eChapters

13 1. Rishi Krishi

Drawn from Vedas, the Rishi Krishi method of natural farming has been mastered by farmers of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. In this method, all on-farm sources of nutrients including composts, cattle dung manure, green leaf manure and crop biomass for mulching are exploited to their best potential with continuous soil enrichment through the use of Rishi Krishi formulation known as “Amritpani” and virgin soil. 15 kg of virgin rhizosperic soil collected from beneath of Banyan tree (Ficus bengalensis) is spread over one acre and the soil is enriched with 200 lit Amritpani.

It is prepared by mixing 250 g ghee into 10 kg of cow dung followed by 500 g honey and diluted with 200 lit of water. This formulation is utilized for seed treatment (beej sanskar), enrichment of soil (bhumi sanskar) and foliar spray on plants (padap sanskar). For soil treatment it needs to be applied through irrigation water as fertigation. The system has been demonstrated on a wide range of crops i.e. fruits, vegetables, cereals, pulses, oilseeds, sugarcane and cotton.

12.1. General Practices for Storage

• Lime juice is mixed with grains and then sun dried before storage to prevent insect pests (Farmers in Nigeria).
• Seeds are safely stored in earthern pots after mixing with the leaves of neem and Vitex negundo (Farmers in Gujarat, India).
• Drying seeds and grains of all the crops on the new moon day before storing to avoid pest attack.
• Store seed materials in earthen pots which are kept on the ‘Paran’ directly above the furnace in kitchen. The smoke acts as a repellent.
• Grains, trees etc. harvested on full moon day are raqre prone to storage pest attack.
• Mixing the dried leaves of neem with seeds while storing them.

Change in weather affects growth and development of plants. The extent of these effects depends upon the range or severity of change of weather. It is very much possible to change the weather in relatively small area to reap better harvest. Micro weather modification is defined as, “The manipulation of weather elements at increasing or decreasing the duration, intensity, quality etc., for desired effects at microlevel of crop under investigation”.

The climate near the ground can be managed partly by influencing the moisture status and temperature of the upper soil layers, e.g. by mulching and partly by action above the ground e.g. by shading or use of wind breaks.

Soil regeneration is about bulding or making topsoil. It is a particular form of ecological regeneration within the field of restoration ecology is the act/idea of replenishingthe top soil with beneficial nutrients casing natural methods. Time required from inorganic to organic would be about 60 to 200 days depending upon the situation. Once the inorganic fertilization is stopped, following actions facilitate quick conversion:

• Apply Farm yard/Poultry manure available in the farm as a basal dressing.
• Sow 25 kg of multi varietal seeds (MVS) in one acre.
• Allow it to grow up to 60 days.
• Inoculate the soil with the bio-agents like Azospirillum, Phosphobacterium, Pseudomonas flouresens, Trichoderma viride on 30 days after sowing (DAS).
• Incorporate in situ 60 DAS (30 t ha^-1 biomass is generated on 60 DAS) green manures.

9.1. ITKS for Seed Treatment and Sowing

• Yield of almost all the crops depends on seed quality.
• Even if it is a quality seed, it should be a dried one because well dried seeds will have higher longevity and keeping quality.
• It better to change the seeds at least once in two years.
• To maintain the seed viability and prevent it from outside damage, the outer shell is not separated.
• The seeds are generally stored along with the leaves of neem (Azadirachta indica), pungam (Pongamia pinnata), notchi (Vitex negundo) and thumbai (Leucas aspera).
• Six weeks nursery period is enough for six months duration of the crop.
• Shallow sowing is followed in dry lands.
• Severing the broadcasted seeds in dry lands with soil.
• Dragging, over the fields, the thorny branches with weight over them for covering seeds the sown on dry lands.
• It is better to start planting from ‘Sani moolai’ (north east) of the field to get higher yields.
• It is better to perform sowing and planting operations during evening hours.

8.1. Documented ITKs on Moisture Conservation

The ITKs were documented under following specific categories

• Agronomic Measures
• Tillage
• Bunding & Terracing (Mech. & Vegetative barrier)
• Land Configuration
• Soil Amendment / Mulching
• Erosion Control & Runoff Diversion Structures
• Water Harvesting, Seepage Control & Ground Water Recharge

7.1. Rice

• Treatment of paddy seeds in diluted bio gas slurry for 12 hours increases resistance of seedlings to pests and diseases.
• During panicle formation in paddy, the flowers of Cycas circinalis are placed on sticks in paddy fields @ 4/ac. Its unpleasant odor repels ear head bugs.
• About 30 kg of tamarind seeds are applied for an acre of paddy field 1 day after transplanting to boost up the crop growth and yield.
• Soaking the paddy seeds in diluted cow’s urine before sowing, considerably reduces the incidence of leaf spot and rice blast
• Presoaking of paddy seeds in milk increases its resistance against ‘tungro’ virus and ‘stunt’ virus
• For control of red leaf spot disease in paddy, the seeds are soaked in ‘Pudina’ leaf extract (Mentha sativa) for 24 hours
• ‘T’ shaped bamboo stands are placed in many places in the paddy fields so that birds can sit on them and feed on the larvae and adults of rice pests.
• Sowing on eighteenth day (Aadipperukku) of Tamil month Aadi (Jul-Aug.) ensures good harvest.
• Daincha (Sesbania spp.) seeds are sown on paddy main fields when paddy nursery is raised and the grown up daincha is ploughed in-situ during field preparation.
• Plough the main field for four to six times for better yield.

Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) based inputs (Most of the ITK’s needs scientific validation before large scale adoption)

Is the systematic body of knowledge acquired by local people through the accumulation of experiences, informal experiments, and intimate understanding of the environment in a given culture (Rajasekaran, 1993). Learning from ITK can improve understanding of local condition and provide a productive context for activities designed to help the communities. In addition, the use of ITK’s assures that the end user of specific agricultural development projects are involved in developing technologies appropriate to their needs’. Yet, ITK is still an underutilized resource in the development activities. It needs to be intensively and extensively studied, and incorporated into formal research and extension practices to make agriculture and rural development strategies more sustainable.

Many of our indigenous practices in agriculture and allied fields have been replaced by the so-called modern technologies and they have become obsolete, especially among the younger generations. Now these indigenous practices are endangered ones and these are a possibility for them to become extinct particularly during this era of globalization, liberalization and commercialization. Now the need has come to re-examine and then gradually re-introduce the effective traditional technologies of crop production.

Therefore, there is a need to systematically document the ITK as they are the unwritten body of knowledge. There is no systematic record to describe what is, what it does, how it does, means of changing it, its operations, it boundaries and its applications. It is held in different brains, languages and skills in as many groups, cultures and environments. Tamil Nadu is also a treasure land of indigenous practices in agriculture. However, only a few attempts have been undertaken by social scientists to document the available indigenous agricultural practices but none has evaluated scientifically. The documented ITK practices are given below.

Insect pests cause huge losses ranging from 5 to 80% of even up to 100%. Acute food shortage following world war –II and Bengal famine (1943) due to failure of rice crop due to a paddy disease indicate the severity of the loss, caused by the pests and diseases. The insects in storage on an average consume and spoil an additional 4 million tones of grains every year. All this indicates the importance of plant protection by which we can save millions of tones of food grains which are otherwise eaten away by different pests. Losses due to insect pests in Indian agriculture are 23.3 per cent. One of the practical means of increasing crop production is to minimize the pest associated losses.

A pest is any organism which occurs in large numbers and conflict with man’s welfare, convenience and profit.

Pests are often controlled with man made chemicals which have many harmful effects, for example:

Weeds can be considered a significant problem because they tend to decrease crop yields by increasing competition for water, sunlight and nutrients while serving as host plants for pests and diseases. Since the invention of herbicides, farmers have used these chemicals to eradicate weeds from their fields. Using herbicides not only increased crop yields but also reduced the labor required to remove weeds. Today, some farmers have a renewed interest in organic methods of managing weeds since the widespread use of agro-chemicals has resulted in purported environment and health problems. It has also been found that in some cases herbicides use can cause some weed species to dominate fields because the weeds develop resistance to herbicides. In addition, some herbicides are capable of destroying weeds that are harmless to crops, resulting in a potential decrease in biodiversity on farmers. It is important to understand that under an organic system of weed control, weeds could never be eliminated but only managed. In organic agriculture weeds are the resources as they are mostly native to the field/areas of existence (Children’s of the soil)

Technical Knowledge (ITK) based special inputs / Techniques for plant growth

Growth of the plant has for long been believed to be due to the minerals absorbed from the soil and the food materials synthesized by the palnt. It is recognized that growth of the plant is very much regulated by certain chemical substances known as growth regulators. These substances are formed in one tissue or organ of the plant and are then transported to other sites where they produce specific effects on growth and development. These materials can be produced organically for improving plant growth.

3.1. Growth Promoting Substances

Are those organic solutions (like Panchagavya, Buttermilk & Coconut milk slurry, Amudhakaraisal) prepared using the plant and animal products, decayed fruit and other agricultural wastes. For example

Manure is the organic material derived from animal, human and plant residues which contain plant nutrients in complex forms. Manures are used as source of plant nutrients. They release nutrient after their decomposition. They are applied in large quantities

Advantages of Organic Manures

• Organic manure provides all the nutrients that are required by plants but in limited quantities.
• It helps in maintaining C:N ratio in the soil and also increases the fertility and productivity of the soil.
• It improves the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil.
• It improves both the structure and texture of the soils.
• It increases the water holding capacity of the soil.
• Due to increase in the biological activity, the nutrients that are in the lower depths are also made available to the plants through manures.
• It acts as mulch, thereby minimizing the evaporation losses of moisture from the soil.

Presently the farming situation urges need to develop farming techniques, which are sustainable from environmental, production, and socio-economic points of view. Modern agricultural production throughout the world does not appear to be sustainable in the long run. Sustainable agricultural development “is the management and conservation of the natural resource base and the orientation of technological and institutional change in such a manner to assure the attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs for the present and future generations”. Such sustainable development in the agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors, conserves land, water, plant and animal genetic resources, is environmentally non-degrading, technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable. Such concerns imparted a way to organic farming. It is the need of the day to understand the prospects and problems of organic farming to launch a successful and flawless organic production programme in the farm of environment.

Organic farming

It is the most widely recognized alternative farming system to chemical agriculture evolved during 1940’s largely in response to the publication of J.I Rodale in the U.S., Lady Eve Balfour in England and Sir Albert Howard in India. In 1980, USDA released a landmark report on organic farming. The report defined organic farming as follows;

“Organic farming is a production system, which avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetically compounded fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators, and livestock feed additives. To the maximum extent feasible, organic farming systems rely upon crop rotations, crop residues, animal manures, legumes, green manures, off-farm organic wastes, mechanical cultivation, mineral bearing rocks, and aspects of biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and tilth to supply plant nutrients, and to control insects, weeds, and other pests”.

11.1 Introduction

The application of greenhouse in agriculture is vast. Greenhouses are used for growing flowers, vegetables, fruits, transplants and varieties of certain crops in a controlled environment which is appropriate for the plants. The edible flowers are served in some good restaurants to grow them precise calculation is required. Sensor network can help to monitor and automate the activities in greenhouse. The objective of this chapter is to discuss the development of sensor nodes to monitor the growth of flower plants through XBee and internet of things. The system comprises of three sections- sensor nodes, local server and main server. Sensor nodes communicate to local server with XBee and then local server communicates the same data to main server through IoT.Fig.11.1 shows the generalized block diagram, sensor node is to be implemented on each flower pot and communicating to local and main server.

10.1 Introduction

The objective of this chapter is to develop a data logger and indicator for fire detection in agriculture field. The data logger is designed with the help of Scilab. The system comprises of Ardiuini Nano, light sensor, MQ6, MQ135, IR sensor, temperature sensor, power supply. The system is designed to take sensory data on Scilab with serial communication. Fig.10.1 shows block diagram for a system. Table.10.1 shows the component list required to develop the system.

9.1 Introduction

The objective of this chapter is to design an icloud and cayenne based perimeter monitoring system for agricultural field. Mobile app is designed to monitor the sensory data. The complete system comprises of two sections field device and mobile app. Field device comprises of NodeMCU, battery, motion sensors and laser sensors. The system is designed to monitor the agriculture field perimeter with motion and laser sensors, which are deployed at different locations of field. The sensory data is transmitted through NodeMCU and received at mobile app which can be accessed by authorized person. The same data can be accessed on webserver from anywhere in the world. Fig.9.1 shows a block diagram for a system. Table.9.1 shows the component list.

8.1 Introduction

The objective of this chapter is to develop a smart control for site-specific management of fixed irrigation system with Blynk app. Mobile app is designed to control the water management in field. The complete system comprises of two sections field device and mobile app. Field device comprises of Arduino, Node MCU, Power supply, LCD, Relay board, soil moisture sensor, temperature & humidity sensor, water level sensor, motor1, motor2. The system is designed to establish control and communication with specific agricultural field to take sensory data from the sensors and control the PUMP IN motor and PUMP OUT motor with the help of mobile app. Fig.8.1 shows a block diagram for a system.

7.1 Introduction

This chapter describes the development of data logger of agricultural field parameter monitoring system with MATLAB. The system comprises of Arduino, water level sensor, humidity sensor, light sensor, soil moisture sensor, temperature sensor, smoke detector, power supply, PC with MATLAB. The system is designed to monitor the environment and agriculture field parameters. The field device is designed to collect all physical parameters and same is communicated serially to MATLAB with I/O package. Fig.7.1 shows block diagram of the system. Table.7.1 shows the component list required to develop the system.

6.1 Introduction

This chapter describes the development of data logger of agricultural field parameter monitoring system with LabVIEW. The system comprises of two sections- Fields device and data logger. Field device comprises of Arduino, smoke detector (for sensing hazardous gases), soil moisture sensor, temperature sensor, humidity sensor, water level sensor, battery, display unit, 2.4 GHz RF modem. Data logger comprises of Arduino, display unit, 2.4 GHz RF modem, power supply, PC with LabVIEW. The system is designed to monitor the environment and agriculture field parameters. The field device is designed to collect all physical parameters and communicate it to the receiver end with LabVIEW. For establishing communication between two sections 2.4GHz RF modem is used, which can be replaced with any other modem also.Fig.6.1 shows block diagram of field device and Fig.6.2shows block diagram of data logger.Table.6.1 & Table.6.2 shows the component list required to develop the field device and data logger.

5.1 Introduction

The chapter describes the development of local web server on the laptop, to control the actuator from the server. Web server is used as remote control for the system. The system is designed to control water pump with respect to the soil sensor values. It comprises of NodeMCU, soil sensor, LCD, two relay boards for pump in and out the water from field.

4.1 Introduction

The objective of this chapter is to design a mobile app for agricultural field automation with Blynk app. Mobile app is designed to control the water management in field as per requirement. The complete system comprises of two sections sensor node and mobile app. Sensor node comprises of Node MCU, Power supply, LCD, Relay board, soil sensor and Ultrasonic sensor. The system is designed to establish control and communication with specific agricultural field to take sensory data from soil and ultrasonic level sensor and control the PUMP IN motor and PUMP OUT motor with the help of mobile app.Fig.4.1 shows a block diagram for a system to control specific agricultural field with mobile app and IoT modem.

3.1 Introduction

Internet of Things (IoT) allows computational devices and sensory support to connect with each other and access services on the Internet. The IoT idea was introduced to connect devices through the Internet and facilitate access to information for users. The potential application of IoT includes agriculture. The aim of this chapter is to explain the role of NodeMCU in the agriculture field. NodeMCU is IoT module which can be used to present the IoT concept as a basis for monitoring and control. The systems used in farm production processes. NodeMCU play a key role, with a focus on their realization by available microcontroller platforms and appropriate sensors. IoT based system provides opportunity to users to monitor and control the process remotely.

2.1 Introduction

Automation of agricultural field with IoT and microcontroller is new era of technology. Arduino based solution to agricultural field is open source platform. It can be used for developing data loggers and new sensors environment. The rate of solutions with Arduino and sensors is high as it is open source platform. The use of Arduino in agriculture can accelerate the growth of automation. Arduino can be interfaced with sensors like:

• Temperature
• Humidity
• Soil Moisture
• Water Pressure
• Water Flow and Water Metering
• Rain Gauge

To understand IoT “Internet of Things” it is important to understand internet first. Internet is connecting a device to other device anywhere in the world. When two devices are connected with the Internet, they can send and receive all kinds of information such as text, graphics, voice, and video. The high-speed, fiber-optic cables are used, through which the bulk of the Internet data travels. The Internet has revolutionized the communication world. In today’s scenario the internet is an important part for people around the world. The Internet is a global network of billions of electronic devices. The World Wide Web (www) is most widely used part of the Internet.

The “Internet of Things is a potentially integrated part of the ‘Future Internet’. IoT can be defined as a dynamic global network with self - configuring capabilities based on communication protocols where physical and virtual ‘Things’ interact with each other.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is inter-connecting the networks of smart devices. Smart devices may be embedded with vehicles, buildings, or other electronics object with software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity. Network connectivity enables smart devices to collect and exchange data. The Internet of Things (IoT), also referred to as the Internet of Everything (IoE) which comprises of the web-enabled devices. IoT has its applications in smart city, smart surveillance, automated transportation, smarter energy management systems, water distribution, urban security and environmental monitoring. Agriculture is another new area of IoT application.

Due to advancement in technology the processing power and storage capacity has been increased, in the recent years. At the same time technology is making the devices pervasive, wearable and mobile. Smart devices are fitted with sensors, actuators which enable devices to sense, compute and act intelligently. They are able to exchange information with environment.

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. The Agriculture Sector of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has a total area of 390 580 square kilometers of which one per cent is made up of rivers and lakes, 38 per cent is arable land and the rest is suited for livestock and wildlife production. The country is bordered by South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Mozambique. It is located between latitudes 15,30 and 22,30 degrees south of the Equator and between longitudes 25 and 33,10 degrees east of the Greenwich Meridian (CSO, 2006).

The Agriculture sector forms the backbone of Zimbabwe’s economy and accounts for about 17 per cent of the GDP. Zimbabwe‘s agricultural sector comprises mostly smallholder farmers who include communal, resettlement and small-scale farmers. However, this sector is besieged by a plethora of issues, namely high stocking rates, sub-optimal climate, and deforestation and land degradation. The Land Reform and Resettlement Programme which commenced in 1980 resulted in hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans being resettled on former white commercial farms, in either Model A1(communally owned) or A2 schemes (large scale commercial farms). Thus the challenge to policy makers was now to ensure that future agricultural production is not compromised by current practices. The new farming sector largely comprises resource poor farmers, academics, corporate leaders, high-level policy makers and traditional farmers. Most of the new farmers lack requisite Agricultural skills and knowledge needed in modern Agricultural practice. Land reform measures led to the exodus of some white farmers in the beginning of the 21st century which crippled the economy depriving it of technological know-how and causing shortages of basic commodities.

The modernization of agriculture therefore, among other intervention strategies, through the use of ICTs can contribute directly to food security at national and household levels, beneficiation of agricultural produce, effective land management and an increase of national wealth.

1. INTRODUCTION

Agricultural Extension in Trinidad and Tobago is searching for a way to effectively use Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) to improve the delivery of services to the farming community. The notion of a demand-driven extension service seems to appeal to the Ministry of Agriculture, and many believe that ICT has the potential to become a primary enabler to improving the extension service.

The country has a population of 1.3 million with one of the highest per capita incomes in Latin American and the Caribbean (US$16,090 in 2007). Oil and gas account for 40 per cent of GDP and 80 per cent of exports. The unemployment rate is 5 per cent, and the labour market is characterized by chronic shortage, high price and low productivity particularly in the agricultural sector (Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, 2008). One of the government’s objectives is to develop a vibrant agriculture sector to reverse the decline of agriculture. The government’s operational plan 2007-2010 identifies a model for transformation which includes joint ventures with the private sector, investments to develop farms via Government to Government arrangements, and improvements in infrastructure and communication (Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, 2007).

1. INTRODUCTION

Sudan lays close to the east-centre of Africa between Latitudes 4° and 2° and longitude 22° and 28° east. It is the largest country in African continent (8.3 per cent) and Arab world and the ninth largest in the world (1.75) covering 2.59 million square kilometers of twenty six states (El Mustafa, 2005). It shares borders with Egypt, Libya, Chad, Central Africa, Zaire, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia. It is a criterion for absolute continent in terms of the extent and variety of vast agricultural lands, vast agricultural and pastoral country with rich cultural diversity. It homes about forty million people, seventy five per cent of which inhabit rural areas, speaking over a hundred and thirty indigenous languages and dialects. The country is a gentle sloping land with the exception of Jebel Marra Massif, Red Sea hills, Ingessena hills and the Nuba Mountains (Ahmed et al., 2004).

The Nile and its tributaries traverse it for about 900 km. The rainfall ranges from less than 50 mm in the northern desert to more than 1500 mm in the tropical rain forest in the south.

In general, the soils include aridsols (sand dunes and sandy soils), aridisols and vertisols (clay pockets in the valleys) in the North, vertisols in the central and southern clay plains and oxisols in the south. Variations in rainfall, vegetation and soils resulted in the formation of seven main ecological zones classified as follows: desert (0-75 mm, 28.1 per cent,), semi-desert (75-300 mm, 19 per cent), low rainfall savanna on sand (300-400 mm, 26.6 per cent), low rainfall savanna on clay (400-800 mm, 13.3 per cent), high rainfall savanna (800-1300 mm, 9.5 per cent), Montana vegetation region (800-1000 mm, 0.3 per cent) and flood region (800-1000 mm, 3.2 per cent) which embedded in twenty six states.

1. INTRODUCTION

This chapter looks at ICTs in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with a focus on several selected countries in the region. Exciting and positive developments are happening throughout SSA Africa in ICTs. For instance, in spite of extensive poverty, SSA has had the fastest growing mobile market in the world over the last five years. The mobile telephone in the region has morphed to serve uniquely African development needs, including those in rural areas. It is being used for market information, extension messages and as virtual currency. In Kenya and Uganda, mobile phone services provide cheap messages about crop price information via text messaging. In Tanzania, there are ‘market spies’, farmers who visit local markets and remain in contact with the village using mobile phones to negotiate for better prices.

In spite of the growing use of mobile telephony and other ICTs, Africa has lagged behind in harnessing ICT potential for extension and other rural development issues in comparison to countries such as China, India, and Chile. Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest teledensity in the world (Bertolini, 2006a). Many challenges exist to ICT use in SSA, and there are concerns that many rural African communities are being further left behind through the ‘digital divide’.

1. OVERVIEW OF THE NATIONALAGRICULTURE SCENARIO - NATIONAL EXTENSION SYSTEMS, SCOPE AND IMPORTANCE

Like in many developing countries, Agriculture Sector being the backbone of the Sri Lankan economy, contributes significantly (11.3 per cent in the year 2007) to the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and the economic growth by 7.7 per cent (Central Bank of Sri Lanka, 2007). As to the situation in 2007, 80 per cent of country’s population of 20.01 million is rural and 31.3 per cent of the total Sri Lankan work force is employed in Agriculture sector. Nearly 14.6 per cent of the population still depends on the agriculture as the main livelihood. The country’s GDP has been growing at 6.8 per cent per annum (in 2007), though that of agriculture is growing at only 3.3 per cent.

Country as a whole is constituted by 25 administrative districts all of which is encompassed into nine provinces. Of these, nearly four fifths are predominantly agricultural districts with over 60 per cent of the total population living in them. Majority of the population in these districts constitutes the farming community and they, by and large, are the ones who keep the nation feeding. Apart from plantation agriculture which looks after large scale plantation level crops like tea, rubber, coconut along with other crops like cinnamon, pepper, coffee, cloves, nutmeg etc., grown extensively for the export market, almost all other food crops are grown by farmers, majority of who own land plots less than 2 hectares. On the one hand, this makes agriculture mainstay of a major sector of the population and on the other hand they are spread nearly everywhere in the country rather thinly on the ground.

1. AN OVERVIEW OF RWANDA’S SOCIO-ECONOMIC SETTING

Rwanda is a small landlocked country located in East Africa covering a total surface area of 26,338 km². It lies about 120 km south of the Equator and is bordered by Uganda in the North, Tanzania in the east, Burundi in the south and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the West. According to the national official statistics, the total population is approximately 8,200,000 people, with women accounting for 55 per cent of the people. The country’s population density is 505 people per km², making it one of the most densely populated countries in Africa (National Institute of Statistics, 2002). Since the turn of the millennium, the annual growth rate of the population has been 2.9 per cent and it is believed that by the year 2020, the country will have an estimated population of 20 million, thus exerting pressure on the limited land resources. It is also important to note that most people (64 per cent), those living in abject poverty, reside in rural areas of the country (Government of Rwanda, 2008).

1. INTRODUCTION

In the past, conventional ICTs that have been applied to agricultural extension services include the use of television, radio, etc., and these media have been criticized as archetypical, passive, top-down in nature; hence they have not created meaningful impact on agricultural information delivery (Akpabio, 2007). As a result of this, extension roles have undergone several transformation, over the years. One of the objectives of agricultural extension is to create conducive platform for empowerment so that food security can be guaranteed. In order to guarantee food security there is need to utilize faster and more efficient techniques of project identification, selection, implementation and evaluation in the agricultural extension process (Braimoh and Oladele, 2000). The inadequacies of interpersonal communication strategy in development gave credence to the use of media support in development process (Yahaya, 2000). In recent times, further improvements have been made on the use of media support through digital media. This is what makes contemporary ICT more relevant.

Modern ICTs emerged in Nigeria at a time when there was need for change in the agricultural extension delivery system to suit the contemporary situation. The conventional forms of communication used by extension agents include written (bulletin, leaflets, newspapers, articles, personal letters, circular, etc.); spoken (general meeting, special meeting, farm and home visit, official calls, telephone calls and radio); visual (result demonstration, exhibits, posters, motion pictures, charts, slide) and spoken/visual (method demonstration meeting, result demonstration meeting, meeting involving motion pictures, meeting involving charts).Torimiro et al.,(2000) noted the non-usage of telephone calls in extension work, giving reasons as preference for the locally accessible and affordable forms of communication they can employ.

1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Agriculture, as one of the most important economic sectors in Jordan, is under increasing pressure due to rising population, consumer affluence, pressure from globalization and a shrinking resource base. Previous production challenges in Jordan have been met largely through improvements in traditional agricultural inputs such as seeds and agrochemicals, but the present challenges need different solutions. Better management, which involves higher degrees of information and knowledge, is widely seen as a way to address these challenges. The potentials that ICT has to offer range from the sharing and re-use of data, research findings, lessons learned and best practices among R&D institutions to developing quick response mechanisms for agricultural and natural resources crises situations; from permitting informed decision making among the agricultural officials to sounder policy making among the legislators; from improving the extension delivery systems in the rural areas to bringing e-Commerce to the farmers.

Agricultural extension is about the application of information into knowledge and adoption, such as application of scientific research to agricultural practices through farmer training. ICT broadly defined as facilitation by electronic means the creation, storage, management and dissemination of information. Two types of ICT – old and new are practiced in extension service; the former refers to radio and TV which are low cost and require little skill to use while the latter forms of ICT include networked computers, satellite-sourced communication, wireless technology and the internet. Assume key factors explaining different ICT taken up by country are: per capita income; levels of education; the rural concentration; and dispersal of a country’s population.

The development of ICT in Jordan is fast and the Jordan’s IT capacity related to agro-information dissemination needs to be vastly improved at the local level to allow the effective horizontal transmission of information and communication between the farmers and institutions. However, technological challenges have still to be addressed such as the lack of trained communicators, poor ICT infrastructures high costs and limited access to ICTs and lack of relevant content.

1. OVERVIEW OF AGRICULTURAL SCENARIO AND EXTENSION SYSTEMS IN JAPAN

1.1. Japanese Agricultural Policy and its Short History

The modernization of Japan’s agriculture was started through mechanization such as cultivators, rice planting machines, tractors and combines in the 1960s. Mechanization led to a large decrease in hours spent on rice cultivation, and the redundant labor force moved from agriculture to the manufacturing industry. This movement resulted in the modernization of rice cultivation, high productivity and high income for farm households.

On the other hand, a decreased demand for rice caused by westernization of the diet, e.g. greater consumption of animal products, became a serious problem. The national government decided to regulate rice production, and the acreage of paddy fields equivalent to the excess rice production has been used to cultivate other plants since 1978. Nowadays, the permitted area for planting rice is about 60 per cent of the paddy fields, with the other 40 per cent used to cultivate other plants such as barley, soybean, buckwheat and so on.

1. INTRODUCTION

The contribution of Extension and research to Israel’s agricultural productivity and profitability is a collaborative effort with research hailing back to the late 19^th century. It facilitated technological innovation in agriculture, transfer of information, training of farmers and connectivity. These were in effect a dictate of continuously deteriorating agricultural terms of trade, crippling water shortages and severe climate and soil constraints.

The Israeli Extension Service’s (IES) adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) significantly enhanced extension’s capabilities and scope of activities. ICT empowered extension’s ability to develop, introduce and adopt innovative agricultural technologies and collaborate with research and other partners. Adoption of ICT as one of the tools of technological innovation dramatically improved the transfer and management of information, production chain efficiencies and integration within and with the agricultural sector. These were and are critical success factors contributing to Israeli Extension, Research, Services and Farmers ability to sustain a profitable and thriving agriculture sector. As such the overall results are a major contribution to rural viability and an illuminating case study of technological innovation adoption.

1. INTRODUCTION

There is increasing recognition that information and knowledge are now at the heart of socio-economic development. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and broadband are enabling tools and infrastructures for accessing, developing, using and sharing information and knowledge. Accordingly, Irish Government policy has focused on promoting the adoption and use of ICT in the home, in education and in the workplace.

There have been significant increases in levels of engagement with ICT in Ireland in recent years. Almost two-thirds of all adults now have access to the internet, compared with only 1 in 20 in 1996, while four out of every five adults own a mobile phone. This chapter critiques the level of adoption of ICTs among the farming community and compares this with levels of adoption by the general population. It analyses the use of ICTs by the government and by public and private extension agencies in Ireland and identifies constraints to their adoption.

The Ministry of Agriculture has been among the most enthusiastic supporters of the Government of Ireland’s policy by promoting the adoption and use of ICTs among its clients. It sought to facilitate easier transmission of information to clients, to minimise the collection of new data by using existing electronic information and to integrate with clients’ own systems. These projects are described in this chapter.

The use of ICTs by the public extension system is also critiqued; it has been innovative in using ICTs to disseminate information to its clients and the use of mobile telephony has been particularly effective. Internet based services to deliver online training and advisory information have also been developed and are critiqued.

1. INTRODUCTION

The agricultural paradigm in the developing world including Iran will have to be recast to take advantage of knowledge availability to achieve multiple goals of income, food, jobs, etc. Although, many farming communities in developing countries need timely expert advices to make them more productive and competitive, they are still facing a multitude of problems to maximize agricultural productivity. In spite of successful and promising researches conducted on new agricultural practices, majority of the farmers are not getting upper-bound yield due to several reasons. One of them is that scientific agricultural advice is not reaching the farming community in a timely manner. A wide information gap exists between research and practice.

To cope with this problem different countries have taken various measures. What is common in the extension systems of developing countries is that in a backdrop of rapid organizational and social changes in agriculture, new hardware and software devices have to be applied for better responsiveness to increasing farmers demand for timely and accurate information. At the pace of recent progress in ICT, within a decade it will be possible to provide instantaneous connectivity to millions of people, enabling mass customization and personalized services (Reddy and Ankaiah, 2005). Data mining technology can be used to extract useful knowledge from huge database and simulation technology can be used to predict in to the future (Wiederhold, 2002).

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. National Agriculture Scenario

Agriculture is the most important sector of Indian Economy, contributes 23 per cent of national GDP, accounts for 11 per cent of exports, and 50 per cent of billion depends on it. Interestingly India feeds 16 per cent of population with 2.4 per cent of global land.

In the last five decades, there has been a steady and spectacular transformation of Indian agriculture from the food deficit to food sufficient status. Diffusion and adoption of modern technologies, high yielding varieties, dedicated efforts of farmers, extension personnel and scientists and also programmatic support of central and state governments have all contributed significantly from 50 million tonnes in 1950-51 to land mark achievement of 230.67 million tonnes of food production in 2008-09.

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, any issue related to “information and communication technologies in agriculture (ICTs)” is extremely interesting and it belongs to the modern subject-matters of the agricultural economics science. Unambiguously the above phrase is the buzz remark for the agricultural extension scientists considering that the process of communication is fundamental to extension, training and passing on information. Thus, learning processes, dissemination of innovations and social change cannot be explained without reference to communication (Albrecht et al., 1989).

An efficient communication strategy, especially when combined with a wide range of available ICTs, utilises the advantages of both personal and impersonal media communication. This can be achieved by building up, promoting and using communication networks and modern technologies. Under the term “network” we understand the complex of communication channels which ensure that all members of the target group receive the message more than once, both from various personal contacts and media. This calls for the use of existing communication relationships, the dissemination of information by multipliers and influential individuals and a range of media which are appropriate to the type of information and for reaching the target groups. As well thought out, communicative approach can partly compensate for the often lamented shortage of advisers provided that one is in a position to communicate a message in various ways, to evaluate feedback and then to take action accordingly.

1. INTRODUCTION

There are many countries surrounded by the waters of the Caribbean Sea. These countries vary widely in size, topography, ethnicity, language spoken, agricultural production systems, main sources of income, income levels and styles of governance, to name a few.

This analysis covers only the countries where English is spoken as the first language. These countries are linked through a grouping of Caribbean Communities, called CARICOM, an organization of 15 Caribbean nations and their dependencies. It starts with Jamaica in the North to Trinidad and Tobago in the South, but also includes Belize in Central America and Guyana and Suriname in South America. Although French speaking Haiti and Dutch speaking Suriname belong to CARICOM, they are not discussed because of the language barrier. The other French speaking islands (Guadeloupe and Martinique) and the Spanish speaking islands (mainly the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Puerto Rico) have different administrations for agricultural development. CARICOM countries stretching from the tip of Florida, USA, in the North to Venezuela in South America. CARICOM includes Belize in Central America and Guyana and Suriname in South America.

INTRODUCTION

Bangladesh is a very small country of 1,47,570 square kilometer area having a population of 150 millions. The country has only 8.29 million hectare (Bangladesh Krishi Diary, 2003) cultivable land against the huge population. The land area is gradually decreasing because of population growth, industrialization and other infrastructure development. This results in a declining trend of per capita land availability from 0.13 hectare to 0.06 hectare during the last few decades (1960 to 2000) (Food and Agriculture Organisation, Bangladesh Country Profile).

In order to ensure food security of this vast population and with the emergence of “Green Revolution” in 1960s, priority was given to produce more food in terms of grain through intensification of land usage. New crop variety (HYV), chemical fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation were introduced. As a result, immediate objective of more grain (rice) production had increased and Bangladesh had temporarily achieved self sufficiency in food (rice). Bangladesh made steady progress in crop agriculture in the post-independent period. Cropping intensity increased from 148 to 179 per cent and food grain production almost doubled during the period from 1969/70 to 1992/93 (Hoque, 2007).

However, a lot of HYVs, hybrids, which were introduced, required increased amount of chemicals, and over time they took a toll on the fertility of soil, gradually decreasing acreage production despite usage of high doses of chemical fertilizer and pesticides. Moreover, the natural disasters such as floods, droughts, etc., continued to result in fluctuation in production. Wide fluctuations in production led to large instability in food grain prices having serious implications for household food security and the welfare of the people. The attainment of food security and rural economic development, therefore, could no longer rely on the production of rice alone.

In India, the agricultural research and technology generation are supported in five agro-ecosystems, viz. irrigated agro-ecosystem, arid agro-ecosystem, rain-fed agro-ecosystem, coastal agro-ecosystem and hill & mountainous agro-ecosystem. Each system with its varied socio-economic and agricultural features, demands appropriate technologies to augment the productivity of various enterprises with sustainable development and economic returns. Unfortunately, the conventional development efforts, which often follow “top-down” approaches in planning and implementation, don’t address the constraints and developmental potentials of farm household systems in a comprehensive way. To overcome these shortcomings, reversal of approach, i.e. from “Top down” to “Bottom up” is recommended. This can be achieved through site-specific assessment and refinement of technologies with farmer’s participation where the farmers of different agro-ecosystems have right to plan, implement and own their developmental projects (Johnkutty et al., 2001).

Introduction

Programme for self-employment of the poor has been an important component of the anti-poverty programmes implemented through government initiatives in the rural areas in India. The Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) is the major ongoing programme for the self-employment of rural poor at present. The programme was started with effect from 01.04.1999 after restructuring of Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), and allied programmes namely Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment (TRYSEM), Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA), Supply of Toolkits in Rural Areas (SITRA) and Ganga Kalyan Yojna (GKY) and Million Well Scheme (MWS). Govt. of Orissa have launched ‘Mission Shakti’ programme in 2001 with an aim to have at least three lakh WSHGs by the end of 2008. By the end of March 2008, 3.73 lakh WSHGs have been formed under Mission Shakti (Annon, 2007-08). SGSY has contributed substantially in carrying forward the Mission Shakti activities in the state. A study was conducted by the Center for Management and Development, Thiruvananthapuram for concurrent evaluation of the implementation of the SGSY. It was established that the performance of SGSY in Assam, M.P., Orissa, West Bengal and Bihar was the lowest among the major states (Anon, 2002-03). SGSY is implemented in a very deterministic and top down manner, ignoring the participatory approach that is envisaged in the design. Good governance for poverty alleviation programme seems to be more of rhetoric than reality (Shylendra and Bhirdikar, 2005). The Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India has set guidelines for successful implementation of the scheme within the framework of targets under each head. As per the guidelines, all the states are directed to fulfill the targets. After 10 years of implementation of the scheme, an evaluation of the programme in district level and state level is in dire need. Hence, it is attempted to evaluate the physical and financial achievement of the SGSY programme operated at Orissa.

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

Developments in both hardware and software sectors of computer science raised high expectations and strong vision to solve number of problems in all sectors of economy. Introduction of personal computers (PC) in 1970’s created vision of paperless offices, simplified computing, automated process control, management information system, expert system etc. Initially, it had greater impact on agricultural research and development in developed countries in the form of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Growth of companies with promises to provide specialist software to farmers and growers during 1980’s is a clear indicator of the high expectation and visualization of ICT in the field agricultural research and development. A review of agricultural software availability and use has been made by an international team in 1997 called FARMSOFT. This review covered on eight countries viz. Belgium, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Spain and The Netherlands. It was found that in 1996 out of 1315 software related to agriculture, 39% were in category of management, 26% were in category of animal husbandry, 8.9% in category of crop production, 7.0% in category of machinery and process control, 0.1% in category of irrigation and 19% in others category. Comparison of change in software inventory in 1996 with respect to 1994 revealed that there is around 15% growth in the agricultural software development. The higher positive growth was in the category of management software (38.40%) followed by animal husbandry (10.45%) and others (10.44%). However, highest negative growth was observed in the category of irrigation (-163.15%) followed by crop production (-53.85%) and machinery and process control (-30.95%). This indicates that overall agricultural software inventory was growing but while growth in the software related to agricultural management was sufficiently high, there was sharp decline in categories of irrigation and crop production. This change in pattern may be attributed to saturation of software and bottlenecks due to limitation of related technological innovations, socio-economic adoption and infrastructural facilities.

Introduction

Technological advances of the past two decades have profoundly reshaped and enhanced all aspects of medical research and practice. Concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications of medical informatics with the latest technique and approaches are essential for every one pursuing in the medical IT field. Improvements in healthcare delivery in recent years are rooted in the continued industry-wide investment in information technology and the expanding role of medical informatics. The main goal of this chapter is to collate and provide innovative and creative ideas so far published on healthcare in one article for use by the researchers, practitioners and other related with health care system for improving communication environments in health and to explore all new technologies in medical informatics and health care delivery systems.

Medical Informatics can be defined as a discipline concerned with all aspects of understanding and promoting the effective organization, analysis, management, and use of information in health care (American Medical Informatics Association, 2007). In recent years, medical informatics has become a well-recognized branch of medicine.

Introduction

The advancements in the field of informatics, biology and allied fields of technology led to the emergence of an inter-disciplinary field known as ‘Bioinformatics’ (Kumar 2006, Madhan Mohan 2006). Explosion of knowledge in the field of biology and generation of new information (data) needs collection, storage, organization, integration, analysis, simulation of biological data and a faster distribution among the scientific workers (Mehrotra et al. 2005). The advent of super computers, high speed computing and development of algorithms for data formatting, assists in the storage of data at the site of origin and distributed through the hyperlinks in world wide web (www).

The vast field of Bioinformatics is beyond the scope of this article. However to elucidate the concepts that led to the the development of Bioinformatics vis-à-vis is given in brief before explaining the new and emerging area of ‘fluxomics’.

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).

ABSTRACT

Coastal aquaculture in India is synonymous with shrimp culture since shrimp has a pronounced presence among the basket of commodities produced in the sector. In coastal aquaculture, maximum area is under shrimp culture due to its high profitability, ready marketability, premium price and unlimited export demand. Since the growth of shrimp has showed significant fluctuations in terms of area, production and productivity over time, this paper aims to seek and use appropriate methodology for computation of growth rates. Accordingly, the present study utilized nonparametric regression method for computation of growth rates. Results indicated that the methodology has been successful in extracting required information from the data set. The analysis revealed that growth of Indian shrimp farming is largely governed by east coast states. Potentiality of west coast states remains grossly underexploited. Broad results also indicate that growth rate is higher in commercial shrimp farming states compared to traditional farming states. Shrimp farming being a livelihood option for small and marginal farmers of the deprived sections of the population of a developing country, like India, consistent yield is more important than substantial growth in yield in shrimp farming.

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

Mangroves are the special group of plants or the ecosystem in a holistic scence on the inter-tidal coastal areas, edges of the islands and major estuarine mouths. The frequently tidal inundated forests on coastal areas, wetlands and the inter-tidal zones of sheltered bays or shore lines, estuarine mouths, sides of the tidal creeks, backwater, lagoons, marshes and mud-flats of the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the Globe are the major mangrove habitats or zones. Mangrove ecosystem form an important ecological asset and economic resources of the coastal marine environment. These mangrove ecosystem is the most productive ecosystem, which can efficiently fertilize the sea and estuarine water and also physically protect the coastal zone, estuarine mouth from frequent natural calamities and vitally serves as the breeding ground, nursery and grazing place of diverse species of fish, shrimps, prawns, crabs and vast group of other marine and off-shore species.