eChapters

“It is unbelievable that such a tiny streamlet, as was our initial test trial with the first bacterial starters exactly 40 years ago, grew to a big river for an important industry. Who would have believed then that the use of starter cultures would be a matter of course today” (Niinivaara, 1994). The idea of inoculating Lactobacillus into dry sausage material was introduced by Jensen and Paddock in 1940(US Patent 2,225,783) with the aim to reduce the ripening time as well as ensuring the quality and aroma of dry sausages. The first LAB meat starter culture, introduced as a pure culture of Pediococcus cerevisiae, was developed in 1955 in the USA by Niven et al. (1955). At the same time, Niinivaara (1955) applied Micrococcus M53 to dry sausage production in Europe. The work of Niinivaara was continued byNurmi (1966) who combined micrococci with Lactobacillus plantarum. Today, several companies provide Lactobacillus sp., Pediococcus acidilactici, P. pentosaceus, Staphylococcus xylosus or S. carnosus strains in pure cultures or their mixtures for fermentation of meat (Hammes et al. 1985). A starter culture may be defined as a preparation or material containing large numbers of variable microorganisms, which may be added to accelerate a fermentation process. Being adapted to the substrate, a typical starter facilitates improved control of a fermentation process and predictability of its products (Holzapfel, 1997).

In 1908, Metchnikoff, the father of modern Immunology, wrote “Prolongation of Life” and created the incredible ongoing revolution known as the “Probiotic Revolution”. He proposed that “Lactic Acid Bacteria” (LAB) could render a great service in the fight against intestinal putrefaction and might postpone and ameliorate old age. Till then today, some 95 years later, dozens of the worlds most brilliant minds carry on the astonishing work that has scientifically been proven to generate restorative and healing effects in the body.

In the late 19^th century, microbiologists identified microflora in the gastrointestinal (GI) tracts of healthy individuals that differed from those found in diseased individuals. These beneficial microflora found in the GI tract were termed probiotics. The term ‘Probiotics’ is originally a Greek word meaning ‘for life’. Parker (1974) for the first time used this word. He defined Probiotics as “organisms and substances, which contribute to intestinal microbial balance”. But the most accepted definition of Probiotics was given byFuller (1989). He redefined Probiotics as “a live microbial feed supplement, which beneficially affects the host animal by improving its microbial balance”. Fuller’s definition since been broaden to state “a probiotic is a mono or mixed culture of live microorganisms which, when applied to animal or man, affect the host beneficially by improving the properties of the indigenous microflora”. This definition stresses the importance of live microorganisms that improve the health status of either man or animal and that occur in the mouth, gastrointestinal tracts (GIT), or upper respiratory or urogenital tracts (Havenaar et al, 1992).

To understand how probiotics work, it is important to understand a little about the physiology, microbiology of GI tract and the digestive process. The digestive process begins as soon as food enters the mouth and to stomach, the microbes present in the GI tract have the potential to act in a favourable, a deleterious or a natural manner. Microbes in small intestine and in large intestine complete the digestion process.

India is blessed with a coast line of 8118 km with an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 2.02 million square km and a continental shelf of 0.506 million sq. km. The inland water resources includes 191024 km of rivers and canals; 2.05 million ha of reservoirs; 2.254 million ha of ponds and tanks; 1.3 million ha of oxbow lakes and derelict waters; and 1.24 million ha brackish waters. India has an estimated fish production potential of 8.4 million tons, of which the marine sector forms 3.9 million tons and the inland sector 4.5 million tons. As against this, the current fish production is 5.96 million tons i.e., 2.89 million tons from marine sector and 3.07 million tons from inland sector (Vannuccini, 2003). The per capita fish availability in India is 4.7 kg/year (Laurenti, 2002).

The traditional fermentation process is an uncontrolled system and is usually carried out in a quite unhygienic environment. As the process of fermentation is brought about by the microbial activity so in the traditional system of fermentation there is every possibility of inclusion of microorganisms which is not desired in or that can cause spoilage to the finished product. Although no incidents of food poisoning has been reported due to consumption of fermented fish there are also no reports of any clinical investigations in this regard. A study on the microflora of such a fermented fish product is useful to understand -how safe is the product for consumption. The diverse groups of microorganisms that are present in the fermented fish products will provide information about their characteristic nature -beneficial or pathogenic, their contribution towards production of flavour and aroma, etc. The environment, however, is the key factor for the so called ‘microbial diversity’ among different fermented fish products round the globe. Moreover, the aquatic habitat, processing technique and of course, the handling during processing are the other factors that equally make a way for the introduction of a variety of microorganisms in the finished product. A study on different curing stages i.e. fresh, semi-cured and fermented, is therefore necessary to understand the pattern of microbes and become evident the role played by the microbes during fermentation.

It is an old practice that during the flourishing period, the fishes specially trash fishes are caught from their natural habitat and a bulk of them are preserved to make available for further use. Traditional fish preservation techniques are mainly based on combination of salting, drying and smoking. These techniques have allowed more widespread consumption of fish. Sun drying is most ancient method of fish preservation. Drying removes moisture from tissues and help to arrest bacterial and enzymatic putrefaction.

Fermented fish have, for many years, been considered as a Southeast Asian product. These products are highly salted and fermented until the flesh is transformed into simpler components. Fermentation of fish is a product in which the identity of the fish is maintained to large extent. Fermented fish products as fish sauces, fish paste, or salted fish have been consumed since ancient times. Because of poor roads and other methods of transport, the provision of fresh fish to potential inland consumers was impossible, and this encouraged fermentation as a preservation technique. In Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Kampuchea, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, the use of fermentation as a preservation method for fish has been of great value since earliest times. In the countries of northern Europe, fermented fish products are used mainly as condiments, whereas in Southeast Asia, various fish products are regarded as staples. In India and Sri Lanka, pickled and in Colombo, cured fish have been known for many years

Fermented foods are food substrates that are produced due to the cumulative activity, usually of edible microorganisms, whose enzymes, particularly amylases, proteases and lipases hydrolyze the polysaccharides, proteins and lipids to non-toxic products with flavours, aromas and textures pleasant and attractive to the human consumer. The role played by fermentation during food processing helps in – enrichment of human dietary through development of wide diversity of flavours, aromas and textures in food; preservation of substantial amounts of food through lactic acid, alcoholic, acetic acid, alkaline fermentation and high salt fermentations; enrichment of food substrates biologically with vitamins, protein, essential amino acids, essential fatty acids and antibiotics; detoxification during food fermentation processing and reducing the cooking times and fuel requirements.

Administration

Term Administration is derived from a Latin word Administaire which means to serve. The word administration is also derived from the English word administracioun, which is in turn is derived from the French word administration, which itself has its root from the Latin word administratio, which means ad (to) and ministratio (give service). The term administration is a more general and comprehensive connotation and may be defined as the universal process of organizing people and resources efficiently so as to direct activities toward common goals and objectives. Administration is a distinct skill and directed towards the guidance, leadership and control of the efforts of a group of individuals towards some common goal.

Administration is the art of guiding, coordinating and integrating policies established for any organizational unit to effectively and efficiently achieve the purpose of the organization.

Nearly 50 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas, it is not possible that food production be adequate for their needs. In some areas of food production surplus, it must be brought to the deficit places where peoples live and work and made available at prices they can afford, otherwise many will remain hungry. This is why marketing is a crucial part of any campaign to relieve hunger. Marketing is the means by which food is brought from the place where it is produced to the people who want to eat it.

Marketing can be a very simple process and it can also be very complex. This depends on what must be done to the farmer’s product to get it from the field to the consumer in good conditions, in an acceptable form and to have it ready when the consumer wants.

Marketing is relatively simple in a village community which produces most of what it needs. Here the producer can sell directly to the consumers coming to his house, or he can attract them by displaying his produce in some central open space in the village which then becomes known as ‘the market’. The total volume of the livestock products sold in this way is still very large, especially in the less commercially developed countries. Direct marketing within the villages is sometimes praised because of its low cost, and also because it does not involve any ‘middleman’ between producer and consumer. But, if farmers sell their produce only to the local consumers, and if their land could produce more than they need, there is no way by which they can take advantage of these excess production potentialities. Similarly, if the consumers are only able to eat what is produced locally, which may confine them to a diet that is monotonous, unsatisfying and very expensive too. This is true of many people’s living in isolated areas, which requires much home processing and still has little nutritional value; and of the many others for whom most meals consist of hand-pounded cereals. Hence, this undernourishment on one side and excess production on the other side leads to the development of marketing concept.

Farming system is an integrated set of activities that farmers perform in their farms with available resources and circumstances to maximize the productivity and net farm income on a sustainable basis. The farming system conceptually is a set of elements or components, i.e., soil, water, crops, livestock, labour, capital, energy and other resources that are interrelated and interact among themselves. At the centre of the interaction lies the farmer exercising control and choice regarding the types of results of interaction. The income of cropping alone from small and marginal farm is insufficient now to sustain the farmers family. A judicious mix of any one or more of these enterprises should complement the farm income and help in recycling the farm residues / wastes. The selection of enterprises must be based on the cardinal principles of minimizing the competition and maximizing the complementary between the enterprises. Of late, the researchers on multidisciplinary approach greatly realized and started developing the various farming systems models in accordance with the agro-eco systems zones.

Farming System thus may be defined as a complex interrelated matrix of soil, plants, animals, implements, power, labour, capital and other inputs controlled in part by farming families and influenced to varying degrees by political, economic, institutional and social forces that operate at many levels. The farming system therefore, refers to the farm as an entity of inter-dependent farming enterprises carried out on the farm. The farm is viewed in a holistic manner and the farmers are subjected to many socio-economic, biophysical, institutional, administrative and technological constraints.

Rural development programmes are created and maintained for influencing people to make changes in their way of living and of making a living. The existence of such programmes implies that the present situation of the rural people is not what it should and could be, that something different should prevail, and that it is possible through appropriate action to attain a more desirable status for them.

Changes that are important to people are those that help them to meet their needs for biological, economic, social, aesthetic and moral well being. Basically, all programmes for rural development exist to help people to meet their needs. If programmes do this people have their free choices in societies and will not participate for long periods in them. The element of people’s needs, therefore, becomes a central concern of planner for rural development. Hence, the entire process of planning for rural development implies a need for change. But now the question arises that change from what, to what, by whom, where and by what methods?

The society has to find ways to adjust itself so that people meet their needs for an improved economic status, for being more useful citizens and for enjoying a higher degree of social stratification, it must identify these conditions and plan realistically to achieve them. It is the prime concern to identify that what needs do people have ? How can needs be identified? What plan of priority should be set up for meeting people’s needs? What resources are necessary to meet people’s needs? How should resources be organized and directed to help people’s meet their needs? These questions give the key orientation and justification for rural programme planning.

One of the major constraints in the efforts to modernize and efficient restructuring of the animal husbandry practices is the delay in taking the results of research to the farming community and in persuading them to adopt new, profitable and locally relevant technologies. The very need of the extension work is to bridge the gap between what is known to the scientists in the laboratories and what is actually being practiced by the farmers in the field. In other words, the major goal of extension machinery is to accelerate the processes of communication and to motivate rural people or livestock owners for adoption of new and profitable technologies. Hence, it is very important to understand these processes of how the farmers get such technologies and how they adopt them.

Communication

The term communication is originated from the Latin word ‘Communis’, meaning common or establishing commoness. When we communicate, we attempt to establish ‘commonality’ with someone through the message.

Communication is the process by which two or more people exchange ideas, facts, feelings or impressions in ways that each gains a common understanding of the meaning, intent and use of the message (Paul Leagens, 1961).

The basic aim of extension system is to bring about a change in the behaviour of the people with whom the work is done. Change in behaviour pertains to change in knowledge, skills, attitude, understanding, etc about a particular technology which we want to diffuse. For this purpose, the extension workers essentially function as teachers to bring about adoption of new technologies by making regular contact with livestock owners through various means. He visualizes the problems of rural community in proper perspective and organizes the meaningful learning situation for effective learning. It calls for appropriate use of different extension teaching techniques. The desirable changes in the behaviour of learners depend upon the skill of the extension worker as teacher in choosing the various extension teaching techniques which are found to be most effective in the relevant situations.

The main job of the extension worker is to bring about behavioural changes in the rural people. A number of extension methods are required to perform such behavioural changes among the rural people which form the tools of the extension workers. These tools are called extension teaching methods. Extension teaching methods may be defined as the devices used to create situations in which communication can take place between the extension worker and learner. The effectiveness of various teaching methods depends on the combination of the same. Similarly, the adoption of innovation is positively related to the combination of different extension teaching methods, at different stages of the learning process.

Audio-visual aids may be defined as any device used to aid in the communication of an idea. An audiovisual product is any audiovisual item such as still photography, motion picture, audio or video tape, slide or film strip, that is prepared singly or in combination to communicate information or to elicit a desired audience response. Even though early aids such as maps and drawings are still in use, advances in the audiovisual field have opened up new methods of presenting these aids, such as videotapes and other equipments which allow more professional and entertaining presentations to be presented.

Such aids assist the teacher in communicating information among the learners leading to change in skills, attitudes, knowledge, understanding and appreciation. These aids stimulates the sensory organs like ears, eyes, etc and facilitates quick understanding of the message by the audience. The effective use of these aids depends upon the skillful and imaginative approach of the teacher. Hence, it is necessary that extension worker should know what type of aids will be more suitable for a particular teaching objective. These aids may be used for both literate as well as illiterate people.

The instructional devices through which the messages can only be heard are known as Audio Aids. The instructional devices through which the message can only be seen are known as Visual Aids. The instructional devices through which the message can both be heard and seen simultaneously are known as audio-visual aids.

Cooperative

A cooperative is a duly registered association of persons, with a common bond of interest that have voluntarily joined together to achieve a lawful common social or economic end, and making equitable contributions to the capital required and accepting a fair share of the risks and benefits of the undertaking in accordance with universally accepted cooperative principles.

Cooperative may be defined as an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise. It is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit.

A cooperative may also be defined as a business owned & controlled equally by the people who use its services or who work at it.

The basic objective of every cooperative is to provide goods and services to its members and thus enable them to attain increased income and savings, investments, productivity and purchasing power and promote among them equitable distribution of net surplus through maximum utilization of economies of scale, cost-sharing and risk-sharing without however, conducting the affairs of the cooperative for missionary or charitable purposes.

The livestock sector in India is experiencing fast growth in the present era and plays an important role in the Indian economy. Livestock contributes nearly 25% to the agricultural sector output and growing at an annual rate of 4.3% higher than the growth in agricultural sector as a whole (2.8%). Milk production that had been hovering around 20 million tones in 1960’s increased to 102 million tonnes in 2007-08. The egg production also increased from 0.1 billion to 1.0 billion in the last 25 years. Besides production of milk, meat, etc livestock make important contributions to crop production by supplying draught power and dung manure.

Animal husbandry in India is largely a rural activity. Rapid growth in livestock production is desirable not only to sustain agricultural growth, but also to reduce rural poverty especially when a majority of the land holdings are small. Fifty-eight percent of rural households have land holding of less than 2 ha and another thirty two percent have no access to land. Number of these households is likely to increase due to further fragmentation of land holdings. Livestock are thus an important source of income for small farmers, marginal farmers and landless agricultural labourers in the rural areas of the country. Products like milk and eggs are steady source of cash income, and live animals are important natural assets for the poor, which can be easily liquidated for cash during emergency. Smallholders and landless together control 75% of the country’s livestock resources, and are capable of producing at a lower cost because of availability of sufficient labour with them. These smallholders earn nearly half of their income from livestock sector.

India has been a welfare country since Independence and the primary objective of all governmental and non-governmental endeavors has been the welfare of its millions people. The policies and programmes should be designed with the aim of alleviation of rural poverty which has been one of the primary objectives of planned development in India. It was realized from pre-independent rural development efforts, that a sustainable strategy of poverty alleviation must be based on increasing the productive employment opportunities in the process of growth itself. Elimination of poverty, ignorance, diseases and inequality of opportunities and providing a better and higher quality of life were the basic premises upon which all the plans and blue-prints of development should built.

Rural development implies both the economic betterment of people as well as greater social transformation. In order to provide the rural people with better prospects for economic development, increased participation of people in the rural development programmes, decentralization of planning, better enforcement of land reforms, greater access to credit, etc proper planning is envisaged.

Initially, main thrust for development was laid on agriculture industry, communication, education, health and allied sectors but later on it was realized that accelerated development can be achieved only if governmental efforts are adequately supplemented with direct and indirect involvement of people at the grass root level.

Introduction

Livestock sector plays a significant role in the Indian economy, particularly for the welfare of rural population of India. The importance of livestock in India's economy can be gauged from the fact that 90 million farming families rear over 90 million milch animals. Of the total household in the rural areas, about 73 percent own some form of livestock, three-quarter of which are reared by small and marginal farmers.

Today, the overall growth rate in livestock sector is steady and is around 4-5%, despite the fact that investment in this sector is not substantial. This is possible due to the egalitarian distribution of the livestock as compared to land among landless labourers, small and marginal farmers thus resulting in balanced development of the rural economy particularly in reducing the poverty especially among the weaker sections of the society. Livestock also plays an important source of employment in rural India, especially for women. The rural woman plays a significant role in most of the animal husbandry operations related to feeding, breeding, management and healthcare of the livestock.

Livestock plays an important and vital role in providing nutritive food to families both in rural and urban areas. Since the dawn of civilization, mankind has been utilizing different animal species for a variety of purposes, viz., production of milk, meat, wool, egg and leather, draught power, companionship, entertainment, research experimentation, sports, security, etc. Livestock wealth is deemed to be as the oldest wealth resource for mankind and was once a symbol of economic status in the society. This is one sector where poor contributes to the growth directly instead of getting benefit from growth generated elsewhere. The effect of livestock sector growth on poverty is anecdotal, yet scattered evidence on livestock's contribution to income indicates that growth in livestock production is pro-poor.

Introduction

Growth of Science is never ending process. In that, technology development is dynamic in nature. It is applicable to all the fields come under the Science, including Agriculture also. Continuous evaluation of improved technologies had taken place in Agriculture. On the other hand, communication network through Cyber techniques or E-Extension plays a crucial role. By the way, there is a need of innovative approaches for effective technology transfer for which no one is clear like that of deriving new technologies. Starting from the 20^th century, many programmes were launched for development of rural India. As these were official dominated and top-down system, the ‘Panchayati Raj’ -the three-tier system was introduced at village, block and district levels in 1960’s keeping the local leaders as Kingpins with more participation of rural people. This had also not given due dividends owing to political infiltration and less co-operation by the development departments and lack of coordination among all concerned. A panoramic view of extension world over gives varieties of models and experiences. But no single model would suit to our conditions and here we need louder thinking on this line.

Introduction to DHAN Foundation

DHAN (Development of Humane Action) Foundation is a grassroots action agency working with poor communities in villages. Enhancing poor people’s livelihoods in sustainable way and enabling the poor communities are the focus of the programmes. The mission of the organisation is to build institute for innovation in the development work and reaching significance to bring positive changes in the lives of poor. DHAN Foundation was established in year 1997 as spin off institution of PRADAN (Professional Assistance for Development Action) based at New Delhi.

DHAN Foundation believes in building the capacity of people in planning, organizing, conflict resolution and implementation of development programmes. This will be possible only when people are encouraged to work on a single thematic focus, either through micro finance or small scale irrigation theme, for a substantive period to pick-up the generic skill of developing viable alternatives to their stalemate situation; DHAN Foundation initiatives are aimed at building people constituencies around specific activity, these institution will move into civic programmes like health, Education and Information Technology to address their member’s needs. Simultaneously DHAN Foundation as a mothering institution promotes thematic organizations as subsidiaries to upscale the matured themes and continue the promotional role to sustain the people’s organization in the specific theme for e.g. micro finance or irrigation.

Background

Context

The information and knowledge system in virtually all sectors and access during the Soviet period was strictly state controlled and was essentially designed to meet the requirements of centralized planning. Very little information sourcing, message development, media packaging took place at the local level. Requirements for meeting agricultural production quotas were channeled to Moscow where information packages and norms, based on a central assessment of local needs were developed and transmitted from the center directly to the state and collective farms. The information was disseminated primarily via dense print publications, radio, TV, public campaigns, exhibitions and fairs, and to some extent through a computer network to areas with functioning telecommunication systems. The types of information and knowledge which the state and collective farms, private farmers, kitchen gardeners, agro-processing industries, input suppliers, marketing institutions and others engaged in agriculture could obtain were restricted and opportunities for exchange with the rest of the world were extremely limited and tightly controlled. There were very few avenues for cross checking the information received. In-house, well trained technical specialists addressed a variety of crop and livestock related problems and served as the main providers of knowledge. This was supplemented by research and field applications through a very large network of a variety of agricultural research institutes and experiment stations. Most of the research results were introduced through directives. Linkages between education, research, extension and end-users were weak and in some areas non-existent. However, the importance placed on education and training of all Soviet citizens resulted in a highly literate population to serve the needs of a socialistic economy. The centralized information and knowledge system was primarily aimed at meeting production targets in the plan with little or no importance placed on economic or environmental sustainability of farming systems and development of agro-industries.

Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) Maliwan Mansion, 39 Phra Atit Road, Phra Nakorn, Bangkok 10200, Thailand

Selected ICT-enabled Agricultural Development Initiatives

• International Initiatives
• National Initiatives

Success Stories on Agricultural Information Systems

• South Korea’s Agricultural Information Service – A NARS Initiative
• ITC’s e-Choupal – A Private Sector Initiative

Lessons Learned on Secrets of Success

Extent of Adoption of Technology

Benefits and Impact at National and Regional Levels

ABSTRACT

Dairy Development plays a vital role in bringing out significant changes in socio-economic structure of rural economy. The main objectives of Dairy Developments in India is to increase production and availability of milk through integrated policy of cattle cum Dairy Development, eliminating the middlemen, through formation of co-operatives and self supporting dairy enterprise. The advent of Geographical Information System (GIS) has added new vistas in the field of Dairy Farm and Management. It also helps in integrating the whole Dairy Farm in a more precise way to get correct information about the various factors related with the whole dairy farm.

Introduction

The farm of Sarasa Green Projects around Chapabandi, Bansgora and Hetedoba Mouzas near Durgapur in Burdwan District of West-Bengal. Dairy Development plays a vital roll in brining about significant changes in socio-economic structure of rural economy. The main objectives of Dairy development in West-Bengal is to increase production and availability of milk through integrated policy of cattle cum Dairy Development eliminating the middlemen through formation of co-operatives and self supporting dairy enterprise. (Fig.1)

ABSTRACT

Over the last three decades, SAC has been engaged in the development and dissemination of remote sensing and GIS technologies for national development. These developments have originated from various initiatives related to national projects, sensor related research and in-house research and development on applications. A large multidisciplinary team of scientists develop technologies in various fields of applications like agriculture, coastal zone management, urban planning, forest and environment, etc. In addition, significant efforts are directed towards technology development for generic applications like photogrammetry and applications involving synergistic usage of remote sensing, GIS, GPS and satellite communication. Some specific examples of recent technological developments pertain to simulation modeling of crop yields, horticultural crop management, site selections for aquaculture, location of cold storage plants, large area crop production forecasting, base map creation, telegeoprocessing, mobile satellite services for fleet management, automated procedures for linear infrastructure planning, urban land use allocation planning.

An overview of these technologies and the modalities for their effective utilization by government, industries and users are summarized. Dissemination of these technologies for public bodies and private sector has been taken in the form of promotion of consultancy services in different application areas. Some major areas where these sectors have benefited through consultancies are estimation of cash and other field crops, city development planning, site selection for industry, land use change detection studies for environmental impact assessment, coastal regulation zone compliances and land use scenario, forestry related applications like catchment area treatment, forest fires monitoring, etc. Examples of consultancy services for private sector are included.

Keywords : Technology dissemination, technology development, remote sensing applications.

Introduction

Information technology is rapidly changing the use of Geographic Information Systems (GISs) from the classic desktop applications into the business service market. With the ubiquitous computing, the settings change dramatically and the classic GIS market will change drastically in the coming few years.

Till mid 90’s, the architecture of GIS focused on a standalone (static) environment. This architecture has been changed to move GIS applications from workstations into mobile GIS applications.

Mobile map applications is not a conventional GIS modified to operate on mobile devices, but a system build using a fundamentally new paradigm(Maguire,2001).

In this paper, we will discuss the integration of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition) to build a mobile map application running on 2.5G and 3G mobile devices such as Nokia series 60.

ABSTRACT

Indian farming community is facing a multitude of problems to maximize crop productivity. In spite of successful research on new agricultural practices concerning crop cultivation, the majority of farmers is not getting upper-bound yield due to several reasons. One of the reasons is that expert/scientific advice regarding crop cultivation is not reaching farming community in a timely manner. It is true that India possesses a valuable agricultural knowledge and expertise. However, a wide information gap exists between the research level and practice. Indian farmers need timely expert advice to make them more productive and competitive. In this paper, we made an effort to present a solution to bridge the information gap by exploiting advances in Information Technology (IT). We propose a framework of a cost-effective agricultural information dissemination system (AgrIDS) to disseminate expert agriculture knowledge to the farming community to improve the crop productivity. Some of the crucial benefits of AgrIDS are as follows. It is a scalable system which can be incrementally developed and extended to cover all the farmers (crops) of India in a cost effective manner. It enables the farmer to cultivate a crop with expertise, as that of an agricultural expert, by disseminating both crop and location specific expert advice in a personalized and timely manner. With AgrIDS, the lag period between research effort to practice can be reduced significantly. Finally, the proposed system assumes a great importance due to the trend of globalization, as it aims to provide expert advice which is crucial to for the Indian farmer to harvest different kinds of crop varieties based on the demand in the world market.

Introduction

Over the last two decades the Land and Water Development Division (AGL) has been at the forefront of the development and application of computer-based systems to analyse data and generate information to support decisions on various land and water issues . Separate soil and land and water systems have been developed. The soil and land systems focus on methodologies and tools for the assessment of land resources potentials at global, regional and national and sub-national levels. The water systems concern irrigation water use and management at field level and water resources assessment at regional and national levels.

AGL has been cooperating with various units within FAO and numerous international agencies and national institutions in developing and applying the systems.

Initially, in the late seventies and early eighties, the systems were developed for mainframe and mini-computers. From the late eighties they were gradually adapted to microcomputers. At the same time computer tools for managing spatial data, including geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing and global positioning systems (GPS) were introduced. Since the last few years the availability of networked PC workstations, rapid application development environment and multimedia tools have opened an era of completely new possibilities in the development and application of the systems.

Introduction

Precision farming is one of the most scientific and modern approaches to sustainable agriculture that has gained momentum in 21^st century. Consider this situation: ‘A farmer goes to his field with his GPS (Global Positioning System) guided tractor. The GPS senses the exact location of the tractor within the field. It sends the signal to a computer on the tractor, which has a GIS, storing the soil nutrient requirement map in it. The GIS, in consultation with a Decision Support System, decides what is the exact requirement of the fertilizer for that location and then commands a variable rate fertilizer applicator, attached with the tractor, to apply the exact dose at that precise location. And all this is done within a second, before the tractor moves further.’ Sounds like an excerpt from a scientific fiction. But this is what precision farming (PF) means to the large growers of the US or European countries. Hence, the first thing that comes to mind is that, this system is not for developing countries, especially India, where the farmers are poor, farming is mostly subsistent and the land holding size is small. But, this is far from the truth as this approach has a large potential for improving the agricultural production in developing world. This article is an attempt to explain the possibility of adopting PF in India and the role of satellite based remote sensing in facilitating that.

ABSTRACT

An Expert System also called a Knowledge Based System is a computer program designed to simulate the problem-solving behavior of an expert in a narrow domain or discipline. In agriculture, expert systems unite the accumulated expertise of individual disciplines, e.g., plant pathology, entomology, horticulture and agricultural meteorology, into a framework that best addresses the specific, on-site needs of farmers. Expert systems combine the experimental and experiential knowledge with the intuitive reasoning skills of a multitude of specialists to aid farmers in making the best decisions for their crops. The various expert systems were developed since evolution of Artificial Intelligence. This paper compares the availability of various expert systems in agriculture for last 30 years.

Introduction

Agricultural production has evolved into a complex business requiring the accumulation and integration of knowledge and information from many diverse sources. In order to remain competitive, the modern farmer often relies on agricultural specialists and advisors to provide information for decision making. Unfortunately, agricultural specialist assistance is not always available when the farmer needs it. In order to alleviate this problem, expert systems were identified as a powerful tool with extensive potential in agriculture.

Introduction

Expert system can be defined as a tool for information generation from knowledge. Information is either found in various forms or generated from data and/or knowledge. Text, images, video, audio are forms of media on which information can be found, and the role of information technology is to invent, and devise tools to store and retrieve this information. Statistical information is a good example of information generated from data while advises generated by an expert system is a good example of information generated from knowledge.

At the beginning, the concentration was mainly on textual information. Information technology used for textual information ranged from paper archiving tool to the sophisticated electronic computer software tools such as data base management systems, and hypertext tools. Images were very difficult to be included in an information system just few years ago till the scanners technology has been advanced together with the invention of the optical storage devises which have the capacity to store hundreds of mega bytes. This technology has enabled the developers to include images in their systems. Input peripherals to capture video and audio information have been also commercialized and are now available in the market. Storage of audio and video would be impossible unless large storage media were invented.

Access to information and improved communication is a crucial requirement for sustainable agricultural development. Modern communication technologies when applied to conditions in rural areas can help improve communication, increase participation, disseminate information and share knowledge and skills. It is being said that “Cyber Extension” would be the major form of technology dissemination in the near future. However it is observed that the rural population still have difficulty in accessing crucial information in order to make timely decisions. It is essential that information availability is demand driven rather than supply driven. The challenge is not only to improve the accessibility of communication technology to the rural population but also to improve its relevance to local development.

The advent of INTERNET on communication scenario offers enormous potential for two-way on-line communication between distant parties via the telecommunication and computer network spread over the entire globe. The world is rapidly shrinking to a ‘global village’ which some courageously even call a ‘global family’. The merger of communication (audio and video) and computer technology has suddenly made this combination so powerful that no sector of human activity can afford to ignore it. Right from high security defense systems, space research, engineering and educational applications the INTERNET has found users in petty shopkeepers and small service agencies. In countries like Singapore, you can book a taxi via e-mail and the concerned taxi driver is able to confirm your booking, while he is still driving.

History

Video conferencing uses telecommunications of audio and video to bring people at different sites together for a meeting. This can be as simple as a conversation between two people in private offices (point-to-point) or involve several sites (multi-point) with more than one person in large rooms at different sites. Besides the audio and visual transmission of people, video conferencing can be used to share documents, computer-displayed information, and whiteboards.

Simple analog videoconferences could be established as early as the invention of the television. Such videoconferencing systems consisted of two closed-circuit television systems connected via cable. During the first manned space flights, NASA used two radiofrequency (UHF or VHF) links, one in each direction. TV channels routinely use this kind of videoconferencing when reporting from distant locations, for instance. Then mobile links to satellites using special trucks became rather common.

This technique was very expensive, though, and could not be used for more mundane applications, such as telemedicine, distance education, business meetings, and so on, particularly in long-distance applications. Attempts at using normal telephony networks to transmit slow-scan video, such as the first systems developed by AT&T, failed mostly due to the poor picture quality and the lack of efficient video compression techniques. The greater 1 MHz bandwidth and 6 Mbit/s bit rate of Picture phone in the 1970s also did not cause the service to prosper

What is an IVR

IVR or Interactive Voice Response is a technology that automates interaction of a database with telephone callers. Enterprises are increasingly turning to IVR to reduce the cost of common sales, service, collections, inquiry and support calls to and from their company.

IVR solutions are generally used with pre-recorded voice prompts and menus to present information and options to callers, and touch-tone telephone keypad entry to gather responses. Modern IVR solutions however, also enable input and responses to be gathered via spoken words with voice recognition.

IVR solutions enable users to retrieve information including bank balances, flight schedules, product details, order status, movie show times, and more from any telephone. Additionally, IVR solutions are increasingly used to place outbound calls to deliver or gather information for appointments, past due bills, and other time critical events and activities.

My definition of a ‘Developed India’ is “when the quality of life in our rural areas becomes comparable to that in the non-urban areas of already developed countries”. Another way of looking at development is to look at ‘Measures of Development’. Unlike the three used by United Nations, viz. per-capita Gross National Product, life expectancy at birth and adult literacy, I have been suggesting for a long time that the appropriate measures of development for a developing country are only two – per capita electricity consumption and female literacy. Availability of electricity is essential to provide the basic amenities like pure drinking water and proper health care and to develop rural industries. And also, without near-hundred per cent literacy and without societal equity – evidenced inter-alia through gender non-discrimination – the fruits of science and technology (S&T) will not fully reach rural India.

Technology Foresight to Become a ‘Developed’ Country

Choosing the right technologies to put the nation on the part of rapid development requires technology Foresight. Technology foresight must be distinguished from Technology Forecasting, which attempts to predict future technological developments, without worrying about the impact of these developments on the economy, society or the environment. Technology foresight adds assessments from economic, social, environmental, security and even ethical points of view to technology foresight. One may often get different answers from such analysis depending on whether you are from India or say, from the United States of America, to the need for technologies like, for example, fast breeder reactors or rural food processing.

1 & 3 Assistant Professor, Dept. of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, Agricultural College & Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai -625 104

2 & 4 Senior Research Fellows, Dept. of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, AC & RI, Madurai -625 104.

Prelude

The rapid and unprecedented changes in the external environment such as liberalisation of the economy, globalisation of international markets, deregulation of the financial systems and implications of various clauses under WTO exerted considerable pressure on the agricultural system. Moreover, the major challenges facing the world today includes are: managing the environment in a sustainable manner, managing the exploding rate of population growth and urbanisation, ensuring food security, meeting health, education and literacy needs and eliminating poverty.

Meeting these challenges requires information, knowledge and participatory process of social change. Communication is an essential element in this process. According to Balit (1996) who pointed out that least expensive input for rural development is knowledge. Knowledge and information are basic ingredients of food security and are essential for facilitating rural development and bringing about social and economic change.

The 21^st century is witnessing a computer revolution in which information processing and retrieval are being reliably done at incredible speeds. Computers are used for storing, analysing and distributing information of all kinds including words, numbers, pictures, illustration, sounds and movies. Computer aided knowledge dissemination mechanism help to reach the unreached and foster new voices and new leaders.

According to Aasher (1995) microcomputer technologies have the potential to support all the major functions of agricultural extension, namely the technology generation, diffusion, adoption continuum and the efficient handling of descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive types of information.

1 Professor (Retired) Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, Agricultural College & Research Institute, Madurai-625 104

Introduction

The word ‘Extension’ was first coined in U.S.A. in the mid-part of the nineteenth century, to connote extension knowledge of improved practices in agriculture and home economics from Land Grant Colleges to the farmers and their families in their fields and homes. The literary meaning of Extension is ‘Ex’-out; Tensio’-to stretch i.e. Extension means stretching out. Extension, in the context of rural community development, means educating rural people and it implies production of changes in human behaviour -in terms of attitude, knowledge and skill. Extension is often misconceived as disbursement of subsidies and providing certain material incentives; it is certainly not.

There are several conventional extension techniques approaches and tools for transfer of any farm -related technologies, be it any enterprise, crop or their mix. Extension teaching aids are broadly classified as:

This section forms the crux of this research. Here, the data collected as per the research methodology explained in previous chapter has been analysed, results were obtained and discussed. The data were classified, tabulated and then treated with scientific methods to get the results.

After tabulation, the results were interpreted to bring out emphatically the most striking relationship between the variables. The results are presented in the form of tables, graphs and figures.

The findings are presented under the following parts in accordance with the objectives setforth.

Section I : Profile of the study respondents

Section II : Effectiveness of selected learning modules in terms of knowledge gain and symbolic adoption

Section III : Relationship and influence of independent variables towards knowledge gain and symbolic adoption

Section IV : Farmers perception about the Interactive Multimedia Compact Disc (IMCD)

Section V : Farmers opinion regarding utility of the IMCD as a tool for transfer of technology

Section VI : Strategies for better utilization of IMCD

The research procedures followed in the study are reported under the following sub-heads viz. Selection of Farm Technology and Development of Farmer -Friendly Interactive Multimedia Compact Disc.

3.1. Selection of Farm Technology: Integrated Pest Management Practices for Coconut Eryophid Mite

3.1.1. Importance of Coconut

Coconut is one of the most widely grown plantation crops of the tropics. The palm is recognized as a multiproduct and termed as horticultural, plantation, food and even as an oil seed crop. It has diversified uses such as sources of food, drink and shelter and as a raw material for various industrial uses and thus serves as commercial crop.

The coconut is referred to as man’s most useful tree, synonymously the King of the tropical flora, tree of abundance, tree of heaven Kalpa Vrisha, tree of life and layman’s crop. Millions of people in India and other tropical regions depend upon the coconut plantations for their livelihood. More than 100 products are being made directly or indirectly from coconuts and their export earned India appreciable foreign exchequer.

For any research endeavor, perusal of available literature is of paramount importance. Such an effort will highlight the attempt made and provide a clear comprehension of similar studies. A search on earlier research studies revealed that only a few have concentrated on Multimedia, Interactive Multimedia and Information Technology (IT) in transfer of farm technology. The available concepts and literature are presented under the following sub-heads.

2.1 IT in Farm Technology

2.2 Interactive Multimedia in Farm Technology Transfer

2.3 Selection of Farm Technology

2.4 Effectiveness of Different Extension Teaching /Learning Methods

2.5 Effectiveness of Knowledge Gain

2.6 Effectiveness of Symbolic Adoption

2.7 Farmers Perception about Farm Technologies and Modes of presentation

2.8 Relationship of Characteristics of Farmers with their Knowledge and Symbolic Adoption.

Agriculture continues to be the occupation and way of life for more than half of the Indian population even today. Sustainable prosperity of this class-the farmers, the landless agricultural labourers holds the key for improving the overall human resource development scenario in the country. Indian agriculture had been on traditional lines till the first waves of Green Revolution gave a sudden boost to the production and productivity of major cereals in the assured irrigated areas. Quick dissemination of technological information from the agriculture research system to the farmers in the field and reporting of farmers feed back to the research system is one of the critical inputs in transfer of agricultural technology. The information and communication support during last 50 years has mainly been conventional. The extension personnel of the departments of agriculture disseminated the technological message to the farmers through personal approach. This approach has not been able to reach and satisfy majority of the farmers who are spread across the whole country with varied interests. This gap remains a challenge for the Extension System even today.

To reach over 110 million farmers, spread over 500 districts and over 6000 blocks is an uphill task. The diversity of agro-ecological situations adds to this challenge further. The success of Green revolution was mainly achieved due to concerted homogenous extension strategy. Farmer’s needs are much more diversified and the knowledge required to address them is beyond the capacity of the grass root level extension functionaries.

There are basically two aspects of extension: the education function which aims to help farmers gain knowledge, acquire skills and change attitudes for their own benefit; and the communication function which transfers information about suitable technologies to farmers and growers and offers them alternative solutions to improve their situations. The aim is to transform the information into knowledge timely and accurately to create an environment for farmers to use it. IT will be indispensable in transferring information between research and extension organizations.

After preparing the desired DNA molecule using E.coli, the plasmid can be transferred into Agrobacterium by this method. Efficiency is low (~10³ transformants per mg of DNA) but the method is reliable and very rapid. This method also eliminates much of the plasmid rearrangement that occurs during triparental mating.

Procedure

Grow an Agribacterium strain containing an appropriate helper Ti plasmid in 5 ml of LB medium 16 hours at 28ºC.

Add 2 ml of the culture to 50 ml LB medium in a 250 ml flask and shake (~250 RPM) at 28ºC until an OD₆₀₀ of 0.5 to 1.0 is obtained.

Chill the culture on ice. Centrifuge the cell suspension at 1000 g for 30 minutes at 4ºC.

Discard the supernatant. Resuspend the cells in 1 ml of 20 mM CaCl₂ (ice cold). Dispense 100 mL aliquots into pre-chilled 1.5 ml tubes.

Add about 1 µg of the desired plasmid DNA (pure or crude) to the cells in each tube.

This protocol is designed for potato stem internodes on ZIG medium, but might work for leaf pieces as well.

Plant Material

Cut stem internode explants from 5-6-week-old in vitro plants (or leaf explants from 3-4-week-old in vitro plants) grown on 15 ml PROP in 25 x 150 mm test tubes.

Day 1

Streak out desired Agrobacterium strain on YEP + antibiotic to obtain a single colony. Grow at 28 C for 2 days. Alternatively, skip this step and use frozen stock for next step.

Day 3

Use a single Agrobacterium colony to inoculate 20 ml YEP + antibiotic in 250-ml flask. Grow overnight at 28 C with vigorous shaking (~200 rpm). Some Agrobacterium strains require an additional day to reach sufficient density.

Principle

Micropropagation is especially useful for include propagation of high value plants that grow slowly (bulbs, ferns, orchids, palms, etc), new cultivars having limited stock and high market demand (new cultivars produced via conventional breeding or genetic engineering), cultivars that are difficult to root by conventional techniques, and endangered plant species. In addition, virus elimination is possible via culture initiation from meristem explants. Also, micropropagation provides a source of sterile tissues that can be used for other tissue culture protocols, including genetic transformation.

Micropropagation is possible using multiple types of cultures; however, shoot cultures are typically employed, in which case five stages to the micropropagation process are typically recognized as outlined below. Nodal explants of rose are used for culture initiation. Three media, differing in hormone content, is employed and the explants should be evaluated for differences in axillary shoot growth and proliferation.

Principle

Orchid seeds are produced in large numbers but are exceedingly small, hence are also called “dust seeds” may be as small as 0.01 by 0.05 mm in dimension and weigh as little as 10-30 ug. Seedling development is generally a slow process in orchids, with the seedlings passing through an initial stage, termed the protocorm stage, prior to the production of distinct vegetative organs (leaves, roots, etc). The protocorms of terrestrial orchids are subterranean and entirely heterotrophic, with all of the nutritional needs of the orchid being supplied by the mycorrhizae (the symbiotic fungus). The length of the protocorm stage is variable, however, in many cases, months, or even years, elapse before leaves and roots are produced.

The combination of a small seed size and fungal symbiont requirement largely precludes the propagation via conventional seed propagation protocols. Accordingly, most of the early research on the development of orchid seed germination protocols focused on in vitro germination with the seeds and fungal symbiont being sown on the same petri plate. Successful protocols were developed for several species; however, the process was complicated by the diversity of fungal symbionts required (across orchid taxa) and the difficulty in isolating and culturing these fungi.

In the 1920’s the process of orchid seed propagation was revolutionized by Lewis Knudson with the demonstration that nutrient media that could be used as a substitute for fungal infection. The isolation and culture of multiple fungal strains was no longer required, and improvements in germination frequency, germination speed, and seedling vigor were generally observed. To date, successful asymbiotic germination techniques, termed ‘flasking’, have been developed for many epiphytic orchids, with several species being saved from extinction via the application of these techniques.

Media Preparation

Before mixing medium, determine the quantity of each medium and the amount of plant growth regulator needed for each experiment. Make slightly more medium than is required. A media check off list is helpful in making medium to keep track of ingredients.

Remove media stock solutions and plant growth regulator stock solutions to be used from the refrigerator. Make up fresh stock solutions if adequate quantities are not available or if solutions have precipitated.

Plant growth regulators stock solutions are prepared biweekly and stored at 4º C in the dark. Cytokinins (thidiazuron and BA) are dissolved in approximately KOH prior the addition of deionized water. Gibberellins and auxins (2,4-D, IBA and NAA) are dissolved in 100% ethanol prior the addition of water.

Fill the volumetric flasks upto ½ to ¾ with deionized water. Add proper a of stock solution and plant growth regulators and mark each item on the check off list. Add 30 g/l sucrose, stir until dissolved. Make up the volume of the flask with deionized water and later por into a larger beaker.

Principle

Western blot analysis (also called protein immunoblot) is a useful tool for the detection of proteins in biological samples. It uses gel electrophoresis to separate native or denatured proteins by the length of the polypeptide (denaturing conditions) or by the 3-D structure of the protein (native/ non-denaturing conditions). The proteins are then transferred to a membrane (typically nitrocellulose), where they are probed (detected) using antibodies specific to the target protein.  It is a technique for analyzing and identifying protein antigens: the proteins are separated by electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel, then transferred (“blotted”) onto a nitrocellulose membrane or treated paper, where they bind in the same pattern as they formed in the gel. The antigen is overlaid first with antibody, then with anti-immunoglobulin or protein A labeled with radioisotope, fluorescent dye, or enzyme. 

The method originated from the laboratory of George Stark at Stanford. The name “Western blot” was given to the technique by W. Neal Burnette and is a play on the name “Southern blot”, a technique for DNA detection developed earlier by Edwin Southern. Detection of RNA is termed northern blotting and the detection of posttranslational modification of protein is termed “Eastern blotting”.

Cell Lysis Procedure

Pellet the cells in a microfuge tube: add 1.5 ml culture, centrifuge for 15 seconds at maximum speed, discard the supernatant, and then repeat the procedure. This will result in the cells from 3 ml of culture in a single tube.

Resuspend the cells in 1 ml Lysis buffer.

Take 300 µl aliquot for Bradford protein assay.

Add 50 µl lysozyme, and mix gently.

After 10-20 minutes at room temperature, microfuge for 10 minutes to pellet cell debris.

Use supernatant for LDH assay.

Principle

The SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) performs:

Separation of proteins according to their molecular weight

Ascertain whether a given protein is actually present in a sample,

Assessment of purity of the preparation

Estimation of the approximate quantity of the protein, and

Measurement of the size of the protein.

Principle

Determination of the precise sequence of nucleotides in a sample of DNA is called “DNA Sequencing”. The most popular method for doing this is called the “Dideoxy method or Sanger Method” (named after Frederick Sanger, who was awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in chemistry for inventing it). DNA is synthesized from four deoxynucleotide triphosphates. The top most figure is a normal nucleotide: deoxythymidine triphosphate (dTTP). During polymerization each new nucleotide is added to the 3' -OH group of the last nucleotide added.

The dideoxy method has been coined after the synthetic nucleotides that lack the –OH at the 3’carbon atom of the sugar and it plays an important role in this process atom (red arrow). In the figure below dideoxythymidine triphosphate — ddTTP, a dideoxynucleotide has been shown that can be added to the growing DNA strand. But the chain elongation ceases when the next nucleotide tries to get attached to the former as there is no 3' -OH for the next nucleotide to be attached to. Hence, the dideoxy method is also called the chain termination method. 

The principle of silver nitrate staining of proteins is based on the reduction of silver ions to its metallic form. (Silver ions in alkaline conditions bind with proteins through å-amino group of lysine and sulphur groups of cysteine and methionine residues). When the complexed silver ions are reduced in the presence of formaldehyde, they become metallic silver, which is seen on the gel as bands. Staining of proteins with silver nitrate after SDS-PAGE is quicker and ~ 10 times more sensitive than Coomassie brilliant blue staining and that is the reason it is widely used in research laboratories these days.

The procedure is as follows:

Denaturing polyacrylamide/urea gels in TBE buffer

Prepare 20ml of a 5% polyacrylamide gel containing 7M urea by adding:

47.5% acrylamide:

2.5% bis-acrylamide solution 2ml

10M urea 14ml

10X TBE buffer 2ml

10% freshly prepared ammonium persulfate 0.2ml

deionized water 1.8ml