Loading...
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.
Browse
14 results
Search Results
ThesisItem Open Access A STUDY ON MODERNISATION OF AGRICULTURE AMONG THE FARMERS OF KHEDA DISTRICT OF GUJARAT STATE(AAU, Anand, 1994) Jagadeeshwara, K.; Patel, H. L.India has been making many sided efforts in the agricultural sector over the last four decades through prudent planning and arduous accomplishment of agricultural development programmes. Indian population has been estimated to be 100 million by 2000 A.D. Among the prevailing plethora of activities to solve this gigantic problem, modernisation of agriculture is the germane and plausible way. Social scientists suggest modernisation is not in the character of society but in the character of individual. Unfortunately, where the individual (farmer) should be the focus of attention has been very little understood. Thus, a more precise knowledge on how an individual is modernised or what personality traits are crucial towards the acquisition of modern style of life in the modernisation process needs to be studied carefully. Kheda district is being considered as one of the progressive districts of Gujarat State.The irrigation facilities has led to intensive cultivation of all the coiunercial and food crops which facilitated more income, high standard of living and hence more agricultural nodernisation among the farmers. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to know how modernisation characteristics influence overall modernisation and extent of adoption of different agricultural practices namely, extent of use of improved varieties, chemical fertilizer,pesticides , fungicides, improved agricultural implements, improved irrigation practices in major commercial and food crops followed by use of improved dairy practices. The research study was planned with the following specific objectives. (1) To study the differences in the modernisation characteristics among different categories of farmers. (2) To study overall modernisation and extent of adoption of selected technologies among different categories of farmers. (3) To find out the relationship between socio-psycho, communication, economic and situational modernisation characteristics of farmers with overall modernisation and extent of adoption among different categories of farmers. (4) To find out the differences in the contribution of selected socio-psycho, communication, economic and situational modernisation characteristics with overall modernisation and extent of adoption among different categories of farmers. (5) To study the direct and indirect effects of selected socio-psycho, conaunication, economic and situational modernisation characteristics with overall modernisation and extent of adoption among different categories of farmers. METHODOLOGY The present study was conducted in Kheda district of Gujarat state. Four talukas namely Anand, Borsad, Nadiad and Petlad were purposively selected. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select 216 respondents from four categories of farmers from among twelve villages namely, Gopalapura, Mogar, Vadod, Asodar , Kavitha, Kinkhlod, Kanjari, Narasanda, Vadthal, DevataJ, Morad and Simurda Virol. Design of the study Ex-post-facto research design was adopted for the present study. Two dependent variables namely, overall modernisation and extent of adoption were selected for the purpose of conducting this study. Twenty three modernisation characteristics (independent variables) were selected namely age, educationl caste, family type, social participation, cosmopoliteness, mass media participation, contact with extension agency, achievement motivation, innovativeness, scientific orientation, risk preference, rationality attitude towards modernisation of agriculture, commercialisation, market perception, market orientation, income, farm size, farm power, material possession, livestock possession and level of living. The attitude scale developed by the researcher of this study was utilised for measuring the attitude of the farmers towards the modernisation of agriculture. The other dependent and independent variables were measured by utilising the developed scales of other research workers. The data were collected with the help of structured schedule by personal interview method. The data so collected were coded, classified, tabulated and analysed in order to make the findings meaningful.ThesisItem Open Access A STUDY ON RESEARCH MANAGEMENT ABILITY OF RESEARCH SCIENTISTS WORKING AS HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT/STATION /PROJECT/SCHEME IN GUJARAT AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY(AAU, Anand, 1993) Patel, Arunkumar A.; Patel, H. L.Management of the organisation has attained paramount importance for the achievement of goals in modern time. We can define research management as 'an effective and efficient utilisation and coordination of resources to achieve the objectives of research,programmes'. The agricultural research management in India is relatively a new area. The head of departments/stations/projects/schemes of the agricultural university have to perform many research management functions. Thus, to make a research organisation more productive, the proper research management practices should be adopted by the research leaders. However, it is observed that the scientists who are working as the head have neither education nor experience in the field of management before they become head, eventhough, they have to carry the responsibilities of management aspects too. Thus, to measure extent and manner of research management ability of scientists who are working as head in Gujarat Agricultural University, the present investigation was undertaken with the following, objectivess 1. To study the selected personal job related, organizational and socio-psychological characteristics of the head of research department/station/project/scheme of Gujarat Agricultural University. 2. To measure the research management ability of the heads of research department/station/project/scheroe of Gujarat Agricultural University. 3. To develop the scales to measure; (a) research management ability of the heads, (b) attitude of research scientists towards research work. 4. To findout the relationship between selected independent variables and research management ability of the research head of the Gujarat Agricultural University. 5. To explore the inter-correlation of selected variables of heads. 6. To predict the extent of variation in research management ability caused by selected variables. 7. To know the direct and indirect effect of the independent variables on the research management ability of heads. 8. To study the constraints faced by research heads in research management. 9. To elicit the suggestions in overcoming the existing constraints for making the effective research management. The study was conducted in Gujarat Agricultural University. All the independently working heads of the agricultural research departments/stations/projects/ schemes of the university were selected. Moreover for measuring research management ability of the selected heads two immediate subordinates of each head were randomly selected from respective department/station/ project/scheme. Thus in all, 69 research heads and 138 their subordinates were selected. The respective questionnaire to the heads and subordinates were separately mailed to each person. Finally 86.95% responses were received. In order to measure research management ability of the head the scale developed for the purpose was used. The attitude scale to measure their attitude towards research work was also developed. Other seven scales developed by different investigators in past were also used to measure different independent variables selected for the study. In all, one dependent variable i.e. research management ability and 27 independent variables were studied.ThesisItem Open Access INDIGENOUS RESOURCE MANAGEMENT BY TRIBAL FARM WOMEN IN VADODARA DISTRICT OF GUJARAT STATE(AAU, Anand, 1998) Patel, Jayantilal G.; Trivedi, J. C.OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The overall objective of this investigation was to study the level of participation of tribal farm women in indigenous resource management in Vadodara district of Gujarat state. The specific objectives of the study were as follows : 1 To study the selected characteristics of tribal farm women. 2 To assess the knowledge level of tribal farm women regarding indigenous resource management in the areas of agriculture, animal husbandry and minor forest products. 3 To ascertain the participation of tribal farm women in indigenous resource management activities. 4 To assess the income contribution of tribal farm women from indigenous resources. 5 To findout the extent of relationship , between selected characteristics of tribal farm women and their level of knowledge. 6 To know the extent of relationship between selected characteristics of tribal farm women and their level of overall participation. 7 To explore the training needs of tribal farm women in indigenous resource management activities. 8 To identify the problems faced by tribal farm women in indigenous resource management. The present study was conducted in tribal area of Vadodara district of Gujarat state. Out of twelve talukas, three talukas namely Chhotaudepur, Pavi-jetpur and Naswadi were purposively selected. These talukas possess more than fifty per cent of the tribal population. From each taluka four tribal dominated villages were selected using random sampling techniques. Thus, 12 villages were selected for study and random selection of tribal farm women from each village was made proportionately on the basis of two major criteria (i) maize as a major crop and (ii) dairy farming as a minor source of income. Thus, sample for this study was 240. The data were collected through structured schedule by personal interview method. The dependent and independent variables were measure«i by utilizing appropriate scales and procedures adopted by other research workers. To measure the knowledge of tribal farm women regarding indigenous resource management (IRM) in the areas of agriculture, animal husbandry and minor forest products, a knowledge test was developed, standardized and used. The statistical tools used to analyse the data were : percentage, mean, standard deviation, coefficient of correlation and path co-efficient. FINDINGS The important findings of the study are summarised as under : 1 Majority of the tribal farm women were illiterate, belonged to low to medium level of socio-economic status and extension contact, middle age group and having no membership in any social organisation. 2 Majority of the tribal farm women belonged to joint family with medium size of family and having one kachha house. 3 Majority of the tribal farm women were exclusively dependent on farming within five acres of land and labour work. 4 A great majority of the tribal farm women possessed one to two bullocks and three to four milch animals. 5 More than three-fourth of the tribal farm women possessed local implements of farming. 6 Slightly less than half of the tribal farm women had total annual income of Rs.5001/- to Rs.10,000/- but debt upto Rs.10,000/-. 7 More than half of the tribal farm women had 6 to 10 years of farming experience. 8 Slightly more than half of tribal farm women had migration with their family in search of agricultural labour work and non-agricultural labour work. 9 More than two third of tribal farm women were having medium to high level of cosmopolite-localiteness, economic motivation, high level of risk-preference; three-fourth had scientific orientation and 67.92 per cent had medium to high level of knowledge regarding IRM in the areas of agriculture, animal husbandry and minor forest products. 10 Present study revealed important aspects about different activities participated by tribal farm women as IRM activities. The important points raised from the investigation are stipulated below in descending order with reference to the number of tribal farm women participated in the activities depending on the income generation (sale), home purpose, selfdoing, supervising and assisting etc., milking (96.25 per cent), separation of grains (91.24 per cent), plucking of 'TIMRU' leaves (80.83 per cent), removing seeds from pods (72.50 per cent), rearing cocks for meat (68.75 per cent), collection of gum (68.75 per cent), fibber extraction (63.34 per cent), making 'TOPALA', 'TOPALI', 'CHABADI', 'KARANDIYA', 'SUPDA', bow and arrows and toys (61.24 per cent), collection of Mahua flowers (57.50 per cent), making dishes CPATARADA') and bowls ('PADAYA') from 'KHAKHAR' leaves (56.25 per cent), drying of leafy vegetables (53.34 per cent), plucking of ripe fruits from 'CHAROLI' tree (52.08 per cent), collection of honey (36.26 per cent) and mat-making from pam ('TAD') leaves (32.50 per cent). 11 Slightly less than two-fifth (38.75 per cent) of the tribal farm women had medium level of overall participation followed by 35.42 and 25.83 per cent with low and high level of overall participation in IRM activities, respectively. 12 Among 19 independent variables i.e. type of family, risk preference, scientific orientation and overall participation were positively and significantly correlated with level of knowledge of tribal farm women regarding IRM. While fifteen variables viz., education, social participation, size of family, type of family, socio-economic status, extension contact, housing pattern, farm power, material possession, indebtedness, cosmopolite localite-ness, economic motivation, risk preference, scientific orientation and knowledge of IRM had positive and significant, correlation whereas only one variable viz., occupation had negative and significant correlation with participation in IRM activities. 13 As regards direct effect, the variables social participation, followed by knowledge of IRM, size of family and education exhibited medium positive direct effects in IRM activities. The direct effect of extension contact and housing pattern were positive and low. The total indirect effects of education, size and type of family, socio-economic status, extension contact, housing pattern, indebted-ness, cosmopolitelocaliteness, economic motivation, risk preference and scientific orientation were comparatively higher than their respective direct effects. 14 Slightly less than half (45.42 per cent) of the tribal farm women had derived 51-7 5 per cent of their total annual income from indigenous resources. 15 Majority of the tribal farm women expressed their training needs in the important areas like plant protection, seed and grain processing, control of stored grain pests, feeding and caring the animals, selection of eggs for hatching, feeding and caring the poultry birds, raising of seedling, pickle making, kitchen gardening, techniques for better quantity and quality of gum, different designs for toys, making dishes ('PATARADA') and bowls ('PADAYA') by machine and marketing strategy for medicinal plants/materials. 16 Major problems faced by the tribal farm women in IRM activities were (i) products do not fetch reasonable price, (ii) burden of work in farm at home (ill) dry, poor soil and small holding and (iv) lack of information of new agricultural technology.ThesisItem Open Access A STUDY ON PRODUCTIVITY OF SUBJECT MATTER SPECIALISTS WORKING UNDER TRAINING AND VISIT SYSTEM IN GUJARAT STATE(AAU, Anand, 1991) Popat, M N; Patel, H LThe functionary, subject matter specialists in training and visit system is an important link between university scientists and extension personnel. The SMSs acquire the technical know how from scientists during monthly working and in turn communicate the same to VLWs/AEOs during fortnightly training. Thus, the success of T and V system largely depends on the quality and competency of the SMSs.ThesisItem Open Access A STUDY ON TECHNO-ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES IN ADOPTION OF DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM BY MANGO ORCHARD GROWERS OF JUNAGADH DISTRICT IN GUJARAT STATE(AAU, Anand, 1997) DESAI, C. P.; TRIVEDI, J. C.Land and water are the two basic inputs for progress in agriculture and economic development of any country. Gujarat State has a relatively lower share in the overall availability of water in India. In Gujarat, only 23 per cent of the total cultivable land of the state is under irrigation. Even with the fullest exploitation of the Sardar Sarovar Project, about 52 per cent of the state agriculture would be dependent on the mercy of monsoon, particularly erratic, inadequate and uncertain rainfall. Hence, it is necessary to economize the use of water for agriculture to bring more area under irrigation. This could be achieved by introducing the advanced and sophisticated method of drip irrigation. Saurashtra region is considered as a dry farming area, where the availability of water for irrigation in wells is extremely scarce and irregular. Therefore, the farmers of this region have been attracted towards the modern method of irrigation and they have introduced drip irrigation system with the hope of making the judicious and scientific use of irrigation water at hand on farm lands and thereby overcoming the various problems such as labour, money and water management. Any techhology that is adopted, needs to be assessed periodically to suggest the effective changes for subsequent functioning and this truly holds good with drip irrigation system as quite a few years have already been passed and probably this is the high time to examine the consequences of this system. Therefore, "A Study on Techno-Economic Consequences in Adoption of Drip Irrigation System by Mango Orchard Growers of Junagadh District in Gujarat State" was undertaken with the following specific objectives : 1. To study the personal-social, agro-economic, psychological and communication characteristics of the mango orchard growers. 2. To study the innovation-decision process in relation to drip irrigation system adopted by the mango orchard growers. 3. To study the techno-economic developments (changes) consequent upon adoption of drip irrigation system by the mango orchard growers. 4. To construct and standardize test to measure the level of knowledge of mango orchard growers about drip irrigation system. 5. To ascertain the extent of economic gain accrued by the mango orchard growers as a result of adoption of drip irrigation system. 6. To find out the relationship between dependent and independent variables of the respondents. 7. To know the extent of contribution of independent variables on dependent variables. 8. To analyse the constraints faced by mango orchard growers in adoption of drip irrigation system and seek suggestions to overcome them. The, study was conducted in six talukas of Junagadh district namely Talala, Malia (Hatina), Una, Mendarada, Vanthali and Visavadar. These talukas were the first six talukas in the district having maximum number of drip sets installed in mango orchards. Four villages having maximum number of drip sets installed in mango orchards were selected from each of the selected talukas. The mango orchard growers, those who had installed and used drip irrigation system in their mango orchards for successively more than three years, were chosen at random from each identified village in such a manner that there would be proportional to total size of mango orchard growers in respective village fell under each of the six talukas. Thus, the sample consisted of 175 respondents for the study which constituted 24 per cent of the total size of drip sets under mango orchards in the district. Before and after approach was followed to know the consequences implicit through the adoption of drip irrigation system by the mango orchard growers. The data for agriculture year 1995-96 were collected from the same respondents by arranging personal interview with 175 mango orchard growers of the twenty-four selected villages with the help of interview schedule. In order to measure the knowledge level of mango orchard growers, the test developed for the purpose was used. The other dependent and independent variables were measured by using suitable scales and procedures adopted by various researchers. The collected data were then transferred to master table and analysed in order to make the findings meaningful. For analysis of the data, the statistical measures such as percentage, coefficients of correlation, stepwise multiple regression and path coefficient analysis were used. MAJOR FINDINGS : The important findings of the study were as under : 1. Majority of the respondents belonged to middle age group and were having secondary and college level education. 2. Most of the respondents belonged to higher castes. 3. Little more than half of the respondents had nuclear type of family and having small to medium size of family in great majority cases. 4. Majority of the respondents had membership in one or more than one organization and had medium socio-economic status. 5. Majority of the respondents had farming and animal husbandry occupations as source of income. 6. Majority of the respondents were found to have minimum farm power i.e. upto two bullocks, medium level of material possession and were having medium size of herds. 7. Little more than two-fifth (41,14 per cent) of the respondents possessed big size of land holding. 8. Majority of the respondents (i.e. 64.00 per cent and 61.71 per cent) had covered 51 to 100 per cent of the area under drip irrigation and had covered 76 to 100 per cent of the area under mango orchard, respectively. 9. An overwhelming number of the respondents had irrigation potentiality ranged from 76 to 100 per cent. 10. Slight more than one-third (i.e. 35.43 per cent and 33.71 per cent) of the respondents had cropping intensity in between 151 to 200 per cent and an annual income upto Rs.50,000 respectively, 11. Majority of the respondents were found to be under the category of medium credit orientation. 12. Majority of the respondents had medium level of economic motivation,were highly innovative with medium riskpreference . 13. A large majority of the respondents were found to have medium scientific orientation, moderately favourable attitude towards drip irrigation system and medium level of knowledge regarding drip irrigation system. 14. A vast majority of the respondents had expressed moderate satisfaction derived as a result of drip irrigation system. 15. Majority of the respondents had medium contact with extension agencies and had medium utilization of information sources. 16. Majority (56.57 per cent) of the respondents had medium level of innovation-decision in relation to drip irrigation system. As regards the stages of innovation-decision process followed by the respondents, majority of them (82.^9 per cent) were having awareness-knowledge about drip irrigation system and were found to have reached the persuasion (89.14 per cent), confirmation (88.57 per cent), decision (53.71 per cent) and implementation (51.43 per cent) stages of innovation-decision process. In case of rejection points at different stages, there were in all 48.57 per cent rejecters and found nearly half (48.57 per cent) of the respondents at implementation stage and minimum at persuasion stage (10.86 per cent). So far as the skipping trend is concerned, there were in all 85 cases of skipping in innovation-decision process and skipping was found to follow only three trends. 17. Majority (73.14 per cent) of the respondents were found to have medium level of techno-economic consequences as a result of drip irrigation system. The adoption of drip irrigation system had resulted in many changes not only in the farming aspect alone, but also in the socio-economic aspects. The system had contributed for a significant increase in area under fruit crops. Cropping intensity and cropping pattern had been changed in the farmers' fields with the inclusion of several fruit and commercial crops. Farm machinery/farm implements and household possession had also been increased and many farmers had diverted their cropped area to orchards. The savings and investment, standard of living and self-sufficiency of majority of respondents had been increased as a result of adoption of drip irrigation system. 18. Majority (71.43 per cent) of the respondents had accrued medium level of overall economic gain of drip irrigation system. The mango orchard growers had reaped many advantages of drip irrigation system. Majority of the respondents had benefited by saving of water, weed control expenses and labour for irrigation and inter-culture operations. A little more than one-fourth of the respondents availed the benefit in respect of fertilizers economy. In addition to this, the respondents got the benefits of better yields, better fruit size, early maturity of fruits and higher market price of the produce under drip irrigation system. 19. There was positive and significant relationship between respondents' size of family, social participation, socioeconomic status, farm power, material possession, size of land holding, area under drip irrigation system, area 'under mango orchard, annual income, economic motivation. scientific orientation, attitude towards drip irrigation system, knowledge level about drip irrigation system, contact with ex'tension agencies and utilization of information sources and their techno-economic consequences in adoption of drip irrigation system. 20. Respondents' education, socio-economic status, area under drip irrigation system, area under mango orchard, credit orientation, economic motivation, innovativeness, riskpreference, scientific orientation, attitude towards drip irrigation system, knowledge level about drip irrigation system, satisfaction with drip irrigation system, contact with extension agencies and utilization of information sources had positive and significant relationship with their innovation-decision process in relation to drip irrigation system. 21. Respondents' education, farm power, credit orientation, economic motivation, innovativeness, risk-preference, scientific orientation, attitude towards drip irrigation system, knowledge level about drip irrigation system, satisfaction with drip irrigation system, contact with extension agencies and utilization of information sources had positive and significant relationship with their extent of economic gain reaped through adoption of drip irrigation system. 22. The innovation-decision process was found to be predicted by five independent variables such as area under drip irrigation system, innovativeness, scientific orientation. knowledge level about drip irrigation system and satisfaction with drip irrigation system, which had together contributed to 51.70 per cent of the total variation in the innovation-decision process. 23. A total of nine independent variables namely farm power, material possession, area under drip irrigation system, area under mango orchard, irrigation potentiality, cropping intensity, annual income, attitude towards drip irrigation system and utilization of information sources were accounting influence on the techno-economic consequences. All the nine independent variables together affected the change in dependent variable to the extent of 73 . 39. per cent. 24. The variables like education, social participation, farm power, annual income, attitude towards drip irrigation system, knowledge level about drip irrigation system, satisfaction with drip irrigation system and utilization of information sources had together contributed to 60.84 per cent of total variation in the extent of economic gain of drip irrigation system. 25. The variable material possession had exerted the maximum positive direct effect on techno-economic consequences, followed by area under mango orchard, area under drip irrigation system and attitude towards drip irrigation system in descending order. As regards the total indirect effect, socio-economic status exhibited the highest positive total indirect effect, followed by annual income, size of land holding, area under drip irrigation system, social participation, farm power possessed and area under mango orchard in descending order. So far as the substantial indirect effect is concerned, the variable socio-economic status exerted maximum positive substantial indirect effect on techno-economic consequences. It was followed by size of land holding, area under mango orchard, social participation, annual income and area under drip irrigation system in descending order. Most of the variables included in the study had substantial positive indirect effect through material possession as evident from the results presented. This naturally suggests that the positive changes in material possession would bring the substantial changes in technoeconomic consequences. 26. The most important economic constraints faced by the mango orchard growers in adoption of drip irrigation system were : high cost of spare parts, heavy initial expanses for installation of drip irrigation system and lack of capital for covering entire area under drip irrigation system. The major technological constraints faced by the adopters in drip irrigation were : frequent clogging of drippers and microtubes, requires time to time attention for minor repairs, damage caused to the system by rodents .and jackals, lack of technical know-how, lack oi awareness among the farmers regarding benefits of drip irrigation system and difficult to keep proper water pressure. The important administrative constraints being faced by the respondents were : inadequacy and uncertainty in power supply, lack of after sale services from the company dealers, non-availability of spare parts at proper time with reasonable rates, lack of proper training, nonavailability of repairing facilities in the village, nonavailability of quality material of drip irrigation system and non-availability of technical guidance in time. The major personal and socio-psychological constraints experienced by the drip irrigation system adopter farmers were : lack of spirit among the farmers regarding drip irrigation system, frustration due to failure of drip irrigation system in work, resistance from family members and lack of motivation. 27. The major suggestions offered by the mango orchard growers to overcome the constraints associated with adoption of drip irrigation system and thereby promoting the use of drip irrigation system in sequential order were : provisions should be made to purchase drip irrigation sets directly from open market, training should be imparted along with drip irrigation sets for betterment of knowledge and skills, at least five years guarantee be provided by company agents for drip irrigation system, drip sets be supervised by company agents regularly, subsidy be paid directly to the farmers, regular guidance and free services be sought from company agents, quality material be provided for drip sets and wide publicity of drip irrigation" system be made through mass media approaches. In addition to this, the respondents also felt that the amount of subsidy on drip irrigation system be increased, propaganda about drip irrigation system, be made through shibirs and film shows and multipurpose sub-mains should be designed so as to use in different crops.ThesisItem Open Access ROLE PEIRCEPTION AND ROLE PERFORMANCE OF FORMAL LEADERS WORKING UNDER PANCHAYATI RAJ SYSTEM IN KHEDA DISTRICT OF GUJARAT STATE(AAU, Anand, 1999) Shrivastava, Krishna Kant; Patel, H. L.The Government of India has made continuous, conscious development of villages and for the upliftment of the rural people through different development programmes like, Community Development, National Extension Service, Panchayati Raj System, Intensive Agricultural Development Programme, Training and Visit System, National Rural Employment Programme, Integrated Rural Development Programme etc. Democracy in India created and promoted socio-political climate for the autonomy of the rural people. The concept of Panchayati Raj emerged of such thinking for rural India. The community development programme gives rural leadership a dynamic form. It is performed by providing opportunities for their talents to satisfy the felt needs of the people. The introduction of Panchayati Raj System, provides a real framework for activities of rural leadership. The varied scope of activities of the Panchayati Raj System has given opportunity to the so far neglected people of the society to develop the position of leadership, the talent of the emerging leaders and their devotion to work for the development of the country have given them a place of supremacy in their group. The Panchayati Raj has introduced its own "Rural leaders" in the form of sarpanch and panch and other elected/nominated members on their executive. With the formation of Panchayati Raj it is hoped that the democratic progress of administration and welfare schemes for the total rural development and for community well being would take place more rapidly than what is used to happen with the efforts of other leaders. There are three layers/stages of Panchayati Raj System namely district panchayat at district level, taluka panchayat at taluka level and village panchayat at village level. The Panchayati Raj System or local self government formed by the representatives elected by people can carry out the programmes of administration and rural development on the basis of the felt need of that particular area. Thus, a more precise knowledge on the formal leaders, regarding different leadership roles, how they perceive and perform and what personality traits are crucial towards the role perception and role performance need to be studied carefully. Kheda district is being considered as one of the progressive districts of Gujarat state. The irrigation facilities has led to intensive cultivation of all the commercial and food crops which facilitated more income and high standard of living. The Panchayati Raj System is also existing since 1961 in the district, so far no systematic efforts have been made in this region to assess the role perception and role performance of formal leaders working under three tier system of Panchayati Raj in the district. Taking this in view, the present study entitled "Role perception and role performance of formal leaders working under Panchayati Raj System in Kheda district of Gujarat State" was undertaken with the following specific objectives: 1. To study the personal-social, economic, psychological and communication characteristics of formal leaders. 2. To determine and describe the leader's perception of different leadership roles to be played by them. 3. To study the extent of leadership roles actually performed by the leaders. 4. To find out the association between personal-social, economic, psychological and communication characteristics and role perception, role performance of the leadership roles by the leaders. 5. To predict the variation in leader role perception and role performance caused by independent variables. 6. To study the constraints experienced by the leaders while performing various roles. 7. To seek suggestions from the formal leaders to over come the constraints. The study was conducted in Ten talukas of Kheda district namely, Anand, Petlad, Khambhat, Borsad, Nadiad, Balasinor, Kapadvanj, Matar, Mahemdabad and Thasra. On the basis of total number of villages all the talukas of Kheda district were classified into two categories, Big and Small taluka. Each taluka was divided into two categories, Big villages and Small villages, in big village category (above 5000 population) and small village category (upto 5000 population). From big taluka 6 villages (2 big and 4 small villages) and from small talukas 4 villages (1 big and 3 small villages) were randomly selected. Among total villages, 15 big and 35 small villages, total 50 villages were selected for the present study on random basis. From each village 3 formal leaders (sarpanch, Deputy sarpanch and Chairman of social justice committee) were selected at village level. Thus, the total sample of formal leaders at village level was constituted 150. From each taluka president, deputy president, chairman of executive committee and social justice committee were selected. Thus, the total sample of formal leaders at talukas level was constituted 35. At district level 9 formal leaders i.e. president, deputy president and chairman of different committees were selected. Thus, the total sample of formal leaders was constituted 194 formal leaders for the study. For the purpose of present investigation, the total number of respondents were categorised into two categories viz., grass root level (sarpanch, deputy sarpanch and chairman of social justice committee) and upper level (taluka panchayat and zila panchayat president, deputy president and chairman of different committees). The data were collected from the respondents by arranging personal interview with 194 formal leaders of 50 selected villages with the help of interview schedule. The dependent variables were : role perception and role performance and independent variables namely age, education, caste, social participation, socio-economic status, occupation, size of land holding, level of income, cosmopolite-localiteness, opinion leadership, attitude towards Panchayati Raj System, exposure to mass media and extension participation were measured by using suitable scales and procedures adopted by various researchers. The collected data were then transferred to master table and analysed in order to make the findings meaningful. For analysis of the data, the statistical measures such as percentage, co-efficient of correlation, multiple regression analysis and path coefficient analysis were used.ThesisItem Open Access A CRITICAL STUDY ON ROLE OF FARM WOMEN IN MIXED FARMING PRODUCTIVlTY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO KHEDA DISTRICT OF GUJARAT STATE(AAU, Anand, 1992) Thakor, R. F.; Patel, K. F.In India women s role in production, processing and storage of crops is well known. In general, 60-70 per cent of labour input is provided by them. A review of the economic roles played by women reveals clearly distinct trends. In traditional village community, the farm women played a distinctive and accepted role in the process of earning a livelihood by participating in both production and marketing of agricultural products. Agriculture is still a family endeavour, but the pattern of women's participation vary according to regional and cultural norms. In most part of the country, the job traditionally done by women are generally transplanting, sowing, weeding, harvesting, winnowing, threshing and storage. In addition to these, livestock management activities such as looking after domestic animals, chaffing of fodder, milking the animals, feeding the animals and filling the manure pits are also carried out by them, Inspite of all these burdens of farm and home their contributions are not given due recognition. Their condition is far from satisfactory and they suffer from various socio-economic constraints which come in the way of improving their productivity. Keeping in mind all these considerations the present study entitled "A critical study on role of farm women in mixed farming productivity with special reference to Kheda district of Gujarat State" was undertaken with following specific objectives. 1. To study the personal, socio-psychological, communicational and managerial characteristics of farm women. 2. To know the extent to which the roles are performed by farm women in mixed farming. 3. To find out the areas of decision making of farm women in mixed farming. 4. To study the time utilization pattern of farm women in mixed farming. 5. To ascertain the relationship between mixed farming productivity and some selected characteristics of farm women. 6. To determine the areas of training needs of farm women in mixed farming. 7. To identify the problems faced by farm women in mixed farming. The study was conducted in four talukas (Viz, Anand Borsad, Mahemadabad and Matar) of Kheda district. From each taluka four villages were selected using random sampling techniques. Thus 16 villages of Kheda district were selected for the study. From each selected villages, four farm women each were selected from the list of four categories of farm women viz., women agricultural labourers, small, medium and large farm women. Thus the total sample for this study were 256 farm women. The data were collected by personal interview. The dependent and independent variables were measured by utilizing appropriate scale and procedures adopted by other research workers. Appropriate indices were used to measures the roles performed by farm women in mixed farming, areas of decision making, and training needs of farm women in, mixed farming. The statistical tools used to analyse the data were percentage, mean,standard deviation, coefficient of correlation, multiple regression, and path coefficient. Major findings 1. More than three fourth of the farm women belonged to middle age group, having medium farm size and medium farming experience. 2. More than half of the farm women were Illiterate and belonged to lower income group. 3. Majority of the farm women were having low social participation. 4. More than three fourth of the farm women belonged to medium category of achievement motivation economic motivation and credit orientation. 5. Majority of the farm women were having medium cosmopolite orientation, medium scientific orientation, and medium credit orientation. 6. Majority of the farm women belonged to shaded category of agricultural belief. 7. A great majority of the farm women had no extension contact and they were not participated in any extension activities. 8. More than half of the farm women possessed medium level of knowledge regarding improved agricultural practices, whereas, more than three fourth of them possessed medium level of knowledge about improved dairying practices. 9. Nearly half of the farm women had low mass media participation. 10. Nearly three fourth of the farm women had medium level of participation in decision making regarding various mixed farming activities . 11. The roles "most often" performed by women agricultural labourers in mixed farming were: assisting in cleaning farm residue, uprooting of seedling, sowing transplanting, making farm yard manure, weeding, threshing, harvesting, winnowing, drying, cleaning the produce, storing the farm produce, feeding animals, cutting/ collecting fodder, watering animals, milking of animals cleaning animals and yards, and carrying milk to collection centre. 12. The roles "most often" performed by small farm women in mixed farming were making farm yard manure,weeding, harvesting, threshing, drying, cleaning the produce, storing the farm produce, feeding animals, cutting/ collecting fodder, milking of animals, cleaning animals and yards, carrying milk to collection centre and management of milch animals. 13. The roles "most often" performed by medium farm women in mixed farming were weeding,making farm yard manure, threshing, drying, cleaning the produce, storing the farm produce and preparing and carrying food for labours in the field, feeding animals, watering animals, milking of animals and management of milch animals.14. The roles "most often" performed by large farm women in mixed farming were cleaning the produce storing the farm produce, making.farm yard manure, preparing and carrying food for the laboures in the field, feeding animals, watering animals, milking of animals, j cleaning animals and yards, processing of milk and management of milch and drought animals. 15. Wore than half of the women agricultural labourers and small farm women "always" took decisions regarding storage of produce and type of feed to be given to the animals 16. More than half of the medium and large farm women "always" participated in taking decisions regarding storage of produce, number of animals to be maintained and type of feed to be given to the animals 17. Average daily hours spent by women agricultural labourers, small, medium and large farm women in mixed farming were 5.0, 4.4, 3.9 and 3.0 hours respectively. 18 Eighteen variables viz. age, education, farm size, family income, family size, social participation, achievement motivation, economic motivation, cosmopolite orientation, scientific orientation, agricultural belief, attitude towards mixed farming, extension participation, mass media participation, knowledge of crops/ knowledge of dairy/ participation in decision making and credit orientation exhibited positive and significant relationship with mixed farming productivity of farm women (Pooled sample). 19, Farming experience had negative but significant relationship with mixed farming productivity of farm women (Pooled sample). 20, All the twenty independent variables, taken together explained 65, 51, 84, 92 and 73 per cent variation in mixed farming productivity of women agricultural labourers, smalls medium, large and pooled sample of farm women, respectively. 21. Path analysis of independent variables with mixed farming productivity of women agricultural labourers, small and pooled sample of farm women revealed that the variable, family income exerted largest positive direct effect on productivity, whereas, with regard to medium and large farm women the variable, age had shown largest positive direct effect on productivity. 22. Majority of the farm women expressed their training needs in the areas of selection of seed, treatment of seed, preparation of farm yard manure, methods of sowing, time and methods of fertilizer application, storage of farm produce, feeding animals, management of milch animals, treatment of common diseases, artificial insemination, care of hybrid cows and preparation of milk products. 23. Majority of the farm women expressed that lack of knowledge, lack of awareness, lack of contact with village level worker, lack of appropriate technology, lack of education and lack of financial resources were the major constraints faced by them.ThesisItem Open Access SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT OF SOCIAL FORESTRY PROGRAMME ON BENEFICIARIES IN KHEDA DISTRICT OF GUJARAT STATE(AAU, Anand, 1993) Prajapati, M. R.; TRIVEDI, J. C.The overall objective of this investigation was to study the socio-economic impact of social forestry programme on beneficiaries of Kheda district, Gujarat State. The specific objectives of the study were as follows : 1. To study the personal-social economic, psychological and communication characteristics of the beneficiaries. 2. To study the extent of adoption of social forestry practices in respect of plantation of various types of plants by the beneficiaries. 3. To study the innovation-decision process of selected component of social forestry programme in the area i.e. farm forestry. 4. To assess the socio-economic impact of social forestry programme on the beneficiaries. 5. To find out the relationship between selected independent and dependent variables. 6. To know the extent of contribution of independent variables on dependent variables. 7. To analyse the problems and seek suggestions from the beneficiaries for effective acceptance of the programme. The study was conducted in Kheda District of Gujarat State. Out of twelve forest ranges, fifty percent ranges were selected randomly viz. Nadiad, Anand, Mahemadabad, Kapadvanj (South), Borsad and Matar. Out of 58 villages of these ranges where the plantation was raised in the year 1985-86 i.e. this year was kept as base year, 20 villages were selected randomly. Ten beneficiary farmers from each village were selected at random which constituted total sample of 200 respondents. To assess the impact of village woodlot at community level, one member of each selected village panchayat, was considered as a respondent which consisted a sample of 20 village panchayat sarpanchs/secretaries. On the basis of review of pertiment literature having direct or indirect bearing on the problem, a theoretical orientation and conceptual model was developed. the hypotheses were formulated on the basis of theoretical orientation and literature reviewed. The interview schedule was developed in accordance with the objectives of the study for the data collection, the data were analysed in terms of the specific objective. Major findings : The Important findings of the study are summarised as under : 1. The innovation decision process was found to be an important intervening variable between antecedents and extent oi adoption. 2. Majority of the beneficiary farmers were found in medium to high level of overall adoption of social forestry practices. 3. Majority (68.50 percent) of the beneficiary farmers were found in medium level of socio-economic impact 4. The programme had generated income and employment opportunities. Very few farmers had diverted their cropped area to plantation crops, majority of the farmers expressed that there is an increas in their savings and investment, standard of living, social status, social relationship and self sufficiency due to adoption of social forestry programme. 5. There was positive and significant relationship between beneficiaries's education, social participation, participation in social forestry, size of land holding, annual income, credit orientation, economic motivation, innovativeness, attitude towards social forestry programme, knowledge about social forestry programme, image of the programme, extension contact and utilisation of source of information with their extent of adoption of social forestry. 6. Beneficiary farmers education, participation in social forestry, market orientation, economic motivation, risk orientation, aspiration level, attitude towards social forestry programme, knowledge about social forestry programme, overall modernity, image of the programme, extension contact and utilisation of sources of information had positive and significant relationship with their innovation-decision process. 7. There was positive and significant relationship between beneficiaries's education, social participation, size of land holding, herd size, annual income, credit orientation, innovativeness, risk orientation, aspiration level, attitude towards social forestry programme, knowledge about social forestry programme, overall modernity, image of the programme, extension contact and utilization of sources of information and their socioeconomic impact implicit through adoption of social forestry programme. 8. Three variables viz. annual income, knowledge about social forestry programme and extension contact with extension agencies combinely contributed to 81.49 percent of the total variation in the extent of adoption by beneficiaries. 9. Market orientation, knowledge about social forestry programme and image of the programme were accounted 81.79 percent for influencing innovation-decision process. 10. Five variables viz. social participation, annual income, aspiration level, overall modernity and extension contact together accounted to 61.88 percent of the total variation in the socio-economic impact implicit after adoption of social forestry on beneficiaries. 11. Majority (70.00 percent) of the village panchayats were found in medium level of impact of woodlot programme. 12. There was significant relationship between different aspects of physical structure of the village viz. area under waste land, area under village woodlot and number of seedlings survived and the impact of village woodlot programme. 13. There was non-significant relationship between different aspects of structural composition of the community and the impact of village woodlot programme. 14. Some of the most important constraints in adoption of social forestry by the beneficiaries were (1) long gestation period (2) fear of damage caused by stray animals (3) non-availability of immediate returns (4) fear of adverse effect of soil (5) lack of market facility (6) lack of supporting price (7) no cash incentives (8) Tree shade mars crop production and (9) high protection cost. 15. Some of the most important suggestions offered by the beneficiaries to overcome the constraints in adoption of social forestry were (1) financial help should be provided to the farmers at initial stage of tree plantation (2) marketing infrastructure should be created in collaboration with the forest department and (3) technical support and guidance should be provided at spot level to decrease mortality rate.ThesisItem Open Access A STUDY ON MANAGEMENT EFFICIENCY AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF MILK PRODUCERS IN PANCHMAHALS DISTRICT OF GUJARAT STATE(AAU, Anand, 1995) Vyas, Hasmukh U.; Patel, K. F.Dairying plays crucial role in Indian economy. After several years of planning, the picture in the area of milk production is not very encouraging. There are number of factors affecting the milk production as well as dairy development management is one of the most important factor which helps the milk producer to exploit natural resources and accumulate capital. The efficient use of resources depends to a greater extent on how milk producers acquire and adopt new innovations in the sector of animal husbandry in effective manner to reach higher levels of economic performance through their management efficiency. The present research was planned with following specific objectives : 1 To know the personal, situational and communicational factors of milk producers. 2 To study the management efficiency and economic performance of milk producers. 3 To explore the relationship of personal, situational and communicational factors with management efficiency and economic performance of milk producers. 4 To determine the relationship between management efficiency and economic performance of milk producers. 5 To identify the constraints faced by milk producers in adoption of dairy technology. The present study was conducted in each of five tribal and non tribal talukas of Panchmahals district of Gujarat state. From each taluka, two villages i.e. control and dairy villages were selected randomly. Fifteen milk producers from 20 selected villages constituted a total sample size of 30.0 respondents at random. The ex-post-facto research design was followed. A scale was developed to measure the management efficiency of milk producers. The data were collected with the help, of well structured and pretested Gujarati version interview schedule in the month of May and June, 1994 which includes all the items on which information was required for the study. The dependent and independent variables were measured with appropriate scales and procedures adopted by other research workers. The statistical tools to analyse the data were : percentage, arithmatic mean, standard deviation, factorial concept, coefficient of correlation, stepwise regression analysis and path analysis. FINDINGS (1) Majority of tribal milk producers were illiterate, having medium experience in livestock enterprise, economic motivation, risk orientation, level of aspiration, innovative proneness, self confidence, self reliance, cosmopoliteness, participation in training programme, personal guidance, contact with extension agency and exposure to mass media. Majority of them were marginal farmers, having joint family, large family size and small herd size. (2) Majority of non tribal milk producers were literate, having high experience in livestock enterprise and innovative proneness. Majority of them belonged to medium category of economic motivation, risk orientation, scientific orientation, achievement motivation, level of aspiration, self reliance, cosmopoliteness, deferred gratification, competition orientation, participation in training programme, personal guidance, contact with extension agency and exposure to mass media. Nearly half of non tribal milk producers were found in each category of medium and high self confidence, joint and nuclear family as well as small and medium herd size. Nearly half of non tribal milk producers were small farmers. (3) Overall, half of the milk producers were illiterate. Majority of the milk producers were having medium to high experience in livestock enterprise, economic motivation, risk orientation, achievement motivation, innovative proneness, self confidence, self reliance, cosmopoliteness, deferred gratification, personal guidance, contact with extension agency and exposure to mass media. Majority of them had low to medium scientific orientation, level of aspiration, competition orientation and participation in training programme. Marginal and small farmers, joint family, small family size and small to medium herd size were observed in majority of the milk producers. (4) Knowledge of improved animal husbandry practices, attitude towards improved dairy farming, ability in planning, ability to make rational decisions, ability to mobilise resources, ability to co-ordinate activities, efficient use of resources, ability in rational marketing, competence in evaluation, timely adoption, management efficiency and economic performance were higher among non tribal milk producers as compared to tribal milk producers and milk producers of dairy villages as compared to control villages. Regarding significant interaction effect, the highest timely adoption and economic performance were observed among non tribal milk producers of dairy villages. (5) Economic motivation, scientific orientation, achievement motivation, level of aspiration, innovative proneness, self confidence, self reliance, cosmopoliteness, deferred gratification, competition orientation, land holding, herd size, participation in training programme, personal guidance, contact with extension agency and exposure to mass media of milk producers (tribal, non tribal and pooled) were positively and significantly related with their management efficiency and economic performance. Education, experience in livestock enterprise and risk orientation of milk producers (non tribal and pooled) had also positive and significant relationship with their management efficiency and economic performance. (6) Innovative pronejfiss was the most important factor in explaining the variaton in management efficiency of tribal, non tribal and pooled milk producers. (7) Deferred gratification, cosmopoliteness and participation in training programme were the most important factors in explaining the variation in economic performsince of tribal, non tribal and pooled milk producers, respectively. (8) Innovative proneness of tribal, non tribal and pooled milk producers had major direct effect on management efficiency. So also, through this factor, most of the other factors influenced the management efficiency indirectly. (9) Management efficiency of tribal, non tribal and pooled milk producers had major direct effect on economic performance. So also, through this factor most of the the other factors influenced the economic performance indirectly. (10) Management efficiency was positively and significantly related with economic performance of milk producers (tribal, non tribal and pooled). (11) Non availability of loan facilities for purchase of milch animals and fodder, non availability of artificial insemination and milk marketing facility, lack of knowledge of scientific animal feeding as well sis preservation practices and no pasture land were the main constraints expressed by milk producers.
