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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 Study on the extent of adoption of Lac technology among the growers of Ranchi district of Jharkhand(DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Xess, Neelkusum; Prakash, SatyaForest helps millions of people in several ways throughout the globe. Tribal and forest have long been interdependent. In India peoples who live in tribal dominant areas is surrounded by forest and helping them in providing not only food but also nutrition and livelihood option for the people in tribal areas of India. Lac (Kerria Lacca kerr.) is the natural resin produced in India since the ancient time at the Vedic periods. The lac is derived from the Sanskrit word “LAKHSA” which means hundreds of thousands in Hindi. It is a natural gift to mankind a commercial resin which produces by the insect. Lac is a unique natural gift to mankind; it has various properties and usages in industries and day to day life. Due to its non-toxic and edible properties, the demand for use of lac in the industry is increasing day by day. The lac growers of Jharkhand state are taking a very keen interest in lac production for their economic use. Lac is mainly grown in Jharkhand and adjoining states and it is an important source of a subsidiary income for tribal poor families engaged in its cultivation. Jharkhand in national lac production is about 53% followed by Chhattisgarh (17%), Madhya Pradesh (12%), Maharashtra (8%) and Odisha (3%). Among the varied cropping season crops, jethwi crop was ranked 1st with the contribution of 32% followed by aghani (27%), baisakhi (24%), and katki (17%) in total lac production. Utilization of unexploited trees and the adoption of recommended lac production technology would result in enhanced income from lac, thereby raising the standard living of lac growers. The study was conducted in the Ranchi district of Jharkhand with an objective Study on the Extent of Adoption of Lac technology among the growers of the Ranchi District of Jharkhand. Two villages from every two blocks were selected. A total of four villages and two blocks were selected for the research study. In total 20 farmers from each village were selected randomly to comprise a sample of 80 respondents for study purposes. The information was collected through the personal interview to get the required data. Ex-post-facto research design was adopted for this study. It was noticed that (38.75) were old age group (>50 years), (56.25%) were in ST category, (56.25%) practiced lac cultivation+ agriculture as occupation, (31.25%) had primary level of education. Majority of respondents (56.25%) belonged to a nuclear family, (56.25%) were the members of only one organization (45.00%) had a small size of landholding, (70.00%) belonged to the lower-income group, (78.75%) had a medium level of lac cultivation and practices and (33.75%) had a medium level of extension contact. As regards to the source of information and mass media, the majority of respondents (65.00%) belonged o medium level for both. The majority of respondents belonged to a medium level of adoption regarding the scientific cultivation of lac. To assess the role of various independent variables in the adoption of scientific production technology multinominal regression analysis was done and occupation and farm size were found to be positively correlated and significant a 10% level of significance and annual income and mass media were found to be positively correlated and significant a 5% level of significance. So far as constraints faced by respondents in the adoption of scientific lac production technology the main problems were ecological constraints which included foggy weather and unavailability of host plants, followed by cultural constraints which included problems like the old method of cultivation, ignorance of lac cultivation, and technical constraints which consisted he problems like lack of technical knowledge and skills, new lac production technology is complex. These three were the topmost problems faced by lac growers. The study suggests that there should be training and skill demonstration about lac cultivation by extension agencies at a village level, instant availability of insecticides, pesticides and sprayers, and proper tools for lac cultivation which will make the lac production technology easier.ThesisItem Open Access Agricultural information seeking behavior of farmers through mobile: a study of Sitapur district(DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Shukla, Gyan; Ansari, M.N.Information is considered as the fifth factor of production in agriculture. With the increasing gap between farmer and extension agencies, end users are unable to get real-time information which is quite essential in modern agricultural to the optimum utilisation of remaining factors of production. In the present era of information centricity, ICT, which is spreading rapidly among the people, is proving to be a boon in reducing the growing gap between the farmers and the extension agencies. A mobile phone is one of the ICT tools and is quite useful for farmers to seek real-time information from intended sources anywhere anytime. The present study entitled with the general objective as “Agricultural Information Seeking Behaviour of Farmers Through Mobile: A Study Of Sitapur District” conducted in Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh with four working objectives viz. 1) to examine the socioeconomic and personal characteristics of selected farmers; 2) to identify the information needs of the farmers for agriculture; 3) to assess the information-seeking behaviour through mobile among the farmers; 4) to find out the constraints faced by farmers in using mobile as the source of information. Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh was selected as local of research purposively. Two blocks, namely Biswan and Maholi, were selected randomly. Three villages from each block and 15 respondents from each village have been selected randomly. Thus, a total number of 90 respondents were constituted as the sample for the present study. For studying information-seeking behaviour of farmers through mobile, there are fourteen variables considered as independent and one dependent variable, i.e. information-seeking behaviour farmers through mobile. Data were collected by personally interviewing the respondents with the help of a structured interview schedule. For data processing, analysing and making inferences various statistical tools such as frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, Pearson’s Product Movement Correlation, Multivariate linear regression analysis and Garrett ranking method have been used. The study revealed that majority of respondents with socio-economic and personal attributes like age group, family size, family education status, farming experience, annual family income, mass media exposure and extension contact were falling under medium level in the study locale. Rest of socio-economic and personal attributes like gender (found male-dominated); family type (mostly nuclear family); educational status (majority had up to middle-level education); social participation (participation in one organisation by the large proportion of respondents); landholding (mostly owned less than 2 ha) and credit sources (commercial banks) were utilised. The findings also indicated that i) information on ID± ii) marketrelated information; and iii) information on Government’s schemes and subsidies were top three prioritised, out of 16 selected information needs of farmers found in the study area. Most of the selected farmers had a medium level of information seeking behaviour through mobile. In general, information-seeking behaviour which includes other sources in addition to the mobile phone, majority of information sources were found the medium level of availability, frequency of use, perceived importance and satisfaction level by the majority of respondents. The study also revealed that variables education, social participation, annual family income, credit sources, mass media exposure and extension contact significantly associated at 1% level. Rest of the independent variables don't show any kind of significant relationship with the dependent variable. Regression analysis shows variables like education, social participation and annual family income have a significant relationship at 1% level and their standardised beta values 0.282, 0.210 and 0.264 respectively. Variables like mass media exposure and extension contact observed significant at 5% level with its standardised beta values 0.235 and 0.188 respectively. Sources of credit were found significant at 10% level with standardised beta value 0.107. Remaining variables do not reveal significantly associated with its dependent variable ISB of farmers through mobile. It is concluded that the major pecuniary constraints faced by respondents were lack of adequate income and high cost of network services etc. Fluctuating networks, as well as lack of access of the internet, were ranked as the infrastructural constraints of the first and second order, respectively. The study demonstrated that the lack of literacy and Smartphone proficiency were observed major issues under awareness related constraints. The most critical miscellaneous constraints include privacy concerns and information negativism faced by farmers in using mobile as the source of information.ThesisItem Open Access Varietal preference and farmers’ perception towards Rice-Wheat cropping system: a study in Rohtas district of Bihar(DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Kumari, Sonali; Singh, Ashok KumarThe study entitled “Varietal Preference and Farmers’ Perception towards Rice-Wheat Cropping System: A Study in Rohtas District of Bihar” was carried out with the specific objectives to assess the socio-economic and demographical characteristics, the varietal preference towards rice and wheat and farmers’ perception towards rice-wheat cropping system. An attempt was also made to find out the constraints in adoption of improved varieties of rice and wheat. There are 38 districts in Bihar. Out of 38 districts, Rohtas was selected purposively. Further, two blocks namely Nokha and Bikramganj were selected randomly from the district. Again, two villages from each block were chosen following the random sampling technique.10 marginal, 10 small, 10 medium and 10 large farmers randomly selected from each of the four selected villages constituting a sample of total 160 respondents for the study purposes. Interview technique was used for the collection of data with the help of a structured interview schedule. The collected data were analyzed with the help of frequency distribution, mean, standard deviation, multinomial logit model and regression analysis. The study revealed that majority of respondents were old aged (59.37%), pursued higher secondary education (37.50%), followed by graduate and above (29.37%), having a joint family (63.75%), farm size constituted (25%) from each category i.e. marginal, small, medium and large farm size, having a medium area under rice and wheat (48.75%) and also having medium (62.50%) experience in farming, having farming alone (51.25%) as their main occupation and belonged to medium annual income (51.87%).In case of social participation majority was a member of one organization i.e. PACS while in social participation having high (42.50%) followed by medium (40%) and having medium (55%) level of economic motivation. In the study area during the field visit, it was found that type of land of the selected villages was found in midland only there was no demarcation of upland and lowland. The topography of each selected block is similar i.e. height, the direction of slope, steepness of the slope. The study shows that regarding variety preference in rice Nata Mahsuri (41.25%) was the most preferred variety, followed by Samba Mahsuri (23.75%), and followed by Rajendra Sweta (18.12%) less preferred variety and lastly Katarni (16.88%) respectively. In case of wheat variety preference HD-2967(32.50%) most preferred variety followed by Malwi (30.63%), followed by Sonalika (21.87%) and lastly HI-1563 (15%) as least preferred variety respectively. The finding indicated that in the case of rice variety preference it can be concluded that sowing time is negatively significant which indicated that farmers were preferred early sowing variety. It also showed that farmers were preferring variety having high yield and they considered it as an important criterion in the selection of variety. At the same time, it also revealed that that farmer having a large area under rice they were not more conscious about the improved variety of rice for cultivation and farmers having less area under rice they mainly focus on improving the variety of rice so that they can get maximum yield and profit. In case of wheat, it was found that time of sowing is negatively significant which shows that farmers were preferred sowing of wheat on time rather than late sowing and yield is positively significant revealed that farmers were preferred variety having high yield and they considered it as an important criterion in the selection of variety. The result revealed that regarding perception most of the respondents i.e. near to half about 49.37% had favourable level of perception followed by the rest with least favourable level of perception 31.87% and 18.75% having most favourable level of perception towards rice-wheat cropping system. The finding indicated that in case of perception farm size is positively significant whereas; occupation is negatively significant it can be comprehend as if a farmer is involved in agriculture alone then he will be more concentrated towards it and annual income is positively significant with regard to annual income, it can be inferred that farmers having more money can invest more. The main constraints faced by respondents in the adoption of improving varieties is doubt regarding variety whether it would suit their agro-climatic condition or not were important. This constraint is followed by non-availability of agricultural literature related to a variety The study suggests that there is a need to provide information about new technology provided in time, agriculture literature in a local language, training/demonstration should be organized properly and improved seeds should be provided in time and sufficient quantity.ThesisItem Open Access KNOWLEDGE AND ADOPTION LEVEL OF INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT (IPM) PRACTICES AMONG HYBRID TOMATOES CULTIVATORS IN KOLAR DISTRICT OF KARNATAKA(DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) K.N, Sunil Kumar; Lal, S.P.The research has developed various IPM practices to minimize the problems. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most popular vegetable crops produced worldwide for consumption. The present study entitled “Knowledge and Adoption level of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices among hybrid Tomatoes cultivators in Kolar District of Karnataka” was framed. The study was conducted in the Kolar District of Karnataka during the year 2019-20. In 2016-17, Kolar was ranked 1st in all the district of tomato production, both in terms of area (8.51 thousand hectares) and production (481.45 thousand metric tonnes) in Karnataka. A total of 120 respondents were randomly selected for the final study. The data were collected by Observation, and Personal interview method and with the help of a structured interview schedule prepared for the study. Suitable statistical tools like frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, regression, and a multinomial logistic model were applied to get meaningful results. For developing the Knowledge test Difficulty index, Discrimination index, and point-biserial correlation (p-value) were calculated. The study revealed that most of the respondents belonged to the middle age group. The most substantial parts of the respondents were having a medium level of farming experience, family education status, social participation, landholding, extension contact, and mass media exposure. Out of 41 statements, 29 statements were selected based on the item difficulty index, discriminatory indices, and point biserial correlation. For constructing a knowledge test, 36 respondents were selected from the non-sampling area. For computing reliability test for 29 statements, it was administered to 30 respondents from the non-sampling area. The study revealed that the coefficient of correlation between form (odd and even items) and spearman brown coefficient for both equal and unequal length is 0.935 and the Guttman split-half coefficient is 0.934 among this 3-reliability triangulation Cronbach's alpha is excellent at 0.971. Lynn (1986) suggested that six or more experts are optimum to provide a rating for item content validity index (I-CVI) & Scale-Content validity index (S-CVI). For the 29 itemed KT Scale-Content validity index (S-CVI) was found to be 0.89. The study revealed that the majority (69.17%) of the respondents having medium knowledge level of IPM. There was a significant increase in the knowledge level of hybrid tomato cultivators with significant "F-Value" of 20.018 at a 1% level. In the study area, regression analysis between knowledge level of hybrid tomato cultivators, variables like age which was negatively significant at 1% level, variables like year of schooling & cosmopolitness of farmers were positively significant at 1% level, occupation significant at 5% level, tomato farming annual family income & extension contact significant at 10% level, social participation & mass media exposure were not significantly associated with the knowledge level of tomato growers. 'Multinomial logistic model' for adoption revealed that unit increase in 'extension contact' variable can increase the odds of non-adoption (the reference category) farmers to partial adoption by 83% (odds ratio [OR] 1.830, 95% CI) and full adoption by 124.60% i.e. (odds ratio [OR] 2.246, 95% CI) at 5% level of significant respectively; in a two tail test with nagelkerke pseudo R-square values of 0.609. So, it is essential to provide farmers with knowledge-oriented IPM training and also to reinforce practices where farmers need knowledge and skills which, in turn, can encourage the adoption of IPM practices through extension contact. The research concluded that if one wants non-adoption to escalate to ‘partial adoption and full adoption’ then variables viz., year of schooling, social participation, extension contact, and cosmopolitness must be given due consideration.ThesisItem Open Access Determinants of livelihood security among small and marginal farmers in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh(DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Dhakade, Manoj; Paswan, Arun KumarThe study entitled “Determinants of livelihood security among Small and Marginal farmers in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh”. The study was carried out with the specific objectives to measure the livelihood security among small and marginal farmers along with the factors associated with livelihood security among the selected farmers. An attempt was also made to find out the constraints in attaining livelihood security. The present research enterprise was carried out in Multai and Betul blocks of Betul district of Madhya Pradesh. From each block, two villages were randomly selected. From each selected village, 10 small and 10 marginal farmers were identified. Thus, a total 80 farmers of the four villages were finally constructed as sample for the study purposes. The study revealed that, majority of respondents (51.20 percent) were belonged to the middle age group, having primary level of education (31.25 percent), belongs to the SC category (40 percent), medium size of family (50 percent), equal percent of respondents were found marginal as well as small size of land holding (50 percent), possessed medium number of livestock (42.5 percent),had membership in one organization (52.50 percent), medium level of experience in farming (47.5 Percent). Further study shows that majority of respondents (47.50 percent) were involved in agriculture + labourer occupation, most of the respondents had low family income (52.50 percent), medium cropping system (41.25 percent) and most of the respondents (36.25 percent) had medium level of mass media exposure. The study shows that regarding livelihood security majority of the respondents had medium level of food security (36.25 per cent), economic security, (42.5 per cent), health security (51.25 per cent), educational security (43.75 per cent), social security (42.5 per cent), institutional security (61.25 per cent), and study also shows that 48.75 percent respondents had medium level infrastructural security. Whereas majority of respondents (41.25 percent) had medium level (0.48 – 0.55 score) of overall livelihood security and overall extent of livelihood security was found to be 51 per cent. The findings indicated that, variables size of land holding and cropping system were showing positive correlation, at 5% level of significance and annual family income was also shows positive correlation, at 1% level of significance with the ‘livelihood security’ of the respondents. The regression analysis showed that experience in farming, annual family income, and cropping system were the most important factors contributing, significantly, towards the ‘livelihood security of the respondents. The R2 (0.4070) indicated that the set of independent variables altogether explain 40.70 per cent of the total variability towards dependent variable i.e. likelihood security. The major constraints faced by respondents were lack of awareness of appropriate technologies and technical knowledge to improve crop productivity, low market prices of the products, lack of information on the product's marketing, and repeated crop failures were the main constraints experienced by the respondent for attaining livelihood security. The study suggests that there is a need to provide proper educational, economical, institutional, social and health, facilities, to the farming community for improving their livelihood.ThesisItem Open Access Training needs of rural youths in Agricultural enterprises: A Study in Samastipur district of Bihar(DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Behera, Subhrajit; Prakash, SatyaThe present study was conducted in Samastipur district of Bihar with an objective to training needs of rural youths in agricultural enterprises: a study in Samastipur district of Bihar. Two villages from every two blocks were selected. Total numbers of four villages and two blocks were selected for the research study. In total 22 rural youths from each village were selected randomly to comprise a sample of 88 respondents for study purpose. The information was collected through the personal interview to get the required data. Ex-post-facto research design was adopted for this study. It was noticed that (64.77%) were young age group (23-31 years), (59.09%) were in OBC category, (51.13%) were engaged in cultivation/farming, (34.09%) were illiterate, (65.91%) had medium size family, (57.96%) belonged to joint family, (57.96%) had a small size of land holding, (81.82%) had medium annual income, (52.27%) had a medium level of innovativeness, (63.63%) had a medium level of achievement motivation, (71.59%) had a medium level of occupational aspiration, (71.59%) had a medium farming experience, (71.59%) had medium contact with extension agency, (67.04%) had medium mass media exposure. It was noticed that regarding leisure-time activities (43.19%) had informal groups, (23.87%) conducted group meetings in the temple, (31.81%) were discussed about sports, (43.18%) were engaged in cricket, (46.59%) were engaged in TV and Mobile, (61.37%) were used mobile phones for chatting, (48.87%) were used WhatsApp in social media. It was noticed that among the major areas of training need in agriculture, the maximum need of training of rural youth was found to be in mushroom production (2.80) followed by both poultry and cattle farming (2.51), goat farming (2.47), beekeeping (2.45), vermiculture (2.43), fishery (2.32), floriculture (protected cultivation) (2.22) and fruit and vegetable production (2.07). It was observed that in correlation analysis innovativeness and contact with extension agency had a significant positive relationship with training needs of rural youths and highly significant at 1%. Actual family income had a significant negative relationship with the training needs of rural youths and significant at 5%. Family type, achievement motivation and occupational aspiration had positively non-significant. Age, occupation, education and involvement with farming experience had negatively non-significant. It was observed that in multiple regression family type, innovativeness and contact with extension agency had positive and significant at 5%. Actual family income had negative and significant at 5%. Age, occupation, occupational aspiration had positively non-significant. Education, achievement motivation and involvement with farming experience had negatively non-significant. It was noticed that for the organization of training in agriculture related areas village was the most favourable area in receiving training for about a month in Kharif season at the morning time. Scientists were preferred to receive training and regular training were the most required follow-up support for the respondents.ThesisItem Open Access A performance appraisal of national agriculture market (e-NAM) of Guntur mandi in Andhra Pradesh(DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Bandhavya, Mallela; Singh, Ashok KumarThe present study entitled “A performance appraisal of National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) of Guntur mandi in Andhra Pradesh” was undertaken mainly to study the performance of e-NAM. This was descriptive or non-experimental research, and research design adopted for the study was ex-post facto cause to effect. The study covered Guntur mandi of Andhra Pradesh which was purposively selected. The sample size was 100, and the sampling method was disproportionate stratified random sampling method. Primary data was collected from 100 respondents out of which 30 were farmers, 30 traders, 5 FPOs, 25 commission agents, 10 e-NAM officials from the market using a specially designed interview schedule pertaining to the year 2018-19. The socio-economic and personal characteristics of the stakeholders, assessing the performance appraisal of e-NAM, perception of different stakeholders towards the e-NAM goals/objectives, and constraints in the effective performance of e-NAM perceived by different stakeholders were studied through this research efforts. The analysis of the collected data revealed that most of the farmers (70%) belonged to the middle age group between 36 to 50 years with small family sizes (less than 5 members in their family) pursued a secondary/ Intermediate level of education and were not having membership in any social organization (86.6%) in the study area and engaged in crop cultivation alone (66.6%) with large land-holding (66.7%) and had a medium level of annual family income (₹ 327450), medium level of extension contact (76.7%), medium mass media exposure (70%) with medium scientific orientation (76.6%), had availability of transportation (96.6%)and medium use of ICT tools (63.3%). Out of the total 12 variables of farmers, Social participation, occupation, annual family income, scientific orientation were found positively significant at 1% level and landholding found was significantly correlated at 5% level with performance of e-NAM given by farmers. A total of 12 explanatory variables of farmer were considered for regression analysis. Out of these, scientific orientation was positively significant at a 1% level. The variable land-holding is negatively significant at 1% level while social participation and annual family income were found significant at a 5% level. Remaining variables found non-significant. Multiple linear regression analysis portrayed that all the selected variables put together accounted for 79.60% variation in performance of e-NAM. The majority of the traders were middle-aged (53%), with small family sizes, and pursued the Secondary/ Intermediate level of education (53.3%) with medium level annual family income (₹401333.3). The majority of the commission agents was middle-aged (40%), with small family sizes, and had pursued Primary education /Middle school level of education (32%) with medium level annual family income (₹492600). The majority of the e-NAM officials was middle-aged (40%), with small family sizes, and had a graduation level of education (40%) with medium level annual family income (₹130700). The average age of traders was more than commission agents and farmers, whereas the family size of farmers is more than commission agents and traders. Commission agents were having more average annual family income than other stakeholders, traders, farmers, and e-NAM officials. The illiterate percent was more among farmers than traders, commission agents and e-NAM officials. The majority of stakeholders (74%) had given an average level of score to the performance of e-NAM. Out of all sub-indicators of e-NAM, stakeholders gave a major score (88.17) to market information and the lowest score (52.71) to the infrastructure of e-NAM. Farmers gave the lowest mean score for performance than all other stakeholders. The lowest mean score for infrastructure was given by the commission agent, followed by farmers. The lowest mean score for transparency and quality assurance was given by farmers, followed by traders. Whereas, the lowest mean score for market information was given by a commission agent, and followed by farmers. So there is a lot of scope to improve performance of e-NAM. Most of the stakeholders (i.e., Farmers, Traders, Commission agents, FPOs, and e-NAM officials) perceived use of e-NAM as normal (i.e., not difficult or easy) Infrastructure as average, quality parameters as medium level (alright), Facilities are satisfactory, and had neutral perception towards other stakeholders. Most of the farmers had a perception that they had received money within one day after trade and e-NAM as transparent and overall perception of farmers towards e-NAM is satisfactory. Traders are paying money within 15 days after the trade but not within T+1 day, and they perceived e-NAM as not transparent and not satisfactory. According to C.A s farmers are receiving money within one day after trade and C.As are not satisfied with e-NAM; a majority of officials perceived that malpractices are going on in e-NAM, and they are satisfied with e-NAM. Major constraints of e-NAM from different stakeholders were identified and it was found that lack of awareness, depending on commission agent for money, the sale process is lengthy, complicated, and time-consuming were the significant constraints for farmers, payment on the same day is difficult, not satisfying with quality assaying report given by e-NAM, lack of infrastructure were the crucial constraints for traders, lack of infrastructure for FPOs, weighing of produce only after declaring winners list, payment on the same day of the transaction, lengthy process were critical constraints for commission agents, lack of commission agents and traders co-operation to promote e-NAM, no equipment for chemical analysis, and server problem were the major constraint for e-NAM officials.ThesisItem Open Access Training needs of students in communication skills for job placement: a study at Dr. RPCAU, Pusa (Bihar)(DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Sikdar, Samrat; Prakash, SatyaCommunication is one of the most essential arts celebrated by humankind. It provides a medium for conveying information for all organisms including human beings. The ability of communicating through a language separates human beings from all animals. Communication is the integral part of any individual. It is a two way street that includes vocalization as well as gesticulation. Moreover, it is necessary in everyone’s life irrespective of caste, creed, gender and age. Further, the globalization of science, technology and civilization demands the need for successful communication. Huge competencies in the digital society compel the youth to be well equipped with the basic skills of communication to obtain better placements. This pertains to the students to enhance their technological knowledge and thereby excel in their career. Communication skill encompasses four broad aspects viz. listening, speaking, observing and empathising. It basically includes the following factors on an overall basis: active listening, adapting the communication style to the audience, friendliness, confidence, giving and receiving feedback, volume and clarity, empathy, respect, understanding the non-verbal cues, responsiveness, body language, tone of voice etc. Any organization is made of people and its success depends mainly on the capabilities of the human resources and on the kind of collaboration they are able to establish. Employability presumes the need for both technical (hard) skills and soft skills considering the ever increasing competition for employment in today’s job market. Soft skills are extremely important for the fresh graduates who wish to get a job of their choice and who aim to climb the ladder of success in their professional life. Among the various components of soft skills, communication skill is known as “the heart of soft skills”. One of the major reasons for the failure of agricultural & allied sciences students in interview is lack of communicating effectively with their prospective employers. Many final year students are falling short of confidence to face their campus placements. Acumen in communication does not end with being selected for the job. The workplace requires people who are able to work cooperatively with others and possess the competence in doing so. Since the root cause of unemployment in the job market these days is lack of a grip over communication skills, the experts strongly suggest the students to realize the importance of writing, listening and speaking skills so that the students will not drop out in the race for placement in the big, wide commercial world. A major challenge facing the agricultural education system in the country today is that the traditional public sector job market for agricultural graduates is rapidly shrinking. Job opportunities for agricultural professionals in the State Departments of Agriculture, Agricultural Universities, and nationalized banks are drying up. This has aggravated the problem of large-scale unemployment among agriculture professionals in the country. Self-employment through effective utilization of agri-business opportunities and employment in private sector will become major sources of employment for agricultural graduates in the near future. Public sector extension will be supplemented by private sector in Indian agriculture. Agricultural graduates should be enabled to respond to the emerging economic environment. In order to remain resilient, the agriculture education system in the country has to reorient its approach to meet the challenges in the job market. As regards agricultural colleges/ universities students face many new challenges posed by growing globalization and the need to acquire new knowledge and skills capable of enhancing their competitive edge in the shrinking job market. Since the public sector, including government, cannot offer employment to all agricultural graduates, there is now increasing recognition of the need to bring about necessary changes in the existing system of agricultural education in the country with a view to making them suitable for employment in the private sector. Equally important is the need to equip them with the capacity to find opportunities for self employment. As mentioned earlier, the major source of weakness in the existing system is either a complete lack or inadequate emphasis on communication development. It needs to be highlighted here that the term communication should be viewed in its broadest sense comprising not only speech or talk but also group discussion, inter-personal communication and public speaking. In order to be effective in communication defined in this manner, formal training in communication skill is necessary.ThesisItem Open Access Study on use of ICT tools for crop practice in Samastipur and Katihar districts of Bihar(Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, 2019) Anand, Shreya; Prakash, SatyaInformation Communication Technologies (ICT) comprises of computer hardware, software, Internet and computers, digital networks, telecommunication, other communication networks and media which is used to collect, store, process and transmit information in the way of voice, text, data and images.ICT comprises with the use of electronic computers as well as computer software usually used transfer, convert, store, protect, process, transmit and retrieve information. They consist of the “old” ICTs of radio, television and telephone, and the “new” ICTs consist of computers applications, satellite and wireless technology and the Internet. These different tools are work together, and combinely form our “networked world” – a massive infrastructure comprises interconnected telephone services, standardized computing hardware along with the Internet, radio and television, which reaches into every corner of the globe (UNDP, 2001). ICT revolution is the consequence of integration of computer technology and communication technology. In this information age, the ICTs play a pivotal medium for knowledge dissemination between research systems and farming system. In India in recent years have led to widespread capacity for dissemination of knowledge and information to the rural community. However, rural population in our country still have issues in accessing essential information in the forms they'll perceive so as to form timely decisions for better farming. In previous couple of years innovative ideas came in to existence. Indian farming community is at present facing multitude of problems to maximize crop productivity. The use of information is wide and multifarious. But a very wide gap exists between the research level and actual practices. Therefore, in the backdrop of the issues discussed above, the present investigation has been planned to examine the accessibility and use of information communication technology in transfer of agricultural technology as an effective tool for agricultural development. Keeping all these aspects in view, the proposed study has been undertaken with following specific objectives: The present study was Use of ICT tools for crop practice in Samastipur and Katihar District of Bihar proposed study has been undertaken with following specific objectives: 1. To study about socio-economic and personal profile of respondents. 2. To access the availability and use pattern of ICT tools by farmers. 3. To identify the constraints faced by farmers in access and use pattern of ICTs. 4. To study the relationship between socio-economic and personal profile of respondents with regards to accessibility and use pattern of ICT tools among farmer The study was conducted in Samastipur and Katihar district of Bihar. Two blocks were selected from each block two villages were selected so total number of Respondents (farmer) were100 for study purpose. Eleven independent variables of the study were: Age, Caste, Occupation, Education, Family Type, Actual Annual income, Social Participation, Farming system/Allied activities, Mass media exposure, Extension contact, Number of ICTs tool used.The dependent variables were: Accessibility and Availability of ICT and Use pattern of ICTs .All the variables were measured strictly under the set rule and procedure, with scale and schedule developed for the study.An interview schedule was prepared and face to face interview was carried out with respondents(farmer).An Appropriate statistical tests were used for data analysis. Majority of the respondents were of younger age group, Educated up to upper high school having social participation of medium level, belonged to backward caste (BC) involve in farming, had joint family type,and annual income is Rs.>100000. Likewise respondents were member of one organisation and involved in farming and allied activities i.e. livestock followed by Agroforestry Television, mobile phones and radio used regularly and frequently. Education level, income, occupation and others affect the accessibility and use of ICT tools. It was found that Occupation, Education, Actual annual income, Farming system/Allied agriculture activities, Mass media exposure, Extension contact, number of ICT tools used were found to be positive correlated with accessibility or availability of ICT tools and highly significantly at 1 level and also variable like occupation, Education. Mass media exposure, Extension contact, were found to be positively correlated with the utilisation pattern of ICT tools and highly significantat 1%. Major constraints found were erratic or irregular power supply followed by poor internet connection and lack of knowledge. Major suggestions given by respondents were training and knowledge about ICT tools followed by improved power supply and poor internet connectivity respectively.