Assessment of Farmers’ Attitudes towards Moth Bean Value Addition Practices in Bikaner District of Rajasthan, India
Anita Choudhary *
Department of Agricultural, Extension and Communication, College of Agriculture, SKRAU, Bikaner-334006, India.
R. K. Verma
Department of Agricultural, Extension and Communication, College of Agriculture, SKRAU, Bikaner-334006, India.
Sanju Meena
Department of Agricultural, Extension and Communication, College of Agriculture, SKRAU, Bikaner-334006, India.
R Amulya
Department of Agricultural, Extension and Communication, College of Agriculture, SKRAU, Bikaner-334006, India.
Yashwant Singh Rathore
Department of Agricultural, Extension and Communication, College of Agriculture, SKRAU, Bikaner-334006, India.
Antima Meghwal
Department of Agricultural, Extension and Communication, College of Agriculture, SKRAU, Bikaner-334006, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Moth bean (Vigna aconitifolia) has considerable potential for value-added food processing in the dryland farming systems of Rajasthan. This descriptive survey assessed farmers’ attitudes towards moth bean value addition in three tehsils of Bikaner district. Lunkaransar, Sri Dungargarh and Nokha were purposively selected, followed by the random selection of five villages per tehsil and 20 farmers per village (N = 300). Responses from personal interviews were summarised using statement-wise mean percentage scores (MPS) and attitude categories. Overall, 66.67% of farmers were classified as having a favourable attitude, 18.67% a less favourable attitude and 14.67% a highly favourable attitude. The highest pooled statement scores concerned the perceived usefulness of value addition (92.67 MPS), diversification into food products (92.07) and rural employment opportunities (90.07). Lower scores reflected concern about uncertainty of returns (23.20) and the cost of processing equipment (46.27). The pooled item-wise MPS was 76.50, with a numerically higher value in Sri Dungargarh (78.58) than in Lunkaransar (76.83) and Nokha (74.08). The results indicate broadly favourable perceptions alongside distinct financial and market-related reservations, providing a basis for locally targeted extension and enterprise-support initiatives.
Keywords: Agricultural extension, farmer attitudes, moth bean, post-harvest processing, value addition, Rajasthan