Search

Attracting and retaining youth in agriculture (ARYA) is a national programme of Indian Council of Agricultural Research implemented through Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) since 2016-17. The present investigation was carried out in 2021-22 with a total of 684 rural youth, randomly identified from among the functional units under various enterprises. Among the nine major enterprises promoted under ARYA, performance of poultry units were better in terms of operational duration and total turnover per enterprise despite incurring higher expenditure. Nursery enterprises showed the highest net income per unit and also created maximum assets. On the other hand, benefit-cost ratio was higher in piggery enterprises and per day net income was highest in processing and value addition units. More employment generation was recorded in fish and goat farming enterprises. The results indicated that each of the agri business areas have strengths on different parameters. Besides the choice of enterprises that are locally viable, the entrepreneurial competency of the entrepreneurs was essential to sustain the enterprises. Successful entrepreneurship promotion has the possibilities for attracting and retaining youth in rural areas through technology-supported agribusiness development.

The present study with the primary objective to ascertain socio-personal, economic, communication and psychological characteristics of the farmers who have been practicing resource conservation technologies in rice cultivation was carried out in the Imphal West district of Manipur state in India. A total of 120 rice growers were selected as respondents through proportionate random sampling from 10 selected villages of the district. Data collection from the selected respondents was made with the help of pre-tested structured schedule through personal interview method. The study shows that out of 120 respondents, the majority was of middle age with medium education level and high social participation in case of their personal characteristics. Majority respondents were marginal farmers and they belonged to medium category of annual income, that is, between INR 32,285 to INR 165,066 under economic characteristics. In case of communication variables, most of the respondents had medium level of extensio...

The study for assessing the determinants of adoption of resource conservation technologies in rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivation was conducted in Imphal West district of Manipur state, India with 120 sample size selected through proportionate random sampling from 10 villages in the district during January-March, 2012. Data collection from the selected respondents was made with the help of pre-tested structured schedule through personal interview method. The study reveals that nearly half of the respondents had medium level of adoption of resource conservation technologies in rice cultivation followed by low and high. Investigation reveals that a formidable proportion of farmers in the study area although had good knowledge on resource conser- vation technologies in agriculture, could not adopt them with full recommendations. Except the practices like seed selection and water management, all other practices were with partial adoption by almost every respondents in rice cultivation The study further shows that out of 12 selected independent variables under study, except age and size of operational land holding, all the variables were found having positively significant relationship with the adoption level of the respondents. While three variables namely; innovation proneness, attitude towards RCTs and knowledge towards RCTs had emerged as the most dominant factors influencing to the adoption level of farmers of resource conservation technologies in rice cultivation. © Kamla-Raj 2013

Iced rohu (Labeo rohita) brought from the other states of India to Tripura (ROS) was compared with rohu produced locally in Tripura (RTR) by analyzing the microbiological quality characteristics in relation to public health significance. Results showed that the total plate count (TPC) was highest in the gill and intestine (106–107 CFU g−1) and lowest in the muscle (105–106 CFU g−1) of both ROS and RTR, which was not significantly different (p > 0.05) from each other in ROS and RTR except in gill. Psychrophilic bacterial count was significantly higher (p 0.05) in ROS and RTR (104–105CFU g−1). Escherichia coli count in ROS was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than RTR. Salmonella spp. was found in high numbers in both ROS and RTR and was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in ROS than RTR. The microbial quality of the tabletops, water, and ice used for fish storage were also tested and found to be poor.

The Rural Agricultural Work Experience Programme (RAWE) has become an integral part of the B. Sc (Agri) degree programme in Assam Agricultural University, India, since its introduction in 1991.T he present study to ascertain the degree of utility of the RAWE programme in terms of strong establishment of linkage with farming community and successful transfer of agricultural technology to farmers' field was conducted in Assam Agricultural University, India with a total sample size of 86 undergraduate students. The study reveals that among the utility areas identified under the study, communication skills showed the highest positive response as reported by 48.01% respondents followed by courses undergone (45.35 %) and farm practices (39.02%). While utility areas of rural development (19.65%) and marketing and management of resources (23.10%) showed least positi ve responses from the students in terms of their utility towards agricultural development in study areas. The study further shows that variables such as sex, Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA), location of RAWEP.

The present study to assess the technology adoption behaviour of farmers of different land based enterprises under diversified farming system was conducted in Sonitpur district of Assam, India. A sample size of 135 farmer respondents was drawn from three Agricultural Sub-Divisions of the district by using proportionate random sampling technique. The study shows that among the socio-economic variables under study, except age, other variables namely; education, extension contact and annual income were found having positively significant correlation with technology adoption of all the selected enterprises, while the variable operational land holding had shown positive and significant relation with rice cultivation and dairy farming. The study further reveals that economic motivation and innovation proneness were the two psychological variables which had positive and significant correlation with technology adoption of all selected four enterprises. While variables-risk orientation, decision making ability and attitude towards farm diversification of the respondents had positively significant association with technology adoption of dairy and fishery, fishery and rice, vegetable and fishery respectively under diversified farming system.

We report here a laser induced transient dip in the electrical conductivity of some crude toxic samples of organic origin prepared in liquid base. The electrical conductivity variation of the samples under laser exposure indicates to the occurrence of phenomenon similar to Optogalvanic effect in liquid. In the Optogalvanic effect the current of a discharging gas varies (may increase or decrease) as the discharge cavity is irradiated by a resonant electromagnetic field. This phenomenon, which has thoroughly been investigated both theoretically and experimentally for last few decades, has not been reported so far in liquid medium. In our work the samples in liquid base were placed between the electrodes of a conductivity tester and their respective electrical conductivities were measured. Once the laser was switched on in the cavity between the electrodes of the tester, the conductivity went down nearly by an amount ranging from 0.2% to 0.5% of the original values. The dip in conductivity was temporary and disappeared as soon as the laser source was removed. The experimental results are being explained in the light of Optical Nutation of the dipole moments of the molecules caused by the resonant nonlinear interaction of the molecules with the electric field of the laser. As an extension of F. Bloch's work on nuclear induction to optical frequency, we have shown that the Nutation of the dipole vectors of the interacting molecules cause a dephasing among them. This dephasing, which the key to our observation, leads to a decrease in the electrical polarizability of the medium, which finally decreases the ion production rate between the electrodes and the detector shows a dip in conductivity.

The study on socio-economic profile of the common adopters of improved practices of crops and livestock enterprises was conducted in 13 purposively selected districts in North East region with 130 sample size from each adopted and non-adopted village. Data collection from the selected respondents was made with the help of pre-tested structured schedule through personal interview method. The study reveals that majority of the respondents in adopted villages belonged to middle age category and had low to medium level of education, single family type and medium size of family. They engaged farming as primary occupation and had operational land holding size above 3 hectares with income level ranging from 50, 000.00–100000.00. Most of the beneficiary farmers received medium level of trainings, mass media exposure and extension contact. While in case of non-beneficiary respondents, the study shows that majority respondents belonged to middle age category, possessed low education level and belonged to SC/ST caste with single family type and medium family size. Farming was the main occupation among the non-beneficiary respondents with average annual income less than 50, 000.00 and were small farmers with operational land holding size ranging from 2–3 hectares. The study further indicates that majority of the respondents in non-adopted villages received medium intensity of trainings organised by different developmental organisations and agencies other than Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and had medium level of mass media exposure and extension contact to acquire knowledge and skills related to different farming activities.

We examine the red fraction of central and satellite galaxies in the large zCOSMOS group catalog out to z ~ 0.8 correcting for both the incompleteness in stellar mass and for the less than perfect purities of the central and satellite samples. We show that, at all masses and at all redshifts, the fraction of satellite galaxies that have been quenched, i.e., are red, is systematically higher than that of centrals, as seen locally in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The satellite quenching efficiency, which is the probability that a satellite is quenched because it is a satellite rather than a central, is, as locally, independent of stellar mass. Furthermore, the average value is about 0.5, which is also very similar to that seen in the SDSS. We also construct the mass functions of blue and red centrals and satellites and show that these broadly follow the predictions of the Peng et al. analysis of the SDSS groups. Together, these results indicate that the effect of the group environment in quenching satellite galaxies was very similar when the universe was about a half its present age, as it is today., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, published in ApJ