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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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Author: Alom, Suhail × End date: 2023 × Type: Thesis ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Impact of Mechanization on Beneficiary Farmers Under APART Project in North Bank Plains Zone of Assam
    (2023) Alom, Suhail; Sharma, Haridra
    The Assam Agricultural University,Jorhat launched the World Bank aided project “Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation (APART)” during 2016-17. Since inception, the project is providing farm mechanization interventions to improve farm mechanization level in Assam. Considering the efforts made towards farm mechanization, it was felt imperative to understand the impacts of the APART project on farm mechanization. Hence, the present study – “Impact of mechanization on beneficiary farmers under APART project in North Bank Plains Zone of Assam” was conducted to find out whether the project is truly achieving its objectives. The objectives of the study were to measure the extent of mechanization by beneficiary farmers under APART project; assess the impact of mechanization on the beneficiary farmers under APART project and find out the problems faced by the project staff in effective implementation and by beneficiary farmer in adoption of the mechanization interventions. The study was carried out in Lakhimpur, Sonitpur and Darrang districts of North Bank Plains Zone (NBPZ) of Assam. A total of 100 beneficiary farmers were selected as respondents for the study. For the present study, 10 profile variable, 5 descriptive variables and 2 inhibitive variables were selected. The data were collected with the help of research schedule by personal interview method. Appropriate statistical techniques were used for analysis of data. The study revealed that majority of respondents 65.00 per cent belonged to 38-57 years category. Majority of respondents 27.00 per cent had middle school level education followed by primary level by 24.00 per cent. Majority of the respondents 75.00 per cent were found to have single family. A total of 70.00 per cent had medium land holding. Among the respondents, 41.00 per cent were found to have low innovativeness and 59.00 per cent of the respondents had medium level of scientific orientation. Majority of the respondents 55.00 per cent had 'only cultivation' as main occupation .Likewise majority of respondent 40.00 per cent received 2-days training and (majority 78.00 per cent)had medium degree of information exposure, Out of the all respondents 59.00 per cent of the respondents reported that the labor were not readily available for farm operations. To measure the extent of mechanization, 3 crops were selected viz., Sali rice, toria and potato. Highest MI was for potato 84.87 per cent followed by Sali rice 74.65 per cent . Toria showed lowest MI i.e. 51.29 per cent among the three selected crops in the study areas. Distribution of respondents according to MI showed that majority of respondents 72.00 per cent belongs to medium mechanization category. Out of the 10 profile variables, education level (r=0.665), innovativeness (r=0.534), training exposure (r=0.654), Occupational status (r=0.205), labour availability (r=0.729), degree of information exposure (r=0.369) and scientific orientation (r=0.279) were significantly and positively correlated with Mechanization Index (MI) at 1% level of probability. Size of land holding (r=-0.754) was found to be negatively correlated with Mechanization Index (MI) and the correlation is significant at 1% level of probability. All the profile (predictor) variables taken together explained the variation in the Mechanization Index (MI) 88.10 per cent (adjusted 2=0.881). For Sali rice, average area before mechanization was 1.04 ha and which increased to 1.44 ha after mechanization and the difference (t=19.622) was significant at 1% level of probability for the study area. Likewise the average production of Sali rice before mechanization was 41.70 q which increased to 79.20 q after mechanization. The difference (t=21.079) was significant at 1% level of probability for the study area. The average productivity was found to be 40.10 q/ha before mechanization and 55.00 q/ha after mechanization in Sali rice. The ‘t’ value was found to be significant at 1% level of probability for productivity (t=19.063). For toria average area before mechanization was 0.34 ha and area was increased with the application of mechanization that is 0.52 ha.The ‘t’ value was found to be significant at 1% level of probability for the study area (t=26.798).The average production of toria before mechanization was 2.68 q which was increased to 5.77 q after mechanization. The ‘t’ value was found to be significant at 1% level of probability for the study area (t=28.436). The productivity was found 2.68 q/ha before mechanization and 5.77 q/ha after mechanization. The ‘t’ value was found to be significant at 1% level of probability for the study area (t=16.201).For potato average area before mechanization was 0.92 ha and area was increased with the application of mechanization that is 1.24 ha. The ‘t’ value was found to be significant at 1% level of probability for the study area (t=24.226). The average production of potato before mechanization was 65.50 q which was increased to 245.64 q after mechanization. The ‘t’ value was found to be significant at 1% level of probability for the study area (t=16.670). The productivity was found 71.20 q/ha before mechanization and 198.10 q/ha after mechanization. The ‘t’ value was found to be significant at 1% level of probability for the study area (t=23.931).Finding reveal that the mean cropping intensity before mechanization was 131.42 per cent and after mechanization it increased to 140.93 per cent. The significance of mean cropping intensity before mechanization and after mechanization was tested by t-test (t=8.451) and was significant at 1% level of probability. The major constraints faced by the project staff in effective implementation of the mechanization intervention were - Lack of awareness on mechanization benefits leading to less adoption of farm machineries (Rank I); Problem in getting consensus of a group of farmers over fixing time and date of training programme due to pre-occupied time schedule of farmers (Rank II) ; Problem in regular monitoring of fields and activities of farmers due to limited staff, distance and limited transport facilities (Rank III) ; Varied responses and level of adoption among farmers’ (Rank IV) ; Large scale demonstration of machineries suffered due to small land holding in different villages (Rank V) and Non availability of organized farmers groups at village level creates problem during execution of the project (Rank VI).Major constraints faced by beneficiary tribal farmers in adoption of the mechanization intervention were - High fuel cost to run machineries (Rank I); Small and scattered land holding causing difficulties in management during peak crop season (Rank II); Non availability of required farm machinery at peak season as less number of farm machineries are available compared to demand (Rank III); Long distance between crop fields and fuel pumps leading high procurement cost (Rank IV); Non availability of trained person to maintain machines locally (Rank V) and Machineries of low quality leading frequent repairing (Rank VI).