Authors:

Nawaz Shah

Abstract:

This study identifies the farmer’s awareness on Appropriate Technology (AT) in agricultural sector of Gujarat. Thereupon, it examines the contribution of AT and other inputs in agricultural sector. It considers the farm level information which were collected through personal interview of 400 farmers in 8 districts (i.e., Anand, Banaskantha, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Junagadh, Kheda, Surat, and Vadodara). Descriptive analysis was used to evaluate the practice, advantages and shortcoming, and farmer’s perception on appropriate technologies in agricultural sector. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied to examine the performance of AT and other factors in agricultural sector. Application of technology has several advantages in agricultural sector. Small farmers are unable to use technology in farming due to low economic capacity, high cost of technology, lack of physical assets, low support from Agro industries, low size of land holdings, lack of infrastructure and low price of crop production. The results based on CFA imply that total arable land, irrigated area, use of fertilizer, annual income of farmers, AT, financial support from government and skilled & technical support for farmers from technology developers have the significant contribution in agricultural sector of Gujarat. AT may bring potential entrepreneurial opportunities in agricultural sector.

Keywords:

Appropriate Technology, Agricultural Sector, Entrepreneurial Practices,          Gujarat; Confirmatory Factor Analysis.

Vol & Issue:

VOL.14, ISSUE No.Special Issue 1, january 2022