International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development

author(s)
Tummala Naga Satya Sai Srivani, NB Jadav, VD Tarpara, BH Tavethiya, JV Chovatia and MS Shitap

abstract
Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important oilseed crop in India, particularly in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, where newly released high-yielding and disease-resistant varieties have been introduced to address productivity and sustainability challenges. The present study employed an ex-post facto design and multistage random sampling to select 180 farmers from Junagadh, Rajkot, and Jamnagar districts, with data collected in 2024–25 through a structured interview schedule. Results revealed that most farmers were young to middle-aged, moderately educated, and engaged in diversified occupations with medium levels of income, landholding, social participation, mass media exposure, extension contact, risk orientation, and economic motivation. A majority (68.33%) exhibited a medium level of adoption of newly released varieties, while 16.11 percent showed low adoption and 15.56 percent high adoption. Relational analysis indicated that age (-0.185*) and farming experience (-0.153*) were negatively and significantly associated with adoption, while total income (0.197**), landholding size (0.167*), social participation (0.172*), mass media exposure (0.253**), extension contact (0.178*), risk orientation (0.439**), and economic motivation (0.325**) showed positive and significant relationships. The study concludes that farmers in Saurashtra are moderately receptive to new groundnut varieties but face constraints such as cautious risk orientation, limited extension support, and resource barriers; thus, strengthening extension services, ensuring quality seed supply, enhancing ICT-based dissemination, and promoting farmer-to-farmer learning are essential to accelerate adoption and improve the productivity and sustainability of groundnut cultivation in the region.