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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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2017 - 201940
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Subject: Agricultural Extension × Author: KAU × End date: 2019 × Start date: 2017 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Utilization of soil health card by the farmers of Thrissur district
    (Department of Agricultural extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2019) Reshmi, S; KAU; Binoo Bonny, P.
    Injudicious and hazardous use of chemical fertilizer in agriculture is a matter of concern in recent times. In order to avoid deterioration of soil in the long run and visualizing the importance of balanced nutrition in crop production, Government of India launched the soil health (SHC) programme in 2015. The Soil Health Card provides appropriate guidance to the farmers for the efficient use of fertilizer for crops based on soil health analysis. The SHC is a printed document, which contains data on soil test based chemical analysis to describe soil health in terms of its nutrient availability and its physical and chemical properties. The study was carried out in Thrissur district as it had the maximum number of SHC scheme beneficiaries in the State. A total of 180 respondents from the district formed the sample which constituted 150 farmers and 30 scheme implementing officers. Status of SHC use among farmers revealed the presence of four categories of SHC users viz. participant SHC scheme users, participant SHC scheme non-users, paid SHC users and non-participant non-users. Analysis of the socio-economic variables between the different categories of users and non-users of farmers revealed that the variables, farming experience, exposure to training and irrigation facility showed significant difference among the respondents at 0.05 and 0.01 levels with p values 0.040, 0.016 and 0.001 respectively. With regard to awareness on SHC, Paid SHC users had an overall awareness score of 461.52. On all selected awareness domains they had uniformly high scores except on general information on SHC scheme wherein the score was only 78.00 per cent. Regarding the spread of SHC in Thrisssur district, Chavakkad was the only block that covered more than 50 per cent of farmers. Extent of adoption measured using adoption index, and the results indicated that 50 per cent of the participant SHC scheme users were of medium adoption category, followed by 34 per cent of low adopters and only 16 per cent belonged to the high adoption category. However, in XXXII the case of paid soil test users, it could be inferred that majority of the farmers (60 per cent), came under high adoption category, followed by 33 per cent under medium level of adoption and only 7 per cent belonged to low adoption category. Correlation between the independent variables and adoption of SHC recommendations by participant SHC scheme users and paid SHC users revealed that, irrigation facility and farming experience showed positively significant correlation with adoption at 0.05 level for both the categories. It is also important to find that when scientific orientation recorded positive and significant relation with adoption at 0.01 level for both participant SHC scheme users and paid SHC users, training and education showed significant relation only for the paid SHC users at 0.01 and 0.05 levels of significance respectively. When 90 per cent of the paid SHC users showed favourable perception regarding the reliability of SHCs, only 40 per cent of the participant SHC scheme users displayed a favourable utility perception on the domain. With regard to the quantity of fertilizers (Urea, SSP, MOP) applied, and micronutrient use, there is significant difference between users and non-users with p values 0.44 and 0.017 respectively. Results of binary logistic regression of SHC users and non-users with socioeconomic variables and yield taken as independent variables revealed that a change in the level of education, farming experience, irrigation or yield could bring a corresponding chance of 64, 30, 31 and 67 per cent respectively for a non-user to become a user of SHC results. Majority of farmers (68 per cent) stated that the time gap between soil collection and distribution of cards was too long. The major constraint stated by officers was unavailability of field staffs for taking samples (68.23 per cent). Though the services were free under the scheme, farmers face a lot of impediments in getting full benefits of the scheme. It is suggested that the policy makers should conduct suitable awareness programs and trainings to promote the usage of soil health cards. Follow-up by extension agency, timely reporting of soil test results to farmers is crucial in whole programme. Effective utilization of the scheme also needs the presence of field level experts to clear doubts of farmers at the time of their need in a scientific way.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Entrepreneurial behaviour of Hi-Tech farmers in Kerala
    (Department of Agricultural extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 2019) Shilpa, Karat; KAU; Smitha, Baby
    The conventional farming system in Kerala witnessed a path breaking change in the recent years with the adoption of hi-tech farming, which is a promising venture for the educated youth and part time farmers who are progressively attracted to agriculture. Keeping in view of this increasing acceptance of hi-tech farming, Kerala State Agriculture Development and Farmers Welfare Department has initiated many programs to promote protected cultivation and precision farming in the state. However, the success of hi-tech farming is determined by crucial aspects such as the entrepreneurial attributes and marketing behavior of the farmer. With this background, the present study was undertaken to analyse the entrepreneurial and marketing behavior of the hi-tech farmers, their linkages with other sectors, constraints faced by them along with a SWOC analysis of the hi-tech farming sector. The results of the study would be greatly helpful for the policy makers, government and extension workers in formulating plans for hi-tech farming sector in Kerala. A total of 60 hi-tech farmers, 30 each of polyhouse and open precision were selected from Trissur and Palakkad districts through multistage sampling method. Entrepreneurial behavior was quantified using Entrepreneurial Behavior Index. The index was found to be higher (68.98) for open precision farmers compared to that of polyhouse farmers (64.87). Indices were formed separately for each of the nine selected dimensions of entrepreneurial behavior viz., innovativeness, decision making ability, achievement motivation, risk taking ability, planning ability, cosmopoliteness, self-confidence and information seeking behavior. Information seeking behavior gained highest index for both polyhouse and open precision farmers. Further, Mann-Whitney U test was performed to ascertain significance of the difference between two groups and it was found that the two groups were significantly different in their entrepreneurial behavior with respect to decision making ability, achievement motivation and self-confidence. The marketing behavior of hi-tech famers was studied for polyhouse and open precision farmers. The components selected were marketed surplus, marketing channels, distance to market, mode of transport, price satisfaction, access to market information, access to storage and post-harvest handling or value addition. Since 12 of the 30 polyhouse farmers had quit commercial production, only 18 polyhouse farmers were considered in studying the marketing behavior. The results of Discriminant Function Analysis revealed that there was significant XXV discrimination in marketing behavior of polyhouse and open precision farmers, particularly with respect to marketed surplus and distance to the market. The study also revealed that the hi-tech farmers had different types of backward linkages but their forward linkages were limited to linkages for market information and finance for marketing and did not have any kind of forward linkage with processing industries. The major constraints faced by the polyhouse farmers were technical and financial in nature, namely, lack of knowledge on repair and maintenance, inadequate skilled labor, low income and inadequate guidance on production. The open precision farmers also faced technical and financial constraints such as high cost of infrastructure, repair and maintenance and lack of services for repair and maintenance. Inadequate access to post-harvest handling and processing facilities was found to be the major constraint in marketing for both polyhouse and open precision farmers. SWOC analysis was conducted separately for the polyhouse and open precision farmers. It was found that the primary strength, weakness, opportunity and challenge in polyhouse farming were cultivation of unconventional crops that can fetch higher price in market, lack of knowledge on repair and maintenance, popularization of unconventional crops and limited sources of inputs in local markets respectively while that of open precision farmers were higher input use efficiency, high cost of infrastructure, large scale production to achieve self-sufficiency and difficulties in attaining new markets respectively. The hi-tech farming sector can be uplifted by providing better training and consultancy services to the farmers as the results showed strong correlation between their entrepreneurial behavior and extension contact. Trainings can enhance their technical know-how to generate skilled labor in the hi-tech farming sector. The linkages of the farmers with processing industries has to be strengthened to substantially increase the income of farmers and prevent losses.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Digital tools in horizontal spread of agricultural technologies :a scenario analysis in Kerala
    (Department of Agricultural Extension , College of Agriculture,Vellayani, 2019) Alan, Jolly Sebastian; KAU; Jayalekshmi, G
    The study titled ‘Digital tools in horizontal spread of agricultural technologies: A scenario analysis in Kerala’ was conducted during the year 2018- 2019 with the objectives; to analyse the use of digital tools in horizontal spread of agricultural technologies among farmers and extension agents, to identify the preference of various digital tools among the respondents with regard to its content and to identify the constraints faced by the respondents. The study consisted of 40 farmers and 10 extension agents each from Kannur, Thrissur and Thiruvanathapuram representing the three zones of Kerala resulting a total of 120 farmers and 30 extension agents. The detailed investigation of profile characters of the farmers pointed out that, majority of the farmers (66.67%) were middle aged and less than half (44.17%) had higher secondary level of education; most (70%) of the farmers had high level of cosmopolitenessa and more than half of the farmers (53.33%) had medium level of attitude towards digital tools. Innovativeness of most of the farmers (56.67%) was observed to be high whereas the computer proficiency of 39.19 per cent of farmers was found to be low. Most (56.67%) of the farmers belonged to below mean category of knowledge about digital tools. Television was the most experienced digital tool used by the farmers. Almost all the farmers had accessibility towards tools such as television, mobile phone, internet, social media, e mail and search engines. All the farmers were found to adopt mobile phone and social media. Analysis on the profile characteristics of the extension agents revealed that most (53.33%) of the extension agents were middle aged and 43.33 per cent of the extension agents had degree qualification. Television was the most experienced tool by the extension agents. Most (70%) of the extension agents had high level of attitude and majority (86.67%) had high level of innovativeness. The use of digital tools was found to be most effective for manures and fertilizers application (50%) and plant protection measures (46.67%). Tools like television, mobile phone, internet, social media, e mail, search engines, agricultural websites, mobile agricultural applications and e newspapers were accessible to all extension agents. The results of the study revealed that all farmers were aware about television, mobile phone and social media. Majority of the farmers preferred to use mobile phones (88.33%) followed by social media (64.17%). Mobile phone was found to be the tool mostly used for production purpose by 39.17 per cent farmers. Mobile phone was used by 58.33 per cent of the farmers for plant protection purpose and social media was mostly (82.50%) used for marketing purpose. All extension agents were aware about tools like television, mobile phone, internet, social media, e mail and search engines. Preference was found to be higher for mobile phone (100%) and social media (86.67%) by extension agents. Social media was used mostly by the extension agents for production (83.33%), protection (93.33%) and marketing purposes (36.67%). Correlation between awareness and user preference on age was found to be negatively correlated at one per cent significance for farmers and five per cent significance for extension agents. Awareness and preference of farmers were positively correlated with education, cosmopoliteness, attitude, innovativeness, computer proficiency and accessibility with one per cent significance. Adoption was positively correlated with awareness at one per cent level of significance and preference at five per cent significance. For extension agents awareness and preference were positively correlated with education, attitude and effectiveness at one per cent significance. Accessibility was positively correlated with awareness at one per cent significance and preference at five per cent level of significance. The study revealed that both the farmers and extension agents preferred to use mobile phone and social media as a general digital tool. The use of digital tools by farmers was mainly for marketing purposes whereas extension agents were more inclined towards the crop protection purposes. Lack of contents related to agriculture and lack of training programmes were the major constraints identified. From the findings of this study it can be concluded that there is significant role for digital technologies in the development of agricultural sector in Kerala which is not utilized at the fullest. Proper training programmes for farmers and extension agents with proper content updates and tapping the opportunities of digital tools for marketing can benefit the agricultural sectors in various dimensions.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Performance of agro service centres of department of agriculture-Kerala:
    (Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2019) Safna Vatakke Kandy, Meethal; KAU; Seema, B
    The study entitled “ Performance of Agro Service Centres of Department of Agriculture-Kerala: A Multidimensional analysis” was conducted among the beneficiaries and all extension personnel of Agro Service Centres in Thrissur, Kannur and Kottayam districts representing the central, northern and southern Kerala respectively, during the year 2018-19. The main focus of the study was to assess the performance effectiveness of Agro Service Centres in the dissemination of information and technology, measure the performance effectiveness of Agro Service Centres on farmer’s income and, study the attitude of farmers towards Agro Service Centres and elicit the problems encountered by these centres in providing services to the farmers. The sample of the study comprised of 120 farmers i.e., 45 farmers from Thrissur, 45 farmers from Kannur and 30 farmers from Kottayam and sixty extension personnel associated with Agro Service Centres. Agro Service Centre (ASC) is an initiative by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare from 2012-13 onwards and it was designed as a single window delivery system for different farming inputs and services to farmers (GoK, 2016). Performance effectiveness of ASCs as perceived by farmers was measured using Performance Effectiveness Index (PEI) developed consisting of three components. Among these, performance effectiveness of ASCs on farmer’s income contributed 38.56 per cent of the PEI followed by performance effectiveness of ASCs in the dissemination of information and technology (35.85%) and performance of ASCs in service delivery (25.59%). Based on the analysis of data, it was found that 40 per cent of the farmers scored the ASCs into high category of PEI. Majority (46.67%) of farmers scored the ASCs into high- performance effectiveness category in the dissemination of information and technology and 56.67 per cent of the beneficiaries scored the ASCs into the medium category of performance in service delivery. Nearly sixty per cent (60.83%) of the beneficiaries scored ASCs into high category based on its performance effectiveness on farmer’s income. Half of the respondents (50%) had a medium level of favourable attitude towards ASCs. Majority (56.67%) of the extension personnel had a favourable attitude towards the service delivery system of ASCs. The study revealed that most of the beneficiaries of the ASCs belonged to old age category and had a high school or above educational qualification. Most of the beneficiaries of ASCs were marginal (55.84%) and small (26.66%) farmers. Annual farm income of majority (40.84%) of the farmers was found to be more than one lakh rupees. Most of the farmers had farming experience of more than 10 years and only 35.83 per cent of the beneficiaries of ASCs were having farming experience of fewer than 10 years. Among the beneficiaries, more number of Vegetable (78.33%) and Banana (60.83%) growers utilized the services of ASCs. The study revealed that 62.50 per cent of farmers belonged to the high category of resource utilization. More than forty per cent (43.34%) of the farmers had high decision-making ability and high- risk orientation (45.84%). Nearly fifty per cent (48.33%) of the farmers were in the medium category of change proneness and information source utilization (45%). Majority of the respondents had regular contact with extension agencies like Krishi Bhavan (67.5%) and ASC (85.84%). Agricultural facilitators and service providers were the two main categories of extension personnel in ASCs. Majority of the extension personnel of ASCs belonged to middle and old age category and 23.34 % of respondents had a Diploma in agriculture and SSLC as educational qualification. Majority (41.66%) of the respondents had experience in extension work up to five years and majority (56.66%) of the extension agents received 2 training programmes. More than fifty per cent (56.67%) of the extension personnel had medium extension service orientation and 43.33 per cent of extension personnel of ASCs had medium work commitment and 36.67 per cent of extension agents had moderate and high problem solving ability. There was almost equal distribution of respondents in medium and high category with respect to leadership ability. Correlation analysis revealed that the performance effectiveness of ASCs was positively and significantly correlated with the attitude of beneficiaries at 1 per cent level of significance. The results of the correlation between PEI and independent variables revealed that farming experience, annual farm income and change- proneness had a positive and significant correlation with PEI and age and risk orientation had a negative and significant correlation with PEI. The attitude of beneficiaries towards Agro Service Centre was positively and significantly correlated with farming experience, annual farm income, resource utilization and change-proneness and it was negatively and significantly correlated with risk orientation. The result of the correlation between attitude of extension personnel and independent variables of extension personnel pointed out that extension service orientation, work commitment, problem-solving ability and leadership ability had a positive and significant correlation with the attitude of extension personnel. Region wise comparison of information and technology disseminating system of ASCs in all the three districts showed a similar trend where, field demonstrations, field visits and meetings were the most frequently used dissemination system. Discontinuance of service providers for better jobs, insecurities related to permanent job or salary and absence of land and other basic infrastructure facilities were the three major constraints faced by the extension personnel of ASCs while delivering services to the farmers. The most important problems encountered by the farmers in getting the services were lack of subsidy, non-availability of services in time and poor response to repair the machinery. It can be concluded that considering the 26 ASCs brought under the purview of the study, 40 per cent of them were categorized in high performance group by the respondents and of the three indices, service delivery was identified as the least contributing factor to the performance effectiveness which is also reflected in the constraints identified by the respondents. This implies the need to strengthen the service delivery aspects of the ASCs.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Emotional intelligence and job stress of agricultural officers of Kerala state department of agriculture: a psycho-personal analysis
    (Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, vellayani, 2018) Reshma, A Victor; KAU; Anilkumar, A
    The study entitled “Emotional intelligence and job stress of Agricultural Officers of Kerala State Department of Agriculture: A psycho–personal analysis” was conducted from 2016 – 2018 to study the emotional intelligence and job stress of Agricultural Officers of Kerala State Department of Agriculture and analyze the factors which influence emotional intelligence and job stress. Constraints experienced by the Agricultural Officers and the profile characteristics were also be studied. The study was undertaken in the three districts of Kerala viz., Kasaragod from North, Thrissur from Central and Thiruvananthapuram from South Kerala. From each district, 30 Agricultural Officers (15 female and 15 male) were randomly selected using simple random sampling. The total sample size was 90. A structured interview schedule was prepared for data collection. Frequency, percentage analysis, mean, standard deviation, simple correlation, Kruskal - Wallis test, Mann - Whitney U test and factor analysis were employed in the analysis and interpretation. The study had two dependent variables and 13 independent variables. The dependent variables were emotional intelligence and job stress. Emotional intelligence was measured by using the scale developed by Goleman (1995) with 5 sub-components, self awareness, managing emotions, motivating oneself, empathy and social skill. The job stress was assessed by using the scale developed by Shrivastav and Singh (1981) with 12 sub-components, role overload, role ambiguity, role conflict, group and political pressures, responsibility for persons, under participation, powerlessness, poor peer relation, intrinsic impoverishment, low status, strenuous working conditions and unprofitability. Based on the analysis of data, it was revealed that majority (76.67%) of the respondents were having medium emotional intelligence in three district. Using Kruskal - Wallis it was found that there was no significant difference between emotional intelligence in the three districts. The study found that, majority (60%) of the respondents were having medium job stress. There was significant difference in job stress among the three districts. Using factor analysis it was observed that out of the 12 components role overload, role ambiguity, role conflict, group and political pressures, under participation, powerlessness and strenuous working conditions were the major contributors to the job stress. Most (43.33%) of the respondents belonged to the age category of 35-45 years. More than half (76.67%) of the respondents were married and more than half (54.44%) of the respondents had Bachelor’s degree only. More than half (61.11%) of the respondents were having 4-5 members in their family. It was also found that 48.89 per cent of the respondents were having 10-20 years of job experience. Majority (92.22%) of the respondents opined that they have very low promotional opportunities. Majority of the respondents had medium level of attitude towards profession (72.22%), self confidence (72.22%), perceived workload (65.56%), Political orientation (78.89%), leadership quality (74.44%) and organizational climate (78.89%). Regarding the distance from work place, less than half (44.44%) of the respondents had to travel 10-20 km to the place of work. The factors which influenced emotional intelligence were self confidence and leadership quality. Job experience, attitude towards profession, self confidence, leadership quality and organizational climate were the main factors which influenced job stress. The major constraints faced by the respondents were excessive workload, lack of promotional opportunities, lack of proper training schedule of the officer, lack of suitability of different schemes and its implementation in different localities and political interference in day to day activity. Thus, the study revealed that majority of the respondents were having medium level of emotional intelligence and job stress. Three districts had no significant difference regarding emotional intelligence whereas there was significant difference in the case of job stress. The constraints faced by the respondents need attention from the policy makers and government for improving the performance of the Agricultural Officers.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Constraint analysis of farming on house terrace and disrtibution of grow bags
    (Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2018) Binsa, B; KAU; Sreedaya, G S
    The present study entitled “Constraint analysis of farming on house terrace and distribution of grow bags” conducted in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation was carried out to identify the constraints in farming on house terraces and in the distribution of grow bags, to study the consumption pattern of vegetables by the urban families and to assess the knowledge and training need of respondents in farming on house terraces. The study was conducted in seven wards of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation namely Poojappura, Pettah, Manacaud, Kumarapuram, Karamana, Industrial Estate and Enchakkal. One hundred and five members of urban households involved in farming on house terrace, fifteen extension officials and thirty office bearers of selected residents associations of the selected wards were the respondents of the study. A well structured questionnaire and interview schedule was used to collect data regarding farming on house terrace from the respondents. Four dependent variables and thirteen independent variables were studied and analyzed with the help of statistical tools such as average, frequency, percentage, quartile deviation and correlation. Regarding the constraints perceived by the respondents on farming on house terrace, ‘crop loss due to pests and diseases attack’ was perceived as the major constraint and ‘low quality grow bags and potting mixture issued by the private agencies’ was the major constraint in the distribution and usage of grow bags as perceived by the respondents and office bearers of residents associations of each wards. ‘Lack of timely availability of fund’ was the major constraint in the farming on house terrace and growbag distribution as perceived by the extension officials. The consumption pattern of vegetables by the respondents revealed that majority (65.71%) of the respondents belonged to the medium category in consumption pattern of vegetables and had a positive and significant correlation with variables like age, education, area of house terrace, extent of micro irrigation, health consciousness, extension agency contact and relative advantage. Majority (61.9%) of the respondents belonged to the medium category in the knowledge of respondents on vegetable cultivation and had a positive and significant correlation with variables like age, education, farming experience on house terrace, health consciousness, extension agency contact, self-reliance and relative advantage. In the case of knowledge on farming on house terrace, majority (74.29%) of the respondents belonged to the medium category and had a positive and significant correlation with variables like age, education, experience in farming on house terrace, extent of micro irrigation, health consciousness, extension agency contact, self-reliance and relative advantage. Regarding the training need of respondents on farming house terrace, ‘Plant protection’ was the most preferred subject for training by the respondents. It was found that majority (47.62%) of the respondents belonged to the middle aged category and 43.81% are degree holders. Majority of respondents belonged to medium category in family labour utilization (64.76%), area of house terrace (52.38%), health consciousness (83.81%), extent of micro irrigation (66.66%), leisure time availability (83.81%), availability of inputs and infrastructural facilities (53.33%), extension agency contact (52.38%), market perception (60.95%), self-reliance (53.33%) and relative advantage (61.9%). Majority of the respondents belonged to lower category in experience in farming on house terrace (65.71%). Considering the perception of extension officials towards farming on house terrace, majority (46.67%) of the respondents had medium level of perception towards farming on house terrace. Thus the study revealed that majority of the respondents belonged to the medium category in the case of consumption pattern of vegetables, knowledge on vegetable cultivation and knowledge on farming on house terrace. ‘Plant protection’ was the most preferred subject for training by the respondents. ‘Crop loss due to pests and diseases attack’ and ‘low quality grow bags and potting mixture’ were the major constraints as perceived by the respondents and office bearers of residents associations whereas ‘lack of timely availability of fund’ was the major constraint as perceived by the extension officials. Timely availability of fund and proper extension activities can tackle the constraints to a great extend.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Gender analysis of vegetable growers in the homesteads of Kollam district
    (Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2018) Vani Chandran; KAU; Bindu Podikunju
    The study entitled “Gender analysis of vegetable growers in the homesteads of Kollam district” was conducted in two Agro Ecological Units of Kollam District which involved a total of 120 respondents, during the period, 2016-2017.The study was done to determine the gender roles of vegetable growers in Kollam district, their scale of knowledge, the rate of adoption of vegetable production practices, constraints faced in vegetable production and formulate strategy to mitigate the constraints faced. In the case of Gender analysis conducted, under the decision-making analysis, major women dominated decisions were child rearing and religious decisions.The decisions regarding the transfer and ownership of ancestral properties, various farm operations and decision related to entertainments were mainly men dominated. Bothmen and women were able to enjoy the benefits of basic facilities like income, education, medical facilities, and transportation facilities. But in the case of political interventions, technological development, and extension agency contact, benefits were utilized more by men than women. The benefits of government policies and incentives, employment opportunities and farmers group were enjoyed more by women. In the agricultural activity analysis, major women oriented activities were post-harvest operations, livestock and poultry activities. Major men oriented agricultural activities were land preparation, collection and arrangements of inputs, fertilizer application and plant protection activities. In the case of house hold activity analysis, all the house hold activities were women oriented. In the case of influencing factors of development, the positively influencing factors for women were provision of equal medical facilities, freedom to pursue education and take up jobs, inherit properties of their parents and freedom to vote in elections. In the case of men, when most of the factors were positively influencing, factors such as lack of timely availability of incentives, inability to marry outside the community and inability to take up political powers in the society were negatively influencing. Results of analysis of access to resources showed that access to resource was mostly male dominated. Vegetable growers according to their knowledge about vegetable cultivation practices indicated that the majority of respondents had medium level of knowledge about vegetable cultivation and only few of them (39 per cent) had high knowledge. Only 12 per cent of respondents were in the group of low knowledge level. Majority of the respondents were having high knowledge about the KAU varieties, sowing methods, spacing, pest and diseases attack of the particular crops, and harvesting of the produce. Correlation analysis of scale of knowledge with independent variables, education and economic motivation were positively and significantly correlated to scale of knowledge at 5 percent level of significance. Whereas the variables, such as experience in vegetable cultivation, extension agency contact, information seeking behaviour, social participation, and training were positively and significantly correlated to scale of knowledge at 1 percent level of significance. In the case of adoption, 72 per cent of respondents belonged to the category of medium level of adoption. 20 per cent of the respondents were found having high level of adoption and 8 percentage of the respondents belonged to low level of adoption category. Majority of the farmers adopted KAU varieties and they followed almost all the cultural practices like seed treatments, seed rate, land preparation, weeding, and application of manures as per the recommendation of Package of Practices.A partial adoption was noticed in the case of application of NPK fertilizers and similar trend was observed in case of plant protection measures. On distributing the respondents into various adopter categories, only 2 % of them were innovative in nature, which was almost on par with the normal Rogers curve (2.5%), whereas majority of the respondents fell into the category of early majority(33%) followed by late majority (31%). This is an indication of fairly good level of adoption of KAU cultivation practices by homestead vegetable growers. Independent variables such as occupational status, economic motivation, and family labour utilization were positively and significantly correlated to extent of adoption at 5 percent level of significance. Whereas the variables such as experience in vegetable cultivation, extension agency contact, information seeking behaviour, social participation, and training were significantly correlated to extent of adoption at 1 percent level of significance. A negatively significant correlation was noticed between extent of adoption and experience in vegetable cultivation. The major constraints faced by the respondents were scarcity of water resources, prevalence of pest and diseases, price fluctuation, high labour charges, high cost of cultivation, labour scarcity, non-availability of quality planting materials and non-assurance of premium price for organic products. To solve the acute water shortage especially during the summer seasons, rain water harvesting systems in the homesteads should be encouraged. In case of labour shortage, necessary amendments, be made to bring the NREGS workers to the agricultural sector. Integrated pest and disease management approaches can reduce the problems of prevalence of pest and diseases. Homestead farming has to be made more remunerative to attract more farmers, for which measures like popularization of organic vegetable production, timely availability of inputs, fixation of minimum support price for organic produce and proper post harvest management will enable the farmer to commercially utilize the produce in an effective manner and thereby increasing overall output. From this study, it can be concluded that even though there are some men and women dominated operations in homestead vegetable cultivation, both the gender had a significant participation in most of the activities. There was no single homestead where the agriculture is done by male partner alone which implied that the women had a significant contribution in agricultural activities. Hence, the overall extent of knowledge about vegetable production technology was found to be medium, there is a need of special attention by providing training about vegetable production to the farmers, so that their knowledge could be increased and the adoption of technology would be enhanced. Therefore, more educational efforts are, required to be undertaken by extension agencies by organizing training and demonstrations to enhance the knowledge and adoption level of farmers.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Comparative analysis of vocational training programmes of Krishi vigyan kendras
    (Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2019) Geethu, A M; KAU; Bindu Podikunju
    The study entitled “Comparative analysis of vocational training programmes of Krishi Vigyan Kendras” had its main objective, to assess and compare the rate of adoption of acquired skill for livelihood security of trainees from KVK Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram and inventorization of vocational trainings conducted at Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram. The study also focused on identifying perceived training need along with constraints and profile characteristics of trainees. The sample of the study comprised of 150 respondents i.e., 75 respondents each from KVK Kollam and KVK Thiruvananthapuram. From both the KVKs, five common trainings with maximum number of trainees were selected and from each of these trainings fifteen respondents were selected. The selected vocational trainings included friends of coconut, agro machinery and other equipment’s, mushroom cultivation, organic input production and value addition and processing techniques. The study was conducted in the academic year 2017 -19. Profile characteristics of the respondents in the study area were collected and analysed. Out of 150 respondents, a greater percentage of respondents were middle aged (60.66%) and females (61.33%). About 72.66 per cent of the respondents were with higher secondary education and above. There were no respondents coming under the category of primary level education. In case of annual income, about 63.33 per cent of the respondents belonged to medium level income group (Rs. 50000-100000). A major portion of the trainees of Thiruvananthapuram KVK belonged to medium to high income category whereas trainees of Kollam KVK belonged to medium to low income level. Half of the respondents (50.66%) had a family size of two to four members and 42.66 per cent had a family size of four to six members. As high as 62.66 per cent were having medium level of innovativeness and they were adopting the technology only after others tried it successfully on their farm. About 30.66 per cent of the trainees of Thiruvananthapuram KVK showed higher innovativeness while in case of Kollam only 12 per cent of the trainees showed higher innovativeness. Results revealed that male respondents were more innovative than female. Nearly half of the respondents were frequently getting information regarding agriculture and allied sectors from the mass media like television and newspapers and from the informal sources like family and peer groups. Majority of the respondents consulted the formal sources when there was a problem. More than forty per cent of the respondents (44.66 %) attended five training programmes or more and 56.66 per cent of the trainees had medium level of social participation and only four per cent had high social participation. The results showed that training efficiency of KVK Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram were higher and it was about 81.33 and 88 per cent respectively. Trainees of Thiruvananthapuram KVK had higher scientific orientation and risk orientation than trainees of Kollam KVK. Most of the respondents (90%) were satisfied with the trainings conducted and in case of Thiruvananthapuram KVK 94.66 per cent of respondents were highly satisfied whereas in case of Kollam KVK 85.33 per cent were satisfied. Nearly three fourth (74.66%) of the total respondents showed high positive attitude towards the KVKs. About 68 per cent and 81.33 per cent of the Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram KVK trainees had higher positive attitude respectively. Nearly half of the respondents moderately adopting the technologies and only 19.33 per cent showed higher rate of adoption. The training wise rate of adoption, in friends of coconut showed that cultivation practices (land preparation, spacing) and use of climbing equipment’s were comparatively fully adopted by most of the trainees of Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram. Most of the respondents of both KVKs had discontinued or not adopting the manure and fertilizer application and pest and disease management practices. Agro - machineries for garden lands showed a higher rate of adoption in comparison to low land machineries irrespective of the location. More than half of the trainees were not adopting the maintenance skills. Half of the trainees of KVK Thiruvananthapuram were using plant protection equipment’s whereas, it was nearly 40 per cent at KVK Kollam. There was not much significant difference in the rate of adoption of agromachineries and equipment’s between the two KVKs. Considering the different components of training on mushroom cultivation, better adoption rate was shown by trainees of Thiruvananthapuram KVK. In case of trainings on organic input production and processing and value addition, there was not much difference in the rate of adoption of KVK Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram. Short duration of training programme, lack of awareness of training programmes, lack of adequate follow up were ranked as the first three major constraints by the trainees of Kollam KVK, whereas, lack of awareness of trainings was the most serious constraint faced by respondents of Thiruvananthapuram KVK, followed by lack of adequate follow up, short duration of the programme. Nursery management technique was ranked first in training needs by respondents of Kollam KVK, followed by value addition and post-harvest technologies, training on agro machineries and other equipment’s and organic input production respectively. Respondents of Thiruvananthapuram KVK placed training on agro machinery and other equipment’s at the top and was followed by mushroom cultivation, value addition and post-harvest technologies and bee keeping. From the findings of the study it can be concluded that both the KVKs were conducting well organized training programmes for improving the knowledge, skill and attitude of the farming community. Almost half of the respondents from both the KVKs were moderately adopting the technologies and no significant difference was observed in the rate of adoption of technologies by the trainees of both KVKs. Coming to the major training needs of the farmer trainees it includes training on agro machinery and other equipment’s, mushroom cultivation, value addition and post-harvest technologies and bee keeping. The major constraints faced by the trainees include short duration of vocational trainings, lack of awareness on training programmes and lack of adequate follow up.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Multidimensional analysis of the performance of agri clinics and agri business centres scheme(ACABC) in Kerala and Andhra pradesh
    (Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2019) Dumpala santhosh reddy; KAU; Allan Thomas
    The Agriclinics and Agri business Centres’ scheme was launched on 9th April, 2002 with the aim to supplement the public extension service to accelerate the transfer of technology process in agriculture and to provide self-employment openings to technically qualified personnel. Candidates eligible to the scheme are agriculture graduates / graduates in the allied agriculture subjects like horticulture, fisheries, dairy, veterinary, sericulture and forestry. The study entitled “Multidimensional analysis of the performance of Agri- Clinics and Agri-Business Centres (ACABC) scheme in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh” was conducted during 2017-2019. The objective of the study was to comparatively scrutinize the functioning and performance of ACABC scheme of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh (AP). The study elicited the views and attitude of agripreneurs or prospective agripreneurs on the benefits and services accruing from these ventures. The constraints faced by agripreneurs and ACABC centres were also delineated and documented. The study sample comprised of 150 respondents with 30 agripreneurs, 30 agricultural graduates and 15 ACABC officials cum trainers were randomly selected each from Kerala and AP. The results of the study on socio-economic profile of agripreneurs in Kerala and AP revealed that half of the agripreneurs were old aged (50%) in Kerala whereas 53.33 per cent were middle aged in Andhra Pradesh. Majority of agripreneurs were male from both Kerala (86.67%) and AP (93.33%). Furthermore 88.33 per cent of the total agripreneurs were married. 76.6 per cent of the agripreneurs belonged to General Category in Kerala, while 53.33 per cent belonged to Other Backward Castes in AP. The mean family size of the agripreneurs was 4.3 in Kerala whereas 5.3 in AP. When 53.33 per cent of the agripreneurs from Kerala had other occupation in addition to agripreneurship, 66.67 per cent of the respondents from AP had only agripreneurship as the sole occupation. Agripreneurs (40%) from Kerala had less than one acre of landholding as against 46.67 per cent of the agripreneurs in AP who possessed landholdings in the range of 2-4 acres. The total number of ventures established under ACABC scheme was 51 and 321 in Kerala and AP respectively. The employment generation potential was high (7.03 venture-1) in AP as against 5.30 venture-1 in Kerala. The study also pointed out that 50 per cent of the agripreneurs in Kerala and 40 per cent of the agripreneurs in AP had an annual income in the range of 2-4 lakhs. However, the percentage of agripreneurs amplified in Kerala (56.67%) falling under the income category less than 2 lakhs considering the income from agripreneurship alone. SWOC (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Challenge) analysis of the ventures as perceived by agripreneurs revealed that ‘vast domestic market’ under strength, ‘high requirement of working capital’ under weakness and ‘increasing market span’ under opportunity were ranked first by the respondents of both AP and Kerala. When ‘high level of competition’ was perceived to be one of the most important challenge faced by agripreneurs of AP, while unorganized market was the most important challenge faced by Kerala agripreneurs. The study on training aspects found that major source of information regarding ACABC scheme was ‘newspapers’ and ‘friends’ in Kerala and AP respectively. ‘Drive to start own business’ was ranked the first for both AP and Kerala (with a cumulative frequency of 81 and 78 respectively) as the main motivational factor of agripreneurs for joining the ACABC training programme. 43.33 per cent of agripreneurs from AP and Kerala belonged to the category of high and medium level of motivation respectively. Majority of the respondents (80% and 63.33%) from AP and Kerala took the training seriously and belonged to the category of medium to high level of seriousness. Moreover, 56.67 per cent of the trainees from both states had rendered good to excellent feedback on the training institutes. The dependent variables of the study were Key Performance Indicators (KPI), special performance indicators and attitude towards ACABC scheme. Majority (61.67%) of the agripreneurs perceived performance of the training centres as medium in terms of key performance indicators. Productivity was ranked ‘one’ with a weighted mean score of 4.2 and 4.1 for AP and Kerala under the leading performance indicators. Similarly, the time of training was the most important lagging performance indicator in AP and Kerala with a weighted mean score of 4.1 and 4.07 respectively. Correlation of KPI with the 15 independent variables revealed that six variables in case of AP and five variables in case of Kerala had positive and significant relationship. The variables viz., stream, annual income and feedback were significant at one per cent level in Kerala; whereas variables viz., age, education, annual income, experience and feedback were significant at one per cent level in case of agripreneurs from AP. In case of correlation of independent variables with special performance indicators, it was found that 9 variables of AP agripreneurs and 6 variables of Kerala agripreneurs were positively and significantly correlated. The major special performance indicators were financial and satisfaction aspects in Kerala whereas financial and quality aspects were ranked important in AP. Majority (65%) of the agripreneurs belonged to the category of ‘medium attitude’ towards ACABC scheme. Correlation analysis of agripreneurs from AP revealed that three independent variables viz., age, experience and annual income were significant at one per cent level however in case of Kerala none of the variables correlated at one per cent level of significance. The study on attitude of agricultural graduates towards ACABC scheme revealed that majority (69.38%) of them belonged to the category ‘medium attitude’ irrespective of the state. However, 18.33 per cent of them were unaware about ACABC scheme. Entrepreneurial intention of agricultural graduates correlated with attitude towards ACABC scheme at one per cent level of significance for both the states. Finally the study explored the constraints for starting and running agriventures. Lack of resources for initial investment was one of the major constraints (Kerala-132 and AP-131) faced while starting agriventures. Competition from established ventures (Kerala-127 and AP-123) and high labour cost (Kerala-125 and AP-122) were the important constraints faced while running agriventures. The major constraint pointed out by trainers was that the trainees attend training for just name sake (AP-71 and Kerala-70). Major suggestion for the better performance of ACABC centres in Kerala is to augment the number of training centres and facilitate training for biological science graduates who are interested in agriculture through ACABC and thus to improve the enrollment rate. Whereas, in AP, regulating the training centres under private sector and bringing more training centres under public sector will facilitate better acceptability of ACABC scheme. To conclude, ACABC centres of AP perform better than Kerala. More number of ventures was established in AP even though the benefits and services through ACABC scheme remain the same for both Kerala and AP. Efforts must be initiated to encourage fresh agriculture graduates and agripreneurs to venture into agribusiness activities in agriculture and allied sectors of Kerala and AP for overcoming the rising unemployment of agri-graduates to ensue.