybrid rice. Their perception regarding fertilizer, plant protection chemicals, and irrigation was also found to be positive. They expressed negative perceptions regarding rainfall patterns and temperature under ecological conditions, which were found to be unsuitable. The majority had expressed moderate levels of overall extent of perception. The majority of the respondents were middle to aged, coming from medium to large sized family, earning in the range of Rs. 93,247 to Rs. 2,56,442 annually, acquiring moderate to high levels of experience in farming activities, and demonstrating moderate extent nature in case of education, achievement motivation, risk orientation, extension participation, mass media exposure and market accessibility. Parameters like age, education, mass media exposure, and market accessibility demonstrated their significant association with overall perception, indicating the importance of leveraging these factors in initiatives to improve perceptions of hybrid rice.