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ThesisItem Restricted AGRICULTURAL LAND MARKET IN GURDASPUR DISTRICT OF PUNJAB(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2011) Manpreet KaurThe study was conducted to know the present scenario of agricultural land market in Gurdaspur district of Punjab. The data pertained to the agricultural year 2008-09. Three blocks were selected i.e. Dhariwal, Kadian and Shri Hargobindpur. Out of these selected blocks, two villages from each block were selected randomly i.e, Kaler Kalan and Khunda from Dhariwal, Leel Kalan and Kahlawan from Kadian and Sandhawan Kalan and Attepur from Shri Hargobindpur. A sample of all the farmer households who had made any land transaction during the study period was taken. In this way, a total number of 137 farmers were selected, out of which 33 (24.08%) farmers leased-in, 46 (33.57%) leased-out, 41 (29.93%) sold and 17 (12.41%) farmers purchased land. In order to achieve the stipulated objectives, tabular and functional analyses were used. The proportion of farmers who sold, leased-in and leased-out land was the highest among small farmers and the lowest among medium farmers. However, the proportion of farmers who purchased land was the highest among small farmers (35.29%) and the lowest among the large farmers (5.88%). The study revealed that the small farmers were the main players of land market in the area. The expenditure on foreign migration and expenditure on purchase of land had positively and significantly influenced agricultural land sale market. However, in land purchase market, the contribution of factors like salary income, agricultural income, income from abroad was positive and significant. The factors like, less returns from the small farm holdings and division of land made positive and significant contribution in the land lease-in market. Similarly, the factors like irrigation problem, no earner in the family and old age had positively and significantly influenced the agricultural land leased-out market.ThesisItem Restricted SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT OF SELF HELP GROUPS FORMED BY NON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOs) IN RURAL PUNJAB(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2011) Sorokhaibam Somina DeviThe present study was conducted to study the growth and to assess the impact of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) promoted Self Help Groups (SHGs) on various socio-economic parameters of the member households in Punjab state. Five NGOs were randomly selected and further four SHGs were selected randomly from each NGO making a total of 20 groups and out of these five members each were selected making a total sample of 100 respondents. The reference year of the study was 2012-13. The results of the study showed that in Punjab up to March 2012, 17543 SHGs were linked with credit to the extent of ` 1588 million and a total of 48 NGOs were working as SHG Promoting Institutions (SHPIs). SHGs had the impact on saving, income, assets formation, employment, and other social aspects of the members. An average of ` 5414 was being saved by the members annually after joining the SHGs, which is almost 2.6 times more than the amount saved in pre SHG situation. After joining the SHGs, average annual income of the members increased to ` 82960 showing about 29 per cent increase from the pre SHG situation. The average value of assets increased to ` 80279 in post SHG situation showing an increase of 39 per cent over the pre-SHG situation. About 88 per cent of the members were engaged in various economic activities after joining the groups. Majority of the members revealed that their influence on economic resources, decision making ability and the status of their family in the society had increased after joining the groups. The major problems faced by the members were found to be the lack of training and capacity building, non-cooperation from the banks and marketing problems. The study suggested that the socio-economic impact of the SHG led to increase in income and employment. But it requires a lot more efforts on part of the Government, NGOs as well as the banking sector to promote SHGs in the state. There is a crucial need to focus on awareness programmes, imparting training and developing entrepreneurial skills among the rural poor.ThesisItem Open Access Agricultural labour employment in Punjab(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2011) Yendrembam Latika DeviThe study was undertaken with aim (i) to examine the pattern and change in agricultural labour employment in Punjab, (ii) to decompose change in agricultural labour employment among different components, and (iii) to study the impact of different factors on labour employment in agriculture. To meet objectives, the cross-section data for year 1985-86 and 2006-07 were collected from the “Comprehensive scheme to study the cost of cultivation of principal crops in Punjab”. The study revealed that on sample farms, the overall cropping intensity increased from 184 per cent in 1985-86 to about 199 per cent in 2006-07. Wheat and paddy were the major crops, together occupying about 53 per cent of gross cropped area in 1985-86, which further increased to about 73 per cent in 2006-07. Cotton and fodder were the other main crops, but percent area under these declined overtime. Over the study period, per hectare use of human labour in state agriculture declined by about 23 per cent i.e. from 1089 man hours in 1985-86 to 839 man hours during 2006-07. Use of family labour and total hired labour declined by about 38 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively and the magnitude of decline was relatively more on the large size farm categories as compared to smaller ones. Among individual crops, the substantial fall in use of human labour in wheat, paddy and potato indicated overtime large scale mechanization along with increased use of weedicides in these crops. During the same time period the human labour use has been gone up in cotton, sugarcane, maize and basmati, thus indicating relative low pace of mechanization for some cultural operations of these crops, whereas the productivity had been increased significantly. Overtime change in technology of crop production had strong negative effect on human labour use and contributed maximum towards its decline in the per hectare crop cultivation. Among various factors the value of agricultural output, use of bullock labour, tractor, fertilizers and irrigation had shown positive impact on human labour employment. Whereas farm size, use of weedicide, combine harvester and increase of wage rate in state affect the agricultural labour employment adversely.ThesisItem Open Access FINANCIAL INCLUSION AMONG THE MARGINAL AND SMALL FARMERS IN LUDHIANA DISTRICT OF PUNJAB(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2011) Sitang, NanungThe study entitled „Financial Inclusion among marginal and small farmers in Ludhiana district of Punjab‟ aimed at studying the over time flow of formal agricultural credit, extent of formal credit facilities and reasons for financial inclusion/exclusion by the respondents in the district. Two stage stratified sampling technique was used with block as first stage sampling unit and village as second unit. Two farm categories were considered based on their operational holdings, i.e. marginal and small farmers. From each village, 50 marginal and small farmers were randomly selected, thus forming a sample of 100 farmers. The study indicated a significant increase in the institutional agricultural flow in the district during the last ten years. However, the total and per holding agricultural credit advances at constant prices were lower as compared to the current prices. Only 2.40 per cent and 5.74 per cent was the share of formal credit system in the creation of farm assets and purchase of farm livestock of the respondents, respectively. The average operational holding of the respondents was 3.96 acres. Only the marginal farmers were found leasing out their land due to considerably small land holding with comparatively high operational costs. The level of income was found to be low thus; expenditure level and level of savings were also low. Seventy five per cent of the farmers reported low income as the main discouragement factor from having a frequent and healthy links with formal credit systems. Majority of the farmers were found taking short-term loans, few medium term loans, while none of them took long term loans. Ten per cent of the respondents were found to be financially excluded from the various formal credit sources, in the study area. The analysis brought out that the number of respondents financially inclusive up to the extent of one level were more in the Mangat block than in Pakhowal block while up to the extent of level two was more in the Pakhowal than in Mangat block. Overall, about 85 per cent was the share of institutional credit and about 15 per cent was the share of non-institutional credit in total credit. Majority of these farmers were account holders in co-operative banks, while few had savings accounts in the commercial banks. The selected farmers of Pakhowal block were more aware and had better access to credit institutions than the Mangat block. Only 58 per cent of the selected farmers had KCC. Low income, complicated and time consuming procedures, bribes to patwaris and agents, unawareness, high rate of interest, easy access to non-institutional credit sources, illiteracy, poor and difficult physical access, absence of rural branches and hostile staff behavior were reported as the major constraints of financial inclusion by the respondents.ThesisItem Restricted Diversification of rural economy: A case study of a village (Ludhiana district)(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2012) Rai, Harkamalbir SinghThe present case study has been carried out with the objectives to examine the diversification in cropping pattern, diversification towards allied activities and non-farm activities in the village Pherurain in Ludhiana district of Punjab. A sample of 153 households comprising of 89 farm families (46 small, 32 medium and 11 large), 27 allied families and 37 non-farm families were selected from the village. Data with respect to socio economic profile, cropping pattern, investment, occupation, income, etc. were collected for the years 2000-01 and 2010-11 on specially designed schedules through personal interview method. Data was analyzed using various statistical and mathematical techniques such as Hirschman-Herfindahl Index, Mann Whitney U-test, stepwise log linear regression, averages, percentages, etc. It was observed that wheat and rice were the dominant crops covering about 44 and 41 per cent of gross cropped area. The area under cotton and sugarcane was almost eliminated during the study period due to various production, marketing and environmental constraints. Area under vegetables has increased during the period under study. The crop diversification index in the village declined from 0.39 to 0.32 during Kharif and 0.23 to 0.20 during Rabi season during the same period which indicates that farmers are moving towards specialization except in the case of medium farmers whose DI increased significantly during Kharif season. Some members of the farm households changed their profession from agriculture to some other activities. Investment on farm machinery, implements and livestock was increased over time. Number of persons involved in self employment, government and private jobs has increased while the farm labor in the village decreased due to increase in non-farm employment opportunities around the village such as establishment of industry in the nearby towns. To increase the crop diversification it is suggested that government should introduce and effectively implement remunerative support price policy for alternative crops to wheat and rice. Serious efforts should be made to improve the quality of rural education to enhance their skills and livelihood. To increase the income and employment of the rural households, non-farm sector should be encouraged.ThesisItem Restricted Relationship of Locale and Intelligence with Environmental Awareness among School Children(2011) Grewal, DaljeetKaurThe investigation entitled‘Relationship of Locale and Intelligence with Environmental Awareness among School Children’ aimed to assess the level of Environmental Awareness and Intelligence among rural and urban school children. The study was based on a sample of 200 (100 boys and 100 girls) school children in the age range of 14-16 years. The sample was randomly drawn from four Government High and Senior Secondary Schools selected purposively from rural as well as urban areas of Ludhiana district.Environment Attitude Scale developed by Tajwas used to assess the level of environmental awareness among school children. Standard Progressive Matrices Scale developed by Raven was used to assess the intelligence level of the respondents. Results revealed anon-significant gender differences between male and female respondents with regard to environmental awareness. Females were found to have high mean scores as compared to males.However, significant locale differences were observed between environmental awareness andthe locale of the respondents.A significant difference was found between Intelligence and locale of the respondents while a non significant difference was found in the level of intelligence with gender of the respondents.Intelligence was found to be significantly affecting the health & hygiene, wild life, forests, polluters, population explosion, environmental concerns and total environmental awareness of the school children. A non-significant association was found between environmental awareness and gender of the respondents. The locale of the respondents was significantly associated with the different dimensions of environmental awareness like health & hygiene, forests, population explosion,environmental concerns and overall environmental awareness whereas non-significantly associated with wild life, and polluters. A significant association was found between Intelligence and locale of the respondents while it was nonsignificantly associated with gender of the respondents. Females were found to have high level of environmental awareness as compared to males.ThesisItem Restricted Ergonomic designing of classroom furniture suitable for female students(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2011) Purva JaggiPresent study entitled “Ergonomic designing of classroom furniture suitable for female students” was conducted to measure and study various parameters of existing furniture and physical environment of selected classrooms, to record the anthropometric measurements of female students, to formulate guidelines for designing of classroom furniture and to design and evaluate classroom furniture in terms of physiological parameters and subjective responses. The study was conducted in three phases: field survey, designing and construction of classroom furniture and laboratory experiments. It was found that majority of classrooms were not within comfortable levels of temperature, relative humidity and noise. Area and space available per student in the seated classrooms was also inadequate. Dimensions of furniture in the surveyed classrooms were significantly different from the recommended standards. Overall suitability of the classroom furniture was low with the mean score of 1.58. Pain, fatigue, stiffness and strain in the muscles were experienced by the students while using the classroom furniture. The formulated desk/study table height , width, depth and slope were 76 cm, 62.26 cm, 60.71 cm and 10 -15 degrees respectively. The formulated dimensions for the height, width, depth, slope and thigh clearance of the chair were 44 cm, 45.09 cm, 40 cm, 3-5 degrees and 27- 30 cm respectively. One set of classroom furniture based on the formulated dimensions was designed and got constructed and experiments were conducted on it. The experiments revealed that physiological stresses were reduced significantly in terms of heart rate, TCCW, PCW, postural deviation and muscular grip strength while working on ergonomically designed classroom furniture. Hence, it is important to use ergonomic classroom furniture to enhance the learning process by providing a rich learning environment.ThesisItem Restricted An Economic Analysis of Organic Farming in Punjab(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2010) Inder Pal SinghThe present study was conducted to assess the economic evaluation of organic farming in Punjab. The primary data were collected from 85 organic growers and 75 inorganic growers for the period 2008-09 in two districts of Punjab state viz. Patiala and Faridkot.The results revealed that the total variable cost on per acre basis for the cultivation of organic wheat and paddy was less as compared to inorganic wheat and paddy, and this difference was Rs 380 and Rs 211 for wheat and paddy. The net return over variable cost from organic and inorganic paddy was Rs 31516/acre and Rs 20229/acre for organic growers. The net return over variable cost of organic and inorganic wheat was Rs 21895/acre and Rs 16700/acre for organic growers. The difference in the yield of inorganic and organic paddy was 4.5 q/acre and it implies that organic paddy has lesser yields as compared to inorganic paddy. Similarly, the difference between the yield of inorganic and organic wheat was about 6.7 q/acre and it implies that organic wheat has lesser yields in comparison to inorganic wheat. The area under organic farming was about 26.95 percent of the total operational area in Kharif as well as Rabi season for the sample organic growers. The major percentage of the organic area was under wheat and paddy crop, which accounted for 15.02 percent of the total operational area for sample organic growers. Marketing is the main problem for its mass adoption, because there has been no price guarantee or support from any government or private agency for assured returnsThesisItem Restricted ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS OF VEGETABLE FARMING IN PUNJAB(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2011) Samra, Navjot SinghThe present study, undertaken to delve into the economic dimensions of vegetable farming in Punjab, has been based on both primary and secondary data. The importance of vegetables in the cropping pattern of Punjab over time has been ascertained by way of secondary data from 1971 onwards. The primary data, pertaining to the crop year 2008-09, collected from 60 vegetable growers, equally grouped into small (<2 hectares 5.0 acres), medium (2-4 hectares 5.0-10.0 acres) and large (>4 hectares 10 acres) land holding category, have been used to assess the remunerative worth of vegetable farming vis-à-vis size of farm holding and to examine the current market orientation of vegetable growers. The sampling technique entailed selection of two top ranking districts, namely Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar, in terms of vegetable acreage and production in the reference period TE 2008-09, followed by selection of four blocks (two from each district) and eight villages (two from each block), which were accorded equal representation in the sample selected. The study explicated that the gross cropped area (GCA) in Punjab increased from 5.7 million ha in 1970-71 to 7.9 million ha by 2008-09 registering an increase of 39 per cent. The vegetable acreage increased from 18 thousand ha to 178 thousand ha during the same period, the increase being to the tune of 705 per cent. The vegetable area in Punjab, in proportion to state’s GCA increased from 0.32 per cent in 1970-71 to 0.73 per cent by 1990-91 and has been increasing consistently thereafter and reached 2.25 per cent by 2008-09. In the farms of the respondents, the vegetable acreage increased from 28.5 per cent of GCA in 2006-07 to 34.9 per cent in 2008-09, the increase being more marked in case of small farm holders. The vegetable area, as per cent of GCA, for the year 2008-09 has been recorded as the highest (58.1 %) for small farmers, followed by that in case of medium (38.5 %) and large (29.3 %) farmers. The share of vegetable crops in total farm income happened to be the highest (78.3 %) in case of small farmers, followed by that in case of medium (60.1 %) and large (47.3 %) farm holders. The annual farm income per acre of NSA has been recorded as `57771 for small farmers, which is significantly higher (p<0.01) than that observed in the case of medium (`35607) and large (`33945) farmers, which can well be attributed to higher cropping intensity in case of small farmers as compared to that in case of medium and large farmers. The marketed surplus of small farmers was more except in case of potato, and vegetables were mostly disposed off through commission agents by all categories. Perishable nature, exploitation by middlemen and lack of transparency of marketing system were the major marketing risks perceived by the vegetable growers. The study conclusively establishes the remunerative worth of vegetable farming in general and for small and marginal farmers, in particular and calls for an urgent need to educate the farmers on the market orientation front so as to empower them to take the utmost advantage of opportunities offered by changed market scenario, particularly so in case of vegetables. Key words:
