Journal of Crop and Weed, 9(1):83-88 (2013) Estimation of perception on discontinuance to measure social entropy in a farm ecology: A global perspectives S. K. ACHARYA AND N. K. SHARMA Department of Agricultural Extension Bidhan Chandra Krishi Visavidyalaya Mohanpur-741252, Nadia, West Bengal Received: 05-01-2013, Revised: 25-3-2013, Accepted: 30-3-2013 ABSTRACT Social entropy is a serious problem in social system in India. Farmers are often and then imposed with the technology and it is creating resentment among them after adopting for some periods because of non suitability to their sustainable livelihood situation. Discontinuance of conventional practices is not new now a day. Often and then farmers are discontinuing the traditional technology to welcome new technology. When farmers’ desires are unmet, when they are fatigued with the old practices, it creates a kind of social entropy in a social system. Social entropy is a kind of disorder or chaos in social system which is visible by the negative cognitive behaviour of the farmers. Ex post facto design of research method was conducted in two villages namely Ghoragacha in West Bengal and Chiroura in Bihar. Marketing orientation (x26), Adoption leadership (x17), Family Education status(x3), Utilization of cosmopolite source of information(x28) and Economic motivation (x22) have been found to cause the discontinuance of the conventional farming practices. Coefficient of correlation, Stepwise regression analysis, path analysis was used for the analysis of data collected from 150 farmers and ultimately to understand the dictum of social entropy which are transforming our social ecology. Social entropy to social ecology, can address the social responsibility at the same time by sustaining the livelihood of the millions of famers in our country. Keywords: Chaos, disorder, farm modernization, farm technology, motivation Discontinuance is an aberrant social phenomenon of farmers. According to Rogers (2003) discontinuance is defined as a decision to reject and innovation after having previously adopted it. The present study estimate the perception on discontinuance about the prescribed technology with respect to why and in what situation farmers show negative cognitive behavior as discontinuance. Discontinuance generates entropy in the information flow and information socialization process in any social ecology. A social ecology is basically a structural arrangement or social anatomy wherein the social process are being conducted and organized. Any social function vis-a-vis social process must have to have energy equivalence may be in the form of motivation, emotion or psychological drive. Here, discontinuance as a ‘contra social process’ has been conceived to have added some jerk of energy release or energy imbalances in a given farming systems, here conceived as a kind of social entropy in an agrarian system. Rural social movements have in recent years adopted agro-ecology and diversified farming systems as part of their discourse and practices. Entropy has the potential to be one of the most important generic concepts available for linking theory and research on all life support systems. All life support systems, in order to be sustainable, must possess sufficient levels of energy and information. However, merely having available energy and information is not enough for sustainable life support. This energy must be used effectively to do work; with the end result that the entropy is not permitted to rise to uncomfortable levels according to Bailey (1994). Social entropy is a serious problem in social system in India also. Farmers are often and then imposed with the technology and it is creating resentment among them after adopting for some periods because of non suitability to their sustainable livelihood situation. The history of Agricultural Extension Education in India has predominantly being with a production bias, as if every Indian farmer is all set to adopt institutional prescription without question. Non adoption was treated as a failure on the part of farmer per se, the discipline suffers conspicuously a realistic research as to why and how the farmers discontinue or reject the prescribed technology. Discontinuance as process, if analyzed critically, can provide an alternative outlook for generating ‘appropriate technology’ rather than modern technology. Appropriate technology is “technology appropriate to a country’s factors of production in that it maximizes the use of factors which are locally plentiful and minimizes the use of those which are locally scarce.” (Bonanno, 1989) Globalization calls for the necessity of finding the way to social ecology. Economic life, cultural life and rights life are the basic social quality. Social ecology refers to the interacting relations between human beings and their institutions at global or local level in their multiple forms such as government institutions, school, NGOs etc. 20 per cent of world population is living with less than Email: acharya09sankar@gmail.com