PR - A Comparison Between High Yielding And Low Yielding Farmers With Reference To Summer Paddy Cultivation In West Bengal, India: A Case Study (p54-59)

This paper attempts to focus and identify the distinct characteristics between high-yielding & lowyielding farmers growing summer paddy. The study is based on empirical evidence referring to an agriculturally advanced region in West Bengal, India. The study addresses the objectives using Linear Discriminant Analysis. Our study found that high-yielding farmers are best practitioners as well as relatively high adopters of technology and they realize greater average yields. This class of farmers is ahead of low-yielding groups in managerial practices in terms of land preparation, soil-health care & intercultural operations. The significant factors discriminating between the groups have been identified. This study concludes that technology adoption does not depend on the holding size and income level of the growers rather than on know-how practices and skills of the farmers. At the end the authors made suggestions to change the status of low-yielding farmers incorporating interventions.

Keywords: High yielding farmers, low-yielding farmers, Linear Discriminant Analysis, Farm managerial practices, Adoption index.