The study, carried out in the Upper Brahmaputra Valley Zone (UBVZ) of Assam, was designed to assess the extent of adoption of improved cultivation practices of Bhut jolokia, its relationship with farmers’ socio-economic characteristics and problems faced by farmers during adoption. The adoption level of improved practices by the farmers was 51.00% in high level category, followed by 49.00% in medium level. Proportion of adopters were found to be the highest in the district of Dibrugarh (60.00%) closely followed by Golaghat (55.00%) and Sivasagar (50.00%). More than 80% farmers adopted the improved cultural practices like planting at recommend time (98%), proper drainage facilities (88%), pesticide application (87%) as suggested. More than 60% farmers adopted the application methods of fertilizer and applied at proper time. Socio-economic characteristics, viz., size of operational land holding (r = 0.21), annual family income (r = 0.30), training exposure (r = 0.52) and information source utilization (r = 0.34) had positive and significant association with the extent of adoption; while age having negative correlation with the extent of adoption. Intervention of middlemen in marketing of harvest, pest and disease problems and lack of market information are the major problems faced by the farmers of Bhut jolokia growers.

Keyword: Bhut jolokia; Adoption; Problems; Assam valley; Land holding; Improved practice;