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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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Author: KAU × End date: 2020 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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Now showing 1 - 9 of 3794
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Developing a framework of social audit for evaluating projects on climate resilient agriculture in Malawi
    (Department of Agriculture Extension,College of Agriculture, Vellanikkara, 2020) Joseph Timothy Before; KAU; Jiju P Alex
    Social audit as a tool for evaluating development projects and has been found to be efficient for appraising projects in various sectors like health, natural resource management, agriculture, community development, water sanitation and hygiene, land conservation etc. In spite of the interventions by governments and non-governmental organization to ensure food security, agricultural development projects in most countries around the world had been affected with number of issues including climate change, corruption, lack of participatory evaluation mechanism as well as poor involvement of communities in decision making processes. The scenario is not different in Malawi either, specifically Phalombe district which faces a number of climate change problems like floods and droughts throughout the year. The present study which followed expo-facto design was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of projects on climate resilient agriculture that are implemented in Phalombe, Malawi. The study analyzed the outcomes, constraints and impact of selected projects and evolved a framework of social audit for evaluating such projects. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) and the results have been presented quantitatively and descriptively. A total of 120 respondents from three Extension Planning Areas of Tamani, Kasongo and Mpinda were purposively selected for the study since they had participated in climate resilient agriculture projects. The sample also included 15 staff from the three NGOs that were selected for the study. It was found that 96 female farmers (78.3%) and 24 males (21.7%) had participated in the study which showed that more women were taking part in climate resilient agriculture projects compared to men. The research also revealed that manypeople who participated in climate resilient agriculture projects were married and most of them had education upto primary school level (84.2%). Secondary level education was found to have been acquired by 8.3% of the total respondents. Lower level of education was found to contribute to poor demanding of transparency and accountability from NGOs. Assessment of the agreement of respondents on severity of constraints showed that Kendall’s coefficient of concordance W= 0.5, significant at 1 per cent which proved that there was high degree of concordance among the 120 respondents in ranking the constraints according to their importance. The major constraints identified by the beneficiaries were: drying up of water resources, drought/ flood, small quantity of food, late delivery of inputs and poor involvement in decision making The results also showed that both beneficiaries and stakeholders agreed that AEDO and AEDC, NGO staff, Village Headman, Lead farmer, VCPC, ACPC, VDC, Community Policing, ASHP and Community Development Assistant should be part of social audit process. The components identified for social audit of climate resilient agriculture included training programmes, muster rolls, materials procured, input distribution, cash distribution and funding. Based on the study it could be proposed that all actors mentioned in the study should be part of the process. The framework of social audit formulated as part of the study suggested the important aspects that should be subjected to social audit. This would help devise efficient ways of conducting social audit of climate resilient projects in Malawi as it had been evolved through a participatory process involving all the stakeholders of climate resilient development projects in agricultural sector.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Estimation of glacier stored water in bhaga basin, Himalayas
    (Academy of Climate Change Education and Research, Vellanikkara, 2020) Gopika, J S; KAU; Nameer, P O
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Climate-forest fire linkages in selected protected areas in Kerala
    (Academy of Climate Change Education and Research, Vellanikkara, 2020) Sreedevi, K; KAU; Gopakumar, S
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Long - term changes in the Indo-Sri Lankan Upwelling System, a perspective to study the impact of climate change in a tropical ocean
    (Academy of Climate Change Education and Research, Vellanikkara, 2020) Parvathy, V S; KAU; Muraleedharan, K R
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Vulnerability and adaptation study of women exposed to extreme weather events in Thrissur district
    (Academy of Climate Change Education and Research, Vellanikkara, 2020) Aiswarya, T Pavanan; KAU; Chitra, Parayil
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Flood frequency analysis and modelling of flood using HEC-HMS for a river basin: a case study
    (Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Kelappaji Collge of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2020) Riyola, George; KAU; Asha, Joseph
    Meenachil river basin, located in southern part of Kerala, is an area frequently liable to flood. The area is predominant with agricultural land and falls under the tropical humid zone, where water resources planning and management is necessary for irrigation scheduling, flood control and design of various engineering structures. In view of the importance of water resources management especially in this humid region, it is necessary to understand the rainfall-runoff relationship along with its land characteristics. HEC-HMS model which is widely used rainfall-runoff modelling was chosen for the simulation of watershed responses and generation of flood hydrographs of Meenachil sub basin. The simulated runoff is useful for well-planned programmes in water resource management and future prediction of runoff for flood mitigation strategies in the catchment. Hence, an attempt was made to conduct flood frequency analysis for predicting the magnitude of flood for different return periods and to calibrate and validate the HEC-HMS model for simulating the flood hydrographs of Meenachil sub basin. Flood frequency analysis was carried out using annual maximum discharge data for 34 years (1985-2018) using HEC-SSP software. The HEC-HMS model for the sub basin was developed using SCS-UH, SCS-CN and Muskingum methods to find out the loss rate, runoff transformation and routing of flood respectively. Flood frequency analysis clearly indicated the good capability of the Gumbel and Log-Pearson Type III distribution function to predict flood magnitudes of the river flow in the sub basin of Meenachil River. Test statistic values of Chi-Square and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test showed the best fit of both the distributions for the basin. HEC-HMS model of the sub basin was developed with good accuracy. The performance indices of the model NSE and R² were obtained above 0.7. The Error in Peak Flow and Error in Volume were figured below 20% where as RSR was found 0.5 and below. All these values indicated satisfactory performance of HEC-HMS model simulation both in calibration and validation. The close agreement of simulated stream flow and observed stream flow indicated that the model was able to simulate flood hydrograph and present credible results for the sub basin.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Extreme enso (EI Nino Southern Oscillation) events and monsoon variability over India
    (Academy of Climate Change Education and Research, Vellanikkara, 2020) Athira, K S; KAU; Nameer, P O
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Potential impact of climate change on surface runoff and sediment yield in a watershed of lesser Himalayas
    (Academy of Climate Change Education and Research, Vellanikkara, 2020) Sooryamol, K R; KAU; Mary Regina, F
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Marine heat waves in the Indian ocean and their impacts on atmospheric convection
    (Academy of Climate Change Education and Research, Vellanikkara, 2020) Saranya, J S; KAU; Nameer, P O