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Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar
After independence, development of the rural sector was considered the primary concern of the Government of India. In 1949, with the appointment of the Radhakrishnan University Education Commission, imparting of agricultural education through the setting up of rural universities became the focal point. Later, in 1954 an Indo-American team led by Dr. K.R. Damle, the Vice-President of ICAR, was constituted that arrived at the idea of establishing a Rural University on the land-grant pattern of USA. As a consequence a contract between the Government of India, the Technical Cooperation Mission and some land-grant universities of USA, was signed to promote agricultural education in the country. The US universities included the universities of Tennessee, the Ohio State University, the Kansas State University, The University of Illinois, the Pennsylvania State University and the University of Missouri. The task of assisting Uttar Pradesh in establishing an agricultural university was assigned to the University of Illinois which signed a contract in 1959 to establish an agricultural University in the State. Dean, H.W. Hannah, of the University of Illinois prepared a blueprint for a Rural University to be set up at the Tarai State Farm in the district Nainital, UP. In the initial stage the University of Illinois also offered the services of its scientists and teachers. Thus, in 1960, the first agricultural university of India, UP Agricultural University, came into being by an Act of legislation, UP Act XI-V of 1958. The Act was later amended under UP Universities Re-enactment and Amendment Act 1972 and the University was rechristened as Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology keeping in view the contributions of Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant, the then Chief Minister of UP. The University was dedicated to the Nation by the first Prime Minister of India Pt Jawaharlal Nehru on 17 November 1960.
The G.B. Pant University is a symbol of successful partnership between India and the United States. The establishment of this university brought about a revolution in agricultural education, research and extension. It paved the way for setting up of 31 other agricultural universities in the country.
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ThesisItem Open Access A STUDY ON COMMUNICATION NETWORK ANALYSIS OF DAIRY FARMERS IN KUMAON DIVISION OF UTTARAKHAND(G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar-263145, 2024-02-01) Karki, Pooja; Ansari, M. A.Dairy contributes significantly towards socioeconomic development of rural households in the country as it is closely integrated with farming systems of rural India. In Uttarakhand, availability of abundant grazing land and forests makes it all the more important as it provides gainful employment to family members of rural households. Information about scientific dairy farming practices needs to be communicated to the dairy farmers so that they can enhance the productivity as well as production efficiency. Communication Networks play an important role in disseminating information about appropriate feeding, breeding, and disease management practices through relevant communication networks, as well as in improving animal health and yielding higher milk production. Thus, the knowledge of communication networks and the information flow will be useful in upscaling the knowledge and skills of the dairy farmers. Thus, there is an urgent need to analyze communication network and information flow between network members in dairy sector for effectively addressing the diverse and varied information needs of dairy farmers. If, the right communication networks are identified for information exchange about improved dairy farming practices within the community, it may help in promoting innovations through extension services and other livestock programme, schemes, projects. Keeping this in view a study entitled “A study on Communication Network Analysis of Dairy Farmers in Kumaon Division of Uttrakhand” was undertaken. The present study was conducted in Kumaon division of Uttarakhand. The study followed descriptive research design to meet the objectives of the study. Two districts were selected purposively on the basis of maximum number of organized milk societies and highest number of memberships (dairy farmers). The two blocks from each district were then selected purposively on the basis of maximum number of dairy cooperative societies. Later, two villages were selected from each block through random sampling without replacement. Thirty dairy farmers from each of the eight selected village (sample size 240) were selected for the study through purposive sampling. The data was collected through pre-tested interview schedule and collected data was coded, tabulated, analyzed and interpreted with the help of Excel, SPSS and UCINET software. From the study findings, it can be concluded that majority of the respondents were male, middle aged, married, educated up to high school, belonged to upper caste, belonged to nuclear family with family size (<7 members), respectively. As regards dairy farming experience majority of the respondents had medium level (23- 41years) of dairy farming experience, having land less than 1 hectare with primary occupation agriculture along with dairy farming and secondary occupation as agriculture labour. It was also found that majority of the respondents had less than 4 herd size, less than 15 liter milk production, earned monthly income from dairy farming between Rs.10,000 to Rs.19,000 and earned an annual income between Rs.173,333- Rs. 556,667. It was found that all of the respondents possessed television, displayed medium information seeking and sharing behaviour. Further, it was observed that majority of the respondents had medium level of economic motivation, scientific orientation, risk orientation and management orientation. Study of communication network among the dairy farmers seeking dairy related information showed that total 29 respondents occupied the central position in the communication network as the holder of influence with respect to dissemination of dairy information. These dairy farmers can serve as Key Communicators in the village(s) for the promotion of dairy farming. Further, majority of the respondents displayed medium level of knowledge of improved dairy farming practices. Also, it was found that selected profile characteristics of dairy farmers such as education, experience, herd size, daily milk production, monthly income from dairy farming, total annual income, economic motivation, scientific orientation, management orientation, decision making ability, risk taking ability, information seeking behaviour and information sharing behaviour were found to have had positively and significant relationship with their knowledge of improved dairy farming practices. Age and land holding of the respondents had non-significant relationship with their knowledge of improved dairy farming practices. Major constraints as reported by the dairy farmers were unavailability of vaccines, low price of milk offered, lack of training facilities in dairy sector, inadequate or lack of information about government schemes. The identified opinion leaders as well as the type of communication networks among the dairy farmers will revitalize and reinvigorate the dairy sector in Uttarakhand. The study outcomes are important as it will help dairy professionals, researchers, policy makers in advancing the cause of dairy farming in the state.ThesisItem Open Access Information utilization pattern of mobile-based agro advisory services of KVKs by farmers in Uttar Pradesh(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2022-03) Verma, Tanuja; Sharma, GyanendraIn rural India majority of people relied on agriculture and allied sectors for their livelihood. Indian agriculture is the home of 80 per cent small and marginal farmers, still Indian farmers are poor because of huge technology gap and they also face new challenges on integration of value chains, globalization and liberalization effects, market volatility and vulnerability to climate change, etc. Despite the improved interest and investment in agricultural extension in India, such services fail to meet diverse information need of the stakeholders. Given the challenges, it has been observed that the information communication technology (ICT) can provide timely accurate and quality information to the farmers, which facilitate increased agricultural output. There are many information and communication technology (ICT) projects in Indian agriculture have emerged, either supporting or substituting the extension services by providing farmers with access to agricultural information. It has been also observed that mobile based agro-advisory services can prove to be very beneficial by reducing the information gap between farmers and scientists, also the mobile phone based services enhances the availability to knowledge and information and will further help in improving awareness, education, better adoption of technology, better health and efficiency, reduced transaction costs, better market. Government is also putting a lot of emphasis on improving the mobile based agricultural advisory services. Thus, it was felt necessary to study the information utilization pattern of mobile based agro-advisory services of KVKs by farmers in Uttar Pradesh. The present study was undertaken to study the socio-economic, communication and psychological characteristics of the farmers along with their utilization pattern, relationship between socio-economic, communication and psychological characteristics and their information utilization pattern as well as the constraints faced by them was also studied. The study was conducted in eight randomly selected villages; viz.; Garhi Hansram and Narkhi Talukra of Narkhi block, Alai and Basai of Tundla block, Awagarh Dehat and Barai Kalyan Pur of Awagarh block, Berni and Akbarpur Satha of Jalesar block in Uttar Pradesh state. Descriptive research design was used to meet the objectives of the study. Detailed pre-tested interview schedule was administered to 180 respondents for collection of data. Statistical methods such as mean, frequency, percentage, standard deviation, correlation coefficient and t-test were used to treat the data for meaningful interpretation. Findings of study revealed that all of them were male. Further; about half of the respondents (54.44%) belonged to the middle age group, had educational qualification up to higher secondary level (25%). All of them relied on agriculture as a primary means of livelihood and majority (50.6%) had land up to four hectare and majority (98.90%) of farmers’ contacted fellow farmers to get agricultural information. Most of the respondents had medium level of mass media ownership (67.78%), mass media exposure (62.22%), it was also found that 43.9 percent respondents had low level of extension agency contact, less than half of the respondents (42.8%) had high level of economic motivation whereas 38.9 percent of respondents had medium level of achievement motivation and decision making ability (40.6%). Regarding information utilization pattern of mobile based agro-advisory services, it was found that most of the respondents (60%) belonged to the medium category. Data related to content analysis revealed that maximum number of messages (40.38%) and (40.90%) delivered by KVK Etah and Firozabad were related to agriculture, appropriateness of language stated that majority of messages (27.08%) were easy to read by farmers, 98.07 percent and 93.18 percent new messages were sent by KVK Etah, Firozabad respectively. Further it was found that 92.30 percent text messages were delivered by KVK Etah similarly 97.72 percent text messages were delivered by KVK Firozabad. Data regarding opinion of respondents about messages majority (77.77%) respondents reported that the messages were delivered on time coinciding with the crop growth, 69.44 percent respondents reported that content of the messages were relevant, 58.88 percent respondents found the content adequate, 52.22 percent respondents found the messages very useful. It was found that age, education, mass media ownership and decision making ability had significant and positive relationship with the information utilization pattern of mobile agro-advisory services. Occupation of the head of the household, main source of income, size of landholding, extension contact, economic motivation and achievement motivation had positive but nonsignificant relationship with the information utilization pattern of mobile agro-advisory services by farmers, only mass media exposure had significant but negative relationship with the information utilization pattern of mobile agro-advisory services. It was also found lack of institutional support, fear about technology, lack of readiness in adopting new technology, and high cost of telecommunication network services were main constraints faced by farmers in using mobile agro-advisory services.ThesisItem Open Access A study on swarm intelligence in group decision making of farmers’ self help groups in Uttarakhand(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2022-03) Goswamy, Pragya; Kashyap, S.K.The concept and utility of SHGs is a proven fact and it has contributed significantly in group-led extension activities on a large scale. However, these SHGs play instrumental role in empowering its members and in many core aspects of farming, but these groups also face various challenges among which ineffective group decision making is prominent. Therefore, it is crucial and critical to strengthen the self help groups through resolving the issues of stability for strengthening the extension system in light of agriculture and rural development at national level. In this context, it is important to critically analyze the natural mapping of group decision making which is observed in various forms in the nature, especially in the swarms with distinction of swarm-intelligence. Looking into the parallel world of honey-bees, swarm-intelligence is a phenomenon through which the swarm of bees perform various group tasks and take crucial group decisions effectively and efficiently without any central control of the leader utilizing their collective intelligence. Therefore, the study was intended to map the group decision processes among honey bee swarms and its inbuilt influences to relate it with the decision making processes among SHGs to study its impact so that the speed and accuracy of group decision making in SHGs could be enhanced and the conflicts in decision making could be constructively utilized. The study was conducted on swarm intelligence in group decision making of farmers’ self-help groups of Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar districts of Uttarakhand. Total 12 SHGs and 120 respondents (10 from each SHG) were selected. Frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, co-efficient of correlation, significance of correlation coefficient, multiple linear regression analysis and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data for meaningful interpretation. Profile characteristics of the members of selected SHGs revealed that majority of the members were middle aged, married females, marginal farmers, educated up to intermediate level and were engaged in agriculture with other subsidiary occupation. Maximum of the respondents belonged to medium category in terms of annual income, achievement motivation, ease of use of android phones, duration (between 3 to 5years) of membership in SHGs, task function and maintenance function. They had favourable attitude towards collectivisation and group decision making. Regarding results obtained through group decision making index, it was inferred that majority of the members of SHGs’ scored at medium level on group decision making index (GDMI). With respect to the ten indicators of group decision making it was observed that the respondents scored at medium level for each indicator. It was also reported that there was significant variation in group decision making among the selected SHGs. It was inferred from the correlation analysis, that all the ten indicators of Group Decision Making were significantly and positively related to Group Decision Making Index. It was also concluded that 90.60 per cent of variation in the dependent variable i.e., Group-decision making was explained by the ten indicators of group decision making index. Thus, it was inferred that the ten indicators play a significant role in shaping Group decision making. In relation to the effectiveness of Swarm A.I. based group decision making, it was inferred that seven key factors i.e., Decision impulse, Conviction of the decision, Engagement in Decision, Decision duration, Decision Alignment, Extent of Participation and Real-time physical negotiation contributed to the effectiveness of Swarm A.I. software. Swarm AI was found aligned to the swarm intelligence mechanism in honey bee swarms wherein honey bees hold an open and free competition of ideas to reach to a particular decision. Optimal decision-making framework developed in the present study highlighted that groups must reach a decision not based on individual responses of the members, but based on the changing dynamics of the entire system to reach upto the most agreeable option. The framework was formulated by integrating the seven factors of Swarm A.I. based decision making with the ten indicators of Group decision making index. The study concluded that the elements and components of swarm-intelligence could be effectively mapped to generate an effective system or software to ignite the group decision making capability of SHGs and to extend it across the SHGs throughout country. It was also inferred that through the mapping the conflicts in decision making process could be effectively translated into universally accepted and effective group decisions to lead into sustained and impactful structures of SHGs.ThesisItem Open Access Role performance of village agricultural workers (VAWs) in Odisha: An analytical study(G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand), 2022-01) Panda, Anmol; AmardepVillage Agricultural Workers (VAWs) are the grass root level extension functionaries in the public sector extension system of Odisha who govern the basic yet most important dynamics of rural development in state which still thrive on agriculture. The state of Odisha facing the number of challenges like variable climatic conditions as well as frequent natural calamities, poor irrigation facilities, low productivity, lower farmer’s income, that demands the efficiency of VAWs in fulfilling their assigned roles. The state’s latest agricultural policy SAMRADHI-2020 has been dedicated to harness the potential of Odisha’s agricultural sector in a sustainable manner with an in-built objective of Human Resource Development. So, the analysis and evaluation of the role performance of VAWs of Odisha, who are the bridge between farmers and change agencies, becomes a timely demand for the smooth functioning of the extension machinery in the state. This study entitled “Role Performance of Village Agricultural Workers (VAWs) in Odisha: An Analytical Study” was undertaken to find out the profile characteristics of the VAWs, their role performance, the constraints faced by them in performing their roles, assessing their training needs, finding the relationship between the profile characteristics and role performance & training needs of VAWs and finally tailoring a training module on the basis of identified training needs. Following an analytical research design, the study was conducted in a total of nine districts of Odisha state, three districts selected randomly from each of its three administrative divisions. The study sample comprised a total of 292 VAWs chosen randomly from the selected nine districts following proportional allocation. The study concluded that around three fourths of the respondent VAWs were middle-aged between 31-40 years (73.63%) and educated up to intermediate level (72.94%). A majority of VAWs had 6-14 years of service experience (79.80%), medium level of training exposure (74.32%), 9-36 villages under jurisdiction (57.19%) and neutral perceived organizational climate (74.32%). Majority of respondents also possessed high level orientation towards extension profession (74.32%), used to have 3-4 visits per week (87.67%), had medium levels of organizational commitment (64.38%), selfconfidence (66.78%), leadership ability (79.11%), job satisfaction (64.38%) and communication competence (64.38%). The finding shows that majority (70.55%) of VAWs has medium level of role performance and majority (70.21%) of them has medium level of training needs. The findings of the study also revealed that the VAWs rated their performance highly on input supply & quality control roles, followed by management roles, extension & training roles and lastly, technical roles. The calculated Training Need Index showed that most prominent training needs were in the order as communication & human relation needs, programme planning & evaluation needs, subject matter needs and managerial needs. The multifarious roles and lack of technical information were identified to be the topmost constraints faced by VAWs in performing their roles. Inferential/relational statistical analyses like correlation is carried out to find out the relationship between the profile characteristic variables of VAWs and their role performance & training needs. The findings revealed that variables like education, service experience, training exposure, organizational climate, orientation towards extension profession, frequency of visits, organizational commitment, self-confidence, leadership ability and communication competence showed positive correlation with the role performance. On the other hand, in case of training needs, age, education, service experience, training exposure, organizational climate, organizational commitment, self-confidence, leadership ability, job satisfaction and communication competence of VAWs showed positive and significant correlation. The training module was made on the basis of identified training needs, constraints faced and factors affecting the role performance of VAWs. Thus, the findings of the study will help the think tank to utilize them in planning and organizing training programmes in future for VAWs of the state.
