Contents & Foreword, Characterizing And ... - IRRI books

that create negative impressions about the MVs among the farmers as the injudiciousselection of varieties often results in large failures. This also compels the farmers tocontinue cultivating low-yielding but to some extent reliable TVs.Yield gap between modern and traditional rice varietiesTable 8 shows the average yield gaps between modern and traditional rice varieties inSamastipur and Patna districts. The average yield of MVs on the sample farms ofSamastipur was 2.6 t ha –1 , whereas the average estimated yield of the TVs was 2.2 tha –1 . Although the average yield of MVs in Patna was higher (2.7 t ha –1 ) than that ofSamastipur, the yield of TVs was comparatively lower in Patna (2.1 t ha –1 ).Constraints to the adoption of modern varietiesand their component technologiesThe rice area under HYVs and fertilizer use in Bihar have registered a significantincrease in recent years. This progress, however, has not yet reached the expectedlevel and the poor adoption of modern rice varieties under the rainfed lowland ecosystemin the Bihar plains is cited as one of the main reasons for the lower productivityof rice in Bihar. Farmers have several constraints to the adoption of MVs and theirassociated technologies.Table 9 presents different constraints that affect the adoption of modern ricevarieties and that many farmers in the study area often face. The nonavailability ofMVs or unavailability in time has emerged as the most important constraint to theiradoption in the rainfed lowland ecosystem of Bihar. This reaffirms the poor conditionof the state’s input delivery mechanism. Cereal farms in developing countries such asIndia often have three major sources of seed: seed purchased from a formal seedindustry, seed obtained from other farmers, and seed retained from the previous year’sgrain crop (Tetlay et al 1991). More than 85% of the seed consumed in India wasproduced by the farmers themselves (Banerjee 1984). The next important source wasfellow farmers. The share of the organized seed sector was meager on account of thehigh price of certified seeds and nonavailability at proper places in time (Sidhu 1999).The gap between the seed requirement and seed actually distributed in India for paddywas about 52% in 1992-93 (Sidhu 1999). This figure was expected to be higher inBihar. The large gap between the requirement of certified/quality seeds and their dis-Table 8. Yield gap between modern and traditionalrice varieties in the rainfed lowland ecosystemin Bihar (kg ha –1 ). Yield figures are interms of unhusked paddy.Av yield of Av yield ofSample modern traditional Yield gapdistrict varieties varietiesSamastipur 2,575 2,212 363 (14.1)Patna 2,690 2,056 634 (23.6)Constraints to the adoption of modern varieties of rice . . . 315