158 South Asian J Exp Biol; 3 (4): 158‐165; 2013 ISSN: 2230‐9799 Vol. 3, Issue 4, Page 158‐165 hƩp://www.sajeb.org REGULAR ARTICLE Impact of social factors in adopƟon of CSR BIO ‐ A cost effecƟve, eco‐ friendly bio‐growth enhancer for sustainable crop producƟon T. Damodaran 1* , R.B. Rai 2 , S.K. Jha 1 , D.K. Sharma 1 , V.K. Mishra 1 , K. Dhama 2 , A.K. Singh 2 and V. Sah 2 1 Central Soil Salinity Research InsƟtute, Regional Research StaƟon, Lucknow, UƩar Pradesh, India 2 Indian Veterinary Research InsƟtute, Izatnagar, Bareilly, UƩar Pradesh, India ARTICLE INFO ArƟcle History: Received: 14 Aug 2013 Revised: 6 Sep 2013 Accepted: 7 Sep 2013 *Corresponding Author: Telephone: +919198149968 FAX: +91‐522‐2464663 Email: damhort2002@yahoo.com Keywords: adopƟon, CSR BIO, bio‐ growth enhancer, farmer, UƩar Pradesh ABSTRACT ComparaƟve evaluaƟon and survey on adopƟon and profitability of exisƟng crop producƟon system evidences problems of higher input cost, low producƟvity, diminishing profitability and lower cost:benefit raƟo in the field condiƟons than expected. To overcome these problems, a cost effecƟve bio‐ formulaƟon CSR BIO was developed using dynamic microbial consorƟa cul‐ tured in patented dynamic nutrient media under the World Bank funded NaƟonal Agricultural InnovaƟon Project. The bio‐formulaƟon intervened in the Barabanki district of UƩar Pradesh played an unique role in increasing income and producƟvity among adopters. Most of the technologies fail due to improper diffusion process and lack of adopƟon study to assess their per‐ formance. Therefore, the current study looked into the adopƟon profile of the CSR BIO, a bio growth enhancer, and assesses the relaƟon with criƟcal factors influencing adopƟon intensity using logisƟc regression model through survey data obtained from 2010 to 2013. Results showed an overall average adopƟon percentage of 68.61 % over the study period. The adopƟon percentage increased with the year of intervenƟon which signified the suc‐ cess of the technology and got stabilized at 83.00 % in the year 2013. The major factors which have strongly influenced the adopƟon process were the level of training, land holding capacity and occupaƟon of the target users. Small land holders with agriculture as major occupaƟon who had received trainings, adopted more intensively than the others. The results of this study furthermore indicated that advancing the knowledge diffusion process of the cost effecƟve technology would be useful in developing extension strate‐ gies for novel low cost technologies. 1. IntroducƟon In developing countries, farmers with limited re‐ sources are scared of adopƟng new and advanced technologies developed elsewhere due to several myths, unawareness, lack of capital to purchase the technologies, fear of geƫng success at their fields and other limitaƟons. The knowledge of such technologies is also scanty so that they are not oŌen applicable on their farms. In some situaƟons development of new technologies leaves small farmers worse off than before and this happens when big landholders adopt new technologies while small landholders do not (Shaner et al.,