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Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur

The history of agricultural education in Kerala can be traced back to the year 1896 when a scheme was evolved in the erstwhile Travancore State to train a few young men in scientific agriculture at the Demonstration Farm, Karamana, Thiruvananthapuram, presently, the Cropping Systems Research Centre under Kerala Agricultural University. Agriculture was introduced as an optional subject in the middle school classes in the State in 1922 when an Agricultural Middle School was started at Aluva, Ernakulam District. The popularity and usefulness of this school led to the starting of similar institutions at Kottarakkara and Konni in 1928 and 1931 respectively. Agriculture was later introduced as an optional subject for Intermediate Course in 1953. In 1955, the erstwhile Government of Travancore-Cochin started the Agricultural College and Research Institute at Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram and the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at Mannuthy, Thrissur for imparting higher education in agricultural and veterinary sciences, respectively. These institutions were brought under the direct administrative control of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Animal Husbandry, respectively. With the formation of Kerala State in 1956, these two colleges were affiliated to the University of Kerala. The post-graduate programmes leading to M.Sc. (Ag), M.V.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees were started in 1961, 1962 and 1965 respectively. On the recommendation of the Second National Education Commission (1964-66) headed by Dr. D.S. Kothari, the then Chairman of the University Grants Commission, one Agricultural University in each State was established. The State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) were established in India as an integral part of the National Agricultural Research System to give the much needed impetus to Agriculture Education and Research in the Country. As a result the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) was established on 24th February 1971 by virtue of the Act 33 of 1971 and started functioning on 1st February 1972. The Kerala Agricultural University is the 15th in the series of the SAUs. In accordance with the provisions of KAU Act of 1971, the Agricultural College and Research Institute at Vellayani, and the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, were brought under the Kerala Agricultural University. In addition, twenty one agricultural and animal husbandry research stations were also transferred to the KAU for taking up research and extension programmes on various crops, animals, birds, etc. During 2011, Kerala Agricultural University was trifurcated into Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU), Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) and Kerala Agricultural University (KAU). Now the University has seven colleges (four Agriculture, one Agricultural Engineering, one Forestry, one Co-operation Banking & Management), six RARSs, seven KVKs, 15 Research Stations and 16 Research and Extension Units under the faculties of Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering and Forestry. In addition, one Academy on Climate Change Adaptation and one Institute of Agricultural Technology offering M.Sc. (Integrated) Climate Change Adaptation and Diploma in Agricultural Sciences respectively are also functioning in Kerala Agricultural University.

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Subject: Agricultural Extension × Author: Fathimath Zuhra, M C × Author: KAU × End date: 2022 × Start date: 2022 × Type: Thesis ×
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    Social entrepreneurship and sustainable livelihood development -a study on women collectives in Lakshadeep Islands
    (Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellanikkara, 2022) Fathimath Zuhra, M C; KAU; Mercykutty, M J
    Lakshadweep is India’s smallest union territory located in Arabian Sea, comprises of 35 tiny coral islands with 32 sq. km area and a population of 64473 in the ten inhabited islands. These inhabited islands are Agatti, Amini, Androth, Bitra, Chetlat, Kadmat, Kalpeni, Kavaratti, Kilthan and Minicoy. Besides fishing and tourism, coconut cultivation, marketing and processing of coconut constitute the major livelihood options of people of Lakshadweep. According to Government of India (2011) Lakshadweep is having a population of 64473, and out of this 31,350 are females with a literacy rate of 87.95 %. According to the annual report of Department of women and child development (2019) there are 5057 women working under 435 self-help groups. Women collective can be defined as a group of women who meet regularly to achieve a shared purpose. These groups take many forms across the world like Self Help Groups (SHGs), Joint liability Groups (JLGs) and Non-Governmental organizations (NGOs) where women come together for different economic, legal, health and cultural reasons. In Lakshadweep there are only two types of women collectives, they are SHGs and Dweepsrees (Lakshadweep version of Kudumbasree). Social entrepreneurship can be described as a business model for larger interest where the members of community come together for fulfilling a social mission aiming for social change and development. It functions as the agent of change, questioning the status quo, grabbing the new yet overlooked opportunities by taking the local resources into consideration, building on relations and by refining and re-refining to reach the grass roots. The study was conducted in Lakshadweep islands. Three islands were selected from the ten inhabited ones, Androth and Amini being the major islands and Chetlat, the minor one. Sample size consisted of 120 respondents from women collectives and 30 facilitators. Respondent’s category of women collectives belonged to the members of Self helf Groups under Swayam Siddha and Dweepasree. The profile of SHG members showed that 47.5% belonged to middle age category and 71.5% were home makers. Regarding educational qualification, 31.83% had attended higher secondary level and 94% of them were having an annual income greater than 1 lakh rupees. Majority of the respondents belonged to medium category for social participation, decision making and innovativeness. Half of the selected respondents (50.84 %) had attended two trainings. Dimensions of social entrepreneurship were described with respect to social vision, social network, innovativeness, sustainability and financial management. It was found that the SHG members had the perception that social entrepreneurship could help them to attain a sustainable livelihood. They felt that improvement in investment in entrepreneurial activities along with the skills and trainings could improve their livelihoods. Spearman’s rank correlation analysis of profile characteristics and perception on social entrepreneurship revealed that social participation and innovativeness had significant positive correlation with social entrepreneurship at 1% level, while decision making was significant at 5%level. Along with these three variables, training exposure had a positive significant relationship with the performance of SHGs. Performance of SHGs were measured using four indicators viz;financial indicators, social up-liftment indicators, functional activities and selfdevelopment indicators. Analysis of the performance of SHGs in three islands using Kruskal Wallis test, it was observed that Chetlat had the highest mean perception score (91.69) compared to Amini (61.36) and Androth (28.45). With respect to the above four independent variables significant differences were also observed among these three islands. Binary logistics regression showed that social participation and social entrepreneurship had positive significant relationship with performance of SHGs while occupation had a negative relationship. Comparison of Group dynamics efficiency index ( GDEI )of three islands using Kruskal Wallis test showed that there was no significant differences among the three islands where the mean index being 66.60. Factors affecting social entrepreneurship were categorized and studied under personal and psychological, situational and socio- economic dimensions. Entrepreneurial motivation, social acceptance and self-confidence were the most influencing elements of social entrepreneurship. Challenges faced by SHG members were considered under three groups viz; individual challenges, financial challenges and situational challenges. High cost of raw materials, high market competition and lack of sufficient time for SHG involvement due to personal difficulties were the most serious challenges felt by the SHG members from three islands that is Androth, Amini and Chetlat. A significant value of Kendall’s coefficient of concordance (W = 0.935) showed that there existed a strong agreement among the respondents and facilitators (W= 0.975). It has been recommended that location specific entrepreneurial avenues and marketing strategies may be implemented based on the production pattern of the particular area along with awareness and training. Linkages with local shop owners and whole sellers should be improved for getting various inputs and for marketing the products. It has been also suggested that more infrastructural facilities have to be provided for proper storage and marketing. Branding of the products highlighting the ethnicity may also be encouraged