eChapters

India is one of the countries where 90% of the small, marginal and medium land holding farm families are depending on agriculture. The average annual income of the each farm family isvery less from the agril sector. At present farmwomen play an important role in managing different kinds of farm and home activities. The entrepreneurial behaviour development among the farm family is very essential to earn the additional income to manage their family. Farmwomen not only are involved in home activities but also play a significant role in farm production. In India farmwomen take decisions in their day-to-day life in agricultural sector. However, farmwomen are greatly aided by the amount of information available to them about their felt needs.  The World Bank Report(1992) states that keeping the role of farmwomen in mind, there is a need for training of farmwomen regarding necessary dairy technologies, so that they can perform these activities with more competence.
 
The advances in information technology have brought an explosion in information flow like Radio, T.V, Internet etc in agriculture.  There is large quantity of information through various sources, channels and Website on the Internet, but the information tends to be one sided, as it is gathered from Research stations. Farmwomen seek information sources.  Therefore, a study was conducted to understand the information seeking behaviour of dairy farmwomen.
 
The study was conducted in Manvi and Deodurga taluks of Raicur district in Karnataka state to know the information seeking behaviour of farmwomen regarding dairy farming and allied sector.

A case study was made in Geemarahalli village, Nanjangud taluk of Mysore district during 2009-10 to know the performance of women SHG involved in cultivation of tuberose.  JSS Krishi Vigyan Kendra which was started during 1994 analyzed the problems of farmwomen that they were unorganized in doing the field operations and were almost isolated in nature.  KVK initiated in formation of women SHGs in many villages and one of such village is Geemarahalli.  Ms. Rajamma was selected as group leader of the group and her contact with KVK was started since 1996 and still continued.  She is an innovative woman despite being illiterate.  Earlier she was doing tailoring and wire bag making. Later, she developed an interest to take up farming. She formed a Self Help Group called Triveni in her village which consists of 15 farmwomen.  In the beginning, they were involved in farm operations as contract workers.  During 2007-08, this group had come in contact with KVK and were imparted the training programmes on vermicompost production, horticulture nursery management, production of biological agents etc.  Later, the group came forward to learn the cultivation aspects of tuberose which has got good market at Mysore city.  To start this venture, the possession of land was the constraint for them and they overcome it by taking a 10 gunta land on lease basis. They were imparted series of trainings on tuberose cultivation at KVK. 

Agriculture and allied service sector in Karnataka, contributes about one third to the state Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  This sector still continues to be the largest source of employment in the state with about 70% of the population depending on it.  Agriculture plays a key role   in the state’s economy with a net-cropped area of 107.90 lakh ha. of which 23.20 lakh ha. is irrigated and 84.79 lakh ha is rainfed.  In today’s competitive environment, one need to rethink about the sustainability of development, whether it is individual or the area and agriculture or any other field .To develop the rainfed area and the people, the World Bank assisted Sujala Watershed Project is implemented through the Karnataka Watershed Development Department (KWDD).  This has become a boon towards sustainable development of the rainfed area and the people. The first phase of KWDP focuses on poverty alleviation and improvement in agricultural productivity through its multi faceted approach.  That is, the land treatment for improving their agricultural productivity and strengthening Self Help Groups (SHGs) in the selected area to take up viable Income Generating Activities, which paves way for the overall development of the area and the people living there.  The project area covered five districts namely, Kolar, Tumkur, Chitradurga, Haveri and Dharwad in Karnataka state of India.

Agriculture is of paramount importance in most developing countries because large proportion of the population involved and the need to maintain national food production. It is generally accepted though not fully proven, that health and productivity are positively correlated. This is of particular  relevance because many agricultural tasks in developing countries demand high level of strenuous activity (Anonymous, 1987). Investment to improve agricultural worker’s health would be justified on both humanitarian and economic grounds. Nearly half of the available human resources in India are women.  It has been roughly estimated that women represent 50% of population and have contributed about 10% of income and own less than 1 % of the world’s property.  The population of farm women are involved in sowing, transplanting, weeding, winnowing, drying, bringing drinking water and firewood, cleaning and dehusking.  Most of the drudgery prone tasks for women in agriculture are cutting uprooting, transplanting, weeding and sowing and post harvest tasks like manual threshing of maize, millets and pulses, sieving and cleaning. For groundnut, after the harvesting, removal of nuts and cleaning of groundnut seeds are also performed  manually. Further, sieving, cleaning are performed by winnowing followed by traditional sieve. (Badiger et al. 2006).  Studies have pointed out that farm activities that are time and labour intensive, monotonous, repetitive and more drudgery prone are generally performed by women.

In India, for centuries women have been pushed aside from the race of development in the name of customs, traditions and religion. As a result they have been denied the opportunities for their social, economical and political development leading to the lower status in society. The present situation demands active participation of women along with men in all walks of life. Involvement of women in all development activities. Based on the recommendations of National Policy of empowerment of women, Tenth Plan suggests a three fold strategies for empowering women through social empowerment, economic empowerment and gender justice.
 
Women play a significant and crucial role in agriculture and allied fields including crop production, dairy husbandry, horticulture, post harvest operations etc. It has been estimated that about 86% of the total rural women are working for various agricultural operations. They play an important role not only in maintaining their home task but also managing their farms and animals, depending upon the situation, personal and socioeconomic characteristics of the family to which they belong.  Women are also partners in animal husbandry activities management as manager or skilled workers.

The term empowerment has different meaning in different socio-cultural and political context and does not translate easily into all languages. The term include self strength, control, self power, self reliance, own choice, life of dignity in accordance with one’s values, capable of fighting for one’s right, independence, own decision making, being free, awakening and capability of mention only a few.

The major impact of the two important components of the Karnataka Watershed Development Programme (KWDP) viz farming system intensification and watershed treatment will be on land-based enterprises and land owners, although to a certain extent landless families would also benefit from the increased labour demand through intensification of agriculture. To ensure growth with equity among all the stakeholders in the project, it is imperative to have practical, market-driven, complementary and supplementary income generating activities for weaker sections of the community, including SCs, STs, women, landless persons, families below the poverty line and other vulnerable groups in project districts.  Hence, it is imperative to raise the status of landless families above the poverty line.  The SHGs are to be encouraged to take up viable enterprise and to enhance their fund mobilization by regular savings, investment in viable income generating activities and in time repayment of the loan taken.  The IGAs are meant mostly for the landless and asset less stakeholders in the watersheds.

Relevance of Gender Mainstreaming  in Agriculture

Indian agriculture is characterized by farming systems wherein men and women perform mutually interdependent as well as independent roles right from production, processing, marketing, and decision making as farmer, labourers and entrepreneurs. The extensive contribution by women in wide ranging tasks in production and processing in agriculture, influences household food security and determines national competitiveness in agro industry at large. Even though women make substantial economic contribution towards the sustenance of the farming systems and livelihood security, most often women’s roles remain invisible and their problems and needs are unaccounted and unattended. Historically dictated by social norms, family traditions and economic factors, participation of women and men in various farming contexts in India still remain gender specific and highly women discriminating. Women’s work is considered as unskilled and remains undervalued and underpaid. It is to be appreciated that at international and national level efforts of women empowerment and gender perspectives are being brought in development approaches and the situation during the past few decades is slowly changing as policies, efforts and budget are being specially allocated for the upliftment of rural farm women. But it is to be noticed that most of the programmes are of short term, narrow focussed and without continuity.

ICT refers to tools that facilitate production, transmission and processing of information. It includes the gadgets and processes to access, retrieve, store, organize, manipulate, produce, present and exchange information by electronic and automated means. According to UNESCO (2004), Information Communication Technology includes a range of technologies starting from radio, television, up to modern technologies like mobile phone, multimedia, internet, and satellite based communication systems. Modern information and communication technologies that have resulted from a breakthrough in information technology, when applied to conditions in rural areas, can help to disseminate information, improve farmers’ knowledge, increase their participation and share knowledge with others. Information Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the yardsticks to measure socio-economic development of the country and hence effective usage and management of ICTs tools is the pre-requisite for any development. Telephone is a powerful electronic device. The number of rural telephones was increased by approximately 35 per cent per annum (Jhunjhunwala and Ashok, 2005). This impressive growth in telecommunication sector is being utilized to provide information on demand to the farming community with the establishment of “Kissan Call Centers” (KCCs).  Kissan Call Centres were launched in January 2004 across the country to provide information services to the needy farmers and answer the queries made by them through telephone. In this context, a study was conducted to find out the profile of Kissan Call Centre users.

Involvement of Farm Youth in the developmental sector of Agriculture is emerging as a crucial area for the water management sector. Initiative of Farm Youth is essential for accelerating modern Agricultural technologies to be adopted by the large number of farmers in the rural area. Being an educated, effective use of the information & communication   technology (ICT) is possible. The recent developments in the field of Agriculture like, green-house technology, exporting vegetables and fruits to outside country, formation of agricultural producer’s company etc. are the challenging areas where the Farm Youth can develop a leading role for the farming community.
 
Maharashtra, being a progressive State, encourages Farm -Youth activities in various fields to boost-up the younger generation to participate in the information and communication technology (ICT) areas. As a result of Govt. initiative, in the field of Participatory Irrigation Management, the Water Users Association, namely, ‘Mahatma Phule Water Users Association’ At Post: Ozar (Mig), Taluka: Niphad, Dist: Nasik was successfully run by a Farm Youth namely, Mr. Govardhan Rajabhau Kulkarni who is an idol for the Farm Youths to participate in the irrigation water management field. The use of internet, e-mail, agriculture related web sites and developing software programmes for irrigation management is highly appreciated by the Govt. of Maharashtra.

Agricultural research in India has contributed new varieties of crops and production technologies for increased production at the national level. These modern technologies benefited only a particular section but farm youth in rainfed areas are facing many problems. One of the problems identified in the diffusion of technologies to farm youth in sustainable agriculture was the lack of appropriate technologies suitable to the farm and social situations. When farmers in rain fed areas are exposed to innovations, they react to the practices/innovations from different viewpoints. A practice appropriate to farm youth in rain fed areas must be less in cost, high in profits, less risky,  highly compatible with socio-cultural values and beliefs, less in complexity, highly trialable on a small scale and the results of the same should be easily observed and communicated. These dimensions are perceived by farmers differently and the degree to which they perceive them favourably are likely to adopt the same in rain fed areas. Many a time, several past investigations have only indicated whether the recommended package of technologies has been adopted or not by farm youth. This gives percentage of farm youth adopting the practices but not the percentage of recommended technologies adopted by them and the problems encountered by them in adopting the recommended technologies in rain fed areas.

In this era of information and communication, in a country like India where more than 75% of population live in rural areas, radio is the cheapest medium available in almost all families for entertainment and education.

A community radio (CR), in essence is a type of radio service that caters to the interests of a certain area, broadcasting material that is popular to a local audience but is overlooked by more powerful broadcast groups. It is usually established by the efforts of a specific community, operated by the community and for the community’s welfare. Radio can play an effective role in promoting social change.  Community radio station is one that is operated in the community, for the community, about the community and by the community.  It can play a very important role in bringing about social change. It covers all developmental and rights based issues, and can help to sustain the diversity of the local cultures and languages. It is an effort towards bottom-up approach to address specific requirements or rural Indian population. An attempt has been made to know the profile characteristics of krishi community radio listening farm women, awareness of farm women about FM krishi community radio and to study the usefulness of krishi community radio programmes as perceived by farm women.

As rural populations decrease, so does the agricultural work force. In Europe and North America, agriculture now represents about 5% of the work force. In Africa and Asia, it is expected that the number of agricultural workers will have decreased from nearly 70% of the population in the 1980s to barely 50% by 2015 (Crop life International, 2010). The events of the past few years have highlighted the vulnerability of global food security to major shocks – both in the global agricultural markets and in the world economy. The food price crisis and the ensuing economic crisis reduced the purchasing power of large segments of the population in many developing countries, severely curtailing their access to food and thus undermining their food security. “We estimate that in 2012 there will be over a million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition – what’s important to know is that malnutrition can kill,” UNICEF’s Director of Emergency Programmes, Louis-Georges Arsenault, said in a news release. “We need more resources to really scale up our response before it becomes too late and too many lives are lost.” Sahel and other regions in the Horn of Africa are facing severe food crisis (UN, 2012). In such a condition, to feed the hungry mouths of the world, agriculture needs to be more modern and decisions should be information and knowledge based and not instinct-based. Information and communication technology has a great role to play here.

Indian dairy sector has made significant progress over the last few decades. Despite three decades of cooperative movement in India, however, a large proportion of milk and milk products in India continues to be marketed through the ‘informal or unorganized sector’. Although the share of organized market has steadily increased over the last few decades, the informal sector comprising middlemen, private milk traders and direct sale from producer to consumer, still accounts for nearly 80 percent of existing milk marketing pattern in the country. Milk contributes more to the national economy than any other farm commodity more than 10.5 billion dollars in 1994-95 (Dairy India 1997). In the context of poverty and malnutrition, milk has a special role to play for its many nutritional advantages as well as providing supplementary income to some 70 million farmers in over 500,000 remote villages (Dairy India 1997).  In their study, Datta and Ganguly (2002) reported that if the current growth continues for the next twenty years (the nation has been growing at a rate between 5 and 7 percent over past five years), milk consumption is likely to more than double by 2020. So above the discussion drives us to analyse the marketing behaviour of dairy farmers.

The study area, Tamilnadu, was selected purposively and out of seven agro-ecological zones in Tamil Nadu, western region has been selected purposively as it highest share in both the bovine population and milk production in the state. And both organized and unorganized milk marketing system working in this zone with largest number of milk plants.

India has the second largest concentration of tribal population after African continent. The tribal population of India is more than 8 per cent of the total population (Anonymous 2001). However, in Maharashtra it is over 9 per cent of the state population. Among the tribal community Bhil community is the largest tribal population in Maharashtra. They live in compact areas, which are generally hilly and undulating terrain. The Bhil are primarily farmers, though they are said to be hunters since the past. Poor condition of soil, small holdings, poor resources and economic condition, traditional methods of agriculture do not provide them a regular and continuous sustenance throughout the year as such they have to depend on other subsidiary sources of earning.

Most of the tribal communities have to live under a difficult economy; the ways of their livelihood are limited and work very hard to get a bare subsistence. Thus, the tribal children from their early age are burdened with a number of economic duties, obligations and they can hardly be spared for school. Proportion of dropout is also higher among tribal children. In fact most of the tribal youth and school going children participate in farming and looking after the economic demands of the family.

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man tries to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”     
- George Bernard Shaw

Generating productive and sustainable employment for growing populations is a challenge faced by many developing countries in Asia. In India, the daunting numbers further compounds the task. Approximately 65% of the country’s billion plus population is below the age of 45. The Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-2007) has estimated that India’s labour force will increase faster than the ability of the economy to create new working opportunities. The average growth rate of employment in India, which stayed above 2% per annum during the 80s and the early part of the 90s, fell to only 1.1% in the late 90s. The country is adding 2 million young people to the ranks of the unemployed every year. The Plan document estimates that open unemployment could be as high as 5% at the end of the Tenth Plan period, from 2.8% at present. This is likely to entail tremendous costs, including social unrest and isolation. India’s planners have set the country a goal to create 100 million employment opportunities over the next 10 years.

A large portion of India’s population lives in the villages where still against many odds smaller units of village industry sector are struggling for survival. Abject poverty, no year round employment avenues, poor access to basic infrastructure, market, illiteracy and small holdings are few among tangible features of rural India. Desai (2007) has high lighted that poor infrastructural facilities in rural segments has been one of the factor holding back rural industrilisation in India.

On the other hand with liberalisation and globalisation of economy and the removal of quantitative restrictions the khadi & village industries including agro based industries are facing stiff competition. The situation has ultimately resulted in continuous migration of unemployed rural youth to nearby urban areas. Very few among immigrated rural youth are getting absorbed due to mechanisation in urban industries, leaving others in distress. Gopu (2007) viewed that unbridled growth of industries in urban areas has accented the regional disparities in India. Despite planned industrialisation efforts in the country agriculture remains largest industry or major occupation providing employment to 65 per cent of rural work force. In this, situation, expansion of rural industrialisation can play a vital role in abating distress migration and create employment opportunities to rural youth.

Agriculture is the main stay for majority for people in India for their livelihood as 55 per cent of population depends directly or indirectly depends on the agriculture. The farmers still follow the traditional farming system and practices. Food grain crops are dominating in the cropping pattern. The share of commercial crops in cropping pattern though rising is not significant. The condition of the farmers is such that they have lost interest in farming. The new generation has no interest and is away from farming. The new generation does not consider farming as profession and they treat it is traditional activities and family tradition. The present generation thinks that the farming system is not capable to provide a life, therefore, they are diverting from agriculture to other profession. The major problem for rural youth is non-availability of self-employment options except farming in Rural India. Therefore, rural youth are either migrating to urban area or becoming the causal labor.
 
In order to keep the rural youth in agriculture, there is dire need to create the employment opportunities in rural area. In rural area, agriculture is the major primary source of employment. In such condition, development of agriculture based entrepreneurship is the best option to keep the rural youth in agriculture. A number of agriculture based enterprises can be promoted. By introducing elements of entrepreneurship in farm business, the farming community will be able to combine land, labour and capital in right proportions.

The Government of Tamilnadu has taken a number of progressive measures on water resources and irrigation management, particularly through the Bank -assisted Tamil Nadu Water Resources Consolidation Project (WRCP) which was closed in September 2004 with a satisfactory rating. Now the Tamilnadu Government has decided to implement a project for the modernization of the Traditional Irrigation systems in Tamil Nadu with loan assistance from World Bank. The World Bank has also come forward to assist the Tamilnadu Government’s proposal. Under the World Bank funded project of “Irrigated Agriculture Modernisation and Water Resources Management” (WRCP - II) about 17 River sub basins have been selected and proposed to be taken up under the control of Water Resources organisation Wing of Public Works Department of Tamilnadu. The Varahanadhi sub basin is one among the seventeen. Accordingly this ‘IAMWARM’ Project report for the modernization of the irrigation systems of Varahanadhi Sub Basin has been prepared. The very objective of this project is to attain maximum productivity from farm lands, for which serious attention is required to modernise the existing irrigation structures, anicuts, canal systems and tanks in order to make them functionally more effective, conserve and utilise the available water from catchment area for optimum use.

Though gender is universally one of the key ways in which societies and culture allocate rights and responsibilities, yet the different roles of women and men in agriculture production have frequently been ignored in research and extension activities. Farming is a family enterprise involving both men and women. The role of women and their involvement is more important in production, processing and storage of grains and vegetables. Women in India constitute nearly half of its population and have a strong influence on the growth of the remaining half of population.

Krishi Vigyan Kendra imparted learning through work experience and concerned with technical literacy. Krishi Vigyan Kendra imparted training to practicing farm women. The Krishi Vigyan Kendra of Gandhigram Rural Institute was established in July 1989 specifically to cater the needs of the peasants of the Dindigul district.  Inspite of these efforts, there exist a wide gap-between the availability of production technologies and adoption of those technologies. Evaluation of training programmes organised for farm women would provide an understanding of their effectiveness so as to improve them. Hence, a study was undertaken to assess the training needs, appropriate season, venue, type, frequency, duration and method of training in paddy crop as perceived by the respondents.

Youth in India had been at the forefront of the nation’s struggle for freedom and development. There are over one billion youth in the world today. Eighty five per cent of these youth live in the developing world and around 50 per cent of the population with in developing countries live in rural areas. According to 2001 census, more than 40 per cent of the total population is between the age group of 15 to 35 which is considered as “youth” by the Government of India. Out of which, 73 per cent resides in the rural areas (Anonymous 2001). Unfortunately rural youth of today are counted among the most disadvantaged groups of society. Because of rapid population growth, widespread unemployment inadequate health, poor education, migration, lower family income and lacking adequate opportunity at farm level had led the rural youth in continued stress of self esteem and self confidence. Youth empowerment is an attitudinal, structural and cultural process whereby young people gain the ability, authority and agency to make decisions and implement change in their own lives and the lives of other people. Youth are the present and the future of humanity.

The livelihoods of millions of rural households in the semi-arid areas depend mainly on natural resources such as soil, rainwater, vegetation, livestock and the like. The major source of livelihood in these areas solely depends on the arrival, distribution and cessation of monsoons, which are erratic and ill distributed. However, management of natural resources like soil and vegetation in a way that these are used to optimally to produce maximum output. This requires new knowledge, better skills and improved management strategies. In this context, building the capacity of the rural households particularly the youth holds key to improving productivity and profitability ot the enterprise. Keeping these in view, the National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) sub project on “Sustainable Rural Livelihoods through Enhanced Farming Systems Productivity and Efficient Support Systems in Rainfed Areas” being implemented by a consortium led by CRIDA has introduced several interventions aimed at involving rural youth right from the beginning of the project.  The project is being implemented in eight backward districts (Adilabad, Anantapur, Kadapa, Khammam, Mahabubngar, Nalgonda, Rangareddy and Warangal) of Andhra Pradesh in selected clusters of villages.

The progress and prosperity of a nation depends to a large extent on well trained and disciplined youth. The youth of today are the adults of tomorrow and farm families of the future. More than half of the India’s population is below 35 years of age. Majority of these young people live in village where they do not have adequate opportunities for vocational training and formal schooling. This vast youth population has limitless energy and enthusiasm. The proper chanalization of this energy for constructive work can make India one of the most developed and prosperous nations of the world. Youth are the future of India, it is therefore, essential to harness them in an organized manner to build up the backbone of the country. If they are given good training they grow up as individuals-physically, mentally and morally capable of playing their full part as adult members of our welfare society.

Youth, defined as those who belong to the age group of 13-35 in the National Youth policy 2003 of India, is considered to be the most vital segment of the population. Across the globe youth is being treated as an asset for a country’s development and enormous investment is being made to develop the human capital. The challenge of nations like India with ‘Youth Bulge’ in their population is to channelize the energy into positive and creative development process. Youth in the 21st Century aspires for a just global order,  They are looking for democratic process in all spheres of life, whether it is education, employment or decision making.  The issues and concerns of youth are fast changing in tune with the technological innovations.

Youth constitute a numerically dominant potential, resourceful and adventurous segment of the population in India. The share of population between age group 0-14 years dropped from 43% in 1971 to 41% in 1981, however the share of population age 65 has been fairly stable at 3% since 1971. In 1991, youth population in India with the age group of 15 to 35 years was around 31 per cent (246 millions) of the total population.  Out of this total youth population, 20 per cent (53 millions) were urban youth, while the remaining 80 per cent (211 million) were rural (Shivalingaiah, 1995). According to 2001 census, India had a total youth population of 347 millions (i.e. 35.2 per cent of the total population), out of which, about 70 per cent were rural youth and the remaining 30 per cent were urban youth. Since major segment of this population are being lived in the rural areas, they are considered as the nation builders of tomorrow. This important section of the rural population can respond to the needs of country only if they are offered fruitful opportunities for growing up as useful citizens. Today unemployment is a major problem among the rural youth which forced them to migrate from rural areas to urban areas. Indian villages are, therefore undergoing major transformation causing perceptible changes in aspirations of the rural masses, especially the youth. These aspects have been dealt in greater detail in some papers (Sharma, 2006).

Today around 25% of rural population in India are between the age group of 15 and 29 (2001 Census).  The Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-2007) has estimated that India's labour force will increase faster than the ability of the economy to create new working opportunities. The country is adding 2 million young people to the ranks of the unemployed every year. The Plan document estimates that open unemployment could be as high as 5% at the end of the Tenth Plan period, from 2.8% at present.  This is likely to entail tremendous costs, including social unrest and dislocation resulting with large number of youth are unemployed or underemployed.
 
In India and in many developing countries the majority of the work force is employed in agriculture. However, stagnating agricultural productivity and rural environmental degradation have made agriculture a last option.  As the environment on which their livelihoods depend becomes more and more degraded, rural youth face diminished prospects of employment.  Not only do these youth lack income, they lack a means of gaining respect and a sense of belonging in their communities.  Unable to find decent employment, youth often look for employment in the urban informal sector, with poor working conditions and pay.  But without training in skills suited to the rural labour market, these youth have few opportunities in rural areas.  Inadequately trained to compete successfully in rural labour markets, they often suffer worse levels of poverty and marginalization in rural areas.

Indian agriculture is at demographic, ecological, economic and technological cross-roads. Demographically, nearly 70% of the population is below 35 years in age and 70% of them live in rural areas.  Within the next few decades, India will have the world's largest number of young people looking for employment.  Ecologically the basic life support systems of land, water, forests, biodiversity and climate are in distress and the population supporting capacity of major ecosystems is being exceeded in most parts of the country. India's ecological debt and Nature Deficit Disorder are growing. Economically, the cost-risk-return structure of farming is becoming adverse, with the result that over 40% of today's farmers would like to quit farming, if they had another livelihood option. Technologically, there is a serious mismatch between production and post-harvest technologies. Also, there is no nationally agreed policy towards the technological transformation of agriculture, involving farm mechanization and frontier technologies like recombinant DNA technology and nano-technology.

Youth of today are the hopes of tomorrow.  They are the backbone of a country.  Youth reflect the national potentiality and represent the life blood of a nation. The future of the country lies in their hands.  What they will become, what they will do, what role they will play in the free democratic society, will depend, to a greater extent, on the period between childhood and adulthood.  They are the most potent segment of the population of a country. It is they who are to shoulder responsibility for the future development of the country.

The socio-economic development and prosperity of the rural areas depends, to a considerable extent, on the type of the youth the country side has, because the rural youth have abilities to orient themselves to go along the main stream of the development process.  The youth, a bulk of total population of the country, are the national cream and the future crown with full possession of physical built and mental tenacity and power. They are the precious human assets who can play an important role in nation building activities if opportunities are provided.  If a country can harness a creative and pervasive force like youth, it can substantially and quickly advance towards modernization. Youth are the nation builders of tomorrow. They are not only carriers of new ideas and are more receptive to new ideas, ready to bear risk and willing to work as a Team.

The Agriculture sector is by far the largest employer amongst all the major sectors employing roughly half of available workforce. At the same time, agriculture is the smallest sectoral contributor to the GDP. It is ironical that the most important requirement of human being, which is the bulk of agriculture farm produce, is largely considered to be an unrewarding sector in the nation.

Though the Indian agriculture has made significant strides in the course of the last 50 years of planned development, still the farmers today are facing the consequences of host of challenges, namely dependence of monsoon, declining size of land holdings, degradation of soil & water resources, declining investment of public sectors on agriculture. So farmers are increasingly getting indebted and temptation to sell their farm land  for non-farm purposes is growing. Over 45 per cent of farmers want to quit farming says a survey conducted by National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO).

Agricultural land is still a great source of income. But the practice of unsustainable methods and improper resource management leading to successive crop failures that make agriculture non- profitable and highly  risky.  So, the interest of youth in agriculture has been declining. While most developing countries are still experiencing high population growth rates, the youth are migrating in significant numbers to urban areas. The younger generation does not consider farming as a profession and they treat it as traditional activities of their family. The farm youth think that the farming system is not capable to provide a life, therefore they are diverting from agriculture to other profession.

While on one hand, more than 25 per cent of rural population in India is between 15 and 29 years of age, on the other, very little demographic dividend in agriculture is being derived. Unable to find decent employment, youth often look for employment in the urban informal sector, with poor working conditions and pay. But without training in skills suited to the urban labour market, these youth have few opportunities in the urban areas. Inadequately trained to compete successfully in urban labour market, they often suffer varying levels of poverty and marginalization in towns than in rural areas. In rural areas, if young farmers do not replace the ageing farmers, it will result in problems related to food security. For young people to take to agriculture, farming must be personally satisfying, mentally challenging, socially acceptable and economically rewarding. However, field reality is something different.

The world is changing rapidly and education is facing new challenges as we move into the 21st century. For Extensionist, this means new approaches to teaching and learning are needed. Futurist John Naisbitt (1994) predicts that as structured employment opportunities decline, entrepreneurial skills will become necessary for the rural youth to compete. Additionally, acquiring skills and attitudes necessary for the youth can be achieved through youth entrepreneurship programs (Cox, 1998)

There is a challenge to convert ideas into policy and then into action to put in programmes aimed at helping the future farmers of the world.  According to UN report , Youth as a target group is not a major policy priority of most governments in developing countries. This review illustrates that youth are only occasionally visible in policy related documents.  Hazelman  (2008) emphasized based on lessons from case studies made by FAO in Asia and the Pacific,  highlighted  the importance of having a clear national policy relating to rural youth; building and utilizing youth networks and partnerships at the national, regional and international levels; organizing youth into youth-led organizations that are active and have strong leadership together with competent and committed advisors, with projects and activities that address youth and community needs; and giving priority and attention to education and training opportunities for continued learning and human-capacity building.

The World is a home to more than one billion young people aged between 15 and 24 years.  Many are unable to fulfil their potentional because of poverty, hunger, poor health and lack of education. As a result, they lack the skills needed to gain employment, with rural youth typically, but often fruitlessly migration in search of economic opportunities. However, given support and opportunities for gainful employment, young people have the potential to play a significant role in agriculture.

India has a big advantage as more than half of its population is below 30 years of age.  Indian agriculture will receive a big boost if the country takes advantage of its young population and encourage them into farm sector by making it lucrative.  It is necessary to launch a Youth for Agricultural Transformation Movement in rural India. Youth can provide demand driven services such as farm health monitoring and marketing of biological software essential for sustainable agriculture, climate-risk management, organization  of bio-parks, food parks, bio-village, bio-industrial watersheds and improved post-harvesting technology. Educated rural youth can establish Village Knowledge Centres (VKVs) to provide information at right time to farmers. Home Science graduates can establish nutrition clinics to help hidden hunger through appropriate local grains and vegetables (Swaminathan, M.S.). Why Youth in Agriculture?

Agricultural production systems depend on natural resources viz. land, water, biodiversity, forests, pastures and wildlife. Farm activities can also have major impacts on the quality and availability of these resources well beyond the boundaries of the production system. Although natural resources are critical to agricultural production, farm households also frequently depend on them to meet other needs, such as fuel, construction materials and supplemental foods. Thus rural livelihoods are intricately linked to the condition of natural resources. Over the last 40 years as food production has doubled, agricultural production systems have expanded, with significant impacts on the natural resource base:

There appears a general consensus that agriculture sector in India requires to be revitalized to enable it to respond effectively to the multitude of challenges that it now faces, and include assuring food security and environmental sustainability against the background of declining natural resources, changing climate and needs to become increasingly competitive.

Sustainable agricultural practices cover a whole range of improving sustainability: raising soil fertility, improving water storage capacity, increasing water quality, diversification, raising people’s capability to cope with risks and withstand natural calamities, reducing energy consumption, minimizing risk, and so on.

It is impossible to achieve sustainable development without applying sustainable agriculture on a large scale. The relationship between agricultural production and eradication of extreme poverty and hunger is very strong: agriculture is the very basis for food security. Together with fisheries, it provides practically all of the world’s food.

India is on the move, but in part.  
For, the farm sector is lagging behind.
It may soon become a drag on the economy.
Hence, farm development requires renewed efforts,
Farm youth must get critical attention.
Matter brooks no delay.

Farming is still the only source of human subsistence. No alternative is in sight. This ancient family occupation has survived over the ages through a process of transfer from father to son, generation to generation. But, in recent times, with an unprecedented externalization of farming, and under the pervasive influence of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation, this process of transfer of occupational knowledge within the community is seriously dislocated. Also, the earlier institutional arrangements for formal education in farming like district agricultural schools, gramsevaks training units and farmers training centres have now disappeared. In the meantime, even as more rural youth are becoming literate, formal education system is seen to have shed all aspects of agricultural education. Thus, the rural drop-outs are missing both formal and informal orientation in farming since a comprehension of ‘modern’ farming is beyond the middle level farmers. As such, farm youth today are neither here nor there, with regard to farming.

The word cell was coined by Robert Hooke with the help of compound microscope. Cell is the basic unit of life. A plant cell has three distinct components a). Cell wall b). Protoplasm and c). Vacuole. Cell wall  and  vacuole are considered as non-living substances. The protoplasm which is living is  composed of 1. Cytoplasm and 2. Nucleus. The cytoplasm contains several organelles such as mitochondria, chloroplast, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, golgi complex, lysosomes, plastids etc.

Before the invention of N fertilizer, mineralization of organic N ( present in dead plants and animals or manure) was the main method used to obtain ammonium and nitrate nitrogen. Mineralization is conducted by soil microbes resulting in ammonium ion. Most Nitrogen is absorbed by plants in the form of Nitrate (NO-₃). Ammonium is converted to Nitrate with the help of  soil bacteria. Nitrogen is a very mobile element and is easily lost from the soil. Ammonium (NH₄+) can be converted to Ammonia (NH₃). The gaseous ammonia can be lost to the atmosphere.  Nitrate can be lost through denitrification. Nitrate nitrogen is reduced to nitrous oxide (N₂O), elemental nitrogen (N₂) and nitric oxide (NO). All are volatile. Denitrification occurs under conditions of high water availability and temperatures higher than 10^ºC.

Plant hormones (phytohormones) are chemicals that regulate plant growth and are termed as ‘plant growth substances’. Plant hormones are signal molecules produced within the plant, and are present in extremely low concentrations. Hormones regulate cellular processes in targeted cells. Hormones also determine the formation of flowers, stems, leaves, the shedding of leaves, and the development and ripening of fruit. Every cell is capable of producing hormones in plants. They shape the plant, affecting seed growth, time of flowering, the sex of flowers, senescence of leaves, and fruits. Plant hormones affect gene expression and transcription levels, cellular division, and growth.They direct which tissues grow upward and which grow downwards. Hormones are vital to plant growth. Hence, they are also known as growth factors or growth regulators.

Vitamins are essential organic nutrients required by an organism in small quantities. They are essential since they cannot be synthesized in sufficient quantities by an organism, and must be obtained from the diet. The term vitamin does not include other essential nutrients like dietary minerals, essential fatty acids, or essential amino acids which are needed in larger quantities than vitamins. The term vitamin is derived from “vitamine,” coined in 1912 by the Polish biochemist Funk. The name is from vital and amine, meaning amine of life. Thirteen vitamins are generally recognized presently. Vitamins are used in small quantities by an organism to keep it in a healthy condition.

Vitamins are given letters of alphabet (A,B, C, D, etc.) in the order in which they have been discovered. The letters do not bear any relation to their structures or their importance. Vitamins are classified by their biological and chemical activity and not by their structure. Thus, each “vitamin” refers to a number of vitamer compounds that all show the biological activity associated with a particular vitamin. Vitamin A includes the compounds retinal, retinol, and four known carotenoids. Vitamers by definition are convertible to the active form of the vitamin in the body, and are sometimes inter-convertible to one another, as well.

Alkaloids are naturally occurring substances of plant origin that are alkaline in reaction. They are optically active, contain nitrogen as part of a heterocyclic ring and have varying degrees of psychological responses in man and animals. They exhibit significant pharmacological activity. Alkaloids are mostly basic in character but also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Presently more than 2000 alkaloids are known.

Nomenclature of alkaloids
Alkaloids are named by adding the suffix ‘ine’ to various distinguishable features such as sources, physiological action in animals, their properties etc. Thus, 1. The name of the genera of the plants containing them Ex. Atropine (Atropa), nicotine (Nicotiana) etc. 2. The names of the species of the plants producing them Ex. Cocaine (Erythroxolon coca). 3. The common name of the organism producing them Ex. Ergotamine (ergot fungus). 4. The specific physiological activity observed in animals Ex. Emetine (emetic – causing vomiting), narcotine (narcotic-alters mind).

Sterols are derivatives of a complex ring system called cyclopentano perhydro phenanthrene. The term sterol means solid alcohol. Sterols, though alcohols, are solids with a M.P. of 100-120^ºC. The 27 carbon atoms impart hydrocarbon character, namely, solubility in non-polar solvents. Free sterols in plants are mono hydroxy  secondary alcohols varying in the constitution of methyl or ethyl group and in double bonds. Cholesterol, ergosterol, bile acids, sex harmones, cortical harmones and D-vitamins are some of the sterol derivatives.
   
The most widely distributed sterols in higher plants are the C₂₉ sterols, stigmasterol, β sitosterol and g sitosterol. Together, they are called steroids. In plants, steroids are present as glycosides. Cholesterol was first isolated from gall stones. The word cholesterol means “solid alcohol from bile”. Bile is a fluid which is formed and stored in the gall bladder. It aids in the digestion of fats in the digestive tract. Sterols form an important group among the steroids. Unsaturated steroids with most of the skeleton of cholestane containing a 3β-hydroxyl group and an aliphatic side chain of 8 or more carbon atoms attached to position 17 form the group of sterols.

Plant pigments impart colour to the different components like leaves, flowers, fruits etc. They in turn are responsible for the colour of raw food, we eat. Pigments like chlorophyll, anthocyanins, flavonoids, tannins, xanthones etc. are the different pigments that are present in plants. The primary function of pigments in plants is photosynthesis, which uses the green pigment chlorophyll along with several red and yellow pigments that help to capture as much light energy as possible. Other functions of pigments in plants include attracting insects to flowers to encourage pollination.

Phenol is normally a benzene ring containing an –OH group, and hence an aromatic alcohol. The term phenolic refers to similar aromatic compounds with one or more -OH groups. Phenolics constitute one of the most widespread classes of secondary metabolites. Commonly talked about class of compounds like anthocyanins, flavonoids, lignins, tannins, coumarins and chalcones are all phenolic substances. Phenolics are water insoluble substances. However, the water solubility increases with the increase in the number of -OH groups. Phenolics absorb electromagnetic radiation strongly. Many of the phenolics absorb in the visible part of the spectrum (Ex. anthocyanins) and are coloured. Phenolics are produced in plants by 1. Shikimate pathway through phenylalanine (C6.C3)  and 2. Acetate/ malonate pathway.

Primary metabolism in a plant comprises all metabolic pathways that are essential to the plant’s survival. Primary metabolites, namely, carbohydrates, lipids and proteins are compounds that are directly involved in the growth and development of a plant whereas the secondary metabolites are compounds produced in other metabolic pathways that, although important, are not essential to the functioning of the plant. However, secondary plant metabolites are useful in the long term, often for defense purposes, and give plants characteristics such as color.
 
Secondary plant metabolites are used in signalling and regulation of primary metabolic pathways. Plant hormones, which are secondary metabolites, are often used to regulate the metabolic activity within cells. Secondary plant metabolites help the plant maintain an intricate balance with the environment, often adapting to match the environmental needs. Plant metabolites that color the plant are a good example of this, as the coloring of a plant can attract pollinators and also defend against attack by animals. Terpenes, alkaloids, sterols, pigments, growth regulators, and phenolics are the important secondary plant metabolites.

Amino acids serve as the building blocks of proteins and as precursors of many other important biomolecules such as hormones, purines, pyrimidines, porphyrins and some vitamins. They also serve as sources of energy when present in excess amounts and when they are used as fuel, amino acids undergo deamination reactions. The remaining carbon skeleton will either convert itself into glucose or undergoes oxidation to CO₂ via TCA cycle.

Central dogma: The Central dogma of molecular biology, which has been formulated as a simple linear progression of information from DNA to RNA to Protein, is summarized in the illustration. The replication process on the left consists of   passing  information from a parent DNA molecule to daughter molecules. The middle  transcription process copies this information to a mRNA molecule.  Finally, this information is used by the chemical machinery of the ribosome to make polypeptides.

Plants can synthesize all the 20 amino acids, which include essential and non-essential amino acids. They can be degraded by removal of the amino group and conversion of the remaining skeleton to useful metabolic intermediates which participate in the synthesis of glucose and other ketone bodies.
 
Biosynthesis of amino acids
 
The biosyntheses of amino acids have an important feature. Their carbon skeletons come from intermediates from glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway and citric acid cycle etc. The biosynthetic pathways depend on the intermediates from which they are derived. The primary amino group normally comes from the transamination of glutamate. Glutamine synthetase is a central control point in nitrogen metabolism, since glutamine is the amino group donor in the formation of many biosynthetic products as well as being a storage form of ammonia. Glutamate is the precursor of proline, ornithine, and arginine. Serine, cysteine, and glycine are derived from 3-phosphoglycerate. Glycine is synthesized from serine by removing CH2OH group. Tyrosine is synthesized from phenylalanine. Asparagine and glutamine are amides that are synthesized from aspartate and glutamate.

The importance of lipids have already been elaborated. They play a major role as source of energy and as components of membranes which have implications in plant growth regulation. The complete metabolism of fat leads to oxidation, the final products being CO₂ and water. The burning of one mole of palmitic acid gives 2340 kcal.  The molecular weight of palmitic acid is 256. This works out to approximately 9 kcal/g of palmitic acid. This energy is twice that derived from either sugars or proteins. Fats and oils are thus better and more efficient forms of storage of energy in living beings.

Carbohydrate metabolism in the cell is essentially the metabolism of glucose and other substances related to glucose in their metabolic processes. The chemical reactions involved in carbohydrate metabolism represents complex groups, sequences, and cycles of reactions which integrate at various points with the reactions concerned in the metabolism of lipids and proteins. The major types of chemical processes involved in carbohydrate metabolism may be grouped as follows: a) Anabolism of starch – Photosynthesis, b) Catabolism of starch, c) Catabolism of glucose – 1. Glycolysis and TCA cycle and 2. Oxidative pentose   phosphate pathway.
 
Plant cells “burn “ glucose for energy. Plants also produce sugars through photosynthesis. This is roughly the reverse of the burning process.

Plants are responsible for highly useful molecular reactions. All the enzymatic  reactions  that  occur in the cell are  termed  as metabolic reactions.  They  take place within organisms in an orderly and regulated way.  They  are  the  metabolic pathways and the compounds  resulting from the process, namely,  metabolism are called  the metabolites. Metabolism in Greek means change. It is the set of life sustaining chemical transformations within the cells of living organisms. These enzyme-catalyzed reactions allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to the environments around them.
 
Metabolism is a highly organized,   coordinated and purposeful enzymatic activity inside a cell. Metabolism has four functions: 1. To obtain energy from the environment, 2. To convert molecules into building blocks, 3. To convert the building blocks into proteins, lipids, sugars, nucleic acids and other cell components and 4. To synthesize and degrade organic molecules for specific needs of the cell.

Nucleic acids were first discovered in 1868 by Friedrich Meischer. Nucleic acids are high molecular weight polymers that are present in our cells. They  store and transfer genetic material from generation to generation. Knowledge of how genes are expressed and how they can be manipulated is becoming increasingly important for understanding   of nearly every aspect of biochemistry. These macromolecules pass on information for cellular growth and reproduction.  All the genetic information in the cells is called the genome. Every time a cell divides, the information is copied and passed on to the new cells.
 
Nucleic acids fall into two main classes according to the type of sugar they contain: the Deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA) and Ribonucleic acids (RNA). Some sections  of  the  DNA  called  genes contain the information to make a protein. RNA translates the genetic information in the DNA to the ribosomes, where the synthesis of proteins takes place.

Enzymes are organic catalysts produced by living organisms. They make possible biochemical reactions. Hence they are called biocatalysts. They are mostly a specialized class of proteins. However, there are some non-protein enzymes like ribozymes, which are RNAses. Enzymes speed up reactions at ambient temperatures. This is in contrast to chemical reactions like saponification of lipids which take place when lipids are boiled for a few hours with concentrated alkali.  Enzymes, namely, lipases, hydrolyze lipids at body temperatures in minutes. They are superior to chemical catalysts by a factor of 107 to 1014 .  An enzyme may be a simple protein or a complex protein. They are produced by cells and are mostly globular proteins. Each cell contains an estimated 3000 different enzymes.

The word protein was first coined in 1838 to emphasize the importance of this class of molecules. The word is derived from the Greek word proteios which means “of the first- rank”. Proteins are polymers/macro molecules made up of several amino acids. When there are more than 50 amino acids in a chain, the polypeptide is normally called a protein. Each protein in the cells of living beings has a unique sequence of amino acids that determines its biological function. The proteins are folded into specific defined structures, which are maintained by a large number of relatively weak bonds. The  three  dimensional structure is well defined and suited to it’s specific function.

Very small changes in the structure can modify the function. Hence, it is important to know the structure of proteins to understand their behavior and function. The biological activity of proteins depends on maintenance of folded conformation. Proteins fold into well defined three dimensional shapes and they are able to recognize their corresponding substrates or antigen molecules and bind them tightly. The protein structure has been classified into four different levels based on the folded conformation of the protein.