Extent of Awareness Regarding Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) Practices among Paddy Growers in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, India

The purpose of the present study was to ascertain the relationship between characteristics of paddy growers and awareness of indigenous technological knowledge (ITKs) in the Bastar area of Chhattisgarh State. Twelve villages were chosen as the study area from two blocks (Tokapal and Lohandiguda) in the Bastar district. From each selected village, ten paddy growers were selected by a simple random sampling procedure, thus the sample size for the study was 120. The data were collected through well structured and pre-tested interview schedule. The study confirms that nearly half (46.66%) of the paddy growers had high level of awareness about indigenous technical knowledge. Regarding association, education, size of landholding, annual income, social participation, innovativeness, information-seeking behavior and mass media exposure were significantly associated with awareness of indigenous technological knowledge at 0.05 level of probability, whereas socio-economic status, extension participation and attitude towards ITK’s were significantly associated at 0.01 level of probability with awareness of ITKs.