International Journal of Science, Environment ISSN 2278-3687 (O)

and Technology, Vol. 5, No 5, 2016, 3081 – 3087 2277-663X (P)

ADOPTION OF AZOLLA CULTIVATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE

FARMERS’ FIELD: AN ANALYSIS
S. Senthilkumar* and C. Manivannan
Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension Education
Veterinary College and Research Institute
Ramayanpatti, Tirunelvlei – 627 358
Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University
E-mail: usveteng@gmail.com (*Corresponding Author)

Abstract: The Azolla cultivation technology is considered as an intervention to meet their

dairy farmers’ needs. Accordingly, Azolla cultivation technology was demonstrated in fifteen
villages through training programme in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. A study was
conducted to analyse the reasons for adoption and non – adoption of Azolla cultivation by the
dairy farmers. About 40 per cent of total beneficiaries were included to study the adoption of
Azolla cultivation. Hence, 150 samples selected randomly from 375 respondents. The study
concludes that 65 per cent of them adopted cultivation of Azolla and 35 per cent not adopted
the new technology for various reasons. It also reported the reason for adoption and non-
adoption of Azolla Cultivation Technology in the farmers’ field.
Keywords: Adoption, Azolla cultivation, Farmers’’ Field, Dairy Cattle Ration.

Introduction

Shrinking grazing lands and expanding cities in India lead the dairy farmers to depend more
and more on commercial cattle feed resulting in increased costs of milk production. Based on
the above fact, a need analysis was conducted among dairy farmers of Tirunelveli District of
Tamil Nau and found that, shortage of green fodders and high cost of concentrate feed were
considered as significant factors which affecting milk production level. Hence, the Azolla
cultivation technology is considered as an intervention to meet their dairy farmers’ needs.
Azolla, an aquatic floating fern, holds promise as a nutritive supplemental feed. It is rich in
crude protein (over 20 %), essential amino acids like lysine (about 1 %) and minerals but
very low in carbohydrate and fat content. It is widely used as a bio-fertilizer in many rice-
growing regions of the world. Azolla is responsible for nitrogen fixation. Under ideal
conditions it grows exponentially, doubling its biomass in early three days. There are at least
eight species of Azolla worldwide; Azolla caroliniana, Azolla circinata, Azolla japonica,
Azolla mexicana, Azolla microphylla, Azolla nilotica, Azolla pinnata and Azolla rubra. The
common spices of Azolla in India are Azolla pinnata. It produces more than 4 to 5 times of
Received Aug 17, 2016 * Published Oct 2, 2016 * www.ijset.net
3082 S. Senthilkumar and C. Manivannan

protein of excellent quality in comparison to Lucerne and hybrid Napier. Beside this, the bio-
mass production is almost 4 to 10 times when compared with hybrid Napier and Lucerne,
respectively.
Generally, Azolla requires 25 to 50 per cent of full sunlight for its normal growth. Water is
the basic requirement for the growth and multiplication of Azolla. Maintenance of adequate
water level (at least 10 cm depth) is essential. In general, the optimum temperature is 20oC to
30o C. Temperatures above 37o C will seriously affect the multiplication of Azolla. The
optimum relative humidity is 85 to 90 per cent. The optimum pH is 5.5 to 7. Too acidic or
alkaline pH has an adverse effect on this fern. About 20 ppm of phosphorus in the water is
optimum. Micronutrient application improves the multiplication and growth (VK-NARDEP,
2010).
The prevailing micro-environment of Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu is conducive for
cultivation of Azolla and hence the project on “Popularisation of Azolla as low cost
supplemental cattle feed among the dairy farmers of Tirunelveli District” was implemented at
the Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension Education, Veterinary
College and Research Institute, Tirunelveli with an objective to study the adoption of Azolla
cultivation in the farmers’ field.
Social scientists investigating farmers’ adoption behaviour has accumulated considerable
evidence showing that demographic variables, technology characteristics, information
sources, knowledge, awareness, attitude and group influence affect adoption behaviour
(Oladele, 2005). Therefore, all agricultural development schemes and intervention
programmes in the study area should focus more on factors affecting adoption behaviour of
farmers in order to encourage adoption and sustain the use of agricultural innovations (Tsado,
2008). So, it may be realized that the improvement of adoption process regarding a particular
fruitful technology may empower the rural people through improving their livelihood and
socio-economic situation.
Material and Methods
Tirunelveli district was purposefully selected as a study area since; Veterinary College and
Research Institute, Tirunelveli is imparting various extension activities for the benefit of
farmers to uplift their socio-economic status in social strata. Fifteen respondents were
selected randomly among the members of NABARD Farmers Clubs in 15 villages of
Tirunelveli District. For a demo plot, the number of beneficiaries was 25 farmers from one
village and constitutes a sample of 375 (15 x 25) respondents. Demonstration of Azolla
 Adoption of Azolla Cultivation Technology in ..... 3083

cultivation including training on feeding management techniques were conducted to the

selected respondents. About 40 per cent of total sample size of the project was included to
study the adoption of Azolla cultivation. Accordingly, 150 samples selected randomly from
375 respondents of the project i.e. 10 respondents from each village. Data were collected by
using well constructed interview schedule. The collected data were tabulated and analysed for
assessing the reason for adoption and non-adoption of Azolla cultivation. The descriptive
statistics like frequency, percentage and range were used for the investigation.
Result and Discussion
The findings are presented as profile, reason for adoption and non-adoption,
1. Profile of the respondents
Table 1 shows the profile of the respondents and described under age, education,
occupation, family size, herd size, experience in dairy farming, milk production and income
through dairying and family income.
i. Age
About 44 per cent were middle aged whereas 33 per cent were less than 40 years and 25 per
cent were above 51 years of old.
ii. Education
Majority (62 per cent) of the respondents had higher secondary level of education followed
by secondary level at 25 per cent.
iii. Occupation
All the respondents who owned dairy cattle were selected as beneficiaries of the project.
About 85 per cent has livelihood option of dairy cattle and 15 per cent had livelihood option
of agriculture and animal husbandry.
iv. Family size
Majority of the (48 per cent%) respondents had medium sized family of 4 to 5 members and
32 per cent had large family size followed by small family size.
v. Herd Size
About 81 per cent of the respondents had 1 to 3 dairy cattle and 19 per cent had above 4 dairy
cattle.
vi. Experience in dairy farming
Majority of the respondents had 11 to 20 years of experience in dairy farming followed by 28
per cent of respondents had less than 10 per cent of experience in dairy farming.
3084 S. Senthilkumar and C. Manivannan

vii. Milk production

Majority i.e. 84 per cent of the respondents had 6 to 10 liters of milk production per day for a
cow followed by low and high category of milk production level.
viii. Dairy income per month
Majority (82 per cent) of the respondents had an income of Rs. 5001 to 10,000 per month and
16 farmers had above Rs. 10000 income through dairy farming.
ix. Family income
Majority (83 per cent) had annual income above Rs.10,000 to Rs. 50,000/- per annual and 17
respondents had less than Rs.10,000 per annum of income.
2. Category of respondents based on adoption.
The decision to apply an innovation and to continue its use is called adoption (Van den Ban
and Hawkins, 1996). The process of adoption depends upon a number of factors such as the
technology itself, the farmers, the extension agency and the infrastructural facilities (Roger
and Shoemakers, 1971).
The present study focuses on adoption of Azolla cultivation as an alternative source of dairy
cattle feed to reduce cost of milk production. The respondents were categorized into adopter
– those who were cultivating Azolla and feeding to the cattle at the time of interview; non-
adopter – those who neither cultivated Azolla nor fed to their cattle (Tamizhkumaran and
Rao, 2012). The reasons for different adoption behavior of the respondents were discussed
below;
3. Reason for adoption and non-adoption
Among 150 respondents who have attended demo cum training on Azolla cultivation selected
for the adoption study, 65 per cent of them adopted cultivation of Azolla and 35 per cent not
adopted the new technology for various reasons (Table 2). These finding were in line with the
result of Tamizhkumaran and Rao (2012) who narrated that 64 per cent of the respondents
had adopted cultivation of Azolla practices whereas 36 per cent did not adopted in coastal
area of Villupuram district of Tamilnadu. They also observed that the 64 per cent of the
adopters have discontinued the practice of cultivation of Azolla.
Reason for differential adoption behaviour of the respondents were ascertained and the same
were presented below,
i. Reason for adoption
Table 3 explained about 100 per cent adoption of Azolla cultivation due to reduction in feed
cost and 66 per cent adopted as they have developed their interest after attending demo cum
 Adoption of Azolla Cultivation Technology in ..... 3085

training programme on Azolla cultivation conducted in the study area and rest of them
adopted due to increase in milk yield of 0.40 litre of milk per day from a cow.
ii. Reason for non-adoption of Azolla cultivation
Table 4 explained that, A total of 53 beneficiaries of the project had not cultivated Azolla
even after participating in the demo cum training programme on Azolla cultivation and are
classified as non-adopter of Azolla cultivation. Out of them 68 per cent of the respondents did
not adopt due to maintenance problem of Azolla plot followed by 24 respondents afraid to
feed Azolla to cattle and 13 respondents did not adopt as the prevailing environments are not
conducive to grow Azolla.
Conclusion
A study on adoption of Azolla cultivation was conducted in Tirunelveli District of Tamil
Nadu where the Azolla was introduced as low cost technological intervention for dairy cattle
ration under NABARD sponsored project implemented at the Department of Veterinary and
Animal Husbandry, Veterinary College and Research Institute, Tirunelveli during 2015-16.
Forty per cent of the project respondents were included for the study and concludes that, 65
per cent of them adopted cultivation of Azolla and 35 per cent not adopted the new
technology for various reasons. It also reported the reason for adoption and non-adoption of
Azolla Cultivation Technology.
Acknowledgment
The authors are thankful to National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development
(NABARD) for financial assistance for the study. The facilities provided by the Vice-
Chancellor, TANUVAS, the Director of Research, TANUVAS and the Dean, Veterinary
College and Research Institute, Tirunelveli are sincerely acknowledged.
References
[1] Dinesan, 2007. Livestock based enterprises, ideal for livelihood security, The Hindu,
online edition of India’s National Newspaper, Thursday, Jul 26.
[2] Oladele OI. 2005. A Tobit analysis of propensity to discontinue adoption of Agricultural
Technology among Farmers in South Western Nigeria. Journal of Central European
Agriculture, 6 (3): 249 -254.
[3] Rogers E M and Shoemaker F. 1971. Communication of Innovations: A cross-cultural
Approach, Second Edition, New York, The Free Press, Collier MacMillan Publishing Co.
Inc.
3086 S. Senthilkumar and C. Manivannan

[4] Tamizhkumaran, J and Rao S.V.N. 2012. Why Cultivation of Azolla as cattle feed not
sustainable ? Indian Journal of Dairy Science, 65 (4): 348 – 353.
[5] Tsado J H. 2008. Factors affecting adoption behaviour of small scale farmers in Maringa
local government area of Niger state Nigeria: The case of rice farmers. Journal of
Agricultural Forest Social Science, 6: 2.
[6] Van den ban A W and Hawkins. 1996. Agriculture Extension, 2nd edition, Blackwell
Science, Australia.
[7] VK- NARDEP. 2010. Azolla Backyard Cultivation Innovation and Ecological
significance, http://vknardep.org/services/sustainable-agriculture/81-Azolla-for-the-
rescue.html accessed on 04.05.2016.

Table 1: Profile of the respondents (N = 150)

Sl. No. Variable Categories Frequency Percentage
i Age
Below 40 years 49 32.67
41 to 50 years 64 43.67
51 and above 37 24.66
ii Education
Illiterate 0
Primary School 06 04.00
Secondary 38 25.00
Higher Secondary 93 62.00
Graduate and above 13 09.00
iii Occupation
Agricultural labour 00
Agriculture + Animal 23 15.33
husbandry
Cattle rearing 127 84.67
Others (business, tailor, 00
sweeper etc.,)
iv Family size
Small (1 to 3 ) 30 20.00
Medium (4 & 5) 72 48.00
Large ( 6 and above) 48 32.00
v Herd size
Nil 0
Small ( 1 to 3) 122 81.33
Medium ( 4 & above) 28 18.67
vi Experience in cattle rearing ( in years)
Low (less than 10) 42 28.00
Medium (11 to 20) 86 57.00
High (21 & above) 22 15.00
 Adoption of Azolla Cultivation Technology in ..... 3087

vii Avg. Milk production per day (litres)

Nil 00
Low (1 to 5) 12 08.00
Medium (6 to 10) 126 84.00
High (11 & above) 12 08.00
viii Dairy income (Rs. Per month)
No income
Low (Less than 5000) 11 07.33
Medium (Rs.5001 to 10000) 123 82.00
High (Rs.10000 and above) 16 10.67
ix Family income
Low ( less than Rs.10000) 17 11.33
Medium ( Rs. 10001 to 124 82.67
50000)
High (Rs.50000 & above) 09 06.00

Table 2: Categories of respondents based on adoption (N = 150)

S. No. Categories Frequency Percentage
1 Adopters 97 65.00
2 Non - adopter 53 35.00
Total 150 100.00

Table 3: Reason for adopting Azolla cultivation (N = 97*)

S. No. Categories Frequency Percentage
1 Interest developed after attending demonstration 64 66.00
cum training programme on Azolla cultivation
2 Reduced Feed cost 97 100.00
3 Increased milk yield 58 60.00
* Multiple responses
Table 4: Reason for non-adopting cultivation (N = 53 *)
S. No. Categories Frequency Percentage
1 Azolla plot maintenance problem 36 68.00
2 No conducive environment to grow Azolla 13 25.00
3 Afraid to feed Azolla to cattle 24 45.00
* Multiple responses