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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: KAU × End date: 2019 × Start date: 2017 × Thesis Type: Ph.D ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Organic farming as a strategy for climate change adaptation - an exploratory study
    (Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculturture, Vellayani, 2018) Sangeetha, K G; KAU; Sheiref, A K
    The study entitled “Organic farming as a strategy for climate change adaptation – An exploratory study” was carried out with the objectives to analyze the integrated adaptive capacity of organic farmers in comparison with conventional farmers through the development of a measurement tool, namely, Integrated Adaptive Capacity Index; to create a database of the certified organic farmers of Kerala and to explore the personal, socio-economic and psychological characteristics of the farmers and the agro-ecological characteristics of their farms for formulating a workable climate change adaptation strategy. The database of certified organic farmers in Kerala was prepared by collecting the information from the list of accredited certifying agencies in Kerala and PGS (Participatory Guarantee System) of India. The respondents were selected from the agro-ecological units having maximum number of certified organic farmers, namely, AEU9 - South central laterites and AEU11- Northern laterites and minimum number of certified organic farmers namely, AEU 1- Southern coastal plain and AEU13- Northern foot hills. Developing an index for measuring the Integrated Adaptive Capacity (IAC) of the farmers was one of the major achievements of the study. For that, the factors contributing to the Integrative Adaptive Capacity were identified as: socio- economic, technological, agricultural, managerial, bio-physical and ecological. Each factor of the adaptive capacity index was measured by summing up the scores of indicators delineated through pilot study, expert opinion and judges’ relevancy rating. The Integrated Adaptive Capacity (IAC) index was calculated as the composite measure of these six factors. The comparison of the mean scores of IAC index of organic (81.05) and conventional farmers (46.35) clearly indicated that there exists a significant difference between the two groups and the organic farmers were found to be more adaptive. The IAC index-based analysis revealed that majority (62%) of the organic farmers are of high adaptive capacity where as majority of the conventional farmers (56.1%) belonged to moderate adaptive capacity. The AE Unit wise comparison revealed that the farmers of South central laterites exhibited the highest IAC index, followed by the farmers of Southern coastal plain, Northern foothills and Northern laterites. Among the six IAC factors, socio- economic factor was found to be the most contributing followed by technological, agricultural, managerial, bio-physical and ecological. All these factors were found to be positively and significantly correlated with the IAC Index. The analysis of personal, socio-economic and psychological characteristics indicated that majority of the farmers of the survey area belonged to middle aged category, medium level of annual income and possessed an area of 1 to 5 acres of land. Majority of the farmers were studied up to high school level with high farming experience and farming commitment. Most of the respondents were having medium level of mass media exposure, closeness with agricultural support system and self confidence. Majority of the farmers were found to have a low level of socio-political participation. The results indicated a positive and significant correlation between the integrated adaptive capacity index and the profile characteristics of the farmers except age. The major constraints as perceived by the farmers were: marketing problems (72.17%), lack of timely weather forecasts and its access to farmers (71.5%), risk due to uncertain weather parameters (69.77), inadequate storage and transportation facilities (64.54%), high cost of inputs (57.85%), inadequate labour availability (55.18%), inadequate input supply (48.93%), non- availability of organic inputs (48.55), inadequate institutional support (43.7%), lack of timely dissemination of appropriate technology (40.77%), lack of need based training programmes (40.53%), inadequate infrastructural facilities (40.13%) and lack of farmer participatory research (34.24%). Based on the study a workable climate change adaptation strategy is proposed at different levels such as: Farmer, Extension delivery system, Research and Government. The major strategies at farmer level included: adopting locally- relevant climate-smart agricultural practices, changing cropping pattern according to seasonal/ climatic variability/changes, application of organic inputs, insitu- resource utilization etc. The major strategies at extension delivery system level included: encourage rain water harvesting and recharging measures, making the farmer aware about the bio-physical resources of the farm, support livelihood diversification, promoting crop insurance, etc. The major strategies at research level included: Identify technologies with mitigation and adaptation synergies, developing climate resilient varieties, development of technologies to improve water productivity and water use efficiency, innovative technologies for value addition of agricultural products, undertaking researches related to climate change and adaptation/mitigation, etc. The major strategies at government level included: providing additional access to credit and saving mechanisms, establishing efficient transporting and marketing facilities avoiding middle men for getting reasonable income to the farmers, encourage education on how to reduce their emissions, awareness programmes for reducing GHG emission, carbon sequestration etc., disaster risk reduction and climate change in schools and farmer/worker organisations, provide funding for climate adaptation activities and research, etc. A comparison of the agro ecological profile of the farmers with highest IAC index indicated that organic farmers had better adaptation capacity for coping up with climate change. Thus, from the study it is concluded that, organic farming can be considered as one of the climate change adaptation strategies, as it optimally combines different practices in a systematic manner using limited resources, along with additional benefits of biodiversity and environmental services, leading to safe food production and sustainable livelihood support.