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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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2003 - 20085
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Subject: Veterinary Extension Education × Author: KAU × End date: 2010 × Start date: 2003 ×
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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Training needs of farm women of Thrissur taluk in dairy and poultry farming
    (Department of Extension, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 2004) Durga Rani, V; KAU; Subhadra, M R
    The objectives of the study were to analyse the profile of farm women, to assess the training needs and to identify the problems of farm women engaged in dairy and poultry fanning. The data were collected through personal interviews using pre-tested schedule from 120 respondents selected from two development blocks of Thrissur Taluk by multistage sampling. Majority of the farm women were middle aged, married, of medium income group, had long years of fanning experience with small sized herd and medium flock size but had not attended any training in dairy and poultry farming. Their innovation proneness, economic motivation, risk orientation and credit orientation were found to be medium. Nearly half of them were high school educated. Half of the farm women were engaged in house hold work as well as agriculture and allied activities. More than half of them had low level of social participation and extension agency contact but had medium information source utilization and marketing orientation. Out of the five major farm operations' studied in dairy farming, the farm women needed training the most in housing. The minor items preferred the most for knowledge need were proper design of cattle shed, selection of breeds, compounding balanced feed using locally available ingredients, vaccination and banking and insurance. As for skill need, construction of scientific low cost cattle shed, selection of breeds, compounding balanced feed using locally available ingredients, symptoms of common diseases and banking and insurance were preferred the most. In poultry farming, feeding and management was the most preferred major farm operation. The minor items preferred the most for both knowledge and skill training were proper design of poultry shed, selection of eggs for hatching, compounding balanced feed using locally available ingredients, vaccination and banking and insurance. In dairy farming, problems in health care was perceived as the most serious one. Under major farm operations, the most serious problems were inadequate knowledge about scientific housing, repeat breeding in crossbreds, high cost of concentrates, reduction in milk yield due to diseases and low price of milk and milk products. In poultry fanning, farm women perceived problems in feeding and management as the most serious one. Under major farm operations, the most serious problems were inadequate knowledge about low cost scientific cage construction, low hatchability of eggs in summer, problems of predators, losses due to bacterial and viral diseases and financial difficulties.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Awareness and participation of livestock owners of Thrissur district in panchayathi raj institutions
    (Department of Extension, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 2005) Anu George; KAU; Rajkamal, P J
    Awareness, attitude and participation of livestock owners regarding Panchayati Raj were studied. The background characteristics such as socio-economic and socio-psychological were almost uniform, and reflected the general picture of livestock farmers of the state. Generally, the awareness of Panchayati Raj, attitude towards Panchayati Raj and level of participation in PRIs were all less than satisfactory. Even so, SHG- members and non-members differed significantly on all account. For instance, SHG-members had significantly higher levels of awareness, a more favourable attitude and better levels of participation. As in any system, certain crucial constraints to participation upon which there was consensus among the livestock owners studied, were also reported. In the interest of a sound and firm Panchayati Raj system, which is the hope of many poor people, especially the livestock owners, the situation must improve for the better.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Perception of empowerment by the members of women self-help groups in goat farming in Thrissur district
    (Department of Extension, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 2005) Kavitha, V; KAU; Jiji, R S
    The objectives of the study were to analyse the members’ perception of empowerment through participation in women SHGs, to explore the members’ perception of effectiveness of functioning of their own groups and to analyse the opportunities and threats associated with empowerment through microfinance in goat farming as perceived by the members. Among the members of SHGs engaged in goat farming for atleast one year, operating under Kudumbashree in Thrissur district, 150 members were selected through proportionate stratified random sampling. The data were collected through structured questionnaire and interviews. Three-fourth of the respondents had medium knowledge of goat farming and almost two-third had highly favourable attitude towards group activity. As for the members’ perception of empowerment, more than half of the respondents were in the medium category. The respondents had the strongest perception of being empowered in the psychological aspects. About the members’ perception of effectiveness of group functioning, more than three-fourth of the respondents fell in the medium category. The functioning of the group in terms of quality of official procedures was perceived as most effective by the members. Opportunity to earn income was perceived by more than half of the respondents, whereas, lack of cooperation from family members was perceived as the most serious threat. Intercorrelations of perception of empowerment, perception of effectiveness of group functioning, knowledge of goat farming and attitude towards group activity were worked out using Kendall’s tau-b rank order correlation. Significant positive correlation was observed between perception of effectiveness of group functioning and attitude towards group activity. The members’ perception of empowerment had significant negative correlation with their knowledge of goat farming. A significant negative relationship was found between the members’ perception of empowerment and the herd size of goats maintained by them. The perception of empowerment of the respondents having previous training exposure was higher than those with no training exposure. Also, the perception of empowerment of the illiterate members was higher than that of literate members.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Training needs of pig famers of Thrissur district
    (Department of Extension, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 2003) Anup, R; KAU; Subhadra, M R
    The objective of the study was to identify the profile and training needs of pig farmers of Thrissur district. The study was conducted in five panchayaths having highest pig population. A proportionate random sample of 60 pig farmers was selected for the study. The datawere collected by interview method using a structured schedule. The study revealed that majority of the pig farmers were middle aged, Christians, middle school educated, 1 -5 years experience in pig farming and not undergone any training. They were mainly marginal farmers having less than 1 hectare of land holding and of medium income group. Most of the pig sties were located in the homestead, and hotel or butchery waste feeding was given to the pigs. It was also noted that exotic breeds were reared by them, and pig farmers depended on other farmers for information about pig farming. Most of them had medium risk preference, innovation proneness, marketing orientation 'and high economic motivation. Diseases and prevention was most preferred major subject matter area for training for both the knowledge and skill aspects among the eight studied. This was followed by housing, breeding, feeding, management, integrated farming, marketing and economic of pig farming. Under the eight major domains studied, the minor farm operations preferred by the respondents for training were deworming, vaccination, scientific construction ef cage, exotic breeds, selection of animals for breeding, unconventional feeds for pigs, swill feeding, disposal of excreta and waste materials, mixed farming, marketing and loan for pig farming The pig farmers preferred training through print media and electronic media. For the 'institutional training they preferred training of one day duration. According to them farm visit was the best method of training where as the Veterinary College was the most preferred venue of training.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Determinants of the awareness of rabies and adoption of control measures among the dog owners of thrissur district
    (Department of Extension, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 2008) Soja, Augustin; KAU; Rajkamal, P J
    Determinants of the general awareness of rabies and adoption of control measures among the dog owners of Thrissur district of Kerala were studied. Dog owners’ general awareness of rabies and its control measures transcending all the domains viz. etiology and spread, symptoms, and control measures of rabies indicated that those of medium awareness predominated across all the three regions- hilly, coastal and plains. Significant regional differences were observed on general awareness of rabies and control measures. Dog owners of hilly and coastal regions as compared to plains comparatively lagged behind on general awareness and control measures. Formal education, media exposure and attitude towards humane dog rearing were associated with general awareness of rabies and its control. Regarding practice adoption of rabies control measures, there were more number of medium level adopters followed by low and high level adopters in that order. Majority of dog owners preferred to be medium level adopters of control measures in future also. Besides, there was a regional difference on the adoption of rabies control measures. Coastal region was behind even the hilly region in this regard. An association was found between general awareness and adoption of control measures. Further formal education, income and attitude towards humane dog rearing were associated with practice adoption of control measures of rabies. A large majority of dog owners obtained information on rabies from print media followed by electronic, cosmopolite and localite channels. Only a negligible percentage of dog owners had attended any seminar or workshop on rabies. A large percentage of dog owners of hilly region believed that ARV is unnecessary. Dog owners’ attitude towards humane dog rearing was predominantly neutral or ambivalent. Attitude towards humane dog rearing was found to be a decisive factor in explaining the variability in general awareness of rabies and its control.