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This paper mainly aims to identify the key factors that should be included in building of smart cities in a proper efficient way. Due to rapid increase in urban population, it should be responsible to provide a better way in building of a smart city. Smart city is an idea of providing urban development that includes social, financial, ecological parts of a society. A smart and sustainable city has goals to be achieved in an adaptable, reliable, scalable, accessible, and in resilient way which will be discussed in the methodology section. This paper mainly focuses on some important factors in improving sustainability of smart cities such as climate and environmental issues and governance authorities for improving quality of life of citizens. Also, this paper explains 3E's which are environment, economy and equity are plays a crucial role in rapid development of smart cities. This research is focused on discussing various smart technologies recently used in India and the challenges involved in them. Recent literature on smart city development is reviewed, and the challenges that prevailed in recent technologies are analysed. This paper includes how Internet of Things (IoT), Connectivity, Cloud computing and AI etc., should be effectively used for developing a smart city. This paper deals with the requirements to build smart cities in India – regarding various aspects like available resources, lifestyle, transport management system, smart healthcare system, smart waste management, smart Sanitation, smart railways, smart agriculture, home automation, smart energy consumption etc. This paper also discusses 'smart living,"smart infrastructure,"smart governance,"smart economy,' and other various systems which are need for Smart India in particular. When adopted with proper planning, all the above catalysing with smart services and solutions, build a sustainable city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effects of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton are at the forefront of an intense debate on the benefits of genetically modified (GM) crops among smallholder farmers in developing countries. Existing studies fail to control for confounders, selection bias, or cultivation bias from preferential treatment in the initial adoption phase. Addressing these concerns in this paper, I examine the impact of Bt cotton employing an unbalanced panel fixed-effects model of a crop yield and profit function on newly collected plot-level data in the most recent decade. Results show that Bt cotton yields have stagnated, have a null effect on profits, and have become more sensitive to pest pressure in the most recent decade. Though many studies have demonstrated higher crop yield and profit gains in the first decade of Bt cotton adoption that raised the average returns to the technology, the second decade shows convergence in benefits, which raises obvious questions about the prospect of GM technology. Since Bt cotton is the only GM crop technology widely adopted by smallholder farmers, the findings of this paper contribute to the broader public debate on the future of agricultural biotechnology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A country’s growth depends on how well the citizens are able to access, avail and afford the financial services. Finance is an important aspect for a country to prosper. Agricultural finance ensures that there is a full participation by everyone and that the underprivileged or the marginalized compartment of the society is not left behind in availing the basic financial services. India having a big population often face a problem when it comes to implementing the policies that reach a wider audience. The Agricultural Banking Services in India has undergone changes with time and have been working to provide a wide range of facilities but the infrastructure, insurance, financial literacy, the digital divide and the disparity in the availability of resource in urban and rural area is evident. There is one section that avails all the benefits and others who are excluded. In this paper, we study about the status of India, when it comes to Agricultural finance, using selected indicators, and understand the basic initiatives taken by the government under the recent National Strategy Planning and the action plan and milestones set to achieve the goal of providing inclusion and financial strength to maximum citizens of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lessons learnt from past experiences push for an alternate way of crop production. One such is conservation agriculture (CA), which can be seen as a new way forward for conserving resources and enhancing productivity to achieve goals of sustainable agriculture. In recent past, progressive and significant efforts are made to develop, refine and disseminate conservation-based agricultural technologies across globe. Tremendous efforts on zero-till practices and surface management with crop residues for crop production were reviewed. This work was done at Department of Agronomy, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai-625 104, Tamil Nadu, India. A systematic cum integrative review of research work done in different parts of World, particularly in India was comprehended. Literature search was done during 2020. About 200 review and research papers were screened from various databases like TNAU e-library, ARCC journals, google scholar, research gate and scopus and 84 papers were used. This review article comprehensively documents major principles of CA along with extent and spread of CA across the globe. It also highlights CA in Indian perspective. Various merits and demerits were also discussed with literature support. This review paper discusses rising concerns of conventional agriculture systems with regard to its adoption, positives and negatives of conservation agriculture in promoting conservation agriculture in tropics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The future of agriculture may be fully realized using knowledge of artificial intelligence (AI) accumulated by human expertise. With increasing climate change and population pressure challenges, new technologies, such as AI and RS in vital sectors like agriculture is urgently required to assess agricultural suitability, optimize productivity, and then support sustainable development. This paper presents bibliometric and review analyses on AI and geospatial analysis applied to the agricultural field. Based on the prestigious database, Scopus, thousands of documents were retrieved in the period 1992–2021 and processed using Scopus online tool and VOSviewer software. The results show a growing trend in the number of publications during this period. Earth and Planetary Sciences is the top domain, remote sensing (RS) is the leading source, while the United States and India are the most influential countries. RS, machine learning (ML), GIS, land-use, decision-making, decision trees, and satellite imagery are the most occurring topics in this search. Otherwise, research in this field is turning toward ML and deep learning techniques, whereas agricultural robots and antennas are the top trending tools. The current study provides specific information about the connections between artificial intelligence, geospatial analysis, and agriculture in the period 1992–2021, the fruitful period where the AI coupled to geospatial technologies is in full development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rampant adoption of digital technologies made momentous changes in all economic sectors. The agriculture sector cannot abstain from the digital revolution. Agriculture and farming are one of the oldest and most important professions in India. The sector remains the backbone of the Indian rural economy, which desperately demands technological impetus for the socio-economic development of rural areas. Smart agriculture is a revolution in the agriculture industry which helps to guide the actions that are required to modify and reorient the agricultural systems. The paper made an extensive survey of various technologies proposed for the agriculture sector. We have surveyed various smart agricultural applications developed and proposed a taxonomy for classifying them. Network infrastructure and connectivity remains the major challenge for rural areas. The paper explores the viability of deploying IoT-based technologies in agricultural sectors along machine learning techniques to optimize resource utilization, planning and cultivation, marketing, pesticide selection, price prediction, etc. An in-depth coverage of recent research works is also mentioned which will help the future researchers to address specific challenge and adopt suitable technology to help the farmers to improve their productivity and better decision making in cultivation. Apart from listing the applications, we also propose an architecture for smart agriculture and implemented smart price prediction model for crops like cotton and cardamom along with a prototype for smart irrigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnobotany genomics is gaining popularity, and there is a renewed interest in traditional medicine around the world. Ethnobotany genomics is proving useful not only for the conservation of biodiversity and agricultural productivity but also for drug discovery. In terms of traditional medicine and biodiversity, India is one of the world's richest countries. However, as industrialisation, population pressures, migrations, and urbanisation have increased, socio-environmental changes have become more dynamic and complex. This has raised concerns about sustainable production and consumption, as well as governance. As a result, the current paper is an attempt to map the emerging innovation system in Indian ethnobotany genomics. The paper examines the actors', agencies', and institutions' responses to the emerging innovation system's requirements. Finally, this paper provides new insights into the opportunities and challenges of developing Indian ethnobotany genomics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture in India is a global powerhouse. It is the largest producer of pulses, spices, milk and many other products. Agriculture contributes to 16.5% of India's gross domestic product (GDP), however with constant development of industries and technology, there has been a sharp increase in demand for many grocery products which in turn has led to an increase of price. The problem with India's Agriculture Business is that customers want to buy groceries at a less price and farmers want better price for their products. The main obstacle in this business is the middlemen who buy products from farmers at a lesser price and sell to customers at a higher price. This paper aims to get rid of the middleman and connect the customers directly to the farmers which will benefit both consumers and producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is the main source of income, food, employment, and livelihood for most rural people in India. Several crops can be destroyed yearly due to a lack of technical skills and changing weather patterns such as rainfall, temperature, and other atmospheric parameters that play an enormous role in determining crop yield and profit. Therefore, selecting a suitable crop to increase crop yield is an essential aspect of improving real-life farming scenarios. Anticipating crop yield is one of the major concerns in agriculture and plays a critical role in global, regional, and field decision-making. Crop yield forecasting is based on crop parameters and meteorological, atmospheric, and soil conditions. This paper introduces a crop recommendation and yield prediction system using a Hybrid Moth Flame Optimization with Machine Learning (HMFO-ML) model. The presented HMFO-ML method effectively recommends crops and forecasts crop yield accurately and promptly. The proposed model used a Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN) for crop recommendation and the Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) method for the crop yield forecasting process. The HMFO algorithm was used to improve the forecasting rate of the ELM approach. A wide-ranging simulation analysis was carried out to evaluate the HMFO-ML model, showing its advantages over other models, as it exhibited a maximum R² score of 98.82% and an accuracy of 99.67%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The emerging technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are transforming various industries, including agriculture. Unaware, young male and female farmers leave the agriculture profession as they perform unsustainable practices. Precision agriculture using the Internet of Things (IoT) is a solution to sustainable agriculture. Extension professionals are at the heart of disseminating agricultural advisory agricultural services in India. The discourse on the IoT is entering the space of extension advisory services (EASs) and social sciences. Thus, the present paper seeks to review the application of IoT in Indian agriculture, its challenges and its effect on EASs. The conceptual framework is drawn from disruptive and surveillance capitalist theories. Design/methodology/approach: Online literature review was conducted on electronic e-book Ebsco, Google scholar, PubMed, Jane, j gate, research4life, springer journal and Mendeley databases for full-text repositories, textbook, thesis, web articles, newspaper articles, reports, blogs for the year 1990 to May 2021 using keywords "IoT application in agriculture," "emerging technologies in agriculture," "challenges in IoT application," "extension advisory services sources of information," "big data and extension advisory, "IoT and extension advisory in India." Only publications in the English language were included. Findings: IoT aids progressive farmers and small farmers alike. Drones, robotics, precision irrigation, livestock tracking and crop disease surveillance are examples of IoT applications in agriculture. Only large corporations and governments access IoT, and for them, big data storage is an issue. Privacy and security concerns demand upgrades in IoT systems. Solutions to the convergence of IoT with the cloud will leverage agricultural EASs, resulting in fast computing, precise and proactive up-to-date problem solving. Hence, the need for communication between firms and clients has ceased. Thus, the jobs of extension agents are replaced. Research limitations/implications: The competence of future human extension agents lies in reskilling as a "knowledge broker" of relationships and expertise, as s/he cannot have all multidisciplinary knowledge. Originality/value: Although IoT applications in agriculture are available from a technological standpoint, there remains an awareness gap regarding the impact of IoT applications in agricultural EASs. This study will aid in a better comprehension of IoT applications from current and prospective EASs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With growing pressure on groundwater resources in developing countries, water-conserving technologies (WCTs) seem to be an especially promising method of both poverty alleviation and agricultural adaptation to risks associated with climate change. While the private benefits of technology adoption are increasingly understood by both farmers and policymakers, the public benefits — or positive spillovers that additionally affect non-adopters and adopters alike — are often overlooked, thus understating the case for investment in their development and promotion. This paper explores the physical and socioeconomic conditions that shape the distribution of these benefits locally and across landscapes, pointing to the importance of integrating spatial relationships and underlying economic conditions into their estimation. We focus on India — the world's largest user of groundwater — and build a spatially-sensitive hydroeconomic model to capture the dynamics of public water availability and extraction costs due to WCT adoption. We calibrate our model using household-plot level survey data and randomized control trial impact estimates from a rollout of WCTs in the Indo-Gangetic Plains. Geo-referenced borewell locations and a novel farmer pumping survey allow us to scale results to the landscape level. Results show that public benefits from WCT adoption initially occur primarily via reduced well interference and that clustering of WCTs in dense, low-income farming areas can generate the highest mix of private and public benefits. With most farmers in this study boring wells and pumping water without local spatial consideration, policymakers with the dual objectives of climate change adaptation and poverty alleviation may consider these dual environmental and economic water-conserving agricultural technology benefit spillovers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Climate change is emerging as a major threat on agriculture, food security and livelihood of millions of people in many places of the world. Agromet advisories services is such a climate resilient technology which provides the valuable information about all agricultural operations from land preparation sowing to harvest based on weather forecasting. There have been plenty of studies investigating farmers’ decision to adopt an innovation but a lot of more segregated studies exist, highlighting the importance of individual factors affecting adoption. Most of the theoretical models on adoption of innovation have tended to present discipline guided explanations to the adoption decision, although adoption is subject to a combination of social, economic, psychological, as well as cultural factors. Methods: The aim of the paper is to present a framework to study farmer’s decision with respect to adoption of AAS. Under aegis of NICRA, Agromet Advisories are provided to the farmers through its 121 Krishi Vigyan Kendra located in India. The agromet advsiories along with weather data gives crop specific recommendations. Generally, these advisories ae given to farmers two times in a week. The developed framework will be used to study their intention to adopt these AAS. Extensive review of literature on the adoption of innovation in agriculture that was based on TPB or theory of reasoned change (TRA) was carried out. Result: Various factors were taken into consideration like the demographic variables, socio- psychological constructs for explaining the adoption decisions. The framework developed for the study is an extended version of ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). In addition to the traditional construct i.e intention, perceived behavioural control and subjective norms, perceived usefulness was added to the extended version of TPB to study the adoption of Agromet Advisories Services (AAS). The framework will help the academician, policy makers and other stakeholder to develop different perspectives of farmer’s decision making in adoption of AAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a plethora of emerging alternatives under the broad rubric of agroecology, sustainable transitions in Indian agriculture are caught between institutional inertia and lock-ins of its vast agricultural establishment on the one hand and a pro-active state promoting a natural farming. This push for Zero-Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF), while welcome as an alternative, also raises several questions on the nature of knowledge production and dissemination. This paper explores the knowledge politics around top-down "skilling regimes" and the principles and paradigms that emphasize social learning. We explore the multiple practices, meanings of agroecology among farmers, government agencies, and civil society organizations in the state of Gujarat. The action research included a survey of practices of 250 farmers in 12 districts, interviews, and stakeholder workshops. Insufficient investments in community-based extension mechanisms and lack of collaboration between state and civil society were features of the policy implementation. The absence of innovative platforms to facilitate knowledge dialogs and learning among actors to advance agroecology increases the gap between policy goals and its actual realization in practice. Programs for upscaling agroecology, we suggest, need to embed the diversity of technical and institutional processes through creating learning alliances to facilitate knowledge dialogs across dissimilar actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India, the agriculture is main profession for more than sixty percent of the population. The stakeholders of agriculture in India, facing plenty of problems that leads the people of the country to shift their profession and lets them migrate towards urban area. So, need of implementing technology in agriculture is must in future days because as population is increasing in exponential form as the result huge requirement of food and agricultural product. The data analytics will play a significant role in agricultural dataset for implementing prediction and recommendation system in the sector. Yield is one of the factors to be considered in the agriculture that determines the wellness and prosperity of the farmer. In this paper deals with prediction system to predict yield of areca nut product in Puttur taluk, Dakshin Kannda District, Karnataka state in India. The time series data analytics model known as Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model is used for yield prediction system. The research is mainly focused on forecasting of areca nut production for next four or five years in Puttur taluk. It compares various ARIMA models with performance criteria and selects best model for prediction purpose. The diagnostic check is carried out to test the system performance After the prediction, then the actual values and predicted values are compared and presented in the form graphical representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The present study provides evidence on export advantages of horticultural commodities based on competitiveness, trade balance and seasonality dimensions. Design/methodology/approach: The study delineated horticultural commodities in terms of comparative advantage, examined temporal shifts in export advantages (mapping) and estimated seasonality. Product mapping was carried out using the Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage (RSCA) and Trade Balance Index (TBI). Seasonal advantages were examined through a graphical approach along with the objective tests, namely, modified QS-test (QS), Friedman-test (FT) and using a seasonal dummy. Findings: Cucumbers/gherkins, onions, preserved vegetables, fresh grapes, shelled cashew nuts, guavas, mangoes, and spices emerged as the most favorable horticultural products. India has a strong seasonal advantage in dried onions, cucumber/gherkins, shelled cashew nut, dried capsicum, coriander, cumin, and turmeric. The untapped potential in horticulture can be addressed by handling the trade barriers effectively, particularly the sanitary and phytosanitary issues, affecting the exports. Proper policies must be enacted to facilitate the investment in advanced agricultural technologies and logistics to ensure the desired quality and cost effectiveness. Research limitations/implications: Commodity-specific studies on value chain analysis would provide valuable insights into the issues hindering exports and realizing the untapped export potential. Originality/value: There is no holistic and recent study illustrating the horticulture export advantages covering a large number of commodities in the Indian context. The study would be helpful to the stakeholders for drawing useful policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Theorising from a resource-based view perspective, the intersection of supply chain management and the use of information technology (IT) has been investigated in this study. This paper aims to investigate supply chain performance (SCP) as an essential outcome of the use of IT and explores the effect of supply chain collaboration (SCC) on SCP. In addition, volume uncertainty (VU) has been explored and tested to establish whether various associated uncertainties can be mitigated when the use of IT is involved. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 121 senior executives from agri-tech firms was collected by travelling and meeting the executives in person in various states of India. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypothesized relationship of VU to SCP via the use of IT and SCC. Findings: The results show that VU significantly impacts SCC via the use of IT and SCP via SCC. The use of IT positively and significantly impacts SCP via SCC. Practical implications: Witnessing the potential benefits of the emerging use of IT in the uncertainty reduction as reported in this study, agri-tech firms operating in emerging rural and agricultural economies can enhance SCC to improve SCP. Social implications: This study unfolds how risks in agricultural supply chains (ASCs) sourced because the VU can be mitigated through the use of IT and SCC to influence SCP in rural agricultural and developing economies. Originality/value: VU at agri-tech firms and farmers is a ground reality that has led to an inability to plan and prepare, resulting in wastages and disruptions in ASCs and farmers' struggles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Agricultural supply chains witness several challenges, which result in increased cost of operations, high wastages, and low efficiency. In the case of vegetable supply chains (VSCs), the intensity of challenges is very high due to perishability. Literature suggests various operations research tools for supply chain management of perishables, but there is a paucity of research highlighting the real models adopted by real players in the market while making revenue. This paper investigates and presents how a startup can innovate its business model to meet the VSC issues by adopting a single case study methodology. Design: The phenomenon was studied by convergent interviewing with the company's key personnel and gathering information from the company's key documents followed by content analysis. Findings: The study shows real practices adopted by a startup to cater to the challenges of VSCs in India by incorporating various tools of productivity enhancement and waste reduction. It highlights the adoption of a traceability system, production planning mechanism, reduced food miles, and green initiatives contributing to an innovative business model. The study maps the business model of the startup with the business model concept provided by Lindgardt and colleagues [2009] and states two more dimensions, i.e. "Client relationship management" and "Sustainability activities" to expand the mentioned configuration. Originality: The study is the first of its kind to highlight the Business Model Innovation of a startup to address the VSC challenges in the Indian context. Practical contribution: The study has important managerial implications useful for finding our new value propositions in a VSC firm by shortening and effectively integrating the supply chain while minimizing information asymmetry to achieve economies and sustainability. Theoretical contribution: This study has strengthened the methodological advances in the study of business models based upon earlier validated configurations. It contributes to the extant research by adding two more elements "Client relationship management" and "Sustainability activities" in a business model configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural sector in India is still the largest contributor to the Indian economy, providing direct and indirect jobs to the majority of Indians. Despite accounting for 18.8 percent of the country’s gross value added, this sector has not made much of a difference in terms of India’s agricultural exports. The current research paper attempts to provide an insight into the competitiveness of Indian agricultural exports over the past twenty-one years and found that under the Harmonized System of Agricultural Commodities classification, the export competitiveness of India has either stagnated or deteriorated, leading to an ominous sign for the Indian agriculture sector. Had there been an appropriate policy to boost Indian agricultural exports, this sector could bring income to farmers and open new avenues abroad? Outcome of the results desperately call for a paradigm policy shift in Indian agriculture as far as export competitiveness is concerned. Refined marketing policy in the light of global needs is the need of the hour. India needs to enhance the “skill before sale” capabilities of the farmers to make them aware of global needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India, the most imperative issue ascends in conventional technique is the unevenness in the configuration of climatic conditions (occasional precipitation, soil disintegration and so on) because of which the efficiency is diminished to a noteworthy degree. Another real disservice is these gadgets are yet to reach in the Indian market. The mindfulness is inadequate in the Indian farmers. To decide the dirt ripeness and profiling he needs to movement to adjacent agriculture based on turmeric cultivation focuses, which might possibly be available. The data in regards to the dirt conditions are not adequately utilized by the Indian farmers. The main objective of the study is to analyse the level of awareness among farmers about IoT in marketing process. For this purpose a sample of 75 was collected from the farmers of Coimbatore region based on random sampling method were percentage analysis, one way Anova, multiple regression and Kruskal Wallis test were used as samples to analyse the data. The conclusion is that the respondents don't have awareness towards access to web for IoT in marketing, display of notices/circulars through news papers by the government, checking availability of Books/lend out and the respondents (farmers) also have a negative opinion towards the process of IoT in marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitalization accumulates data in a short period. Smart agriculture for crop identification for cultivation is a common problem in agriculture for agronomists. The generated data due to digitalization does not provide any useful information unless some meaningful information is retrieved from it. Therefore from the existing information system, prediction of decision for unseen associations of attribute values is of challenging. This paper presents a model that hybridizes a fuzzy rough set, real-coded genetic algorithm, and linear regression. The model works in two phases. In the initial phase, the fuzzy rough set is used to remove superfluous attributes whereas, in the second phase, a real-coded genetic algorithm is used to predict the decision values of unseen instances by making use of linear regression. The proposed model is analyzed for its viability using agricultural information system obtained from Krishi Vigyan Kendra of Thiruvannamalai district of Tamilnadu, India. Further, the accuracy of the proposed model is compared with existing techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past two decades, a major public policy issue that has been receiving a lot of media attention is a spate of suicide death among the Indian farmers. The staggering incidents of suicide death among farmers are pointing the strong tentacles of agrarian crisis hampering the Indian Agrarian Economy. The farmers of certain states particularly Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and West Bengal are causing distress deaths ending in elevation of suicide deaths. The problem is so grave that it needs to be addressed on urgent basis and in an integrated manner. Unless and until this problem is addressed, despite achieving the GDP of 2.3 trillion dollars, the India's macro development objective remains discolored. This is because of the fact that farmers who are responsible for growth of primary sector are ending their lives year by year portraying the grey picture of suicide economic structure in India. This paper is an attempt to understand and analyze the extent and incidence of farmer's suicides across major suicide prone states in India. For this purpose, data has been considered on various aspects such as total number of farmer's suicides in India, gender composition of farmers' suicides, and state-specific suicide death rates of male farmer suicides in major suicide prone states in India. This research paper focuses on the farmers suicides in India for the period of 1995-2014. In addition, the comprehensive review of literature has been attempted in order to explore the stressors that are behind the mounting farmer suicides. Lastly, the suggestions have been made in order to mitigate or curb the practice of farmers' suicides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explored the impact of prolonged lockdown caused by coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 pandemic on the academic aspects of veterinary students of India and its relationship with their socio-economic status. We conducted a study with 224 first-year veterinary students engaged in e-learning system from four veterinary colleges of India at the end of 7th week of lockdown using Google Forms questionnaire in a set of multiple-choice questions. The primary data were analysed using the non-parametric chi-square test, Kruskal–Wallis test, Wilcoxon rank sum test and Kendall's tau-b correlation coefficients using the SAS software. The pandemic situation exerted an effect over the socio-economic and academic aspects of the students. The alternate e-learning system of education was adapted to the veterinary students and the teachers. The techniques of e-learning were mostly useful for the students from less affected family with sound income. The study suggests the decision-making for adopting e-learning system of education and also helps to assess the impact of lockdown in versatile socio-economic and diversified institutional infrastructural stratum of India. Any education is effective when it results in changes of behavioural components such as knowledge, attitude, skill and action of an individual. Based on this basic theory, the study has been conducted, which will help the policy makers to make a strategic plan for the implementation of e-learning system as an effective alternative in teaching and learning of agricultural education system. This study provides a clear dimension about the degree of adoption of the e-learning system as a substitute of physical classroom teaching during crisis situation apart from any gender or institutes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State Agricultural Universities, (SAUs), in India, have adopted the U.S. land-grant model to meet its goals. They are autonomous organisations with state-wide responsibility for agricultural education, research and extension education. Through teaching, research and extension activities the 64 SAUs across 28 states of India are significantly contributing to agricultural production and productivity of their respective states directly and therefore to the rural development. SAUs rural development strategies include technologies and innovations, extension and human resource development. Regional Agricultural Research Stations in various agro-climatic zones have strengthened research-extension-farmer (REF) linkages. KVKs under administrative control of SAUs serve as farm science centres of their respective districts. In this paper, the rural development approaches of Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh is detailed. Furthermore, strategic planning by the SAUs to increase their effectiveness for direct rural development should be sustained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A paradigm shift towards IPR policy and technology commercialization have been observed in India, during the post‐World Trade Organization (WTO) regime. Protecting innovative agricultural technologies through IPR and technology commercialization are of utmost significance to enhance country's public research enterprise, promote economic development and national competitiveness. This has impacted the innovations in a positive direction in these areas. The present article reviews in‐depth process of IPR management and technology commercialization attempted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)—Vivekananda Parvatiya Krishi Anusandhan Sansthan (VPKAS). Earlier, ICAR established a three‐tier model for technology management and transfer namely, central, zonal, and institute level committees/units. Of late, Agrinnovate India Limited (AgIn), which works to meet with world‐wide commercial success of the invented technologies, have come in to facilitate the commercialization process and thus a renewed three‐tier model is in place now. The paper also presents a case study of ICAR‐VPKAS, highlighting the unique experiences, lessons learnt and evolution in managing IP and process of technology commercialization. This is purposely drawn as an early example in managing IP and commercializing the argicultural technologies, despite the challenges faced by the institute due to its remoteness, difficult accessibility and hilly location. These together, may catalyze similar efforts throughout the developing countries to promote innovation and global competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is the mainstay in developing economies and is a major source of livelihood for a large portion of the world's population. The field of agriculture and agribusiness has moved towards diversification, commercialization and sustainability. There is a crying need to protect the environment while improving global food security and building social capital in rural areas. As a result, it has become significant that new technologies and innovations in agriculture be disseminated to farmers so that they gain knowledge about innovations while ensuring their use in the ways originally intended. Agricultural Extension has an important role to play in this changing scenario of agriculture, business and policy. The objective of the paper is to propose a framework for new technology adoption in the context of agricultural extension using the lens of the theory of planned behavior and concepts of social marketing. The paper first presents a review of literature on the Training and Visit System and the Private system of agricultural extension and uncovers its drawbacks. As a potential solution to the existing inefficient systems, a social marketing framework for new technology adoption in agricultural extension is proposed using a case study of Agricultural Technology Management Agency in India. Findings from the case suggest that inclusion of a marketing component along with the existing educational approach to extension is likely to increase adoption of new technology and helps farmers overcome factors like input or market unavailability. It also helps in need based targeting rather than adopting a one-size fits all approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world's population has reached 8 billion and is projected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, increasing the demand for food production. Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that optimize resources and increase productivity are vital in an environment that has tensions in the supply chain and increasingly frequent weather events. This study performed a systemic review of the literature using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology on artificial intelligence technologies applied to agriculture. It retrieved 906 relevant studies from five electronic databases and selected 176 studies for bibliometric analysis. The quality appraisal step selected 17 studies for the analysis of the benefits, challenges, and trends of AI technologies used in agriculture. This work showed an evolution in the area with increased publications over the last five years, with more than 20 different AI techniques applied in the 176 studies analyzed, with machine learning, convolutional neural networks, IoT, big data, robotics, and computer vision being the most used technologies. Considering a worldwide scope, the countries highlighted were India, China, and the USA. Agricultural sectors included crop management and prediction and disease and pest management. Finally, it presented challenges and trends that are promising when considering the future directions in AI for agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weather factors, like other inputs such as land, labor, seeds, irrigation, fertilizer, and pesticides are also direct inputs in crop production. In a state of agriculture where the adoption and diffusion of modern technologies is very low or almost nil, weather factors count more than other inputs because of their direct and indirect effects. Thus, the link between weather and crop yield will have implications on food supply and crop forecasting and management policies. It is of immense importance to the policymakers, agricultural scientists, agricultural economists, and meteorologists to understand this relationship. The methodology for studying this relationship has undergone many improvements over time. This paper attempts to review the studies in this area done in India and a few from abroad that brought an evolution in the methodology of crop-weather modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture planning plays a significant growth and food security of an agro-based country like India. In this Review we present a comprehensive and critical survey on current challenges and methodologies applied for various image processing and Machine learning approaches on variety of crops in their productivity increase, considering the following measures: Early detection/recognition of crop diseases, diagnosing methods and crop selection method in yield prediction. This paper presents an overview of existing reported techniques useful in detection of diseases in variety of crops. Finally we identify the challenges and some opportunities for future developments in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to explore plausibility of student satisfaction and student loyalty in Indian universities offering higher education. The Indian higher education system offers education and training in a variety of subject areas such as the arts and humanities, natural, mathematical and social sciences, engineering, medicine, dentistry, agriculture, law, commerce, management, music, performing arts and many others. Due to its multidimensional nature and ultimate effect on customer retention, consumer engagement, and finally, firm efficiency, service value has gained a lot of attention in recent marketing literature. In this age of global rivalry, the service sector organizations are increasingly mindful of the loyalty problem with both their internal and external clients, while there are still no measurable involvements in the case with mere business companies. The findings indicate as the service value dimensions functional value, consumer satisfaction, service efficiency, appurtenant value, image, and social value. This study supports the notion that higher education institutes can achieve competitive advantage by focusing on value for service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(Global) value chains have contributed to agricultural technology adoption in transition countries and food export commodities in developing countries through various forms of vertical coordination, often associated with FDI. Adoption of modern technologies in agriculture is crucial for improving the productivity and welfare of poor farmers. Much less is known about how (global) value chains do (not) affect technology transfer and/or adoption in staple food chains in developing countries, and the role that FDI plays. Our paper analyses the role of value chains and FDI in farm-level technology adoption with the use of panel data from representative farm surveys in 2008 and 2015 (a period of rapid growth) in the dairy sector in India (Punjab). We find important increases in the adoption of some technologies among traditional and poor dairy farms. However, the role of vertical coordination in value chains in stimulating technology adoption among these traditional dairy farmers seems to be minor, both for domestic and for FDI companies. At the same time a sub-sector of dynamic modern dairy farms has emerged. These farms are much larger, use only modern technology, and are fully integrated in vertically coordinated value chains that support these modern farms' management and investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PRA techniques and tools commands paramount importance in bottom up approach of planning and implementation of agricultural programmes. The following paper describes the various PRA techniques used in the study such as Transect, Mobility map, Timeline and Time trend. Apart from PRA, other methods of data collection such as use of semi-structured interview schedule, direct observation and focus group methods were also used to elicit information from the villagers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aspects of agriculture and animal husbandry have been dealt in literature beginning from the Harappan civilization. The Vedic and Post-Vedic texts reflect vast information about rain ceremonies, rites for cattle, agricultural rites, and crop prosperity that was supplemented practically by agricultural technology, crops, sowing, and harvesting practices, and these could be important to modern agriculture research. One must also appreciate the agricultural philosophy of our ancestors that reflect their harmonious living with nature sustaining their livelihoods with such agricultural practices that brought prosperity to men, animals, plants, and the environment. Several texts dealing with agriculture mention about various manuring methods and elaborate on the types of manures. The Krishivijnanapradeepike is one such text by Shri Nagabhushana Ghanamathadarya dated early 19th c. AD that deals with agricultural practices, experience of the author as well as those gained from other great men who were in contact with him. Some traditional organic manuring practices dealt in this text are presented in this paper. The purpose of highlighting these practices is to initiate interdisciplinary studies based on the information furnished for the refinement in our present agricultural manuring practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is the major occupation and the main origin of income in India, and most of the population depends on agriculture for their living. The smart farming system's foremost goal is to monitor farmlands by automatically rinsing the lands with appropriate water and a pest detection framework. The conventional agricultural methods lack higher crop productivity with increased human efforts. Hence, the paper proposes an IoT-based solution for smart farming. The proposed system focuses on automatic irrigation of water and plant disease detection. It uses machine learning algorithms to accurately predict adequate water required by the fields and automatic pest identification based on the requirements of the farmland. K-Nearest Neighbour and support vector machine learning algorithms in the pest detection module are used to precisely predict plant diseases. The convenient features from the leaves of the plants were obtained. Then the obtained features are used for classification purposes. Extracting the suitable features and classifying them helps detect whether the plant is pest infected or not. The proposed system monitors, analyses, assesses and controls agricultural fields for the automatic irrigation of the water and disease identification of the plants. The numerical analysis of the machine learning algorithms and the significance of the classification with accuracy are investigated. From the numerical results, it is demonstrated that an accuracy of 84 % is achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The food organisations are pushing to adopt circular economy initiatives to enhance economic–ecological–social sustainability of supply chains. The adoption of circular economy and sustainability aspects is complex from the point of view of developing nations compared to the developed nations. In this sense, the purpose of this paper is to develop a model of the challenges for implementing the successful circular economy-led sustainability concepts in food supply chains in emerging economies, especially in the Indian context.Design/methodology/approach The authors recognised 11 circular economy-led sustainability-related challenges and analysed appropriate interactions among the identified challenges. The Delphi method was used for the confirmation of identified challenges. The challenges were identified initially with the help of literature. Interpretive structural modelling method was used for modelling the challenges. In addition, MICMAC analysis was used for classifying the challenges based on their dependence and driving power. A case study of diary food processing company in India was conducted.Findings According to the findings, poor government policies, lack of technology and techniques and lack of farmers' knowledge and awareness come under the driving challenges.Practical implications Understanding of circular economy-led sustainability-related challenges would help managers and policy makers in the sustainable management of natural resources in food value chains.Originality/value This is one of the initial works conducted on identifying and evaluating the challenges to circular economy-based sustainability aspects in food value chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farm women are the backbone of Indian agriculture. They represent the invisible work forces in a gamut of activities ranging from land preparation till harvest of the agricultural produce. The mass media utilization behavior of farm women is central to equipping women with the latest developments in farming technology and honing their technical skills which leads to their increased productivity in their farm and home. A study was conducted on a sample of 30 farm women to analyze their mass media utilization behavior. The findings revealed that, majority (60 per cent) had primary level of education, 90 per cent possessed radio and most of them were members of Farmers Discussion Groups (FDG's); and were regular listeners to agricultural programs on radio. They were also members of Youth Clubs, Magalir Mandrams (women's associations) and Media forums. Besides these women regularly attended training programs in agriculture and allied areas, imparted by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. Only 10 percent of women were regular subscribers to farm magazines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with conceptual framework of contract farming and portrays Indian scenario especially after announcement of National Agricultural Policy (2000) which encouraged private participation through contract farming. The conception of contract farming is not new in India, but it gets momentum in the era of agricultural globalization, as an alternative method of farming. The study reveals that while contract farming can be effective in introducing new technologies and providing external inputs to farmers, danger lies in firms extending technologies that bring financial benefits in the short- term but result in negative long-term health and environmental impacts. Contract farming is not appropriate for all types of crops. To have a significant poverty impact, crops produced under contract farming should be labour-intensive rather than input-intensive and should be appropriate for production on small plots of land. Since the contracting company is financially stronger than individual farmers, the terms of the contract may go against the farmers. Herein the government will have to come forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]