Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics & Sociology

Aims: To study the competitiveness, import intensity and structural break of palm oil exports from ASEAN member countries to the Indian market for the period 2000 to 2020.

Data and Methodology: The relevant data was collected from UNCOMTRADE for the period of 21 years (2000 to 2020). The tools used for the analysis were Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage (RSCA), Import Intensity Index (III) and Chow test.

Results: The study revealed that Indonesia had lost its comparative advantage due to differential tariff rates imposed by India between Indonesia and its close competitor Malaysia. After 2011, the import intensity index clarifies that there was a gradual decrease in imports from Indonesia. However, Malaysia and Thailand showed an upward trend in import intensity index till the year 2018. After 2018, Singapore had an upward trend in import intensity. From chow test, there was a significant difference in importing palm oil from ASEAN countries to India before and after signing AIFTA (ASEAN- India Free Trade Agreement).

Conclusion: Considering India’s demand for palm oil which is expected to double by 2030, so sustainable palm oil cultivation is recommended and a balanced approach should be taken to fix the tariff rate to protect domestic producers and refineries without compromising consumer demand.

Maize is India’s third most important cereal crop after rice and wheat and it is the only cereal crop which can be cultivated throughout the seasons. The present study focuses on the growth in area, production, productivity and export performance of maize from India by using secondary data for the period (1999-2019). To estimate the growth rate in area, production and productivity of maize in India, the following analytical tool was used that is Compound Growth Rate (CGR). The results revealed that area, production, productivity observed positive compound growth rate at one per cent level of significance during overall study period. Export quantity showed the positive growth rate at ten per cent level of significance. Export value of maize showed the positive compound growth rate at one per cent level of significance during overall study period. In country wise analysis Yemen Republic showed highest growth rate in terms of export quantity and Nepal showed highest growth rate in terms of export value respectively. The research will help us understand the primary factors influencing maize production and export of maize from India. So, it becomes a paramount importance for a country like India to start promotion measures to boost up the pace of its exports.

Farmers attitude towards any developmental activity is a priceless resource to policy makers for designing policies in order to reduce vulnerabilities of farmers. Farmers' attitudes toward Integrated Farming System have a significant impact on its upkeep. There are certain factors that influencing the attitude of a person. Therefore, by analyzing these factors, better strategy can be formulated for developing a positive attitude among the farmers. Here an attempt was made in order to identify the factors influencing the attitude of farmers in Kerala towards integrated farming systems during 2021-2022. In order to get a complete image of Kerala, three districts were randomly selected and from each district 60 IFS units were selected randomly from four panchayats to understand the relationship between the profile characteristics of farmers with their attitude towards integrated farming system. This will help the extension workers and policy makers to formulate new policies based on their profile characteristics. From the analysis conducted, it was found that among the selected independent variables farm size, experience in farming, mass media exposure, extension participation, economic motivation, training undergone were positively and significantly correlated to attitude towards IFS at 1 per cent level of significance. Whereas social participation was positively and significantly correlated to attitude at 5 per cent level of significance.

This study was carried out in the Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh to evaluate the current situation of mango orchardists with the objective, Knowledge level of mango orchardists in connection to various practices of mango orchardists. With the assistance of progressive orchardists and the local pradhan, 10 orchardists were randomly selected from each preferred village, making a total sample size of 80 orchardists for the current study. The structured schedule was developed keeping in view the objectives and variables to be studied. The respondents were contacted personally for data collection. Out of 14 cultivation practices i.e. agricultural practices of Mango cultivation, the majority (56.25%) under high-level knowledge of improved varieties of mango. Most of the orchardists (63.75%) were medium level of knowledge the land preparation practices. It was found that (62.50%) of orchardists had a medium level of expertise in plantation procedures. About (66.25%) had medium level of knowledge the manures and fertilizers application. The majority (72.50%) were medium level of knowledge irrigation management. The majority of orchardists (48.75%) had a moderate degree of expertise on plant protection strategies. It was noted that the majority of orchardists (63.75%) have extensive understanding of the proper harvesting technique. From the orchardists (67.50%) were medium level of knowledge about yields take to bearing of fruit plant. The majority (55.00%) were low level of knowledge about the use of plant growth regulators. It was found that (58.75%) were high level of knowledge about the suitable inter crops. It was observed that the most of the orchardists (38.75%) were reported under medium level of knowledge about the storage of fruits after harvesting. It was noted that (45.00%) of orchardists had low levels of packaging of mango fruits for sale at nearby markets. The majority of orchardists (42.50%) were found to have limited expertise of how to package mango fruits for sale at distant markets. It was found that (48.75% of orchardists had a high degree of understanding on mango marketing.

A majority (i.e., 30%) of respondent’s annual income has been fall in range of below 1,00,000. Collected data shows that 92.45 per cent of incomes come from interest earned and of the Bank in the ending year 2020 as against last year’s position of 94.15 per cent while in ending year 2021, 90.49 per cent income comes from interest earned. Other income contributed 9.51 per cent of the total income during the ending year 2021 as against the last two years 2020 and 2019, figure of 7.55 per cent and 5.85 per cent. Rs. 1126.78 crores (51.56 per cent) of the amount were disbursed by the bank in ending 2021 on interest on deposits and the Reserve Bank of India compared to the disbursements of the last two years (2020 and 2019) on those paid interest of Rs. 1054.21 (51.38 per cent) crores and Rs.964.58 crores (50.03 per cent). The second major expense of the bank is operating expenses recorded as Rs. 546.27 crores (25.00 per cent) in the end of 2021 compared to the expenses of the last two years (2020 and 2019) for the operational expenses paid were Rs. 525.88 (25.63 per cent) crores and Rs. 504.99 crores (28.29 percent). Business per store was Rs. 36.32 crore in 2020-21 and business per employee was Rs. 9.01 crore in the same year.

The Present experiment examines and evaluates the socioeconomic status of the household of shrimp farmers, aspects of shrimp cultivation, and the cost and return structures of shrimp farming. Through random selection, farmers from two distinct Balasore district blocks have been purposefully chosen for the study. Additionally, information on various costs and return streams from 40 farmers, twenty (20) from each block, has been gathered. The information was gathered from chosen farmers with the goal of examining the cost and return structure of shrimp farming. Step-by-step regression analysis was used to identify the elements that affect shrimp farming yield when compared to seasonal paddy cultivation. To identify the important variables the Cob-Douglas production function has been used through a stepwise regression model where the cost of feed, amount of labor both for operation and management, and the duration of cultivation in a particular pond are highly significant and the model is also significant in the selected region. From the correlation matrix, the degree of association has also been presented in the discussion.  The model is finally 96.8% significant with a 5% threshold of significance in the fifth stage. As a result, it is clear that this model is highly significant at the 5% level of significance, meaning that the independent variables can account for 96.8% of the dependent variable (productivity). It is found that each of the models is highly significant at a 5% level of significance.

This study aimed to identify the extent to which Jordanian commercial banks achieve the objectives of internal accounting control, and the study relied on the descriptive and inferential approach. The exclusion of (4) questionnaires due to the lack of completeness of their answers. Consequently, the number of valid questionnaires for the purposes of analysis reached (164) employees of the internal control departments in Jordanian commercial banks.

The results showed that the attitudes of the accounting internal control staff towards the dependent variable, the accounting internal control objectives in the Jordanian commercial banks, have achieved high degrees of relative importance. Also, the dimension (effectiveness and efficiency of operations) achieved the first rank with a very high degree of approval among the dimensions of the internal accounting control objectives. The second rank achieved the dimension (compliance with laws and legislation) with a high degree of approval. The dimension (reliability and completeness of financial reports) achieved the last rank with a high degree of approval.

The study concluded with a set of recommendations, the most important of which are: improving the effectiveness and efficiency of operations by implementing appropriate control procedures in the bank to increase the efficiency of resource utilization in the bank, and measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of the applied control means through the presence of an internal audit system in accordance with the approved audit procedures.

The present study focuses on farm women as an integral part of rural society; hence the research objective was formulated to study the profile of Farm women of, Western Vidarbha region. An exploratory research design of social science was used for the investigation. Study was conducted in Akola and Washim districts in the year 2021, with 240 respondents. The findings of the study indicated that, nearly half (47.50 %) of the farm women were from middle age group i.e. 36 to 50 year, quarter of the respondent (27.50 %) were educated up to secondary school (8^th to10^th), 40.42 per cent respondent belonged to medium family size (5 to 6), majority respondent (67.92 per cent) of the belonged to joint family, the respondent 36.25 per cent of the respondent belonged to marginal land holding category i.e. Up to 1.00 ha, (34.58 %) of the respondent had agriculture as their family occupation. Almost half 50.83 per cent of the respondent belonged to medium annual income of Rs. 450001 to 9, 00,000. Less than half 42.08 per cent of the farm women belonged to medium farming experiences, and similar percentage (47.08 %) belonged to medium mean man days i.e. up to 156 days. Nearly half (49.58%) of the respondent had medium level of achievement motivation. While 45.83 per cent of the had low risk orientation and nearly half (49.58 %) of the respondent had medium economic motivation, Majority of the respondent i.e. 63.33 per cent had moderate time use pattern i.e. up to 6-8 hours. Less than half the farm respondent (45.00 %) are from low decision making category. A large majority 83.75 per cent of respondent did not undergo any training. Majority of the respondent i.e. 48.33 per cent were using medium source of information and 42.92 per cent of the farm women had low market orientation.

A livelihood encompasses the capabilities, assets (stores, resources, claims and access) and activities required for a means of living. The ex-post facto research design was used for the present study. The study was conducted during 2018-19 to 2020-21 in the Bundelkhand region of India. From each village, 20 dairy farmers were selected proportionately from the list prepared based on land holding. Thus, a total of 320 dairy farmers was selected for the study. Data were accumulated relevant to survey with the help of a structured interview schedule with the farmer of the study area. The index was developed on the basis of different indicators of livelihood security of farmers. A list of seven components was prepared by referring to different literatures. Seven components of livelihood security were selected for this study were food security, economic security, health security, educational security, social security, institutional security and infrastructural security. Livelihood Security Index for one indicator was constructed, and then the composite overall livelihood security index was calculated. The most relevant parameters among social indicator was interaction with key informants/ progressive farmers followed by the availability of a police station in the village / locality, provision for having any kind of crop insurance policy, member of any social organization and awareness about one’s right to utilize and access to government or public resources. Results obtained showed that the overall average livelihood security index value was 0.72. The livelihood security index value was very high (0.81) in food security indicator. This might be due to their assured high income from both agriculture and dairy. The average livelihood security index for economic was high i.e. 0.69. Among all, infrastructural security lied in medium level category i.e. 0.64. Whereas, average livelihood index of social security lied in medium level i.e. 0.66.

Aims: This study aimed to estimate the impact of Direct Cash Transfer scheme on production and technical efficiency of paddy cultivation.

Study Design:  Multi-stage random sampling was used.

Place and Duration of Study: Sample: Three districts namely Dharmapuri, Thoothukudi and Thanjavur were randomly selected for the study during December 2021-March 2022.

Methodology: Both primary and secondary were used in the study. A pre-tested interview schedule was used to collect the information on general characteristics, cost of cultivation and resource inputs used were collected from 90 beneficiaries and 90 non-beneficiaries. Thus, a total of 180 sample respondents.    

Results: Of the total PMKISAN assistance (Rs. 6000) about 5.16% (Rs. 3300) of the amount has been spent for cultivation purpose. The average cost of cultivation among the beneficiaries was lesser than non-beneficiaries and the net returns were more among the beneficiary than the non-beneficiary. The major share of operational cost incurred in paddy cultivation for beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries was towards human labour followed by machine labour and fertilizer cost. The estimated mean technical efficiency for PMKISAN beneficiaries was 84% and there is a chance of improvement for increase in yield. The difference in yield and technical efficiency may be due to assistance provided to the farmers, through which the cost of cultivation was less and were able to adopt new technologies.

Conclusion: Overall, the PMKISAN beneficiaries were able to use the PMKISAN assistance for procuring seeds, fertilizers and wages for labour. The beneficiaries were technically efficient in paddy production and also the cost of cultivation was lesser when compared to non-beneficiaries.

Van Dhan Vikas Kendra’s (VDVK) were formed as a part of Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Vikas Yojana (PMVDVY) scheme, which constitutes of around 300 members in each VDVK. In VDVK activities like value addition to various forest products, trainings etc., were done in order to provide employment opportunities, avoid exploitation by the middlemen and to improve the livelihood of the tribals. The objectives of the current study were 1. To study the profile characteristics of the tribal farmers. 2. To assess the knowledge of tribal farmers about VDVK activities. 3. To find out the relationship between profile characteristics and knowledge of tribal farmers. The present study i.e., Knowledge of tribal farmers about VDVK activities in Andhra Pradesh was conducted under ITDA-Rampachodavaram which was situated in Andhra Pradesh in the year 2021-2022. Out of the seven tribal mandals, only two mandals i.e., Rampachodavaram, Maredumilli mandals were selected randomly and from each mandal four villages were selected by simple random sampling method. By using proportionate sampling method, a sample size of 105 was taken. Through the findings, it was revealed that majority of the beneficiaries were young age group and belonged to female gender. Most of the beneficiaries were illiterates, having low annual income and small land holdings. Majority of the beneficiaries had moderate level of utilisation of source of information, with medium extension contact and having medium awareness regarding PMVDVY. While knowledge about VDVK activities, majority of the beneficiaries comes under medium category. Thus, the present study helps in finding the lacunae in the implementation of PMVDVY scheme and running VDVK’s smoothly, effectively and efficiently.

The present experiment was carried on five superior cultivars of litchi fruit in the Department of Horticulture in Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam during 2020-2021. All the biochemical parameters studied under this experiment were found to be significant in character. Generally, in most of the biochemical parameters, the cultivar Bilati recorded the highest among all, such as in juice content (13.62cc), reducing sugar (8.37%), invert sugar (17.44%), sucrose (8.60%), total sugar (16.99%), sugar-acid ratio (40.71), potassium (1263.75mg/100g), vitamin C (62.11mg/100g), anthocyanin content (38.41mg/100g) and colour density (3.87) while in Titratable acidity, Anthocyanin degradation and polymery colour recorded to be the lowest. Thus, it was concluded that the cultivar Bilati turned out to be the most superior one among all the rest cultivars in terms of biochemical characteristics.

This study incorporates the application of a linear programming technique for composition of fish feed mixture to minimize the cost without sacrificing the nutrients levels. Designing the best fish diet for fry, fingerling, and growth stages is the main goal of this study. Regarding nutrient composition and manufacturing costs, the study's results show that a variety of elements can be combined much more effectively than in commercially available feed. The combinations lead to significantly reduced costs while raising nutrient intake, which might be quite advantageous to neighboring fish farmers. . The suggested model was solved with Microsoft Excel to make it more user-friendly.

The current study was aimed to analyze socio-economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic on equine rearing in Haryana, India. The study was descriptive and exploratory in nature, including field survey. Structured interview schedule was adopted to conduct personal interviews of respondents. COVID-19 pandemic impact were observed on equine community and 73.9% respondents reported that there was decrease in demand of work for their equines and as a result there was reduction in their income and sale of their by-products or utilizing their draught powers. 74.2% reported about reduction in income from equine rearing. As expenses on equine rearing are concern, it was found that expenses on equine rearing either increased or remained same, 59% reported no change in expenses, and 35.3% reported that equine rearing expenses increased. Regarding health of their equines, 82.5% respondents reported that there was no change in the health of their equines. Household total monthly income either decreased or remained same, 73.5% reported reduction in income and 23.4% reported no change in their household income.  As per household expenses are concern, 39.2% reported increase and 52.1% reported that there was no change in household expenses. Regarding availability of veterinary services for equines, 80.8% respondents reported that veterinary services remained available for their equines. Regarding supply of feed/fodder for equines, 73.4% reported that there was no change in supply of feed/fodder and 22.1% reported reduction in supply of feed/fodder for their equines.  Equine sector was adversely affected due to pandemic and socio-economic matters of respondents were totally disturbed. It reveled out that 33.7% respondents were not willing to continue with their current occupation of equine rearing and they are willing to migrate from equine rearing and exploring new sources of income. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version was adopted for data analysis. The current study is very significant to address the problem of equine farmer in changed scenario of pandemic.

The present study was conducted in the Peddapalli district of Telangana, India. The paper mainly focuses on the respondent's (farm women) knowledge analysis and decision-making patterns in their profession (agriculture). The purpose of choosing this region is that it is more familiar to the researcher and further interest was shown to know the activity participation of women in the study area. The methodology included was the personal interview method in which a questionnaire was prepared on dependent variables (knowledge and decision-making). The results revealed that the majority of them had a medium level of knowledge (93.33 percent) on agricultural activities, and the majority of them are actively taking decisions in agriculture activities like seasons of growing               (79.17 percent), time of manuring (70.83 percent), and use of pesticides (74.17 percent) respectively.

Aims: The present study aims to analyze the demographic and work profile of the workers involved in bamboo handicraft work in rural region and it is noteworthy to mention that bamboo cover in India is 13.96 million hectare.

Study Design: The study comprises a descriptive research design.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in three villages of Pusa Block of Samastipur District of Bihar from February to May 2022.

Methodology: For this study a survey was conducted on 120 randomly selected bamboo handicraft workers in Harpur, Waini and Gangapur villages.

Results: The findings of study revealed that majority of bamboo handicraft workers were of 34 to 41 years of age with more than 15 years of work experience. Most of them were illiterate and more than three forth of them belonged to SC community. They were engaged in semi-skilled work and were earning only Rs. Rs.9843.33±379.82 per month from this work. Most of them are self employed and work for long hours about 6-10 hours a day with frequency of 2-3 times a day.

Conclusion: Majority of bamboo handicraft workers were belonged to middle age and were illiterate with more than 15 years of experience of bamboo craft. They have a large family to feed with having only one source of income and were struggling for better living condition. They were working for long hours without having any proper facilities which reduces their efficiency of work.

Objectives: To study the socio economic condition of dairy and non-dairy farmers in rural-urban interface of Bangalore.

Methodology: The study was conducted in rural area and surrounding of Bangalore urban in India. Data of 240 dairy samples, 120 non-dairy samples were drawn from different layers of South and North transects during 2016-17. Thus, the total sample size was 360. By using descriptive statistical analysis was done.Study was conducted in rural–urban interface of Bengaluru also heighted the influence of urbanization was brought changes in their herd size and socio-economic condition of the dairy farmers.

Findings: Study reveals that most of the rural people occupation was dairying, younger generation (36- 41 age) was more involved in more than others and their average operational holding (6.40) acre was less in dairy farmers as compare to non-dairy farmers. Education level was more in non-dairy farmers than the dairy farmers as dairy demands more labours. Dairy act as one of the instrument to alleviate the poverty generates the employment, income and provides the sustainable livelihood security for the dairy farmers. Therefore, it needs a paradigm shift in focusing more on marketing and production oriented dairy system for sustainable development and poverty alleviation oriented dairy system.

Beekeeping is an agricultural activity that was more or less developed and practiced in different ways in the different regions of Togo. In recent years, in certain regions of the country, such as the plateau region, we have noticed a special consideration of the populations for beekeeping, which they practice as a subsistence activity. It is with the aim of seeing if a beekeeper can live exclusively from this activity that the study was carried out. This work has to evaluate the economic contribution of the beekeeping activity in the life of the producers of the region of the plateaus of Togo.

To achieve this objective, socio-economic surveys were carried out on the basis of a semi-structured questionnaire via individual interviews. The questionnaire took into account: the profile of the beekeeper, annual investments, number and type of hive used, harvested products, the quantity obtained per hive and per year, selling price.

The results obtained on the sale of honey and wax, showed that the beekeeping activity would be economically profitable. For the evaluation of profitability, the cost/revenue method was used. Production costs relate to materials and various expenses incurred. Gross receipts were estimated from cash flows from the sale of hive products. After investigation of the turnover, the profits are calculated by difference between income and expenditure for each product harvested for the year 2019. In short, the activity allows an average annual profit of 766.600 FCFA for beekeepers harvesting only honey and 829.000 FCFA for those harvesting both honey and beeswax, for an average number of 33 hives per producer.

This study has shown that a serious beekeeper who is well organized and has at least thirty hives can normally make a good living from this beekeeping activity.

The present study was conducted at Navsari district of South Gujarat. 120 respondents were selected for the study. Ex-post facto research design was used for the study. The bio-fertilizer refers to a formulation containing live bacteria that improve soil fertility by fixing atmospheric nitrogen, solubilizing phosphorus and other nutrients, and boosting plant development by releasing growth hormones. Because the concept is not new, the numerous benefits of bio-fertilizer led to its widespread application in sustainable agriculture. In this context private bio-fertilizers refers to the bio-fertilizers are the bio-fertilizers manufactured by private manufacturers or companies. The result of the study revealed that, Lack of technical knowledge about private bio-fertilizers was the major constraint followed, Non-availability of private bio-fertilizer locally at times when needed, lack of awareness about benefits of private bio-fertilizers etc. whereas, private bio-fertilizers should be available in time, bio-fertilizer usage can be increased if they are provided free of cost etc. are the suggestions given by the respondents.

India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in world. The fruits and vegetables production will give a positive hope to small and marginal farmers to increase their income compared to food grains. The productions of horticulture crops can improve the socio-economic status of farmers in short span due to their high value. The present study was conducted in Davangere district of Karnataka to know the socio-economic characteristics of the fruit and vegetable growers.  The study has used Expost facto research design. The study was conducted by taking total sample of 120 viz., 40 farmers each from public, co-operative and private market interventions. The data was collected with help of pre tested interview schedule through personal interview. The majority of farmers had medium level of education in public (75.00%), co-operative (72.50%) and private (72.50%) market interventions. More than half the respondents had medium  level of decision making ability in public (72.50%) and private (77.50%) market interventions but half of the had medium level (50.00%) of decision making ability in case of co-operative market intervention. The majority of the respondents belonged to medium level (87.50%) of market orientation in private market intervention. More than half of the farmers had medium level (77.50%) of information seeking behavior in case of public market intervention. The variables like education and information seeking behavior were found to be significantly associated with respect to knowledge level of public market intervention farmers. Cosmopoliteness was found to be significantly associated with respect to knowledge level of both co-operative and private market intervention farmers.

Aim: This study intended to analyse the Zanzibar seaweed industry’s (ZSI) profitability potential by adopting Porter’s five forces industry analysis framework. The objective was to identify factors in its structure contributing to the industry’s ongoing primary challenge of low returns.

Methodology: The study was conducted on Zanzibar island in the United Republic of Tanzania. A case study design approach was adopted. The study’s sample consisted of seaweed farmers, exporters and officials from government institutions linked to the industry. Seaweed farmers were selected through multistage and quota sampling. Exporters were chosen based on experience, i.e. at least five years of operations and above. Government officials were selected through purposive and convenience sampling. The study utilised both primary and secondary data. A triangulation approach was adopted for data collection. Data analysis was done through thematic analysis, descriptive statistics and literature review. Results were adapted into Porter’s framework for further analysis. The threat level for each Porter’s force was determined by weighing their corresponding driving factors, and respondents rated the final results based on the perceived threat level.

Results: The study found that the Zanzibar seaweed industry has low profitability potential. Threats emanate from the industry’s lack of entry barriers, several available cheap and high-performing substitutes, low switching costs and high bargaining power of buyers and suppliers. The government’s role in promoting the industry’s activities is almost non-existent. Similarly, the industry’s production methods were found to be still traditional. Innovative activities were found to be minimal. In terms of opportunities, the industry remains a viable economic alternative for the rural Zanzibarians due to its low capital entry requirements and short production cycles. The potential for increased income and improved health and nutrition exists if domestic markets are established. The growing global demand for carrageenan also signals the industry’s revenue and income growth potential. Similarly, the ZSI is also a source of economic gender empowerment for rural Zanzibari women.

Conclusion: Zanzibar’s seaweed industry’s low profitability potential is a result of its structure, production system and the absent role of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar (RGoZ). Due to the unique nature of ZSI challenges, Porter’s generic strategies were found unsuitable. Hence, this study recommends creating a guiding industry business strategy and marketing plan to guide its activities. The industry’s customer base should also be diversified to expand buyer options and minimise risks associated with the global Rhodotypa market’s oligopolistic conditions. The creation of domestic and regional demand is also crucial. The Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar should also step in to give the necessary support, primarily through creating industry policy. Additionally, diversification of ZSI export products through establishing carrageenan extraction industries in Zanzibar is vital.

Having control of one’s life can decrease aggressive and violent behaviours. To achieve this, people must have control over their personal environment. Some people feel that they either have control over any situation in their lives while some other thinks that things happen due to their luck or chance. Locus of control is a construct that measures the degree to which individuals believe they are responsible for the consequences of their behaviour. Aggression is a forceful action or procedure specially when intended to dominate or master. This study attempted to see how locus of control is correlated with aggression. The study was conducted in Sonitpur district of Assam. The sample for the study was 32 numbers of respondents identified and selected purposively from a population of 185 students belonging to IX^th (Ninth) standard of selected schools. A standardized questionnaire namely Direct & Indirect Aggression Scales developed by Bjorkqvist and Niemela [4] was used to gather data to find out the prevalence of aggression among adolescents. For assessment of Locus of Control, Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale developed by Nowicki and Srickland [5] was used. The findings of the study revealed that three types of aggression viz. physical verbal and social were present among the respondents which were categorized as high, average and low. Results also revealed that majority of the respondents (93.75%) had external locus of control whereas only 6.25 per cent of the respondents had intermediate locus of control and no respondents were recorded to have internal locus of control. The results revealed positive correlation between external locus of control and adolescents’ aggression which is significant at 5% probability level (r=.362, p=.042).

The aim of Farmer Producer Organisations is to ensure better income for the producers through an organization of their own. This study has included Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Jalgaon, and Pune districts of the state of Maharashtra, India because of their highest frequency of FPOs.  It was found that the majority of the FPOs selected were engaged in the production and marketing of the crops and the maximum share of the FPOs was promoted by NABARD, World Bank scheme. The majority of FPOs members were in the range of 101-500, while the majority of FPOs were established between 7-8 years. Inadequate contribution by the members exists because of the poor economy and inadequate finance, lack of transport, distance of the market, storage facility, and lack of access to office buildings.

The main aim of this study was to perceive the satisfaction of beneficiaries (migrant workers returning to their villages in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak) of training received for employment and livelihood security. The ex-post facto design was used for this study. Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Banda, Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda (Uttar Pradesh). A total of 18 Vocational trainings of three days each for migrant laborers from July 2020 to March 2021. KVK, Banda imparted a total of 18 Vocational trainings. Each training has 35 participants, thus a total of 630 participants have benefitted from this training. After training, 50 participants from different courses were randomly selected as respondents and have been personally interviewed with the help of a semi-structured interview schedule for data collection. The descriptive statistics method was used for data analysis. The weighted mean score method was used to rank the perceived satisfaction with training. It was found that 78.00 percent of participants rated excellent in terms of course content coverage of the training program whereas infrastructure used for training, quality and usefulness of study material, use of audio/visual aids, the behavior of faculty members/ resource personnel, and usefulness of the training program in real life application rated excellent by 50.00, 70.00, 62.00, 84.00 and 92.00 percent of participants respectively. It was found that 68.00 percent of participants suggested that the duration of training should be increased from 3 days to 5 days and 76.00 percent of participants suggested that a farm tour should be included for a better understanding of a topic. Based on the above findings, it can be concluded that the majority of the GKRA beneficiaries were most satisfied with the course content/coverage of the training program, the quality, and the usefulness of the study materials provided during training. 

In a nutshell, Bio-fertilizers provides "eco-friendly" organic agro-input which has the ability to convert nutritionally important elements from unavailable to available form through biological processes. The present study was conducted at Navsari district of South Gujarat. Total 120 respondents were selected through simple random sampling for the study. Ex-post facto research design was used for the study. The present study was conducted to study the various personal, socio-economic, Communicational and Psychological Characteristics of the farmers using of private bio-fertilizers. The result of the study revealed that majority of the respondents belonged to middle age groups with secondary level of education, were male, had small family, and had farming as their major occupation, they had medium land holding, possessed medium farming experience, and belonged to medium annual income with moderate mass media exposure and medium extension contact with membership in one organization. Further, higher scientific orientation, and moderate risk orientation, economic motivation, and had moderate management orientation too.

Pulses have a strong history of nourishing human beings for centuries together. Soybean (G. max) being an important pulse crop, became vulnerable to a number of insect pests, viz., flea beetle (A. hemensis), pod borer (H. armigera), etc. Since in Kashmir through its intensive cultivation the acreage and production of the crop steadily increased, it is imperative to study the population buildup of the major insect-pests attacking soybean. The incidence of flea beetle, Altica hemensis commenced from 27^th Standard meteorological week (SMW) with an average population level of 0.48 beetles per three leaves per plant reached its peak level of 1.75 beetles in 32^nd SMW and then decreased and reached 0.24 beetles in 40^th SMW. The percentage of flea beetle, A. hemensis infestation ranged from 8-40%, with highest infestation recorded in 33^rd and 34^th SMW respectively. The incidence of flea beetle revealed positive correlation with maximum temperature (r = 0.45), minimum temperature (r = 0.87), morning relative humidity (r = 0.39), evening relative humidity (r = 0.68) and negative correlation with rainfall (r = - 0.41) and sunshine hours (r = - 0.19). The regression analysis revealed that 88 per cent of flea beetle, A. hemensis population was influenced by weather parameters.

The present study was undertaken to assess the resource use efficiency in the cultivation of the rice variety, Telangana Sona. A total sample of 120 farmers from 6 villages of three mandals in Nalgonda district of Telangana was selected. Cobb-Douglas production function analysis was used to study resource use efficiency. The results of the study revealed that in the cultivation of Telangana Sona, human labor, machinery, and fertilizers were underutilized and there is a scope for maximizing returns by increasing the use of these inputs. The Marginal Value Product (MVP) was less than one for costs incurred on plant protection chemicals, which means that the resource was over-utilized i.e. decrease in the use of this input is suggested. The study recommends the reallocation of resources for profitable rice cultivation.

The aim of this study is to develop a scale to measure migration proneness of tribespeople. This study was designed as a quantitative survey research. A total 30 items were generated for measuring migration proneness Likert’s summated rating method was followed in the study for scale construction. The relevancy of the items generated was established by judges rating. The scores for each items were summated over all the respondents and relevancy index was calculated. The indices used for the selection of items in the study were an Index of discrimination (t-test), suggested by Edwards (1957) and Item score- total score correlation (Pearson’s r), suggested by Anastasi (1961) and Guliford (1971). The statements with high t values, greater than 2.228 and r value greater than 0.4 were selected. Thus 12 statements were selected for the final scale. Split half reliability was used in the present study using odd even method. The correlation co-efficient (r = 0.732) for the half test was obtained. The reliability of the full test was found to be 0.845, which indicates the appreciable reliability of the scale. Care was taken to include items covering the universe of content with respect to the different dimensions of migration proneness in the scale, thereby satisfying the content validity criterion.

Aims: NTFPs play a key role in meeting the needs of tribal communities, especially in medicine, poverty reduction and livelihood improvement. For years tribals were involved in NTFPs collection, and it’s the main occupation for Kattunayakan tribes. Considering the importance of NTFPs, the present study focuses on analysing the problems faced by the tribals in Kerala while collecting and marketing NTFPs.

Place and Duration of Study: The present study was conducted in the Wayanad district of Kerala State A sample of 65 Kattunayakan tribes who have been involved in NTFPs collection for the last six years were selected randomly. The primary survey was conducted through a pre-tested structured questionnaire during February to April 2022.

Methodology: Garrett’s ranking technique had been used to determine the most critical problem influencing the tribals in NTFPs collection and marketing. Garrett’s Ranking Technique provides a clear picture of the orders of problems into numerical scores. The advantage of this technique is that the problems are arranged based on their severity from the point of view of Kattunayakan tribes. Seasonal calendar used for exhibiting the collection details of NTFPs collected by Kattunayakan tribe by each month.

Results: The study highlighted that the low price availability of NTFPs, negative interactions with wild animals no guidance and support from government officials for marketing of NTFPs, no training for value addition of NTFPs, and long distances to travel to the marketplace were the major problems encountered by the tribals while collection and marketing of NTFPs

Conclusion: Low price availability of NTFPs, negative interactions with wild animals and inadequate availability of NTFPs in the forest were the major problems identified related to collection of NTFPs. Regarding marketing of NTFPs lack of guidance and support from government officials for marketing of NTFPs, no training for value addition of NTFPs, and long distances to travel to the marketplace were identified as the major problems by the tribals.

Maharashtra is the one of the largest producer of orange in the country. There is growing interest and awareness among the orange growers for adoption of latest technologies for commercial cultivation of citrus hence the research objective was formulated to study the personal, socio-economic, communicational and psychological characteristics of orange growers in Amravati and Nagpur district in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state. An ex-post facto research design of social research was used for present investigation. The study was conducted in Amravati and Nagpur district in month of December, January and February, 2021, with 300 orange growers. The findings revealed that, more than one third of the respondents (34.00%) had education up to higher secondary school. More than two fifth of the respondents (44.00%) had medium family size. More than one third (38.67%) of the respondents were engaged in agriculture+ horticulture+ allied occupation as their main occupation in earning. Nearly half (46.33%) of the respondents had semi medium land holding (2.01 to 4.00 ha). More than half (60.67%) of the respondents were having small size of orchard. More than one third (37.33%) of the respondents had medium experience in orange cultivation (15.36 to 26.66 years). more than half (57.33%) of the respondents were belonged to medium level of social participation. Nearly half (45.67%) of the respondents were having annual income up to Rs. 7,96,000/-. Majority of the social media user respondents (88.00%) had high availability of social media. More than half (55.67%) of the respondents were having medium sources of information. More than half (59.67%) of the respondents were having medium innovativeness. More than half (56.67%) of the respondents were having medium risk orientation. Majority (63.33%) of the respondents were having medium market orientation. Overall 70.00 Percent of the social media user orange growers were having high utilization pattern index. It is suggested that, efforts should made by authorities to involve and retain the interest of innovative orange growers in adopting modern agricultural practices.

Aim/Purpose: This study was conducted to identify the marketing challenges faced by Zanzibar’s seaweed producers and to recommend suitable strategies.

Methodology: A case study approach was adopted. The study combined semi-structured questionnaires and informal group discussions with the farmers as tools for primary data collection. A total of 592 seaweed farmers from both Unguja and Pemba participated in the study. The farmers were selected through multistage sampling. Analysis of challenges was done through the Garrett ranking method.

Results: It was found that the leading marketing challenges for seaweed farmers are the absence of minimum selling price (MSP), limited buyers and the inability to set prices. The absence of MSP was linked to the absence of the industry’s supporting policies. At the same time, limited buyers emanated from the lack of the industry’s business strategy, limited linkage to the domestic market and lack of export differentiation. Farmers’ inability to set prices was found to be a result of exporters’ setting buying prices. Similarly, the study found that the farmers face intense competition due to limited production variety and being large in number. Farmers also were found to have limited marketing and promotional skills and lacked business strategies.

Conclusion: Several interventions are required to support the seaweed farmers in Zanzibar. First, the creation of guiding industry’s business and marketing/product strategies. Further creation of the industry’s guiding and supporting policies is crucial. Second, establishing domestic demand and linking the industry to its potential users at individual and industrial levels is critical for the survival of Zanzibar’s seaweed industry. Third, the establishment of carrageenan extraction industries to establish export product differentiation. Capacity-building training is vital for farmers in agri-business and financial management areas. Government procurement and provision of storage facilities to minimise the offloading challenge are also needed to lessen the effect of same-time offloading, which exposes farmers to low prices. Lastly, financial assistance should also be provided to promote and upscale seaweed value-addition activities on the island.

Originality/Value:  Examination of marketing challenges faced by seaweed farmers in Zanzibar was conducted using the Garrett ranking technique, and suitable recommendations were proposed.

The third sector comprises charities, social enterprises, and voluntary groups supporting the community at a local level. The study focused on the management practices of TSOs. In all, the total number of Third Sector Organizations selected for the study from the Kolar, Chikkaballapur, and Tumkur districts was 30. The sample consists of different types of TSOs which include Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Self-Help Groups (SHGs) & Primary level cooperatives, and also the primary data was collected from 30 TSOs. To achieve the specific objectives of the study, descriptive statistics including percentages were used to find out how TSOs are following management practices for their organizational development. The study found that they are good in terms of planning which includes efficiency and proper resource management, effective service delivery, responsiveness to the target community, implementation, and control of activity, among others. Strategy development indicates the extent to which certain features/aspects pertaining to the strategy development approaches characterize the strategy development practices in their organizations. Motivation plays a vital influencing factor towards managers and workers to increase effectiveness. Staff management to understand how the TSOs manage their human resources. Financial management is necessary for reporting purposes are prepared at the end of each financial year and bookkeeping is one of the key indicators to measure the performance of the organization there is a need to more focus on up-to-date records maintenance.

Background: The backbone of the Indian financial system, and the main source of income in rural India, is agriculture. The COVID-19 illness significantly impacted the agricultural supply chain, from the industrial hub to the final consumer. This article begins by analyzing the many strategies that have a bearing on farmer’s production. the overall impact while throwing a bit of challenge across in all the sectors but in terms of production it was seen as positive.

Methods: The agricultural years 2019–20 & 2020–21 serve as the study's reference period. By selecting sample villages, the study's data were gathered from 300 households and 50 migrant and non-migrant workers in the Chhattisgarh district of Raipur.

Result: We found that the maize crop had the highest yield loss mostly -5.13 per cent which is due to untimely harvest and unavailability of labours. Also, lak/teora crop yield decreased by -2.83 per cent. Also, we can see from the table that the yield of paddy, vegetables (Bitter guard, brinjal ladies finger and bottle guard), and Arhar had increased by 16.18, 60.76, 61.39, 39.87, 59.74 and 14.28 per cent respectively from previous years yield. The real impact in the case of crop production was seen in the prices of farm produce. The return of migrant workers also increased production; it was found from the study that agriculture was the only source of income for every household during the lockdown. Farmers experienced a shortage of agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides as a result of world trade disruption.

Twenty-five numbers of frontline demonstrations were conducted on management of weed in pineapple by plastic mulch 2014-2016 & 2016-2018 subsequently with an ultimate aim to supressed growth of weeds and boost farmer income because weeding accounts approximate 30–40% of the overall cost of crop. Pineapple cultivation with 50 micron black polythene sheet mulching with double row spacing i.e. 90 x 60 x 30cm not only suppresses the weed growth but conserves the soil moisture, which leads to early flowering, better vegetative growth & higher yield over control (Farmer practice). The demonstrated recorded an average yield ranging from 43.18 to 45.90 t/ha with a mean of 44.54 t/ha. The per cent increase yield in demonstration 49.77% during 2014-16 and 66.67% during 2016-18 respectively, over the farmer practice.  The average ranges of extension gap (14.35- 18.36 t/ha), technology gap (9.10- 11.82 t/ha) and technology index (21.49-16.55%) were during the period under study. The demonstrated field gave higher mean gross return (Rs. 267240 /ha) and mean net returns (Rs. 191740/ha) with average benefit: cost ratio (3.54) compared to the local checks (1.71). Present results clearly show that the yield and economics of pineapple can be boost up by adoption of recommended technology. 

Low dietary diversity is one of the major causes of malnutrition in Kenya. As a result, the government of Kenya and its partners have promoted the uptake of plant based legumes such as Improved Groundnut Varieties to offer solution to the rising cases of poor nutrition. Understanding the impact of Improved Groundnut Varieties on dietary diversity is critical but evidence shows that it’s not yet explored. This study sought to estimate the impact of Improved Groundnut Varieties (IGVs) on dietary diversity among smallholder farmers in Homa Bay County, Kenya. The study used multi-stage sampling procedure where the sub-counties and wards were purposively selected. The villages and respondents were selected using simple random sampling.  Cross-sectional data was collected through interview schedules on a random sampling of 384 households. Both descriptive statistics and econometric methods, Propensity Score Matching method were used. The results pointed out that Improved Groundnut Varieties had a positive and significant impact on the diets of the farmers. Households cultivating IGVs had better dietary diversity non-adopters. Overally, this study recommends sensitization of farmers to adopt IGVs and the need for the government to facilitate extension service provision, trainings and access to credit to increase yields and incomes. Again, the study recommends formation of farmers groups that are business hubs as opposed to social welfare to enhance bargaining power and access to inputs and outputs market. Additionally, there is need for intersectoral collaboration between agriculture and health sector to sensitize farmers on the importance of diversifying diets and consuming the crops grown in the farms.

Flowers are an important part of Indian culture, and because of various religious practises, tonnes of flowers frequently collect in places of worship such temples, mosques, churches, and gurudwaras. They are also generated at weddings, flower markets, residential neighbourhoods, and other events. Unfortunately, the majority of these flowers are frequently dumped in garbage and water after being used, endangering the ecosystem. In order to reduce the effects caused by floral waste this can be converted into the production of value added products like incense sticks, compost, soaps, essential oils. Hence, to understand the market for these floral rejuvenated products, the present study was taken to analyse the source of awareness of users and factors influencing the users to purchase the floral rejuvenated products. Data was collected from 120 users in the Hyderabad city and analyzed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA Test and Factor analysis.

Farms in cotton production areas in West Africa have been undergoing environmental, economic, and social transformation, which is contributing to a restructuring of families. Drawing on sociological theories on family models and the functioning of agricultural families, this study collected data through formal and informal interviews with 349 randomly selected cotton producers in Northern Benin. Focus group interviews were also conducted. Data analysis was done through speech analysis and quantitative methods. Results revealed the crucial role of cotton production in the transformation of agrarian systems and land use. Cotton production has become the mainstay of farm development in cotton-growing regions. The economic and technical transformation of farms in the region resulted in significant changes in the allocation of production factors within households as well as in the structure of families. Furthermore, new economic and social challenges led to a decentralization of farm manager responsibilities, and the redistribution of roles and resources. Overall, new forms of farm management emerged within families, which are gradually becoming restructured. Families agricultural models are increasingly fragmenting towards nuclear models. The multiplication of decision-making units coupled with the fragmentation of farm assets calls into question farm sustainability. This study sheds light on the ongoing process in Benin’s cotton zones and the issue of their sustainability.

The study was carried out during the year 2013-2014 in the Faizabad district because of its location nearer to the university campus. Out of 11 Community Development(CD) Blocks in Faizabad, the Sohaval block was selected purposively 4 villages were selected randomly for this study. A complete list of all the farmers in the selected village was prepared based on 4 categories i.e. marginal, small, medium, and large. A sample of 100 respondents was selected from said categories through proportionate random sampling techniques and the author herself collected data with help of the presented interview schedule. The results of the study depicted majority of respondents (95%) were found to be adopting gunny bags. None of the respondents was found to be adopting modern storage structures. The majority of the respondent (59%) were found to have a medium level of adoption of food grain storage structure. The maximum number of respondents (50%) were having a medium level of adoption of food grain treatment. The maximum number of respondents (72%) was found in the medium level of the overall average adoption score category.

Tomato is a major cash crop of farmers of central plain of Uttar Pradesh. Injudicious use of chemicals invited too many number of insect pests. Among them sucking insect problems were very serious in comparison to biting and chewing insects because these insects developed resistance and insecticides. So, in last five years pest scenario had changed. Some new insects were seen on crops. In which, American serpentine leaf minor in one of them. Their incidence increasing very rapidly in different crops like tomato, vegetable pea and cucurbitaceous crops etc. Tomato crop was more susceptible for leaf miner. Due to which screening of popular tomato varieties were urgently needed. On that basis this study were carried out on ten popular hybrid varieties. The field incidence of the serpentine leaf miner, L. trifolii (Burgess) was severe during the fruiting stage of the crop. Infestation was higher on lower surface of leaf in comparisons of upper surface. On the basis of cumulative susceptibility index test varieties all varieties viz. Pusa Rohini, Pusa Uphar, Arka Saurabh, Naveen-2000, N-815, Arka Vardan, Pusa Sadabahar, Arka Vishal, N-2535 and ArkaVardan were found to be resistant/less susceptible. There were no significant correlation found among leaf miner incidence and yield of crop. All tested hybrid varieties performed better in Lucknow district of Uttar Pradesh.

Gaushalas serve a crucial role in protecting our nation's livestock wealth. Its primary function is to provide shelter for cows, mainly for non-lactating, frail, unproductive, and stray cattle. Forty gaushalas were chosen at random from the eighty registered gaushalas in the state of Karnataka for this study. On the basis of herd size, the forty selected gaushalas were categorized as small (12), medium (18), and large (10) gaushalas. Animal welfare is currently a global issue that is receiving increasing attention. With this in mind, the present study was conducted to determine the degree to which gaushalas have adopted animal welfare measures. Sixty percent of large sized gaushalas belonged to high adopter categories, fifty-six percent of medium sized gaushalas belonged to medium adopter categories, and fifty percent of small sized gaushalas belonged to low adopter categories in terms of adoption of overall animal welfare practices. However, it was also observed that a lack of funds, inadequate financial assistance from governments, inadequate fodder availability, inadequate access to technical services, inadequate infrastructure facilities and poor management were perceived as impediments to the adoption of animal welfare practices in gaushalas.

Global climate change and decreases in available land are significant challenges humans currently face. Alternative management approaches for sugarcane fields have great potential to help mitigate these problems in Kenya. Intercropping as a crop diversification strategy is a crucial coping mechanism for agriculture's income, production, and marketing risks. The main purpose of this study was to analyze the determinants of sugarcane-soybean intercropping among sugarcane farmers to inform policymakers about policy adjustment. The study used primary data collected from 246 households using a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a logistic regression model. Results showed that 63% of the respondents had adopted sugarcane monocropping compared to only 37 % who had adopted sugarcane-soybean intercropping. Specifically, the study found that sugarcane farming experience (p =<0.10), production acreage (p =<0.10), land ownership (p =<0.10), and divorced as marital status ((p =<0.05) had negative and significant effects on sugarcane – soybean intercropping, while farmers' age (p =<0.10) and widowed as a marital status (p =<0.01) depicted a positive and significant association with sugarcane – soybean intercropping.  From the findings, lack of credit for farm operations and the high cost of farm inputs also emerged as barriers to the adoption of sugarcane intercropping systems. Based on the results, the study suggests the need for government to promote the development of agricultural policy that supports the shift from non-diversification to crop diversification through developing guaranteed access to inputs and subsidies on farming input resources with priority given to smallholder farmers.

Tomato is one of the nutritious and commercially important vegetable that can be cultivated in indoor and outdoor during all seasons. But lack of technical knowledge and awareness towards improved tomato cultivation practices lead to reduced yield and productivity. Hence, to increase the productivity of the tomato, improved tomato cultivation practices should be adopted. To serve this purpose, this study was attempted to understand the knowledge level of the tomato growers towards improved tomato cultivation practices and the factors influencing it. Twenty tomato growers from each villages of Longkhum, Ungma, Mangmetong, Aliba, Chungtia and Khensa in Ongpangkong block of Mokokchung district, Nagaland was selected as primary respondents of the study. The data gathered from the tomato growers were analyzed with suitable statistical tools. From the study, it could be observed that nearly half of the tomato growers had medium level of knowledge and educational status, size of land holding under tomato cultivation, annual income and mass media exposure had significant relationship with the knowledge level of the tomato growers towards improved tomato cultivation practices.

Objectives: To study a two-decade economic analysis of Minimum Support Price (MSP) trends compared to the cost of production of major crops of India and understand the real impact of price policy formed by the Government of India.

Methods: The period of the analysis is from 1999 to 2019 (20 years) and the data sources consulted are Cost of cultivation and Farm Harvest price from Directorate of economics and statistics, Minimum support price from Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) and Awareness report of farmers by Questioner based survey. Compound annual growth rate and percentage analysis are used as a statistical tool for this research. To access the impact, Tamil Nadu has been taken as the model state with two model crops Paddy and Cotton and its comparative analysis is done with reference states Punjab and Maharashtra for Cost of Cultivation components and Profitability. 

Findings: The finding of this research unravels that Wheat, Groundnut and Cotton are getting supported largely due to MSP policy, Paddy and Black gram are barely supportive as there is cutthroat competition between MSP and the Cost of Cultivation and sugarcane is not supported by MSP policy. The comparative and profitability analysis unravels how labour cost is the major cost in Tamil Nadu and paddy is profitable whereas cotton is not.

Novelty: Therefore, this research depicts that MSP has been supporting the farming community on the policy end. But it’s not working as a fundamental supporting system for the majority of farmers as it’s not exercised by majority of farmers due to low awareness and inefficiency of the system.

This study was designed to examine the factors influencing the movement or changing of herding routes among herders in the North – Eastern corridor of the Northern and Northeast Regions of Ghana. The study followed a cross-sectional descriptive survey research design and adopted the Poison and Negative Binomial regression Models. A total of 210 Fulani herders and seven community/opinion leaders from seven communities across four (4) districts were randomly selected for this study. Duration of a herder’s stay in a community (P≤.01), being given a range of land for kraaling or grazing (P≤.01), having access to education for children (P≤0.1), losing cattle before (P≤.01) and ever being harmed or witnessing same due to conflict (P≤.01) are important factors that prevent or reduce the number of times a herder changes location or route. On the other hand, factors including hired herding (P≤.01), years of education of a herder (P≤.05) and restriction or lack of grazing land for cattle (P≤.1) are some of the most compelling factors that lead to changes in location or herding routes of Fulani herders.  Fulani herders should be registered and integrated into the various communities whilst encouraging them to educate their children and have permanent living status.

This study aims to analyze the role of the agricultural sector in food security and poverty alleviation in Indonesia and Turkey. The data analysis method was descriptive data analysis, while the data were secondary. The results of this study show that the Indonesian agricultural sector provides basic food needs for the population in the form of rice, corn, and cassava production. When considered in terms of Turkey, the agricultural sector shows that products such as wheat, sugar beet, and barley provide the basic food needs for the population. In some cases where food needs cannot be fulfilled by domestic production, importing food products from other countries becomes an option. Import is expected to be able to maintain the stability of domestic food prices and availability. In addition, the agricultural sector plays a role in providing employment and income for the population in Indonesia and Turkey. By doing this, the agricultural sector can provide food and alleviate poverty in both countries.

Agricultural insurance is a risk management approach used by farmers to protect them against crop loss caused by such unpredictable risk factors. The study on perception of farmers towards crop insurance schemes in Kerala was carried out in three selected districts of Kerala namely, Kottayam, Malappuram and Idukki in the year 2020-2021. The findings of the study showed that majority of the farmers (69.17 %) had medium perception, followed by low (18.33 %) and high (12.50 %) perception regarding crop insurance schemes in Kerala.The association between profile characteristics of the respondents with their perception towards crop insurance schemes in Kerala showed that characteristics like education, operational landholding, credit orientation and decision making ability had significant association with their perception regarding crop insurance schemes in Kerala. The comparison of the perception of beneficiary farmers towards the three crop insurance schemes namely, Restructured State Crop Insurance Scheme of Kerala (RSCIS), Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) revealed that there existed a significant difference between the central and state crop insurance and there existed no significant difference among the two centrally sponsored crop insurance schemes.

Vegetables are widely grown crops throughout the country as a commercial crop. Vegetables constitute an important item of human diet Vegetables are important constituents of Indian agriculture and nutritional security due to their short duration, high yield, nutritional richness, economic viability and ability to generate on-farm and off-farm employment. Our country is blessed with diverse agro-climates with distinct seasons, making it possible to grow wide array of vegetables. Farmers deciding to take particular crop or use scientific methods to grow crops exhibit entrepreneurial behaviour. Understanding of such behaviour is essential to improve the quality of extension services offered by the institutional and non-institutional agencies. So the present study was carried out during the year 2021-2022 in four blocks of Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh with the objective to study the socio-economic profile of vegetable growers and to find out the correlation between socio-economic profile and entrepreneurial behaviour. Ex-post-facto design was selected as an appropriate research design to investigate the variables influencing the entrepreneurial behaviour of vegetable growers The present study was conducted on 160 respondents and data were collected through personal interview method with the help of interview schedule. The study revealed that the majority of vegetable growers (60.62 per cent) belonged to middle age group, (77.50 per cent) belong to Other Backward Caste, (36.25%) were having education up to intermediate level, ( 86.25 per cent) were married, (66.87 per cent) belonging to joint family system, (61.25 per cent) were having 5 to 8 members in a family, (92.50 per cent) were having Pucca house, (79.38 per cent) respondents were engaged in agriculture as main occupation, (53.75 per cent) respondents were having membership of only one social organizations, (38.75 per cent) were having 2 to 4 ha of land, (51.25 per cent) were having medium material possession, (30.00 per cent) were having Rs. 2 lakh to 3 lakh. The result from the study reveals that majority of the respondents belonged to medium socio-economic status (42.50 per cent) followed by high socio-economic status (31.87 percent) and remaining belonged to low socio-economic status (25.63 per cent). Most of the socio-economic variable were having positively and significantly correlation with entrepreneurial behaviour. The variable age was found to have negative correlation with entrepreneurial behaviour of vegetable growers. Thus the correlation analysis reveals that people with better education , more land holding, higher social participation, more material possession and higher annual income have higher entrepreneurial behavior in growing vegetables. While those farmers who were young are growing vegetable more successfully as an entrepreneur.

Aims: The present study was undertaken to enlist the rice varieties grown in Karbi Anglong district of Assam, India and to identify the most preferred varieties and the preference criteria as perceived by the rice growers at individual level.

Place and Duration of Study: Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Karbi Anglong, Diphu in the district of Karbi Anglong, Assam, between April 2018 and March 2019.

Methodology: We included 30 farmers who were non-respondent in the main study and 90 farmers in the main study. We used Participatory Rural Appraisal, Personal Interview Method and Interview Schedule.

Results: The study revealed that 18 rice varieties are normally grown by the farmers of Karbi Anglong for lunch and dinner making. Among 18 rice varieties Gaya, Ranjit, Agarsali, Bordhan, Basuri are the five most preferred rice varieties respectively. There are twelve quality parameters which were identified by the non respondent rice growers based on which farmers prefer a particular rice variety. The quality parameter in accordance with their preference are yield, suitability to land situation, duration, taste, planting time flexibility, after cooking quality, disease and pest resistance, fertilizer requirement, market demand, hunger chasing, draught resistance and cold resistance.

Aims: Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) form a significant source of livelihood for tribal communities living in the forest area. Various institutions have been established to help the forest-dependent communities (tribals) for collection and effective marketing of NTFPs collected by them. Study aimed to analyse the perception of tribals with respect to the role of various institutions in collection and marketing of NTFPs.

Place and Duration of Study: The present study was conducted in the Thrissur district of Kerala State. A sample of 50 tribals from Kadar tribe involved in NTFPs collection were selected randomly. The primary survey was conducted by administrating a semi- structured interview schedule during the month of February 2022.

Methodology: Participatory technique was adopted in elucidcating the information from tribals. Venn diagrams was used to determine the role of institutions supporting NTFPs collectors at Vellikulangara, Thrissur district. Venn diagram provide a clear picture of number of institutions, their importance, and the effectiveness of rendering services to them. Seasonal calendar used for exhibiting the monthly collection details of NTFPs collected by Kadar tribe.

Results: The study highlighted that the Kadar tribes considered Kerala Forest and Wild Life Department as most important institution. They play predominant role to improve in the livelihood of the Kadar tribe by procuring the NTFPs. They maintain good relationship with this department as they feel that service rendered by them is useful. The role of College of Forestry and Scheduled Tribes Development Department are limited to providing training and implementing various schemes of the government respectively.

Conclusion: Kerala Forest and Wild Life Department, College of Forestry, Scheduled Tribes Development Department and Kerala State Development Corporation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes play various roles in collecting and marketing of NTFPs. However, timely and effective services of the institutions and effective implementation of the schemes will surely help to improve the livelihood of tribal communities.

Cluster Frontline Demonstration (CFLD) is a unique approach by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research on Oilseed crops to provide a direct interface between scientists and farmers where farmers are guided by the KVK scientists during demonstrations in implementation of improved technologies like seed treatment, IPM, INM, land preparation and so on, Demonstrated fields are regularly monitored by the scientists. The present study was carried out to know the profile of CFLD beneficiaries in selected districts of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh over a complete sample of 346 beneficiaries. The results revealed that majority of the CFLD beneficiaries were in middle age (61.57%), belongs to male category (86.13), educated up to middle school (26.98), had large family size (40.17%), medium social participation (50.00%), medium material possession (61.27%), medium annual income (67.92%), large size of land holding (46.54%), had more than 0.4 ha land under oilseed crop (48.26%) with good cropping pattern (44.52%), had medium level extension participation (74.27%), medium information seeking behaviour(64.16%), medium mass media exposure (84.11%), medium scientific orientation (53.18%), medium innovativeness (58.96%), medium risk preference (55.20%), medium knowledge about oilseeds (63.53%), had fair management efficiency (62.13%), attended more than one training programme (63.01%) under cluster frontline demonstration.

System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method is being ideally suited to the small farmers in India where rice productivity is comparatively low. But, it has been observed that the farmers are not enthusiastic to continue the practice in spite of all efforts made. Inadequate knowledge about the practices might be the reasons for the discontinuance of the method. A study was therefore, conducted with 96 farmers in the tribal region of Sundargarh district in Odisha to assess the knowledge deficiencies that causing discontinuance of SRI. The findings revealed that the farmers had inadequate knowledge on raising nursery bed at 80-100 cms height, putting single sprouted seed in line in nursery bed, sub-matting at two meters distance, putting seedlings in a thin metal sheet for easy transplanting, use of recommended quantity of well decomposed FYM/manure per hectare, green manuring and vermicomposting to supplement organic manure, minimum of four weeding at ten days interval, alternate drying and wetting of the main field, light irrigation during hair line cracks and keeping 2-3 cms standing water after flowering. Socio – economic attributes like family size, housing pattern, social participation, education, use of agricultural implements, extension contact and annual income had significant influence in increasing knowledge level of the respondents. It is therefore suggested that the extension officials of the state department of Agriculture and Non- Government Organizations promoting SRI have to take possible approaches to expose the respondents further particularly with poor knowledge on practices enabling them to realize the benefits of all these practices and may continue SRI method of rice cultivation for better production till they get better technology.

Aim: The study aims to analyze the shopping behaviour (Online and Offline Shopping) of the students studying in remote and hilly area during the peak of pandemic.

Study Design: The study comprises of a descriptive research design.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in West Garo Hills District of Meghalaya which is located distantly form the capital city, Shillong during 2020-21.

Methodology: Purposive sampling technique was used to collect 60 samples form a college in Sangsangre, a small village in Tura.

Results: The findings of the study reveal that respondent shop mostly during discount and offer season online, number of purchases made is more than one in a week and almost all respondent relies on online shopping to purchase almost any product namely Habiliments, Electronic gadget, Books except for groceries, furniture and jewelry. Festive ads attract respondent go for online. Amazon and Myntra services are most preferable online portal. 

Conclusion: It is evident that with the changing in the retail business due to digitalization and worldwide lockdown, customer behaviour also changes irrespective of the location.

Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commonly referred to as a satellite dish and a low-noise block down converter. A satellite receiver then decodes the desired television programme for viewing on a television set. Receivers can be external set-top boxes, or a built-in television tuner. Satellite television provides a wide range of channels and services. It is usually the only television available in many remote geographic areas without terrestrial television or cable television service. Early systems used analog signals, but modern ones use digital signals which allow transmission of the modern television standard high-definition television, due to the significantly improved spectral efficiency of digital broadcasting.

As temperature rises, the yields of food and cash crops in South Asia are expected to decline, putting pressure on food security in the region. India, home to 1.4 billion people, is ranked 101 out of 116 countries in the Global Hunger Index, indicating a serious problem. Scientists and researchers project that a 2.5 to 4.9⁰C increase in temperature across the country could lead to a decrease of 41%-52% in the wheat yield, and 32%-40% in rice. Under changing climate conditions, hybrid sorghum is an effective solution for food security, which can withstand high temperatures and grow with less water over water guzzling summer rice. It has versatile utility as food grains, feed, fodder, and an important feedstock for first-generation biofuel or bioethanol production. Zero till hybrid sorghum cultivars CSH 14, CSH 16, and CSH 23 were sown after Kharif rice in jute-rice-Rabi sorghum sequence, in winter, on 1^st January 2010. The crop matured with 52.5 cm irrigation water at 120 days (30^th April) and consumed 7 irrigations, 7.5 cm each. The highest sorghum grain yield was obtained from cv. CSH 14 i.e., 6.5 tonnes/ha. Its water productivity was high, 808 litre water/kg grain whereas for summer rice with the same productivity (6.5t/ha) the water productivity was low, 2308 litre water/kg rice grain (irrigation requirement 150 cm). Thus, with the same water, the area under sorghum will be thrice over summer rice. Gross return from hybrid sorghum was Rs.193050/ha over Rs. 132600/ha from summer rice. Rabi sorghum saved 65% (97.5 cm/ha) of irrigation water which is drawn from groundwater only. From 6.5 tons of sorghum grain, approximately 2470 litre of ethanol can be produced/ha which is used as biofuel. Replacement of summer rice by profitable drought-resistant Rabi sorghum will ensure food security under changing climatic scenarios and maintain a sustainable groundwater position in traditional rice growing belts.

The study to measure the entrepreneurial effectiveness of agripreneurs in Kerala was undertaken in the Kasargod, Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram districts of the state. A total of 180 agripreneurs, consisting of 20 on-farm agripreneurs, 20 off-farm agripreneurs and 20 commercial farmers each belonging to each of the three selected districts, constituted the sample for the study. The data collected was statistically analyzed using arithmetic mean, percentage, correlation and analysis of variance. The study revealed that the off-farm agripreneurs were entrepreneurially the most effective category followed by the on-farm agripreneurs and the commercial farmers who were found to be on almost on par in their effectiveness. The on-farm agripreneurs, off-farm agripreneurs and commercial farmers exhibited significant differences in their effectiveness only in case of marketing management effectiveness and risk management effectiveness where as significant difference was observed between the agripreneurs belonging to the three districts in case of the possession all the six sub-dimensions of entrepreneurial effectiveness viz. production management effectiveness, finance management effectiveness, marketing management effectiveness, labour management effectiveness, risk management effectiveness and time management effectiveness.

Self Help Groups (SHGs) are grass root level democratic institutions of rural people, which is primary socio-economic institution to foster the drive for change. The study was carried out in two selected blocks of Rajnandgaon District of Chhattisgarh in the year 2019-20. 120 members from 30 well-functioning SHGs were considered as respondents for present research purpose. The finding indicates that mean time devotion for Agricultural Work among the SHG members was 3.78 hours followed by 3.64 hours and 3.18 hours of mean time were devoted by them for Labour work and SHG work. Majority of the SHG members (78.00%) were involved always in decision making regarding Health Care followed by 57.00, 50.00 and 45.00 per cent of them were involved always in decision making on Investment, Agriculture and Acquisition of Credit, respectively. It shows that 78.00 per cent of the SHG members were participated regularly in Selection of Office Bearers followed by 72.00, 60.00 and 53.00 per cent of them were participated always in Income Earning Activities, Regular Meetings, and Arrangement of Input, respectively. Majority of the respondents (71.67%) had medium level of overall participation in SHG activities followed by high (15.83%) and low (12.50%) level of overall participation. Active participation of individual SHG members in the interior organizational activities indicates their eagerness towards attainment of goals.

Realizing the importance of Soil Health Card as a tool for efficient nutrient management, the decision to participate in new agricultural technologies depends on farmer’s perception which does a key determinant in influencing adoption and importance of the soil health card. The present study was undertaken during the year 2018-19 in East Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh with a sampling of 200 farmers based on number of respondents who had soil health cards. The main objective of the study is to find out the significant relationship between the profile characteristics and the perception of the farmers on SHC recommendations. The data indicated that majority of the respondent (47 percent) from middle age group with majority (59 percent) of the respondents was educated up to primary school showing almost (94.5 percent) respondents had farming as occupation. From the results it is evident that half of the respondents (54 percent) had medium level of perception followed by high level of perception (28.5 percent) and low level of perception observed is 17.5 percent. The majority of respondents had a moderate level of perception regarding the suggestions on soil health cards and their application, according to the aforementioned data. Further, it also found that extension contact had positive and significant relationship with the perception about soil health card recommendations.

An attempt was made in the present study to develop a standardized scale to analyses the livelihood security of farmers in Kolar district after the implementation of K.C. Valley project where sewage treated water is supplied from Bangalore is filling the tanks of Kolar district. The livelihood security scale consists of seven dimensions viz., food security, economic security, health security, social security, ecological security, psychological security and physical security and the scale was considered highly reliable and valid. The livelihood scale consists of 47 statements were administered to 32 farmers of Malur taluk during 2020-2021. It is found that farmers have been spread over better to average (69.45 %) level of livelihood category followed by poor livelihood category (30.55 %).

The study aims to analyse the marketing cost, marketing margin, price spread, value added in the marketing system and efficiency of different distribution channels in tomatoes marketing which was produced under open and protected environment in Karnataka. The Acharya’s method of marketing efficiency was adopted for the study. The study was conducted during the year 2021 to 2022 in Karnataka. Primary data pertaining to the study were collected from 15 farmers each under open and protected cultivation practices in Kolar and Belagavi districts of Karnataka. The data related to market intermediaries are collected from 15 wholesalers, 15 retailers and 5 private companies from each district with the help of structured schedule. Three marketing channels were identified. These are producer to consumer, producer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer and producer to private companies to consumer. Though the channel comprising producer to consumer was more efficient and producer share in consumer rupee was the highest its share was very less out of the total volume of tomatoes marketed because of limited support from public bodies. The result shows that the channel involving producer to private companies to consumer was most prominent and had higher marketing efficiency and had better producer share in consumer rupee under both open and protected cultivation practices. The Government should take initiative through FPOs for upliftment of direct selling of produce to consumer.

Antimicrobial resistance has become one of the major health problems in human and animals. This threat is increasing daily and is fueled by a range of factors. Indiscriminate use of antibiotics in animals is one of the greatest source for provoking the global threat. In developing countries, veterinarians are the main driving forces towards use of antibiotics appropriately in the field conditions. Presently there is no provision to monitor the type and quantum of antibiotics prescribed by veterinarians. Here in India, their attitude plays an important role to combat on antimicrobial resistance by promoting judicious use of antibiotics in animals. To know the attitude of veterinarians in Kerala, an effort was made to develop a scale using equal appearing interval method to measure their attitude towards antimicrobial resistance and stewardship. Final scale consisted 15 statements comprising 7 favourable and 8 unfavourable statements to measure attitude of veterinarians towards antimicrobial resistance and stewardship.

India is one of the leading producers of mango in the world, contributing more than half of the global mango supply. India exported 27,872.77 MT of mangoes in 2021–2022. Due to the Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary issues, India's export share in recent years was insignificant. Hence, this study focussed on estimating the export competitiveness of mango from the year 2006 to 2020 for India and major exporting countries. The study analysed the time series data of mango and total agricultural commodity export for India and major competitive countries at world level, which have arrived from Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority and UN Comtrade. This have been resulted in positive value where Thailand, Pakistan and Brazil had Revealed Comparative Advantages values greater than one throughout the period. It indicated that, these countries had comparative advantages of mangoes. The RCA value of India was below one. However, by following Good Agricultural practices (GAPs), Indian mangoes might still find a market on a worldwide scale.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, which is a kind of a “One Nation-One scheme” launched in the year 2016. PMFBY provides a widespread insurance cover against failure of the crops and helps in stabilizing the income of the insured farmers. The present study was conducted in Washim, Malegaon and Risod taluka of Washim districts from Vidharbha region of Maharashtra state, with an objective to the “Knowledge of Farmers about Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana”. Total twelve village selected in ten respondents of non-loanee farmers from each village were selected purposively to comprise a sample of 120 respondents of non-loanee for study. The important studies were that Majority of the respondents had medium level of knowledge about Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (72.50%), Majority i.e., 65.83% of the respondents belongs to moderately level of attitude towards Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.

A study was conducted to assess the personality traits and well-being attributes, and to find out their role in predicting academic achievement of students pursuing post-graduate diploma in agri-business management. Data was collected from 166 students by administering the Big-Five Personality Inventory, Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, Satisfaction with Life Scale and Psychological Well-Being (PWB) questionnaires. The findings revealed that among the personality traits, neuroticism and openness were found higher in females compared to male students. However, such gender differences were not found with regard to happiness, life satisfaction and PWB. Except for neuroticism, personality traits were positively correlated with happiness, life satisfaction, and PWB. Academic achievement was positively associated with conscientiousness and negatively associated with neuroticism traits. The regression model on academic achievement predicts 11.4% of variation by considering personality (neuroticism and conscientiousness, being the strongest contributors) and well-being attributes.

Agripreneurship is a key factor in removal of poverty and to bring economic progress of India. As Indian economy is basically an agrarian economy; it can serve as a platform for agricultural entrepreneurship, food processing and other allied activities. A study was undertaken in 2022 in Karnataka state. Snowball sampling technique was employed for the selection of agripreneurs and about 200 agripreneurs were interviewed covering 30 enterprises across 14 districts of Karnataka. The study was conducted with the help of pre-tested schedule through personal interview method. Rank Based Quotient (RBQ) technique was employed to analyze the needs of agripreneurs. From the results of the study, it can be found that adequate infrastructure facilities and required inputs, provision of subsidies to reduce initial cost of investment and strategic solution for competition around found to be the major technical need, financial need and marketing need of agripreneurs respectively. And also, it can be suggested that Government and extension agencies have to take some measures like certainty in prices, provision of subsidies and creating awareness regarding modern techniques, and financial and marketing assistance to agripreneurs which will help them to earn more income and also inspires others to start new agrienterprise.

The land is a vital input among all the production resources. The land utilization pattern in Kerala has undergone tremendous change over the years. The present study examines the temporal variations of land use categories in Kerala from 1985-2019. The time series data on the area under land use categories were collected from various published sources and the analysis was done at the state level. The GSVA agriculture at constant prices (1985-2019) data were used to estimate the trend breaks. The growth and instability of the land use categories were estimated using CAGR and Cuddy-Della Valle instability index. The land put to non-agricultural uses, cultivable waste, current fallow and other fallow land categories exhibited positive annual growth rates in the overall period. The permanent pastures with an instability index value of 65.16 per cent was the most unstable land use category. The trend of decline in arable land and an increase in share of uncultivable land over the years was noticed in Kerala.

Inequality in access to land in Latin America, has led several rural communities to design and implement alternative forms of territorial management. In this article the identification and analysis of the characteristics of the Peasant Agroalimentary Territories (TCA for its Spanish acronym), which is the most recent territorial planning proposal in Colombia is offered; it rapidly has spread throughout this country and seems to be putting into practice some of the principles of post-development.

Confronting the current “development” dynamics (massive extraction, production, consumption, and disposal), post-development is a current of thought, gaining strength in Latin America that proposes to recover economic and environmental principles for achieving a more inclusive and equitable world. Hence, and based mainly on primary information collected (between 2019 and 2022) through interviews with social leaders and TCA inhabitants, minutes from meetings, and private documentation of other events related to their promotion and implementation, their main features and the progress in their establishment are explained.

The comparison between the theoretical principles of post-development and the TCA practices offers enough evidence to conclude that the peasant communities involved with the TCA are close enough to questioning hegemonic discourses and practices of development, understood mainly as economic growth. Another conclusion is TCA have not been created as a one-size-fits-all recipe, but rather seek to be as flexible and diverse as necessary. This characteristic is particularly important since it makes them easily reproducible in other rural contexts, and they do not depend on the rural location of a country or global region, on the geographic or ecosystem context, or on the social group that wants to organize it; instead, TCA provide the opportunity to recover a series of values and actions that are an integral part of a global trend in search of a transition towards a balance between the rights of human societies and those of Nature.

The present investigation was carried out, during the year 2019-2021 to investigate the primary sources and preferred species for fuelwood consumption among the local people of Kashmir Himalayas, India. The sample of study area was drawn by multi-stage random sampling technique. The data were collected through personal interviews of respondents using well-structured pre-tested interview schedule and non-participant observations. The study revealed that people extract enormous quantity of fuelwood mostly from forests and utilize maximum portion of extracted fuelwood for cooking and heating. Fuelwood collection was mainly done by women along with children. Winter season consumption was more than summer season consumption. Consumption of fuelwood was maximum at high elevation (>2000m) and minimum at middle and low elevation (1900-2000m and <1900m) respectively. Forests were the primary source of fuelwood resulting in huge pressure on forests thereby creating deforestation and degradation. A total of 12 species belonging to 8 families were found preferred species for fuelwood. Cedrus deodara, Salix spp., Populus spp. and Robinia pseudoacacia was the most preferred species while the Picea smithiana, Ailanthus altissima and Aesculus indica was the least preferred species.

The inherent dynamism within a system leads to structural changes of that system. Over the past, the structural changes that are occurring in the world economies are affecting the subsystems one or another way. The development of a nation like India reflects from the development of its states. The current study focuses on the structural shifts within primary sector of Andhra Pradesh (includes Telangana State’s data) more precisely, economic linkages between irrigation and between the dynamic changes in cropping pattern. It also explores the implications of dynamic changes happened in state’s agriculture after green revolution. The shifts from period 1970 – 2020 are studied using secondary data. Growth rate and conventional analyses (percentages and averages) are used to study the effects of shifts in irrigation on cropping pattern of the state. The results exhibit, declining ecofriendly surface water irrigation systems (tanks) by twofold compensated with increased extraction of groundwater resources by fivefold. As a consequence, decline in net cropped area and cropping pattern shifts adopting mono-cropping or double cropping under rice as major crop followed by cash crops or pulse crops under groundwater and canal systems of irrigation aroused. While coarse cereals have lost prominence, cash crops like chilly (93 per cent) have gained importance under irrigation. The prominence of livestock sector in the state can be realized as net irrigated area under fodder crops improved to 50.61 per cent over the decades. Overall improvement in net irrigated area with canal and groundwater systems of irrigation is current scenario of the state. Pressurized irrigation technologies should be promoted to maintain sustainability of tank irrigation structures. Cropping patterns including coarse cereals should be adopted for maintaining nutritional security. Adoption of reclamation measures to attain ecological balance between groundwater and surface water irrigation sources.

Evaluation of Hyacinth cultivars including Jan Bose, Annabella ,Aqua, Blue jacket ,Purple sensation, Purple star, Yellow stone, Gipsy queen, Aladdin, Pink pearl genotypes was carried out during year 2018 at Division Of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture SKUAST- K Shalimar with an objective to assess the performance of vegetative traits and propagation ratio. Data depicts cultivar yellow stone with maximum plant height at maturity (17.97cm), Leaf length (12.98cm), Leaf width (3.64cm), Number of leaves per plant 24.58 and minimum values for Plant height at maturity (15.02cm), Leaf length (11.06cm), Leaf width (1.93cm), Number of leaves per plant 17.58 resulted with cultivar Pink pearl. Minimum to maximum values for bulb weight (28.87 to 34.53g), bulb Size (8.18 to 10.03cm), number of offsets per bulb ( 2.00 to 3.58) and weight of offsets(11.09 to 16.94g) were observed with cultivar pink pearl and yellow stone respectively. Most of the variation for growth and propagation were significant among the cultivars.

To evaluate the availability of information and communication technology among the agricultural department staff in the year 2021, a study was carried out in the Khordha district of the state of Odisha. The stratified random sample approach was used to choose 105 respondents for the current study, comprising 22 district level, 59 block level and 24 village level agricultural officers. Ex-post facto research design was employed for the study while taking into consideration the sampling method. The data collected was statistically analysed using frequency, percentage and mean score. The study found that the majority of the district level officers (100%) had the availability of Microsoft package, a laptop, internet services, social media, e-mail, web-based search engines, a modem, a mobile phone, headphones, a television and video conferencing and block level officers (100%) had the availability of Microsoft package, a laptop, internet services, social media, e-mail, web-based search engines, a modem, a mobile phone, a television and videoconferencing whereas the village level agricultural officers (100%) had the availability of only mobile phone and television. A functioning in the ICT tools can be handled with good awareness and training dependable electricity in the workplaces.

Agri-startups is the use of technology in agriculture, horticulture and aqua-culture with the aim of improving yield, efficiency and profitability. Agri-startup can be products, services or applications derived from agriculture that improve various input, output process. In adoption of technology through digital platforms is critical towards transforming India’s agriculture. For this goal ICTs based agristart-ups are established for proper utilization of resources and increase employment and farmers income. The investigation was conducted in four ICT based agristart-ups which established in Indore district of Madhya Pradesh based on their agricultural and allied activities, to identify the constraints faced by administrators for effective functioning of agristart-ups. For this purpose descriptive research design was used and data was collected through 80 administrator with structured questionnaire, which were selected by simple random sampling method with replacement. Major constraints reported by administrator was unsupportive bank officials and poor co-operation, which was analyzed through the garrett ranking method.

Potato is one of the most widely cultivated crops in Kenya and a crucial source of income and food. Despite the importance, potato production has been constrained by pests and diseases resulting in low yields and returns among the smallholder farmers precise those in Molo Sub-County. Plant health clinic advisory services are extension services that benefit farmers in terms of changes in knowledge, skills and management of crop pests and diseases leading to production improvement. Although are considered important mechanism in solving plant health problems, not much is known about their influence on potato production. This study sought to determine the influence of plant health clinic advisory services on potato production among smallholder farmers in Molo Sub County, Kenya. The study used a cross section survey design. The accessible population of the study was 6000 smallholder potato farmers and 10 key informants. Simple random sampling was used to select a sample of 152 respondents from four wards and purposive sampling for key informant. Data collected were analyzed using frequency tables, percentages and multiple regression analysis. Frequency of contact with adviser, use of advisory services, usefulness of plant health clinic services and type of advisory information access were found to have statistically significant influence on potato production p = 0.000, p = 0.000, p = 0.007 and p = 0.000 respectively with R² = 0.618. The study recommendation is that the Ministry of Agriculture in the study area should enhance the provision of plant health clinic advisory services to potato farmers in the area. This could help in the identification of possible areas of intervention in utilization and access so as to improve potato production.

The study was conducted with an objective to is analyze the factors determining the consumers behavior of branded milk and milk products in Tirupati City of Andhra Pradesh during 2020-21. Tirupati city was purposively selected for the study being an important Tier-II city in Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh with metro population accounting to 3,73,000 in 2021 (census2011.co.in)Twelve wards were selected based on the criteria of highest population recorded during 2021 in descending order. 10 consumers were selected from each ward that constituteda sample size of 120 consumers. The factors determining the consumers behavior of branded milk and milk products was collected using a well-defined schedule through personal interview method during the year 2020-21. The empirical findings of the study revealed that Heritage is most preferred brand both in milk and milk products among the consumers. The statistical tools employed Principal Component Analysis (Analysis of data using SPSS software). The results of Principal Component Analysis inferred that the consumer behavior of branded milk and milk products was influenced by five factors namely Consumer preference factor (Family, Advertisement, Quality, Offers, Package Design, Hygiene in production and Fat content), Product attributes factor (Price, Flavor, brand Image) Perishable factor (Freshness, appearance), Referral factor (Friends and Relatives , Wide Product Range and Product Availability) and Convenience factor (Packs in suitable quantities and Texture).

An experimental study was conducted to explore the potentiality of Programmed Instruction (PI) as an educational method in bringing desirable changes in the affective domain of extension functionaries on new agriculture technology, using Solomon four group research design: before-after with three controls considering 120 respondents. The results revealed that, the PI was more effective at organisation sub-domain (51.00) followed by valuing (42.87), responding to phenomena (39.60), receiving phenomena (38.00) and internalising values (35.33). The overall effectiveness score of affective domain was 41.36 signifying that, the PI is an effective educational method.

Indian agriculture has witnessed a dearth in farm mechanization resulting in inadequate production and productivity in various parts of the country. Despite its need and usefulness, farm mechanization is still far off the reach of small and marginal farmers, who by the virtue of their poor economic condition are unable to acquire the various farm implements needed for timely farm operations. Custom hiring centers (CHC) are a reliable source for bringing a considerable change in the farming situation across the country by availing hiring services of farm implements at affordable rates to the farmers. CHCs are capable to realize the labor shortage, efficient and timely operations, and increased yields. Many studies have demonstrated different dimensions regarding the custom hiring centers and their services. This review paper is collated to provide a better understanding of the perception of the farmers, associated factors, constraints experienced by the farmers, and suggestions regarding utilization of custom hiring services (CHS).

Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) refer to all biological resources harvested from the forest for human use and are not having timber purposes. Two types of NTFPs such as tradable and non-tradable NTFPs are available. In international trade, tradable NTFPs are only significant. NTFPs are important components of food security and a vital source of income for the poor in many developing nations. NTFP collection accounts for almost 58 per cent of the total income earned by Kerala's tribal population. Most of the employment (54.04%) was generated by the wage sector followed by NTFP collection (33.77%). NTFPs were found to be collected and used by tribals for a variety of purposes, including food, medicine, raw materials for making implements, and as a source of income. NTFPs are marketed through various marketing channels, depending on various factors such as the product's nature, demand and proximity to the market. If co-operative societies and EDCs (Eco-Development Committees) could develop value additional units for NTFPs with the participation of indigenous groups, it ensures effective use of their spare time as well as a better livelihood through increased NTFP income.

Startup India is a flagship initiative of the Government of India aimed at fostering innovation and building startups. In order to promote entrepreneurship, economic growth, and employment in India through this initiative, the Government intends to empower startup ventures. Global attention has been drawn to India's startup ecosystem. Innovation and scalable technology can enable start-ups to generate impactful solutions. Consequently, they serve as vehicles for economic and social development and transformation.   Over the past two decades, the Indian start-up ecosystem has undergone a rapid evolution. In recent years, the business world has witnessed an explosion of ground-breaking start-ups providing solutions to the real problems at a mass level thanks to hundreds of innovative youngsters choosing to pursue entrepreneurship instead of joining multinational corporations and government ventures. Over the past decade, the Government of India has introduced a number of schemes aimed at promoting entrepreneurship and growing the economy. These programs have helped a large number of start-ups succeed. As a result of these schemes, the country will move forward and secure the strongest position in the world economy. At different stages of a start-up's development, there are different funding options. The Indian government implements numerous schemes to promote start-ups through a variety of funding options that are easily accessible to budding and existing entrepreneurs. It is encouraging to see India as a country with many opportunities, particularly in the agriculture sector, which lends itself to the development of start-ups and employment creation. A few challenges, funding options and opportunities that Indian start-ups have to face in our current eco-system are discussed in this paper.