Adoption behaviour of organic pepper farmers in Idukki district

Abstract

Black pepper is the most important spice crop of India with high export potential especially organic pepper. Idukki district is the major pepper producing district in Kerala with highest area and production of pepper. Pepper is cultivated as an organic crop by default by majority of farmers in the district. The paper discussed the adoption of organic practices by pepper farmers, which was analyzed on selected five dimensions of soil fertility management, organic pest management, extent of use of organic inputs, use of innovative weed management practices and extent of farm diversification. It was found that innovative weed management was the practice most widely adopted and use of organic inputs was the lowest adopted practice. The results clearly indicated that organic farmers in pepper were less inclined towards scientific organic management practices and mostly followed organic by default utilizing the rich forest soils.