1. KAUTIR (Kerala Agricultural University Theses Information and Retrieval)
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Item Participation of farm family women in sericulture in the Palakkad district(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1994) Sajan Andrews, K; Geethakutty, P SA Research study entitled “Participation of Farm Family Woman in Sericulture in the Palakkad District” was conducted to identify the extent of participation of farm family woman in decision making and in the operations in sericulture in relation to their personal, socio-cultural and techno-economic factors and the constraints and consequences there of. The study area comprised of the four agricultural subdivisions of the Palakad district namely, Alathoor, Mannarkad, shornur and Chittoor. A stratified random sample of 150 sericulture units was selected for the study. Data were collected from the woman heads of sericulture units using a pre-tested structured interview schedule. Appropriate statistical techniques like correlation analysis, regression analysis and path analysis were done to analyse the data. The extent of participation of farm family women in sericultural operations (EPSO) was measured in terms of two dimensions namely actual hours of work and nature of participation in each of the operations. Nineteen operations in sericulture (seven under mulberry cultivation and twelve under silkworm rearing) were identified and included in the study. The extent of participation of farm family women in decision making in sericultural operations (EPDS) was measured in terms of two dimensions, nature of participation and frequency of participation. Thirty important areas of decision making in sericulture were identified and measured in the study. The study revealed that only a small percentage of the farm woman had put forth ‘high’ and ‘medium’ participation in sericultural operations while, a majority of them were of ‘low’ and ‘very low’ participation in various activities of sericulture enterprise. Operation wise analysis revealed that in almost all operations of mulberry, farm women had no major contribution. Only in the case of application of chemical fertilizers, pruning, weeding and harvesting of leaves at least some amount of participation could be accounted, which were carried out either ‘jointly’ or with ‘supervision’ only. Majority of the farm women spend 2-5 hours for chopping the leaves, feeding the worms, caring the worms at moulting, bed cleaning, protection of worms, moulting of worms, harvesting of cocoons and cleaning and grading of cocoons with ‘joint’ nature of participation. Regarding the extent of participation of farm family women in decision making in sericulture operations the study revealed that nearly one third of the farm women had ‘medium’ involvement, while a majority of them had either ‘low’ or ‘very low’ participation. A majority of the farm woman had ‘joint’ participation in decision making in all activities of mulberry cultivation none of the respondents had ‘solely’ participation in decision making in any of the activities of mulberry cultivation and silk worm rearing. More than fifty per cent of farm woman made ‘joint’ decisions in matters regarding number of feedings to be given to worms, size and quality of leaves, spacing of worms, caring of worms, method of bed cleaning, number of trays, time of mounting of worms, harvesting of cocoons, and grading and cleaning of cocoons with moderate frequent participation. The simple correlation analysis showed that out of sixteen variables, except age all variables were positively and significantly related with EPSO. Multiple regression analysis revealed that five variables namely experience in sericulture, scientific orientation, management orientaition, attitude towards sericulture and family income were significant in explaining the variability in EPSO. Except age and education all the variables showed positive and significant correlation with EPDS. Multiple regression analysis revealed that only two variables namely information source utilization and attitude towards sericulture were significant in explaining the variability in EPDS. The major constraints experienced by the farm family women in participation in sericulture and decision making were low price of the cocoons and price fluctuations in the market, lack of leisure time availability, lack of knowledge about the practices and death of worms due to diseases. Enhancement of managerial economy, economic utilization of leisure time and status elevation in the family were identified as the most important positive consequences experienced by the farm family women in sericulture. The major negative consequences experienced by the farm family women due to their participation in sericulture were lack of time to attend children and other farm and home operations, drudgery, exhaustion and frustration.Item Fertiliser use behaviour of rice farmers of Kerala(Department of Agricultural Extension, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, 1993) Geethakutty, P S; Menon, A G GThe study was conducted with the main objective of developing an index for measuring the fertilizer use behaviour of rice farmers. A total of 300 rice farmers were selected following multistage random sampling procedure, 60 from each District, so selected that each District represented one NARP Zone. Besides farmer respondents, 40 agricultural scientists, 40 agricultural extension personnel and 40 input dealers were also selected as other categories of respondents for the study. The Composite Fertiliser Use Behaviour Index (CFUBI) was developed by identifying six dimensions of fertilizer/ manure use for rice, (quantity, time of application, split application, type, method of application and related management practices). The weightages of the identified six dimensions were obtained through judges’ rating and also through the relevancy rating of the practices under the identified dimensions. The CFUBI derived by the formula method was compared with the index developed by the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method. Based on relevancy rating and pilot study, 17 behavioural characteristics were selected as independent variables. The variables were quantified using standardized procedures. Mean and percentage analysis, Delinious Hodges Cumulative Root ‘f’ stratification, Critical difference, Coefficient of variation analysis of variance, kendall’s coefficient of concordance, Chi – square analysis, Correlation analysis, Multiple regression analysis and Principal Component Analysis were the statistical tools used for data analysis. The study revealed that more than 60 per cent of rice farmers were under ‘good’ and ‘satisfactory’ categories based on their CFUBI. The NARP Central Zone had highest percentage of farmers under ‘good’ category of CFUBI, while the Problem Zone had the highest percentage of farmers with regard to the use of nitrogenous, phosphatic and potassic fertilizers. The High Range Zone had the highest percentage of farmers with respect to the use of organic manures. Based on the use of nitrogenous and phsphatic fertilizers, majority of the farmers were categorized under either ‘good’ or ‘satisfactory’ category, while with respect to the use of potassic fertilisers, it was found that farmers were almost similarly distributed under ‘good’, ‘satisfactory’, ‘poor’ and very poor’ categories. The Problem zone and Northern zone were found to be ‘very poor’ with respect to the use behaviour of organic manures and potassic fertilisers respectively. There was significant difference among the five NARP Zones in respect of the different dimensions of use of nitrogenous, phosphatic and potassic fertilizers and organic manures. The use behaviour of potassic fertilisers had the highest factor loadings in explaining variability in the CFUBI of farmers followed by the use behaviour of nitrogenous fertilisers. Split application of nitrogenous fertilisers, quantity and time of application of phosphatic fertilisers, quantity and split application of potassic fertilisers and quantity of organic manures were found significant in predicting the AYI of farmers. The behavioural characteristics of farmers found to be significant in predicting the fertiliser use behaviour of rice farmers were main occupation, level of aspiration, rational decision making ability, attitude towards fertiliser use, information source utilisation and economic performance index. The important technological and situational factors contributing to fertiliser use hehaviour as perceived by the farmers, extension personnel, scientists and input dealers were irrigation facilities, perceived appearance of crop stand, drainage facilities, price of produce, availability of rain and availability of labour. Lack of knowledge about fertiliser use, lack of assured irrigation facilities, high cost of fertilizers, high rate of labour wages, increased incidence of pests and diseases, non availability of organic manures and improper drainage facilities were the major constraints in the composite fertilizer use behaviour of rice farmers in Kerala.