India is an agriculture based country. Imbalance between demand and supply of agricultural production is a major concern to feed the ever-increasing population of our country. To enhance agricultural production, there are several ways. Out of various ways, plant protection occupies prime position. Insect-pests and diseases cause enormous damage to agricultural crops, forests as well as stored agricultural commodities. Almost every economically important plant is attacked by a variety of insect-pests and diseases. Therefore, the study was concentrated on the objective- to portray the pesticides use pattern in okra cultivation in controlling insect-pests and diseases. The study was conducted in North 24 Paraganas district of West Bengal. For the selection of area and respondents, multi-stage random sampling technique and universe method were followed. The study reveals that (1) at the most 73 percent of respondents had primary level of education (2) at the most 50 percent of respondents had 1.1 to 3.0 bigha of own cultivable land(3) at the most 47 percent of respondents had upto 1 bigha (20 katha=1 bigha, 3 bihga= 1 acre, 2.5 acre=1 ha=7.5 bigha=150 katha) of land for vegetable cultivation (4) at the most 37 percent of respondents had 6-10 years of experience in vegetable cultivation (5) at the most 43 percent of respondents had 11-20 years of experience in pesticides application (6)Majority of respondents (80%) cultivated okra crop in kharif season (7)At the most 43 percent of the respondents applied pesticides on 1-3 days interval (8) all the respondents (100%) adopted spraying method for application of pesticides (9) all the respondents’ (100%) main personal source of information on pesticides’ use was agricultural input retailers (10) At the most 46 percent of respondents main impersonal source of information on pesticides’ use was radio (11) Nearly three-fourth percent of respondents (74%) used 40-60 litres of water per bigha for spraying chemicals at seedling stage (12) at the most 66 percent of respondents used 100-120 litres of water per bigha for spraying chemicals at mature stage of the crop (13) Majority of respondents (72%) had knowledge about red sign on pesticides’ containers.(14) at the most 21 percent of respondents used thimet for soil treatment (15) at the most 27 percent of respondents used Dithane M-45 for seed treatment (16) according to the report of okra growers (100%), shoot and fruit borer was the most harmful insect-pest of okra crop (17) majority of respondents (69%) reported, yellow vein mosaic disease was the most harmful disease of okra crop(18) to control the insect-pests and diseases, respondents used various pesticides with their various brands and in various doses (19) generally, farmers used more amount of chemicals than the recommended amount (dose) for controlling insect-pests and diseases(20) the study also indicated that nowadays the mixed agro-chemicals are coming in market for controlling insect-pests and diseases (21) all the respondents (100%) reported that insect-pests and diseases mainly infested the crop at mature stage. Therefore, the various public extension agencies, pesticide companies and non-government organizations should re-orient their extension programmes on the basis of the findings of the present investigation.
Impact Factor
2017: 6.614
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