KNOWLEDGE OF MUSTARD GROWERS TOWARDS IMPROVED CULTIVATION PRACTICES IN SIRSA DISTRICT OF HARYANA

Increasing living standard of people arises the need for increased production of oilseed in country. But per capita availability of oil is very low, thus to increase the production of oil seed the farmers should adopt the new technology. Meanwhile, the research gap should be identified and rectified to increase the production. Thus, the knowledge and adoption level of respondents was studied to understand the complexity of technology adoption. Descriptive research design was adopted for the study. 120 respondents from six villages namely, Alanoor, Bhadra, Chamal, Dadu, Ffagu and Jamal of Sirsa block of Sirsa district in Haryana. The findings reported that majority of the respondents were middle aged, literate with middle school, had a land holding of 2.5-5 acres, nuclear family, agriculture as their major occupation along with service as their subsidiary occupation, medium level of annual income, had membership in more than one organization, medium level of risk orientation, medium level of knowledge, medium level of adoption.

Economic Analysis of Sweet Orange in Sindhuli District of Nepal

Sweet orange is one of the major fruit grown in mid-hills of Nepal. It ranks 2nd among the citrus fruits in terms of area and production after mandarin. The study depicts the socio economic aspect of sweet orange production in Sindhuli district.Data were collected from 60 randomly selected sweet orange growers from Tinkanya and Baseswor of Golanjor rural municipality using semi-structured interview schedule. Two FGD's was done in those places for the triangulation of household survey.Analysis was done using SPSS and excel. Socio demographic studies revealed that majorly (93.3%), of growers were engaged in sweet orange farming. Most of the growers (98.3%) had agriculture as their major occupation. The average land holdings of the farmers was 0.53 ha in which 0.37 ha of land was occupied for sweet orange cultivation. The average sweet orange production of total sixty households was calculated to be 1981.83 kg/ha. The total cost of Rs. 25797.36/ha was estimated and the gross return from the production was Rs.72634/ha; the benefit cost ratio was found to be 2.81 which supports that sweet orange production is being a profitable farming business. Furthermore, insects attack followed by irrigation problems and difficulty in transportation followed by lack of market price information were the major problems found in the production and marketing of sweet orange respectively. There is a high potentiality of increasing the fruit productivity if the constraints against the sweet orange cultivation are addressed properly and adequately. Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 8, Issue-3: 396-400

Vegetable Price Prediction using ARIMA

Agriculture is the major occupation of India. The farmers who are the backbone of the country are suffering in utter poverty. This is because they are unaware of the facts that happen in the market. Thereby, they sell their crops at a price much lower than the actual cost. Analyzing data over a time period regularly will lead to various insights and conclusions. These insights can pave way to understand the prices better. Hence, this system suggests ARIMA approach to develop a forecast model and predict, by considering the seasonality in prices over a period of time.

Cassava and Vegetable Farming on Wet Land among Farmers in Ibaji Local Government Area, Kogi State, Nigeria

The study reviewed cassava and vegetable farming activities on wetland among farmers in Ibaji LGA Kogi State. Wetland can be defined as lands subject to excessive wetness, to the extent that the wet conditions influence the possible land uses. The wet soils in Kogi State exhibit similar physical, chemical and biological characteristics as do most or all soils in wetland ecologies. The textural composition of the wet soils in the study area varies widely from sand to clay loam with good physical properties. Data collected included information on farming season, social/infrastructures available in the area, major occupation of the people, major crop grown and others. Potentials of wetland soils include wetlands are seasonally or perennially wet and have ample water supply occur in level to gently sloping landscapes, are immune to the hazards of soil erosion. The soils are saturated 6 to 8 months of the year. Sources of information available to the farmers are through neighbours, friends and extension agents. Constraints to wetland land use are climatic (mainly rainfall), hydrological, soil, biological, and socio-economic factors. However, the major constraints to the cropping systems in the wet lowlands are abundance of water and its management, disease, pest and weed control. Wet land farming should be encouraged by all to reduce food insecurity in the study area. Stakeholders should encourage farmers by providing farming inputs all year round Key Words: Cassava, vegetable farming, wetland, farmers

Perception, risk attitude and willingness to pay for safety and innovative attributes of processed chicken meat in Oyo State, Nigeria

This paper examined the perception and willingness to pay (WTP) for safety and innovative attributes of processed chicken meat among consumers in Oyo State, Nigeria, taking into consideration their risk attitudes. The study revealed that the majority of the consumers were more aware of existing attributes than innovative attributes of processed chicken meat. Also, the majority of consumers (73.3%) were risk-neutral. Only 35% of respondents had lowered chicken consumption due to safety concerns and about 51.7% of respondents claimed to be satisfied with the level of safety and quality of chicken meat sold in the Nigerian markets. Sex, household size, major occupation, being a grocery shopper, income and age significantly affected the willingness of consumers to pay a premium for safety and innovative attributes of processed chicken meat. A positive mean WTP of 1,613.16 Naira was estimated. It was therefore recommended that key players in the value chain should adopt relevant marketing strategies in line with these attributes and target a specific niche of consumers based on their socioeconomic characteristics. Furthermore, government and other regulatory bodies should put measures in place to ensure that processors are sensitized about the safety of chicken.

ASSESSMENT OF EFFECTIVENESS OF SHALLOW TUBEWELL IRRIGATION IN DHANUSHA DISTRICT, NEPAL

A survey entitled “Assessment of effectiveness of Shallow tubewell irrigation in Dhanusha district” was carried to seek the status of Shallow tubewell irrigation and its effectiveness in agriculture. A total of 30 respondents were selected on the basis of simple random sampling method who uses shallow tubewell for irrigation. Major occupation of 77% of population of survey area was agriculture and about 73% of households were doing rainfed agriculture before installation of shallow tubewell. A total of 201.23 bigha of land was irrigated and 250 families were benefited from shallow tubewell irrigation. The area under cultivation and production of crops was also found to be increased after installation of shallow tubewell. The average annual production of cereals and vegetables after use of shallow tubewell was 6.01 ton and 1.08 ton respectively. The monoculture system of cropping was changed to multiple cropping system after installing shallow tubewell. Farmers now cultivated 1-5 types of crops before which 1-2 types before shallow tubewell irrigation. Rice, wheat and vegetables were cultivated in 1258 katha, 582 katha and 32 katha of land respectively before installing shallow tubewell but after installation cultivated in 1330 katha, 697 katha and 232 katha of land respectively. Similarly, productivity of rice. increased from 95.96 to 142.08 ton, wheat from 29.98 to 46.67 ton and vegetables from 7.52 to 27.9 ton after use of shallow tubewell irrigation. Poor supply of electricity was the major problem with the index value of 0.89 followed by canal problems.

Factors influencing the choice of marketing strategies among cassava microenterprises in Kenya

Cassava (Manihot esculenta L.) production and utilisation in Kenya face stiff competition from other major starchy food crops mainly maize, potatoes and wheat. This is due to the cyanide content in cassava which is lethal when roots are mishandled, leading to avoidance of the crop by potential consumers. This has affected the marketing of the crop and its products.The objective of this study was to analyse factors that influence the choice of marketing strategies among agripreneurs in cassava microenterprises in Kenya. A studywas conducted in Migori County (Kuria West, Suna East, Suna West and Uriri Sub-counties) in Kenya, using a semi-structured questionnaire, administered to a sample of 267 cassava micro enterprises. Results showed that the most used marketing strategies were pricing, product promotion, value addition and formation of a marketing alliance mostly in their combination. Multivariate Probit results showed that age, gender, education level, household size, major occupation (trading), marketing experience, seed money, entrepreneurial training, marketing information, market distance, group membership, farm gate and open-air marketing outlets significantly (P<0.05) influenced the choice of marketing strategies among cassava microenterprises. Therefore, cassava agripreneurs of microenterprises need to combine viable product lines and the marketing strategies that give maximum performance in order to increase their marketing shares and profits.

Analysis of Effects of House Rodents among Farmers in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State, Nigeria

The study analyzed the effects of house rodents among farmers in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State, Nigeria. Data were collected from primary source through the administration of structured questionnaire on 190 farmers' selected using a purposive random sampling technique. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Logit regression. Results revealed that females were 66.3%, 61.6% aged 20-30 years, 51.1% were married, 47.7% had the household size of 6-10 people, 53.3% had an estimated annual income of < ₦100,000.0. The results further indicated that 46.3% were civil servants, 49.5% occupied 4 rooms apartment, 84.2% furniture was destroyed, 76.3% used rodent glue pad for control, inconveniences ( = 3.04) was one of the major factors that influenced the method used for control of rodents and lack of finance ( = 3.15) was one of the major constraints faced in controlling house rodents. The results of Logit regression showed that sex (4.216) and major occupation (3.328) positively and significantly influenced the choice of method used for control at p < 0.005 and p < 0.010. It is recommended that public enlightenment on proper sanitation and methods of control should be carried out regularly to reduce the menace.

Influence of Occupation on Rural Built Form through Correlation Statistical Test in the State of Andhra Pradesh, India

Influence of occupation on built form can be traced with the adaption of the ancestor’s occupation by present generations and planning to take further with their upcoming generations with the organized built form environment. Rural housing emerged in the current scenario lack consideration of living needs and spaces required for better living. The Culture (occupation) is a product of cumulative and commonly shared experiences of group of people which is transmitted downwards through the generations and also as consisting of transmitted and created pattern of values, ideas and meaningful system that shape human (Michael, 1989). In the present scenario of Andhra Pradesh state, India where Agriculture is the major occupation, it is noted that the houses were evolved with the different styles and typologies based on their socio cultural and occupational influences. The paper aims its focus on analysing the influence of culture (occupation) on rural built form through Correlation statistical test in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The importance of agriculture can be determined by the adaption of agriculture as an occupation by the 70% of the population of the state which resides in rural areas and depends on agriculture for their livelihood. Hence, agriculture is chosen as the occupation to understand and analyse the influence of occupation on rural built form in selected case areas. The paper aims at proving the research hypothesis; there is a relation between occupation and built form and also derive occupational area requirements for better development

Determinants of productivity of farmland in Imo State

The study analysed the determinants of productivity of farmland in Imo State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected using a set of structured questionnaires from 60 food crop farmers who were selected through purposive and random sampling techniques. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and econometric tools. The results showed that majority of the respondents were young in their active years, with a mean age of 45 years, married, mostly females, had mean level education of 8 years and mostly farming as their major occupation. The results also showed that the food crop farmers had adequate labour force of a mean 7 persons per household and cultivated an average farm size of 1.06 hectares. The result of the productivity of farmland was 4.03, which showed high productivity. From the results also, the exponential function is the lead equation. The study concluded that farmlands in Imo state are productive and are determined by farm size, location, distance, quantity of fertilizer used, type of soil and duration of tenancy. The study advocated for food crop farmers to form a cooperative to enable them pool their resources together for gaining larger farmlands, fertilizer and other farm inputs. Keywords: Farmland, Determinants, Productivity, Imo state.