Changing trends in weed control and adoption of spraying technology in the Kumaon division of Uttarakhand

The present study was carried outin 2020-21 to assess the weed management practices and variation in spraying technology adaption pattern in tarai and hilly region of Kumaon division of Uttarakhand. The respondents were selected through random sampling and data was collected through a structured interview schedule. Total 400 farmers were interviewed, 200 farmers from each region. The weed management practices in tarai and hilly region were dominated by chemical spraying as (52.5%,& 48%), mechanical weeding as (43%& 39%) and others practices as (4.5%, & 13%) respectively.The chemical spraying-based technology adoption pattern were observed dependent on land holding category of farmers. In tarai region, farmers of land holdings category under marginal-small(<2ha) prefer manual spraying (87.10%), semi-medium (2ha-4ha) and medium to large(>4ha) majorly prefer power spraying as 79.17 per cent, and 94.74 per cent respectively. While in hilly region of land holdings under marginal-small(<2ha) and semi-medium(2-4ha) majorly prefer manual spraying as 92 per cent and 56.52 per cent respectively, only few 8 per cent and 43.48 per cent prefer power spraying respectively. The medium to large land holding category (>4ha) in hilly region were dominated by both power spraying (56.52%) and manual spraying (43.48%). There were three major factors i.e., cost, capacity& efficiency of sprayer and availability of sprayer which affected the spraying technology adoption pattern among different land holding category in both the regions. The study also revealed that only 15 per cent of farmers in a hilly region and 30 per cent of farmers in the tarai region were aware of harmful effects of herbicides on crop, environment, soil, water, and human health. Also, very few awareness of 15 per cent and 25 per cent in hilly and tarai region were observed for alternative solution to chemical weeding such as site-specific weed management (SSWM) based sprayer which had potential for precise application of chemicals resulting in protection of crop, environment, human health and other natural resources.