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ThesisItem Embargo Interpersonal relations and problems of left behind old aged parents of emigrants: a study of rural Punjab(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Navjot Kaur; Gaganpreet KaurThe present study is an attempt to determine the interpersonal relationships of left behind old aged parents with emigrant children. The specific objectives were: (i) to examine the pattern of migration (ii) to highlight interpersonal relationships of parents with emigrant children (iii) problems and suggestions of left behind old aged. The study was conducted in Malwa and Doaba region. One district from each region and one block from each district was taken up for study. From each block, three villages were studied. Thus, six villages in all were there. Twenty respondents from one village making sample of 120 respondents were taken in all. The findings revealed that majority of the respondents were in age group of 60-70 years, had education up to secondary level and were living in pucca houses. The emigrants were in the age group of 18-28 years when they migrated and they mostly migrated to western countries. The emigrants were mostly sending money by western union (59.16%). The parents used this money to meet their daily expenses. More than half of the parents had visited abroad and stayed there up to three months. As regard to social problems, all the respondents felt socially isolated as now children were busy in their own lives. Also, 44.16 per cent were facing debts they had during children’s migration. As regard to health problems, majority were suffering from joint and knee pain. They felt insecure and also miss their children and quoted their houses as empty nests. The respondents suggested monetary help from government, free medical treatments and provision of recreational activities for left behind old aged parents.ThesisItem Embargo Women labour participation in major vegetables cultivation in Punjab(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Roy, Pritam; J. M. SinghWomen's contributions to agriculture have been neglected and under valued. Very few scientific ventures have been made in our economy to examine the actual participation of female labour in vegetable crop production. The study was conducted with specific objectives to know the input-output pattern in major vegetables grown with an emphasis on women labour participation, to compare the remuneration received by both male and female labour and to bring out the problems encountered by them and recommendation of suitable policy measures. By keeping into account the most recent area under vegetables; potato, pea and cauliflower being major vegetable crops, were selected for the study. The study was carried out in selected blocks of Jalandhar, Amritsar and Hoshiarpur districts with a sample size of 30 vegetable growers and 20 female labours for each crop, thereby making a sample of 150 respondents. According to the study's findings, female labours participate in selective operations like; harvesting and grading during potato cultivation and constitute only 23.24 per cent out of total labour used, in pea cultivation female labours participate during picking and hoeing operation and constitute 31.64 per cent of the total labour used and during cauliflower cultivation, female labours participate in transplanting, earthing up and harvesting operations and constitute 46.22 per cent of total labour used. The study also find that daily wage difference prevails between male and female labour, even the contractual wage rate is also low for female labour compared to male labour. Most of the female respondents suffered because of the seasonality of agriculture labour (91.67%) followed by dissatisfaction with the wage received (88.33%) and not having any ownership right of resources, especially land (85%). According to the study's findings, it is recommended that awareness should be created through proper extension services to men who are cultivators and be made aware of the value of women's labour in agriculture and provide them with fair financial recompense. Also suitable policy measures should be made to give female labours land rights for their empowerment and to increase the enrollment and completion rates in education, across all levels.ThesisItem Embargo Study on Women Empowerment among Farm Households in Punjab(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Jain, Mehak; Sharma, ShaliniWomen in India are the backbone of the society and important resource in agriculture and rural economy. They make essential contributions to the agricultural development, allied, household activities and pursue multiple livelihood strategies. Participation of women in agriculture varies from region to region in Punjab. So, the present study was an attempt to measure women empowerment and gender parity among farm households with specific objectives: (i) to study socio-economic profile of women respondents in selected farm households (ii) to measure empowerment of women among selected farm households (iii) to find out gender parity in selected households (iv) to identify challenges faced by women and suggest the way forward. The present study was conducted in three agro-climatic zones of Punjab state namely sub-mountainous zone, central plain zone and south-western zone. One district was randomly selected from each zone i.e. Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana and Ferozepur. Two blocks from each selected district and three villages from each block were selected randomly for the purpose of present investigation. From each selected block, forty households based on probability proportionate to three categories of farm household i.e. small, medium, large were selected randomly. Total sample size was of 240 farm households. The study found that one third of farm women were either illiterate or lowly educated, majority were not gainfully employed, were engaged in household chores (89.7%). The study found that still 12 per cent of respondents had no mobile phones of their own and half (50.8%) of farm women were not able to do any banking operations Also, majority (93.3%) of respondents had no ownership of land. Study disclosed edge of zone1 farm women in human resources followed by zone 2 and zone 3 but did not find significant difference amongst different farm size categories. Large farm households had better level of material resources. Zone 1 had high level of social resource followed by zone 2 and zone 3 and small farm women had an edge over the large farm women in this resource. In agency aspect too significant zonal association was found with zone 1 leading in it. Psychological wellbeing had significant association with farm size category while physical wellbeing showed zonal association. Among household challenges, patriarchal norms (2.04) was found major challenge (Rank I) while at community level farm women were deprived of legal rights (rank I) and unsupportive community ethics (rank II). Lack of capacity building avenues (rank I) was the challenge at market level. Government intervention is strongly needed especially in central and south western zone for training of farm women in alternative skills to promote their self-employment and financial security and hence their empowerment. Agency aspect of women need to be strengthened through education, inclusive cultural norms and family supportThesisItem Embargo Energy use efficiency of direct seeding of rice in Punjab(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Gurpreet Singh; Ranguwal, SangeetThe present study was undertaken to examine and compare the resource and energy use pattern between the direct seeded rice (DSR) and conventional puddled transplanted rice (PTR) in Sri Mukatsar district of Punjab. Primary data were collected from 120 farmers (80 DSR adopters and 40 non adopters) selected using multi-stage random sampling technique through personal interview method during the agricultural year 2021-22. The input use for DSR showed an increasing trend with the farm size except for animal labour and non-significant (NS) differences existed among the different farm categories. Similarly, output for DSR had a rising trend with the farm size. In terms of energy use, NS differences were observed among farm categories for all input energies except human labour. Both input and output energy in DSR were lesser on DSR farms (21708.61 and 87431 MJ/acre) as compared to PTR farms (24816.79 and 88451 MJ/acre) but the net energy gain for DSR (65722.57 MJ/acre) was higher than the PTR (63634.26 MJ/acre). Chemical fertilizers were the dominant source of energy contributing about 41 to 42 per cent of the total input energy (with maximum share being from nitrogenous fertilisers) in DSR and PTR respectively. Electricity consumption for irrigation use also consumed a noteworthy share of 33 to 35 per cent share for DSR and PTR respectively followed by diesel fuel (11-10%). Plant protection chemical (PPC) contributed to as high as about 4 per cent of energy use in DSR as compared to only 2 per cent share in PTR. Higher EUE of 4.03 was observed in DSR than PTR (3.56). Marginal farm category was relatively more energy efficient (4.1) as compared to small (4.07) and large farms (3.92). High energy intensity of 8.86 MJ/kg with a low energy productivity index of 0.11 kg/MJ for PTR in comparison to DSR indicated that there is room for improving energy productivity of rice crop in the traditional PTR. The TVC was significantly lower by about 16 per cent in DSR (Rs 23344.06 per acre) than PTR (Rs 27677.33 per acre) and the major share belonged to human labour i.e about 23 per cent for DSR and about 33 per cent for PTR. Machine labour followed by electricity used for irrigation accounted for about 20 per cent and 18 per cent share respectively share in TVC for both the methods. The money spent on PPC was higher by about 7 per cent in DSR (16.9%) than PTR (9.88%) and the share of seed cost was observed to be almost double for DSR (2.92%) than the PTR (1.43%).DSR method generated significant savings in the physical terms in use of machine (12.63%), fertilizers (15.06%) and irrigation water (15.90 %) in comparison to PTR. In value terms, DSR reduced the cost of human labour, machine labour, fertilizers, electricity for irrigation by 40.53, 15.10, 7.63, 15.90 per cent resp. over the PTR though it enhanced the cost of seed and PPC by 72.67 and 44.29 per cent. With marginally lower yield in DSR (2769 kg per acre) than PTR (2801.3 kg per acre), the net ROVC were higher by about 13 per cent in DSR (Rs 31482.14 per acre) than PTR (Rs 27788.41 per acre) because of lower VC in DSR. The cost in production of one kg grain using DSR was found to be lower (Rs 8.43 per kg) by about 15 per cent than in PTR (Rs 9.88 per kg). Results of binomial regression analysis indicated that among 7 statistically significant factors affecting adoption of the DSR, one per cent rise in the availability of direct seeding implements, extension contacts and DSR trainings increased the adoption level by 33, 23 and 20 per cent respectively while with increase in age it declined by 2 per cent. High transplanting cost for human labour, expert advice and non availability of required implement were the major hurdles in adopting DSR by the adopters while easily available of labour for transplanting paddy, lack of technical knowledge, diffidence in adopting DSR and non-availability of required implements were the major reasons of non adoption. Study suggested the need to generate more awareness of recommended DSR production practices; capacity building by educating/training; timely availability of required farm implements on custom hiring basis; auxiliary research and development efforts for large scale adoption of the DSRThesisItem Embargo Magnitude and determinants of indebtedness among farmers in border areas of Punjab(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Jaspreet Singh; Kingra, H.S.The present study analyzes the magnitude and determinants of indebtedness among farmers in border areas of Punjab in accordance with purpose and source of debt across various categories of farmers. A total sample of 80 farmers covering four blocks and eight villages of Pathankot and Tarn Taran districts of Punjab were taken to meet the stipulated objectives of the study. There are about 5 persons in the farm family. Irrigation with tube-wells is the predominant practice. Various land categories i.e. marginal, small, semi-medium, medium and large farms depicted average operational area of 1.75 acres, 3.34 acres, 7.68 acres, 14.05 acres and 29.40 acres, respectively. The income derived from farm activities was around 75 per cent of the total household income (Rs. 973618). Overall, 84 per cent of the farm households were indebted in border areas of Punjab and average debt per farm household was estimated at Rs. 6.33 lakh. Institutional sources are the foremost source of debt with around 90 per cent share in total household debt. Amongst the institutional sources, government banks were the major source with 48.99 per cent of the total debt. Out of the total debt, 67 per cent was used for productive purposes. As evident from the findings, farmers usually take loan at rate of interest of 5 to 7 per cent. In conclusion it is implied that one-third of the farm households took loan to meet social and consumption purposes. The share of non-institutional loan is the highest among smaller farm size categories. Hence, cooperative societies should be promoted to reduce the dependency of farmers from non-institutional sources of credit.ThesisItem Embargo Economic analysis of farmers‘ indebtedness in central region of Punjab(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Brar, Rajjit Singh; Kingra, H.S.The present study examined an economic analysis of farmers‘ indebtedness in central region of Punjab & a sample of 120 farmers belonging to different farm size categories was selected using four stage simple random sampling technique. The data were collected personally for the agricultural year 2021-22. Average operational holdings were 1.55, 3.80, 7.98, 16.17 and 53.56 acres among marginal, small, semi-medium, medium and large farm size categories, respectively. The results revealed that about 79.17 per cent of the farmers owned tractor and 20.83 per cent of the farmers did not have any tractor. The overall area under paddy was 45.99 per cent of total cropped area. However in case of rabi season, wheat covered near 46.99 per cent area and 0.68 per cent area under potato. In zaid season Potato was grown near about 0.90 per cent and maize was grown 0.68 per cent. Average annual family income of marginal, small, semi-medium, medium and large farmers was Rs. 2.57, 4.21, 7.76, 17.04 and 47.58 lakh, respectively. Share of crop income has direct relationship with farm size. The income from non-farm sources varied directly in absolute terms and inversely in percentage terms with farm size. Share of consumption expenditure on food items decreased with increase in farm size. The amount of debt owed by the Punjab areas, particularly the Jalandhar and Moga districts, is startling, 90 per cent, which is a severe problem. Debt per indebted farm household was on average Rs.7,28,505 whereas debt per farm household in the sample was on average Rs. 6,61,725. Out of the total sampled households, as much as 73.39 per cent of the farmers were taking loan from institutional sources only and 3.67 per cent were taking loan from non-institutional sources only. While the remaining 22.94 per cent were taking loan from both institutional and non-institutional sources. R square value predicts the percentage of the indebtedness triggered by the positively signified variables accounting to a value of 48 per cent. Strengthening of dairy farming, promotion of cooperative societies and precision of off-farm employment opportunities by the government may help in increasing the income of farmers and reducing their indebtedness. Farmers should be made aware of curtailing the expenditure particularly on socio-religious ceremonies and avoid themselves from the clutches of non-institutional sources, particularly moneylenders/arthiyasThesisItem Embargo Economic analysis of effect of COVID-19 on small vegetable growers of Malerkotla district of Punjab(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Prabhjoban Kaur; Mouzam, Shaikh MohdFood reaches to consumers’ plate from producer through supply chains but COVID-19 disrupted all the supply chains. Vegetables are highly perishable crops and the impact on their supply chains leads to huge losses to the growers. The study is conducted on small vegetable growers of Malerkotla, major vegetable hub of Punjab. Primary data was collected by interviewing 120 farmers and 30 market intermediaries. The sample selection was based on multistage simple random sampling. About 25 per cent of vegetable growers from studied crop rotations reduced or left any one or more crop during 2020-21. The human labour costs were lower for both cucumber and capsicum due to abundance of labour available during COVID-19.But the impact of labour cost on cost of production was lower due to involvement of family labour. The study reveals that the major vegetables cauliflower, cucumber, capsicum, bittergourd and brinjal grown by farmers led them to lower net income. The returns from all these vegetables were lower than the previous year returns. Capsicum growers suffered extremely as their return was only ` 4690 in 2020. The quantity of produce arrived at market was 1684.80 quintals in 2019 which reduced to 1202.90 quintals in 2020 mainly due to restriction on transportation facility and demand side constraints. Farmers got lower prices for their produce or there was no sale at all. Vegetable growers faced about 49.68 per cent of marketing, 31.55 per cent of finance and 18.78 per cent of production related constraints due to COVID-19.ThesisItem Open Access Input adoption gap in cotton cultivation in Punjab: A study(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Sunil Kumar; Goyal, MiniThe study entitled “Input adoption gap in cotton cultivation in Punjab: a study” was undertaken with the objective to study the socio-personal characteristics of the farmers, to know the extent and level of adoption and problems faced by the farmers in adoption of recommended production techniques of Bt cotton. Two districts i.e Sri Muktsar Sahib and Fazilka were undertaken for the study and three villages from each district were selected. For the purpose of study Lambi, Bhagsar and Sammewali were randomly taken from Sri Muktsar Sahib and Nukerian, Jandwala Bhimeshah and Jhotianwali were selected from Fazilka district for study. A complete list of cotton growers in each village was prepared and 15 cotton growers from each such list were randomly selected and were made respondents under the study. Thus, making a total sample of 90 cotton growers from six villages in two districts of Sri Muktsar Sahib and Fazilka in Punjab. The data were collected with the help of structured interview schedule by personally interviewing the respondents. Findings of the study revealed that majority of the respondents were in the age group 44-59 years, educated upto matric level, live in joint families. Majority of the respondents has adopted unrecommended varieties of Bt cotton, seed rate and time of sowing of Bt cotton. Majority of the Bt cotton growers used urea, DAP, potash and zinc sulphate and insecticides more than recommended dosages. Although very less number of respondents (4.44%) had knowledge about the purpose of growing refuge in Bt cotton but only 95.56 per cent of them had non-adopted this practice. Besides lack of knowledge about recommended production techniques of Bt cotton, climatic conditions viz. high temperature at germination stage and uncertainty of rains were also the major problems faced by the Bt cotton growers. Problem of non availability of quality seed and high cost were also faced by the farmers. It is suggested that trainings should be imparted to the cotton growers on Bt cotton technology, judicious use of pesticides, fertilizers application and IPM practices so that use of insecticide mixtures may be curtailed.ThesisItem Open Access Marketing and Processing of fruits in Punjab(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Jalthariya, Kamal Kishor; Jasdev SinghThe present study was conducted to investigate the various marketing and processing related aspects of fruits in Punjab. Personal interview method was employed to collect the primary data from the sample respondents comprising farmers, pre-harvest contractors, wholesalers, retailers and the processing units. The study revealed that marketed surplus of kinnow and malta, the major fruits of sample farmers constituted 98.20 per cent and 96.06 per cent total production of the respective fruits. As compared to channels in which producers themselves sold their produce in the market, in this channel (pre-harvest contract system) the observed price spread was the highest and the producer’s share in the price paid by consumer for the average quality fruits was found to be the lowest. The producer’s share in consumer rupee was the highest when they sold their produce directly to the retailers and this channel was observed to be the highly efficient. The location of majority of fruit processing units is away from the main fruit producing areas and these are found to be concentrated in the industrial hub of the state. The processing capacity utilized by processing units found to be very low and inversely related to the size of unit. Both, local as well as distant markets were the major sources of procurement of fruits by the processing units and relatively low quantities of fruits were sourced directly from the farmers. Problems of insect disease, inadequate irrigation facility, lack of processing unit in nearby area, and lack of local markets were the major constraints faced by the farmers. Inadequate supply of variety of fruits, low quality of fruits, lack of demand of processed food and lack of utilization of waste were the main constraints faced by the processing units. In order to bring the desired diversification of state agriculture, the problems faced by fruit growers and processing units need to be addressed on the priority basis through employing suitable technological interventions and policy tools.
