KNOWLEDGE AND ADOPTION BEHAVIOUR OF FARMERS TOWARDS IMPROVED TOMATO PRODUCTION PRACTICES IN SONBHADRA DISTRICT OF UTTAR PRADESH

India being a sub-tropical country, ideal for fruit and vegetable production and stands as second largest producer of vegetable. Tomato is the most cultivating vegetable crop in Uttar Pradesh but to ensure food security and to impart the new technology to farmers, the knowledge, attitude and adoption level of farmers should be studied. Thus, the present study was formulated in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh. Four villages were selected from Ghorwal taluk, 30 respondents from 4 villages constitutes the respondents. Primary data collected from the respondents were analysed with appropriate statistical tools. It can be inferred that majority of the respondents were middle aged, illiterate, had agriculture as their main occupation, possess below 1 hectare of land holding, had 3-10 years of experience in tomato cultivation and farming with medium level of mass media exposure, risk taking ability and progressiveness; earns medium level of annual income. Meanwhile, most of them had medium level of knowledge, attitude and adoption. Whereas, socio-economic characteristics like age, education, mass media exposure, annual income, farming experience and progressiveness had positive and significant association with the knowledge and attitude level of respondents.