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Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa
In the imperial Gazetteer of India 1878, Pusa was recorded as a government estate of about 1350 acres in Darbhanba. It was acquired by East India Company for running a stud farm to supply better breed of horses mainly for the army. Frequent incidence of glanders disease (swelling of glands), mostly affecting the valuable imported bloodstock made the civil veterinary department to shift the entire stock out of Pusa. A British tobacco concern Beg Sutherland & co. got the estate on lease but it also left in 1897 abandoning the government estate of Pusa.
Lord Mayo, The Viceroy and Governor General, had been repeatedly trying to get through his proposal for setting up a directorate general of Agriculture that would take care of the soil and its productivity, formulate newer techniques of cultivation, improve the quality of seeds and livestock and also arrange for imparting agricultural education. The government of India had invited a British expert. Dr. J. A. Voelcker who had submitted as report on the development of Indian agriculture. As a follow-up action, three experts in different fields were appointed for the first time during 1885 to 1895 namely, agricultural chemist (Dr. J. W. Leafer), cryptogamic botanist (Dr. R. A. Butler) and entomologist (Dr. H. Maxwell Lefroy) with headquarters at Dehradun (U.P.) in the forest Research Institute complex.
Surprisingly, until now Pusa, which was destined to become the centre of agricultural revolution in the country, was lying as before an abandoned government estate. In 1898. Lord Curzon took over as the viceroy. A widely traveled person and an administrator, he salvaged out the earlier proposal and got London’s approval for the appointment of the inspector General of Agriculture to which the first incumbent Mr. J. Mollison (Dy. Director of Agriculture, Bombay) joined in 1901 with headquarters at Nagpur
The then government of Bengal had mooted in 1902 a proposal to the centre for setting up a model cattle farm for improving the dilapidated condition of the livestock at Pusa estate where plenty of land, water and feed would be available, and with Mr. Mollison’s support this was accepted in principle. Around Pusa, there were many British planters and also an indigo research centre Dalsing Sarai (near Pusa). Mr. Mollison’s visits to this mini British kingdom and his strong recommendations. In favour of Pusa as the most ideal place for the Bengal government project obviously caught the attention for the viceroy.
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ThesisItem Open Access Adoption behaviour of jute growers in Kosi region of Bihar(Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricutural University, Pusa, Samastipur, 2019) Kumar, Amit; Ansari, NaushadThe study entitled “Adoption Behaviour of Jute Growers in KosiRegion of Bihar” was conducted with the specific objectives to know the socio-economic conditions, their level of knowledge and extent of adoption about jute cultivation practices along with the association between selected independent variables. Attempts were also made to identify the constraints faced by the jute growers and to explore the suggestions given by them to overcome the constraints and various problems occurring in jute cultivation. The present study was carried out in Kosi region of Bihar. Three district namely Madhepura, Saharsa and Supaul were selected for the study, from these three districts one block from each district were selected on the basis of major area under jute cultivation.And from each block two villages were selected randomly, further fifteen respondents were selected from each villages constituting a total sample size of 90 jute growers for the study purposes. Face to face interaction with the help of well prepared interview schedule was used for collection of data. The collected data were analyzed with the help of frequency distribution, mean, standard deviation and Pearson‟s correlation coefficient. The study revealed that majority of the jute growers of Kosi region were belonged to middle age group, having primary/middle school level of education, maximum percentage of them belonged to backward class and having marginal land holding area. It was also indicated that majority of them having medium level of their annual income from all available sources,they were medium in contact with different extension agencies, their exposure to mass media tools were medium to high. They were also medium in orientation towards scientific cultivation, economic orientation and also in risk bearing ability. The findings also indicated that, they weremedium in level of knowledge and extent of adoption of jute production technology.The study also revealed that out of ten independent variables, eight variables i.e. education, land holding, annual income, extension contact, mass media exposure, scientific orientation, economic orientation and risk orientation shows positive significant relationship with the knowledge level and extent of adoption of jute growers towards jute cultivation practices. Age shows negative correlation with knowledge level and adoption of jute growers and caste shows non-significant relationship with the level of knowledge and adoption. It is concluded that the major constraints faced by the jute growers in Kosi region of Bihar were lack of mechanization for processing of jute after harvest, lack of proper storage house, appearance of different types of insect, pest and diseases, intensity of flood and drought, lack of proper marketing channel, unaware of the practice of seed treatment, lack of technical knowledge with respect to use of pesticides, lack of assured and adequate irrigation facility and poor drainage system and lack of extension service. The important suggestion given by jute growers were develop mechanization for extraction of jute, develop water resources and timely availability of water for retting, establishment of retting tanks, release of flood tolerant varieties, providing good quality seed at cheaper rate, appropriate control measures of pest and diseases, timely technical guidance and soil testing, provision of fertilizers on subsidized rates, supply of effective plant protection chemicals,provision of credit facility, develop proper market structure to overcome the problem by middle manand providing good transport facility .ThesisItem Open Access Enhancing Wheat Productivity through SWI:A Impact Study of Samastipur District(Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur), 2017) Kumari, Shweta; Prakash, SatyaSystem of Wheat Intensification (SWI) is a synergistic management technique involving a few components of wheat farming such as planting, irrigation, weeding, nutrient management and seed treatment. The management practices under SWI provide better conditions for growth of wheat crop particularly in the root zone than those plants grown under traditional or conventional wheat farming. Seed treatment or seed priming generally improves germination and helps in early emergence of seedlings. Maintaining controlled plant density is the crucial part in wheat cultivation. Most of the SWI recommendations are of maintaining wider spacing with less number of seeds per hill. OBJECTIVES OF INVESTIGATION: 1. To explore the socio-economic and demographical profile of adopters and non-adopters of SWI. 2. To assess the level of knowledge about SWI of adopters and non adopters. 3. To ascertain the perception and attitude of selected respondent about SWI. 4. To find out reasons of non-adoption partial adoption and adoption of packages and practices related with SWI. Thahara, Morsand, Indrawara and Sarangpur villages were selected from Pusa and Morwa block respectively of Samastipur district. The total numbers of respondents were 60 out of 30 were adopters and 30 were non-adopters. Collection of data through interview method. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire. Statistical tools frequency and percentage were used for analysis of the data. The analysis revealed that among the adopters, nearly 50 per cent of them belong to young age group, while among non-adopters 40 per cent belongs to old age group. It is also revealed that nearly 40 percent of adopters were from BC category, whereas 36.67 per cent of non-adopters were from BC category. 63.34 per cent of adopters were farming as occupation but among non-adopters 73.33 per cent were farming as occupation. Majority of the adopters, 65 per cent were found to have studied beyond high school and graduation, while 50 per cent non-adopters were educated beyond high school and graduation. Among adopters, nearly 70 per cent were small and marginal farmers, and among non-adopters 70 per cent were marginal and medium farmers. In case of adopters, nearly 60 per cent had income ranging from 1.5 to 2 lakh rupees i.e. medium to high whereas 80 per cent non-adopters had very low to low income. Among the adopters, 30 per cent were not a member of any organization and 50 per cent were member of one organization whereas 60 per cent respondents of non-adopters were not a member of any organization and 33 per cent were member of one organization. Both among adopters and non-adopters nearly 80 per cent respondents were utilized pumping set for irrigation purpose. Localite interpersonal information source were ‘often’ or ‘sometimes’ utilized by majority of respondents from both samples. But among adopters contact with scientist was most among all under ‘most often’ category. With respect to knowledge of various components of SWI technology found that 50-80 per cent respondents of adopters had medium to high level knowledge, but in case of non-adopters 40 per cent respondents had medium to high level knowledge. Among adopters 42.67 per cent had strongly agree and 3.56 per cent had strongly disagree perception, but in case of non-adopters 35.33 per cent of respondents had strongly agree and 8.67 per cent had strongly disagree perception. Among the adopters, 50 per cent had favourable attitude. But among non-adopters 40 per cent had unfavourable attitude. With respect to adoption of SWI technology majority of adopters were found to be ‘medium adopting’ i. e. 50 per cent whereas in case of non-adopters 60 per cent of respondents had low level of adoption.ThesisItem Open Access Listening behaviour of farm radio programmes among the farmers of North Bihar(Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur), 2016) Kumar, Manoj; Ansari, M. N.Mass media plays a very important role in the dissemination of farm information to the farmers. Among the different mass media, radio has advantage over the other mass media in terms of being handy, portable, easily accessible and cheap. Radio is widely used mass communication medium and has a great potentiality in dissemination of information. Radio caters to a large rural population which has no access to television and where there is no power supply. The farmers are listening agricultural programmes on radio and using this information for improving their crop practices. However, the farmers may have some problems and suggestions about the programmes run by radio which can be useful to media owners, planners, policy makers and extension agencies to plan and implement effective communication strategies to reach the farmers. Keeping all these facts in mind the present investigation entitled, “Listening behaviour of farm radio programmes among the farmers of North Bihar” has been undertaken with following specific objectives. • To assess the socio-economic and personal characteristics of radio listener farmers. • To analyze the programme preferences of radio listener farmers with reference to Kheti-Grihasthi and Chaupal. • To measure the attitude of radio listener farmers towards both the programmes. • To explore the constraints of non-listening of farm radio programmes and suggests the strategies for its betterment. The present study was carried out taking two blocks namely Pusa from Samastipur district and Muraul from Muzaffarpur district which are situated in North-East penetration range of Patna Akashvani Kendra. Out of these two blocks, two villages from each block namely Mahmada and Harpur from Pusa Block and Lautan and Iteha from Muraul Block were selected purposively. Fifteen radio listening farmers were taken from each of the selected villages. Thus, a total number of 60 farmers were constituted as the sample for the present study. The investigator collected data by using a pretested structured schedule employing personal interview technique. Thereafter, the data were classified, tabulated, statistically analysed and interpreted in light of the objective of the study, which led to following findings. It is concluded based on the finding that majority of respondents belonged to middle age groups, literate experienced marginal farmers having farming occupation along with medium level of social participation, mass media exposure, scientific orientation in farming and had favorable attitude towards farm radio programmes. It was found that maximum number of farmers had medium level (71.66 percent) of listening behaviour and this was followed by low level and high level of listening behavior. During the study it was observed that there was positive and significant relationship between listening behavior and selected independent variables viz., age, education occupation, social participation, mass media exposure, scientific orientation and attitude while the variables and occupation was found non- significant The study shown that majority of the radio listening respondents were satisfied with the present timing of the farm broadcast. Maximum percentage of respondents preferred the frequency of farm broadcast daily and duration of 45 minute respectively. The relative preference of the listening farmers for different programmes on radio revealed that Agricultural programme, News and Pitara were the most preferred programmes, respectively in the study area. The study indicated that the crop production and farm machinery were the most and least preferred areas respectively towards various subject matter concerned in the field of agriculture. The interview with progressive farmers was the most preferred mode of presentation whereas straight talk was the least one as revealed by the selected respondents. Majority of the radio listening farmers were strongly agreed attitude with the statements like “Radio programmes tell us latest technical know-how about improved farm technologies” where as majority of them were strongly disagreed with the statements like “Owning a radio is useless and wastage of money”. During the study the maximum percentage of farmers (80 per cent) acknowledged their “engagement in domestic and other allied affairs” which was a major time constraint and” Do not like to listen with younger person” was most important social barriers for non-listening of the farm radio programme. The most important economic constraints was “high rate of battery consumption “while in case of technological constraints, 61.66 percent of agreeing respondent express their views that due to “improper working of radio set” they often missed their programme.ThesisItem Open Access Empowerment of Sub-marginal Women Farmers Through Livelihood Enterprises: A Critical Analysis in Muzaffarpur District(Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur), 2016) Roy, Pooja; Shekhar, DibyanshuIndia is home to the fourth largest agricultural sector in the world while its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) is comparatively low, but it provides employment to 56 percent of workforce and reduces poverty and food security and determines inclusive growth of the country. The state like Bihar is predominantly agrarian and agriculture engages nearly three-fourths of Bihar’s population. The agricultural industry provides employment to about 81% of the total workforce and generates nearly 42% of the State Domestic Product. Given the current situation of the labour market various avenues to increase income and empowerment opportunities for women need to be explored and strengthened. Support to diversification of activities, through improved skill development, access to credit, market linkages, etc. are only but a few alternatives. For empowering farm women there is a need for easy access of agricultural technology for addressing the issues of gender concerns in farming as well as their socio- economic empowerment and livelihood security. The present study has been planned to undertake following specific objectives: • To assess the socio- economic and personal characteristics of sub- marginal women farmers. • To study the various agricultural production systems adopted by sub- marginal women farmers for their livelihood. • To explore the process and impact of farm interventions in terms of livelihood promotion among sub- marginal women farmers. • To examine the constraints perceived by sub –marginal women farmers and to suggest strategies for livelihood security Sakra block of Muzaffarpur district has been purposively selected as the study attempts to explore socio-economic empowerment of sub- marginal women farmers (those cultivating less than 1acre/20 Kattha) through the interventions made by local NGO, Creative Welfare Society (CWS) of Rajapur, Sakra block, Muzaffarpur district through collaboration with several developmental agencies. In Sakra block, three panchayats (Dubaha, Dihuli, Misraulia) and six villages (Dubaha, Rajapur, Dihuli, Naropatti, Misraulia, Maniyari) were selected. A total of 80 respondents, out of which experimental group of 40 sub-marginal women farmers was purposively selected. Another control group of 40 sub-marginal women farmers was randomly selected from the same villages. Eight most relevant independent variables i.e., Age; Caste, Education, Land holding, Annual income, Social participation and interventions methods were identified for the study. Dependent variables were socio-economic empowerment and livelihood security. All the variables were measured under the set rules and procedures, with scale and schedules developed for the study. An interview schedule was prepared, pilot study were conducted and used in personal interviews with respondents. Appropriate statistical tests were used using SPSS software package. The study revealed that majority of experimental and control group women farmers were found to be from low socio economic strata with low education and income, belonged to other backward castes and schedule caste. The sub-marginal farm women were with minimal assets and medium family size. The results highlighted the importance and relevance of livelihood security and empowerment development programmes through agriculture and allied interventions for betterment of the selected respondents residing in these villages. The respondents were using both the hybrids and traditional seeds but their extent of utilization depended upon the availability and cost. Similarly they preferred to store seeds at home due to unavailability of storage facilities. In case of investment, major expenditure was on irrigation, fertilizers but pesticides got less attention. The present study also revealed that the timely availability of critical inputs at cheaper prices was crucial and meeting these constraints would certainly help to excel their agricultural productivity and bring improvement in their livelihoods. Thus the dream for all round development can be only fulfilled if we could ensure active involvement, participation and technological empowerment of women in agriculture through better support from government schemes.ThesisItem Open Access Extent of adoption of Protected Cultivation Technology among the trained farmers of North Bihar(Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur), 2016) Bharti, Jigyasa; Prakash, Satya“protected cultivation ” means modification of the plant environment to achieve optimum plant growth and maximum production by avoiding the harmful effect of climatic factors like tempreture, humidity, rainfall, etc (P.R.Bhatnagar,2012). It is one of the special agriculture where high input (land, water, seeds and chemicals) use efficiency on account of better protection against abiotic and biotic stress is obtained besides off season production. Protected cultivation though has variety of agriculture application but mainly it is being considered for the production of horticulture crops like vegetables and ornamental flower. It is estimated that small area approximately fifty thousand hectares is under protected cultivation in India. Protected cultivation of high value vegetables and cut-flowers has shown tremendous potential during the last decade or so. With the progress of liberalized economy and the advent of newer technologies in agriculture, protected cultivation opens up avenues in agriculture hitherto not seen. These technologies are not only creating avenues at higher level but also to the growers with the smaller landholdings as the higher productivity levels retain economic relevance to agriculture. Protected cultivation is in a way precise, progressive and parallel agriculture encompassing virtually all facets of agriculture and rather under additional scrutiny of technical relevance to situations and grower and market economics. The analysis reveals that that most of the trained farmers belonged to middle age group (50 percent), UR category (50 percent), farming alone 45(percent), literate up to graduation and above (60 percent), small family (60 percent), member of one organization (45 percent), medium level of Risk orientation (65 per cent), medium entrepreneurial motivation (60 percent), medium knowledge level (55 percent) . Some of the independent variables such as attitude and source of information utilized were found to be statistically significant. The result of the study revealed that extent of crop diversification extent of Crop diversification is higher among trained respondents as compared to untrained respondents. The adoption level is also higher among trained respondents as compared to untrained respondents. Hence it is clear that trained farmers have great benefits of training. Protected cultivation training had been successful and had significant impact on protected cultivators. Farmers were able to enhance their level of motivation, tackle the constraints and maintain profitability and sustainability. Hence training is very important to adopt the new technology of protected cultivation.