Central Agricultural University, College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Umiam
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ThesisItem Open Access A study on entrepreneurial behaviour of the members of women self help groups in West Garo hills district of Meghalaya(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Central Agricultural University , Imphal, 2018) Sangma, Chekame A.; Chauhan, J. K.The first Prime minister of Independent India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru has rightly said, “You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women.” It is a well known fact that the growth of women in turn develops her family, village and the nation in general since women constitute 48.46% of total population in India as per census data 2011. Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are proving to be a helpful instrument for the women empowerment through entrepreneurship development and income generating activities. Keeping this in view, the focus of the study has been put on the SHGs comprising of only women members with the following three objectives:(1) To study the socio-economic profile of members of Women SHGs, (2) To study the entrepreneurial behaviour of members of Women SHGs, and (3) To find out the problems faced by members of Women SHGs and suggest measures for the better management of Self-Help Groups. Descriptive research design was adopted in the study, with eight independent variables, viz., “Age”, “Education”, “Family Size”, “Monthly Family Income”, “Size of Land Holding”, “Social Participation”, “Mass Media Exposure” and “Level of Aspiration”, and one dependent variable, i.e. “Entrepreneurial behaviour”. West Garo Hills District of Meghalaya was purposively selected owing to the highest number of SHGs in the state. Two blocks, viz., Selsella and Rongram, of the selected district were also purposively selected. Women Self-Help Groups were selected proportionally to the total number of SHGs in each of the block by employing random sampling technique. Five WSHGs were selected from Selsella block and three WSHGs from Rongram block. The study highlighted that more number of WSHG members (45.00%) belonged to age group of 35 – 50 years. Highest number of the respondents (41.25%) was educated upto 10th standard. More than half of the respondents (75.00%) had family size ranging from 5 to 9. Most of the respondents (58.75%) belonged to medium monthly income category, and 90.00 per cent of respondents had land holding of less than 1 ha. Majority (70.00%) of the respondents had medium level of social participation. More than two-third of the respondents (68.75%) had medium mass media exposure. More than half of the respondents (56.25%) had medium level of aspiration. 66.25 per cent of respondents had medium level of entrepreneurial behavour. The variables “Education”, “Social participation”, “Mass media exposure” and “Level of aspiration” were found to be significantly and positively correlated with entrepreneurial behaviour. The most serious problem faced by the respondents was found to be “Non-availability of many inputs”, followed by “Tight repayment schedule”, “Borrowers do not repay on time”, “Inadequate loan”, “Lack of electricity”, and “Longdistance of the market”. For better management of SHGs, the study suggests that there should be rotational allotment of leadership, training programmes must be provided to increase self-confidence of the group members, rural development agencies, NGOs and self help promoting institutions must organize exhibitions of agricultural innovations in the local area, organize group discussions, meetings, study tours and field trips to expose the rural women-folk to the outer advanced practices, thereby increase their entrepreneurial behaviour.ThesisItem Open Access A study on entrepreneurial behaviour of tribal farmers in adoption of improved pig farming practices in Dhalai district of Tripura(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Central Agricultural University , Imphal, 2018-08) Debnath, Biswajit; Singha, A. K.Entrepreneurship has now been recognized as a concept not only vital for industries but also in the development of agriculture. Development of entrepreneurship is directly related to the socio-economic development of the society. Pig farming has been recognized as one of the profitable ventures among the rural masses in Tripura, particularly among tribal farmers. It plays a significant role in ensuring livelihood security to the millions of tribal small & marginal farmers, landless labourers and rural folk. This is one of the most profitable entrepreneurial avenues among different livestock farming and gaining momentum under rural backyard condition. Piggery is an important activity that provides opportunity as an income generating activity for small scale farmers, especially in developing countries like India. With the increase demand for meat, fast-growing species like pigs with efficient feed conversion rates likely to solve the meat requirement. The present study was conducted on entrepreneurial behaviour of tribal farmers in adoption of improved pig farming practices in Dhalai district of Tripura during 2017-18. Based on the objectives of the study, Ex-post facto research design was followed. In Dhalai district, two blocks namely Ambassa and Salema were purposively selected and from each of the selected block, three villages were selected purposively based on highest population of tribals in the villages. A total 120 farmers were selected by proportionate random sampling. Data were collected by personal interview method using structured interview schedule and collected data were analyzed by using appropriate statistical tools. The socio-economic profile of the respondents revealed that more number of pig farmers belonged to middle age group. And out of total respondents more number of respondents had up to primary school education (38.30%), medium family size (73.34%), medium level of experience in farming (54.16%), medium economic motivation (50.84%), medium mass media exposure (48.34%), medium extension contact (43.34%) and medium annual income (46.67%). The entrepreneurial behaviour of the respondents revealed that more number of respondents have medium innovativeness, medium achievement motivation, medium decision making ability, low planning ability, medium risk orientation, medium level of co-ordinating ability, medium cosmopoliteness, medium self confidence, medium level of information seeking behaviour. The pig farmers faced multiple constraints in pig farming. The major constraints were high cost of concentrate feed, non-availability of vaccines / medicines / timely health care in the area of study, mortality due to frequent disease outbreak, lack of scientific knowledge and skills in modern piggery / livestock practices, limited awareness and lack of government supports, traditional system of rearing of pigs among the tribal farmers, less availability of good quality piglets, lack of credit facilities to support entrepreneurial venture in piggery, lack of transportation and communication facilities as well as processing units in the district and poor economic condition of tribal farmers to incur initial investment for scientific rearing of pigs.ThesisItem Open Access Adoption behaviour of rice growers on improved rice technology through Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) in Khowai district of Tripura(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Central Agricultural University , Imphal, 2018-08) Das, Debjani; Chauhan, J. K.The KVK as frontline extension system is mandated to assess and refine (if needed) the newly released technologies, demonstrate the proven ones and train farmers and extension functionaries on the same. It has been reported that, some of the KVKs have been effectively contributing to the technology development and promotion process while many are plagued with several problems. Hence, the present study was undertaken to analyze the adoption behaviour of rice growers on improved rice technology through Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) in Khowai district of Tripura.The objectives of the study were: i) To find out the level of knowledge on improved rice cultivation technologies of farmers. ii) To find out the extent of adoption of improved rice technologies among farmers. iii) To study the problems faced by the farmers in the adoption of improved rice cultivation technologies. It was conducted in four purposively selected villages under KVK, Divyodaya, Chebri Khowai district of Tripura with 120 sample size from the adopted villages selected through simple random sampling with equal allocation. Data collection from the selected respondents was made with the help of structured schedule through personal interview method. Out of 120 respondents, majority were of middle aged (50.83%) with medium education level (45.84%), medium family size (67.50%), and with nuclear family type (61.67%) in case of their personal characteristics. While majority respondents were marginal farmers (68.34%), belonged to medium category of annual income (88.34%), medium farming experience (60.00%) and with medium level of training received (62.50%).The study also revealed that majority of the respondents in KVK adopted villages had medium level of knowledge on improved rice farming practices (54.16%), level of adoption (55.00%), level of productivity (68.34%), annual net income (81.67%), self confidence (58.33%) and materials possession (60.00%). Among the independent variables under study age, education, farming experience, annual income, training received, land holding, were found to be significantly associated with the knowledge and adoption level of improved practices of rice technologies. Inadequate availability of quality seed at proper time, lack of knowledge about scientific cropping pattern, cropping system, method of application, non-availability of improved implements and other critical inputs such as FYM/organic fertilizers, low price of product in local market, lack of storage and marketing facilities, lack of guidelines about seed treatment were the major problems faced by the respondents with respect to adoption of improved rice cultivation practices in the study area. Hence more number of trainings should be organized by KVKs so that it can benefited to more number of rice growers. Different training programmes followed by field demonstration should be organised and imparted so that farmers develop confidence in them to take up improved methods to increase their productivity and improve their socio-economic condition. Strong extension network for effective transfer of latest technologies, Improvement of credit and market facilities and crop insurance are required to solve the problems related to rice cultivation.ThesisItem Open Access Agro-advisory effectiveness of m4agriNEI on climate sensitive sustainable agriculture: an evaluative study(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Central Agricultural University , Imphal, 2018-07) Hussain, Irshad; Rajkumar Josmee SinghThe complex, diverse and risk prone agriculture of North East India is exposed to challenges caused by climate change. Extreme weather events or inter annual variations in rainfall and temperature results in reduced yields or even the destruction of crops, affecting farmers’ incomes and livelihoods. Mobile-enabled information services have the potential to play an important role in improving the adoption of modern technologies, inputs, and best practices. The collaborative research project - m4agriNEI between CPGS and Digital India Corporation is an innovative mix of mobile and web applications along with Toll Free IVRS based farmer specific advisory system in which the system allows transmitting the Agro-Advisory Services (AAS).The dissertation, in order to examine the AAS effectiveness of m4agriNEI inclimate sensitive sustainable agriculture CSSA, has embodied two research objectives viz., (1) To develop the evaluative indicators of Agro-Advisory Services of m4agriNEI on climate sensitive sustainable agriculture, and (2) To ascertain the effectiveness of Agro-Advisory Services to registered farmers ofm4agriNEI on climate sensitive sustainable agriculture. The Study followed diagnostic research design. Based on agricultural importance two project districts namely the Ri-Bhoi and East Khasi Hills districts were selected purposively. Consequently, two agriculturally important project blocks, one from each district, were selected purposively, further from each selected block three agriculturally important villages having highest registered farmers were selected purposively. Keeping power = 0.95, α = 0.05, effect size of 0.3, a total of 134 respondents were finally selected for the study by following proportionate random sampling without replacement. By performing content analysis from the universe of 104 kinds of SMSs which had been pushed to registered farmers, ten (10) evaluative indicators have been identified. Administering the agro-advisory effectiveness index of m4agriNEI, which has been developed for the study, it was found that high percentage –nearly (44.10%) of respondents claimed that the AAS of m4agriNEI was highly effective pertaining to CSSA. The study also examined the socio-economic, knowledge and adoption profiles of the respondents w.r.t. CSSA. It was noted that more than (55.20%) of respondents were in middle age; majority of respondents with the percentage of about (80.60%) and (68.70%) belonged to marginal farmers and had medium level of annual income, respectively. Higher percentage, about (38.80%) of respondents had education up to high school. Pertaining to the ‘Knowledge on Mitigation and Adaptation of CSSA practices’ and ‘Adoption of CSSA practices’, it was revealed that the respondents belonged to medium category with percentage of about (75.30%)and (56.70%) respectively. On testing the independence, by using chi-square, between ‘Effectiveness of AAS of m4agriNEI on CSSA’ and ten evaluative indicators, it was divulged that all the nine indicators expecting ‘Frequency of calls made by respondents’ were found to be significant at 1% level of significance. The study conclude that AAS of m4agriNEI is an effective tool for disseminating information on CSSA, however the effectiveness can be further enhanced if there were provision for customized decision support systems.ThesisItem Open Access Analysis of innovation system of horticulture in Meghalaya(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU Imphal, 2019) Sangma, Sengmitchi D .; Chauhan, J. K.Meghalaya offers a great scope for growing horticultural crops owing to its varied agro climatic zones and land topography. The state also has a very high potential for commercial floriculture. Today, the state has established 13 horticulture hubs across the different districts of the state which functions on a hub and spoke model within an area of 10-15 km radius forming horticulture clusters of individual farmers, self- help groups and cooperatives. The adoption of hub and spoke business model has successfully brought the government, the service providers and the farmers together towards creating an innovative approach for horticulture development in the state. With these insights the present study was carried out using the innovation system approach as the analytical framework to trace the actors and networks responsible for innovation, technology generation and dissemination. Accordingly the following objectives were framed for the study: 1.To analyze the elements of innovation system in the horticulture hubs. 2. To identify the position of stakeholders of the innovation system in the horticulture hubs. 3. To study the information flow among the stakeholders of thehorticulture hubs. A descriptive research design was followed. Rongram and Upper Shillong Horti-hubs were selected purposively for the study based on their performance. 20 beneficiary farmers each from the two Horti-hubs were selected based on the criteria that they have been the beneficiary of the hub for at least three years. A total of 13 stakeholders were identified from the two Horti-hubs after discussion with the state department officials. Out of which respondents from 9 stakeholder organizations were interviewed. Power interest matrix was used for studying the position of stakeholders. Actor Linkage Matrix was employed to study the linkage among the stakeholders and social network analysis was done using UCINET 6 software. Four types of stakeholder categories were identified viz., government, private, farmers and media. Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW, GoI), Directorate of Horticulture (DoH, GoM) and the two Horti-hubs were perceived to be the key players in the innovation system of horticulture in both the districts. Actor linkage matrix revealed Directorate of Horticulture and the horticulture hubs as the stakeholder with maximum linkages in both the districts. The social network measures showed that the per cent absent ties in the sociogram of West Garo Hills and East Khasi Hills districts were 65.45 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively indicating that majority of actors in the network had no link with other actors in the network. Overall the establishment of horticulture hubs has been a great success for horticulture development in the state. The existing policies and support structures in the state has played an important role in horticulture innovation system. The role of Directorate of Horticulture (GoM) has been central to the network influencing other stakeholders of the hub in giving out their resources and maintaining an innovative environment for horticulture development in the state. However, it is recommended that the implementing agency should make an effort to increase the frequency of contact among the stakeholders to strengthened their information flow network and making the farmers’ relationship with the service providers more interactive.ThesisItem Open Access Ascertaining m4agriNEI farmers' innovations on climate-smart agriculture : a case study(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Central Agricultural University , Imphal, 2018-08) Salam Prabin Singh; Rajkumar Josmee SinghClimate change has adversely impacted agriculture in way of variabilities in rainfall, temperature, dry & cold spells, sunshine hours, emergence of new pathogens and diseases to crops & animals. With this sensitiveness and vulgarised problems of the climate change, innovation to its adaption in terms of farmers’ innovations towards Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices become inevitable for the subsistence of small and marginal farmers. CSA is an agricultural approach that sustainably increases productivity, adaptation and reduces greenhouse gases. The collaborative research project - m4agriNEI between CPGS and Digital India Corporation (formerly Media Lab Asia) which is an innovative mix of mobile with Toll Free IVRS based farmer specific advisory system in which the system allows transmitting need based Agro-Advisory Services (AAS) through voice, text, images and videos from both end (farmer to expert and back) encompassed the domains of sustainable crop production intensification, control of pest and diseases of crops, soil and water conservation practices, conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources of agricultural crops, livestock production and management, building synergies with local institutions for enhanced crop production etc. which are climate smart in their content. The adaptability of the farmers in their local context, is also an important factors to determine how registered farmers’ acts in coping with the effects of climate change. The relevance of the study creates an originality in knowledge to design societal adaptation practices to adapt and mitigate climate change. Hence, the present study was undertaken with the following objectives :- (1) To identify the Climate-Smart Agricultural (CSA) Innovations of registered farmers of m4agriNEI; (2) To ascertain the factors of m4agriNEI in enhancing the Climate-Smart Agricultural (CSA) Innovations of registered farmers; and (3) To prioritize the constraints faced by registered farmers in innovating Climate-Smart Agricultural (CSA) practices. The study followed a Case study research design. In the research, the four project districts viz., Ri-Bhoi, East Khasi Hills, West Khasi Hills and West Jaintia Hills were selected purposively. With the criteria being a respondent who have made proactive average calls of 5 times a week and above were considered in the sampling frame and a total of 65 registered farmers were selected. Q-sort method was employed to identify climate smart agricultural innovations. Altogether, 5 Innovations have been identified and documented in the study. Multinomial Logistic Regression analysis was used to determine the factors enhancing the Climate-Smart Agricultural Adaptations by registered farmers. The study revealed, with Cox & Snell R2 and Nagelkerke R2 value of .557 and .633 respectively, determined that 55.7% and 63.3% of the variability on the factors of m4agriNEI viz., Timeliness, Relevancy, Economy and Accuracy of AAS in enhancing the CSA innovations of registered farmers. Paired comparison analysis was employed for prioritizing the problems face by the registered farmers. ‘Poor access to market’ was the most prioritized problem as reported by the respondents meanwhile ‘crop insurance’ did not exist well in the study area . The study concludes that Innovation concepts are no longer metaphors in m4agriNEI, there is necessity for continuous guidance from such AAS, so that farmers can augment their capacity to surge the productivity besides innovating their efforts in local as well as national level.ThesisItem Open Access Assessment of child poverty in rural farm households of Garo hills, Meghalaya(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Central Agricultural University , Imphal, 2018-07) Hegde, Guruprasad Nagesh; Loukham DevaraniPoverty is a multidimensional concept and affects social groups differently of which children are most vulnerable. Many studies have shown that undernourished,uneducated poor children are likely to become undernourished, uneducated poor adults.Since,the common aim of rural extension programmes is the improvement of the lives of the ruralpeople, understanding the situation of the children of the rural farm households is an importantpart of extension. The study was conducted in Garo Hills region of Meghalaya with theobjectives to study the profile of children living in the poor rural farm households and to find outthe dimensions of poverty among those children. From three villages of Tura and Ampati subdivision,60 households were randomly selected. Depending on the number of children of theselected age range of 5-14 years in a household, either one or two children from eachhousehold was selected for the study, a total 80 children selected as respondents of the study.Majority of the children (86.25 %) had their parents as the primary care giverthe number ofsiblings of the selected children ranged from 2-6. Average family size was 6.66 persons with arange of 4-9 members. 88.33 percent of the children lived in nuclear families with both parents.The literacy rate of the mothers was 83.37 per cent and that of fathers was 85.00 per cent. Themean annual household income of the sampled households was ₹. 44,850. Majority of thehouseholds (75.00%) had marginal land holding of up to 1.0 hectare. Highest deprivation ratewas recorded in the indicators safe drinking water (87.50%), cooking fuel (81.80%), housing(71.25%) and access to information (41.25%) respectively. If seen dimension wise, deprivationwas highest in living standard (90.0%) followed by health (71.25%) and nutrition (60.00%).Average deprivation score of the children was 0.34 with a range of 0.03 to 0.79. 77.50 per centof the children were multidimensionally poor of which 18.75 percent were classified to beseverely poor. It was found that parents’ education, parents’ age, family income, land holdingand livelihood diversification were found be important determinants of child deprivation. Theoverall C-MPI (Child Multidimensional Poverty Index) of the study area was 34.00 per cent.Interventions by development agencies in order to aware and educate the parents regardingpoverty alleviation and livelihood linked programmes as well as provide basic amenities for agood living condition of the rural households is recommended.ThesisItem Open Access Community participation and perceptions in rural tourism: a study in Khasi Hills of Meghalaya(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU-Imphal, Umiam, 2020-10) Priyanka, Pagadala Sai; Devarani, LoukhamDeclining income from farming and fluctuating market prices of agricultural supplies poses a question to the livelihood security of the rural residents. Rural tourism as an agri-business enterprise has potential to bridge this revenue gap and yield numerous benefits that strengthen culture, antiquity and technological outlook of communities. Community participation is essential for sustainability of any development venture. The local community’s participation is again influenced by their perception among other factors. The study was taken up in Meghalaya state which has a heavy tourist traffic and huge potential for rural tourism development with the objectives: (1) to carry out community stakeholder analysis of rural tourism, (2) to study the attitude of community members towards rural tourism and (3) to assess tourist satisfaction of the experiences offered in the site. Exploratory and descriptive research designs combined with purposive sampling procedure was followed and two existing rural tourism centres in East Khasi Hills Division viz., Mawlynnong (cleanest village of Asia) and Sohliya (Strawberry village) were chosen. Through focus group discussion, key informant technique and observation, 15 categories of community stakeholders were identified, namely homestays, hotels, resorts, restaurants, dhabas, recreation providers, free lancers, village dorbar, farmers, fruits and vegetable vendors, handicraft vendors, tourists, local residents, farmers co-operatives and forest produce collectors. Detailed interviews with the representatives of stakeholder groups revealed that village dorbar performed multiple roles and forms major decision-making body, since it is the nodal organization for governance at village level. All the stakeholders were informed about activities of village through community meetings. Structured interview schedules were developed separately for community residents and tourists. For measuring attitude of the community members, 60 residents (30 from each village), were randomly sampled. It was observed that 80.00 percent respondents in Mawlynnong and 53.34 percent in Sohliya showed favourable attitude towards rural tourism. Variables like social participation of Mawlynnong respondents and education level, size of land holding, annual income, and role in rural tourism of Sohliya respondents had positive association with their attitude towards rural tourism. To assess tourists’ satisfaction, 60 tourists (30 for each village) were interviewed. It was expressed that tourists mostly visited Mawlynnong to explore culture and ethnicity (53.33%) and Sohliya for fun and recreation (70.00%). 19 rural tourism experiences grouped under 6 categories of tourism experiences revealed, sightseeing as the major activity practised by tourists. Cleanliness (𝑥𝑥̅=4.76) in Mawlynnong and climate (𝑥𝑥̅=4.53) in Sohliya were the aspects expressed to have highest satisfaction by the tourists. Effort on mobilization of community residents to undertake homestays and dhabas has to be promoted in Sohliya. Emphasis also needs to be given on creation of exclusive tourism cooperative within villages to coordinate all the vital activities of tourism between stakeholders and ensure decentralised participation by community members.ThesisItem Open Access Dynamics of design thinking on climate smart agriculture by under-graduate students in Agriculture under Central Agricultural University, Imphal(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU-Imphal, Umiam, 2020-07) Kirwa, Elly Kipkorir; Singh, Rajkumar JosmeeThe advances in the advent on impact of climate change in agriculture has brought multi-dimensional challenges to agricultural students. The increased mobility, the world-wide web and the instant information spread place agricultural students in previously unknown contexts and situations which require an approach of Design Thinking (DT) in mending the benefits of Climate Smart Agricultural Practices (CSAPs). A scientific attempt to understand the dynamics of DT on CSAPs by under- graduate students in agriculture under Central Agricultural University, Imphal (CAU, I) has been made with following three research objectives viz.,(1) To identify CSA practices in adopted villages of Colleges of Agriculture (CoAs) under CAU, I; (2) To examine the application of Design Thinking by Under-Graduate students under CAU for improvising the identified CSAPs; and (3) To find out limitations faced by students while undergoing DT. The study followed descriptive research design and mixed- method sampling technique. Simple random sampling without replacement was undergone while selecting 13, 8 and 7 respondents (50% of total strength of the class) who were final year under-graduate students from the three CoAs under CAU, I viz., (1) CoA, Imphal, Manipur; (2) CoA, Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh; & (3) CoA, Kyrdemkulai, Meghalaya, respectively. The study identified the (1) Integrated Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Based Farming Systems; (2) Agro-Horti-Animal Husbandry IFS; and (3) Cultivation of Stress Tolerant Varieties were the most important CSAPs that had been practiced by farmers of adopted villages namely, (1) Leimaram Village, Bishnupur District, Manipur under CoA, Imphal; (2) Ayeng Village, East Siang District, Arunachal Pradesh under CoA, Pasighat; and (3) Kyrdemkulai Village, Ri-bhoi District, Meghalaya under CoA, Kyrdemkulai. Subsequently, the study revealed that maximum percentage of thirty nine percent of the students were in their age of 22 years; majority of about seventy one percent of respondents, were in 1st divisions category and had high ‘Competency on ICT Applications’. Similarly, majority of seventy five percent, about sixty one percent and about fifty seven percent of respondents had high ‘Ability to Visualize Abstract Ideas’, ‘Aptitude’, and ‘Memory Retention’ respectively. However, fifty percent of respondents had been observed to have high ‘Creative Problem Solving’ and ‘Reading Behavior’. Performance on social network analysis of students in the above three colleges revealed that, the social network for respondents of CoA, Imphal had the highest ‘Average Degree’, ‘Eigen Vector Centrality’ and ‘Modularity’ with respective values of 5.69, 6.27 and 0.149. However, the ‘Average Clustering Coefficient’ was highest in the social network for respondents of CoA, Kyrdemkulai. Further, the scientific inquiry uncovered that fifty four percent of the entire respondents had high ‘Operationalization of DT’. On explicating the binary logistic regression model of DT by Under-Graduate students of CoAs on improvising the identified CSAPs, it could be established that the model was significant at p=0.037 with AIC & BIC values of 40.86 & 54.18, respectively indicating moderate acceptable explanations of independent variables on outcome of dependent variable. With the subsequent Cox & Snell R2 and Nagelkerke R2 values of 0.471 and 0.629, revealed that the independent variables interacted and explained in the significant outcome of the dependent variable in the range of 47.10 to 62.90 percent. The study revealed that ‘Inability to transform theoretical knowhow of CSAPs into actual practice’ was the foremost limitation faced by students while undergoing DT. Based on the above scientific findings, the research strongly recommends on two notions namely, (1) concept on Integrated Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Farming Systems based CSAPs should be subject to DT for students. Further, and (2) Theoretical based teaching and learnings systems should be oriented towards practical based which have a composite systems on enhancing Competency on ICT Application, Ability to Visualize Abstract Ideas, Memory Retention, Reading Behavior and Aptitude of students.ThesisItem Embargo Entrepreneurial behaviour and situation analysis of mushroom growers in Meghalaya in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU-Imphal, Umiam, 2022-09) Maring, Th Onchoila; Devarani, LoukhamAs a remunerative agri-business, mushroom farming is growing gradually as an alternative source of income for the rural population in developing countries. Meghalaya state of North-East India, has climate highly suitable for mushroom cultivation and thus the Government of Meghalaya has taken up various interventions to popularize mushroom cultivation and mushroom based enterprises for increasing the income of the farmers. The present study was taken up in the two districts which has the highest production of mushroom in the state viz., East Khasi Hills and Ri-Bhoi with few objectives viz., 1) To study the entrepreneurial behaviour of mushroom growers, 2) To study the relation of entrepreneurial behaviour of mushroom growers with selected variables and 3) To carry out situation analysis of mushroom enterprises in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. From each of the two districts, 30 mushroom growers were sampled as respondents of the study. Primary data were collected from the respondents through well-structured interview schedule. To measure entrepreneurial behaviour (EB), the index developed by Shirur (2015) was used. Chi square test of association and ordinal logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the relationship of EB with selected variables while SWOT analysis was employed for situation analysis. It was found that majority of the respondents belonged to lower medium (28.33 %) to upper medium (21.67%) EB categories. The variables experience in mushroom cultivation, trainings attended on mushroom, extension contact and usage of internet were found significantly contributing to EB of the respondents. The strength having the highest score was “climatic condition of the state is congenial for mushroom” and weaknesses having the highest score was “restriction as well complexity in mobility of the goods and persons”. For opportunities “mushroom enterprise generates more employment opportunities” has the highest score and for threats “unavailability of spawn” had the highest score. The study suggests establishment of mushroom based co-operatives / FPOs for ease of access to inputs and market for small-scale producers, facilitation for development of local spawn entrepreneurs for accessible and timely supply of quality spawn and creation of ICT based platform for reaching out to various backward and forward actors.ThesisItem Embargo Farmers’ aspiration on inception of farming system for nutrition at Bhoirymbong, Ribhoi, Meghalaya: a Bayesian belief network—GIS Analysis(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Central Agricultural University, Imphal, 2022-12) Ishwarya, Yelasani; Singh, Rajkumar JosmeeThe conventional farming systems of Meghalaya largely aim at food security with a major focus on productivity, profitability, sustainability and stability. Nutrition security therefore has to be addressed by both availability and accessibility of nutrient-rich foods at the household level, which is central to Farming System for Nutrition (FSN). The present scientific inquiry with two research objectives, viz., (i) ‘To conduct rapid appraisal on food and nutritional security of farmers by using GIS through UAV data.’ & (ii) ‘To ascertain farmers’ aspiration on inception of Farming System for Nutrition through Bayesian Belief Network.’, has been performed in the three adopted villages of the research project— DHaBReT at Bhoirymbong C&RD block, Ri-bhoi, Meghalaya. Descriptive research design and mixed-method sampling procedure were followed in the study. Fifty four (54) respondents have been identified from three villages, namely (i) Thadnongiaw, (ii) Kdonghulu, and (iii) Liarkhla from Bhoirymbong C&RDB of Ri-bhoi district of Meghalaya. Performance of Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) using UAV data could ascertained that about 38% and 73% of arable land had aspect toward North-West (very low sunshine) and situated in a steep location, wherein administration of improved scientific agriculture was a challenge. With respect to the ‘Implementing Variables’, it could be unveiled that majority (59.30%) of respondents had small ‘Area of arable land’, also majority (63.00%) of them belonged to meagre class of ‘Income from crops and animal husbandry’. Regarding ‘Food expenditure budget share of total household expenditure’, half of the sample size expended high and its vice versa. Strikingly, all the respondents had low ‘Dietary Diversity’. Considering the ‘Intervention Variable’, it was divulged that majority (70.40%) of the respondents had medium ‘Nutritional Literacy’, also 3/4th of sample respondents had medium ‘Awareness on FSN’, and majority (59.30%) of the respondents had medium ‘Community Readiness on Change in Farming System’. For the intermediate variables — ‘Access to on Food and Nutritional Security developmental schemes of Govt.’ and ‘Access to markets’, cent percent of the respondents belonged to low category. Similar is the case for the controlling variable — ‘Intervention of research institutes (InResins)’. Very high percentage (81.60%) of the respondents had low level of ‘Farmers’ aspiration on inception of Farming System for Nutrition (AspFSN)’ which is the objective variable of the study. One episodic and two Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) scenarios have been analyzed in the discourse resulting to decrease in lower category of AspFSN from 81.60 to 66.10 and 58.00 with conditional increase on percentage change of 1.79 to 50.00 and 75.00 respectively towards. The study established that the controlling variable — InResins was the sole determining parental node in the BBN. Therefore, the study recommends that agricultural research institutions such as CPGSAS, CAU (I); ICAR NEH; State Agril. Research institutes etc. should take prime initiatives in order to incept FSN to farmers of Bhoirymbong, Ri-bhoi, Meghalaya.ThesisItem Embargo Impact assessment of Farmer FIRST programme implemented by Central Agricultural University, Imphal.(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU-Imphal, Umiam, 2022-09) Devi, Th. Sarjubala; Singha, A. K.Agriculture and allied sectors play a critical role in the economies of developing countries like India and is the primary source of food, income, employment, and livelihoods in rural areas. In India, 70 per cent of rural household still depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihoods, with 82 per cent of farmers being small and marginal accounting for 23 per cent of GDP (FAO, 2020). To ensure greater involvement of farmers in research and development, Division of Extension of ICAR launched the Farmer FIRST Programme (FFP) in 2016-17 throughout the country and is being under implementation at two centres under ICAR-ATARI, Zone-VII, Umiam for the last four years i.e. ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam and Central Agricultural University, Imphal. Keeping in forefront the stated facts, the present scientific research was conducted in two FFP adopted villages i.e. Yairipok Yambem and Yairipok Top Chingtha from Imphal East district of Manipur with the following specific objectives viz., (1) To study the demographic profile of farmer beneficiaries under Farmer FIRST Programme being implemented by Central Agricultural University, Imphal; (2) To determine the impact of Farmer FIRST Programme towards economic development of farmer beneficiaries; and (3) To study the problems faced by respondents in effective implementation of Farmer FIRST programme and their suggestive measures. Primary data was collected through interview schedule from a sample of 105 respondents from various interventions such as poultry, fishery, paddy, vegetable (pumpkin), beekeeping and gorgon nut. Secondary data was gathered from various publications from ICARATARI, CAU-Imphal and other reliable source. Before-After research approach (also called pre-post study) was adopted in assessing the impact of FFP. The collected data was analyze using Wilcoxon sign rank test, correlation analysis and Garrett ranking method. The findings of the study depicted that the implementation of Farmer FIRST Programme show a positive and significant impact in terms of the economic aspects. The percentage increase in net returns was 559.56 per cent, 227.72 per cent, 126.92 per cent, 126.14 per cent, 178.15 per cent and 123.33 per cent for poultry, fishery, paddy, vegetable (Pumpkin), beekeeping and gorgon nut respectively. A great majority of the beneficiaries had medium level of adoption and independent variables i.e. education, training received, extension contact, scientific orientation, market orientation showed positive relationship while age showed negative relationship with adoption of recommended practices of all the interventions of FFP. Various constraints such as lack of farmers to cooperate among them, delay in sanctioning the funds or inputs, some decisions are made at higher level without involving farmers and lack of cooperation with other agencies related to agricultural production with Garrett’s score of 94.54, 94.99, 90.21 and 95.19, respectively were the major constraints perceived as very serious by the farmers in implementation of FFP. Need based training programme and open discussions on a more regular basis, provision of quality and inputs, regular monitoring by the specialists from the concerned departments, more awareness programme and post training evaluation were the perceived suggestions of the farmers to reduce the major constraints faced by the farmers.ThesisItem Open Access Impact of horticulture-hubs on the farmers of Meghalaya(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Central Agricultural University, Imphal, 2019) T., Kungumaselvan; Loukham, DevaraniMeghalaya state of North Eastern India has high potential for production and productivity of horticulture crops. Owing to the advantage, the Directorate of Horticulture, Government of Meghalaya has started the Horticulture Hubs (Horti-Hubs) under the scheme of Technology Mission for Horticulture Development on a bigger scale to boost the state’s rural economy. This study was conducted with the objectives to study the extent of adoption of improved crop production and post-harvest management practices by the beneficiaries of Horticulture-Hubs and to assess the impact of Hori-Hubs on the beneficiaries. Out of the total existing 13 hubs, two best performing hubs viz., Rongram Horti-Hub of West Garo Hills and Upper Shillong Horti-Hub of East Khasi Hills were selected purposively. From each of the Horti hub, 3 villages having more concentration of beneficiaries were selected. From those 3 villages using random sampling with proportionate allocation method 30 beneficiaries and 15 non-beneficiaries were selected to make 60 beneficiaries and 30 non-beneficiaries. The crops cultivated by the beneficiaries in the selected villages were strawberry and anthurium in West Garo Hills and polyanthus and ranenculus in East Khasi Hills. It was observed the mean extent of adoption was found to be highest in the case of anthurium (68.17 %) followed by strawberry (64.85 %). However, in case of polyanthus and (47.58 %) and ranenculus (48.33 %), the extent of adoption was comparatively lower. In case of strawberry low adoption was observed in nutrient and disease management. The low extent of adoption in case of polyanthus was due to low adoption of irrigation and harvesting and post harvest practices while in case of rananculus, low adoption was observed in pest management and post harvest management. Impact was assessed in seven selected impact indicators. In case of knowledge level on recommended practices, significant increase was observed the beneficiaries over time. in Knowledge level of the beneficiaries was increased significantly compared to before due to training attended on improved package of practices, regular contact with the horticulture officers and progressive farmers. The annual household income of the beneficiaries at ` 68183.33/- was significantly increased over time by 35.84 per cent and also significantly higher than the non-beneficiaries by 54.03 per cent. There was also significant increase in the linkage with stakeholders of the beneficiaries due to increase in contact with extension officials as well as input/ service providers. In case of saving pattern observable increase in the frequency of deposit and percentage of saving of the beneficiaries over time which was due to the higher income from the adoption of the high value crops. No significant difference was found between the perceived expenditure pattern of the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries though the beneficiaries had reported increase in expenditure in meat, children’s education, shelter, societal expenses, entertainment etc. over time. In ownership of assets the beneficiaries had significantly increased their assets overtime and their assets were significantly higher than that of the non-beneficiaries. Increase in assets of beneficiaries was due to provision of assets for growing horticultural crops at subsidised rate and also due to the increase in income. Beneficiaries cropping intensity was increased significantly compared to before due to the adoption of crops popularized by the Horti-Hubs. It can be inferred that the being a beneficiary of the Horticulture-Hubs brought about certain desirable changes in the farmers However, the beneficiaries faced certain problems like High charges of inputs, less accessibility for packing materials, lack of knowledge on use of chemical inputs and poor road condition etc. Interventions for targeting the low adoption level in pest and disease management, irrigation management, harvesting and post-harvest management practices so as to improve the adoption and subsequently increase the quantity and quality of the produce is recommended. Though income as well as saving has improved more awareness on financial management need to be provided to the beneficiaries for more socio-economic impact.ThesisItem Open Access Implications of mobile phone applications in farming by tribal rural youth of Meghalaya.(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU-Imphal, Umiam, 2019-12) Oinam, Termaric; Chauhan, J. K.Right information in right time at right place to right farmer is sine-quo-non for successful farming. Mobile phones being one of the vibrant and reliable Information and Communication Technology (ICT) gadgets promise to bridge the information gap of the farming population. Mobile phones have significantly reduced communication and information costs for the rural poor in developing countries. With these backdrops, the study was conducted with the following research objectives viz., (1) To ascertain agricultural information seeking behaviour of tribal rural youth, (2) To determine the extent of mobile phone application by tribal rural youth in farming, and (3) To examine factors limiting application of mobile phones in farming and advocate suggestive measures to overcome the same. The research was carried out in six districts of Meghalaya viz., Ri-bhoi, East-Khasi Hills, West-Khasi Hills, West-Jaintia Hills, West- Garo Hills and South-West Garo Hills. A total sample size of 240 respondents were finalized and from 12 villages inter alia of 2 villages from each identified district. Two indices namely ‘Standard Information Seeking Behaviour Index’ (SISBI) and ‘Standard Mobile Phone Use Index’ (SMPUI) had been developed during the study. The study unveiled that maximum percentage (29.58%) of respondent were matriculate and nearly 2/5th of respondents had medium ‘Social Participation’. Further stances on attributes of respondents could revealed that majority of them had medium level of ‘Mass Media Exposure’–(70.83%), ‘Cosmopoliteness’–(67.08%), ‘Decision Making’– (71.67%), ‘Perceived Ease of Use’–(68.75%), ‘Perceived Usefulness’–(75.42%), ‘Mobile Phone Service Reliability’–(67.08%), and ‘Annual Income’ in range of ` 33,750 – 1,44,000/- – (78.75%). Standard Information Seeking Behaviour Index (SISBI) revealed that the most viable source used by the respondents to seek agriculture related information was through friends with 84.38 SISBI, trailed very closely by neighbours with 83.44 SISBI. Standard Mobile Phone Use Index (SMPUI) revealed that mobile phone applications are being primarily used to determine the market price of agricultural goods and commodities from time to time with 57.81 SMPUI. With the Cox & Snell R2 and the Nagelkerke R2 respective values of 0.638 and 0.745, the Multinomial Logistic Regression (MLR) in the study with respect to the dependent variable namely, ‘Information Seeking Behaviour’ could revealed that between 63.8% to 74.5% of the variability was explained by set of 7 predictor variables viz., ‘Agricultural Land Holding’, ‘Mass Media Exposure’, ‘Cosmopoliteness’, ‘Social Participation’, ‘Decision Making’, ‘Perceived Usefulness’ and ‘Education’. Similarly, with the Cox & Snell R2 and the Nagelkerke R2 respective values of 0.492 and 0.571, the MLR in the study with respect to the dependent variable namely, ‘Extent of Mobile Phone Application’ could revealed that between 49.2% to 57.1% of the variability was explained by set of 9 predictor variables viz., ‘Agricultural Land Holding’, ‘Annual Income’, ‘Decision Making’, ‘Perceived Ease of Use’, ‘Mobile Phone Service Reliability’, ‘Perceived Usefulness’, ‘Money Spent on Mobile Phone’, ‘Gender’ and ‘Education.’ On performing Paired Comparison, 60.20% of the respondents expressed the most stark constraint was ‘Incomplete Information on Farming.’ The study recommends that need and evidence based agro-advisory services alongside combination of web-based ‘Internet of Things’ on agriculture and allied enterprises should be enhanced and promoted to retain rural youth in agriculture.ThesisItem Embargo Influence of farmers’ preferences and perception of varietal traits on adoption of improved rice varieties in Meghalaya(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, Central Agricultural University - Imphal, 2022-10) Dkhar, Jerrycane; Devarani, L.Rice is the most important cereal crop of India. In Meghalaya state of NE India, significant increase in the production of rice was observed, however, the production is still much below the demand of the state and productivity below the national average. Adoption of improved high yielding varieties is one of the best solutions for increasing agricultural productivity and improving the living standard of the farmers. Quite a number of improved/ high yielding varieties of rice were introduce to the farmers of Meghalaya of which CAU-R1 released by Central Agricultural University, Imphal is one. The study was conducted in two purposively selected districts Ri-Bhoi and West Jaintia Hills with the following objectives (1) To explore the farmers’ preferences regarding varietal traits of rice, (2) To find out the perception of the farmers regarding varietal traits of CAU R1 variety, (3) To study the influence of farmers' preferences and perception of varietal traits on adoption of improved rice varieties, (4) To identify and compare the constraints faced by the rice farmers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. From 3 villages of each district, 38 adopters of CAU-R1 were selected purposively and 60 non-adopters randomly. It was found that the respondent farmers prefer varieties that are high yielding, disease/pest resistant, non-lodging, easy to harvest, easy to thresh and low input requirement; and the grain traits viz., good taste and easy to cook. They perceive CAU-RI to have low tolerance to drought, flood and also the attack of disease (rice blast). They also felt that the variety has high input requirement and that the aroma and taste of the variety is not favourable as compared to the local varieties. Binary logistic regression revealed that perception towards the varietal traits high yield and non-lodging positively and significantly influence adoption decision of CAU-R1, while perception towards traits aroma and stickiness was found to have negatively significant influence. Problems like ‘lack of awareness on improved varieties’, ‘lack of training’, ‘unavailability of experts’, ‘unavailability of seeds’ and ‘high cost/shortage of labors’ were the most important constraints reported .COVID-19 pandemic specific problems identified were ‘difficulty to procure/ unavailability of seeds’ and ‘high cost of labor/ shortage of labor’. For increasing adoption of CAU-R1, certain mis-perceptions regarding the varietal traits of CAU-R1 need to be clarified through proper awareness and intensive result demonstrations. For local supply of seeds, local seed producers/ entrepreneurs should be encouraged. The study suggests participatory breeding programme involving farmers in all stages of breeding process so that their preferences are considered and adoption enhanced.ThesisItem Open Access Internalizing design thinking on remunerative agricultural enterprises amongst under-graduate students in Agriculture of Central Agricultural University, Imphal.(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU-Imphal, Umiam, 2021-03) Nangkar, Bitu; Singh, Rajkumar JosmeeGrowing technological development and globalization are escorting an age of anomalous change, the need and pressure for change and innovations in agriculture sector are vast. Farming systems in India as well as around the world are facing a complexity of challenges risen by irregular production levels, rise and fall in input and output prices, and building seriousness over the impact of agricultural affairs on the environment which demands an approach of Design Thinking (DT) in harnessing the benefits of Remunerative Agricultural Enterprises (RAEs). A scientific and systematic approach to understand the secrets of DT on RAEs amongst under-graduate students in Agriculture of Central Agricultural University, Imphal (CAU, I) has been carried out with the following research objectives viz.,(1) To identify promising Remunerative Agricultural Enterprises of farmers in adopted villages under CAU, Imphal (2) To examine Internalization of Design Thinking by Under-Graduate Students in Agriculture on implication of identified RAEs; and (3) To find out the limitations faced by students while undergoing DT. The inquiry followed explorative research design and mixed sampling technique. Simple random sampling without replacement (SRSWR) was carried out in selecting 13, 8 and 6 respondents (50% of the total strength of class of three colleges) who were in their final year of under-graduation from the three CoAs under CAU, I viz., (1) College of Agriculture, CAU(I), Manipur; (2) College of Agriculture, CAU(I), Arunachal Pradesh; (3) College of Agriculture, CAU(I), Meghalaya, respectively. The research revealed the (1) Vegetable cultivation; and (2) Flower production were the most prioritised RAEs that had been practiced by farmers of adopted villages namely, (1) Leimaram Village, Bishnupur District, Manipur under CoA, Imphal; (2) Ayeng Village, East Siang District, Arunachal Pradesh under CoA, Pasighat; and (3) Kyrdemkulai Village, Ri-bhoi District, Meghalaya under CoA, Kyrdemkulai. Interestingly, the study recorded that maximum percentage with 41.00% of respondent were in their age of 23 years. The study showed that majority of respondent with 67.00%, 66.67%, 63.00%, 67.00% were female, could achieve 1st division category, had high ‘Competency on ICT applications’, and possessed high ‘Ability to Visualise Abstract Ideas’, respectively. Further, the inquiry exposed that 52% of student respondent had high ‘Creative Problem Solving’, ‘Originality’ and ‘Intrinsic Motivation’ each respectively. The ‘Ego Strength’ network analysis of students in the above mentioned colleges marks that, the Ego-strength for respondents of CoA, Imphal had the highest , ‘Eigen Vector Centrality’ and ‘Modularity’ with respective values of 9.9 and 0.316. However, the ‘Average Clustering Coefficient’ with value 0.697 was highest for respondents of CoA, Pasighat. Eventually, the scientific inquiry revealed that 52% of the entire respondents had high ‘Internalization on DT’. On explicating the binary logistic regression (BLR) model of Design Thinking by UG students of CoAs on implication of identified RAEs, it could be stated that the model at p= 0.052 was significant. A moderate acceptance of independent variables on result of dependent variable can be stated based on the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) value of 36.975 & Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) value of 48.637. Subsequently the respective Cox & Snell R2 value of 0.435 and Nagelkerke R2 value of 0.604 highlighted that the independent variables had sufficient interaction in the range of 43.50 percent to 60.40 percent on the notable outcome of the dependent variable. The study found that ‘Inability to transfer theoretical know-how of RAEs into real practice’ was the most important limiting agent faced by students while undergoing DT. On the basis of above scientific findings, the research strongly recommends on two notions namely, (1) Concept on Vegetable cultivation based RAEs should be subject to DT for students. (2) Practical based learning which have a composite systems on enhancing the independent variables viz ‘Originality’, ,Competency on ICT application’, ‘Intrinsic Motivation’, ‘Creative Problem Solving’ of students should be given maximum emphasis.ThesisItem Open Access Jhumias of Manipur in North-East India: a livelihood analysis(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU-Imphal, Umiam, 2017-09) P., Punitha; Chauhan, J. K.Shifting cultivation also known as Jhum practised predominantly by North East Indian farmers. The people who practise Jhum are called as Jhumias. Due to the ill effects of Jhum cultivation, since 1950s, various schemes were implemented by Government of India to eradicate Jhum. The latest scheme completed was Watershed Development Project in Shifting Cultivation Area (WDPSCA).This study endeavours to explore, to what extent the level of attachment the Jhumias have towards Jhum as a livelihood, to what extent the Jhumias depend on other source of livelihood, factors affecting it and their constraints in diversification of livelihood. Keeping in view the above consideration the present research had been conducted with the objectives viz., to assess the place attachment of Jhumias towards Jhum as a livelihood, to analyse the livelihood diversification of Jhumias, to prioritise the constraints in livelihood diversification. Mixed method research design and multistage sampling technique was used in this study. Out of total 240 respondents selected for the study, 80 respondents were selected from WDPSCA and 160 respondents were selected from Non - WDPSCA. Place attachment scale with eighteen statements was developed to assess the place attachment of Jhumias towards Jhum as a livelihood. Simpson Diversity of Index was used to measure the level of livelihood diversification. The chi-square, correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to analyse the factors influencing livelihood diversification. The Garrett ranking technique were used to prioritise the constraints in livelihood diversification. The study revealed that majority (57%) of the respondents were found to exhibit medium level of place attachment towards Jhum as a livelihood. Analysis of livelihood diversification revealed that majority (60%) of respondents in WDPSCA found to exhibit low level of livelihood diversification where as in Non-WDPSCA majority (49.37%) of respondents found to exhibit medium level of livelihood diversification. 86.30 per cent and 73.80 per cent of respondents in WDPSCA and Non-WDPSCA respectively had farm as a primary livelihood source. Jhum income constitute the highest income source among the farm income in WDPSCA and Non-WDPSCA. The multiple linear regression analysis on the factors affecting livelihood diversification revealed that the overall model was fit with 'f' value significant at 1 percent level with R2 value of 0.364. The number of livestocks, training attended on farm activities were negatively affected the livelihood diversification at 1 per cent and 5 percent level of significance respectively. Market distance was positively affected the livelihood diversification at 1 per cent level of significance. Distance to Jhum field, distance to district head quarter, Jhum size was negatively affected the livelihood diversification at 1 per cent level of significance. 'Lack of market access' were the foremost infrastructural constraint expressed by the respondents of WDPSCA and Non-WDPSCA. 'Primary livelihood activities not leaving enough time to pursue diversification strategies' followed by inadequate experience in expected livelihood activity were the social constraint expressed by WDPSCA and 'lack of role model entrepreneur in my village' were the social constraint expressed in Non-WDPSCA. Less high yielding varieties for Jhum land were the technological constraint expressed by both WDPSCA and Non-WDPSCA. Livestock activities in a larger scale, off-farm agribusiness activities, common market place for cluster of villages for Jhumias can be promoted. Soil health and water management measures, problems in management of fruits, vegetables and spices should be identified, prioritised and disseminated by KVK, ICAR, CAU to the Jhumias of Manipur.ThesisItem Open Access Livelihood Security of Farmers in Meghalaya under Tribal Sub-Plan: A Result-Based Evaluation(College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU-Imphal, Umiam, 2019-12) Thangjam, Deepa; Chauhan, J. K.Livelihood security is the access to adequate basic needs for sustaining life such as food, clothing, shelter. In order to improve the livelihood security and socio-economic status of the farmers, Central Agricultural University (CAU), Imphal has taken up Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) project in Meghalaya during the crop year 2016-17. The present study was taken up to evaluate the performance of TSP with respect to the livelihood security of the beneficiary farmers with three objectives viz., (1) To develop a result-based evaluation tool for Tribal Sub Plan project executed by CAU, Imphal in the state of Meghalaya, (2) To perform impact evaluation of Tribal Sub Plan project undertaken by CAU, Imphal in the state of Meghalaya, and (3) To explore amicable lessons and bottleneck issues associated with agricultural livelihood security of respondents under TSP. The research was carried out in two districts of Meghalaya, namely, Ri-Bhoi district and West Garo Hill district owing to the existence of two colleges under CAU(I) and from which, samples of 270 and 120 beneficiary farmers were selected following complete enumeration from Ri-Bhoi district and West Garo Hills district respectively. The Tribal Agricultural Development Index (TADI) was developed to evaluate the performance of TSP. Impact evaluation was performed by following the Before-After analysis. The research revealed that majority of the respondents were between 30 - 42 years of Age, and have ‘Marginal Farm Land.’ Based on thecommunication variables, it was found that majority of the respondents have ‘High Contact with Personal Localite’, ‘Medium Contact with Extension Personnel’, ‘Medium Cosmopoliteness’, and ‘Medium Nature of Social Participation.’ The study further observed that majority of the respondents had low ‘Annual Income (<`2,26,000/-)’, ‘Mass Media Exposure’, and ‘Usage of ICTs.’ Pertaining to the psychological characteristics, it was observed that majority of the respondents had medium level of ‘Decision Making Ability’, ‘Scientific Orientation’, and ‘Risk Orientation.’ In vehemently, the study unveiled that nearly 70% of the respondents were in the range of 0.4-0.7 apropos of TADI values which could infer that TSP had moderately benefitted the tribal beneficiary farmers. With the statistical t-values of 13.769 and 34.35 @ 0.01 pertaining to ‘Agricultural Livelihood Security Index’ and ‘Empowerment Index’, the study concluded that the TSP had significant positive changes in both securing agricultural livelihood and empowering the respondents of the study. The most outstanding problems faced by the respondents were ‘Pest and Diseases Infestation.’