Mulching Practices and Awareness of Farmers for Biodegradable Mulches made from Textile Waste from Mansa and Moga

Abstract

The present investigation was undertaken to study mulching practices and awareness of farmers for textile mulches in Mansa and Moga, which are two high vegetable growing districts from the south western zone of Punjab. Fifteen farmers from each district were selected randomly and an interview schedule was used for collecting data. The results indicated that majority farmers in both districts were in the age group of 25-35 years and were educated at graduate level. Most of the farmers at both places worked on their own land as large and medium farmers. Moga farmers almost grew all different vegetables using both paddy straw and plastic mulches as compared to Mansa farmers who were mostly using paddy straw mulch. Majority farmers (80%) claimed that they always used mulch in cultivation at Moga in contrast to 66.6 percent farmers at Mansa. Maximum farmers at Mansa opined that mulch usage resulted in increase in crop yield by 10 to 20 percent but in Moga farmers estimated that mulch improved the crop yield by 50-60 percent. Motivation for usage of mulch was credited by the farmers to colleagues and Agricultural Technicians from PAU or KVKs. Farmers at both places did not receive any subsidy by the government on mulch usage. At Moga, 86.6 percent farmers hired labour for placing the mulch in field during cultivation which was higher as compared to Mansa farmers. Data on the awareness of the farmers under study for different biodegradable textile mulches indicate that very few farmers (between 30-35%) had the requisite knowledge but most of them were willing to buy and use such mulches. Hence, there is a need to popularize such mulches as these can be easily made on a commercial level because of the availability of textile waste material from different industries in Punjab.