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ThesisItem Embargo Status and Performance of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in Selected States of India(Punjab Agricultural University, 2024) Sandhu, Karanvir Singh; Pankaj KumarThe present study was undertaken with the objectives to study the status, performance, linkages and problems of Famer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra. Fifteen FPOs were selected for the study, five from Punjab, Haryana and ten from Maharashtra. Five management committee members from each FPO were selected, making a total of 75. 300 members farmers from the FPOs were selected using probability proportional to number of member farmers in each FPO. Data were collected by personal interview method. It was observed that majority of the FPOs originated post-2015 with primary engagement in cereals and vegetables crops. Majority had warehouses, collection centres and input shops. Farmer‟s reliance on experts from FPOs was highest amongst all the extension contacts in Maharashtra whereas, pesticide dealers were most contacted in Punjab and Haryana. Exposure to digital platforms than traditional media with YouTube emerged as the most dominant media with first rank in both the regions. Most of farmers across both regions had medium economic motivation and risk-bearing capacities. Consumption of quality food, balanced diet, access to educational information and adult education witnessed an increase in Maharashtra. Enhanced social empowerment was evident across both regions with Maharashtra depicted a higher increase. About half of farmers in Punjab and Haryana were satisfied, whereas about 40 per cent of farmers in Maharashtra were very satisfied with FPOs. Majority of farmers in Punjab and Haryana relied on Co-operative Banks/Societies and informal channels and about two-third farmers in Maharashtra were also dependent on Co-operative Banks/Societies for credit requirements. A stronger financial support was exhibited by FPOs in Maharashtra for the members. While private dealers remained central for all agri-input requirements, co-operative agencies held significant position particularly for seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. FPOs in Maharashtra took a lead in training initiatives with government agencies playing a noticeable role in both regions for capacity building. Extent of linkage of member farmers with FPOs was high for immediate necessities like credit for inputs, fertilizers and pesticides in Punjab and Haryana. The private sector was found to be dominant in fulfilling the input requirements of FPOs in Punjab and Haryana, while Maharashtra had a diverse supply system for agri-inputs. Linkages for technical support in Punjab and Haryana primarily depended on government departments. FPOs in Punjab and Haryana were mainly dependent on member farmers for procurement, whereas Maharashtra demonstrated a comprehensive strategy. Lack of transport facilities (47.00%), crop insurance facilities (42.00%), processing facilities (42.00%), adequate knowledge about cultivation practices (40.00%) and credit facilities (39.33%) were the major problems of member farmers. Some of the major challenges of FPOs were huge capital requirement for starting FPO (80.00%), non-cooperative attitude of members (66.67%), ineffective linkages (66.67%), political affiliation of members (50.67%), price fluctuation of agricultural produce (41.33%) and lack of technical experts (45.33%).ThesisItem Embargo Content Analysis of Horticultural Crop Section in PAU Kisan App(Punjab Agricultural University, 2023) Thakur, Lipika; Garg, LavleeshThe current study, named "Content Analysis of Horticultural Crop Section in PAU Kisan App," aimed to analyze the content related to horticulture crops in the app, examine user reactions, and assess user satisfaction with the app. The study focused on four districts with the largest production areas, including two vegetable crops and two fruit crops. The list of users was obtained from the Directorate of Extension Education, and a total of 200 respondents were picked from this list. In addition, 20 Horticultural officials were chosen as well. The data was gathered via an interview schedule. The study found that 51.50 per cent of the participants was within the age range of 35 to 45 years, while 38 per cent had obtained a graduate degree. Approximately one-third of the respondents possessed land holdings of moderate size. The reading ease category of content was easy, fairly easy and difficult. Photographs were readily accessible and most of them were clear. The material was determined to be highly adequate compared to the package of practices. The titles were entirely appropriate, and the percentage of technical terminology used ranged from 5.8 per cent to 11.8 per cent. The app was deemed moderately appealing by most of the participants. The participants exhibited a moderate level of extension contact and innovativeness. Over 50 per cent of the participants also indicated that the content was moderately practical, moderately beneficial, and moderately motivating. The study's findings indicated that most respondents perceived the sentence length as short and the language as easily understandable. Over 50 per cent of the participants exhibited a good degree of comprehensibility (69 %), relevance (67.50 %) and timeliness (57.50 %) of the provided content. The respondents expressed satisfaction with the contents of the PAU Kisan app. The primary recommendation proposed was to incorporate a feedback section, provide detailed information, regularly update weather forecasts, and make information about the Kisan mela accessible.ThesisItem Restricted Adoption of cultivation practices and marketing techniques by potato growers of Doaba region of Punjab(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2023) Koundal, Smeeksha; Koundal, Smeeksha; Kuldeep Singh; Kuldeep SinghThe study entitled “Adoption of cultivation practices and marketing techniques by potato growers of Doaba region of Punjab” was undertaken with the objectives to study the extent and level of adoption, various potato marketing channels, economics of potato cultivation and constraints faced by the potato growers in adoption of recommended potato cultivation practices. Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur district were selected for the study. From each district 100 potato growers were selected, total 200 potato growers. The data were collected through interview schedule. The findings revealed that majority of the potato growers from both the districts belonged to the age group of 42-59 years, had gained education up to senior secondary level, medium level of extension contacts, mass media exposure and low level of social participation. In Jalandhar potato was sown in October and in Hoshiarpur potato was sown in September by majority of the potato growers. Recommended seed rate, size and spacing of potato cultivation was adopted by majority of the potato growers from both the districts. In Jalandhar seed potato and in Hoshiarpur table potato was cultivated by majority of potato growers. From Jalandhar 62.81 per cent and from Hoshiarpur only 35.92 per cent of total seed production was sold to other states.Lack of government marketing facilities at right price, wide prices fluctuation, high fertilizer‟s cost and labour unavailability at right time was the major constraints faced by potato growers from both the districts.ThesisItem Restricted Content Analysis of PAU Kisan App for Major Crops(Punjab Agricultural University, 2023) Urmila Krishna; Lakhwinder KaurThe present study entitled “Content Analysis of PAU Kisan App for Major crops” was undertaken with objectives to analyse the content of app under major crops, to study the reactions of readers towards it, to find out the problems faced by users and to get suggestions of users. Total five crops were selected and under each crop two districts having maximum area of production was selected for the study. From the list procured from Directorate of Extension education 150 farmers were selected. Similarly, 30 ADOs were selected from Integrated Human Resource Management System (iHRMS). The data was collected with the help of interview schedule. The study revealed that 54 per cent of the respondents belonged to age group of 17 to 34 years and 50.66 per cent were graduate. One third of the respondents had medium land holding. The reading ease category of content was standard and fairly difficult. Photographs were completely available but clarity was less for many of them. The sufficiency level of content found high as compared to package of practices. The headings given were completely suitable and percentage of technical term used varied between 7.50 per cent to 14.05 per cent. Majority felt the interface of app less attractive. The findings of the study further reported that more than half of the respondents opinioned that sentence used was moderate in length, language was easy to understand and information was completely available. They also felt high level of understandability (55.33%) and trustworthiness (50.66%), medium level of timeliness (47.33%) and relevancy (50.66%). The independent variables viz. total land holding, mass media exposure, innovativeness, and extent of participation in extension activities significantly related to perceived understandability, trustworthiness and relevancy of app. Major problems faced by respondents were lack of contact number of subject matter specialists, lack of in-depth information, faulty feedback facilities, lack of timely updates and poor network connectivity. The major suggestion put forward was to include options for posting queries and online purchase, elaborate information, include value addition and price information.ThesisItem Embargo Impact and Coping Mechanisms of COVID-19 Pandemic on Scientists in State Agricultural Universities of Northern India(Punjab Agricultural University, 2022) Kar, Shreya; Manmeet KaurThe study entitled “Impact and Coping Mechanisms of COVID-19 Pandemic on Scientists in State Agricultural Universities of Northern India” was undertaken with the objectives, of studying the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on scientists in State Agricultural Universities of northern India, studying the coping mechanisms adopted by them against the impacts of COVID-19 and the institutional strategies designed for preparing the scientists with regard to COVID-19 pandemic. 203 scientists were selected from PAU where 101 of them were female and 102 were male while, 77 scientists were selected from CSK HPKV where 27 of them were female and 50 were male. 20 scientists were selected from KVKs by random sampling where 10 were female and 10 were male. Thus, a total sample of 300 scientists was selected for this study from both the SAUs and 10 KVKs. The data was collected with help of an interview schedule constructed for the scientists in SAUs and a questionnaire for the KVK scientists. The findings revealed that in both the SAUs and KVKs, average social, physical, economic and professional impact index was increased during complete lockdown than before pandemic and these impacts except physical impact was reduced during partial lockdown. Average psychological impact index was also increased during lockdown than before pandemic. Most of the scientists perceived mixed feelings with regard to the extent of happiness and anxiety both. Social impact had a positive and significant relationship with professional and psychological impact whereas professional impact had a positive and significant relationship with psychological impact. Professional impact had positive and significant relationship with physical impact. During complete lockdown gender, family size and COVID-19 infection significantly affected the social impact whereas during partial lockdown gender and family size were significantly associated with social impact. During complete and partial lockdown age and COVID-19 infection had a significant physical impact. COVID-19 infection to themselves and family members had a significant economic impact. During lockdown gender, COVID-19 infection to themselves and family members had a significant psychological impact. All of the scientists used social media as a coping mechanism. Majority of them from PAU, CSK HPKV and KVKs preferred online meetings in the future. Among the institutional strategies, 50% strength of working staff during covid-19 was the highly implemented strategy in PAU and CSK HPKV whereas work from home policy and online training programmes and webinars for farmers were the highly implemented strategies in KVKs. It is recommended that online education and trainings should be strengthened the scientists to prepare for such pandemics in future.ThesisItem Restricted Behaviour Analysis of Different Stakeholders Regarding Online Agricultural Education(Punjab Agricultural University, 2023) Ahmad Mubasher Wahab Zada; Pankaj KumarThe present study was undertaken with the objectives to develop attitude scales for both formal and non-formal agricultural education, measure attitude, knowledge and satisfaction of stakeholders regarding online formal and non-formal agricultural education. Study was conducted in Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. A list of stakeholders i.e. students, teachers, organizers of non-formal education and others participants who ever engaged in online educational activity were prepared. A total of 400 respondents consisting of 150 students, 50 teachers, 150 participants and 50 organizers were selected. Data was collected from the respondents by using distributed questionnaire approach. The findings of the study revealed that majority of the respondents (65.33%) from students were in the age group of 22-27 years. However, majority of respondents (50.00%) from teachers were in the age group of 30-40 years. Whereas, majority of the respondents (68.00%) from participants were in the age group of 21-28 years and majority of respondents 52.00 per cent from organizers were in the age group of 31-39 years. Majority of the students (78%) had used lecture notes, (78%) text books and (75.33%) as well as teachers (84%) had used text books, (62%) lecture notes and internet browsing (48%) as a source/method of information. Most of the participants were using WhatsApp (50%) and online forums or news groups (45.33%). Majority of the student (53.33%) as well as teacher (54%) respondents had a favorable attitude. In the similar manner majority of the participants (52%) and organizers (60%) had a favorable attitude. For measuring a knowledge test was prepared consisted of twenty questions. Most of the students (50.00%), teachers (52%), participants (56%) and organizers (58%) belonged to medium knowledge level, As far the overall satisfaction is concerned majority of students (53.33%), teachers (62%), participants (66.66%) fallen in the high satisfaction level category and organizers (58%) were in medium satisfaction level category. Stress on eyes, mental stress, lack of practical education, lack of discipline and students’ laziness were the prominent problems faced by all stakeholders.ThesisItem Embargo Development of Instructional video on Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) in potato based cropping system in Punjab(Punjab Agricultural University, 2023) Ramneek Kaur; Lopamudra MohapatraThe study was planned with the objectives of formulation of Video-script for production of an instructional video on Integrated Nutrient Management (INM), its validation, and the assessment of its effectiveness in small training groups of farmers. The research initiated with script development in English and Punjabi language, which was designed using Punjab Agricultural University's Packages of Practices for Rabi and Kharif seasons. Storyboarding of this script involved designing visual elements with respect to their corresponding voice-overs, which was validated through three rounds of the Delphi technique, involving 24 subject matter specialists. Following script validation, the video was produced using various tools and applications, the validation of which involved assessing the comprehension of 20 farmers practicing potato-based cropping systems. Reliability was tested with another set of 30 farmers to evaluate the video's impact on knowledge scores. The analysis thus confirmed the validity and reliability of the developed video. Furthermore, the study assessed the effectiveness of different training methods, including Video-only (T1), Lecture-cumDiscussion + Demonstration (T2), and Video + Lecture-cum-Discussion + Demonstration (T3) on farmer respondents (n=45) of three villages who trained using aforementioned treatments. The results indicated that the farmer respondents trained through combined training method (T3) showed the highest knowledge gain, followed by Lecture-cum-Discussion + Demonstration and Video training. However, the difference in the effectiveness of these three treatments was not significant. Age, farming experience, education, and social participation of respondents were found to have significant effects on knowledge scores. The findings thus highlight the potential of incorporating videos as an efficient tool for disseminating agricultural information.ThesisItem Embargo Evaluative study on management practices in kinnow crop with special reference to Phytophthora disease in Punjab.(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Sharma, Ashutosh; Garg, LavleeshThe study entitled “Evaluative study on management practices in kinnow crop with special reference to Phytophthora disease in Punjab was undertaken. 200 kinnow growers were selected from the four Districts with probability proportional to size sampling method. 92, 74, 18, 16 kinnow growers were selected from Fazilka, Hoshiarpur, Shri Muktsar Sahib and Bathinda respectively. Interview schedule was prepared and data was collected personally by interviewing kinnow growers. The age of respondents varied from 27-56 years in which 44.5 per cent belonged to age group of 37-46 years. One third of respondents had medium operational land holding and more than half (55.5%) of the respondents had medium level of knowledge about kinnow management practices of insect pests, diseases and disorders. More than half (55%) of the respondents procured kinnow plants from recommended sources i.e.PAU nursery. In general respondents applied recommended insecticides for control of insect-pests, disease and disorders. Sodium Hypochlorite was the most cost-efficient Phytophthora management practice among all the other management practices with an average price of 500 Rs. per acre. Highest average yield was obtained with the application of Ridomil Gold among all the other management practices for Phytophthora disease. Average fixed cost for planting of 110 kinnow plants per acre in orchard was 12,300 Rs. In case of average operational cost hoeing, agro-chemicals, irrigation, fertilizers, manures, training & pruning and diesel costed 8,000/- 9,000/-, 1,500/-, 5,100/-, 10,000/-, 5,000/-, and 3,800 Rs. respectively making a combined average total cost of 54,700 Rs. per acre per annum. Around 79 per cent of the respondents faced problem regarding cost of inputs.ThesisItem Embargo Attitude of University students towards gender roles(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Nath, Meghali; Sharma, PreetiThe study entitled ―Attitude of University students towards gender roles‖ was conducted to determine the attitude of University students towards gender roles, analyze the factors affecting the attitude of University students towards gender roles and compare the attitudinal difference between female and male students. For this purpose, a survey was conducted by taking a sample of 200 Punjabi students (100 females and 100 males) aged between 20-28 years from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was prepared to collect the data. The results revealed that overall half of the respondents had egalitarian attitude towards gender role. Furthermore, majority of the female students had egalitarian attitude whereas more than half of the male students had transitional attitude towards gender roles. On analyzing the relationship of the independent variables with the attitude of the students, it was found that factors such as birth order, mother‘s education, social interaction and involvement in extra-curricular activities were found to have a positive and significant correlation with the gender role attitude of the respondents. On the other hand, factors such as age, gender socialization by parents and gender discriminatory experiences faced by the students were found to have a negative impact on their attitude. Moreover, parenting type of the parents and caste of the respondents also had a significant association with the gender role attitude of the respondents. Findings suggest that mother‘s education of the students may be considered as a critical step towards nurturing gender sensitized society. Additionally, students are to be encouraged for social interaction with family, friends and advisors and also active involvement in extra-curricular activities.
