4342 Trends in Biosciences 11 (46), 2018 Trends in Biosciences 11(46), Print : ISSN 0974-8431, 4342-4343, 2018 SHORT COMMUNICATION Source of Information Utilized by Farmers About Rice-Maize Production Technology in Durg District of Chhattisgarh State LOKESH AHIRWAR AND M. A. KHAN Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidhayalya, Krishak Nagar, Chhattisgarh email. arunahirwar1@gmail.com ABSTRACT Source of information are supposed to directly associate with the adoption of rice-maize production technology. These information sources provided various information’s to the respondents regarding various improved technology. For assessing this variable, different 13 sources of information were identified. To determine the extent of utilization of each information source, the respondents of the farmers were recorded and presented in frequency and percentage. The present study was investigating the source of information regarding rice and maize production technology utilized by rice-maize grower families of Durg district of Chhattisgarh state. Data was collected from rice-maize grower families that were selected randomly from each selected 12 villages to make a sample size of 120 rice-maize farm families, with the help of pre-tested interview schedule. The study reveals that the maximum respondents (50.84%) were utilizing 3 to 5 information sources, followed by 40.83 per cent of the respondents were utilizing up to 3 sources and only 8.33 per cent of the respondents were utilizing more than 5 number of information sources. Keywords Source of information, Rice-Maize Production technology. Rice-maize systems are practiced mostly in the south (Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka) and in the northeast (Bihar and West Bengal) parts of India with acreage of more than 0.5 Mha Andhra Pradesh has the highest acreage under R-M system in South India where this system is rapidly increasing under resource-conserving technologies, mostly zero tillage (Jat et al. 2009). Adesope et al. (2009) mentioned that about 44.00 per cent of the farmers know about organic farming practices through friends/relatives/neighbors, 27.80 per cent of them know about the practices through extension visit, 07.80 per cent of the farmers got to know about the practices through radio, 04.40 per cent of them got the information through television, while 07.80 per cent of the farmers know about practices through the newspaper. Johnson and Vijayaragavan (2011) observed that 38.00 percent of farmers in Tamil Nadu initially knew SRI through farm magazines, newspaper, All India Radio and TV channels, followed by State Department of Agriculture (SDA) (30.00%), Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) (16.00%) and friends and neighbours (16.00%). Luni et al. (2012) reported that only 11.80 per cent of the respondents replied that they have heard about it. The source of information was cited as radio by 06.90 per cent, staffs of NGOs by 02.50 per cent and teachers at school by 01.50 per cent of the respondents. Meena et al. (2012) revealed that 46.50 per cent of the total farmers were using information sources up to medium level. MATERIALS AND METHODS The present study was undertaken in Durg district of Chhattisgarh state during 2016-17 in all three blocks namely Patan, Dhamdha and Durg. From each selected block four villages on the basis of area under rice-maize cropping system were considered for this study. The rice-maize cropping system adopted 10 farmers from each selected block were selected as respondents from all 12 villages, thus a total of 120 farmers (10 X 12 = 120) were selected for data collection. The data were collected by personal interview with the help of well prepared, structured and pretested interview schedule. Data were analyzed using frequency distribution, percentages, and correlation coefficient. RESULT AND DISCUSSION The findings regarding utilization of information sources for seeking the information about rice-maize production technology are presented in the Table 1 and Table 2. The finding reveals that in the study area, majority of the respondents (68.33%) were obtained information regarding recommended practices of rice and maize production technology from neighbour / friends / relatives followed by 64.16 per cent of the respondents obtained the information from progressive farmer, 54.16 per cent of respondents obtained the information from Rural Agriculture Extension Officers, 49.16 per cent respondents obtained the information from Govt. institutions like cooperative society. About 37 per cent respondents obtained the information from Television, 19.16 per cent of respondents obtained the information from newspaper, 15 per cent of the respondents obtained the information from other source, like internet etc. About 6 per cent of respondents obtained the information from private institutions, followed by 6.66 per cent of the respondents obtained the information from Subject Matter Specialist, 5 per cent respondents obtained the information from radio and agriculture magazines, 3.33 per cent of respondents obtained the information from Agriculture Development Officer and only 0.83 per cent respondents obtained the information from Agril. Scientists. Regarding number of information sources being