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Anand Agricultural University, Anand
Anand Agricultural University (AAU) was established in 2004 at Anand with the support of the Government of Gujarat, Act No.(Guj 5 of 2004) dated April 29, 2004. Caved out of the erstwhile Gujarat Agricultural University (GAU), the dream institution of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr. K. M. Munshi, the AAU was set up to provide support to the farming community in three facets namely education, research and extension activities in Agriculture, Horticulture Engineering, product Processing and Home Science. At present there seven Colleges, seventeen Research Centers and six Extension Education Institute working in nine districts of Gujarat namely Ahmedabad, Anand, Dahod, Kheda, Panchmahal, Vadodara, Mahisagar, Botad and Chhotaudepur
AAU's activities have expanded to span newer commodity sectors such as soil health card, bio-diesel, medicinal plants apart from the mandatory ones like rice, maize, tobacco, vegetable crops, fruit crops, forage crops, animal breeding, nutrition and dairy products etc. the core of AAU's operating philosophy however, continues to create the partnership between the rural people and committed academic as the basic for sustainable rural development. In pursuing its various programmes AAU's overall mission is to promote sustainable growth and economic independence in rural society. AAU aims to do this through education, research and extension education. Thus, AAU works towards the empowerment of the farmers.
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ThesisItem Open Access TIME-LAG IN ADOPTION OF DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM(DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND COMMUNICATION B. A. COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE ANAND AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY ANAND, 2019) Raghuvansh Shakti K.; Dr. J. K. PatelAgriculture is the base of Indian economy and it plays a pivotal role in respect of socio economic development particularly in rural masses. However, in India, agriculture production is mainly dependent on rain fed farming. The situation of Indian agriculture indicates that the farm production is conditioned by rainfall pattern and availability of irrigation water.ThesisItem Open Access PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT AGENCY PERSONNEL IN MIDDLE GUJARAT(DEPARTMENT OF EXTENSION EDUCATION B. A. COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE ANAND AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY ANAND, 2018) Khadayata Kaushikkumar G.; Dr. Sunil R. PatelHuman resources form the bedrock of the agricultural extension system. This is because they are the ones that actually do the job of information and technology dissemination. In recent years, competencies have emerged as the primary means of evaluating abilities and job skills. Competencies are a form of progress as a tool, or point of reference, which can be used to assess and evaluate worker’s progress of performance. The ATMA can be regarded responsible for all the technology dissemination activities at the district level in the state. It is necessary to investigate competencies of extension personnel and how that leads to better delivery of extension services for a sustainable rural development. In this context, it would be very much essential to know the professional competence of ATMA personnel. Further, professional competence is affected by several factors, outstanding among which, are the individual characteristics. Hence, some selected socio-personal variables, psychological variables and organizational variables which may have influence on professional competence were also realized to be studied.ThesisItem Open Access PERCEPTION OF SCIENTISTS OF ANAND AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY TOWARDS ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE(DEPARTMENT OF EXTENSION EDUCATION B. A. COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE ANAND AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY ANAND, 2016) Mohmmad Yunus; Dr.C. P. DesaiOrganizations in the 21st century are facing more challenges than ever before. These challenges are not unique to any specific organization or industry, but affect all organizations, regardless of their structure or size. Organizational climate in particular is constantly being challenged by changes impacting organizations today (Nair, 2006). To survive and exceed their competitors, organizations are constantly seeking to improve their performance. Authors such as Brown and Leigh (1996) thought that the organizational climate is becoming more important than ever before because organizations need to ensure that those individuals who add value to the bottom line will want to stay in the organization and will want to continue pouring their efforts into their work to the benefits of the organization.ThesisItem Open Access FARMERS' PERCEPTION REGARDING ENVIRONMENTAL RISK IN USE OF PESTICIDES IN ANAND DISTRICT OF GUJARAT STATE(AAU, Anand, 2012) BADHE, DHIRAJ KADU; Saiyad, A. S.With the growing demand for enhancing food grain production to feed more than 100 crore people at one end and increasing yield losses due to pest infestation on the other, the farmers of India till recently have been relying on pesticides and chemical fertilizers. It is estimated that about thirty percent of the potential of food production is lost due to insect pests, diseases, weeds, rodents and birds. In terms of money, it is estimated that every year crops worth Rs.6000 crore are lost due to pests. Exposure to pesticides both occupationally and environmentally causes a range of human health problems. It is estimated that nearly 10,000 deaths annually due to use of chemical pesticide worldwide, with about three-fourths of these occurring in developing countries. Horhgan, et al. (2006) Farmers are using excessive amount of pesticides in a wrong manner with disproportionate dosage, which leads to a higher cost of cultivation as well as ecological imbalance. Hence, reducing the hazards arising due to pesticides, needs immediate action to be taken by the environmentalists and all other concerned to mitigate the health hazards to the enormous human population. In a country like India where farming is a family affair, the problem of reaching the target group gets further compounded. The farming family as a whole needs to be educated, then only the damages could be checked or at least minimized to a safe level. Only when they start to understand and appreciate the risks involved in the use of pesticides, then only changes can take place in the desired direction i.e. IPM. Keeping all the above facts in mind, to identify the Environmental Risk Literacy (ERL) among the farmers of Anand district of Gujarat state, the present investigation "FARMERS' PERCEPTION REGARDING ENVIRONMENTAL RISK IN USE OF PESTICIDES IN ANAND DISTRICT OF GUJARAT STATE" was started with following objectives: 1.1 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: 1. To study the profile of farmers in Anand district of Gujarat state. 2. To develop scale to measure perception of farmers regarding environmental risk in use of pesticides. 3. To study the perception of farmers regarding environmental risk in use of pesticides. 4. To find out relationship between perception of farmers regarding environmental risk in use of pesticides and their profile. 5. To find out the constraints as perceived by the farmers in pesticide application and 6. To seek suggestions from farmers to overcome the constraints perceived by them. 1.2 METHODOLOGY Present study was carried out in Anand district of Gujarat state. Total four talukas namely Anand, Petlad, Tarapur, and Anklav were selected for this study. For this study, total 200 farmers who had minimum 3 years of experience in farming were selected randomly. Various characteristics of farmers were measured with using proper tools and techniques. Measurement of knowledge about different areas of pesticides among farmers was done by using teacher made test. Measurement of attitude of farmers towards pesticide use and attitude towards integrated pest management was done by scale developed by Patel (1994) and Patel et al, (2007), respectively. Measurement of farmers' perception regarding environmental risk in pesticide use was done by using scale developed by researcher. A simple ranking technique was applied to measure the constraints faced by farmers and suggestions given by them. An interview schedule was developed in accordance with the objectives of the study and it was pre-tested and translated into Gujarati. The data for this study were collected through personal interview. The data so collected were classified, tabulated, analyzed and interpreted in order to make the findings meaningful. The statistical measures such as; percentage, mean, standard deviation, co-efficient of correlation, stepwise multiple regressions and standard partial regression coefficient were used in the study. 1.3 MAJOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The important findings of the study are summarized as below: 1.3.1 Characteristics of the farmers 1. Slightly less than half of the farmers were found in the middle age group. 2. An equal number of the farmers had educated up to secondary level as well as primary level. 3. Majority of the farmers had medium level of experience in farming. 4. Majority of the farmers were found in large size of family i.e. more than 5 members. 5. More than half of the farmers were found in joint type of family. 6. Less than half of the farmers were found with membership in one organization. 7. Majority of the farmers were found in medium farmer group. 8. More than half of the farmers were found with medium annual income i.e. Rs. 50,001 to 1,00,000/-. 9. Majority of the farmers had medium level of contact with different extension agencies. 10. Slightly less than half of the farmers had medium level of extension participation. 11. Exactly three fifth of the farmers had medium exposure to mass media. 12. Majority of the farmers had medium level of cosmopoliteness. 13. Majority of the farmers belongs to medium economic motivation category. 14. Majority of the farmers had medium level of risk orientation. 15. Majority of the farmers had medium level of scientific orientation. 16. Majority of the farmers had medium level of knowledge regarding different areas of pesticides. 17. Less than one third of farmers had neutral attitude towards pesticide use. 18. More than two-fifth of farmers had neutral attitude towards integrated pest management. 1.3.2 Perception of farmers regarding environmental risk in use of pesticides Less than one-third of the farmers had medium level of perception regarding environmental risk iri use of pesticides. 1.3.3 Relationship between perception of farmers regarding environmental risk in use of pesticide and their profile. Variable age, experience in farming and attitude of the farmers towards pesticide use was observed negatively significant with their perception regarding environmental risk in use of pesticides, while other variables like education, social participation, annual income, extension contact, extension participation, mass media exposure, cosmopoliteness, economic motivation, risk orientation, scientific orientation, knowledge about different areas of pesticide and attitude towards IPM were observed positive and significantly related with their perception regarding environmental risk in use of pesticides. It was observed that size of family, type of family and land holding were observed non-significant with their perception regarding environmental risk in use of pesticides. 1.3.3.1 Extent of contribution of selected independent variables on the dependent variables The variable, education alone contributed to 51.40 per cent of total variation in perception of the farmers regarding environmental risk in pesticide use, followed by education + extension participation (60.00 per cent), education + extension participation + attitude towards pesticide use (63.50 per cent) and education + extension participation + attitude towards pesticide use + attitude towards IPM (65.40 per cent). 1.3.4 Constraints as perceived by the farmers in pesticide application The major constraints faced by majority of the farmers in pesticide application were non-availability of pesticide information in time (89.50 per cent), high cost of pesticides (84.00 per cent), lack of knowledge about recommended dose of pesticides (81.50 per cent), lack of knowledge about selection of the correct pesticides for a pest or diseases control (79.00 per cent), non-availability of plant protection chemicals at village place (74.50 per cent), lack of knowledge about usage, repair and maintenance of plant protection equipment (69.00 per cent) and high labour charges at the time of pesticide spraying (64.00 per cent). 1.3.5 Suggestions from farmers to overcome the constraints perceived by them Major suggestions given by farmers to overcome the constraints perceived by them are majority (90.00 per cent) of the respondent farmers had suggested that knowledge about selection of the correct pesticides and its recommended dose should be provided timely, training should be imparted to the farmers regarding the use of pesticides and maintenance of plant protection equipment before starting the season (81.50 per cent), knowledge about usage, repair and maintenance of plant protection equipments should be provided (79.00 per cent), repairing facility of plant protection equipments should be established at nearby place (71.50 per cent).ThesisItem Open Access PERCEPTION OF SCIENTISTS OF ANAND AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY TOWARDS ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE(AAU, Anand, 2016) MOHMMAD YUNUS; Dr. C. P. DesaiOrganizations in the 21st century are facing more challenges than ever before. These challenges are not unique to any specific organization or industry, but affect all organizations, regardless of their structure or size. Organizational climate in particular is constantly being challenged by changes impacting organizations today (Nair, 2006). To survive and exceed their competitors, organizations are constantly seeking to improve their performance. Authors such as Brown and Leigh (1996) thought that the organizational climate is becoming more important than ever before because organizations need to ensure that those individuals who add value to the bottom line will want to stay in the organization and will want to continue pouring their efforts into their work to the benefits of the organization. The nature of organizational climate differs from one university to the other. Organizational climate serves as a measure of individual perceptions or feelings about an organization. Organizational climate includes management or leadership styles, participation in decision making, provision Abstract ii of challenging jobs to employees, reduction of boredom and frustration, provision of benefits and personnel policies, provision of good working conditions and creation of suitable career ladder for academics. The scientist working in agricultural universities performs three fold functions namely teaching, research and extension activities. The contribution of the scientific community is not always steady since there will be several ups and downs due to multi dimensional personal, socio psychological and organizational factors. In other words, the academic contribution of the farm scientists in the field of teaching, research and extension education is greatly determined by their surroundings, promotional opportunities, procedures followed for recognizing good work, freedom enjoyed, superior-subordinate relationship, loyalty to the institution, its security, respect in the society and so on so forth. Any organization small or big needs constant studies and evaluation with a view to ascertain the measures necessary to improve areas of deficiency, So as to faster rate of growth and development towards achieving goals. With all these views in mind, the present research study entitled “PERCEPTION OF SCIENTISTS OF ANAND AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY TOWARDS ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE” was thought essential to be undertaken with the following specific objectives: 1. To study the profile of the scientists. 2. To develop the scale to measure attitude of scientists towards organizational climate. 3. To study the organizational climate as perceived by scientists. Abstract iii 4. To study the organizational commitment as perceived by scientists. 5. To study the relationship between profile of scientists and their attitude towards organizational climate. 6. To study the relationship between profile of scientists and their perceived organizational commitment. 7. To study the problems experience by the scientists in organizational climate. 8. To seek suggestions from the scientists to improve organizational climate. The study was conducted in the Anand Agricultural University, Anand of Gujarat state. A list of all the scientists doing teaching, research and extension activities under the Anand Agricultural University of Gujarat state was obtained from the office of the Registrar, Anand Agricultural University, Anand. Thereafter, the scientists from each of the activities were selected randomly in such a manner that there would be proportional to total size of the scientists in respective activities. In all, 150 scientists comprising 90 Assistant Professors, 42 Associate Professors and 18 Professors were selected to serve as the respondents for the study. The data were collected through structural interview schedule. The “Ex-Post-Facto” research design was employed for conducting the proposed study. In order to measure the attitude of the scientists towards organizational climate, a scale was developed for the purpose was used. The other dependentand independent variables were measured with the help of suitable scales and structured schedules adopted by various researchers. The Abstract iv collected data were then transferred to master table and analyzed in order to make the findings meaningful. For analysis of the data, the statistical measures such as frequency, percentage, mean score, rank order, coefficient of correlation, stepwise multiple regression and standard partial regression coefficientanalysis were used. MAJOR FINDINGS: The important findings of the study were as under: 1. The study revealed that more than half (58.67 per cent) of the overall scientists were found in middle to old age group. 2. Slightly less than three-fourth (74.00 per cent) of the overall scientists had education up to doctoral level. 3. Slightly more than half(52.67 per cent) of the overall scientists had rural native. 4. Slightly more than half (51.33 per cent) of the overall scientists were having more than 10 years of total service experience. 5. A vast majority (93.33 per cent) of the overall scientists had annual income more than ` 5.01 lakhs. 6. A great majority (87.34 per cent) of the overall scientists had medium tohigh level of job involvement. 7. An overwhelming number(97.33 per cent) of the overall scientists had high to very high level of job performance. 8. More than half (58.66 per cent) of the overall scientists had medium to high level of job satisfaction. 9. A vast majority (92.00 per cent) of the overall scientists had low to medium level of job stress. Abstract v 10. A great majority(85.34 per cent) of the overall scientists had medium to high level of achievement motivation. 11. A great majority(84.66 per cent)of the overall scientists had positive to highly positive attitude towards their job. 12. Slightly more than half (50.67 per cent) of the overall scientists had most favourable perception about organizational design. 13. A great majority (83.33 per cent) of the overall scientists had high to very high level of trust on their staff and university authority. 14. An overwhelming number(90.00 per cent) of the overall scientists were having good to very good perception about their superiors’ leadership skill. 15. A vast majority(83.34 per cent) of the overall scientists had good to very good level of overall communication. 16. A great majority(89.33 per cent) of the overall scientists had favourable to most favourable perception about their organizational culture. 17. A vast majority(85.33 per cent) of the overall scientistsperceived that teamwork within the organization was good to very good level. 18. A great majority (85.34 per cent)of the overall scientists were having high to very high level of motivation from their superiors. 19. A great majority (88.67 per cent) of the overall scientistshad favourable to most favourable overall perception about their organizational climate. 20. Slightly more than four-fifth (82.67 per cent) of the overall scientists of Anand Agricultural University had positive to highly positive attitude towards organizational climate. Abstract vi 21. A vast majority (91.33 per cent) of the overall scientists had high to very high level of affective commitment. 22. A great majority (86.00 per cent) of the overall scientists had medium to high level of continuance commitment. 23. Nearly three-fourth (72.67 per cent) of the overall scientists had high to very high level of normative commitment. 24. An overwhelming number of the overall scientists engaged in teaching, research and extension activity had medium to high to level of overall organizational commitment. 25. The variables namely age and experience of the scientists had positive and significant relationship with their attitude towards organizational climate. Whereas, three variables namely education, native place and annual income did not exhibit any significant relationship with their attitude towards organizational climate. 26. Scientists' job involvement, job performance and job satisfaction had positive and significant relationship with their attitude towards organizational climate, while job stress of the scientists had exhibited negative but significant relationship with their attitude towards organizational climate. 27. Scientists' achievement motivation and attitude towards job had positive and significant relationship with their attitude towards organizational climate. 28. There was positive and significant relationship between experience of the scientists and their perception about organizational commitment, while native place of the scientists had exhibited negative but Abstract vii significant relationship with their perception about organizational commitment. Whereas, three variables namely age, education and annual income did not exhibit any significant relationship with their perception about organizational commitment. 29. Scientists' job involvement, job performance and job satisfaction had positive and significant relationship with their perception about organizational commitment. While, job stress of the scientists had exhibited negative but significant relationship with their perception about organizational commitment. 30. Scientists' achievement motivation and attitude towards job had positive and significant relationship with their perception about organizational commitment. 31. The major problems of organizational climate experienced by the scientists engaged in teaching, research and extension education activity of Anand Agricultural University in sequential order were: lack of willingness towards work (Rank I), lack of accountability among staff members(Rank II), indifferent attitude of administrators (Rank III), absence of periodical check and objective assessment of work (Rank IV), suffering from heavy workload other than mandatory work (Rank V), lack of provision for international training programme (Rank VI), lack of conveyance facility for field and institutional visits (Rank VI), lack of laboratory facilities (Rank VII), non-availability of well-equipped classrooms (Rank VIII), inordinate delay in proper settlement of service matters (Rank VIII) and lack of teamwork among staff members (Rank VIII). Abstract viii 32. The major suggestions offered by the scientists engaged in teaching, research and extension education activity of Anand Agricultural University to improve the organizational climate in sequential order were: the willingness of the employees towards their work should be increased(60.67 per cent), employees of the university should not be engaged in non-mandatory work (59.33 per cent), accountability for all employees should be fixed (57.33 per cent), regular follow up and check of assessment of work should be done (54.67 per cent), attitude of the administrators or superiors should be concerned or sympathetic (51.33 per cent), permission should be given to the employees for international training programme (48.67 per cent), employees' placement should be based on their area of interest (45.33 per cent), provisions of rewards or incentives should be made for their work (39.33 per cent) and communication system should be honest at all the levels to develop trust among staff members (37.33 per cent).ThesisItem Open Access VIEWS OF EXTENSION EDUCATIONISTS REGARDING APPLICATION OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGY IN TRANSFER OF AGRICULTURAL INNOVATIONS(Anand Agricultural University, Anand, 2016) Amitkumar P. Shukla; Dr. N. B. ChauhanMobile technology has quickly become the world’s most common way of transmitting information in forms of voice, video, animated messages, photographs, written messages, maps, various data and services in the developing world. Given this dramatic change, mobile applications in general and mobile applications for agricultural and rural development in particular hold significant potential for advancing development. The mobile technology provides the most affordable ways for millions of people to access information, markets, financial and governance systems previously unavailable to them. The mobile phones have many key advantages like, affordability, wide ownership, voice communications and instant and convenient service delivery. As a result, there has been a global explosion in the number of mobile applications, facilitated by the rapid evolution of mobile networks and by the increasing functions and falling prices of mobile handsets. Considering the popularity and the usefulness of mobile technology in transfer of technology in rural IndiaThesisItem Open Access ENTREPRENEURIAL BEHAVIOUR OF DAIRY FARMERS OF ANAND DISTRICT IN GUJARAT(Anand Agricultural University, Anand, 2016) TARAK RAMESHCHANDRA PATEL; Dr. Arun PatelThe country has achieved major breakthrough in milk production in the recent years. In India, dairying has been practiced as a rural cottage industry. Thus, entrepreneurial development is one of the ways to make rural people more competent in dairying. Dairy farming is not an indispensable component of agriculture, but also the most suitable production system that has enormous potential to improve the socio-economic status of the large percentage of the rural population. While discussing the present status of the dairy farming in India, it has to be mentioned here that the bulk of milk production is in the hands of numerous land less, marginal and small farmers scattered all over the countryThesisItem Open Access A study on the mnagerial efficiency of aaonla growers of Anand and kheda districts of Gujarat state(AAU, Anand, 2006) Patel Suryabhai R.; Dr N.B. Chauhan
