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ThesisItem Open Access Improving the socio-economic status of marginal farmers in Jorhat district of Assam through organic farming(AAU, Jorhat, 2020-06) Goswami, Gitasree; Das, Manju DuttaAgriculture is the primary source of livelihood for most of the developing countries in the world. It is the largest economic sector in India and plays a significant role in the growth and development of the nation. About 70 percent of the population in our country is directly engaged in agriculture. Agriculture not only provide people with food and raw materials but also contributes to national income by bringing in valuable foreign exchange. After the green revolution was launched in India (1967-68), substantial increase in the production of food grains was achieved through the use of improved crop varieties, higher levels of inputs of fertilizers and plant protection chemicals. But it has now been realized that the increase in production was achieved at the cost of soil health and sustainable production at higher levels is possible only by the proper use of resources, to sustain the fertility of the soil. Therefore, organic farming has become one of the alternatives, which helps to overcome these problems by limiting the use chemical-synthetic inputs and through maintaining harmony with nature. Organic farming involves holistic production systems that avoid the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and genetically modified organisms, thereby minimizing their deleterious effect on environment. The present study entitled “Improving the socio-economic status of marginal farmers in Jorhat district of Assam through organic farming” with the objectives, i) To develop a concrete understanding of the marginal farmers with special reference to knowledge, attitude and practice in organic farming, ii) To improve the capacity of marginal farmers through intervention programme on organic farming and iii) To find out the impact of intervention programme on organic farming in terms of improving the socio-economic status of marginal farmers. The study was carried out in Jorhat district of Assam state which is one of the eight North Eastern states of India. All the six (6) blocks from both the Jorhat and Titabor sub divisions were purposively selected for the present study. All total twenty four (24) villages and 480 respondents were identified for the first objective of the present study. Further, total of sixty (60) marginal farmers from respective subdivisions of Jorhat district were selected for conducting second and third objectives of the study. Data were collected by using structured interview schedule. The findings revealed that 50.21 percent respondents of the study areas belonged to middle 5 aged group i.e. (36-50 yrs). Large majority (84.17%) of respondents were married and 58.13 percent had farm size between 2.0-4.0 bigha. 57.29 percent respondents had education up to high school level, 49.58 percent had kaccha type of houses and 26.67 percent respondents engaged themselves in cultivation as main occupation and occupied as daily wage earner for cash income. 37.92 percent respondents belonged to ST/SC category, 66.04 percent possessed poultry as farm power followed by cow (65.00%). 91.67 percent respondents had mobile phone followed by television (80.83%). 55.00 percent respondents belonged to nuclear family, 57.50 percent had small size of family, 39.21 percent respondents had membership in only one formal social organization. As a whole 69.17 percent respondents belonged to medium socio-economic status category. Family land was used as cultivable land by majority of the respondents (67.08%) while 76.25 percent engaged themselves in farming without involving hired labour. It is very interesting to note that 95.63 percent respondents used seeds from their own farm. 79.17 percent respondents obtained fertilizer from their respective houses and 75.83 percent marketed their crops by themselves in the nearest market. 79.58 percent respondents had their own savings. 68.12 percent respondents had obtained agriculture related information from television. Majority of the respondents (66.02%) did not attend any training related to organic farming. Nearly half of the respondents (50.00%) never had contact with Agricultural Development Office followed by 48.96 percent with ATMA, 66.66 percent with KVK and 61.04 percent with NGO. 57.29 percent respondents sometimes had contact with AAU. Majority of the respondents (51.87%) sold their produce in the weekly market and 74.38 percent were regularly accessing mobile phone followed by watching television (70.42%). Respondents faced problems in accessing knowledge about organic farming (ranked I) followed by lack of man power (ranked II), high cost of production resources (ranked III), lack of adequate training on crop production (ranked IV) and attack crops by animals (ranked V). Majority of the respondents had medium level of achievement motivation (81.04%), economic motivation (61.45%), innovation proneness (66.13%), self-confidence (62.29%), risk bearing ability (83.12%) and leadership ability (69.37%). Majority of the respondents (62.92%) of had medium level knowledge on organic farming. 75.00 percent respondents had favorable attitude and 71.04 percent had moderate level of practice towards organic farming. The outcome of the intervention programme indicated that there were tremendous changes in knowledge and practice of the trainees. The overall picture of the knowledge level of trainees revealed differential knowledge score 5 of trainees on soil fertility (ranked I) followed by pest control (ranked II) and application of manure (ranked III) achieved after the intervention programmes. Majority of the marginal farmers were found to be in the moderate and good practice category after the intervention programmes. The percentage of marginal farmers in moderate practice category ranged from 66.67-100.00 percent, while in good practice category percentage of marginal farmers ranged from 0-33.33 percent in the four villages. Majority of marginal farmers who were in poor and moderate practice category before the intervention programmes shifted to moderate and good practice category and those from moderate, graduated to the good practice category after the intervention programmes. The results revealed significant ‘t’ values for all the four villages. This is an indicator of the effectiveness of the intervention. To fulfill the third objective, impact study was carried out after six (6) moths of intervention programmes. The data reveals that 71.67 percent improvement was observed in business of the trainees along with cultivation after the six months of intervention programmes. This might be due to the reason that training programmes have aroused an interest among them for taking up of vermicompost as a business along with farming. They (13.33%) also spend money in buying electronic equipment especially mobile phone followed by capable of engaging additional paid labour for better production of vegetable crops (10.00%). They (10.00%) also engaged in other activities as daily wage earner for cash income along with cultivation as a main occupation. Nearly 8.34 percent respondent contributed cash money for improvement of their existing katcha house followed by 8.33 percent spend for possession of cow and 8.12 percent had encouraged to join social organization after intervention programme. Very less percentage of respondents were able to buy poultry (6.67%), household furniture (6.66%) and goatery (5.00%) to enhance their farm power. Only 5.00 percent respondents became self entrepreneur i.e. engaging themselves in grocery shop as start up business along with cultivation as a main occupation. It was also found that 48.33 percent trainees earned income in between Rs. 5000 - Rs. 6000 followed by 25.00 percent between Rs. 6000 - Rs. 7000, 16.67 percent up to Rs. 5000 and 10.00 percent above Rs. 7000 per month. Trainees were also motivated to save their earned money from selling organic product as well as vermicompost in different sources. Majority of the trainees (53.33%) saved in between Rs.1000- Rs.3000 followed by 25.00 percent saved below Rs.1000, 15 percent saved in between Rs.3000- Rs.5000 and 6.67 percent saved in between Rs.5000 and above per month. The psychological behavior of the respondents was improved after six months of intervention programmes. 5 Majority of the trainees (91.67%) had medium level of innovation proneness followed by risk bearing ability (90.00%), economic motivation (85.00%), achievement motivation (81.66%), self-confidence (78.33%) and leadership ability (73.33%). It was interesting to note that 20.00 percent trainees had high leadership ability followed by self-confidence (18.34%), achievement motivation (16.67%), economic motivation (10.00%), innovation proneness and risk bearing ability (8.33%) after availing the intervention programmes.ThesisItem Open Access DEVELOPMENT OF LEARNING TOOL FOR PROMOTION OF SPATIAL INTELLIGENCE IN CHILDREN DURING CONCRETE OPERATIONAL PERIOD(AAU, Jorhat, 2020-06) Borah, Tulika; Boruah, JuriSpatial intelligence, one of the nine types of intelligence proposed by Howard Gardner (1983) has been highlighted in recent years and regarded as an integral component of human cognition. Research studies have provided evidences of relation of spatial intelligence to achievement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) streams. In the present study the investigator attempted to develop a learning tool for promotion of spatial intelligence in children during concrete operational period. An Embedded mixed method research design was adopted for the study. The sample of the study constituted of 120 children belonging to the age group of 8-11 years, who were selected randomly from three schools of Jorhat district, Assam. The young people‘s version of ‗Multiple intelligence test‘ developed by Chislett and Chapman (2005) was used as quantitative technique to assess the type of intelligence found among children under the study. In addition to it, observation and interview methods were also used. The data collected from both quantitative and qualitative methods were analysed and the results were obtained after triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data. Seven types of intelligences were identified and inter-correlations between the types of intelligences were analysed. Positive inter-correlations found among different types of intelligence indicated that, spatial intelligence of children can be developed by administering spatial tasks to children, irrespective of the type of dominant intelligence they possess. The topological framework of spatial skills proposed by Uttal et al. (2013) was followed for preparation of spatial tasks, which consists of four dimensions i.e. intrinsic-static, intrinsic-dynamic, extrinsic-static and extrinsic-dynamic. Spatial tasks in all the four dimensions were prepared and difficulty level of each task was assessed. It was found from the study that, the task difficulties of dynamic tasks were more than static tasks. Moreover it was found that, the tasks under the dimension of extrinsicdynamic were more difficult as compared to other three dimensions. A 2 way ANOVA was conducted to analyse the main effects and interactive effect of types of intelligence and dimensions of spatial tasks on performance of children in spatial tasks. The two way ANOVA test indicated that maximum differences in the performance of children in spatial tasks were accounted by different dimensions of spatial tasks (ηp 2= 0.516) than the types of intelligence (ηp 2= 0.219). Based on the analysis carried out, finally a learning tool, consisting of forty numbers of spatial tasks covering all four dimensions, was developed for promotion of spatial intelligence in children, during concrete operational period.ThesisItem Open Access DESIGN REQUIREMENTS FOR EASE OF OPERATION OF CONSUMER ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS USED FOR COOKING(AAU, Jorhat, 2020-05) Baruah, Moonty; Bhattacharyya, NanditaIn the past few years there has been a tremendous change in the consumer electronic market with availability of wide ranges of products. Though the people possess these products and are dependent on it but still they are not satisfied since they face problems while using it, especially in case of products used for cooking activities. These problems are not related to the technical problems but with usability problems while using the user interface. User interface is the panel through which the users interact with the products. It may be due to incorporation of multiple functions in the products along with digitalization of user interface; in many cases the use of products is becoming complex. There is a gap between the intention of the manufacturers and the needs and understanding of the users while using these products. Solution lies in following a framework of guidelines on design requirements for ease of operation of the products, which can reduce these usability problems of user interface. These guidelines should be based on the opinion of users, their needs, etc. This will not only increase the usability of the product but will also try to capture the market in long run. Keeping these points in view the present study was undertaken with the following objectives (1) to study the Taxonomy of user Interfaces of Consumer Electronic Products used for cooking. (2) to identify the usability problems in use of selected products. (3) to generate design requirements for ease of operation of a selected product. The study was conducted in three phases. In the phase I, data on different consumer electronic products possessed by the respondents, dependency on the products, problems faced by the users, etc were collected through a survey. For the survey a total of 200 samples were selected randomly from Jorhat town by following purposive sampling procedure. In the Phase II, a user workshop was conducted to find out the design requirement of user interface. The information generated from the user workshop was used for developing mock up models/stimuli for further laboratory analyses. While developing the stimuli paired preference test was performed. Finally 32 stimuli were selected for the next phase of analyses in the laboratory. The user workshop was conducted with 40 numbers of respondents (20 percent of sampled respondents). In Phase III of the study, design requirements for user interface were generated for ease of operation of the selected product through usability study by using eye tracking experiment. The gathered data revealed that the respondents possess almost all types of electronic appliances and are dependent on it but still they are they have fear in using it. This fear is mostly because of the complicated user interfaces. In order to study the 8 usability problems, the different aspects of dimensions of taxonomy of the user interface was studied in details. It was seen from the analyses of data that user interfaces of many of the consumer electronic products are not user friendly. Especially, in case of microwave oven the interface is problematic due to the presence of many functions. From the paired preference test few guidelines came into foreface. These guidelines were people mostly preferred font size of 7.5 point with black font in white background, regarding the position of user interface the respondents mostly prefer vertical down position. Buttons were more preferred than knobs. From the eye tracking experiment three aspects were tested and it was found that the respondents prefer to have the start/stop button at the middle of the panel. The number of buttons in the interface should be adequate, it should neither be too less nor too more for ease of operation and as regards to colour contrast the mostly preferred combination found was white font in black background.ThesisItem Open Access ASSESSMENT OF ERGONOMIC RISK FACTORS AMONG FEMALE WORKERS IN VEGETABLE CULTIVATION(AAU, Jorhat, 2020-05) Devi, Manorama; Borah, RuplekhaErgonomic assessment of risk factors is one of the starting points to address the problem of work-related occupational stress. The rural women participate in a broad range of agricultural activities such as production, processing, preservation and utilization of food. In the case of vegetable cultivation, they play a key role in the entire vegetable cultivation process starting from land preparation to harvesting of vegetable crop. The present study was designed with four objectives: (1) To study the activity profile of female workers in vegetable cultivation, (2) To identify work-related health hazards experienced by the female workers, (3) To assess the prevalence of ergonomic risk factors in vegetable cultivation among female workers, and (4) To evolve suitable ergonomic measures to enhance comfort and productivity of the female workers. To conduct the study the North West Development Block of Jorhat district was selected purposively. Four villages namely Upper Deuri, Hokai Khangia, Bormer Chapori and Sonari No. 2 of North West Development Block in Jorhat district of Assam were selected. The study was conducted on 300 female workers who are actively engaged in all the activities of vegetable cultivation starting from land preparation to harvesting of vegetables. Both interview and experimental methods were followed to collect information. Modified Nordic questionnaire and body part discomfort scale were used as tools to collect information. To assess the risk factors 10 per cent from the total sample was selected, who were actively involved in all the activities of vegetable cultivation contributing 5-6 hours a day. RULA and OWAS techniques were for postural assessment; repetition was assessed by using Wiley et al. (1996) standard scale and exertion was measured by following Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale. Personal and demographic characteristics of female workers revealed that 60.33 per cent of the respondents were from the age group of 30-40 years. Majority (65.67%) of the respondents body height falls in the category of 151-155 cm and 70 per cent of the respondents body weight was in between 41-50 kg. Most of the respondents (70.67%) were having ‗mesomorph‘ body type and normal BMI. In case of caste, majority (40.33%) of the respondents were other backward class. 62 per cent of the respondents family occupation was agriculture. It was observed that land preparation (30.66%) was performed ―partially‖ by the female workers; while other tasks of vegetable cultivation such as removing of stalks and stubbles (72%), sowing (82.67%), transplanting (100%), weeding (100%), spreading of manure (100%) and harvesting (86.67%) were performed 7 ―fully‖ and irrigation (100) was performed ―rarely‖ which indicates this activity is performed by male workers. Age and years of involvement of the respondents were found to be highly significant with their extent of participation while BMI was found to have insignificant with the extent of participation of female workers in vegetable cultivation. Majority of the respondents were found to be involved in vegetable cultivation from 5-15 years. Work-rest pattern indicated that the total working time for weeding and harvesting was 8.29 hours and 8.47 hours in a day respectively, and total rest was 2.19 hours and 2.21 hours for both weeding and harvesting. Squatting and bending postures were adopted mostly by the workers in performing majority of the activities. The level of discomfort in weeding and harvesting is severe. Assessment of body part discomfort revealed that weeding and harvesting had intolerant pain in hand. The MPI (Mazziotta Pareto Index) indicates that majority (54.67%) of the respondents experienced moderate work related health hazards and 45.33 per cent of the respondents experienced severe work related health hazards. RULA score in ‗weeding and harvesting‘ were found to be the level (3-4) and (5-6) respectively which means change may be needed in the postures and work methods of weeding and immediate change is required in harvesting. OWAS score indicated that work posture in harvesting was found to have an extremely harmful effect on musculoskeletal system and immediate solution should be found to solve the posture (action level IV). Harvesting and weeding operations were found to be ‗highly repetitive‘ in nature as the cycle time obtained was within 30 seconds. Rating of perceived exertion indicated for weeding (64.33%) and transplanting (58%) activities were moderately heavy and harvesting activity (59%) was heavy. Intervention with ergonomically designed ―Brinjal picker‖ increased output efficiency by 8.16 per cent, reduced the exposure level by 30.37 per cent as well as reduced grip fatigue and exertion. 76.67 per cent of the respondents found the newly designed ―Brinjal picker‖ very comfortable. Evaluation of the newly designed ―Brinjal picker‖ expresses that exposure level; exertion and comfort were found to be highly significant with 0.00 ―p‖ value which indicates that the intervention has an effect on the female vegetable cultivators.
