Farmer's Knowledge and Adoption of Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus Undatus) Cultivation : A Case Study in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Though the dragon fruit cultivation is popular among both small scale and large scale fruit growers, in Sri Lanka little attention has been paid to the research and development of Dragon fruit cultivation. Therefore, this research attempted to find out the situation about cultivation with the specific objectives such as, to assess the knowledge and adoption to the practices of dragon fruit growers and to make appropriate recommendation for the future growers. Farmers who have cultivated more than 100 plants were selected to collect the primary data. Primary data were collected from the farmers through personal interview with the help of pre-tested interview schedule. Majority of v farmers have shown poor knowledge (less than 50% of the index) on planting material selection, plant establishment, secondary fertilizer application, training and pruning of vine, propagation, pest and diseases control, and post harvesting. They showed.high knowledge on land preparation, primary fertilizer application and harvesting. There was lack of adoption for planting material selection, post harvesting, and propagation. Farmers have highly adopted to land preparation, fertilizer application and plant establishment. Farmers exhibited high adoption level for plant establishment, secondary fertilizer application, training and pruning of vine even though, the poor knowledge on these practices. Plant per unit, no of main stems per plant, hale size, removing main tip, removal of lateral branches, inorganic fertilizer application, age, education level of the farmers, knowledge level variety selection were the significant variables which influenced the high management efficiency.