Browsing by Author "Sobhana, G"

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Analysis of the role of junior agricultural officers in implementing agricultural development programmes in Kerala
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 1982) Sobhana, G; Tampi, A M
Differential preference of work by agricultural labourers and their employment and wage pattern in Thiruvananthapuram district
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 1994) Sindhu Devi, P; Sobhana, G
The study, ‘Differential Preference of Work by Agricultural Labourers and Their Employment and Wage Pattern in Thiruvananthapuram District’ was condutcted in 10 panchayats of the district with the following specific objectives. 1. To analyse the employment pattern of agricultural labourers of Thiruvananthapuram district. 2. To analyze the wage pattern of agricultural labourers of Thiruvananthapuram district. 3. To study the differential preference by agricultural labourers towards various agricultural operations and to analyse the reasons for preference or non-preference. 4. To study the socio-economic and psychological profile of agricultural labourers. 5. To suggest ways and means for equitable distribution of employment and income throughout the year. The study was conducted in 10 randomly selected panchayats of Thiruvananthapuram district. A sample of 120 agricultural labourers ie, 60 male and 60 females, selected 12 labourers from each panchayat formed the respondents. Out of this, 40 laboureres formed the sub-sample, from whom the data regarding the employment and wage pattern were collected with the help of a special schedule. Personnel Interview was conducted with the help of a pre-tested, well structured interview schedule to collect data. Along with this, the differential preference by agricultural labourers towards different agricultural operations and the reasons for the preference or non-preference were also collected. The profile characteristics selected for the study were age, sex, caste, religion, family type, family size, family income, experience, socio-economic status, cosmopoliteness, mass media participation, indebtedness, level of aspiration, achievement motivation, attitude towards scientific agriculture, attitude towards agricultural labour, participation in decision making, knowledge in farming and knowledge about improved farm implements. Salient findings of the study are as following. During May to October, more employment was obtained for agricultural labourers. Total number of days employed by a male agricultural labourer was 167 days and that of a female agricultural labourers was 141 days in a year. Number of days employed in agricultural labour was more than the number of days in employment in non-agricultural field. They were unemployed for about six to seven months in a year. The works mostly engaged by the male agricultural labourer were digging, application of organic manure and fertilizers, basin preparation for coconut, taking mounts for tapioca etc. Transplanting, weeding and harvesting were the jobs mostly the female agricultural labourers engaged. Average daily income of the male agricultural labourer was Rs. 12.16 from agricultural labour and Rs. 8. 86 from non-agricultural works. The same for a female agricultural labourer was Rs. 8.95 from agricultural labour and Rs. 2.40 from non-agricultural works. In a male agricultural labour household and in a female agricultural labour household, the contribution of income from agricultural labour to the total annual household income were 53 per cent and 55.5 per cent respectively. Average annual income per agricultural labour household was Rs. 11382.20. Male agricultural labourers preffered the hard works such as ploughing, digging, leveling, land preparation, basin preparation, taking pits for banana, taking mounts for tapioca etc., as they possessed more strength and stamina for doing these operations and also due to the high wage rates for these operations. Female agricultural labourers preferred mostly transplanting, weeding and harvesting of paddy crops as these operations provided maximum number of days of employment to them. Least preference was given to plant protection by both male and female labourers as this is the most dangerous operation. Majority of agricultural labourers were young, scheduled caste Hindus from nuclear families with less than five members. Majority of them were with low family income, low indebtedness, an experience of about 25 years, and high cosmopoliteness. Majority of male labourers were with high education, high socio-political participation, high socio-economic status, high mass media participation, high level of aspiration (past, present and future), high achievement motivation and high attitude towards scientific agriculture. Majority of female labourers were with low education, low socio-political participation, low socio-economic status, low mass media participation, high level of past and present aspiration but low level of future aspiration, low achievement motivation and low attitude towards scientific agriculture. Majority of the agricultural labourers had low attitude towards agricultural labour, high level of knowledge in farming and low level of knowledge about improved farm implements. Majority of the male labourers had high participation in decision making while majority of female labourers had low participation. There was significant difference between male and female agricultural labourers with respect to their socio-political participation, socio-economic status, cosmopoliteness, mass media participation, level of aspiration (Present and future), achievement motivation, attitude towards scientific agriculture, participation in decision making, knowledge in farming and knowledge about improved farm implements.
Extension intervention for sustaining rice production
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 1999) Syam Kumar, B G; Sobhana, G
The present study 'EXTENSION INTERVENTION FOR SUSTAINING RICE PRODUCTION was undertook to study the extent of awareness and adoption of farmers regarding the selected recommended practices in rice cultivation, their attitude towards rice cultivation and to assess the impact of an extension intervention in the awareness, attitude and adoption levels and also on the yield and benefit -cost ratio of rice crop. For this study Neyyattinkara taluk ofThiruvananthapuram district was purposively selected. Forty farmers were selected using random sampling procedure from the selected padasekharam which was selected randomly. The data were collected using a well-structured interview schedule. The extension intervention was carried out in three stages viz., pre-sowing, pre-transplanting and post-transplanting extension intervention. The study revealed that majority of the farmers had low attitude towards rice cultivation and low adoption of the recommended practices. But majority possessed high awareness about the recommended practices. Regarding the personal characteristics majority had low social participation, extension orientation, innovativeness and risk orientation and high level of educational status, farming experience, cosmopoliteness, mass media participation, scientific orientation, economic motivation and self-confidence. Among the major hurdles inhibiting the adoption of the advocated practices lack of awareness stood first followed by high cost of inputs. The correlation analysis showed that the following variables viz., educational status, social participation, extension orientation, scientific orientation, innovativeness, risk orientation, cosmopoliteness, mass media participation, economic motivation and self-confidence were positively and significantly related to awareness and adoption of respondents with regard to selected recommended practices while age, occupational status, farming experience and annual income showed significant negative correlation with adoption. The variables age, occupational status, and furming experience were negatively correlated with awareness. As fur as attitude of farmers towards rice cultivation was concerned only the following variables namely, educational status, social participation, extension orientation, scientific orientation and self-confidence showed significant positive association. Among the selected recommended practices the following namely, varietal choice, seed rate, seed treatment, transplanting stage, planting depth, basal and top dress fertilizer dosages, urea-neem cake mixture application and pesticide dosage were fully adopted by more than 50 per cent of the respondents after the extension intervention. Maximum percentage increase in full adopters was seen with regard to urea-neern cake application followed by seed treatment and seed rate. Step-wise regression analysis showed that critical weed control followed by varietal choice, NPK fertilizer application, pesticide application, seed treatment and fungicideapplication showed significant contribution towards variation in the yield of paddy. As far as predictive efficiency of the variables was concerned varietal choice followed by seed treatment and critical weed control took the first three places. The results oft-test brought to light that the extension intervention could significantly bring about change in the extent of awareness of farmers about selected recommended practices in rice cultivation, extent of adoption of selected recommended practices in rice cultivation by farmers and yield of rice crop.
Participation of women in agricultural development programmes under people`s plan in Thiruvananthapuram district
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2000) Parvathy, S; Sobhana, G
Problems and prospects of self-employment of trained rural youth in agriculture
(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 1997) Sivaprasad, S; Sobhana, G
This study was designed to identify the problems and prospects of trained rural youth in agriculture with extent of adoption of scientific practices and their entrepreneurial behaviour. Sericulture being a newly introduced self employment avenue and beekeeping being an old avenue with a lot of trainings imparted to the unemployed youth were selected as the self employment avenues for the study. Following multistage random sampling 200 trained youth were selected from the five blocks of Idukki district as 50 practising and 50 non practising in each selected avenue and interviewed to study their entrepreneurial behaviour, extent of adoption of scientific practices in sericulture and beekeeping and their profile characteristics. Regarding the problems in sericulture lack of assured price, small holding size, inadequate extension support, lack of quality planting materials, non availability of credit, lack of marketing facilities were identified as major problems and effective utilisation of family labour, minimise unemployment status and gain additional income to the family were the major prospects. In beekeeping, loss of bees due to virus disease, lack of fixed price for honey, inadequate training, non availability of credit, disease free bees, lack of organised marketing network were identified as major problems whereas effective utilisation of family labour, gain additional income to the family, and conservation of vegetation were the major prospects. Majority of the practising youth in two avenues had high level of entrepreneurial behaviour and the non practising youth had low level of entrepreneurial behaviour. Study revealed that majority of the sampled youth had high level of adoption in sericulture and beekeeping. Decision making ability and competition orientation have no correlation with extent of adoption in sericulture, whereas in beekeeping, innovation proneness and competetion orientation have no relation. Regarding the personal characteristics majority of the had less farming experience, less annual income less training, low level of extension contact, extension participation and high level of knowledge, information seeking behaviour and mass media exposure. Extension contact, extension participation, mass media exposure, knowledge and training attended had no significant relationship with entrepreneurial behaviour. Farming experience, annual income, mass media exposure, knowledge and information seeking behaviour were positively and significantly influencing extent of adoption of scientific practices.
Role of krishi bhavans in agricultural development in Thiruvananthapuram district
(Department of Agricultural extension, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 1992) Suresh Nelson; Sobhana, G
The study, ‘Role of Krishi Bhavans in Agricultural Development in Thiruvananthapuram District’ was conducted among Agricultural Extension Personnel and farmers in the three agricultural sub-divisions of the district viz. Neyyattinkara, Nedumangad and Attingal with the following specific objectives: To analyse the role of krshi Bhavans in Agricultural Development as perceived by farmers and Agricultural Extension Personnel. To study the awareness of farmers and Agricultural Extension Personnal about the concept and functioning of Krishi Bhavans. To study the attitude of farmers and Agricultural Extension Personnel towards Krishi Bhavans. To identify the constraints, if any, perceived by farmers and Agricultural Extension Personnel in the functioning of Krishi Bhavans. The study was conducted among 30 AOs. 30 AAS, 30 Karshika Vikasana Samithy Members and 60 other farmers, randomly selected from 30 krishi Bhavans of the district. The roles of Krishi Bhavans were analysed in terms of perceived importance and performance of the roles by the Agricultural Extension Personnel and farmers. Awareness was measured using the schedule developed for the study. Attitude towards Krishi Bhavans was measured using the attitude scale developed for the purpose. The characteristics of respondents were quantified using either adopted scales or schedules developed for the study. Constraints in the functioning of Krishi Bhavans were also identified as perceived by Agricultural Extension Personnel and farmers. Out of the thirty five identified roles, seven roles were perceived as important by all the four categories of respondents viz. AOs, AAS, Karshika Vikasana Samithy Members and other farmers. Of the seven roles, five were perceived by all of them as being adequately performed. The roles which were not adequately performed according to them were (i) Conducting method demonstrations, result demonstrations and Minikit trials in farmers’ fields. (ii) Arranging loans from Banks and Societies to farmers for agricultural purposes. Majority of the respondents ie. 56.67 per cent of AOs, 53.33 per cent of AAs, 56.67 per cent of Karshika Vikasana Samithy Members and 53.33 per cent of other farmers were having higher level of awareness about Krishi Bhavans. Job commitment of AOs was positively and significantly related to their awareness. None of the selected characteristics of AAs had significant relationship with their awareness. Education, social participation, contact with extension agency, innovativeness and scientific orientation of Karshika Vikasana Samithy Members and social participation, information source utilisation and innovativeness of other farmers were positively and significantly related with their awareness about Krishi Bhavans. Less than half of AOs and AAs (46.67 per cent each) and majority of Karshika Vikasana Samithy Members (60 per cent) and other farmers (56.67 per cent) were found to have high degree of attitude towards Krishi Bhavans. Job satisfaction and job commitment of AOs and job satisfaction of AAs were found to have positive and significant relationship with their attitude towards Krishi Bhavans. Contact with extension agency, Scientific orientation and awareness about Krishi Bhavans of Karshika Vikasana Samithy Members and contact with extension agency of other farmers were found to have positive and significant relationship with their attitude towards Krishi Bhavans. Lack of clerical support in Krishi Bhavan was the most important constraint perceived by AOs while ‘Lack of facilities in Krishi Bhavans was perceived as the most important constraint by AAs. The five serious constraints identified by Karshika Vikasana Samithy Members and other farmers were high labour cost, conversion of paddy fields into coconut and banana gardens making tiller ploughing difficult lack of irrigation water in time, inadequate and untimely supply of inputs and high cost of cultivation.
Sustainability of tribal development in Kerala- a methodological study
(Department Of Agricultural Extension, College Of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2005) Rajendralal, T V; Sobhana, G