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Open Access
Enhancing the role of informal sector in food security and poverty reduction in malawi-policy implications and recommendations
(Department of agricultural extension, College of horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2012) Aston Oliver, Mulwafu; KAU; Jayasree Krishnankutty
Malawi is a land-locked country located in the Southern Africa along the Great Rift Valley. The country has a population of approximately 14 million people, of which 51 per cent are women. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, providing livelihood to 80 per cent of the population and generating 35 to 45 per cent of GDP. The growth of economy is fundamental through exploitation of abundant natural resources, particularly enterprise development in agriculture sector. The rural poor, largely women are the players in informal sector, as cultivators, growers, vendors and buyers of agro-based products. The sector is informal in the sense that the units involved are mostly unregistered, not recorded in official statistics, and have little or no access to formal markets for goods and credit facilities. The informal sector activities have widely been recognised for its important role in promoting food security and poverty reduction. Surplus production at household level has been the major sources for translating to rural economic activities. The sector plays central function in addressing challenges of rampant unemployment and small incomes. The study was conducted in Balaka district, which is situated in the South and Ntcheu in the Central region of Malawi. In Balaka, Mangochi turn-off and Ulongwe markets were targeted while in Ntcheu, Tsangano turn-off and Kampepuza markets. Hence, four local markets were purposively sampled due to the nature of agro-based businesses carried out. Thirty farmers involved in the informal sector were randomly selected from each of the markets as respondents, making a total sample size of 120 farmers. The main objectives of the study were analysing the internal and external factors influencing the sector, examining the supply chain dynamics of agricultural commodities and understanding the spatial distribution of the informal sector. In addition, the study determined policy suggestions for possible up-scaling of the role of informal sector in promoting food security and poverty reduction in rural Malawi. The results revealed that informal sector activities were largely carried out by females accounting 61.7 per cent of total respondents. 50 per cent of respondents had education up to the eighth standard. Almost two-third of the respondents were involved in farming and agri-business activities operating along the main roads. The majority of respondents had average monthly income between MK10,000-MK30,000 (55%) and only 6 per cent had average monthly income of more than MK50,000. The computed household commercialisation index (HCI) revealed existence of three levels of commercialisation among respondents; subsistence (38%), semi-commercial (33%) and commercial (29%). This delineation suggested bringing specific support for improving the commercialisation processes at each level with rightful policy measures. Computation of crop commercialisation index (CCI) was another important measure that determined crops amenable for commercialisation. The results indicated that vegetables were the best option for commercialisation. Ranked second, third and forth were tubers, fruit and food grains in that order. Finally, an analysis of enterprise profit as percentage of annual crop sales was done in order to understand about crop diversification potential. The results indicated that the enterprise profit as percent of sales from vegetables, fruits and tubers were higher than that of food grains. For example, in 2010-2011 growing season, percent of tubers (82%), vegetables (79%), fruits (93%) and food grain registered only 48 percent. The multinomial logistic regression revealed that credit facilities, farmer business orientation, innovativeness, commodity transportation, monthly income and information source utilization were the significant factors influencing the transition from subsistence to semi-commercial. Education and extension services were significant factors contributing to the transition from semi-commercial farming to commercial. Despite the successes registered, the informal sector continues to face problems ranging from its productivity to managerial aspects. Its productivity is constrained with inadequate infrastructures (roads, markets, water, electricity, etc), access to credit facilities, lack of processing facilities and marketing linkages. On managerial aspects, prevailing situation indicated that there is limited farmer capacity building, limited information and non farmer favouring policies regarding their growth in the sector. In conclusion, the informal sector demonstrates immense potential in bringing better wellbeing of rural communities. It holds the promise of being the target for developmental activities by different agencies, as better technologies, market information and farmer support can help increase the volume, efficiency and value share of the informal sector which will ultimately improve the rural economies to a great extent.
Open Access
Enhancing livelihood security and local socio economic development through Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee scheme : an analysis
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2012) Punyavathi, Jonna; KAU; Jiju P, Alex
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is widely appreciated as a unique attempt towards empowering rural poor through assured employment on demand. The programme guarantees at least 100days of wage employment in every fiscal year to the adult members of all households who volunteer to do unskilled manual labour at the minimum wage rate specified by the state government. MGNREGS which was initially launched in 200 districts was later extended to 130 districts. The scheme intends to use this man power for constructing productive assets and conserving natural resource with a view to facilitate agricultural production. Taking this into consideration, the study intended to find out the nature and extent of integration of MGNREGS with the agricultural development programmes implemented at the local level, the factors affecting planning, implementation and monitoring of MGNREGS as perceived by different stakeholders of the programme, demand side preference, supply side performance and assess the impact of MGNREGS on the livelihood security of beneficiaries. The study employed ex-post facto design based on the objectives. Out of twenty three districts, six districts were selected randomly. One Grama Panchayat from each district was selected randomly for the study. Five beneficiaries of MGNREGS, five implementing officers and five people’s representatives were randomly selected from each Grama Panchayat to make the sample size 90. .The final interview schedule was prepared by necessary modifications, additions and deletions based on pre-tested results. Percentages, paired ‘t’ test, Kendall’s coefficient of concordance and Mann-Whitney U Test were used for analyzing the data. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The study showed that there is perceptible difference in the extent of integration of different agricultural development programmes and their components with MGNREGS, across the six Grama Panchayats. Among 26 developmental programmes in the state, seven schemes are commonly integrated in all the six panchayats. While the implementing officers perceived institutional factors as most important in both planning and implementing stages, people’s representatives perceived managerial factors as most important in all stages of MGNREGS. The impact of MGNREGS on the livelihood security of beneficiaries was assessed based on the indices of direct as well as indirect changes. Employment generation and income generation- which reflected direct changes in livelihood security- were found to have increased as a result of implementation of the scheme. Distribution of beneficiaries based on indirect changes measured in terms of the ‘sense of empowerment’ showed that majority of respondents belong to medium category. While demand side preferences varied significantly across the grama panchayats, supply side performance did not vary too much. However, supply side performance indices were found to be lower than the corresponding demand side preference. Out of the several socio economic characteristics observed, age and caste were found to be significantly correlated negatively to income generated by the household. The study shows that MGNREGS has significantly enhanced the livelihood security of rural poor. However, integration of the programme with agricultural development is grossly inadequate in Andhra Pradesh. This suggests major policy shifts in the implementation of MGNREGS to make the programme effective. Unless local self government institutions are given enough authority to plan their own programmes, the quantum of employment generated would not be adequate to meet the demand. More components of the state sponsored and centrally sponsored schemes will have to be integrated with MGNREGS. The rural population should also be oriented to the provisions of the scheme to demand and avail more employment.
Open Access
Efficacy of watershed development programmes in Kerala : a gender perspective
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2012) Roshin, Varghese; KAU; Rajendran, P
Watershed development programmes were taken up under different programmes launched by GOI. As a prelude to these, a number of programmes were implemented viz. DPAP, DDP and IWDP etc with a common objective to conserve the soil and water resources for sustainable management. In 2008 GOI formulated common guidelines for watershed development projects in order to have a unified perspective by all ministries. There is a need to know the perspective about the watershed development programme, the beneficiaries’ knowledge level etc. So far no attempt has been made to such aspects. Hence the study was designed with the following objectives, to explore the gender issues involved in watershed development programmes in Kerala, to find out the dimensions of watershed development programme at various levels of formulation and implementation and the constraints from a gender perspective and to access the training needs of women stakeholders in watershed development programme. The study also intends to suggest various measures for effective gender mainstreaming in watershed development programmes in Kerala. The study was taken up in two panchayaths of Akathethara of Thrissur and Wadakkanchery of Palakkad. Random sampling procedure was adopted to select 15 each from male, female and the implementing officers to form a total sample size of 90 from both panchayath. A pretested interview schedule, observations technique as well as group discussion method were the tools used for the data collection. The knowledge level of women stakeholders was very high. There is no differences in the knowledge level of men and women. There exists no relationship between the knowledge level and the characteristics of respondents. The training needs of women and men were one and the same. There exist a negative relationship between the education and training need of the stakeholders. Regarding the dimensions perceived by the beneficiaries under the planning phase by the Wadakkanchery and Akthethara panchayath were one and the same except two dimensions additionally perceived in the Akathethara and the same was perceived by men also. Under the implementation stage also the same trend was observed in two panchayaths. Men and women perceived the same dimensions consistently. Under the withdrawal and follow up phase the perception by men and women as well as panchayaths were one and the same. The linkage study indicates the Wadakkanchery panchayath perceived soil conservation office as most essential institution where as Akathethara perceived the same as least essential. The horizontal integration results revealed that “grama sabha” and “watershed committee” having a direct linkage with the “soil conservation office” and “krishi bhavan” at Wadakkanchery. The Akathethara panchayath showed a direct and close linkage with the “krishibhavan”. The institutions like the "PHC”, “watershed development team” and the “veterinary” shows a direct linkage but less involvement, the least involvement with the research station. The following gender issues were explored viz. “The role of women in decision making are less”, “Women have no title deed of property”, “Women involvement in WDP is proxy”, “Wage differences” and “Work drudgery is more among women” The following suggestions are made out of results and experiences of researcher. The need base training should be imparted to the stakeholders. The youngsters must be encouraged to participate and should be given preference for including in the groups and committee. Vertical and horizontal linkages must be strengthened so as to ensure the participation of the institutions. Watershed development programmmes will be more effective and a successful programme if it is implemented effectively with a wholistic approach.
Open Access
Livelihood analysis of IRULA tribe of Attappady
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2012) Shincy, N I; KAU; Anilkumar, A
Tribesfolk of Attappady are the most backward among the vulnerable groups of Kerala. Their economy is traditional in nature, depending mainly on land and forest. The valley was not open to outsiders till the 1950s. However, the land utilisation pattern of Attappady drastically changed since then owing to massive in-migration of people from the plains to these areas in search of land for cultivation and for starting plantations. Inappropriate implementation of schemes and lack of adequate technological support resulted in a drastic decline in the livelihood options of the tribespeople. This study entitled “Livelihood analysis of Irula tribe of Attappady” was an attempt to analyse the livelihood of one of the most prominent tribal group in Attappady. The study was conducted in Palakkad district of Kerala. A sample of 120 tribespeople were selected randomly from three panchayats of Attappady Tribal Developmental Block namely Agali, Pudur and Sholayur .The study indicated that most of the tribespeople belonged to the young and middle age group and seventy eight per cent were having 5-7 members in their family. Among the respondents 35 per cent had primary school level family educational status and 62.5 per cent of them are insecure with respect to food security status. 52.5 per cent of the tribespeople had high level of environmental orientation and 77.5 per cent of them were non users of alcohol. The self confidence level was medium among majority of tribespeople (92.5%) and 65 per cent of them belonged to the medium level category with respect to their political orientation. The study revealed that two third ie. 65 per cent of the tribespeople are categorized as low with respect to human capital and 60 per cent of them belongs to high social capital group. About 60 per cent of tribespeople belong to a category of low with respect to their natural capital and 55 per cent of them are categorized as low based on the physical capital. About 55 per cent of Irula tribespeople were categorised as low in the case of financial capital and 45 per cent of them were rated as high.Regarding the contribution of component capitals, financial capital is rated as the component which is contributing to the highest to the livelihood capital index ie.33.9%. The second highest contribution to the livelihood capital index is by social capital(33.6%). The third highest contributor to the livelihood capital index is physical capital (20.2%) followed by human capital (11.4%) and natural capital (0.8%). Classification of tribespeople based on livelihood capital index reveals that about 55 per cent of the tribespeople has got high livelihood capital index and 45 per cent of them is categorised as low.Greater than 50 per cent of the tribespeople were socially and economically deprived of important functionings and they are way behind general population in almost all developmental indicators.
Open Access
Impact of nutrition communication intervention on the quality of mid day meal programme
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2012) Sheelakumary, J; KAU; Prasanna Kumari, B
The presented study entitled “Impact of nutrition communication intervention on the quality of mid day meal programme” was conducted with the objective of imparting nutrition communication as an intervention programme in order to improve the quality of mid day meals and to assess its impact. Locale of the study selected was Govt upper primary school Bhagavathinada, Thiruvananthapuram District. The survey was the criteria followed for the selection of the respondents. A checklist specially designed for the purpose was used to identify the respondents. The sample comprised of fifty students. The conduct of the midday meal programme in the selected schools was studied so as to gain an insight into the general quality of the programme’s implementation and to select the school having poor performance with regard to the conduct of midday meal programme for conducting further study. The different parameters studied regarding the implementation of the midday meal programme were as follows. Infrastructure and space available in the school for cooking and serving meals, total quantity of food cooked and served in relation to number of children partaking the meal, the menu followed for the mid day meal programme for a week, inclusion of vegetables and green leafy vegetables and fruits in the mid day meal, nutritional quality of meal per serve, hygienic practices followed in the preparation of the mid day meal, availability of drinking water in the school, waste disposal measures followed. Scores were allotted for each of the above parameters and the schools were evaluated by the investigator by observing as well as interviewing the personnel concerned with the implementation of the programme including the Headmaster/Headmistress of the schools, the concerned teachers, as well as the cooks engaged for the preparation of the meals. Assessment of social status of the respondents revealed that among the age group of 12-13 years. The majority of the respondents belonged to Hindu religion and about eighty two percent. Analysis of family structure revealed that the majority of the respondents belonged to nuclear type of families and had a small family size with four members. Regarding educational status it was found that the majority of fathers and mothers had educational up to upper primary level. The occupational status of the fathers showed that the majority of them were casual labourers and among mothers most of them were house wives. The nutritional status index of majority of the participants computed was found to be medium when the parameters like weight, height, mid upper arm circumferences and haemoglobin level were taken in to account. The classification of the respondents according to BMI based on Eliz health path for adolescents (2005) showed that 48 percent of the participants came in the chronic energy deficient category. Assessment of clinical status of the respondents revealed that the majority of had aneamic. Other symptoms like pigmentation, gums spongy bleeding, molted enamel and dental carriers were also found to among the respondents. Haemoglobin level of the respondents revealed that about forty two per cent of the respondents were non aneamic. Thirty four percent were marginally and twenty percent were mildly aneamic, while six percent were moderately aneamic. Dietary habits of the respondents indicated that all of them were habitual non vegetarians. Among the respondents cereals, sugars, milk and milk products, nuts and oil seeds, fish, beverages and other vegetables were the food items most frequently used. Meat, egg, other vegetables and green leafy vegetables were the food items used less frequently. Mean nutrient intake of the respondents showed that energy, protein and fat intake were found to be in par with Recommended Dietary Intake (RDA) where as iron intake was found to be low. The pre test on the knowledge of the participants on nutrition of the school child and mid day meal programme showed that the mean knowledge score was 10.4 out of 15and the attitude study showed the mean value as 48 out of 60. The intervention programme consisted of nutrition education with the help of visual aids like charts and leaflets. The demonstration of the specially formulated and standardized nutri meal was very acceptable to the school authorities as well as the participants. The post test conducted revealed a significant change in the knowledge and attitude of the participants. The study points out the need for continuance of the mid day meal programme since it is necessary to improve the nutritional status of school children. It also stresses the need for supplying tasty and nutritious noon meals. The scope of nutrition communication programmes for bringing about positive change in dietary patterns is also evident from this study. Hence, nutrition communication should be incorporated in the mid day meal programme for the authorities concerned with the implementation of the programme as well as the participants.
Open Access
Innovation in technical backstopping for the thiruvanthapuram district panchayat-A critical appraisal of the samagra project on banana cultivation
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2012) Esakkimuthu, M; KAU; Bhaskaran, C
Poverty eradication is a long term goal of India. Since independence a number of poverty alleviation programmes including agricultural developmet programmes were launched. It would be incorrect to say that all the poverty alleviation programmes had shown the results much expected. In this way, the ‘Samagra’ project on Banana cultivation is a flagship project with multistakeholer partnerships in Kerala. It was launched in 2007 by the Thiruvananthapuram District Panchayat and Kudumbashree Mission, with the aim of enhancing banana productivity through the promotion of innovations in technical backstopping. The study entitled “Innovations in technical backstopping for the Thiruvananthapuram District Panchayat – A critical appraisal of the ‘Samagra’ project on banana cultivation” is an attempt to explore the innovations in technical backstopping measured in terms of perception about the innovative procedures, processes and institutions of the ‘Samagra’ Project. The study was conducted in three Grama Panchayats of Thiruvananthapuram district namely ., Kottukal, Kunnathukal and Kalliyoor. Simple random sampling technique was followed in the selection of Block Panchayats, Grama Panchayats beneficiaries. Three categories of respondents namely beneficiary respondents, implementing officials and people’s representatives were involved in the study. Sixty beneficiary respondents, thirty implementing officials and thirty people’s representatives were selected. Thus, the total number of respondents for the study was 120. The dependent variable innovations in technical backstopping was measured in terms of perception about the innovative procedures, processes and institutions. The profile characteristics of the respondents such as age, area under cultivation, experience in banana cultivation, annual income, educational status, cosmopoliteness, social participation, trainings attended, information need perception, credit orientation, risk orientation, economic motivation. Innovativeness, achievement motivation and attitude towards ‘Samagra’, and the constraints were studied using scientific procedures. The major findings of the study indicate that majority of the beneficiary respondents rated that innovative procedures adopted in the ‘Samagra’ project were excellent and all the officials and people’s representatives also had excellent appreciation of the innovative procedures adopted in the ‘Samagra’ project. Regarding the perception of innovative processes, majority of the beneficiary- respondents, implementing officials and people’s represenatives opined that innovative procedures adopted in the ‘Samagra’ project were excellent. The perception about the innovative institutions was also appreciable in respect of all the three groups of respondents. The findings regarding the attitude of beneficiary respondents revealed that, 60 per cent of the respondents had favourable attitude towards ‘Samagra’ of which 40 per cent were having neutral attitude. 93.3 per cent of the implementing officials had favourable attitude and 6.7 per cent had neutral attitude towards ‘Samagra’. 60 per cent of the people’s representatives had favourable attitude and 40 per cent had neutral attitude towards ‘Samagra’. Results of the correlation between the independent and dependent variables of respondents revealed that among the selected thirteen independent variables namely experience, education, credit orientation, economic motivation and achievement motivation showed positive significant relationship with innovative procedures, processes and institutions. The profile characteristics of the beneficiary respondents were also studied in detailed with a view to work out the correlation between the selected dependent and independent variables. The independent variables namely age, area under cultivation, experience in banana cultivation, annual income, educational status, cosmopoliteness, social participation, training attended, information need perception, credit orientation, risk orientation, economic motivation, innovativeness, achievement motivation and attitude had significant relationship with the dependent variables innovative procedures, processes and institutions. The constraints such as lack of land, lack of village knowledge centers, lack of video conferencing, problems in transportation, lack of processing facilities were ranked as the most important constraints in the implementation of ‘Samagra’ Project. The following recommendations are made to ensure effective implementation of the ‘Samagra’ Project in future: More awareness must be created among the farmers about the benefits of grading, marketing, value addition and processing of their produce through campaigns and trainings so that banana cultivation becomes economically more sustainable. Export of agricultural produce must be promoted by increasing the area under commercial crops, and by providing necessary post harvest management and other infrastructure required. Information on prices prevailing at international markets must be furnished to the farmers’ groups regularly. Modern cold storage facilities must be set up to enable the farmers to store and sell their produce at favourable price and to help consumers to get quality banana products at affordable price. Production centered banana processing industries are to be promoted to minimise wastage of agricultural products. The model ‘Samagra’ Banana Project of Thiruvananthapuram District Panchayat must be scaled up to benefit farmers in other districts also for which the Government of Kerala should ensure the policy support.

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