Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(12): 1206-1214 1206 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2017.612.137 Constraints Faced by the Paddy Growers in Adoption of Recommended Paddy Production Practices in Budgam District of Kashmir, India Jehangir Muzaffar Matto * , Mushtaq Ahmad Dar, Zahoor Ahmad Shah, Mohmad Afzal Beigh and Rufaida Mir Sher-e Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar, Jammu and Kashmir - 190 025, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction A major need to the developing countries is to raise the standard of living of the people in general and ruralities in specific. In India, where agriculture occupies a dominant position in the economy of country, economic growth and progress actually depends to a large extent on the improvement of agricultural technology and adoption of agricultural innovations by the farmers. Therefore, it is necessary to change the attitude of the farmers so that they may shift from traditional to modern methods of farming. For this purpose, it is essential to disseminate the useful technical know-how to the millions of farmers. There has been a significant progress in increasing crop production, productivity and acquiring fair degrees of self-reliance over the last decades. This is mainly attributable to the policies, strategies and programmes adopted by the government and also the intensive efforts made by the state agricultural universities and ICAR institutes to achieve a dynamic response of the farmers (Barath and Pandey, 2005). International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 12 (2017) pp. 1206-1214 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com The present study was conducted in Budgam district of Kashmir to assess the constraints in adoption of recommended agricultural practices in paddy cultivation which helps to provide feedback to the stakeholders of the programme for its improvement. A sample of 150 trained farmers and 50 untrained farmers from two selected blocks and were selected by purposive cum random sampling technique. The majority of farmers covered under the ATMA programme were of middle age group, having middle standard qualification, medium family size (5-8 members) and medium experience in farming (16-25 years).Thus the total numbers of 200 paddy growers were selected. Average productivity of paddy crop in Kashmir is very low and far from the national average yield. By adopting improved and recommended agricultural practices, the production and productivity can be increased. The major constraints faced by the farmers in adoption of recommended Paddy Production Practices were lack of skill in seed treatment (98.88%), lack of technical advice for seed storage (93.33%), irregular visits of Agricultural Officers (94.44%), low rate of Paddy in local market (84.44%), high cost of fertilizers (82.22%), high rate of seeds (72.73%) and inadequate and untimely supply of loans (80%). Keywords Paddy, Constraint, Production technology, Kashmir. Accepted: 10 October 2017 Available Online: 10 December 2017 Article Info