eChapters

Introduction

Aquaculture has developed quickly over the last three decades to turn into important economic activity world wide. It has been attracting heavy investment due to the availability of sound technologies and limitless potential for export especially shrimp. There are several forecasts on demand for aquatic foods and it is expected that it will be 183 million tonnes by 2030. As the capture fishery production is stagnating at around 90 million tonnes, aquaculture is seen as the only alternative to bridge the widening gap in demand and supply. Globally, Landings from worldwide aquaculture has increased 10-15 % per year in the last two decades and this growth was due to the combined effects of scientific farming, availability of infrastructure facilities, changing consumer preferences and export market potential to developed countries.

Shrimp farming is relatively new and its introduction on a commercial scale can be traced to the early seventies. Despite the recent introduction, one third of the world shrimp production is from farmed shrimp. The shrimp producing countries are found in all regions based on FAO statistics including Europe and Middle East. The major to five shrimp producing countries are China, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India. The future increase in world aquaculture production will be driven by China with South Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Europe providing small increases.

Introduction

Fisheries sector, a sunrise sector in India, has recorded a faster growth than that of crop and livestock sectors (Kumar et al., 2006). The sector contributes to the livelihood of a large section of economically-underprivileged population of the country. It has been recognized as a powerful income and employment generator as it stimulates growth of a number of subsidiary industries and is a source of cheap and nutritious food besides being a foreign exchange earner (Ayyappan and Krishnan, 2004).

With the changing composition pattern, emerging market forces and technological developments, it has assumed added importance in India. It is undergoing rapid transformation and the policy support, production strategies, public investment in infrastructure, and research and extension for fisheries have significantly contributed to the increased fish production. Particularly, after the mid-1980s, the development of carp polyculture technology has completely transformed the tradition backyard activity into a booming commercial enterprise. The aquaculture in the East Godavari delta region prospered with good yields and export driven demand. The paddy belt of the area rapidly converted into aquaculture hotspot owing to high economic benefits. But in recent years the dwindling of aquaculture and frequent losses caused and forced the farmers to withdraw from the once profit driven occupation. Apart from economic analysis, the motive behind this investigation is to find the efficiency of the farmers and the determinants. This will be useful in finding the lacunae in existing system of culture and will address necessities for shifting to new alternative.

Introduction

Cashew is an important horticultural crop. It has gained status of commercial crop from that of a forest component through technological advancements with respect to propagation, production and management. This has been possible as a result of increasing demand for raw cashew nuts and enhanced interest for its commercialization. The demand is mainly due to its good quality protein, unsaturated free fatty acids, rich blend of minerals and water-soluble vitamins, which altogether contribute an excellent dietary supplement. It is being cultivated by as many as 28 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America

Introduction

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands popularly known as the Bay Islands are situated 1200 Km away from Indian mainland and are well known for their wide range of biodiversity.The dreaded tsunami hit the island on 26th December, 2004 and it destroyed livelihood of thousands of people. CARI on a limited scale initiated process of restoration of livelihood by technological interventions with generous funding by DBT under project entitled “Integrated Rehabilitation of tsunami affected people through technological intervention in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands” in the adopted villages of Manjeri, Manglutan and Guptapara. (Three situations). A total 56 ha has been affected by tsunami in the adopted villages. Following three situations occurred after tsunami and for each situation appropriate technological interventions were taken up.

Introduction

With the advent of modern agricultural technology, especially during the period of the Green Revolution in the late sixties and early seventies, there was a continuous surge for diversified agriculture, primarily on economic considerations. The changes in cropping pattern, however, are the outcome of interactive effect of many factors which can be broadly categorized into the following five groups-

Resource related factors like irrigation, rainfall and soil fertility.

Technology related factors viz. seed, fertilizer, and water technologies on one hand and marketing, storage and processing on the other.

Household related factors like food and fodder requirement as well as investment capacity of the farmers.

Price related factors covering input and output prices and economic policies that affect these prices.

Institutional and infrastructure related factors pertaining to farm size and tenancy arrangements, research, extension and marketing systems and government regulatory policies.

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

Pulse production in India has fluctuated widely with no long-term trend, leading to a steady decline in per capita availability per day, i.e. from 60.7 grams to 33.40 grams during 1951 to 2001, while its average requirement is about 65 gram per day per head. The pulses used to serve a low cost food to meet the protein requirement of a large sector of people in India. But, the pulses are becoming out of reach for the common people of country because of its continuing shoring prices. A Technology Mission on Pulse production was launched by Government of India in 1986-87 as a special drive to increase the pulse production in the country. The vision of Technology Mission of Pulse is attaining self reliance in pulses for household nutritional security and sustainability of the production system. The mission statement was to increase Pulse production from existing (IX plan) 131.4 lakh tonnes to 162 lakh tonnes; Productivity from 594 kg/ha to 702 kg/ha and per capita availability of pulses from 35 g to 40 g per day at affordable price. Unfortunately, the country has not been able to achieve self-sufficiency in the pulse production. During the last 40 years, the acreage under pulse crops and its production remained almost between 21-24 million hectares and 10-15 million tonnes, respectively. Consequently, the country has had to depend on import of pulses every year to meet the part of its shortage. The National Commission of Agriculture had estimated that the country should plan to produce about 25 million tonnes of pulses by the end of 2000, but we could achieve only about 14 million tonnes. Presently, the area and the production of pulse crops account for about 18.50 and 7.20 per cent (2003-04) of total area under foodgrains and total food grains production in the country, respectively.

Logical Framework Approach (LFA) is a framework for designing change process, monitoring progress and evaluating impact. It is a powerful tool for project design, management, assessment, follow up and evaluation of projects. In designing change process, monitoring progress and evaluating impact, ordering the change process in a logical sequence where inputs or resources identify as necessary means for performing activities are very important. Specific activities are then identified because they result in outputs which are necessary to achieve objectives. The two terms i.e.; log frame and logical framework approach are sometimes confused by many. The log frame is a document whereas the logical framework approach is a project design methodology. LFA originally developed by the American Defense Department and was first formally adopted as a planning tool for United State Agency for International Development (USAID) by the end of 1960’s and today it is being used, in one form or other and with different names, by major organisations in the field of development co-operation and private industry. Among these are British DFID, the OECD expert group on Aid Evaluation, ISNAR International Service for National Agricultural Research, Germany’s GTZ and the Inter-American Development Bank. It has also been widely adopted by NGOs, though not without reservations and concerns by some. In the 1990s it was often mandatory for aid organisations to use the LFA in their project proposals.

Introduction

The acute food shortage was a major challenge in confronting the development of the country after independence with rapidly increasing population. Massive financial assistance of credit and subsidy under various rural development programmes unveiled by government could not yield desired impact on poverty and unemployment. The benefits of farm research did not reach the resource poor farmers. Several researchers indicated that the devolution of democratic decision-making at the village level was lacking.

The major task of bridging the gap between farmers and the scientific knowledge is in the hands of extension workers who should act as “conveyer belts” in communicating appropriate scientific knowledge and skills already available to the farmer in a smooth and acceptable form and in securing the adoption of these improved techniques. They must assess the intentions prevailing in the minds of rural people, their relationships and interactions, their groups, their institutions, their organizations and the culture, which influence the behaviour at large. They need to understand their motives, reactions, receptivity to new ideas, hidden resources of rural people and social and cultural obstacles prevailing in the society with their active participation.

To elucidate the hidden facts from the well-knit social, cultural and behavioral patterns, a family of approach known as “Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)” techniques is widely employed to understand the existing farming situations, problems, and opportunities in the rural areas. PRA techniques can also be used in evaluation and impact assessment in agricultural and allied enterprises and projects that can indicate the success and failure to plan for better future.

Introduction

Impact assessment is the process of identifying the future consequences of a current or proposed action. It is used to ensure that projects, programmes and policies are economically viable, socially equitable and environmentally sustainable. Programme Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) efforts are critical issues in management of agricultural research and development (R & D). In times of fiscal constraint, more emphasis is placed on accountability and programme effectiveness. As a management tool, PME is an integrated approach that incorporates the viewpoints of clientele, policy-makers, researchers and donors to address the intended goals. Public and private support to research will depend largely on efficiency issues and ability to reckon with multiple objectives, ranging from food security to sustainability, poverty alleviation, gender issues, export, etc. The PME of agricultural R & D projects is critical when the intended R&D has multiple outcomes. Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of development activities provides government officials, development managers, and civil society with better means for learning from past experience, improving service delivery, planning and allocating resources, and demonstrating results as part of accountability to key stakeholders (World Bank, 2004).

Introduction

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

Introduction to DHAN Foundation

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

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

Background

Context

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

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

Selected ICT-enabled Agricultural Development Initiatives

• International Initiatives
• National Initiatives

Success Stories on Agricultural Information Systems

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

Lessons Learned on Secrets of Success

Extent of Adoption of Technology

Benefits and Impact at National and Regional Levels

ABSTRACT

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

Introduction

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

ABSTRACT

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

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

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

Introduction

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

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

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

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

ABSTRACT

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

Introduction

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

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

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

Introduction

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

ABSTRACT

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

Introduction

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

Introduction

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

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

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

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

History

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

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

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

What is an IVR

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

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

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

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

Technology Foresight to Become a ‘Developed’ Country

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

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

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

Prelude

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

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

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

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

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

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

Introduction

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

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

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

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

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

Section I : Profile of the study respondents

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

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

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

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

Section VI : Strategies for better utilization of IMCD

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

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

3.1.1. Importance of Coconut

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

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

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

2.1 IT in Farm Technology

2.2 Interactive Multimedia in Farm Technology Transfer

2.3 Selection of Farm Technology

2.4 Effectiveness of Different Extension Teaching /Learning Methods

2.5 Effectiveness of Knowledge Gain

2.6 Effectiveness of Symbolic Adoption

2.7 Farmers Perception about Farm Technologies and Modes of presentation

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

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

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

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

Executive summary

The enclosed project report envisages the setting up of a modern rice mill complex with attached parboiling facilities having an average processing capacity of 16 MT of paddy per day. The initial investment of the project is estimated to be Rs 480.17 lakhs. Sales Realization is assumed as constant for all the 7 years; amounted Rs 1129.2 lakhs. Pay Back Period for the project is estimated as somewhat more than 3 years. Internal Rate of Return for the project is 31%. Net Present Value is Rs.367.92 lakhs which is a positive value. It indicates that present value of cash inflows is greater than present value of cash outflows. Projected working results of the project throws light on its viability.

Once you have embarked upon the idea of doing (any) business, your concentration should be focused on doing things that should be relevant to maximizing returns and minimizing risks. Looking upon why businesses fail, one can find that it is usually because entrepreneurs are ill equipped to identify real business opportunities and take advantage of them, or they don’t anticipate and adapt critical changes or they fail to recognize or minimize real threats to business. Successful entrepreneurs are found to intensively pursue the path of planning by preparing business plans, for having foresight of critical incidents that would affect business and possible ways of action.

Introduction

Successful marketing is important to every business. Marketing is a critical tool for establishing awareness, attracting new customers and building lasting relationships. It is the process of planning and executing conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of your ideas, goods or services to satisfy the needs of individual consumers or organisations. It is as important to put adequate efforts on marketing your product or service, no matter whatever time you have dedicated to development of part of it.

We live in an electronic era, where the globe has shriveled into our fingertips. Customers are having lot of options to choose from. Information of what you need is reaching you within a click, that your decisions are often being guided by such information. Marketing uses communication and advertising tactics to persuade customers that your brand, including your products and services are exactly what they need. Marketing is thus crucial to your business which can have a bearing on the success rate and requires research, planning and appropriate budget allocations.

One of the important concepts in marketing is that of marketing mix. The elements of this mix are: product, pricing, physical distribution and promotion. Marketing management is that which optimizes the elements in the marketing mix, so that organisation is able to achieve its objectives while gaining customer utility. This chapter throws light on various aspects of marketing mix that an entrepreneur needs to focus upon to ensure success.

Introduction

Meat is a highly nutritious animal product relished by majority of the population in India. India produced around 6.2 million MT of meat in 2013 (FAOSTAT, 2013), standing at fifth position in world meat production and accounts for only 3 per cent of total meat production in the world (APEDA, 2017). Contribution of livestock sector to national economy in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) was 4.1 per cent in 2012-13 (Islam et al., 2016). The percentage of meat subjected to processing in India is only 1-2 per cent compared to 70 per cent in developed countries (Sen et al., 2013). Relatively higher proportion of poultry (7-8%) is converted into further processed poultry products. Major proportion of the meat produced in the country is derived from old and unproductive animals. Availability of spent birds is also on the rise due to the rapid growth in poultry industry. Meat from such animals and poultry has less desirable palatability attributes, especially tenderness, which makes it more suitable for processing into value added products. This will provide consumers with more acceptable, convenient, healthy and versatile products while simultaneously increasing the economic returns to the processor. The profitability of meat industry is critically dependent in deriving extra value from lower-value meat cuts. To achieve this, value must be added in the eyes of the consumer across the wide chain of value added products.

Introduction

Fish is a source of valuable animal protein and is considered a health food. This has resulted in increased consumer demand. Fish is now more expensive than meat and other animal foods. Being a highly perishable commodity, fish require immediate processing and various options are available for the value addition of fish. Fish processing, particularly seafood processing and marketing have become highly complex and competitive and exporters are trying to process more value added products to increase their profitability. Value can be added to fish and fishery products according to the requirements of different markets. These products range from live fish and shellfish to ready to serve convenience products. In general, value added food products are raw or pre-processed commodities whose value has been increased through the addition of ingredients or processes that make them more attractive to the buyer and/or more readily usable by the consumer.

Introduction

Consumption of milk is deeply rooted in our traditions, and it is an inevitable part of the Indian diet and even has ritualistic and medicinal uses. Milk is the first and one among the most nutritious foods that every mammal consumes on earth. It supplies all the nutrients needed to ensure proper growth and development in the postnatal period. Dairy foods in general are commonly considered balanced and nutritive, being frequently included as important components of a healthy diet (Pereira, 2014). Four components of milk are dominant in quantitative terms: water, fat, protein and lactose; while the minor components are minerals, enzymes, vitamins, and dissolved gases (Guetouache et al., 2014). On an average, bovine milk is composed of 87% water, 4 to 5% lactose, 3% protein, 3 to 4% fat, 0.8% minerals, and 0.1% vitamins. Milk and milk products contribute not only nourishment to the consumers, but also livelihood opportunities to farmers, processors, shopkeepers and other stakeholders in the dairy value chain.

Introduction

India is the largest consumer and second largest producer of sugar in the world next to Brazil. Among the sugar yielding crops like sugarcane, sugar beet, palms and sorghum, sugarcane is the second most important agro-industrial crop of the country. It is the only raw material for nearly 538 sugar mills (2014-15), producing about 28 million mt of sugar annually from a sugarcane production of 366 million tons in an area of 5.307 mh. Apart from this, it is the predominant source of potable alcohol, industrial alcohol and fuel-ethanol. In India, 35 million farmers are engaged in sugarcane cultivation and another 50 million depend on employment generated by these 538 sugar factories and other related industries using sugar. Sugarcane occupies a very prominent position in the agricultural crops of India covering large areas in UP, Punjab, Haryana and Bihar (sub tropical) and Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu (tropical). On an average, white sugar production accounts for 74% of total cane produced, 14-15% is utilized for jaggery and khandsari production and the rest is utilized for other purposes including seed.

Jaggery and khandsari, the traditional Indian sweeteners are the natural mixture of sugar and molasses. If pure clarified sugarcane juice is boiled, what is left as solid is jaggery, which contains 65-85% sucrose. Khandsari sugar is a finely granulated and crystallized which contains 94 to 98% sucrose. In the early 1930’s, nearly 2/3rd of sugarcane production was utilized to manufacture these two alternate sweeteners. With the introduction of sugar mills and their multiple growth and better standard of living and higher per capita income, the demand for sweetener has shifted to white sugar which contains purely sucrose (99.7%).

Introduction

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) commonly called as Poor man’s cashew, is the 6^th most important oil seed crop in the world. It contains 48-50% oil, 26-28% protein and 11-27% carbohydrates. Groundnut is grown on 26.4 million hectare worldwide, with a total production of 37.1 million metric tons and an average productivity of 1.4 metric tons/ha. Developing countries constitute 97% of the global area and 94% of the global production of this crop (FAO, 2011). The production of groundnut is concentrated in Asia and Africa, where the crop is grown mostly by smallholder farmers under rain-fed conditions with limited inputs. Groundnuts (peanuts) are popularly used as seed oil in India. Since, they are obtained from the ground, they are called as groundnuts and also known as ‘Mungfali’ in Hindi, ‘Palleelu or Veru sanaga’ in Telugu, ‘Kadalai’ in Tamil, ‘Nilakkadala’ in Malayalam, ‘Kadale kaayi’ in Kannada, ‘Singdana’ in Gujarati and ‘Shengdaane’ in Marathi. Groundnuts are easily available round the year and almost everywhere in India. Groundnuts are also taken as snacks in many households especially in India. In reality, groundnuts are actually legumes. Since, they have all the properties of nuts like almonds, cashew nuts, etc., these are also included in the family of nuts.

Groundnut is the major oil seed of India. It accounts for 25% of total oil produced in India. Annual production of groundnut is around 9690 thousand tones. As the crop is grown in rainfed conditions, production and productivity are highly vulnerable to rainfall and exhibit huge fluctuation between the years. In India, groundnuts are produced both during Kharif (75%) and Rabi seasons (25%). Major production catchments of groundnut are located in Gujarat holding a share of 50.77% of total groundnut production, Andhra Pradesh holding a second place (12.69%) followed by Tamil Nadu (9.91%). Following are the top groundnut producing states of India (Table 1).

Introduction

Soybean (Glycine max) is also known as the wonder bean or miracle bean or “golden grain” due to its diversified applicability. Soybean has an important place in world’s oilseed cultivation scenario, due to its high productivity, profitability and vital contribution towards maintaining soil fertility. The crop also has a prominent place as the world’s most important seed legume, which contributes 25% to the global vegetable oil production, about two thirds of the world’s protein concentrate for livestock feeding and is a valuable ingredient in formulated feeds for poultry and fish. The major soybean producing nations are United States, Brazil and Argentina. These three countries dominate in global production, accounting for 80% of the world’s soybean supply. Global production of soybean has grown at a CAGR of 2.78% from 215.69 million metric tons in 2004-05 to 283.79 million metric tons in 2013-14.

India stands 5^th in global production of soybean. In India, soybean cultivation started in early 1970s, but it has emerged as number one among oilseed crops covering around 11 m ha area with total production of around 11.5 m tons. At present, the average productivity of soybean is about 1.3 tons/ha and it can be easily doubled in near future. Production of soybean in India is dominated by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh which contribute 89% of the total production. Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat contribute the remaining 11% production.

About 85% of world’s soybeans are processed annually into soybean meal and oil. Approximately 98% of soybean meal is crushed and further processed into animal feed with the balance used to make soy flour and proteins. Of the oil fraction, 95% is consumed as edible oil; the rest is used for industrial products such as fatty acids, soaps and biodiesel.

Introduction

Pulses are major and cheap sources of protein in Indian vegetarian diet, providing most of the essential amino acids. Pulses are mainly consumed in the form of dehusked split pulses (Dal); and have 15-24% proteins. Various types of pulses grown are pigeon pea, chickpea, black gram, green gram, lentil, etc. Pulses are consumed because of body building properties due to the presence of various amino acids. By-products of pulses like leaves, pod coats and bran are fed to animals in the form of dry fodder. Some pulse crops like gram, lobia, urd bean & moong bean are fed to animals as green fodder.

Introduction

21^st century challenges like climate change, water scarcity, increasing world population, rising food prices, and other socio-economic impacts are expected to generate a great threat to agriculture and food security worldwide, especially for the poorest people who live in arid and sub-arid regions. Millet is one of the oldest foods known to humans and possibly the first cereal grain to be used for domestic purposes. Millet has been used in Africa and India as a staple food for thousands of years. Typical grain texture and hard seed coat of millets increase their keeping quality but make them difficult to process as well as to cook in convenient form. Absence of appropriate primary processing technologies to prepare ready-to-use or ready-to-cook (RTC) products and also the secondary as well as tertiary processing technologies to prepare ready-to-eat value added products from millets are the major limiting factors for their diversified food uses.

Millets have relatively poor digestibility and low bio-availability of minerals due to the presence of inherent anti-nutritional factors. The difficulties in millet grain processing present a challenge but nutritional as well as health benefits and consumer demand for health foods provide opportunities in processing, develop suitable technology for newer products and process mechanization. This change in technology and consumer food preference would help in increasing the area under millets, maintaining ecological balance, ensuring food security, prevent malnutrition and increase the scope for utilization of millet grains on industrial scale.

Introduction

Rice is the major staple food for more than 70 percent of the Indian population. India cultivates more than 4,000 varieties and hybrids of rice to cater to varied consumer preferences. A portion of the total cultivated rice is also used for processed products like snacks, savouries and bakery items. India was the largest exporter of rice in 2015-16 followed by Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan. Rice production forecast is higher at 105 MMT in 2016/17 compared to 2015/16 production of 103 MMT (India Grain and Feed Annual, 2016). Rice milling is the oldest and the leading agro processing industry of the country. Paddy grain is milled either in raw condition or after parboiling, mostly by single hullers of which over 82,000 are registered in the country. Further, over the years, there has been a steady growth of improved rice mills in the country. Most of these have capacities ranging from 2 tons /hr to 10 tons/ hour. At present, it has a turnover of more than 25,500 crore per annum. It processes about 85 million tons of paddy per year and provides staple food grain and other valuable products required by over 60% of the population. Though, rice milling is a wide spread business undertaken in India, commercializing value added products is now gaining customer attraction paving way to merge milling and value addition under a single roof. The desirability of the working population to get foods, particularly rice based products in RTE and RTC forms has thrown a positive approach to new and emerging entrepreneurs to take up a venture in commencing rice based food processing industry.

Introduction

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a staple food of over half the world’s people and is grown on approximately 146 million hectares, more than 10 per cent of total available land. Ninety seven per cent of the world’s rice is grown by less developed countries, mostly in Asia. Post harvest losses are considered to be contributed by storage alone, and not much attention was paid to losses occurring during harvesting, transport, threshing, drying, milling and pre-milling treatments. Quantitative loss of food grains was the main concern of the producers and the consumers. Qualitative losses at various stages were not fully recognized, but systematic studies by different organizations revealed that these losses are enormous and should be prevented. These losses cumulatively could be as high as 40 per cent and are normally accompanied by loss of quality also. Quality loss of products can take place at all stages but more particularly during drying or curing of harvested crops, storage, and milling and pre-milling treatments. Post-harvest attention is essential if the grains of higher production are to be fully exploited. Also the quality loss occurring in food grains can be extremely serious if the farming community is not aware of them.

Introduction

The food processing industry is a sunrise sector and contributes around 14% of Gross Domestic Product, 13% of India’s exports and 6% of total industrial investment. The Indian food retail market is expected to reach Rs 61 lakh crore by 2020 and the food processing industry accounts for 32% of the country’s total food market. This is considered as one of the largest industries in India and is ranked fifth in terms of production, consumption, export and expected growth.

The drift towards urbanisation and busier way of life, pave path to tremendous bounce in the food market. Nowadays consumer’s approach to being fit is not about going to gym, but also consulting dietitians and adopting an adjusted eating routine. Consumer’s behaviour concerning food consumption has undergone significant changes as a result of the increased awareness about different value added food products, brands, and cuisines, and also their greater willingness to experiment and ability to pay. It leads to the concept of food security in to nutritional security. Companies are offering a wider range of products to the consumers as a result of their investments into product innovation, research and development. At present, various value added products with versatile colour, shape, ingredients etc are available in worldwide market. Among this, some food items like processed fruits and vegetables and dairy products have witnessed a momentous growth in export also. Recent surveys indicated that for companies manufacturing processed foods and beverages, rise in the obesity rate is a great challenge. Hence, efforts were made to develop commercially viable, new process protocols to design healthy products from underutilised food commodities.

Introduction

Compared to the previous decades, the scope and power of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in agriculture and biotechnology has grown substantially and their international reach has expanded. The IP regime has set up the stage for healthy competition among research centres and industries for developing and seeking novel technologies. However, compared to developed countries, once the technology is created, not much attention is paid in the developing nations on their commercial, policy, environmental, ethical and societal implications. Hence, better techniques are needed for their management, to create policy and educate professionals to commercialize and govern them. Due to the critical role of technology in a competitive environment, strategic technology management is important for farmers and agri-enterprises too. The translation of nascent technologies into new products/ services and their commercialization requires some amount of hand-holding, mentoring and incubation support.

Introduction

It is common that after a rocket start, entrepreneur’s lack the motivation to scale up business and eventually fails to succeed in the market. There are many factors that may lead to such failures or even success stories, the most important being the entrepreneurial skills and traits that enable business to sustain in the competitive world.

What makes an entrepreneur competent in running a business? According to Fisher and Koch (2008), ‘Entrepreneurs are born; the advantage that they derive by birth being the natural advantage. However, we have changed our mindset now-a-days, that it is possible to nurture (make) an entrepreneur; the connotation points out that, right kind of education and training can inspire people with capacities to become motivated to be an entrepreneur.

In this chapter, our focus will be on identifying the entrepreneurial capacities in oneself, after reviewing the essential characteristics and traits that an entrepreneur should possess. Also we try to put forward a framework for entrepreneurship, fitting into the canvas of a food based entrepreneur.

Introduction

World’s population is continuously on the rise, triggering the demand for food. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, 2011) observed that 70% increase in food production will be needed to sustain the globe’s population by 2050. Though, increase in agricultural production and productivity is said to be the panacea to solve food security issues, the greatest challenge that need to be addressed is the inefficiencies in the supply chain; instigated by insufficient storage capacities and perishability of food products. Food preservation and processing is highlighted in this context, as it serves to conserve/improve the quality and reduce food loss due to wastage as well as add nutritional security.

9.1. INTRODUCTION

A data are generally voluminous, so they need to be put in a compact and presentable form. This chapter deals with presentation of data precisely so that the voluminous data collected could be made usable readily and are easily comprehended. There are generally three forms of presentation of data:

Textual or Descriptive presentation

Tabular presentation

Diagrammatic presentation