Farmers’ adoption towards tradition practices for wheat grain storage in Haryana

Food security is challenged by many issues i.e. poverty, illiteracy, lack of technology innovation and damage by insect-pests. Survey was carried out in Sirsa, Hisar and Bhiwani which are major wheat- growing districts of Haryana, India. A total of 300 farmers from 30 randomly selected villages were interviewed with the help of well-structured questionnaire. It was evident from the data that high percentage of farmers was aware of wheat stored grain insect-pests and was able to identify the insect pests of stored wheat grains. It was reported that metal bins were the most preferred structure for wheat storage followed by gunny bags, though the lack of scientific storage was the major problem during storage. It was evident that the adoption of ancient management practices was common among the farmers along with chemical treatments. The study revealed that most preferred management practice among the farmers to control the insect-pest was sanitation and drying the grains. The study also concluded that farmers faced many problems during storage but loss due to rats and insect-pests were the major constraints during storage.