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Open Access
Emotional intelligence and job stress of agricultural officers of Kerala state department of agriculture: a psycho-personal analysis
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, vellayani, 2018) Reshma, A Victor; KAU; Anilkumar, A
The study entitled “Emotional intelligence and job stress of Agricultural Officers of Kerala State Department of Agriculture: A psycho–personal analysis” was conducted from 2016 – 2018 to study the emotional intelligence and job stress of Agricultural Officers of Kerala State Department of Agriculture and analyze the factors which influence emotional intelligence and job stress. Constraints experienced by the Agricultural Officers and the profile characteristics were also be studied. The study was undertaken in the three districts of Kerala viz., Kasaragod from North, Thrissur from Central and Thiruvananthapuram from South Kerala. From each district, 30 Agricultural Officers (15 female and 15 male) were randomly selected using simple random sampling. The total sample size was 90. A structured interview schedule was prepared for data collection. Frequency, percentage analysis, mean, standard deviation, simple correlation, Kruskal - Wallis test, Mann - Whitney U test and factor analysis were employed in the analysis and interpretation. The study had two dependent variables and 13 independent variables. The dependent variables were emotional intelligence and job stress. Emotional intelligence was measured by using the scale developed by Goleman (1995) with 5 sub-components, self awareness, managing emotions, motivating oneself, empathy and social skill. The job stress was assessed by using the scale developed by Shrivastav and Singh (1981) with 12 sub-components, role overload, role ambiguity, role conflict, group and political pressures, responsibility for persons, under participation, powerlessness, poor peer relation, intrinsic impoverishment, low status, strenuous working conditions and unprofitability. Based on the analysis of data, it was revealed that majority (76.67%) of the respondents were having medium emotional intelligence in three district. Using Kruskal - Wallis it was found that there was no significant difference between emotional intelligence in the three districts. The study found that, majority (60%) of the respondents were having medium job stress. There was significant difference in job stress among the three districts. Using factor analysis it was observed that out of the 12 components role overload, role ambiguity, role conflict, group and political pressures, under participation, powerlessness and strenuous working conditions were the major contributors to the job stress. Most (43.33%) of the respondents belonged to the age category of 35-45 years. More than half (76.67%) of the respondents were married and more than half (54.44%) of the respondents had Bachelor’s degree only. More than half (61.11%) of the respondents were having 4-5 members in their family. It was also found that 48.89 per cent of the respondents were having 10-20 years of job experience. Majority (92.22%) of the respondents opined that they have very low promotional opportunities. Majority of the respondents had medium level of attitude towards profession (72.22%), self confidence (72.22%), perceived workload (65.56%), Political orientation (78.89%), leadership quality (74.44%) and organizational climate (78.89%). Regarding the distance from work place, less than half (44.44%) of the respondents had to travel 10-20 km to the place of work. The factors which influenced emotional intelligence were self confidence and leadership quality. Job experience, attitude towards profession, self confidence, leadership quality and organizational climate were the main factors which influenced job stress. The major constraints faced by the respondents were excessive workload, lack of promotional opportunities, lack of proper training schedule of the officer, lack of suitability of different schemes and its implementation in different localities and political interference in day to day activity. Thus, the study revealed that majority of the respondents were having medium level of emotional intelligence and job stress. Three districts had no significant difference regarding emotional intelligence whereas there was significant difference in the case of job stress. The constraints faced by the respondents need attention from the policy makers and government for improving the performance of the Agricultural Officers.
Open Access
Constraint analysis of farming on house terrace and disrtibution of grow bags
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2018) Binsa, B; KAU; Sreedaya, G S
The present study entitled “Constraint analysis of farming on house terrace and distribution of grow bags” conducted in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation was carried out to identify the constraints in farming on house terraces and in the distribution of grow bags, to study the consumption pattern of vegetables by the urban families and to assess the knowledge and training need of respondents in farming on house terraces. The study was conducted in seven wards of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation namely Poojappura, Pettah, Manacaud, Kumarapuram, Karamana, Industrial Estate and Enchakkal. One hundred and five members of urban households involved in farming on house terrace, fifteen extension officials and thirty office bearers of selected residents associations of the selected wards were the respondents of the study. A well structured questionnaire and interview schedule was used to collect data regarding farming on house terrace from the respondents. Four dependent variables and thirteen independent variables were studied and analyzed with the help of statistical tools such as average, frequency, percentage, quartile deviation and correlation. Regarding the constraints perceived by the respondents on farming on house terrace, ‘crop loss due to pests and diseases attack’ was perceived as the major constraint and ‘low quality grow bags and potting mixture issued by the private agencies’ was the major constraint in the distribution and usage of grow bags as perceived by the respondents and office bearers of residents associations of each wards. ‘Lack of timely availability of fund’ was the major constraint in the farming on house terrace and growbag distribution as perceived by the extension officials. The consumption pattern of vegetables by the respondents revealed that majority (65.71%) of the respondents belonged to the medium category in consumption pattern of vegetables and had a positive and significant correlation with variables like age, education, area of house terrace, extent of micro irrigation, health consciousness, extension agency contact and relative advantage. Majority (61.9%) of the respondents belonged to the medium category in the knowledge of respondents on vegetable cultivation and had a positive and significant correlation with variables like age, education, farming experience on house terrace, health consciousness, extension agency contact, self-reliance and relative advantage. In the case of knowledge on farming on house terrace, majority (74.29%) of the respondents belonged to the medium category and had a positive and significant correlation with variables like age, education, experience in farming on house terrace, extent of micro irrigation, health consciousness, extension agency contact, self-reliance and relative advantage. Regarding the training need of respondents on farming house terrace, ‘Plant protection’ was the most preferred subject for training by the respondents. It was found that majority (47.62%) of the respondents belonged to the middle aged category and 43.81% are degree holders. Majority of respondents belonged to medium category in family labour utilization (64.76%), area of house terrace (52.38%), health consciousness (83.81%), extent of micro irrigation (66.66%), leisure time availability (83.81%), availability of inputs and infrastructural facilities (53.33%), extension agency contact (52.38%), market perception (60.95%), self-reliance (53.33%) and relative advantage (61.9%). Majority of the respondents belonged to lower category in experience in farming on house terrace (65.71%). Considering the perception of extension officials towards farming on house terrace, majority (46.67%) of the respondents had medium level of perception towards farming on house terrace. Thus the study revealed that majority of the respondents belonged to the medium category in the case of consumption pattern of vegetables, knowledge on vegetable cultivation and knowledge on farming on house terrace. ‘Plant protection’ was the most preferred subject for training by the respondents. ‘Crop loss due to pests and diseases attack’ and ‘low quality grow bags and potting mixture’ were the major constraints as perceived by the respondents and office bearers of residents associations whereas ‘lack of timely availability of fund’ was the major constraint as perceived by the extension officials. Timely availability of fund and proper extension activities can tackle the constraints to a great extend.
Open Access
Gender analysis of vegetable growers in the homesteads of Kollam district
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2018) Vani Chandran; KAU; Bindu Podikunju
The study entitled “Gender analysis of vegetable growers in the homesteads of Kollam district” was conducted in two Agro Ecological Units of Kollam District which involved a total of 120 respondents, during the period, 2016-2017.The study was done to determine the gender roles of vegetable growers in Kollam district, their scale of knowledge, the rate of adoption of vegetable production practices, constraints faced in vegetable production and formulate strategy to mitigate the constraints faced. In the case of Gender analysis conducted, under the decision-making analysis, major women dominated decisions were child rearing and religious decisions.The decisions regarding the transfer and ownership of ancestral properties, various farm operations and decision related to entertainments were mainly men dominated. Bothmen and women were able to enjoy the benefits of basic facilities like income, education, medical facilities, and transportation facilities. But in the case of political interventions, technological development, and extension agency contact, benefits were utilized more by men than women. The benefits of government policies and incentives, employment opportunities and farmers group were enjoyed more by women. In the agricultural activity analysis, major women oriented activities were post-harvest operations, livestock and poultry activities. Major men oriented agricultural activities were land preparation, collection and arrangements of inputs, fertilizer application and plant protection activities. In the case of house hold activity analysis, all the house hold activities were women oriented. In the case of influencing factors of development, the positively influencing factors for women were provision of equal medical facilities, freedom to pursue education and take up jobs, inherit properties of their parents and freedom to vote in elections. In the case of men, when most of the factors were positively influencing, factors such as lack of timely availability of incentives, inability to marry outside the community and inability to take up political powers in the society were negatively influencing. Results of analysis of access to resources showed that access to resource was mostly male dominated. Vegetable growers according to their knowledge about vegetable cultivation practices indicated that the majority of respondents had medium level of knowledge about vegetable cultivation and only few of them (39 per cent) had high knowledge. Only 12 per cent of respondents were in the group of low knowledge level. Majority of the respondents were having high knowledge about the KAU varieties, sowing methods, spacing, pest and diseases attack of the particular crops, and harvesting of the produce. Correlation analysis of scale of knowledge with independent variables, education and economic motivation were positively and significantly correlated to scale of knowledge at 5 percent level of significance. Whereas the variables, such as experience in vegetable cultivation, extension agency contact, information seeking behaviour, social participation, and training were positively and significantly correlated to scale of knowledge at 1 percent level of significance. In the case of adoption, 72 per cent of respondents belonged to the category of medium level of adoption. 20 per cent of the respondents were found having high level of adoption and 8 percentage of the respondents belonged to low level of adoption category. Majority of the farmers adopted KAU varieties and they followed almost all the cultural practices like seed treatments, seed rate, land preparation, weeding, and application of manures as per the recommendation of Package of Practices.A partial adoption was noticed in the case of application of NPK fertilizers and similar trend was observed in case of plant protection measures. On distributing the respondents into various adopter categories, only 2 % of them were innovative in nature, which was almost on par with the normal Rogers curve (2.5%), whereas majority of the respondents fell into the category of early majority(33%) followed by late majority (31%). This is an indication of fairly good level of adoption of KAU cultivation practices by homestead vegetable growers. Independent variables such as occupational status, economic motivation, and family labour utilization were positively and significantly correlated to extent of adoption at 5 percent level of significance. Whereas the variables such as experience in vegetable cultivation, extension agency contact, information seeking behaviour, social participation, and training were significantly correlated to extent of adoption at 1 percent level of significance. A negatively significant correlation was noticed between extent of adoption and experience in vegetable cultivation. The major constraints faced by the respondents were scarcity of water resources, prevalence of pest and diseases, price fluctuation, high labour charges, high cost of cultivation, labour scarcity, non-availability of quality planting materials and non-assurance of premium price for organic products. To solve the acute water shortage especially during the summer seasons, rain water harvesting systems in the homesteads should be encouraged. In case of labour shortage, necessary amendments, be made to bring the NREGS workers to the agricultural sector. Integrated pest and disease management approaches can reduce the problems of prevalence of pest and diseases. Homestead farming has to be made more remunerative to attract more farmers, for which measures like popularization of organic vegetable production, timely availability of inputs, fixation of minimum support price for organic produce and proper post harvest management will enable the farmer to commercially utilize the produce in an effective manner and thereby increasing overall output. From this study, it can be concluded that even though there are some men and women dominated operations in homestead vegetable cultivation, both the gender had a significant participation in most of the activities. There was no single homestead where the agriculture is done by male partner alone which implied that the women had a significant contribution in agricultural activities. Hence, the overall extent of knowledge about vegetable production technology was found to be medium, there is a need of special attention by providing training about vegetable production to the farmers, so that their knowledge could be increased and the adoption of technology would be enhanced. Therefore, more educational efforts are, required to be undertaken by extension agencies by organizing training and demonstrations to enhance the knowledge and adoption level of farmers.
Open Access
Impact analysis of "finishing school programmes on VHSE (agri.)" by Kerala Agricultural University (KAU)
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2018) Karishma Zen; KAU; Sreedaya, G S
The present study entitled ‘Impact analysis of “Finishing school programmes on VHSE (Agri.)’ by Kerala Agricultural University (KAU).” conducted during September 2016–May 2018 focused on effectiveness of Finishing school (FS) programme in terms of entrepreneurial behaviour and managerial efficiency of the respondents, identifying the present status of respondents, the constraints experienced by the respondents and their profile characteristics followed by suggestions for streamlining the project in subsequent years. The study comprised of ninety respondents who successfully completed Finishing school (FS) programme. These respondents were purposively selected from three categories namely self employed, employed and pursuing higher education with more weightage to self employed and employed categories. Another forty respondents who were not exposed to FS training programme were also selected for a comparative study of two dependant variables. Entrepreneurial behaviour with nine components and managerial efficiency with six components were selected as two dependent variables. Fifteen independent variables were selected through judges’ rating. A structured interview schedule was used for data collection. Statistical tools such as, quartile deviation, frequency, percentage analysis, correlation analysis, student’s t-test and Principal Component Analysis were used for analysis. The present status of the respondents who were exposed to FS were identified in three categories i.e self employed, employed and pursuing higher education categories. It was found that 28.88 per cent and 57.77 per cent of respondents were in self employed and employed category respectively where as 13.33 per cent were in higher education category. Based on analysis of data, it was found that 65.55 per cent of respondents who were unexposed to FS training programme and 56.66 per cent of respondents who were exposed to FS training programme were in low and medium entrepreneurial behaviour respectively. Fifty per cent (50%) of respondents who were unexposed to FS training programme and 55.55 per cent of respondents who were exposed to FS were in low and medium managerial efficiency respectively. Result of student t-test revealed that there was a significant difference between the two categories of respondents with respect to dependent variables. The effect of each component of the two dependant variables were studied through Principal Component Analysis. It was revealed that , knowledgeability, innovativeness and risk taking ability contributed to the entrepreneurial behaviour whereas planning ability, supervising ability and organising ability turned out to be the major contributors to managerial efficiency. Majority (82.22 %) of the respondents were in age category of 25 to 35 years, were males (58.89 %), unmarried (60%), having a family income of ₹ 1,25,000 – ₹ 2,25,000 (47.77 %) and belonged to nuclear family (70%). Regarding the parent occupation, 25.56 per cent of respondents’ parents were labourers and 36.66 per cent of respondents preferred entrepreneurship as their career preference. . The correlation between entrepreneurial behaviour and fourteen independent variables revealed that career preferences, organizational relations, mass media utilization, assertiveness, and attitude towards self employment was found to be positive and significantly correlated. In case of managerial efficiency, variables such as age, career preference, organizational relations, mass media utilization, assertiveness, attitude towards self employment and decision making ability was found to be positive and significantly correlated. A gap analysis conducted among the respondents, revealed that lack of handholding support to the trainees for taking up future projects was the major gap. Regarding the constraints, short duration of first phase of training was the major constraint felt by respondents where as the large number of candidates per batch was the major constraint felt by the implementing officials. The programme needs to be more practically oriented to impart skills to the trainees was the major suggestion by the experts. To conclude, it was revealed that there was a significant difference in the entrepreneurial behaviour and managerial efficiency of respondents who were exposed and unexposed to FS programme. Regarding the present status , 28.88 percent and 57.77 percent of respondents were in self employed and employed category respectively. Gap analysis was also conducted to streamline the project in future. Constraints from both the implementing officials and respondents were identified and suggestions were incorporated.
Open Access
Consumer behaviour of urban and rural families in vegetables : a comparative analysis
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2018) Silpa, R C; KAU; Seema, B
The study entitled "Consumer behaviour of urban and rural families in vegetables - A comparative analysis" was conducted in Kozhikode district. The objective focussed on comparative analysis of consumer behaviour of rural and urban families on vegetables, awareness of rural and urban families about organic vegetables and its outlets, knowledge and adoption of KAU recommended measures to remove pesticide residue in vegetables. The study comprised of 120 respondents who were selected randomly with 60 each from urban and rural area. The 48 respondents out of 60 were of mixed category and 12 were of vegetarian category. The profile and purchase related characteristics (independent variables) including age, gender, education level, average household monthly income, family size, health consciousness, periodicity of purchase, source of vegetables, nature of vegetables consumed, preferred vegetable category, average monthly expenditure on vegetables, proximity to outlet, and quantity of vegetables purchased per month were studied. The percentage analysis of these independent variables revealed that majority of respondents were under medium category. The consumer behaviour (dependent variable) was also studied. The consumer behaviour was analyzed based on the cumulative effect of consumer attitude, consumer preference, consumer decision making, and consumer intensions (store choice behaviour). Based on the analysis of data, it was found that majority (80.83%) of the consumers were having moderately favourable attitude towards vegetables. About 65 per cent were having medium preference for vegetables and a chi square analysis revealed that there was a dependence between consumer preference and their locality. More than 69.17 per cent of respondents were moderately favourable decision makers in the purchase of vegetables and a chi square analysis revealed that there was a dependence between consumer decision making and their locality. Majority (77.50%) of them were having medium intentions to purchase from an outlet and a chi square analysis revealed that there was no dependence between consumer intensions and their locality. The majority of respondents (77.50%) were exhibiting moderately favourable consumer behaviour towards vegetables. The student‟s t test was performed for the comparative analysis of consumer behaviour for different combinations of consumers. The results revealed that there was a significant difference between urban and rural consumers, rural mixed and rural vegetarian, urban mixed and urban vegetarian, urban vegetarian and rural vegetarian, mixed consumer of 2 rural panchayats, male and female consumers and there was no significant difference between urban mixed and rural mixed, and mixed consumers of 2 urban wards. The awareness of rural and urban families about organic vegetables and their outlet were analyzed and found that majority (70%) of them were of medium category. Most of them have received awareness regularly from friends and relatives(57.50%), occasionally from newspaper(60.83%), and never(70.83%) from magazines. The knowledge and adoption of consumers on KAU recommended practices to remove pesticide residue was studied and it was observed that most of them were having medium knowledge (84.17%) and followed medium adoption (40.83%). Other practices adopted by respondents to remove pesticide residue in vegetables were tap water washing followed by cooking, and dipping in sodium chloride solution. The correlation between consumer behaviour and 10 independent variables revealed that three of the variables i.e age, education level, proximity to outlet had positive and significant correlation and two of variables i.e average household monthly income and average monthly expenditure on vegetables had negative and significant correlation with consumer behaviour. The suggestions identified for creating awareness about safe food habits among the consumers were: The social media should promote organic outlets for vegetables through advertisements, mass media awareness should be promoted by competent authorities to purchase vegetables from small and marginal farmers rather than profit oriented outlets considering their freshness and less pesticide residue. The department of agricultural development and farmer‟s welfare can impart training to people in residential areas regarding the harmful effects of consuming contaminated vegetables and measures to remove the pesticide residues in vegetables. The department can also provide training to people to cultivate vegetables in homesteads like terrace cultivation with eco-friendly practices. The study revealed that majority of the respondents were showing moderately favourable behaviour towards vegetables. There was a significant difference between the consumer behaviour of rural and urban consumers. The prime reason could be the socio-economic and cultural differences in urban area and rural area. The knowledge and adoption of consumers on KAU recommended practices to remove pesticide residue had fallen under medium category. All these findings demand a need for creating awareness in society regarding the use of safe food and promotion of organic vegetables.
Open Access
Technology needs and risks assessment of specialised homegardens
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2018) Sreelakshmi, C; KAU; Allan Thomas
The study entitled "Technology needs and risks assessment in specialised homegardens‘ was conducted at Thiruvanathapuram district covering 60 homegardens with 12 respondents each from the five agro-ecological units. The objective of the study was to delineate the technology needs, categorize the different dimensions and the risk of specialisations in homegardens. The study also focused to delineate extent of horizontal cum vertical integrations, constraints and solutions as perceived by the homegarden farmers who incorporated specialisations in their homegardens. The personal characteristics (independent variables) of the specialised homegarden farmers include age, education, family size, occupation, annual homegarden income, effective homegarden area, attitude, extension contact, extension participation and market orientation. The technology needs and risk assessment as perceived by specialised homegarden farmers were the other variables of the study. The maximum crop dominance (numeric dominance) was noticed for coconut (1.89) followed by banana (1.94), rubber (2.32), tapioca (3.45), vegetables (3.67), yams and colocasia (4.22) and arecanut (4.60) in the decreasing order of dominance. The extent of horizontal diversification revealed that 60 per cent of the specialised homegardens had 4 or more than 4 tiers of diversification, whereas 61.6 per cent of the specialised homegardens had less than 3 levels of vertical diversification. Value addition technology needs (1.93) were more when compared to production (2.58) and protection (2.23) in dominant crops as perceived by the respondents. Similarly for Animal Husbandry components, technologies related to goat (2.00) were more required when compared to cow (2.67) and poultry (2.50). Under the dimensions of technology delineated, economic dimension was felt the most important by both specialised homegarden farmers and Agricultural Officers. Under economic dimension, regularity of returns (E5), income generation potential (E2) and initial cost (E1); under technical dimension, flexibility (T12), desirability (T14) and availability of supplies (T15); under environmental dimensions, sustainability (Ev18): under socio-economic dimension, social acceptability (SC19); under psychological dimensions, attitude (P 1); under human resource dimensions, physical labour requirement (HR 26) and skilled labour (HR 27) were perceived to be important by both specialised homegarden farmers and Agricultural Officers. There also exists positive and significant relationship between the independent variables viz. extension contact and extension participation with technology needs at 1 % level significance. The benefit cost ratio as perceived by the farmers undertaking specialisations at the time of data enumeration showed that ornamentals derived maximum profit (B:C ratio-3.44) followed by rubber (3.15), livestock - cow (2.76), fruit trees (2.4) and aquaculture (2.15). On analysis of risks it was found that maximum risks was for homegarden with floriculture as specialisation (86.41) followed by aquaculture (84.59), poultry (83.33) and the least was observed for banana (68.84) as perceived by the farmers with specialisations. However an analysis of the different types of risk in relation to the different specialisations, it was noticed that for crop based specialisations, protection risks (14.12) was the highest followed by value addition (10). Further the results of the risk assessment for different specialisations with respect to production, marketing, financial, legal and environmental risks and human resource risks revealed that marketing risks was the highest with a score of 213.72 and legal and environmental risks was perceived to be least with a score of 162.27. When different types of risk was co-related with independent variables, it was found that extension contact (0.319) and extension participation (0.341) were positively and significantly related with production risks at 1 per cent level of significance. Similarly occupation (0.280) and effective homegarden area (0.279) were positively and significantly related with marketing risks at 5 per cent level significance. Lack of timely skill based extension service, lack of poor harvest and storage facilities, lack of markets for specialised homegarden products were the primary constraints which needed utmost importance as perceived by the specialised homegarden farmers. Solutions as perceived by the respondents included frequent field visit by extension officials, provision of subsidies, market cluster approach to increase profit and reduce risks and farmer friendly homegarden suited implements to face labour shortage. However, agricultural officer‘s primary suggestions include market intelligence-resource pool marketing, nurturing innovation platform, provision of incentives and rewards for performing specialised homegardens for augmenting the specialised homegardens in terms of space all over Kerala. Technology interventions suitable to the specialisations, appropriate dimensions of technology perceived by the farmers along with risk mitigating strategies could definitely make homegardens a well-established agricultural production system. Scaling up of extension activities for promoting specialisations in homegardens by competent authorities combined with effective action from policy makers can enhance the welfare of the farmers and also the economic development of the state.
Open Access
Mainstreaming climate resilience into agricultural development: readiness of the extension system in Kerala
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2018) Anseera, T P; KAU; Jiju, P Alex
Mitigating the impact of climate change requires mainstreaming climate resilience into agricultural systems through research, awareness building, standardization of new cultivation practices and introduction of adaptation practices, all of which call for targeted extension delivery, special support packages, action research programmes and participatory problem solving. Reorientation of the extension delivery system by equipping the extension institutions with scientific content and action programmes to propagate the strategies to mitigate climate change is imminent. Kerala, with its receding share of agriculture is under the pressure of climate change. The study attempted to appraise the readiness of the public extension system to face the challenge of climate change in Kerala in terms of the institutional and financial support available and find out the role played by various agencies. The study also assessed the extent of vulnerability at the farm level, delineated the dimensions of climate resilient agriculture and explored the level of awareness and adoption of climate resilient practices among the farming community. The sample included 40 extension personnel of the Department of Agriculture and 100 farmers drawn from 30 Grama Panchayats in Palakkad and 10 Grama Panchayats in Wayanad. Data were collected by using structured interview schedules and focused group discussions. The extent of climate change vulnerability at the farm level was assessed using Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) and Palakkad was found to be more vulnerable (0.14) than Wayanad (0.12). Among the dimensions of climate change delineated it was found that there are three distinct dimensions of climate change and its impact, viz. ecological, economic and social resilience. Out of the different components of ecological resilience, agro-ecological features of farming was perceived to be the key component, whereas, integrated farming approach with weather based crop insurance, enhanced seed security and alternative livelihood options would enhance economic resilience of the farming community. Adequate infrastructure and community networks to encounter climatic debacle and increased awareness on climate change would help build up social resilience. Awareness of farmers on climate change was found to be higher with respect to crop related aspects and lower in the case of soil and water related components. However, significant difference could be observed between farmers and extension personnel with regard to overall awareness on climate change and its impacts. Of the different climate resilient practices, rain water harvesting structures, integrated weed management practices and community seed bank were found to be adopted more. Farmers in Wayanad were found to have higher mean adoption index (82.83). Attributes like farm size, annual income, farming integration, access to climatological information, education, institutional support and innovativeness of the farmers were found to have significant positive correlation with awareness on climate resilient practices and adoption. Readiness of the public extension system to mainstream climate resilience was explored by analyzing 16 programmes of the Department of Agriculture. Functional components of these programmes which would be instrumental in building climate resilience to the system were identified and financial support to each of them was assessed. ‘Vegetable development programme’ was found to have maximum functional components that could address climate resilience. However, financial outlay of these programmes from 2013-14 to 2017-18 showed higher compound growth rate for ‘soil and root health management and productivity improvement’ interventions. Considering both the outlay and number of programme components, extension support (4.88) and crop production (4.69) interventions were found to have more readiness to combat climate change. In view of the positive and significant relationship between climate change awareness and adoption of resilient practices, it is important that the farming community is scientifically oriented towards building climate resilient agriculture. Shortfalls in institutional and financial support should be sealed with redesigning each development programme with adequate components to address climate change.
Open Access
Skill gap analysis among the agricultural graduates in Kerala
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2018) Nagendra; KAU; Helen, S
Skills are the abilities acquired through systematic efforts to carry out the activities which require technical and scientific approach. Employability skills make people confident in getting and performing the job in the most effective manner throughout their professional career. The current job market is changing dramatically and there is demand and supply mismatch between expected and satisfactory skill level. There is a need to focus on enhancing the skills of the agricultural graduates to empower them to manage the agricultural profession in the most effective manner. A sample size of 120 agricultural graduates were selected using the proportionate sampling procedure from the three agricultural colleges providing graduation in agriculture under Kerala Agricultural University and 30 employers of agricultural graduates were selected randomly to assess the skills demanded by the employers of agricultural graduates. The demanded skills were grouped under three factors viz., core employability skills, professional skills and communication skills to compute skill gap between demanded skills of the employers of agricultural graduates and self-assessed skill levels of agricultural graduates The results showed that more than two-thirds of agricultural graduates were from rural background and finished schooling in rural areas. It was observed that nearly four-fifths of the fathers (81.66%) of the respondents had college education and 47.50 per cent of them had government jobs as their profession, while 54.16 per cent of their mothers were homemakers. More than three- fourths of the agricultural graduates (76.66%) belonged to the medium to high category of additional exposure while achievement motivation level was found as above average among the agricultural graduates. Teaching was the most preferred career option among agricultural graduates followed by agricultural research and development, administrative/managerial positions, banking and agricultural marketing jobs. The overall skills demanded by the employers of agricultural graduates were worked out with the composite index of 80.59, while present overall skill level among agricultural graduates was recorded with a composite index of 66.04 and the difference of index 14.54 was observed as the skill gap among the agricultural graduates of Kerala. Core employability skills with an index value of 83.28 were the most demanded skills by the employers of agricultural graduates than other skills. Highest skill gap was observed in the case of communication skills with an index value of 19.09. Team work (90.80), interpersonal skill (90.20), leadership skill (88.20), self- confidence (84.60), integrity (84.25), oral communication skill (84.20), positive attitude (83.80), creativity (83.60), self-presentation skill (83.20) and problem solving skill (81.60) were the most demanded top ten skills by the employers of agricultural graduates. Team work (79.06), empathy (77.91), integrity (76.40), responsibility (75.03), adaptability (73.33), leadership skill (72.66), customer service skill (72.16), self- confidence (71.98), positive attitude (70.94) and oral communication skill (70.43) were observed as top ten existed skills among the agricultural graduates of Kerala. The highest skill gap was observed in the case of self-presentation skill (23.32) followed by information skill (22.71), interpersonal skill (22.47), information and communication technology skill (21.47) and critical thinking skill (20.96). These skill gaps invite the attention of the policy makers of higher education of agriculture sector to enhance the skill level of the agricultural graduates. Whereas customer service skill (1.44), empathy (1.69), adaptability (4.47), responsibility (5.37) and management of people (5.38) had low skill gap among the agricultural graduates of Kerala. Nature of place of education up to secondary education, educational status of parents, occupational status of parents, additional exposure, achievement motivation and career options of the graduates expressed a positive and significant relationship to the skill level of the agricultural graduates of Kerala. Considering the diversified needs of prevailing agricultural situation advanced course curriculum may be designed to bridge the skill gap among agricultural graduates. Establishment and effective utilization of language labs may improve the soft skills of the graduates. Periodic professional mentoring, updating course content regularly based on the current demands in the job market and active involvement of placement cells for employability audit will contribute in building employability skills of agricultural graduates.
Open Access
Scenario analysis of cardamom growers in cardamom hill reserves of Kerala
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2018) Anju, S; KAU; Kishore Kumar, N
The present study entitled "Scenario analysis of cardamom growers in cardamom hill reserve of Kerala "was conducted on March 2018 to April 2018 in three blocks of Idukki district with the objectives: to study the current scenario of cardamom production system and analysis of the socio-economic situation among growers and good agricultural practices (GAP) and to enumerate the present challenges with respect to ecological, climatic changes as well as to explore the health externalities of cardamom growers and labourers. The study was carried out in three blocks of Idduki district namely Kattappana, Nedumkandam and Adimali, which comes under Cardamom Hills Reserve (CHR) zone. Twenty growers and ten agricultural labourers were randomly selected from each of these blocks making a sample of ninety respondents. Data was collected using a of pre- tested and well- structured interview schedule. The data’s were analysed using different statistical tools. On the analysis of data, it was found that the area under cardamom cultivation has significantly reduced in the past years. Cardamom was cultivated in an area of 40,867 ha in 1997 and it declined to 39,080 ha by the year 2017. The productivity of cardamom had increased tremendously from 130 Kg/ha to 400 Kg/ha over a decade. The major findings of the study was that majority of the farmer respondents were middle aged with sufficient farming experience, with agriculture as their primary occupation and none of them were illiterate. Majority (65.00 %) of the respondent farmers had an annual income of more than four lakh and 56 per cent of agricultural labourers had an annual income less than one lakh. Majority (66.66%) of the growers were in medium category of economic motivation, risk orientation, scientific orientation. Nearly three fourth of the growers had medium level of innovative proneness and decision making ability. As high as (81.66 %) of the growers had medium level of credit orientation and market orientation (83.33%). Less than half (48.00 %) and 11.67 per cent of the growers had low and high level of adoption respectively. The data subjected to correlation analysis between good agricultural practices and fifteen independent variables revealed that two variables viz., age and farming experience had negative and significant correlation and education status and credit orientation had positive and significant correlation. The major constraints faced by cardamom growers are: not getting the cardamom registration card was a great concern among the growers, non-availability and high cost of labour, price fluctuation and marketing problem, lack of cardamom grading facilities, lack of support price based on the cardamom production, uneven rainfall pattern and changing climate, lack of irrigation facilities, man- animal conflicts, high production cost, inadequate extension services at village level. The suggestion to improve the cardamom cultivation were, establishment of cooperative societies for the procurement of cardamom will increase the direct selling of the produce through auction centers, minimum support price based on the production of cardamom as like of other food crops, then the cultivation of cardamom will increase and the farmer get the premium price, crop demonstration about improved variety and improved technologies, which will increase the adoption of new technologies and reduce the cost of cultivation of cardamom, subsidies on inputs like bio- fertilizers and pest control agent and to promote microbial products that are much cheaper and more sustainable and give best products and protect environment and the health of labourers and the local public, establishment of cardamom dryers and grading machines, introduction of the oil extraction facilities or factories, eco-tourism/ Farm tourism.

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