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Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour
Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour established on 5th August, 2010 is a basic and strategic institution supporting more than 500 researchers and educationist towards imparting education at graduate and post graduate level, conducting basic, strategic, applied and adaptive research activities, ensuring effective transfer of technologies and capacity building of farmers and extension personnel. The university has 6 colleges (5 Agriculture and 1 Horticulture) and 12 research stations spread in 3 agro-ecological zones of Bihar. The University also has 21 KVKS established in 20 of the 25 districts falling under the jurisdiction of the University. The degree programmes of the university and its colleges have been accredited by ICAR in 2015-16. The university is also an ISO 9000:2008 certified organisation with International standard operating protocols for maintaining highest standards in teaching, research, extension and training.VisionThe Bihar Agricultural University was established with the objective of improving quality of life of people of state especially famers constituting more than two third of the population. Having set ultimate goal of benefitting society at large, the university intends to achieve it by imparting word-class need based agricultural education, research, extension and public service.
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ThesisItem Open Access Quality Evaluation and Query Pattern Analysis of Farmers Helpline Service(Department of Extension Education, BAU, Sabour, 2023) Kumar, Shivam; Patil, ShridharThe study titled “Quality evaluation and query pattern analysis of farmers’ helpline service” was conducted during 2022-23 in Bihar State. The study aimed to measure the perceived quality of farmers' helpline services, undertake a longitudinal analysis of queries made by farmers at the farmers' helpline, and document the most frequently made queries at the farmers' helpline. The study was based on a thematic analysis of 5060 queries made by farmers during the period of the last six years (August 2016 to July 2022). Further, the service quality evaluation was done based on the telephonic interview of randomly selected 120 farmers' helpline users. The Likert-type scale with 19 statements over four factors was developed using the Likert scaling method suggested by Edwards (1957) and the iterative exploratory principal axis factor analysis. It was found that farmers' helpline service quality has four underlying factors, namely, dependability, accessibility, understandability and communication effectiveness. A large majority of farmers perceived that farmers' helpline services have above-average dependability (67.50 %), understandability (62.50 %) and communication effectiveness (72.50 %). However, 41.67 % of the farmers perceived the helpline has below-average accessibility. The longitudinal thematic analysis revealed that a large majority of farmers' queries are related to theme package of practice (30.49 %) followed by plant protection measures (24.66 %), livestock management (16.40 %), seeds and planting material availability (9.07 %), training and skill development (7.39 %), government schemes (3.99 %), nutrient management (3.46 %), admission to various degree programmes (2.96 %), weed management (2.57 %), weather forecasting (1.52 %) and sowing/planting of crops (1.11 %). Crop/livestock enterprise-related farmers query analysis revealed that 36.75 percent of queries associated with this theme were concerned with goatery. The next most frequently enquired queries were associated with mango, followed by rice, mushroom, wheat, papaya, maize, brinjal, chili and strawberry. The longitudinal analysis also revealed that the queries across all the thematic categories were mainly made during the mid-kharif and early rabi season, constituting 68.89 per cent of the total queries. This trend is found to be more distinct in the case of themes like sowing (85.71 %), weed management (81.54 %), livestock (79.16 %), seed and planting material availability (77.78 %), the package of crop cultivation practices (73.36 %), nutrient management (73.14 %) and weather advisory (70.13 %). It was also found that a large majority of queries were made during June- December, constituting more than 70 percent of total queries. Among the most frequently made 100 queries, the majority were related to theme plant protection (57 %), followed by seeds and planting material availability (14 %), the package of practices (13 %), training and skill development (5 %), livestock and poultry (3 %), crop nutrient management (3 %), government schemes (2 %) and weather forecast (1 %). Similarly, crop-wise analysis of the most frequent queries made by farmers revealed that among the most frequently made 100 queries, the highest number of queries were associated with rice (16 %), followed by mango (10 %). It was found that, after 2017-18, the number of queries received at the farmers' helpline center declined significantly. This decline may be attributed to various factors, including increased access to internet-based information sources. In addition, the database of farmers' queries generated over a period of time is not being utilized for any analytical purposes. In light of these shortcomings and emerging situations, the study recommended that efforts be made to enhance farmers' access to helpline services. Efforts must also be made towards shifting helpline services from conventional landline telephone mediums to web-based platforms. This shit will provide alternative access options and enable the development and utilization of voice and text-based query databases to implement artificial intelligence-based interactive advisory systems. Such data may also be used to identify emerging challenges and problems in agriculture and provide input for prioritizing research and extension priorities of the university and line departments.ThesisItem Open Access Social Network Analysis of Direct seeded Rice in Bihar(Department of Extension Education, BAU, Sabour, 2022) Christopher, Kevin; Paswan, AnilThe study titled “Social Network Analysis of Direct Seeded Rice in Bihar” was conducted during the year 2021-22 in the Bhagalpur and West Champaran districts of Bihar with the purpose (i) to identify social network of different innovation- diffusion process of direct seeded rice, (ii) to assess the attributes of those social network, (iii) to understand the role of different actor in diffusion process and (iv) to generate suggestions for improving the efficacy of social network in the diffusion process. The study was carried out in the Sultanganj and Kahalgaon blocks of the Bhagalpur district and Nautan and Bairiya of West Champaran district. 60 respondents from each blocks who were growing direct seeded rice were purposefully chosen to participate in the data collection, thus the total number of respondents were 240. The data was coded, tabulated, and statistical analysis was performed on it. Numerous statistical methods, including frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and statistical software such as SPSS and UCINET-6 were used to analyse the data. Results of the study on the socioeconomic traits of the respondent farmers revealed that the age of average respondent farmers was between 44-64 years in both districts. The respondent farmers’ modal education attainment was ‘middle school’ in Bhagalpur and ‘primary school’ in West Champaran district. The average family size was medium in Bhagalpur district and high in West Champaran district. The respondent farmers’ modal family type was ‘joint’ in both the district. In Bhagalpur district average land holding of the respondent farmers was small and marginal in West Champaran district with agriculture as their primary source of income. The respondent farmers' modal income ranged from 75000 to 150000. The average farming experience of the respondent farmers was above 25 years in Bhagalpur and between 10 to 25 years in West Champaran district. The average respondent farmers had medium level of mass media exposures, cosmopoliteness and extension contact. Additionally, the investigation into the social networks of various innovation diffusion processes for direct-seeded rice indicated that there were total 120 actors with the web of 234, 270, 371, 322, 297, 256, 234 and 322 ties in the communication networks of direct seeded rice on seed and planting material, agricultural packages of practices, nutrients, irrigation, plant protection, harvesting, credit and government schemes in Bhagalpur district with the network density for all the eight domain of 16, 19, 26, 23, 21, 21, 16, 23 per cent respectively. The average degree were 1.9, 2.2, 2.96, 2.6, 2.47, 2.32, 1.9, and 2.6 per cent for the domains. Similarly, for west Champaran district total 120 actors with the web of 214, 128, 201, 198, 188, 126, 172 and 191 ties in the communication networks of direct seeded rice on seed and planting material, agricultural packages of practices, nutrients, irrigation, plant protection, harvesting, credit and government schemes domain were studied. They had network densities of 15, 10, 14, 11, 7, 13, 12 and per cent for each of the eight domains with average degree of 1.78, 1.78, 2.37, 1.58, 1.56, 2.33, 2.33 and 1.5 per cent in West Champaran district. Further, study on different attributes of social network such as network density, degree centrality, closeness centrality and betweenness centrality showed that network density (measure of linkage) was high for nutrients domain followed by government schemes, the mean in degree centrality (measures of tie directed toward an actors from other actors) was high for nutrients domain, the mean in closeness centrality (measures of closeness) was high for plant protection domain followed by government schemes, the between centrality (measures of liaison relationship) was high for credit domain followed by plant protection domain in Bhagalpur district. In the West Champaran district, the mean degree centrality was high for the domain of seeds and planting materials, the mean closeness centrality was high for the harvesting domain followed by the agricultural packages of practices domain, and the mean betweenness centrality was high for the credit domain then irrigation and harvesting domain. The study on central actors' contributions to diffusion process revealed that the employees of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, the Agricultural Technological Manager, opinion leaders, progressive farmers, farmers' friends, and the agricultural coordinator were important actors in the diffusion of innovation in the Bhagalpur district. In West Champaran district central actors involved in diffusion process were Agricultural Technical Manager, progressive farmers, farmers’ friends, opinion leaders, Krishi Vigyan Kendra personnel and agricultural coordinator. Major suggestion which were generated at the time of interview from respondent farmers revealed that conducting training for farmers, holding demonstrations and minikit trails in order to effective gain knowledge about the direct seeded rice followed by timely credit and resources supply as some of the main suggestions in Bhagalpur district. In West Champaran district, the primary recommendations made at the time of the interview by the respondent farmers included provision of timely financing and resources to farmers followed by the provision of expert services and resource development for key and central actors, utilization of information and communication technology for promotion of direct seeded rice among farmers network. Based on the study it can be concluded that introduction of new innovation needs to be promoted at grassroots level of farmers. Direct seeded rice is a new and an innovative technology which is being diffused among famers network at a slow pace. To accelerate the pace of the diffusion of direct seeded rice or any new innovation there is need of promotion of such innovation among farmers social network. The development of key and pivotal actors' capacities is crucial since their participation in the dissemination process is crucial. Additionally essential are government initiatives for the diffusion and promotion of specific new innovations. Therefore, it is advised that focus be placed on direct seeded rice promotion and dissemination activities among farmers' social networks.ThesisItem Open Access Factors Promoting Agripreneurship: An In-Depth Study(Department of Extension Education, BAU, Sabour, 2022) Biswas, Nupur; Panda, Chandan KumarPh.D. research work on “Factors Promoting Agripreneurship: An In-Depth Study” is based on the perception of agripreneurs of Bihar. Total eighty respondents were surveyed for this research work, which includes 20 respondents those were taken from each four districts namely, Patna, Purnea, Nalanda and Bhagalpur. There are three agro-climatic zones in Bihar comprising North-West (Zone-I), North-East (Zone-II) and South-Bihar (Zone-III). The lists of respondents was collected from KVKs and BAMETI (Bihar Agriculture Management and Extension Training Institute) and agripreneurs of concerned field under the jurisdiction of Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour was taken for study. Objectives of the study are 1) to document the entrepreneurial journey of selected respondents, 2) to identify the motivational factors associated with agripreneurship, 3) to study the determinants of success in agripreneurship and 4) to find out the enabling factors for developing an effective entrepreneurial eco-systems perceived by the respondents. The data was collected by survey method and then recorded and compiled. The findings showed that majority of agripreneurs were male (77.50 %) since in business male is dominating and having age less than 45 years that means most of them belongs to younger stage. They were only passed intermediate as in the rural areas as lesser number of people are educated, most of the agripreneurs were from backward class. They are from joint family whose family income is more than Rs. 80 lakhs. So, their houses are pacca. Majority of the agripreneurs are in progressive stage (67.50 %),majority of the agripreneurs are borrowing money from friends and relatives (37.39 %) due to high interest rate or do not get loans easily. Mentoring support is negatively correlated with the annual income from the enterprise. Legal and administrative factors are negatively correlated with the annual income from the enterprise. Legal and administrative support, mentor support and family type are the most important factors that helped in the growth of the enterprise among all independent variableThesisItem Open Access A Study on Rural Migration in Bihar(Department of Extension Education, BAU, Sabour, 2021-03) Dash, Pratyush Kumar; Tigga, A. S.Migration (Human migration) refers to the movement of a person or group of persons, either across an international border, or within a state. Migration stands as a strong indicator of population change along with fertility and mortality. This study focuses on understanding the very nature of migration among the rural population in the Bihar state of India. Purnia district was selected purposively for this research study as studies earlier have shown a high incidence of migration over the rural expanse therein. The data were collected using random and purposive sampling techniques. A total of 120 rural migrants were selected randomly from Baisi and Dagarua blocks (60 each) of Purnia district of Bihar. This study aims at examining the socio-economic profile of the rural migrants, identifying the factors responsible for migration and enquiring about the socio-economic implication of migration on the families of the migrants. Statistical tools used to analyse the data collected were frequency, per cent, weighted mean, standard deviation and ranking. Majority of the rural migrants were from the age group of 20-30 years, were married and were illiterate. Most of them practiced ‘Muslim’ religion and belonged to the Extremely Backward Classes (EBC). The rural migrants mostly maintained a family of 5-7 members living in kutcha houses and majority of them were found to be landless. Prior to migration, most of rural migrants used to earn in the range of ₹ 3766 - ₹ 7532 monthly whereas after migration, income increased and majority started earning monthly in the range of ₹ 7533 and above. Most of the migrants moved to Delhi for construction work up to a period of 6 months and returned back. The rural migrant workers were found to be doing casual and unskilled work for 8 hours daily in their workplaces at the host areas and were provided daily wages. Responsibility arising due to marriage emerged out to be the major social push factor while the economic and work environment push factors were low income and irregular employment opportunities respectively, which pushed the migrants away from their place of origin. On the other hand, major social, economic and work environment pull factors were fewer social barriers, better economic opportunities and regular work availability at the host areas. The socio-economic implications of migration on the families of the migrants were observed mainly on family income, followed by a positive impact on food quality, communication, children’s education, health of the family members, stress level of the family members, housing, clothing of the family members, social participation and knowledge or skills acquired by the family members. This study brings out the fact that there is a serious lack of employment in the rural areas which shoves the people out of their homes to move for work. Creation of employment opportunities in the rural areas by bending the path of rural people towards agricultural and allied sectors may kill their need to migrate outside their places of origin.ThesisItem Open Access Instructors’ Motivation, Instructional Quality and Perceived Challenges in Development of MOOCs(Department of Extension Education, BAU, Sabour, 2021-03) Anand, Rohini; Datt, RamA Massive Open Online course (MOOCs) is a free web based programme of learning that has unlimited participants. It has been designed for geographically dispersed students. It is a new concept started in 2008 which is now experiencing a wider acceptance. To find the purpose behind offering MOOCs by instructors can be a very new topic under which research can be carried out. The instructional quality and perceived challenges while designing and development of MOOCs can be very interesting topic. This study was conducted on topic “Instructors’ Motivation, Instructional Quality and Perceived Challenges in Development of MOOCs” with the specific objectives 1) To identify instructors’ motivation in development of MOOCs 2) To measure perceived instructional quality of MOOCs for effective teaching 3) To document perceived challenges in development of MOOCs. This study was conducted online through Google form. In India, there are mainly two platforms involved in conducting MOOCs programme namely SWAYAM and agMOOCs portal. The respondents were mainly selected from these two platforms for the study. The result showed that instructors were offering MOOCs because they find it enjoyable and interesting to do so. They were intrinsically motivated and were confident enough to perform this task in a more competent way. They believe in one’s ability to complete their task in a more successful way. The instructional quality is one of the most important function or components in MOOCs. The result of this study revealed that skill development, collective knowledge among the learners and the MOOCs associated with real world problem were most important instructional qualities to be focused on. Coming towards the result of our objective three, the main problem associated with MOOCs designing is content development which can fulfill the demand of learners, engaging learners to stay connected till the end. Other hurdles can be summarized as time limitation of developing MOOCs, technical issues, managing MOOCs platform, getting learner feedback and internet speed. In conclusion, this study recommended that instructors with high self- efficacy are involved in the MOOCs development as it requires a high commitment to tackle all the barriers involved in designing and development of MOOCs.
