Analysis of factors affecting for adoption of good agricultural practices in potato cultivation in Badulla district, Sri Lanka

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is an economically attractive crop and farmers tend to get a higher yield by adopting extensively wrong agricultural practices which are not recommended by the Department of Agriculture. From the selection of the seed tubers up to the post-harvest practices, it spends a higher cost which result no significant profit. In here, adoption of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) by potato farmers will be a sound solution to soil erosion problem in hill country and it will help to improve the productivity of potato industry in Sri Lanka. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to find out the adoption level of GAPs and socio economic factors affecting the adoption of GAPs by the potato farmers. The study drew a sample of 100 potato farmers from four different regions in Badulla district using stratified sampling technique and the collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analysis. According to the results, only 27% of farmers had adopted well to GAPs. Further, good level of adoption of GAPs had increased the potato yield and income had reduced the average cost. The results of the multiple linear regression revealed that adoption of GAPs was significantly affected by education level of the farmer, farmer experience, tenure status of the land, awareness on GAPs, unit cost and unit income of potato cultivation.

Potato has been one of an economically attractive crop grown in hill country of Sri Lanka which Badulla district represents 72% of the total extent of cultivation in Sri Lanka. Kamalinie et al. (2008) have reported that although, a crop with high income generation capability, potato yield has been gradually declining and cost of cultivation has been increasing during last decades. From the selection of the seed tubers up to the post-harvest practices farmers follow inappropriate practices that cause both the economic losses and adverse effects to the environment. According to Zijlstra (1989), the seasonal average rate of soil loss in potato land, Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) are practices that address environmental, economic and social sustainability of on farm processes and result in safe and quality food and nonfood agricultural products (FAO, 2013). Therefore adoption of GAP by potato farmers will be a sound solution to soil erosion problem in hill country and it will help to improve the productivity of potato industry in Sri Lanka. Lutaladio et al. (2009) have reported that the GAP concept can be associated with critical production decision factors and recommendations for potato-based systems in developing countries.There are no studies that help to identify the level of adoption of GAPs Research Article shashikadili@gmail.com Following Rathnayaka et al. (2014), the level of adoption (LADOPT) was derived to get values ranging from 0 to 100% depending on number of practices adopted by each farmer. Fifteen practices (Anonymous, 2008) were considered to calculate the adoption level of farmers.

Empirical model
AGRIEAST 2015 (10) Senanayake and Rathnayaka: Adoption of good agricultural practices Empirical model was developed to determine the factors that effect on LADOPT in potato farming sector. Ten explanatory variables were identified through comprehensive literature review process.
Where, β 0 to β 7 = coefficient, ε i = error terms by potato farmers and the influence of socioeconomic factors on farmers' decision on those levels in Sri Lanka. Therefore this study aimed to find out the level of adoption of GAPs and to determine the socio-economic factors that influence the different adoption levels of GAPs by potato farmers.

Number of recommended GAPs followed by farmers
Total number of recommended GAPs (15) LADOPT = X 100

Results and Discussion
Results of the descriptive analysis The level of adoption was divided into three main categories namely Good, Moderate and Poor based on the percentage of adoption of each farmer as shown in Figure 1. The category 'Good' implies where the level of adoption was more than 73.33% and the category 'Poor' implies where the level of adoption was less than 53.33%. The category 'Moderate' implies that the level of Descriptive results showed a significant difference of average income with adoption level of GAPs. The farmers who adopted well to GAPs can generate a higher income when compared to the moderate and poor level of adoption. Similarly the farmers who adopted well to GAPs had very low average cost when compared to the moderate and poor level of adoption ( Figure 2).
of adoption (40%) while good and poor adopted farmers were in 27% and 33% respectively. As can be seen in Table 2, very few farmers were following the GAPs such as use of good seeds, performing soil tests once per 2 years, application of recommended straight fertilizer amount, sloping agriculture land technology and storing of potatoes in a ventilating place etc.

Results of the regression analysis
The results of the regression analysis (Table 03) revealed that the adoption of recommended GAPs on potato cultivation was significantly determined by the education level, experience of potato cultivation, ownership of the land, awareness of the GAPs, cost of production per season at 5% probability level and income per season of the farmers at 1% probability level. This model explains up to 82.1% of variation of adoption level of GAPs of potato farmers by all the independent variables.

Experience in potato cultivation
Farmers who have been involved in agricultural activities on their land for a long time may have better personal knowledge of the impact of soil erosion on productivity. Also with long term experience, farmers come to know the best practice.

Tenure status of the land
The farmers are more likely to adopt GAPs on their own resources by putting great efforts to get direct long term benefit. There was a strong motivation in human beings to invest more in their own resources as they could directly enjoy the net benefit of those investments.

Cost per acre
When the cost of production was high, farmers were not much interested in investing on GAPs.
The long term benefits that can be obtained through the adoption of GAPs was neglected by farmers when there was high cost of production.

Income per acre
Normally it was expected that when the farmer is getting higher income they much more likely to adopt correct practices.

Awareness on GAPs
Awareness was an important tool governing the adoption of farmer. Most of the farmers were not aware about GAPs on potato farming and as a result the cost of production increased.

Conclusion
According to the study, potato farmers in Badulla district have not paid much concern yet on GAPs. Majority of the farmers (40%) were in moderate level of adoption while good and poor adopted farmers were in 27% and 33% respectively. The result revealed that the adoption of recommended GAPs on potato cultivation was significantly determined by the education level, experience of potato cultivation, awareness of the GAPs, cost of production per season, income per season and land ownership of the farmers.
Since the adoption level to GAPs is not at a satisfactory level, it is essential to establish a strong advisory service to bring knowledge and technology to them. If government could mandate farmers to follow GAPs, this tragedy can be minimized. Incentive appreciations can be given to farmers who are well adopted to GAPs, which will make interest in late adopters and laggards mind to follow GAPs.