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Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat

Assam Agricultural University is the first institution of its kind in the whole of North-Eastern Region of India. The main goal of this institution is to produce globally competitive human resources in farm sectorand to carry out research in both conventional and frontier areas for production optimization as well as to disseminate the generated technologies as public good for benefitting the food growers/produces and traders involved in the sector while emphasizing on sustainability, equity and overall food security at household level. Genesis of AAU - The embryo of the agricultural research in the state of Assam was formed as early as 1897 with the establishment of the Upper Shillong Experimental Farm (now in Meghalaya) just after about a decade of creation of the agricultural department in 1882. However, the seeds of agricultural research in today’s Assam were sown in the dawn of the twentieth century with the establishment of two Rice Experimental Stations, one at Karimganj in Barak valley in 1913 and the other at Titabor in Brahmaputra valley in 1923. Subsequent to these research stations, a number of research stations were established to conduct research on important crops, more specifically, jute, pulses, oilseeds etc. The Assam Agricultural University was established on April 1, 1969 under The Assam Agricultural University Act, 1968’ with the mandate of imparting farm education, conduct research in agriculture and allied sciences and to effectively disseminate technologies so generated. Before establishment of the University, there were altogether 17 research schemes/projects in the state under the Department of Agriculture. By July 1973, all the research projects and 10 experimental farms were transferred by the Government of Assam to the AAU which already inherited the College of Agriculture and its farm at Barbheta, Jorhat and College of Veterinary Sciences at Khanapara, Guwahati. Subsequently, College of Community Science at Jorhat (1969), College of Fisheries at Raha (1988), Biswanath College of Agriculture at Biswanath Chariali (1988) and Lakhimpur College of Veterinary Science at Joyhing, North Lakhimpur (1988) were established. Presently, the University has three more colleges under its jurisdiction, viz., Sarat Chandra Singha College of Agriculture, Chapar, College of Horticulture, Nalbari & College of Sericulture, Titabar. Similarly, few more regional research stations at Shillongani, Diphu, Gossaigaon, Lakhimpur; and commodity research stations at Kahikuchi, Buralikson, Tinsukia, Kharua, Burnihat and Mandira were added to generate location and crop specific agricultural production packages.

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20221
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Subject: Veterinary Extension Education × Author: ROY, DEEPJYOTI × End date: 2022 × Start date: 2022 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: M.V.Sc. ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    IMPACT OF FEMALE PARTICIPATION IN LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY ENTERPRISES IN ENSURING WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY AMONG SELECTED TRIBES/ ETHNIC GROUP IN GOALPARA DISTRICT OF ASSAM
    (College of Veterinary Science, Assam Agricultural University, Khanapara, Guwahati, 2022-01) ROY, DEEPJYOTI; RAY, M. N.
    A study titled “Impact of Female Participation in Livestock and Poultry Enterprises in Ensuring Women Empowerment and Household Food Security among Selected Tribes/ Ethnic Group in Goalpara District of Assam” was conducted with a view to investigate gender participation in livestock enterprises, to find the socio-personal, socio-economic and psychological parameters of the women of four tribes/ ethnic group along with their time spent in livestock related activities, their nature and extent of participation and to assess the impact of their participation in these activities on their overall household empowerment and food security. The Goalpara district of Assam was purposively selected, from where a total of two hundred respondents- fifty each from Rabha, Garo, Hajong and Koch-Rajbongshi communities were surveyed for the study, the selection being done via snowball sampling method. The study revealed that majority of the respondents belonged to young age category (54.00 per cent), had small sized family (54.00 per cent), lived in a joint family system (56.50 per cent), had small land holding (69.00 per cent), possessed small sized herd (59.50 per cent) and had low level of education (37.00 per cent), social participation (65.50 per cent), mass media exposure (65.00 per cent) and extension contact (55.50 per cent). They also earned low annual income from livestock and poultry rearing (61.50 per cent), from other sources (67.20 per cent) and as well as from all sources (66.00 per cent). In respect of experience in livestock and poultry rearing majority (61.50 per cent) of them had short experience, had favourable attitude towards improved livestock farming (51.00 per cent) and high level of liking for information sources (46.50 per cent). Majority (54.50 per cent) of the respondents considered animal husbandry as a secondary source of income. The highest number (38.00 per cent) of the respondents spent medium time engaged in various livestock rearing activities. Significant difference was observed among the communities in respect of their level of education (15.799**, P<0.01), level of social participation (6.029**, P<0.01), level of experience in livestock rearing (4.131**, P<0.01), level of mass media exposure (16.890, P<0.01), level of extension contact (13.496**, P<0.01), herd size (3.021*, P<0.05), land holding (10.166**, P<0.01), annual income from livestock and poultry rearing (7.197**, P<0.01), annual income from sources other than livestock and poultry rearing (8.962**, P<0.01), total annual income from all sources (9.552**, P<0.01), liking of information sources (17.560**, P<0.01), attitude towards improves livestock farming (19.586**, P<0.01), time spent in livestock activities (7.595**, P<0.01). Gender-wise it was seen that all the activities involved the participation of both males and females. No such activity was observed where only lone male or lone female participation was present. The chi-square analysis revealed that the activities like ‘collection of fodder’ (18.361*), ‘milking’ (12.989*), ‘selling of milk and milk products’ (14.633*), ‘preparation of milk products’ (14.010*), ‘collection of dung’ (13.448*), ‘preparation of dung cake’ (13.448*) and ‘bathing of animals’ (19.215*) revealed significant chi-square values at P<0.05 level of probability which indicated that gender was significantly associated with tribe/ethnicity in respect of these activities. In respect of nature of participation, respondents alone participated in higher number in most of the activities in comparison to with husband, with in-laws, with children or together. In respect of extent of participation it was seen that the respondents regularly participated in the activities common to both livestock and poultry rearing. The percentage of women who perceived high level of women empowerment through their participation in livestock and poultry rearing was 52.00 per cent while majority (71.00 per cent) of the respondents had a high level of perception that their participation in such activities ensured household food security. Relational analysis was conducted between independent variables and the extent of participation, women empowerment and household food security which revealed that herd size (r=0.292**, P<0.01), land size (r=0.208**, P<0.01), attitude towards improved livestock farming (r=0.409**, P<0.01), time spent in livestock activities (r=0.302**, P<0.01) showed highly significant and positive correlation with extent of participation while education (r= -0.195**, P<0.01) and total annual income from all sources (r= -0.200**, P<0.01) exhibited highly significant and negative correlation with extent of participation. While mass media exposure (r= -0.179*, P<0.05) showed significant and negative correlation with extent of participation. Regression analysis showed that herd size (2.706**, P<0.01), land size (2.635**, P <0.01), attitude towards improved livestock farming (4.953**, P<0.01) and time spent in livestock activities (3.335**, P<0.01) showed a highly significant effect on the extent of participation. The coefficient of determination (R2) was found to be 0.369 which indicated that 36.90 per cent of variation in extent of participation could be explained by these variables. The F value (7.164) was found to be positive and highly significant and indicated that these variables were good predictors of extent of participation. In respect of women empowerment, it was observed that 7 out of 15 variables viz. age (r= 0.249**, P<0.01), social participation (r= 0.363**, P<0.01), experience in livestock farming (r= 0.235**, P<0.01), extension contact (r= 0.323**, P<0.01), annual income from livestock rearing (r= 0.335**, P<0.01), attitude towards improved livestock farming (r= 0.278**, P<0.01), time spent in livestock activities (r= 0.459**, P<0.01) exhibited highly significant and positive correlation with household women empowerment while family size (r=-0. 211**, P<0.01) showed highly significant and negative correlation with household women empowerment. On the other hand, multiple regression analysis showed that age (2.680**, P<0.01), social participation (4.208**, P<0.01), herd size (-3.950**, P<0.01), attitude towards improved livestock farming (5.456**, P<0.01) and time spent in livestock activities (4.227**, P<0.01) showed a highly significant contributing effect on household women empowerment and liking of information sources (-2.274*, P<0.05) showed a significant contributing effect on women empowerment. The coefficient of determination (R2) was found to be 0.466 which indicated that 46.60 per cent of variation in household women empowerment could be explained by these variables. The F value (9.968) was found to be positive and highly significant and indicated that these variables were good predictors of household women empowerment. While in case of household food security, out of 15 independent variables social participation (r= 0.242**, P<0.01), mass media exposure (r= 0.216**, P<0.01), annual income from livestock farming (r= 0.276**, P<0.01), attitude towards improved livestock rearing (r= 0.343**, P<0.01), liking of information sources (r= 0.204**, P<0.01), time spent in livestock activities (r= 0.228**, P<0.01) exhibited highly significant and positive correlation with household food security while extension contact (r= 0.162*, P<0.05) showed significant and positive relationship with household food security. The regression analysis further revealed that social participation (3.680**, P<0.01), mass media exposure (2.678**, P<0.01), attitude towards improved livestock farming (5.262**, P<0.01) showed highly significant effect on household food security while herd size (-2.065*, P<0.05) had significant effect on the same. The coefficient of determination (R2) was found to be 0.334 which indicated that 33.40 per cent of variation in food security could be explained by these variables. The F value (6.144) was found to be positive and highly significant and indicated that these variables were good predictors of the household food security. Further correlation co-efficient was calculated of extent of participation with that of women empowerment and household food security. No significant relation between the extent of participation of the respondents in livestock and poultry enterprises with the level of household empowerment of women or household food security was present.