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Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, Guntur (AP)
The Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University (APAU) was established on 12th June 1964 at Hyderabad. The University was formally inaugurated on 20th March 1965 by Late Shri. Lal Bahadur Shastri, the then Hon`ble Prime Minister of India. Another significant milestone was the inauguration of the building programme of the university by Late Smt. Indira Gandhi,the then Hon`ble Prime Minister of India on 23rd June 1966.
The University was renamed as Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University on 7th November 1996 in honour and memory of an outstanding parliamentarian Acharya Nayukulu Gogineni Ranga, who rendered remarkable selfless service for the cause of farmers and is regarded as an outstanding educationist, kisan leader and freedom fighter.
HISTORICAL MILESTONE
Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) was established under the name of Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University (APAU) on the 12th of June 1964 through the APAU Act 1963. Later, it was renamed as Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University on the 7th of November, 1996 in honour and memory of the noted Parliamentarian and Kisan Leader, Acharya N. G. Ranga. At the verge of completion of Golden Jubilee Year of the ANGRAU, it has given birth to a new State Agricultural University namely Prof. Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University with the bifurcation of the state of Andhra Pradesh as per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act 2014. The ANGRAU at LAM, Guntur is serving the students and the farmers of 13 districts of new State of Andhra Pradesh with renewed interest and dedication.
Genesis of ANGRAU in service of the farmers
1926: The Royal Commission emphasized the need for a strong research base for agricultural development in the country...
1949: The Radhakrishnan Commission (1949) on University Education led to the establishment of Rural Universities for the overall development of agriculture and rural life in the country...
1955: First Joint Indo-American Team studied the status and future needs of agricultural education in the country...
1960: Second Joint Indo-American Team (1960) headed by Dr. M. S. Randhawa, the then Vice-President of Indian Council of Agricultural Research recommended specifically the establishment of Farm Universities and spelt out the basic objectives of these Universities as Institutional Autonomy, inclusion of Agriculture, Veterinary / Animal Husbandry and Home Science, Integration of Teaching, Research and Extension...
1963: The Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University (APAU) Act enacted...
June 12th 1964: Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University (APAU) was established at Hyderabad with Shri. O. Pulla Reddi, I.C.S. (Retired) was the first founder Vice-Chancellor of the University...
June 1964: Re-affilitation of Colleges of Agriculture and Veterinary Science, Hyderabad (estt. in 1961, affiliated to Osmania University), Agricultural College, Bapatla (estt. in 1945, affiliated to Andhra University), Sri Venkateswara Agricultural College, Tirupati and Andhra Veterinary College, Tirupati (estt. in 1961, affiliated to Sri Venkateswara University)...
20th March 1965: Formal inauguration of APAU by Late Shri. Lal Bahadur Shastri, the then Hon`ble Prime Minister of India...
1964-66: The report of the Second National Education Commission headed by Dr. D.S. Kothari, Chairman of the University Grants Commission stressed the need for establishing at least one Agricultural University in each Indian State...
23, June 1966: Inauguration of the Administrative building of the university by Late Smt. Indira Gandhi, the then Hon`ble Prime Minister of India...
July, 1966: Transfer of 41 Agricultural Research Stations, functioning under the Department of Agriculture...
May, 1967: Transfer of Four Research Stations of the Animal Husbandry Department...
7th November 1996: Renaming of University as Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University in honour and memory of an outstanding parliamentarian Acharya Nayukulu Gogineni Ranga...
15th July 2005: Establishment of Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University (SVVU) bifurcating ANGRAU by Act 18 of 2005...
26th June 2007: Establishment of Andhra Pradesh Horticultural University (APHU) bifurcating ANGRAU by the Act 30 of 2007...
2nd June 2014 As per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act 2014, ANGRAU is now...
serving the students and the farmers of 13 districts of new State of Andhra Pradesh with renewed interest and dedication...
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ThesisItem Open Access ROLE ANALYSIS OF WOMEN AGRICULTURE OFFICERS IN ANDHRA PRADESH(guntur, 2022-08-04) SHAMA, SHAIK; RAMA DEVY, M.The study was conducted to study the profile of Women Agriculture Officers, their gravity of perceived role and to analyse the relationship between dependent and independent variables. The problems faced by Women Agriculture Officers while performing their duties and suggestions given by them to overcome their constraints were elicited. Ex Post-Facto research design was followed for the study. The study was conducted in all the thirteen districts of Andhra Pradesh during the year 2020-21. From each of the selected district ten Women Agriculture Officers were selected as respondents by following simple random sampling procedure. The sample constituted to a total of 130 respondents. The data was collected with the help of a Questionnaire through google forms, personal interview method and data obtained was analyzed. The detailed analysis of profile of Women Agriculture Officers revealed that majority of WAOs were middle age, completed B.Sc. (Ag.), medium experience, rural background , medium distance travelled from the residence, medium number of trainings undergone, medium number of subordinates working, business person as spouse and using own vehicle for office duties. More than half (55.38%) of WAOs were having higher gravity of perceived role with the scores ranging between 99-123 followed by medium with score values between 74-98 (30.00%), low gravity of perceived role with a score range between 49-73 (9.23%) and very high gravity of perceived role with score range between 124-148 (6.15%). Measurement of different indicators of gravity of perceived role in their rank orders respectively from first rank to eleventh ranks mentioned here role risk, role replacement, role restriction, role power, role adherence, role challenge, role management, role manifestation, role support, role engineering, and role conflict with a mean index score of 79.93. The indicator role risk (88.92 MS) was ranked first by the WAOs. The factors contributing towards this were confidence while taking decisions with a total score of 384, discharging duties in pandemic/epidemic situations (353), facing difficulties (342), compromising the disputes (339), difficulty xiv in managing the team (316). The indicator role replacement was assigned second ranked with mean score of 88.11. The items analysis of the components of the indicator denoted that they had assigned the first rank to discharge of official works with a total score of 373 followed by individual role (326) and subordinate role (332). The indicator role restriction was assigned third rank with mean score of 85.43. The items analysis of the components of the indicator denoted that reporting (366/I), Extension (356/II), coordination (350/III), Administration (335/IV), Rewarding (276/V) were the factors contributing towards the gravity of perceived role. The indicator role power was assigned fourth rank with mean score of 85.12. The items analysis of the components of the indicator denoted that the WAOs gravity of perceived role is dependent on exercising of informational power (351) expert power (325) and legitimate power (320) in their routine works. The indicator role adherence was assigned the fifth rank with a mean score of 83.26. The item analysis of the components of the indicator denoted that exercising administrative power with a total score of 347 followed by implementing projects (343), legal power (305) and financial power (304). The indicator role receptivity was assigned sixth rank with mean score of 82.46. The item analysis of the components of the indicator denoted that work receptivity while discharging official duties with total score of 340 followed by acceptance of rectification for identified errors if any (323), quick apprehension of duties (320) willingness of receiving new ideas/suggestions (319) and admitting responsibility mistakes (306). The indicator role manifestation was assigned the seventh rank with a mean score of 79.84. The item analysis of the components of the indicator denoted that photo documentation ranked first with a total score of 367 followed by publicizing through mass media (332), publication of success stories (291), documentation of feedback (275) and video documentation (272). The indicator role challenge was assigned the eighth rank with a mean score of 77.62. The item analysis of the components of the indicator denoted that job tasks ranked first with a total score of 362 followed by administrative tasks (319), personal tasks (274) and financial tasks (256). The indicator role management was also assigned the eighth rank with a mean score of 77.62.The item analysis of the components of the indicator denoted that the role of disseminator of information with a total score of (336), resource allocator (313), monitoring officer (308) and liaison officer (254) were given due weightage for the gravity of perceived role. The indicator role engineering was assigned the ninth rank with a mean score of 73.07. The item analysis of the components of the indicator denoted that new ways of identification for providing Information ranked first with a total score of 333 followed by publicizing the success (279). The indicator role conflict was assigned tenth rank with a mean score of 69.42. The item analysis of the components of the indicator denoted that role overload was ranked first with a total score of 310 followed by inter role conflict (279), inter sender conflict (270) and role under load (224). The indicator role support was assigned eleventh rank with mean score of 66.02. The item analysis of the components of the indicator denoted that staff strength was given first rank with a total score of (273) followed by motivational behaviour (267), monitoring (248) and equipment (242). Correlation analysis revealed that age, educational qualification, number of trainings undergone, number of subordinates working , status of spouse, educational status of children , number of dependents and mode of transport had positive and significant relationship with the gravity of perceived role by the Women Agriculture Officers at 1% level of significance. Experience had positive and significant relationship with the gravity of perceived role by the Women Agriculture Officers at 5% level of significance. The variables number of children and type of family had xv positive and non-significant correlation with the gravity of perceived role by the Women Agriculture Officers. The variables rural / urban background, marital status, Workplace distance from the residence had exhibited negative and non significant with gravity of perceived role by the WAOs. The MLR analysis revealed that the selected profile characteristics put together explained about (71.3 %) variation in gravity of perceived role by the WAOs. The independent variables namely, Age, educational qualification, Trainings undergone, number of subordinates working and number of dependents had shown positively significant at 1% level of probability. Whereas educational status of children was found to be positively significant at 5% level of probability. While experience had shown negatively significant at 5% level of probability. Remaining variables viz., workplace distance from the residence, status of spouse, mode of transport, rural / urban background, marital status, number of children, type of family, had exhibited non significant with gravity of perceived role by the WAOs. Among various personal constraints faced by Women Agriculture Officers, the major constraints expressed by majority of them was lack of Govt. transportation facilities (61.46, Rank I) followed by lack of adequate and equitable sanitation facilities at work place (53.31, Rank II), family related issues such as child care, household work (48.58, Rank III), lack of time for revitalization of mind and body (47.46, Rank IV) and lack of support from society (39.19, Rank V). Among various administrative constraints the major constraints expressed by the majority of them were heavy workload and hectic schedule of working untimely instructions with a mean score of 61.46 (Rank I) followed by cumbersome reporting and documentation 54.08 (Rank II), a mean score of 49.23 was observed for inadequate manpower (Rank III), untimely release of funds of more clerical work 47.42 (Rank IV) and high political interference 37.81 (Rank V). Among various technological constraints faced by Women Agriculture Officers, the major constraint expressed by majority of them were release of inputs in late season 60.88 (Rank I) followed by lack of location specific technologies 54.73 (Rank II), no time for refreshing knowledge 50.15 (Rank III), less number of refreshing trainings on ICTs 47.15 (Rank IV) and no time for visiting demonstration acts frequently 37.08 (Rank V). The major suggestions expressed by Women Agriculture Officers were Provision of Govt. vehicle during the crop season (90.00%, (Rank I) followed by Assignment of official work within the office hours (86.92%, rank II), Optimum working hours so as to have comfortable personal life (83.08%, rank III), Capacity building through trainings (75.38%, rank IV), Filling of the vacancies of the supporting staff (71.54%, rank V), Permission to purchase inputs well in advance of the season (68.46%, rank VI), Provision of proper infrastructure (65.38%, rank VII), Simplified reporting practice (63.08%, rank VIII), Organisation of study tours (58.46%, rank IX) and Timely release of funds (53.08%, rank X).ThesisItem Open Access ANALYSIS OF ONLINE TEACHING AND LEARNING BY THE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS OF ACHARYA N G RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY – AN EXPLORATORY STUDY(guntur, 2022-08-04) RAMYA, CHUNCHU; JYOTHI DEPARTMENT, V.The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in closure of schools and colleges for months together across the world, situations are unpredictable to reopen the educational institutes and this paved the way for online teaching and learning. An exploratory study was planned and conducted to analyze the online education in Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University. This research was taken up to study the profile of teachers and students, their attitude and competencies in online teaching and learning, constraints faced by them. The best practices in online teaching and learning were documented. The study was conducted during 2020-21 using exploratory research design. Two Agricultural Colleges viz., Agricultural College, Bapatla and S V Agricultural College, Tirupati were selected for the study. From each of the selected Agricultural College 30 teachers, 30 Post Graduate students and 90 Under Graduate students (30 each from 2nd, 3rd, 4th year of B. Sc. (Hons.) Agriculture) involved in online teaching and learning were selected using simple random sampling procedure, thus making a total sample of 60 teachers, 60 Post Graduate students and180 Under Graduate students. Less than two-third of the teachers were observed in middle (60.00%) age group, 58.33 per cent were male, 91.67 per cent possessed Ph. D qualification, 48.33 per cent were professors, 73.34 per cent had teaching experience of >12 years, 18.33 per cent of the teachers had previous experience in online teaching, only 16.67 had undergone training in online teaching for more than one week, 66.67 per cent used Zoom as video conferencing application in online teaching, cent per cent of the teachers possess smart phones, 53.33 per cent teachers often used personal laptops for online teaching. Three-fourth of the teachers had access to good internet connectivity (75.00%) and 63.33 per cent had sufficient internet data & speed. Less than half of the teachers spent 8-12 hours per week in preparation for online teaching (43.33%) while 46.67 per cent spent 13-16 hours per week in online teaching. More than one-third of the teachers reported that xv attendance of students was 80-89% (38.33%), about 55.00 per cent shared learning material as PPT and word, half of the teachers shared reading material immediately after the class, 70.00 per cent used official meeting ID, 98.33 per cent used PPT regularly for online classes. Less than two-third of the teachers had medium favourable attitude (65.00%). By applying factor analysis, six major factors were extracted having Eigen value greater than one which were explaining a total variance of 69.17 per cent towards the attitude of teachers towards online teaching. Less than two-third of the teachers were perceived as medium competent (61.67%) in online teaching. Among the different constraints faced by the teachers in online teaching, problem with application was ranked I by garret ranking method, followed by lack of expertise and skills, internet connectivity issues, lack of infrastructure facilities in department (webcam, laptop, headphones, etc.,), lack of students’ response, increased workload, heath issues (eyes strain, body pains, etc.,) and students’ login all through the class. Less than two-third of the teachers were satisfied (60.00%) with online teaching. More than half of the UG students (54.44%) and PG students (63.33%) belonged to 20-25 years age group. More than two-third of the UG students (68.89%) and PG students (58.33%) were female. More than half of the UG students (59.00%) and PG students (46.67%) belonged to rural background. More than three-fourth of the UG students (77.22%) and PG students (83.33%) completed their secondary school education in private school. Majority of the UG students (84.44%) and PG students (83.33%) were from nuclear families. Less than half of the UG students (43.89%) and PG students (43.33%) parental occupation was farming. More than half of the UG students (58.89%) and PG students (43.34%) per cent secured 8.1-9.0 GPA. Greater proportion of the UG (96.11%) students and PG students (98.33%) possess smart phone. More than half of the PG students had access to good internet connectivity (56.67%) while 42.78 per cent of the UG students had access to good internet connectivity. Less than half of the PG students had sufficient internet data (46.67%) while 40.00 per cent of the UG students had sufficient internet data. Greater proportion of the UG students often (92.78%) used smart phone for online learning, followed by laptop (5.00%), tablet (3.33%) and personal computer (2.22%). Greater proportion of the PG students often (90.00%) used smart phone for online learning, followed by laptop (48.33%) and equal proportion of 5.00 per cent each used tablet and personal computer. Less than half of the PG students spent 9-18 hours per week (48.34%) in online classes. While 41.67 per cent of the UG students spent 19-28 hours per week in online classes. More than three-fourth of the UG students had medium favourable attitude (79.44%) while 73.33 per cent of the PG students had medium favourable attitude. It was evident from the Z test that there exists a significant difference between the attitude of UG and PG students. By applying factor analysis, six major factors were extracted having eigen value greater than one which were explaining a total variance of 58.84 per cent towards the attitude of students towards online learning. More than two-third of the UG students were perceived as medium competent (68.89%) while 55.00 per cent of the PG students were perceived as medium competent in online learning. It was evident from the Z test that there exists no significant difference between the competency of UG and PG students in online learning. xvi Among the different constraints faced by the students in online learning, UG students ranked lack of knowledge on effective use of online apps as the major problem by garret ranking method, followed by internet connectivity issues, problem with application, lack of expertise and skills in using the apps, unfavourable learning environment, time consuming, lack of uninterrupted power supply, health issues like eye strain, body pains etc., and expensive. While PG students reported that unfavourable learning environment as the major problem, followed by lack of knowledge on effective use of online apps, lack of expertise and skills in using the apps, problem with application, time consuming, internet connectivity issues, lack of uninterrupted power supply, expensive and health issues like eye strain, body pains etc. More than one-third of the UG students were satisfied (34.44%) with online learning whereas 48.33 per cent of the PG students were satisfied with online learning. The best practices documented in online learning were creating an organized study space, active participation, eliminating distractions, recording online lectures, maintaining notes, taking breaks in between the classes, managing the time for all works, intrinsic motivation and accountable in online classes. The best practices documented in online teaching were training on digital tools, improving student engagement by interacting and using different techniques, designing of course, easy access to students, developing online etiquettes, innovative teaching methods, active online presence, respond fast to queries with lively examples, assess student performance timely and providing feedback. Providing institutional infrastructure and internet facilities, training on ICTs, establishing smart class rooms, developing Learning Management System (LMS) with all the required features, incorporating ICT in curriculum are the institutional interventions in online teaching and learning.ThesisItem Open Access TECHNOLOGICAL GAPS IN ADOPTION OF PRODUCTION RECOMMENDATIONS IN ACID LIME CULTIVATION IN KARNATAKA(Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Guntur, 2022-12-22) MEGHA NAGAYYANAVAR, M; BALA HUSSAIN REDDY, P.Fruits are of great importance in the field of human nutrition. Citrus is one of the most important fruit crops in India. In India common citrus fruits are mandarin, sweet orange, grape fruit and lime/lemon. Citrus fruits have a prominent place among popular and extensively grown tropical and subtropical fruits. Citrus fruits possess greater adoptability to different climatic conditions. In our country, Acid lime (Citrus aurantifolia) is one of the important citrus fruit crop and is more popular than lemon. Acid lime occupies a prime position among fruits due to its high remunerative prices, regular income and regular demand in the market. They are cultivated more extensively throughout the India. These crops can also be grown in the marginal lands, hence are favorite of the poor farmers. The fruits withstand with rough handlings and store longer after harvest, and thus are better than mandarin and sweet orange from processing point of view. Lime provides vitamins (Vit-C), minerals and much other essential substance which are required for human health. The acid lime is used not only as a fruit but also for preparing different food products and its demand will be high in the time to come. India today is world’s second largest producer of fruits with an annual production of about 1,72,18,173 tonnes. Gujarat ranks 1st in the area and production with 46.28 thousand ha, 605.62 thousand MT respectively, and in productivity Karnataka ranks 1st with 23.37 MT/ha. Karnataka is on fourth position with 306.21 thousand MT of lime\lemon production and has 13.10 thousand ha of area under cultivation. The state shares 9.73% of India’s total share of lemon production. In modern horticultural cropping systems, technology has become a pervasive factor. However, technological advances have opened up a new phase for the Indian xiii agricultural community. The dominance of new technologies over old ones was established. Therefore, it is believed that the introduction of such innovations would contribute to improving the nation's socio-economic stability. Many new technologies are available that are friendly to small farmers and farmers have been implementing technologies for decades, but significant gaps prevent farmers from being self-sustainable, growing their yields or productivity. These gaps are nothing but technological gaps. Hence this study to analyze the technological gaps in adoption of production recommendations in acid lime cultivation in Karnataka was undertaken, which was not undertaken previously by any researcher in the zone. Ex post facto research design was used for the study. The study was carried out in two taluks of Vijayapur district of Karnataka which were purposively selected, where acid lime area was more. A sample of 120 acid lime growers was randomly selected from the eight villages. The data was collected by personnel interview method and analyzed by employing suitable statistical tools. Fifteen independent variables were subjected to statistical analysis for the purpose of categorization of the respondents and for studying their relationship with dependent variable i.e. technological gaps in adoption of production recommendations by acid lime growers. Majority of the acid lime growers were middle aged, illiterate with medium size of family, small land holding category involved in cultivation+ labour with medium farming experience, medium level of extension contact, medium level of social participation, mass media exposure, medium level of risk preference, economic motivation, achievement motivation, management orientation, scientific orientation, deferred gratification. Correlation analysis revealed that age of the farmers was positive and significant relationship with technological gap in acid lime production. The variables such as education, farming experience, extension contact, social participation, achievement motivation, management orientation and scientific orientation were found to be negative and highly significant correlated with technological gap at 0.01 level of probability. Whereas, the variables like land holding, occupation, mass media exposure, risk orientation and economic motivation were found to be negative significant correlation with technological gap at 0.05 level of probability. Study revealed that out of 15 independent variables, risk preference, achievement motivation, education and economic motivation contributed significantly towards the variation in the technological gap. The major problems perceived by acid lime growers were non remunerative price of acid lime, high intervention of middlemen in marketing, lack of irrigation facilities, heavy incidence of pest and diseases, high labour charges, shortage of agricultural labours, lack of knowledge about plant xiv protection, non-availability of credit in time, non-availability of planting material/ seedlings timely, lack of information in right time. The suggestions given by growers were, providing remunerative price of acid lime, reduce the middlemen’s interference in marketing of acid lime, provide the facility of irrigation, establish rural markets at hobli/rural area, provide electricity supply, provide technical guidance at right time, provide credit with low interest and increase subsidies on fertilizer and seed.ThesisItem Open Access AWARENESS AND ADOPTION OF FARM MECHANISATION IN MAJOR CROPS IN KURNOOL DISTRICT OF ANDHRA PRADESH(Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Guntur, 2022-12-22) MADHUKAR, BEESU; BALA HUSSAIN REDDY, P.Farm mechanization in India is still in its nascent stages and during the last two decades has been able to achieve a meager growth of less than 5 per cent. The sector faces critical challenges in terms of large share of small and marginal farmers, declining land holding sizes, high cost of farm machinery and equipment, inappropriate technology, undeveloped markets, complex operations, maze of legislation and insufficient policy framework. Land size, cropping pattern, market price of crops including Minimum Support Price (MSP), availability of labour and cost of labour are the major factors deciding the growth of agricultural mechanization in India. Unlike other agricultural sectors, farm mechanization sector in India has a far more complex structural composition. With continued decrease in average farm size, more farms will fall into the adverse category thereby making individual ownership of agricultural machinery increasingly uneconomical. Government of India, in recognition of this potential had envisaged increase of farm power availability from the present level of 0.93 kW/ha to 2 kW/ha during the 12th plan period (2012-2017). “Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM)” is one such initiative towards achieving this objective. As majority of Indian farmers belong to small and marginal category, purchase of farm equipment is a significant investment for them. xix Reasonable financing norms are a must for making farm equipment and machineries available at affordable price and enhance farm mechanization. An issue that has been persistent in financing is the purchase of standalone implements. This adds to the “tractorization” trend that is visible in the industry and doesn’t add to overall mechanization. Industry stakeholders feel that commercial banks must be encouraged to provide adequate financing various farm equipment. This is seen by many industry sources as the biggest impediment to growth. Banks can finance the custom service units managed by individuals, institutions or organizations who maintain a fleet of tractors, bulldozers, well-boring equipment, threshers, combines, etc., and undertake farm work for farmers on contract basis, under Priority Sector. Farm mechanization in India faces constraints like high initial cost of equipment, lack of knowledge in the aspects of operation, maintenance and repair of equipment, repair and maintenance under individual ownership coupled with lack of space for shelter, orientation towards the use of tractors and allied equipment, suboptimal asset capacity utilization on account of crop specific requirements. To overcome this, virtual or real consolidation of the widely fragmented and scattered land holdings in many parts of the country, extension of benefits of mechanization to all cropping systems including horticultural crops, enhancement of the average farm power availability to minimum 2.5 kW/ha to assure timeliness and quality in field operations and use of precision and efficient equipment to improve the quality of operations is required. Though there are many suitable farm implements are available, farmers doesn’t have proper awareness over the machinery due to lack of many factors. Many new implements are available that are friendly to small farmers and farmers have been utilizing the age old machinery for decades. To seal the gap in between the study has been taken out for the consideration of farmers needs as well as to increase the awareness by extension personnel, KVK officials and other NGOs who are working for this cause. Many studies have shown a direct relationship between farm mechanization (farm power availability) and farm yield. Hence to ascertain the awareness and adoption of the farm machinery this study has been considered for research purpose in Kurnool district as the district have both irrigated and unirrigated crops in equal xx proportions as well as with diversity in crops and cropping patterns. The study was carried with major crops of Kurnool district i.e. cotton, bengalgram, and groundnut crops. Among them cotton is Kharif crop, bengalgram is Rabi crop and groundnut can be grown in both seasons. Ex-post-facto research design was used for the study. The study was carried out in six mandals of Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh which were purposively selected, where the major crops area was more. A sample of 40 farmers was selected for each crop randomly from two mandals, and from each mandal two villages were selected purposively with highest sown area. Totally three crops were selected viz. cotton, bengalgram, and groundnut collectively 120 farmers were randomly selected for the study. The data was collected by personnel interview method and analyzed by employing suitable statistical tools. Fifteen independent variables were subjected to statistical analysis for the purpose of categorization of the respondents and for studying their relationship with dependent variable i.e. awareness and adoption of farm mechanization in major crops. Majority of the respondents were middle aged, having primary education with medium size of family, small farm size, medium farming experience, medium level of extension contact, medium level of social participation, mass media exposure, medium level of economic orientation, risk orientation, management orientation, innovativeness and decision making ability. Correlation analysis revealed that age of the farmers was negative and significant relationship with awareness and adoption of farm mechanization. The variables such as education, annual income, farming experience, extension contact, social participation, mass media exposure, innovativeness and economic orientation were found to be positive and highly significant correlated with technological gap at 0.01 level of significance. Whereas, the variables like family type, family size, farm size, risk orientation and decision making ability were found to be positive significant correlation with technological gap at 0.05 level of significance. Study revealed that out of 15 independent variables, age, education, annual income, farming experience, extension contact, mass media exposure, social participation risk orientation and innovativeness have contributed significant variation for the dependent variables awareness and adoption of farm mechanization. xxi The major problems perceived by the farmers were broadly “Economic constraints” were the hindering constraints in the adoption of farm mechanization as considered by the respondents with 90.31 per cent. “Infrastructural constraints” ranked second with 86.25 per cent, “Situational constraints” ranked third with 82.28 per cent, “Information constraints” ranked fourth with 78.33 per cent, and “Technological constraints” ranked last with 73.67 per cent. The suggestions given by growers were, individual farm equipment for small and marginal farmers with ease of financing and low rate of interest would support the farmers in adoption of farm implements. Increase in the quantum of subsidy as well as increase in number of units under subsidy portion will facilitate the weaker section farmers from the influential and big farmers. Priority should be given to small and marginal farmers for government schemes and intense vigilance should be made to reach the implement to the proper end user.ThesisItem Open Access A STUDY ON PERCEPTION OF STUDENTS TOWARDS TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENT IN ACHARYA N. G. RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY(Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Guntur, 2022-12-22) KENANAO NTSUAPE; BALA HUSSAIN REDDY, P.Teaching and learning environment refers to the diverse locations, contexts, and cultures in which students learn. The definition of teaching and learning environment recognizes that students learn in many ways and very different contexts. Since learners must undertake the learning process, the aim is to create a total environment for learning that optimizes the ability of students to learn. To investigate the quality of the teaching environment, it is important to capture relevant dimensions of this environment. Teaching environment dimensions include instructor, subject matter, teaching equipment and physical facilities. Components of a learning environment include: Student Cohesiveness, Teacher support, Involvement, Task orientation and Cooperation. Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University is a State Agricultural University with its headquarters located at Guntur City of Andhra Pradesh. The Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University offers various Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Doctoral programmes besides the polytechnic courses. There are 13 colleges (8 Agricultural Colleges, one Home Science, two Agricultural Engineering, two Food Science & Technology) & 12 Polytechnics. Exploratory research design was adopted in the present investigation after considering objectives set forth, variables considered and the phenomenon to be studied. The state of Andhra Pradesh was selected purposively for the study. Rayalaseema region comprising of four districts viz., Kurnool, Chittoor, Anantapur and YSR Kadapa districts was purposively selected for the study. Two Agricultural colleges of Rayalaseema region i.e., S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati, Chittoor district and Agricultural College, Mahanandi, Kurnool district were selected purposively for the study. After xv obtaining the total number of undergraduate students studying third year B.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture from both the selected agricultural colleges of a total of 120 students were selected following proportionate simple random sampling procedure. The results of the study revealed that majority i.e. 56.7 per cent respondents belonged to age group 21 years and female students were slightly higher in strength than male students. Majority of 77.5 per cent of the students had an excellent academic performance i.e. they got first class. A good number of students i.e. 47.5 per cent participated in only one extracurricular activity. The study revealed that slightly more than four fifth (41.70%) of students of belonged to open category. It was found that in immovable assets, majority of students’ parents fell under low immovable assets category by 50.8 per cent and that majority (58.30%) of students’ parents owned 3 or 4 movable assets. A majority of 79.2 per cent of parents belonged to medium income category. The findings of the study clearly indicate that slightly more than four fifth (45.00%) of third year B.Sc. (Hons) undergraduate students had medium level of academic interest and most (96.70%) of students resided in college hostel. Majority (45.83%) of the respondents got their financial assistance from Parents. Both poor and good learning styles were practiced by 35 per cent of the students. Majority of students i.e. 45 per cent of the students had neutral attitude towards the university. Slightly less than half (48.30%) of the students had a neutral perception towards teaching environment. The study revealed that perception towards teaching environment was not significantly related to age, academic performance, participation in extracurricular activities and economic status of parents. Hence there was significant relationship between academic interest, learning style and attitude towards university and perception towards teaching environment. Majority (44.20%) of students had a neutral perception towards learning environment. The study revealed that perception towards learning environment was not significantly related to age, academic performance, participation in extracurricular activities and economic status of parents. Hence there was significant relationship between academic interest, learning style and attitude towards university and perception towards learning environment. The study revealed that 30 per cent of the students reported that field visits and practicals are less due to shortage of transportation facility, 19.17 per cent of undergraduate students were facing constraints regarding professor-student relationships hard to build, 18.3 per cent mentioned that hostel environment not conducive for learning, 14.17 per cent undergraduate students had financial problems, 10 per cent undergraduate students had a problem of college timings unfavourable, 8.33 undergraduate students were facing constraint of time management, 5.83 were facing a constraint of xvi homesickness, 4.17 per cent of respondents were facing a constraint of ill health, 1.67 per cent had social problems and 1.67 per cent of the respondents had complications using college library. Majority of the students (22.50%) suggested to increase in number of field visitations and practical as they give them exposure to the real-world situation, 15.8 per cent of undergraduate students suggested that college should initiate programmes that will promote healthy student-student as well as professor-student relationships, 15 per cent undergraduate students suggested for college timings should be suitable, 14.2 per cent suggested the reduction of number of students per room in hostel.ThesisItem Open Access AN ANALYSIS OF KNOWLEDGE AND ADOPTION OF ECO-FRIENDLY PRACTICES IN TURMERIC CULTIVATION IN ERODE DISTRICT OF TAMIL NADU(Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Guntur, 2022-12-22) KARTHIGA, V; LAKSHMI, T.Despite having tremendous growth in agricultural production and achieving food security, still Indian farmers suffer from ever-increasing input cost. Soaring environmental problems, eco-system instability and lack of self-sustainability of farmers force us to search for other methods of farming. One of such natural, recyclable and sustainable approaches of farming is Eco-friendly farming. It is effective and cost-efficient way to achieve sustainable development in the agriculture sector. As per the importance of certain crop produce in medicinal and culinary fields, there is a need for production of turmeric in eco-friendly methods to keep the chemical residues at its minimum. Hence, the present research was framed to analyze the level of knowledge and extent of adoption of turmeric growers on eco-friendly practices in turmeric cultivation with the specific objectives of studying the profile of turmeric growers, their level of knowledge, extent of adoption, relationship between profile characteristics and level of knowledge and extent of adoption, constraints and eliciting suggestions to overcome them in adopting the eco-friendly practices. Ex post facto research design was followed in the present investigation. Tamil Nadu state was selected purposively for the study as the researcher hails from the same state. Based on the highest area and production under turmeric cultivation in this state, Erode district was selected purposively for the study. From this district, two blocks namely Kodumudi and Modakurichi were selected purposively based on the highest area and production under turmeric cultivation. Four villages from each of the two blocks were selected by using simple random sampling method thus making a total of eight villages. From each of the selected villages, 15 turmeric growers having not less than 5 years of experience in turmeric cultivation were selected by following simple random sampling procedure, making xvi a total of 120 turmeric growers for the study. Fifteen independent variables that were relevant for the study and two dependent variables namely level of knowledge and extent of adoption were identified for the investigation. With a help of a well-structured and pre-tested interview schedule developed for the study, detailed data were collected from the respondents during the months of February 2021 to March 2021. Using suitable statistical tools, the collected data were analyzed in order to categorize the respondents under the selected independent variables and also to identify their relationship with the dependent variables. The findings were meaningfully interpreted and relevant conclusions were drawn. The results with regard to the profile of the turmeric growers indicated that majority of the turmeric growers were middle aged with middle school level of education, small and marginal farmers with medium farming experience, training undergone, social participation, extension contact, innovativeness, mass media exposure, risk orientation, economic motivation, market orientation, scientific orientation, achievement motivation and market intelligence. Majority of the turmeric growers had medium to high level of knowledge and medium to high extent of adoption regarding eco-friendly practices in turmeric cultivation. In case of relationship between independent variables and level of knowledge on eco-friendly practices in turmeric cultivation, variables such as education, training undergone, innovativeness, mass media exposure, risk orientation, economic motivation, market orientation and market intelligence had positive and significant relationship with level of knowledge of turmeric growers at 1 per cent level of significance. Social participation and scientific orientation had positive and significant relationship with level of knowledge at 5 per cent level. Age had negative and significant relation with level of knowledge at 5 per cent level. Farm size, farming experience, extension contact and achievement motivation had no association with the level of knowledge of turmeric growers. In case of relationship between independent variables and extent of adoption of eco-friendly practices in turmeric cultivation, variables such as education, farm size, training undergone, social participation, extension contact, mass media exposure, risk orientation and economic motivation had positive and significant relationship with extent of adoption of turmeric growers at 1 per cent level of significance. Market orientation and market intelligence had positive and significant relationship with extent of adoption at 5 per cent level. Age, scientific orientation, innovativeness, farming experience and achievement motivation had no association with the extent of adoption of turmeric growers. Regression analysis revealed that the fifteen selected independent variables put together explained 62.5 per cent variation in the level of knowledge of the turmeric growers on eco-friendly practices in turmeric cultivation. Among them training undergone, mass media exposure and risk orientation were found positively significant which was evident from their significant ‘t’ values. xvii Regarding extent of adoption of turmeric growers, the fifteen selected independent variables put together explained 77.1 per cent variation in the extent of adoption of the turmeric growers on eco-friendly practices in turmeric cultivation. Among them mass media exposure and risk orientation were found positively significant which was evident from their significant ‘t’ values. The major constraints that were encountered by the turmeric growers in adopting eco-friendly practices were labour scarcity, poor quality of inputs and non-availability of inputs under the category of physical constraints, lack of knowledge about eco-friendly practices, lack of skill about eco-friendly practices and inability to attend training programs under personal, lack of price policy for eco-friendly agricultural produce, high cost of labour and high cost of inputs under socio-economic, high risk involved, reduction of rhizome yield and lack of technical guidance under technical, attack of insect pests and diseases and their management, high weed intensity and pollution of irrigation canal water under environmental, lack of success stories of adoption of eco-friendly practices, lack of demonstrated impacts on eco-friendly practices, lack of awareness of agroenvironmental problems, lack of motivation from officials under extension constraints. Provision of minimum support price for turmeric produce, frequent visits by extension agent and proper extension support, availability of local technical guidance, organizing more training programmes on eco-friendly practices, provision of machinery for turmeric harvesting to reduce labour costs, establishment of processing and value addition units, provision for utilizing MNREGA labourers for farm works, providing quality inputs at subsidized costs, construction of warehouses for storage of the produce, measures to reduce the pollution of irrigation canal water, provision of insurance for crop loss, establishment of soil-testing facilities at block level and organizing field demonstrations on eco-friendly practices were the major suggestions given by turmeric growers to overcome the above constraints.ThesisItem Open Access A STUDY ON ADOPTION OF CRITICAL INTERVENTIONS OF MAJOR CROPS BY THE FARMERS IN DRYLAND FARMING IN PRAKASAM DISTRICT OF ANDHRA PRADESH(Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Guntur, 2022-12-22) CHENNA MADHAVA, MUSANI; PRAVEENA, P.L.R.J.Dryland farming in India has been in practice since time immemorial. The farming operations in the dryland depend on the rainfall and the farmers invariably need to adopt interventions that would save the water and mitigate the stress. Crop wise critical interventions have been developed by the researchers in order to mitigate drought and to increase yield of dryland crops. Large-scale adoption of these critical interventions by the dryland farmers would help in minimizing the crop losses and maximizing the returns. Keeping in the view of growing significance of dryland farming and also need for adoption of critical interventions in dryland farming, the present study entitled “A Study on Adoption of Critical Interventions of Major Crops by the Farmers in Dryland Farming in Prakasam District of Andhra Pradesh” was undertaken. The study was framed in such a manner to analyze the profile of farmers with level of knowledge, extent of adoption and to find out the relationship between selected independent variables and dependent variable. Ex post facto research design was followed for conducting the study. Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh was selected purposively as it has highest area of dryland in coastal region of Andhra Pradesh and there is a scope for increasing the area, production, productivity of dryland cotton and redgram in the state through effective critical intervention strategies. Among 56 mandals in Prakasam district, four (4) mandals viz., Giddalur, Racherla, Bestavaripeta and Markapur were chosen purposively for the present study based on the highest area under dryland cultivation. List of all villages of each selected mandal was obtained. Out of these, two villages from each selected mandal viz., Sanjeevarayunipeta and Kommunuru from Giddalur mandal, Annampalli and xviii Racherla from Racherla mandal, Konapalli and Singarapalli from Bestavaripeta mandal and two villages from Markapaur namely Darimadugu and Bodapadu were selected by following simple random sampling procedure, thus making a total of 8 villages. From each of the selected villages, fifteen farmers were selected by following simple random sampling procedure, thus making a total of 120 farmers. Redgram and cotton crops were selected purposively for the study as these were the major crops grown under rainfed conditions in the district. The results of the study revealed that majority of the dryland farmers were old aged, illiterate, small to medium farmers, medium to high level of experience in dryland farming, attained low to medium level of yields in redgram and medium to low level of yields in cotton, medium to high annual income, medium to low extension contact, medium to high mass media exposure, medium to low information seeking behaviour, medium to high social participation, medium to high credit orientation, medium to low risk preference, poor to fair irrigation status, medium to low economic orientation, medium to low decision making ability and poor to fair cropping pattern. Majority of the dryland farmers had medium to high level of knowledge and extent of adoption on critical interventions in redgram and cotton. The independent variables education, land holding, yield, annual income, extension contact, mass media exposure, information seeking behaviour, social participation, credit orientation, risk preference, economic orientation, decision making ability, irrigation status and cropping pattern were found positive and significant with level of knowledge on critical interventions in redgram. Age and experience in dryland farming were found negative and significant with level of knowledge on critical interventions in redgram. All the selected 16 independent variables put together, explained about 85.20 per cent variation in the level of knowledge of dryland farmers on critical interventions in redgram. The independent variables education, land holding, yield, annual income, extension contact, mass media exposure, information seeking behaviour, social participation, credit orientation, risk preference, irrigation status, economic orientation, decision making ability and cropping pattern were found positive and significant with level of knowledge on critical interventions in cotton. Age and experience in dryland farming were found negative and significant with level of knowledge on critical interventions in cotton. All the selected 16 independent variables put together, explained about 76.80 per cent variation in the level of knowledge on critical interventions in cotton by the dryland farmers. The independent variables education, land holding, yield, annual income, extension contact, mass media exposure, information seeking behaviour, social participation, credit orientation, risk preference, irrigation status, economic orientation, decision making ability and cropping pattern were significant with the extent of adoption of critical interventions in redgram. Age and experience in dryland farming were found negative and significant with the extent of adoption of critical interventions in redgram. All the selected 16 independent variables put xix together, explained about 74.70 per cent variation in the extent of adoption of critical interventions in redgram by the dryland farmers. The independent variables education, land holding, yield, annual income, extension contact, mass media exposure, information seeking behaviour, social participation, credit orientation, risk preference, irrigation status, economic orientation, decision making ability and cropping pattern were found positive and significant relationship with the extent of adoption of critical interventions in cotton. Variables like age and experience in dryland farming were found negative and non significant relationship with the extent of adoption of critical interventions in cotton. All the selected 16 independent variables put together, explained about 72.80 per cent variation in the extent of adoption of critical interventions in cotton by the dryland farmers. Regarding technical constraints expressed by the dryland farmers insufficient availability of water was the major constraint expressed by dryland farmers followed by non-availability of quality seed in time, inadequate knowledge on drought mitigation measures, lack of knowledge on water conservation techniques, non-availability of seed treatment chemicals in small quantities, inadequate knowledge about foliar application of nutrients, nonavailability of improved machinery due to high cost, inadequate knowledge on amount of seed required, inadequate knowledge on intercrops to be grown and lack of timely weather-based information. The constraints of dryland farmers with regard to socio personal aspects in the rank order were more interested to follow conventional practices, illiteracy of the farmer, inability to accept new practices, inability to take risk, small size of the farm, lack of support from the villagers, increasing labour scarcity. The constraints of dryland farmers with regard to financial aspects based on total score and rank order of their importance were high cost of inputs, delay in sanction of the loans due to stringent procedures followed by financial institutions, high rate of interest charged by private money lenders, inadequate support from financial institutes, flaws in crop insurance schemes, lack of savings, poor economic status of the farmer. The major suggestions as perceived by the dryland farmers in rank order are conducting training programmes on in-situ moisture conservation and drought mitigating technologies followed by subsidies on micro irrigation systems for field crops, timely supply of quality seeds and inputs through Raithu Bharosa Kendras, assistance from the government at the time of drought, providing irrigation facilities by completing Veligonda irrigation project as early as possible, developing suitable drought resistant varieties and encouraging multiplication of these varieties through seed village concept, assistance from financial institutes with low interest rates. A suitable strategy has been developed keeping in view of the results obtained in the study and discussions held with the stakeholders of the study.ThesisItem Open Access A STUDY ON KNOWLEDGE AND ADOPTION OF ECO-FRIENDLY CULTIVATION PRACTICES IN CARDAMOM IN IDUKKI DISTRICT OF KERALA(Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Guntur, 2022-12-22) AMANDA BABY; SAILAJA, V.Indian agriculture in the 21st century is driven by cutting edge technologies and new approaches in farming. These advances in agriculture helped India to move from ‘begging bowl’ to ‘bread basket’ situation with the success of green revolution. Conventional agriculture increased crop yields, but had unintended and undesirable consequences like loss of soil fertility, soil erosion, soil toxicity, water pollution, salinity of underground water etc. Keeping in view, the above scenario maintaining the sustainability of the ecosystem and meeting the growing population's demand for nutritious food, it is the need of the hour to adopt eco- friendly farming practices in agriculture. Eco-friendly farming works at grass root level preserving the reproductive and regenerative capacity of the soil, good plant nutrition, sound soil management, producing nutritious food rich in vitality which has resistance to diseases etc. It utilizes bio-control agents, bio-pesticides and organic fertilizers that reduce the harmful effects on the environment. Moreover, the inputs used in the eco-friendly farming are biodegradable, economical and renewable. India is one of the largest producer and exporter of spices in the world. Indian spices have huge opportunity in the international market but should meet the international standards. It is evident that eco-friendly farming practices are helpful in producing high quality spices, enhancing the productivity, reducing the environmental degradation, improves the quality of life of the farmers and maintains sustainability. Kerala is the home for variety of spices. It is the state which has highest area and production under spices in general and cardamom crop in particular. Idukki is one of the district in the xvi state with highest area and production. Among spices, cardamom is known as the ‘queen of spices’ or ‘green gold’. It is a spice which is having high export orientation, making it important to establish the prospects of eco-friendly farming in cardamom cultivation. Hence, the present study “A study on knowledge and adoption of ecofriendly cultivation practices in cardamom in Idukki district of Kerala” was undertaken. Ex post facto research design was followed in the present investigation. The study was carried out in Idukki district of Kerala state, where cardamom is grown extensively with highest area and production. Two taluks of Idukki district viz., Udumbanchola taluk and Devikulam taluk were purposively selected, where the area under cardamom was highest. From the two selected taluks, three villages from each taluk were selected based on simple random sampling technique thus making a total of six villages. A sample of 120 farmers was selected from the six selected villages by following proportionate random sampling procedure. The data was collected by personal interview method and analyzed by employing suitable statistical tools. The fourteen independent variables selected for the study were subjected to statistical analysis for the purpose of categorization of the respondents and for studying their relationship with the two selected dependent variables i.e. the level of knowledge and the extent of adoption of eco-friendly cultivation practices by the cardamom growers. The analysis of profile characteristics of the cardamom growers indicated that majority of the respondents engaged in eco-friendly cardamom cultivation were middle aged with high school level of education with medium annual income, small land holding, medium farming experience, medium training undergone, medium mass media exposure, medium extension contact, medium social participation, medium scientific orientation, medium innovativeness, medium mass media exposure, medium scientific orientation, medium risk preference, medium economic motivation and medium environmental concern. Further, the analysis of dependent variables revealed that majority of the cardamom growers had medium level of knowledge and medium extent of adoption of eco-friendly cultivation practices. Correlation analysis of the data pertaining to the level of knowledge revealed that the variables viz., education, annual income, farm size, training undergone, mass media exposure, extension contact, social participation, scientific orientation, innovativeness, risk preference and environmental concern had shown a positive and significant relationship with the level of knowledge of cardamom growers whereas the variables age and farming experience had shown a negative and significant relationship with the level of knowledge of eco-friendly cardamom growers. However economic motivation had non-significant relationship with the knowledge level of eco-friendly cardamom growers. The Multiple Linear Regression analysis implied that all xvii the selected 14 independent variables put together explained about 74.10 per cent variation in the knowledge level of cardamom growers. Correlation analysis of the data pertaining to the extent of adoption indicated that the variables viz., education, annual income, training undergone, mass media exposure, extension contact, social participation, scientific orientation, innovativeness, risk preference and environmental concern had shown a positive and significant relationship with the extent of adoption of eco-friendly cultivation practices by the cardamom growers whereas the variables age and farming experience had shown a negative and significant relationship with the extent of adoption. However, farm size and economic motivation had shown a non-significant relationship with the extent of adoption. The Multiple Linear Regression analysis implied that all the selected 14 independent variables put together explained about 75.70 per cent variation in the extent of adoption of the eco-friendly cultivation practices by cardamom growers. The major constraints as perceived by the cardamom growers in adopting eco-friendly practices in the cardamom cultivation were “Managing the pest during the summer seasons as the outbreak is more”, “Scarcity of labour and high labour cost during the peak seasons”, “Difficulty in adopting the eco-friendly practices as the practices demands long time to materialize”, “Lack of availability of quality bio inputs”, “Difficulty in practice of animal husbandry and cardamom cultivation together”, “Tedious certification procedures for organic certification”, “Absence of separate market for organic cardamom, hence no premium price”, “Lack of financial support in the form of subsidies and other incentives from the government”, “Low yields in the initial stages when converted into eco-friendly farming” and “Lack of community movement for the promotion of eco-friendly farming practices”. “Quality bio inputs should be made available from reliable sources by the government”, “Government should provide proper financial support to the farmers”, “Government should formulate policies and schemes to meet peak agriculture labour demand to carry out farm operations.”, “Government should promote group farming or community farming”, “Establishment of separate market for organic cardamom and provision of minimum support price”, “Avoiding the usage of chemicals in the processing of cardamom” and “Government should take efforts to make the certification procedures easier for the farmers” were some of the major suggestions as perceived by the cardamom growers. Further, “Strengthening of extension support by way of organizing more number of trainings and field demonstrations on eco-friendly farming”, “Extending government support in the form of insurance for crop loss” and “Provision of soil testing units at village level by the State department of agriculture” were some of the other minor suggestions as perceived by the cardamom growers.ThesisItem Open Access TENANT FARMING IN EAST GODAVARI DISTRICT OF ANDHRA PRADESH – A CRITICAL ANALYSIS(Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Guntur, 2021-12-08) REVATHI NAGAMANI, P.; JYOTHI, Dr. V.The urge of landless to increase their income is the reason for tenancy. Uneconomic landholdings is one of the reason for owner cum tenant farming. Agriculture is considered as the backbone of Indian economy. Every farmer is important to make this backbone strong and so the tenant farmers also. It is observed that there is an increase in the number of tenant farmers and owner cum tenant farmers in the recent past. At this juncture a study was planned in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh taking tenant farmers, owner cum tenant farmers and owner farmers as sample. The research explored the profile characteristics, tenancy types, lease-in behviour, knowledge and adoption of critical crop interventions in cultivation. The study was conducted during 2019-20 using ex-post facto research design. Three mandals viz., Kirlampudi, Peddapuram, Kajuluru were selected, from each of the selected mandal, three villages were selected, from each of the selected village 5 respondents each of tenant farmers, owner cum tenant farmers and owner farmers engaged in farming were selected using simple random sampling procedure. A sample of 45 tenant farmers, 45 owner cum tenant farmers and 45 owner farmers were selected, thus making a total sample of 135 respondents. Less than two-third of the tenant farmers and owner farmers (64.44%) each and 77.77 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers belonged to middle age category. Less than one-third of the tenant (64.44%) farmers, 37.78 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers and 33.33 per cent of the owner farmers were illiterate. More than two-third of tenant (68.89%) farmers, 86.67 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers and 93.33 per cent of the owner farmers belonged to nuclear family. More than half of the tenant (55.55%) farmers, 64.44 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers and 46.67 per cent of the owner farmers have a family size of nuclear <= 4 members. Forty per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers had semi medium, 46.67 per cent of the owner farmers had marginal land holdings. Less than half of the tenant farmers had medium (44.45%) farming experience, 46.67 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers and 51.11 per cent of owner farmers had high farming experience. More than half of the tenant farmers occupation was Agriculture+Dairy (60.00%), while 53.33 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers and 64.45 per cent of the owner farmers occupation was Agriculture. xv Majority of the tenant farmers (95.56%), owner cum tenant farmers (88.89%) and owner farmers (84.44%) had medium annual income. Great majority of the tenant (93.33%) farmers, 51.12 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers and 73.34 per cent of the owner farmers received no training. More than half of the tenant farmers source of credit was money lenders (55.56%), while 48.89 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers and 68.89 per cent of the owner farmers source of credit was crop loans in nationalized banks. More than one-third of the tenant farmers had low (40.00%) extension contact, 68.89 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers had high extension contact, while the same proportion of owner farmers had medium extension contact. More than half of the tenant farmers had high (55.56%) mass media exposure, while 75.56 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers and 73.33 per cent of the owner farmers had medium mass media exposure. Great majority of the tenant (91.11%) farmers, 71.11 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers and 64.44 per cent of the owner farmers had medium social participation. More than half of the tenant farmers had low (51.11%) scientific orientation, 53.33 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers had medium scientific orientation and 77.78 per cent of the owner farmers had high scientific orientation. More than two-third of the tenant farmers had high (71.11%) risk orientation, 66.66 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers had medium risk orientation and 64.45 per cent of the owner farmers had low risk orientation. Three-fourth of the tenant (75.56%) farmers, 71.11 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers had high market orientation and 62.22 per cent of the owner farmers had medium market orientation. Chi-square test statistics showed that there is significant different between the three groups of tenant farmers, owner cum tenant farmers and owner farmers in age, education, family type, land holding, annual income, training received, source of credit, mass media exposure, social participation, scientific orientation, risk orientation and market orientation. Cent per cent of the tenant farmers and great majority of the owner cum tenant farmers made oral (91.11%) tenancy agreement. More than half of the tenant farmers duration of tenancy was annual (55.56%) while the same was observed in 53.33 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers. More than one-third of the tenant farmers had <1 ha (35.56%) size of lease-in land, while one-third of the of owner cum tenant farmers had 1-2 ha (33.33%) size of lease-in land. Great majority of the tenant farmers and owner cum tenant farmers leased-in rainfed (91.11%) land. Non inherited type of tenancy was observed in case of tenant farmers (55.56%) and owner cum tenant farmers (53.33%). Cent per cent of the tenant farmers and owner cum tenant farmers beared the entire cost of cultivation. About 60.00 per cent of the tenant farmers and 64.44 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers paid entire land lease rent as cash after crop harvest. Cent per cent of the tenant farmers and owner cum tenant farmers themselves decided the crops to be grown on leased land without the interference of the land owners. Less than two-third of the tenant farmers had high (62.22%) lease-in behaviour, while 66.67 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers had medium lease-in behavior. Friedman test showed significant difference in both the groups in lease-in behaviour. Majority of the tenant farmers had low (80.00%) knowledge on critical interventions in cultivation, while 66.67 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers had medium knowledge and 75.56 per cent of the owner farmers had high knowledge. Friedman test showed significant difference among the groups in knowledge. More than half of the tenant farmers had low (57.78%) adoption of critical interventions in cultivation, while xvi 77.78 per cent of the owner cum tenant farmers had high adoption and 66.67 per cent of the owner farmers had medium adoption. Friedman test showed significant difference among the groups in adoption of critical interventions in cultivation. Occupation, source of credit, extension contact had positive and significant correlation with the lease-in behavior of tenant farmers. The selected independent variables put together contributed 78.70 per cent of the total variation in the lease-in behaviour of the tenant farmers. Scientific orientation, risk orientation had positive and significant correlation with the lease-in behaviour of owner cum tenant farmers. While education had negative and highly significant correlation with the lease-in behaviour of owner cum tenant farmers. The selected independent variables put together contributed 78.30 per cent of the total variation in the lease-in behaviour of the owner cum tenant farmers. Source of credit had positive and highly significant correlation with the knowledge of farmers on critical interventions in cultivation for tenant farmers. While family size had negative and significant correlation with the knowledge of tenant farmers. The selected independent variables put together contributed 81.80 per cent of the total variation in the knowledge on critical interventions of tenant farmers. Land holding and training received had positive and highly significant correlation with the knowledge on critical interventions in cultivation of owner cum tenant farmers. The selected independent variables put together contributed 81.90 per cent of the total variation in the knowledge on critical interventions of owner cum tenant farmers. Land holding and training received had positive and significant correlation with the knowledge on critical interventions in cultivation of owner farmers. The selected independent variables put together contributed 83.10 per cent of the total variation in the knowledge on critical interventions of owner farmers. Extension contact, mass media exposure, occupation, source of credit, market orientation had positive and significant correlation with the adoption of critical interventions in cultivation by tenant farmers. The selected independent variables put together contributed 83.60 per cent of the total variation in the adoption of critical interventions of tenant farmers. Annual income, land holding had positive and significant correlation with the adoption of critical interventions of owner cum tenant farmers. The selected independent variables put together contributed 79.40 per cent of the total variation in the adoption of critical interventions in cultivation of the owner cum farmers. Land holding, training received had positive and significant correlation with the adoption of critical interventions in cultivation by owner farmers. While age had negative and significant correlation with the adoption of critical interventions of owner farmers. The selected independent variables put together contributed 84.90 per cent of the total variation in the adoption of critical interventions in cultivation of the owner farmers. Tenant farmers perceived the limitation of no beneficial schemes for tenant farmers, no input subsidy, no crop insurance scheme for tenant farmers, high rate of interest by money lenders, complex procedure involved in getting loans from banks. Owner cum tenant farmers perceived the limitation of verbal form of tenancy without documentation, lack of remunerative MSP, fluctuations in market prices, high rents for the leased lands, no crop insurance scheme for tenant farmers. Both tenant farmers and owner cum tenant farmers suggested that the above problems need to be corrected. xvii The State Department Officers reported the limitations in tenant farming in a holistic manner considering the environment, tenant farmer and land owner. They reported that in tenant farming summer deep ploughing, pre-kharif green manuring, application of organic fertilizers like FYM & biofertilizers, soil test based fertilizer application, integrated management practices of crop, pest, disease, etc. were not adopted by tenant farmers. Non-judicious application of inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, bio-products whose authentication is unknown and intensive cultivation is practiced on these lands by them. As a result of which soil is degraded and atmosphere is polluted leading to environmental hazards. They also reported that there was no guarantee for the tenant farmers to till the same piece of land the next year because of which they were not taking up land development activities. They suggested that tenant farmers should not compromise for documentation of tenancy. The land owners should give their concern to share government benefits with their tenants.