eChapters

Introduction

Research and development (R&D) is one of the main components to tackle the problems persisting or likely to take place in future. Priority areas of research are depending upon the overall situation and requirements of the problem under consideration. Under these broad areas, topic of interest for research may be varying at different geographical level from household to nation or global. If it is addressing vast geographical area like states, nations, regions and/or global, there may be many individuals/groups/institutions are working over similar type of problems. With the growing communication facilities and rising fund requirements, collaborative research programmes emerged to provide effective and economic solution to the problem with respect to time, money and manpower etc. Earlier, it was limited to high priority areas like defense and long run planning of the nations or kingdom at nation or state level. Declining environmental conditions and biological diversity became global concern in seventh decade of twentieth century. To tackle this problem, The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm) resolved to establish the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1972. Further, to speed up the progress, global community through world leaders had identified two burning priority areas during conference United Nations (U N) Environmental Programme Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992, well known as Earth Summit. One of those two priority areas was Biological Diversity. To address the issues at global levels, The Convention on Biological Diversity was signed by party nations, which was later ratified by the 187 countries. India is also one of the signatory nations and need to fulfill some time bound commitments. Moreover, later, importance of biodiversity and germplasm has been underlined by different forum at regional and global level for its present and future values in the life of human kind. Countries and various geographical regions are now becoming more and more aware about its judicious exploitation, conservation and sustained higher output over period of time.

Introduction

Water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes, is such an aquatic plant that needs hardly any introduction. This aquatic plant is considered as nuisance weed found floating freely on fresh water bodies, proliferates aggressively and therefore, spreads like wild fire. It can infest all types of water bodies, chokes waterways, canals, channels, dams, and thus damages potential water resources. Evidently, two plants produces 300 offspring within 23 days only and under ideal environment, 10 plants can multiply to 6 lakh and may cover an acre area within a period

Introduction

Aquarium fish keeping has become increasingly popular in industrialized countries and has been rated as the second biggest hobby and the most popular type of pet (Oliver, 2001). The National Pet Owners Survey 2007-08 revealed that 142 million freshwater and 9.6 million salt water fish were kept as pet in the USA alone (APPMA, 2008). The growing interest in aquarium fish has resulted in steady increase in aquarium fish trade globally. Today, with a turn over of US $ 9.0 billion a year and an annual growth of 8.0%, production of ornamental fish is an important business activity as well as one of the most popular hobbies in the world (Yanar et al., 2008).

Introduction

Agriculture has been undoubtedly the major source of livelihood in the developing nations like India. Livelihood is defined as adequate stock and f low of food and cash with an individual or a family to meet its basic needs (Girish et al., 2020). It encompasses the capabilities, assets (stores, resources, claims and access) and activities required for a means of living (Chambers and Conway, 1992). Livelihoods are considered secure when households have secure ownership or access to resources and income earning activities, including reserves and assets, to offset risks, ease shocks and meet contingencies (Chambers, 1989). The livelihood security is a complex concept that is location specific, subjective and dynamic (Hogger and Ruedi, 2004). It comprises of many indicators like food, educational, financial, health, culturaland social securities. Constraints like practices of traditional methods of cultivation, lack of access to modern technology, low productivity of crops, in-adequate capital formation and low investment, widespread illiteracy among farmers, etc., have become a major threat to the educational, food, economic and social securities, thus ultimately affecting the livelihood status of farming households in the country (Hatai and Sen, 2008). Since, a large fraction of farmers in the country lives in the rural areas, they have no proper knowledge regarding the usage of modern farming techniques. Often their low level of education and lack of communication has resulted into a lack of general awareness regarding the modern research and inventions on agriculture (Makal et al., 2017). In such scenario, farmers’ trainings play important role which helps the farmers in understanding the application of latest agricultural technologies in daily farming activities. It improves the knowledge of the trainees about the improved farm practices (Srinivas and Sailaja, 2013). The major players providing these extension services in public sector are Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) and ICT-led extension interventions by Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW), Government of India. Many state universities through their KVKs, have been imparting need-based trainings to the farmers in their routine activities as well as sponsored by various departments/agencies. In last few decades, KVKs have increasingly become associated with grass root development (Saha, 2013).

Introduction

The success of green revolution strategies for raising agricultural productivity and production has depended on the development of crop varieties that are more responsive to increased applications of water, manure, fertilizer, and agrochemical means of protection against pests. For farmers to benefit from this process whereby investing in more inputs can lead to production of more outputs, they had to begin by buying and using improved seeds. The green revolution was clearly seed dependent. The system of rice intensification (SRI) and other agro ecological approaches follow a different strategy, on the other hand. They work with whatever crop varieties the farmer already has or prefers to use (recognizing that it is always most productive to start with whatever genotype is best suited to the farmers’ circumstances and goals). Agro ecological methods are more likely to reduce the use of external input than to increase this as they mobilize and capitalize upon potentials that already within plants and upon the interactions between plants and their biotic and abiotic environments, i.e., mutual influences among plants, other organisms, climate, soil and other inanimate factors (Altieri, 1995; Gliessman, 1998; Uphoff, 2002). This is a very different envisioning of the agricultural domain.

Introduction

At the very outset, the varied aspects which govern the agricultural scenario in India have been taken up. Basically, India is a land of diversity and Indian climate defies an easy generalization. It comprises a wide range of weather conditions prevailing across a large geographic scale existing in the midst of varied topography. A systematic analysis reveals that Indian climate can be partitioned into six major climatic subtypes, ranging from deserts in the west, to the alpine tundra and glaciers in the north, to humid tropical regions supporting rainforests in the southwest and the island territories. The landform pattern is also found to be widely varying over places. Interestingly, tIndian soils can be divided into six categories, namely, alluvial soils, regular soils, red soils, laterite soils, mountain soils as well as the desert soils. Being a populous country whose sixty percent of the population earns its livelihood on agro-based incomes, directly or indirectly, it is important to review the robustness of the system followed in the actual practice in the Indian scenario towards the process of raising crops which ultimately feed more than hundred crores population. The review reveals that the agricultural production and farm incomes in India are frequently affected by the natural disasters such as droughts, floods, cyclones, storms, landslides as well as the earthquakes, and, indeed, the susceptibility of Indian agriculture to these disasters is compounded by the outbreak of epidemics and man-made disasters such as fire, sale of spurious seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, price crashes etc. As a sequel, the farmers are severely affected through the loss of production of agricultural crops and consequently, the loss of farm income due to occurrence of such events, and it is no denying that the management of or coping with such factors remains beyond the control of the farmers.

Introduction

Agriculture is the main sector of the Odisha economy and contributes approximately 42% to the gross domestic product (GDP) and employs over 80% of the population. Despite its role, agricultural production is constrained by high climate variability where rainfall distribution is extremely uneven and this has negative implications for the livelihoods of people .Drought frequently results in crop failure, while high rainfall intensities result in low infiltration and high runoff causing enhanced soil erosion and land degradation. Land degradation in the form of soil erosion and declining land fertility is a serious challenge to agricultural productivity and economic growth (Lemenih, 2004).Studies indicate that the tribal district of Odisha have experienced high rates of soil erosion and deforestation, resulting in sediment accumulation in downstream reservoirs and rivers.

In any work environment the managers, facilitators are equipped with some specific type of skills to perform their activity effectively. In this study, multi stakeholders were involved in the process of Precision Farming from land preparation to marketing. Every stakeholder has a specific task to be performed so as to lead the client in the direction desired. In order to achieve this, the skill components viz., Management and Facilitating skills possessed by them and their own perception on those skills were assessed.

Introduction

Among the rice growing countries, India has the largest area (448 lakh ha) followed by china and Bangladesh. Total food grain production in India is estimated at 2813l.7 lakh tonnes. Rice production is estimated at 1156 lakh tonnes (Anonymous, 2010). In India, rice is grown in the state of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and West Bengal lead in the area, while West Bengal harvest highest rice production. The average yield per hectare is highest i.e., 5970 kg/ha in the Punjab during 2018-19.

Rice is grown throughout the state except Kachchh and Saurashtra. Some part of the state is growing rice as a drilled, while transplanted rice is taken in south and middle Gujarat. In Gujarat rice occupies about 10.61 per cent of the gross cropped area of the state and accounts for around 25.5 per cent of the food grain production. It is grown on an average about 7.5 to 8.5 lakh hector of land comprising nearly 70 to 80 per cent low land (transplanted) and 15 to 20 per cent of upland (drilled) rice (Anonymous, 2020). During the 2018-19, the yield of kharif rice in Gujarat was around 2247.75 kg/ha. Yield of summer rice was 3130.96 kg/ha and total production of rice in the year of 2018-19 was 1911 tonnes (Anonymous, 2020). During the 2019-20, the yield of kharif rice was 2117.81 kg/ha and yield of summer paddy was 2996.36 kg/ha and total production of rice in the year of 2019-20 was 1929.98 tonnes (Anonymous, 2020).

In Gujarat some districts like Chhotaudepur, Tapi, Navsari have highest rice productivity which covered 1.279 lakh hector area with production and productivity respectively of 3.338 lakh tonne and 2582 kg/ha and some district like Mehsana, Narmada, Panchmahal, North Gujarat etc. have medium to low productivity of paddy. But in some part of North Gujarat like Gandhinagar and Sabarkantha have low productivity of rice.

Abstract

Drying is one of the most important industrial operations for preservation of food material. Due to the major limitations posed by convective drying methods, there is always a need for novel drying techniques which are technically, economically and environmentally sustainable. Based on the principle of moisture diffusion due to vapor pressure gradient, atmospheric freeze drying (AFD) offers a promising alternative to conventional drying systems. A cold gas with low water vapor pressure is used as drying medium to sublimate moisture directly from the frozen material at atmospheric pressure conditions. As a result the product gets dried at much lower temperature unlike convective drying. Thus, products dried with AFD retain better nutrition, texture and color and the process is also considerably cost effective. Major limitation of the AFD process is longer drying time, which can however be accelerated by using heat pump drying or new ultrasound technology. This chapter focuses on mechanism, benefits, limitations and comparative study of AFD with other drying methods such as hot air drying and vacuum freeze drying. It provides an insight regarding effect of AFD on properties of food material based on various studies reported in literature.

Introduction

India pre-dominantly an agriculture-based country, requires constant endeavors to seewhether rural and agricultural credit facilities are enhanced with time. As a part of theseefforts, agricultural credit cards and cash credit facility were introduced in lending system. The Kisan Credit Card is a credit card programme launched by Indian banks in August 1998. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) developed this model scheme to supply term loans for agricultural needs based on the suggestions of the R.V. Gupta Committee. Its goal is to provide financial assistance to farmers in order to address the agricultural sector’s comprehensive credit needs. All commercial banks, Regional Rural Banks, and state cooperative banks are among the participants. Short-term credit limitations for crops are in place, as are term loans. Personal accident insurance covers KCC credit card members up to Rs. 50,000 for death and permanent disability and up to Rs. 25,000 for other risks. The premium is split evenly between the bank and the borrower. The validity period is five years, with the option of an additional three year extension, Kisan Credit Card provides cash and term credit to farmers for a variety of linkedoperations such as pump sets, land expansion, planting, and drip irrigation. Soil Wellbeing Card programming has been institutionalized and online programming built for eight statesunderthee-Government Program to provide coordinated supplement administration suggestions based on soil test edit reaction approach. Ranchers receive data through avariety of channels, including Common Service Centres, Internet Kiosks, and SMS, as partofthe Nationale-Governance Plan for Agriculture. Farmers are spared from the exorbitant interest rates charged by traditional banks under the KCC plan. The interest rate on KCC loans ranges from 2% to 4%. This low interest rate aids farmers in repaying loans more quickly, taking into account the crop’s harvesting season and the date the loan was provide.

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.

Indian economy is basically an agrarian economy (Saxena, 2012) and the majority less literate and unskilled population living in rural areas does not fit into the employment market. Employing 55% of labour force, agriculture sector is a major employment provider (Chand, 2014). However, the seasonal nature of Indian agriculture leads to seasonal and cyclical unemployment. This situation can be altered by generating employment opportunities through nurturing entrepreneurship in agriculture (Rehman et al., 2012).

Audio-visual aids refer to devices that enable both visual and auditory sensory inputs, facilitating enhanced learning and retention compared to using these senses separately. As highlighted in the preceding section, the combination of sight and hearing captures 94% of the audience's attention, underscoring the efficacy of audio-visual aids in extension teaching.

Advantages

• Clarity and Conceptual Understanding: Audio-visual aids convey meaning succinctly and clarify ideas effectively.

• Enhancement of Oral Communication: They supplement spoken words by providing visual reinforcement.

• Stimulation of Conceptual Thinking: They provide a tangible basis for conceptual understanding.

• Engagement and Sustained Interest: These aids attract, arouse, and maintain audience interest.

• Enhanced Learning and Retention: They contribute to long-term retention of learning.

• Overcoming Constraints: They overcome limitations of space, time, and distance.

• Continuity of Thought: Motion pictures aid in the development of coherent thought processes.

• Stimulation of Self-Activity: They stimulate audience participation and motivate action.

Introduction

Audiotex is a voice response application that allows users to enter and retrieve information over telephone. Example Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS). Audiotex is a generic name for interactive voice response equipment and service. Audiotex connected with a telephone is like a data processor connected to a data terminal. They are passive service which provides through appropriate access by standardised procedure for the user of Audiotex service to communicate with database via telecom network (i.e.) a subscriber can retrieve the information at any time by interacting with the audio service equipment by using the existing telephone line.

Audiotex is essentially a content provider. It enables the subscribers to record their message in a computer memory area called a “Mail Box”. The recorded message can be retrieved by the recipient by dialling a telephone number. Audiotex service is a telecommunication system which enables a caller, by dialling a designated telephone numbering beginning with ‘1800’ to receive a recorded announcement or to interact with a programme whereby he/she may communicate by means of a dual tone multi frequency telephone key pad, a touch tone telephone or other similar device with a value added network connected to the public switched telephone system for purposes of sending or receiving information. However, there are differing views across the world on what constitutes “Audiotex service”. European Telecommunications Standards Institute in its ETSI technical report 131 (June 1994) on “Terminal Equipment(TE); An investigation into the need for standardization in the area of stored voice services” has commented that “ It can be seen that there are many differing views as to what constitutes an Audiotex service and, in formal usage (e.g. in lectures or articles on the subject), a distinction is always drawn between voice messaging and the other services (information, consultation, transaction, etc.). It is thus misleading to use the word Audiotex without a previous definition. Therefore, in many countries the term “stored voice service” is used to describe Audiotex and each separate application and service is distinguished by a more precise definition.

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).

Previous Year Questions

1. No questions were asked in past 10 years

Availability of Foodgrains

• Net availability of foodgrains = Gross Production (-) seed, feed & wastage, (-) exports imports (+/-) change in stocks.

The Indian agriculture is on the threshold of a second revolution. It is becoming increasingly clear that the next leap will come from the Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Even though ICT has developed very well, its penetration to the farming community seems to be very less. At the same time, it is difficult for the extension agent to personally attend the queries of every farmer individually. With the decreased number of extension workers, there is a need to use the latest technologies for delivering extension services.