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Promoting awareness and knowledge dissemination becomes a powerful tool for propelling both sustainability and profitability in navigating the complexities of contemporary agriculture. The perceived effectiveness and profitability are likely attributed to the high-value crops, particularly essential oils such as eucalyptus oil as lucrative. A sample size of 288 aromatic growers was selected from stratified random sampling in northern Punjab, Pakistan. This study delves into the prospects and challenges impacting farmers' knowledge concerning three distinct essential oil extraction (EOE) practices using ordinal regression analysis. The key findings revealed that the majority of the respondents perceived these practices as cost-effective, profit-driven, productive in terms of crop yield, and motivated towards adoption as statistically significant predictors. Conversely, limited market proximity, negative perception among peers, and scarcity of skilled workforce proved to be significant barriers triggering their perception toward adoption. The application of ordinal regression analysis knowledge provided a thorough understanding of decision-making processes among aromatic growers. This study contributes to the theoretical framework by highlighting the interconnectedness of economic factors and farmers' knowledge, providing a nuanced understanding of the drivers behind EOE practices. Hence, this study underscore the importance of this multi-faceted approach involving education, policy, and industry participation to promote a sustainable and profitable essential oil sector within the agricultural landscape of the Asiatic region. Therefore, it is recommended to enhance farmer education through targeted training programs, incentivize eco-friendly practices with supportive policies, and foster innovation through public-private partnerships to drive a profitable essential oil sector.

https://doi.org/10.52587/JAF050201

Spraying agrochemicals on crop is essential to protect them from insects, pests and weeds. Different machine like knapsack, boom and aircraft are being commonly used worldwide to spray agrochemicals for crop protection. Knapsack sprayer is a common equipment used by the farming community in Pakistan. These sprayers have less field efficiency and can lead to operator discomfort and back pain. Tractor mounted boom sprayers and aircraft sprayers may also be used but these are very expensive equipments and small farmer cannot afford them. To address this farming community challenge, a small scale walk behind sprayer was designed and manufactured at Agricultural Engineering Workshop, University of Agriculture Faisalabad in 2020. This newly developed spraying machine is light weight and easy to operate in the fields. Performance of walk behind sprayer was evaluated in the term of effective field capacity, field efficiency and wheel slippage. Spraying machine can work for five hours after one recharge of a 12V battery. Pump produced pressure of 150 PSI and discharge rate of nozzles were 0.5 liters per minute. Overall machine has proven beneficial for the small farmer as it can easily spray 5 acres/day. The research findings showed that field efficiency of machine was 77.7% and slippage factor was 13.5%. It is concluded from the study that newly developed technology performed better as compared to knapsack sprayer therefore this machine is recommended to the farmers.

https://doi.org/10.52587/JAF050202