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MANAGE

EXTENSION RESEARCHREVIEW

Vol. III July - December, 2002 No.2

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF

AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION MANAGEMENTRajendranagar, Hyderabad - 30



Editorial

It is of immense pleasure that MANAGE is successfully bringing out the

journal MANAGE EXTENSION RESEARCH REVIEW for the second

half of 2002. We place on record our sincere thanks to our distinguished

contributors for having shown their keen interest by way of quality

publications covering varied interests. We are quite optimistic that the

dissemination of the quality publications shall be of immense use to all our

readers.

The present publication encompasses topics of varied interest such as role

of women, development of agricultural extension personnel, marketing,

participatory planning and impact on technology adoption etc.

We solicit the cooperation, constructive criticism and suggestions, if any

for further refinement in enhancing the quality of the journal. We do strongly

believe that this little endeavor of MANAGE in bringing out the publication

shall be of immense help to the policy makers.

A.K. Goel

Chief Editor



Views expressed in the articles are of

the authors and not necessarily of the

Institute.

Editor



MANAGE EXTENSION RESEARCH REVIEW

Vol. III July - December, 2002 No.2

C O N T E N T S

Editorial Page

1. Cost Price Analysis in Sugarcane : A Study in Tamil Nadu, Southern India ..... 1

J.P.Singh and K.H. Vedini

2. Production and Marketing Scenarios of Jaggery in India with ............................ 14

Special Reference To Andhra PradeshK.P.C.Rao and K.N.Ravi Kumar

3. Kindling the Hidden Fire : Empowerment Through Conflict ............................ 24

Management in Organizations

G. Jaya

4. Food Grain Production in India – An Analysis of Trend and ............................ 38

Seasonal Pattern During the Post-green Revolution Period

K.Kareemulla and R.H.Rizvi

5. Impact of Participatory Planning on Adoption of New Technology ................... 45

through FLD (Oil Seeds)

P.K. Singh

6. Information Revolution in Indian Agriculture ............................ 49

Bankey Bihari and A.S. Mishra

7. Cyclone Disaster Preparedness of Prawn Growers in Andhra Pradesh ............... 56

T. Krishna Prasad, MD.Suleman Khan and M.Veera Raghava Reddy

8. Development Oriented Performance Appraisal System for ............................ 62the Agricultural Extension Personnel

Souvik Ghosh and K.Vijayaragavan

9. Developmental Priorities of Farm Women in Agribusiness ............................ 74

Management - A Case of an Adopted Village K.B.Palem

S. Neelaveni and P. Rambabu

10. Potential Appraisal of Agricultural Extension Human ............................ 84

Resource - A SWOT Analysis

P. Punna Rao and B. Mukunda Rao



11. Alienation from Work among Entrepreneurs in Agriculture ............................ 93

Hemchandra Gajbhiye, R.T. Katole and Jyoti Sahare

12. Monitoring and Evaluation of Extension Activities .......................... 100

B.S. Nadagoudar and A.T. Patil

13. Research in Field Extension - an Approach for Sustainability......................... 109

Kella Lakshmana, I.M. Iqbal, R.Netaji Seetharaman and R.Ranga Swamy

14. ‘Shaham’ Agricultural Extension Services of Israel .......................... 113

T.D.S.Kumar

15. Rational Delivery of Private Livestock Extension Services – Interventions .... 121

P V K Sasidhar and B S Chandel

16. Utilisation of Information Sources by the Tribal Farmers in .......................... 132

Rampachodavaram Agency Area : A Micro Study

P.L.Manohari



MANAGE Extension Research Review

July - December, 2002 1

* Director, National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management

(MANAGE), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-30

** Programme Officer National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management

(MANAGE), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-30

COST PRICE ANALYSIS IN SUGARCANE : A STUDY

IN TAMIL NADU, SOUTHERN INDIA

J.P.Singh* and K.H. Vedini**

Introduction

Indian sugar industry has a unique, intrinsic and symbolic relationship with

the livelihood of the rural masses and contributes around 2 per cent to the

national gross domestic product. It employs over 40 million cane growers and

their families, constituting 7 per cent of the rural population and about 3.5

lakh skilled and unskilled labourers. As a raw material, sugarcane is transported

from farms to sugar mills and hence the service sector like transportation is

getting developed in addition to rural road development. Sugarcane is the basic

raw material for gur making, and gur making is one of the important cottage

industries that provides employment to the rural folk, particularly in harvesting,

transporting by head load to crushing unit from the field, crushing and gur

preparation. Thus, the sugar industry as a whole helps in uplifting the lives

of the rural masses. Being the second largest agro-based industry, only nextto cotton, it plays a dominant role in promoting the development of both

agricultural and industrial economies of the country.

To keep producing any agricultural product, including sugarcane, there must

be demand for the product, there must be a well developed marketing system

and the farmers inturn must have confidence in the marketing system.

The growth rates in productivity in three southern states Tamil Nadu, Karnataka

and Andhra Pradesh are also quite encouraging. Inspite of these positive trends,farmers are agitated due to late issuance of cutting orders by the sugar mills,

high transportation costs, high harvesting costs and low profit margin in

supplying cane to the sugar mills. Performance of these sugar mills is also not

quite encouraging particularly in effecting prompt payment to the cane growers.



2 July - December, 2002

In the present, an attempt has been made to analyze the time series of price

analysis in sugarcane in Tamil Nadu state.

Objectives

The specific objectives set up for this study are as follows :

(i) Estimate the cost of production and study its relation with prices,

(ii) Analyze the time series data on market arrivals and prices of gur and

Khandasari sugar in the selected markets of southern India,

Cost-price relationship in sugarcane

To keep farm business going, the farmer must get a reasonable profit in his

business in raising the crop. Hence, he must get a price for his produce, that

must cover not only the cost of production but also ensure a reasonable profit.

Therefore, in this chapter the first–section deals with the cost of producing

sugarcane and the second section deals with the cost-price relationship.

Cost of production of sugarcane

Each and every cultivation operation involves cost. Therefore, the detailson the same in cultivating sugarcane is analysed and the results are presented

in Table 1, below.

Table 1: Operation-wise Average Cost of Cultivation of Sugarcane in

Sample Farms

Sl.No Operation Planted Crop Ratoon Crop

Rupees % Rupees %

per/ha total per/ha total1. Preparatory cultivation 37000 7.14 750 1.95

2. Seeds and sowing 11375 21.96 500 1.30

3. Manures & Manuring 2925 5.65 1250 3.25

4. Fertilizer & applications 6800 13.13 7850 20.40

5. After cultivation 7250 14.00 7750 20.13

6. Plant protection 1375 1.93 1650 4.28

7. Irrigation 3750 7.24 3750 9.75

8. Harvesting 15000 28.96 15000 38.95

Total 52175 100.00 38500 100





From the table above, it can be seen that the total cost works out to Rs.52175

per hectare. Among the operations, harvesting alone accounts for 28.95 percent

of the total operational cost, followed by seeds and sowing with 21.96 percent,

after-cultivation with 14.00 percent, fertilizers and application with 13.13 percent

etc and the least share was for sowing and plant protection with 1.93 percent.

In order to have an in depth analysis of the total cost, operational costs and

fixed costs were also worked and the results are given in table 2.

Table 2 : Operational, Fixed and Total cost of cultivation of Sugarcane

in Sample Farms

Sl.No Costs Rupees per/ha % to total

1. Operational cost

2. Value of setts 8750 12.40

2. Value of human labour 29875 42.34

3. Value of animal power 750 1.06

4. Value of machine power 3875 5.49

5. Value of workers 1875 2.66

6. Value of fertilizers 5925 8.40

7. Value of plant protection chemials 1125 1.59

8. Irrigation (electricity*) change - -Total 52175 73.94

9. Interest on (1 to 8) working capital 5218 7.39

Total Variable cost 57393 81.33

10. Rent/equipment for land 10000 14.17

11. Depreciation on farm assets 1300 1.84

12. Interest on fixed capital 1625 2.30

13. Land revenue & other tasses 250 0.35

Total fixed costs (B) 13175 18.67

Total cost of cultivation 70568 10.00* Free electricity for agriculture in Tamil Nadu State

It can be noted from the table above, that the total cost included, variable

costs and fixed costs, and it works out to Rs. 70568 per ha. The variable

cost was Rs.57393 accounting for 81.33 percent of the total cost, while the

fixed cost worked out to Rs.13,175 accounting for 18.67 percent in the total

cost. Among the inputs, human labour alone accounts for 42.34 percent,

followed by seeds (setts) with 12.40 percent, fertilizers with 8.40 percent

and the least percentage of 1.06 is for animal power.




Table3 : Operational cost, Fixed cost and Total cost of Cultivation of

Ratoon Sugarcane Crop

Sl.No. Costs Rupees per ha % Total

1. Operation wise total cost 38500 69.34

2. Interest on operation cost (on item 1) @ 10% 3850 6.93

3. Total operational cost (1+2) 42350 76.27

4. Total fixed cost 13175 23.73

Total cost of production / cultivation per Ha 55525 100.00

As can be noted from the table, the total cost of production per hectare of ratoon

crops works out to Rs.55525. In comparison with that of sugarcane planted crop,

the total cost of cultivation for ratoon crop is considerably lower.

Gross Return

Returns from sugarcane is important because sugarcane is a commercial crop,

that is grown by the farmers for the high profit it fetches. Therefore, an attempt

has been made to work out the gross return and net profit per hectare of

sugarcane. The results are given in the Table 4 below :

Table 4 :Average Gross Income, Net Income per Hectareof Sugarcane

in Sample Farms

Sl. Particulars Rupees

No. Planted Crop Ratoon Crop

1. Gross return/ hectare 100 tonnes of cane 77,000 77,000

@ Rs. 770 per tonne

2. Direct / operational cost per hectare 52176 423503. Net income while operational cost alone is 24825 34650

considered of (1-2)

4. Total cost of production per hectare 70568 55525

5. Profit per hectare (1-4) 6432 21475

6. Price of one tonne of cane 770 770

7. Cost production per quintal 706 555

Profit / tonne of cane 64 215





From the table above, it can be seen that the gross income per hectare of cane

works out to Rs.77,000 while operational cost was Rs.52176, and the net profit

per hectare works out to Rs.24825. On the other hand when total cost of

production of Rs.70568 is considered, the net profit per hectare is Rs.6432.

When compared with that of the main crop, the net income and profit per hectare

in ratoon crop were markedly higher. Similarly the cost of production per tonne of

ratoon sugarcane crop was Rs.555, while it was Rs.706 in planted crop. Above the

cost and return analysis of sugarcane planted vs ratoon crop showed that the latter

yielded more net-returns to the farmers due to less cost involved in ratoon crop.

Cost-price relationship

The cost of production works out to Rs.706 per tonne and the price received

is Rs.770, leaving a net profit of Rs.64 per tonne, which works out to 9.07

percent. The benefit-cost ratio is also 1.091 ie., for every rupee spent on

sugarcane production there will be a profit of just nine paise (ie., 9 percent).

Table 5: The Cost price - Relationship in Sugarcane Cultivation for the

Period 1981-2000

Sl.No. Year Cost of production Procurement Percent of profitprice in Rs/qtl price Rs/qtl in procurement price

1. 1981 10.60 13.00 18.4612. 1982 11.40 13.00 12.313. 1983 10.60 13.50 21.464. 1984 14.00 14.00 -5. 1985 15.10 16.50 8.486. 1986 13.40 17.00 21.187. 1987 15.00 18.50 18.928. 1988 15.30 19.50 21.54

9. 1989 16.20 23.00 29.5710. 1990 16.60 23.00 27.8311. 1991 24.40 26.00 6.1512. 1992 30.90 31.00 0.3213. 1993 31.70 45.00 29.5614. 1994 33.60 52.50 36.0015. 1995 34.60 56.00 40.2516. 1996 34.50 59.90 42.4017. 1997 50.00 60.00 16.6718. 1998 57.50 68.80 16.4219. 1999 - - -

20. 2000 77.00 77.00 9.09




Such a low profit (9 percent) in cultivating sugarcane is not encouraging the

farmer in continuing the crop in the farm business. Compared to this, the profit

in industrial activities is more than 20 percent. Even this nine percent margin

is subject to high risk due to the vagaries of monsoons and attack of diseases

like rust and red-rot. Probably these might be the reasons why farmers demand

higher price for their cane supplied to the sugar factories.

An attempt was also made to compare the cost with prices and the margin

obtained over a period of time. The results are presented in Table 5.

It can be inferred from the table above, that during the 20 years period

considered, the profit was zero in 1984 and 0.32 per cent in 1992 and it

was the maximum at 42.40 percent in 1996. Thus, the profitability was highly

varying, and it was a measure of risk in sugarcane cultivation. In the most

recent years (after 1997), the profit was less than 20 percent. These results

again reinforce the claim of farmers for remunerative prices to sugarcane.

Time series price analysis in sugarcane

To understand and analyse the nature of inter-temporal behaviour in prices,

time series data on prices are necessary. An annual or yearly price observationhas three components:

Trend (T), cyclical (C) and irregular (I)

ie., Pt = T+C+I (additive model)

Pt = T x C x I (multiplicative model)

Where Pt is an observation on price for period t. the method of separating

the effect of each component is also termed as decomposition of time series.

Trend or secular price movements

The tendency of prices to move up or down over a long period of time (in

excess of 10 years) is termed as trend or secular price movement. A trend

in prices is usually established on the basis of at least 10 to 15 years’ data.

The trend is not concerned with the movement in prices from one year to

another, but for a large number of years, say 10 or more.





Cyclical fluctuations

A cycle is defined as a regularly occurring phenomenon. When this phenomenon

occurs in movement of prices, it is termed as a price cycle i.e., cyclical fluctuationsrefer to the swings around a trend line. Regularly occurring upswings and

downswings or oscillations in prices are termed as cyclical fluctuations in prices.

Irregular price fluctuations

Irregular and episodic price movements represent that part of the behaviour of prices

which is not systematic. A particular price movement may not recur in the future.

No generalization can be made about such price fluctuations because of thediversity in their nature and irregularity of the cause and effect relationships

in their occurrences. They may be of shorter or longer duration.

Table 6 :Time Series Analysis – Prices of Sugarcane Jaggery Powder

in Kavundappadi Regulated Market.

Sl. No. Year Price (Rs/Q+1) Trend C+I (2-3) C (1:@:wt. I (4-5)MA of 4)

1 1978-79 109 73.25 35.75 - -

2 1979-80 198 113.01 84.99 354 -2693 1980-81 301 152.77 148.23 401 -252.74 1981-82 212 192.53 19.47 103 -83.415 1982-83 148 232.29 -84.29 -132 47.876. 1983-84 289 272.05 16.95 -64 81.157 1984-85 298 311.81 -13.81 -83 69.438 1985-86 279 351.57 -72.57 -229 156.719 1986-87 321 391.33 -70.33 -245 174.9910 1987-88 399 431.09 -32.09 -269 237.2711 1988-89 336 470.85 -134.85 -350 215.55

12 1989-90 462 510.61 -48.61 -276 227.8313 1990-91 506 550.37 -44.37 -299 255.1114 1991-92 428 590.13 -162.13 -440 277.3915 1992-93 559 629.89 -70.89 -49 -22.3316 1993-94 925 669.65 255.35 454 -199.117 1994-95 724 709.41 14.59 150 -135.818 1995-96 615 749.17 -134.17 -146 11.5119 1996-97 897 788.93 108.07 461 -353.220 1997-98 1208 828.69 379.31 856 -476.921 1998-99 858 868.45 -10.45 277 -287.722 1999-00 827 908.21 -81.21 -274 192.63

23 2000-01 847 947.97 -100.97 - -




From Table 6, it can be seen that the prices have followed an upward trend over

the years at the rate of Rs. 40/qtl for a year. The cyclical variations isolated would

not reveal a definite pattern of cycle although implied the presence of cycles in

the price movement. The irregular movement is also not small. (Fig 1)

Here, the trend pattern prevailed as the one in the jaggary regulated market.A definite upward trend to the tune of Rs.40/qtl per year could be seen in

the price movements.

Fig.1 : Trend in Prices of Sugarcane Jaggery Power in Kavundappadi Regulated Market

Table 7 : Jaggery Powder Price at Chithode Market

Year Price (Rs/Q+1) Trend C+I C I

1990-91 470 532.64 -63 - -

1991-92 440 575.78 -136 -403 267.341992-93 550 618.92 -69 -35.7 -33.24

1993-94 900 662.06 238 501.8 -263.82

1994-95 800 705.20 94.8 275.2 -180.4

1995-96 596 748.34 -152 -175 23.02

1996-97 826 791.48 34.5 226.1 -191.56

1997-98 1144 834.62 309 645.5 -336.14

1998-99 870 877.76 -7.8 171 -178.72

1999-00 798 920.90 -123 -380 256.7

2000-01 838 964.04 -126 - -

1800

1600

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0

1 9 7 8 - 7 9

1 9 7 9 - 8 0

1 9 8 0 - 8 1

1 9 8 1 - 8 2

1 9 8 2 - 8 3

1 9 8 3 - 8 4

1 9 8 4 - 8 5

1 9 8 5 - 8 6

1 9 8 6 - 8 7

1 9 8 7 - 8 8

1 9 8 8 - 8 9

1 9 8 9 - 9 0

1 9 9 0 - 9 1

1 9 9 1 - 9 2

1 9 9 2 - 9 3

1 9 9 3 - 9 4

1 9 9 4 - 9 5

1 9 9 5 - 9 6

1 9 9 6 - 9 7

1 9 9 7 - 9 8

1 9 9 8 - 9 9

1 9 9 9 - 0 0

2 0 0 0 - 0 1

Irregular

Cyclical

Trend





The presence of cycles could be identified better if there are more number of

years of data rather than 10 years. The irregular fluctuation was large here also.

Table 8 :Jaggery Wholesale Price in Tamil Nadu State

Sl.No Year Ws price Trend C +I C I

(Rs 1 Q+1)

1. 1978-79 123.69 53.74 69.95 - -

2. 1979-80 233.79 89.44 144.35 427.62 -199.98

3. 1980-81 194.11 125.14 68.97 268.95 -283.27

4. 1981-82 147.5 160.84 -13.34 -2.88 -199.98

5. 1982-83 151.37 196.54 -45.17 -70.45 -10.46

6. 1983-84 265.47 232.24 33.23 19.1 25.28

7. 1984-85 265.75 267.94 -2.19 -4.79 14.138. 1985-86 270.00 303.64 -33.64 -132.28 2.6

9. 1986-87 276.53 339.34 -62.81 -213.22 98.64

10. 1987-88 321.08 375.04 -53.96 -288.7 150.41

11. 1988-89 292.77 410.74 -117.97 -359.14 234.74

12. 1989-90 377.20 446.44 -69.24 -413.31 344.74

13. 1990-91 325.28 482.14 -156.86 -557.47 400.61

14. 1991-92 343.33 517.84 -174.51 -642.79 468.28

15. 1992-93 416.63 553.54 -136.91 -291.51 154.60

16. 1993-94 746.06 589.24 156.82 303.79 -146.9717. 1994-95 752.00 624.94 127.06 539.30 -412.24

18. 1995-96 789 660.04 128.36 516.46 -338.1

19. 1996-97 829.02 696.34 132.68 - -

Fig –2 : Trend in jaggery wholesale prices in Tamil Nadu State




The jaggery whole sale price in Tamil nadu also showed an upward trend

in their price movements over the years. An increase of Rs. 40 to 45 per

year could be seen in the trend. It was not showing a clear cyclical pattern

as to how many years of cycle prevailed in the price movement. The irregular

component shows very wide variation among the years, revealing price risks

in the jaggery wholesale market (Fig 2).

There existed trend in the SM price of sugarcane announced by the government.

The price increased by about Rs.2/- per year over the period. The cyclical pattern

showed the operation of cycles of about five to six years in the price movement

over the years. The irregular variation ranged from ( - ) to ( + ) 19.25 and it

Table 9: Statutory Minimum Price for Sugarcane Announced by the

Government of India

Year SMP Trend C+I C I

(Rs/ Q+1)

1978-79 10 3.22 6.78 - -1979.80 12.5 5.45 7.05 26.2 -19.15

1980-81 13 7.68 5.32 20.78 -15.46

1981-82 13 9.91 3.09 12.36 -9.27

182-83 13 12.14 0.86 3.94 -3.08

1983-84 13.5 14.37 -0.87 -3.94 -3.08

1984-85 14 16.60 -2.6 -8.40 5.80

1985-86 16.5 18.83 -2.33 -11.30 8.99

1986-87 17 21.06 -4.06 -15.20 11.18

1987-88 18.5 23.29 -4.79 -20.2 15.371988-89 19 25.52 -6.52 -23.6 17.06

1989-90 22 27.75 -5.75 -25 19.25

1990-91 23 29.98 -6.98 -25.9 18.94

1991-92 26 32.21 -6.21 -22.8 16.63

1992-93 31 34.44 -3.44 -15.3 11.82

1993-94 34.5 36.67 -2.17 -7.58- 5.41

1994-95 39.1 38.90 0.2 -0.40 0.60

1995-96 42.5 41.13 1.37 5.48 -4.11

1996-97 45.9 43.36 2.54 9.31 -6.771997-98 48.45 45.59 2.86 13.14 -10.28

1998-99 52.70 47.82 4.88 17.57 -12.69

1999-2000 55 50.05 4.95 20.50 -15.55

2000-2001 58 58.28 5.72 - -





was small compared to trend (Fig 3). This result was expected because the SMP

was policy determined and much analysis was involved in determining it.

Table 10 : Tamil Nadu State Advised Prices for SugarcaneYear SAP (Rs/Q+1) Trend C+I C I

1978-79 16 3.49 12.5 - -

1979-80 17.5 6.80 10.7 40.3 -29.6

1980-81 16.5 10.11 6.39 25.6 -19.2

1981-82 15.5 13.42 2.08 9.32 -7.24

1982-83 15.5 16.73 -1.2 -4.42 3.19

1983-84 16 20.04 -4 -14.20 10.1

1984-85 18.5 23.35 -4.9 -20.90 16.1

1985-86 19.5 26.66 -7.2 -29.1 22

1986-87 20 29.97 -10 -33.2 23.2

1987-88 27.18 33.28 -6.1 -30.7 24.6

1988-89 28.06 36.59 -8.5 -28.9 20.4

1989-90 34.12 39.90 -5.8 -27.1 21.3

1990-91 36.25 43.21 -7 -28.9 21.9

1991-92 37.35 46.52 -9.2 -28.6 19.4

1992-93 46.58 49.83 -3.3 -13.2 9.97

1993-94 55.59 53.14 2.45 8.57 -6.12

1994-95 63.37 56.45 6.92 28.4 -21.51995-96 71.88 59.76 12.10 45.6 -33.5

1996-97 77.52 63.07 14.50 - -

Fig .3 : Trend in statutory minimum price for sugarcane announced by the

government of India

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

1 9 7 8 - 7 9

1 9 7 9 - 8 0

1 9 8 0 - 8 1

1 9 8 1 - 8 2

1 9 8 2 - 8 3

1 9 8 3 - 8 4

1 9 8 4 - 8 5

1 9 8 5 - 8 6

1 9 8 6 - 8 7

1 9 8 7 - 8 8

1 9 8 8 - 8 9

1 9 8 9 - 9 0

1 9 9 0 - 9 1

1 9 9 1 - 9 2

1 9 9 2 - 9 3

1 9 9 3 - 9 4

1 9 9 4 - 9 5

1 9 9 5 - 9 6

1 9 9 6 - 9 7

1 9 9 7 - 9 8

1 9 9 8 - 9 9

1 9 9 9 - 0 0

2 0 0 0 - 0 1

Irregular

Cyclical

Trend




The Tamil Nadu state advised prices of sugarcane showed an upward trend

of increase in prices over years of about Rs.3 each year. But in the cyclical

pattern there was no definite number of years of cycle prevailing although

changes in the prices could be seen. The irregular component showed some

impact on the price movement.

Seasonal price index

The seasonal price index was worked out considering the 12 monthly prices

for 25 years from 1976-77 to 2000-2001 for jaggery sugar. The results

revealed that the indices during the months were ranging from a minimum

of 93.24 in the month of February to a maximum of 95.52 in the monthof May. On the other hand the price indices were ranging from the minimum

of 101.32 in the month of June to the maximum of 106.68 in the month

of October. Thus in general, the price indices were below 100 during the

months of January through May and were above 100 during the months of

June through December. This might be due to the coincidence of harvesting-

processing-marketing season with the former months and the off-seasons

with the latter months (Fig 4).

Fig.4 : Seasonal Index of jaggery powder prices.





Integration among spatially separated markets

The extent to which prices in spatially separated market move together or

are related to transport costs reflects the degree of integration.Price correlation; one of the indicators of pricing efficiency was the extent

of the inter relationship in price movements between selected markets. Uma

Lele defined the interrelationship between price movements in two markets

as market integration. The degree of correlation between prices in various

markets was taken as an index of the extent to which the two markets are

integrated. A higher degree of the correlation coefficient indicates a greater

degree of integration atleast in terms of pricing of the product between market

centers and vice versa. Price correlation coefficient of 0.09 or more was a

high degree of inter-market price relationship because, in such case 81percent

or more variation in the prices in one market is associated with that in another

market, and the remaining 19 percent variation may be assumed to stem from

transportation, information and other bottlenecks.

So the two jaggery powder markets ie., the regulated market at Kavundappadi

and the Chithodu market were highly integrated and had a high degree of

inter-market price relationship with a correlation coefficient of 0.98.




* Principal Scientist, Village Level Studies, International Crops Research Institute

for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Pattancheru, Hyderabad

** Scientist, Department of Agricultural Economics, Acharya N.G. Ranga

Agricultural University (ANGRAU), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad - 30

PRODUCTION AND MARKETING SCENARIOS

OF JAGGERY IN INDIA WITH SPECIAL

REFERENCE TO ANDHRA PRADESH

K.P.C.Rao* and K.N.Ravi Kumar**

Introduction

India is a founder member of General Agreement of Tariff and Trade (GATT),

established in 1948 along with 22 other nations. World Trade Organization

(WTO) was established on 1st

January,1995 with 110 membership nationsincluding India. The present membership strength is 144 and 30 other nations

are actively considering membership. The 8th Round Summit of GATT at

Uruguay (1986-91) finalized the draft, Agreement on Agriculture (AoA),

which became effective from 1st July, 1995.

Many expressed concerns and apprehensions fearing adverse impact of

World Trade Agreement (WTA) signed by India. The present day ill of

agriculture and crashing prices are being attributed to WTA. This is mainly

due to the fact that the implications and consequences of WTA are not fully

understood by many. No doubt, there are both advantages and disadvantages

due to WTA. But, the WTA provides great opportunities for marketing the

produce and products globally for the member countries. The main aim of

WTA on agriculture was to encourage fair trade in agriculture by removing

trade distortions resulting from differential levels of input subsidies, price

and market support, export subsidy and other kinds of trade distorting

support. This facility can, however, not be exploited by developing countries,because developed and developing countries do not have the same level field

for operations. So, in this context, it is thought appropriate to study the

implications of WTA on Indian agriculture with reference to major agricultural





commodities. Since, jaggery is one of the major commodities exported from

India and Andhra Pradesh state, the same is considered for this in-depth study.

Methodology

Sugarcane is one of the most important cash crops cultivated in India. India

ranks second in the world next to Brazil both in area and production of

sugarcane. But, in term of yield, India stood at 5th place among major producers

in the world. During 1998, it was grown in an area of 39.60 lakh ha with

a total production of 2650 lakh M.T.(cane). It is also estimated that about 30%

of the cane produced in India, is being used in the manufacturing of jaggery.

Andhra Pradesh state ranks 5th in production of sugarcane in the country.

In the year 1998-99, it was grown in an area of 0.21 m.ha. The total production

of sugarcane in the state was 16.68 m.tonnes. About 60% of the cane produced

in the state is being converted into jaggery in the state.

For studying the growth rates of area, production and productivity of sugarcane

both at All-India level and Andhra Pradesh level and similarly for the production

of jaggery and Khandsari at all-India level, the requisite information was collected

from FAO, Year Book,1999, CMIE Reports, Indian Agriculture, 1999 and Agriculture

Statistics at a Glance-2000. The export competitiveness of jagery in the present

study has been assessed by working out Nominal Protection Coefficient (NPC).

It is the ration between domestic price to the border price. Symbolically,

NPC=pd/pb

Where, NPC=Nominal Protection Coefficient

pd=Domestic price of a commodity.

pb=Border price of a commodity

In working out the export competitiveness of jaggery at all-India level, it is the

exportable hypothesis which is relevant, was taken into consideration. Under

this hypothesis, the jaggery is deemed to be competitive at Mumbai and Chennai

ports. For Andhra Pradesh state, the exports competitiveness was studied taking

into consideration the cost of production ratios between Andhra Pradesh and

All-India level. The data regarding export prices, domestic prices and cost of

production of jaggery was collected from different sources like Indian




Agriculture 1999, Agricultural Situation in India Monthly Journal of

Government of India and Commission for Agricultural Costs and Report, 2000.

The internal transportation costs of jaggery upto the selected ports, Mumbai

and Chennai were collected from Container Corporation of India, Hyderabad.

For studying the marketing scenario of jaggery in India, Anakapalle regulated

market in Andhra Pradesh was selected purposively, as it ranks next to Muzaffarnagar

market in Uttar Pradesh. At market level, the market structure and price spread

for jaggery were studied to assess the degree of market competitiveness and

marketing efficiency respectively. For studying these aspects in detail, 60

farmers, 30 commission agents, 30 local exporters, 30 local wholesalers and

30 retailers were selected.

Results and Discussion : World Scenario

India ranks second in the world next to Brazil (Table 1) both in area and

production of sugarcane. These two countries taken together accounted for 45.80

per cent area and 48.17 per cent production respectively in the year 1998. China,

Mexico, Thailand and Australia are the other major producers of sugarcane in

the world. Among these, Australia marked the highest yield with 1003.52 q/ ha followed by Mexico (795.04 q/ha), China (713.17 q/ha) and Brazil (684.36

q/ha). India ranks 5th in yield rankings among major producers in the world

and its yield level is lower than average yield of cane in the world.

Table 1: Major producers of sugarcane in the world (1998)

Countries Area (‘000 ha) Production (‘000) MT Yield (kg/ha)

India 4944 338348 68436

Brazil 3960 265000 66919China 1201 85666 71317

Mexico 615 48895 79504

Thailand 930 46025 49489

Australia 409 41044 100352

Cuba 1100 35000 31818

WORLD 19438 1252266 64423

Source: FAO Year Book (1998)





Domestic Scenario

Sugarcane occupied 2.15 per cent of gross cropped area in the year

1996-97. Among different states in the country, Uttar Pradesh accountedfor the largest shares in acreage and production of sugarcane (Table 2). Its

share in total area and production of cane stood at 48.3 per cent and 39.3

per cent respectively during 1998-99. Maharashtra occupies second place

in area and production after Uttar Pradesh with 13.0 per cent and 15.9 per

cent shares respectively. These two states are followed by Tamil Nadu (15.8

per cent), Karnataka (9.6 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (5.6 per cent) in

sugarcane production and these five states collectively account for 86.31

per cent of total sugarcane production in the country in the year 1998-99.

Table 2: State-wise area, production and yield of sugarcane in India

State Area(m.ha) Production (m.tonnes) Yield(kg/ha)

Uttar Pradesh 1.97 116.30 59019

Maharashtra 0.53 47.15 88998

Tamil Nadu 0.35 46.67 134156

Karnataka 0.31 28.45 91199

Andhra Pradesh 0.21 16.68 78038Gujarat 0.20 13.57 69110

Haryana 0.13 6.88 55040

Bihar 0.11 5.23 48547

ALL-INDIA 4.08 295.73 72560

Source : Agricultural Statistics at a Glance-2000.

The state of Tamil Nadu ranked first in yield among all the states in the country,

where the yield is found to be 1341.56 q/ha. Tamil Nadu was followed by Karnataka

and Maharashtra which ranked second and third in yield rankings during the same

period with yield levels 911.99 q/ha and 889.98 q/ha respectively. The yield levels

in these three states are higher by 184.89 per cent, 125.68 per cent and 122.65

per cent as compared to the National average (725.60 q/ha).

Growth rates in area, production and yield of sugarcane for the country and for the

state of Andhra Pradesh were worked out during several periods and the results are

presented through table 3. It is clear from the table that, during the aggregate period

1949-50 to 1998-99, the area, production and yield of sugarcane at All-India level




showed positive growth rates. However, the growth rate of area under sugarcane showed

declining trend during the selected two sub-periods(1949-50 to 1964-65 and

1967-68 to 1998-99). The growth rate of production during the sub-period 1949-50

to 1964-65 is 4.26 per cent per annum, but it was decreased to 3.14 per cent during

1967-68 to 1998-99. This is mainly due to decline in the growth rate of area during

the sub-period 1967-68 to 1998-99. But, a little increase in the growth rate in yield

during the same sub-period, slightly compensated the production growth rate.

In Andhra Pradesh state, the area and yield of sugarcane are showing positive

growth rates (1.53 per cent and 3.13 per cent respectively) for the past three

decades (1970-71 to 1998-99). During the same period, the production of

sugarcane is declining at a rate of 0.02 per cent per annum. During the sub-period 1970-71 to 1984-85, both area and yield of sugarcane showed positive

growth rates (0.85 and 0.55 per cent respectively) and with a low magnitude.

But, production showed declining trend at the rate of 0.31 per cent per annum.

However, this trend was totally improved during the sub-period, 1985-86

to 1998-99 as both area and yield of sugarcane showed higher positive growth

rates (3.62 and 11.70 per cent respectively) due to the introduction of high

yielding and short duration varieties of sugarcane. Hence, during the sameperiod, the production of sugarcane showed positive growth rate (0.93 per

cent) when compared to -0.31 per cent during 1970-71 to 1984-85.

Table 3: Growth rates (%) of area, production and yield of sugarcane

during different periods

Period Area Yield Production

1. All-India

1949-50 to 1964-65 3.28 0.95 4.261967-68 to 1998-99 1.36 3.14

1949-50 to 1998-99 1.83 3.08 1.22

2. Andhra Pradesh

1970-71 to 1984-85 0.85 0.55 -0.31

1985-86 to 1998-99 3.62 11.70 0.93

1970-71 to 1998-99 1.53 3.13 -0.02

Source: 1. All-India data were collected from Agricultural Statistics at a Glance-2000.

2. Andhra Pradesh data (1955 to 1993) were collected from CMIE Report(Agriculture-2000)





Jaggery Production and Trade

At present, nearly 30 per cent of the sugarcane produced in the country in

a normal year (a year in which the production of sugarcane matches con-sumption) goes into the production of jaggery. Muzaffarnagar in Uttar

Pradesh is considered as Asia’s largest jaggery market. The other main

markets in the country are Anakapalle (40 kms from Visakhapatnam district)

in Andhra Pradesh, Mandya in Karnataka, Salem in Tamil Nadu, Hapur in

Uttar Pradesh, Patna in Bihar and Mumbai and Kolhapur in Maharashtra.

The details of output of jaggery and khandsari from 1982-83 to 1997-98 was

shown in table 4. It is clear from the table that the output of jaggery and khandsari

reached a peak during 1993-94 and 1996-97 due to bumper harvest of sugarcane

crop and was lowest during 1986-87 and -1995-96 as the crop was adversely

affected by bad weather and pest attack. For other years, the jaggery and kandsari

production is concentrated between 80 lalh.MT to 98 lakh.MT. The growth rate

worked out for the production of jaggery and khandsari during this reference

period is only 0.79 per cent (non-significant) and this indicates the production

of jaggery and khandsari is more or less stagnated.

Destination-wise Exports of jaggery from India

The study on the destination-wise exports of jaggery from India reveals the

concentration of exports in a few countries. The direction of jaggery exports

Table 4: Production of jaggery and khandsari in india (Lakh.M.T.)

Year Production Year Production

1982-83 86.65 1990-91 90.73

1983-84 95.41 1991-92 89.671984-85 91.05 1992-93 92.00

1985-86 82.48 1993-94 105.18

1986-87 79.25 1994-95 96.00

1987-88 83.00 1885-96 74.09

1988-89 93.91 1996-97 108.07

1989-90 85.73 1997-98 98.57

Compound Growth Rate (%) : 0.79

Raw Data Source: Indian Agriculture, 1999




during the last four years(1994-95 to 1997-98) is presented in table 5. The

figures reveal that, continuos exports were made to Canada, Malaysia,

Singapore, UAE, UK and USA. For Sri Lanka and France, eventhough the

exports were irregular, the quantum of exports are higher. On the whole,

the large share of total exports were made to Malaysia (1994-95), France

and Malaysia (1995-96), Malaysia and Sri Lanka (1996-97) and France,

Pakistan and Portugal (1997-98) when compared to other countries. Malaysia

is the chief importer of jaggery from India, as the exports are regular and

at significant proportion during the reference period. It is interesting to note

that, eventhough, Pakistan and Portugal do not appear as chief importers

of jaggery from 1994-95 to 1996-97, they occupied first and second placesin importing the largest share of jaggery exports from India in 1997-98. In

recent years, there has been a quantum jump in the exports of jaggery from

India, due to its wider acceptance in terms of quality.

Table 5: Country-wise exports of jaggery from India (M.tonnes)

Country 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98

Quantity % Quantity % Quantity % Quantity %

Canada 130 1.53 161 0.51 197 0.84 227 0.49

France — — 10,500 33.14 — — 10,032 21.92

Malaysia 4134 48.67 4972 15.69 6948 29.56 1468 3.21

Pakistan — — — — — — 21196 46.31

Portugal — — — — — — 10500 22.94

Singapore 121 1.42 235 0.74 290 1.23 79 0.17

Sri Lanka 167 1.97 20 0.06 13328 56.70 - —-

UAE 597 7.03 528 1.67 460 1.96 528 1.15

UK 245 2.88 595 1.88 140 0.59 547 1.19

USA 227 2.67 177 0.56 377 1.60 395 0.86

Total 8493 — 31677 — 23505 — 45767 —

Source: Indian Agriculture, 1999

Export Competitiveness of jaggery

NPCs have been worked out to determine the export competitiveness of jaggery

in the selected countries and the results are presented in table 6. In order to

find the export competitiveness of jaggery, exportable hypothesis, that is more

relevant is taken into consideration. Under this hypothesis, jaggery is deemed





to be competitive with the selected countries at Mumbai and Chennai ports.The

table reveals that, jaggery is an efficient exportable commodity from India,

as the average NPCs (1994-95 to 1997-98) worked out are less than unity

for UAE and UK countries. It is moderately competitive in these countriesas the value of NPC falls between 0.75 to 1.00. However, it is less competitive

in Malaysia and Singapore as the average NPCs (1994-95 to 1997-98) worked

out are more than unity. Even though, the quantum of exports to the selected

countries is increasing over the period, the increase in cost of production of

sugarcane and jaggery is hampering its competitiveness in the international

market. Countries like Peru, Egypt and Zambia are exporting jaggery at a very

low price in the international market, thereby, adversely affecting India’s trade

in the international export market. Similar results were obtained from AndhraPradesh state, where the export competitiveness was studied for jaggery, by

taking into consideration cost of production ratios.

Table 6: Export Competitiveness (NPCs) of jaggery in the selected

countries

Year Malaysian UAE UK Singapore

India AP * India AP * India AP * India AP *

1994-95 1.46 1.73 0.76 0.90 0.80 0.95 1.43 1.691995-96 1.55 1.64 0.70 0.74 0.79 0.83 1.47 1.56

1996-97 1.22 1.39 0.66 0.75 0.78 0.89 1.14 1.30

1997-98 1.12 1.17 0.73 0.77 0.71 0.75 0.80 0.84

Average 1.34 1.48 0.71 0.79 0.77 0.86 1.21 1.35

Note: * indicates Export competitiveness from Andhra Pradesh taking into consideration

cost of production ratios

Market structure for jaggery in Anakapalle market

Gini ratios were worked out for studying the market structure of jaggery, as itclearly explains the extent of inequality in the distribution of volume of business

in the market. The market is considered to be more competitive as the value of

Gini coefficient approaches zero and vice versa when it takes a value closer to

one. The results of the analysis presented through table 7 reveals that, there exists

a moderate degree of competitiveness for jaggery in Anakapalle market, as the

value of Gini coefficient is only 0.48 and this market can be classified as slightly

concentrated oligopoly based on Bain’s classification. Hence, suitable steps should

be taken to promote the competitiveness of jaggery in Anakapalle market.




Price spread for jaggery in Anakapalle market

The details of price spread of jaggery in Anakapalle market are presented

in Table 8. The following are the marketing channels identified for jaggery.1. Farmer - Import Commission Agent - Exporter - Local wholesaler -

Retailer - Consumer

2. Farmer - Import Commission Agent - Local wholesaler - Retailer - Consumer

Table 7: Size distribution of commission agents handling jaggery in

Anakapalle market.

Class $ 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1993-96

% CU % CU % CU % CU

<2000 20.00 2.55 2.55 2.92 2.92 2.99 2.99 2.82 2.82

2000-3000 13.33 4.68 7.23 5.19 8.11 4.87 7.86 4.91 7.73

3000-4000 10.00 6.51 13.74 7.04 15.15 7.07 14.93 6.87 14.60

4000-5000 16.67 8.55 22.29 9.51 24.66 8.45 23.38 8.84 23.44

5000-6000 13.33 11.17 33.46 10.93 35.59 11.05 34.43 11.05 34.49

6000-7000 6.67 13.81 47.27 13.83 49.42 13.72 48.15 13.79 48.28

7000-8000 6.67 16.01 63.28 14.70 64.12 15.98 64.13 15.57 63.85

8000-9000 10.00 17.13 80.41 16.92 81.04 16.78 80.91 16.94 80.79

>9000 3.33 19.59 100.00 18.96 100.00 19.09 100.00 19.21 100.00

GINI RATIO 0.50 0.47 0.48 0.48

NOTE: Classification based on quantity handled by a commission agent (quintals/year)

$ indicates percentage of commission agents to total

% indicates percentage of quantity handled to total

CU indicated cumulative total

Source: Kumar (1998)

Table 8: Producer’s share in consumer’s price of jaggery at Anakapalle

market.

Particulars Channel I Channel II

Amount % to Amount % to(Rs/qtl) consumer (Rs/qtl) consumer

rupee rupee

Marketing charges 87.17 8.62 97.72 9.66Middlemen Margins 103.45 10.23 51.26 5.07Total marketing costs (1+2) 190.62 18.85 148.98 14.73Price paid by the consumer 1011.25 1011.25Producer’s share in consumer’s rupee 81.15 85.27Marketing efficiency Index 4.35 5.79

Source: Kumar (1998)





It is clear from table 8 that , the total marketing costs paid by the producers,

exporters, wholesalers and retailers was higher in channel I (Rs 190.62

i.e.18.85% of consumer’s price) when compared to channel II 9Rs 148.96

i.e.14.73 % of consumer’s price). As the total marketing costs are lower in

channel II, the producer’s share in consumer’s price is higher in channel

II (85.27%) when compared to channel I (81.15%).

Conclusions

To conclude, India is the second largest producer of sugarcane in the world.

But the disheartening aspect is that, the present use of cane to produce jaggery

is on a declining trend (37.4% in 1990-91 to 26.7% in 1995-96). Besidesthis, there is a greater need to improve the export competitiveness of jaggery

in the international market, as the jaggery is found to competitive only in

UAE and UK countries. Hence, selecting a suitable variety of seed, improving

processing efficiency, reducing cost of cultivation/production of jaggery,

encouraging farm level grading, and storage facilities, improving

transportation and market information network etc should be given more

attention. In this context, the application of Integrated Pest Management

(IPM), Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) strategies, strengthening the

marketing infrastructure, conducting periodic studies on export

competitiveness of jaggery in the international market, etc. should be given

more importance for earning India’s due share in the world market.

Reference

Kumar K.N.Ravi, Unpublished Ph.D thesis on “Study of Regulated Markets

in Andhra Pradesh” submitted to Acharya NG Ranga AgricultureUniversity (ANGRAU), October 1998.




* Assistant Director, National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management

(MANAGE), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad 500 030, Andhra Pradesh

KINDLING THE HIDDEN FIRE : EMPOWERMENT

THROUGH CONFLICT MANAGEMENT IN

ORGANIZATIONS

G. Jaya*

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”

-Albert Einstein

People with divergent personalities, perceptions, attitudes and values occupy

different positions in organizations. These positions often have differingor contrasting job charts, different levels of status attached to them and

also foster competition among employees. People of different divisions in

organizations have to compete for scarce resources in order to achieve their

targets / objectives. As a result, in every human endeavor conflict exists.

Conflict exists wherever there is social interaction. It emerges as an

outcome of interdependencies and interactions between and among people.

Conflict is as old as human existence itself. Historical evidences indicate

that conflict existed even in prehistoric times when man was at the stage

of homo erectus evolving to be Homosapien, on the path to become a

modern man. As man developed himself into a hunting society, there are

proofs of feuds among tribes for cattle, precious stones, etc. Feuds also

existed within the tribe and between clans. Over thousands of years man

evolved into an agrarian society where feuds took place for land and water.

In Indian epics there are several instances of conflict, especially in Ramayana

and Mahabharatha. In modern industrial society, we come across severalkinds of conflicts in organizations that sprout out of a number of sources.

An individual experiences conflict due to many pressures exerted on him

by many groups to which he belongs and the demands of various roles he

must play. The socialization process of an individual itself is also viewed

as conflict.





Meaning of conflict

Conflict crops up as change disrupts the existing balance of resources and power

thereby straining relations between the people involved. It is the perceivedincompatibility between one goal, value or need and another goal, value or need.

Conflict may exist within the same person or between a person and another

entity. In organizations it shoots up when two interdependent parties perceive

that they have incompatible goals and scarce resources, and there is interference

from each other in achieving these goals or gaining the resources.

Conflict is a state of mind characterized by indecision, uncertainty, dilemma,

tension and anxiety. It is as though there are a number of forces, somewhere

in the brain, each moving in opposite and non-complementary directions.

An individual experiences conflict when he is expected to behave in two

or more incompatible ways at the same time (Harigopal, 1995)

An analysis of definitions given by various thinkers indicate that:

1. Conflict is a state of mind

2. It occurs due to incompatibility of goals or values

3. Conflict occurs when the existing balance of power and resources isdisturbed.

4. Frustration leads to conflict

5. Differences of opinion may had to conflict

In its simplest terms, conflict is a bye-product of growth, change or inno-

vation. Like change itself, conflict is practically inevitable and when handled

properly, can provide better communication, guarantee results and improve

employee morale and productivity.

Traditional vs. Modern view about conflict management

Classical view: The clanical approach of the 1930s and 40s viewed conflict as

an undesirable phenomenon, an organizational abnormality, symptomatic of

improperly designed communication and reward systems. Conflict was regarded

as a negative process associated with outcomes like anger, resentment, confusion,

agitation, violence, turbulence, destruction and irrationality. It disrupts the smooth




functioning of organizational processes and creates chaos and disorder. It was

thought that conflicts indicate a malfunctioning within the organization and hence

should be avoided altogether. Well-managed organizations would have ways of

avoiding conflict altogether. Adherence to principles of classical management and

scientific analysis of jobs will lead to cooperation in organization. If by any chance,

conflicts were to develop, the management can easily and quickly resolve them.

Taylor, the Father of scientific management, felt that quarrels, compromise and

negotiation would be entirely discarded in labour management relations when

everybody abides by the laws of the situation.

The Behavioral view: From late 1940 through the mid 70s, conflict theory was

dominated by the behavioralist approach in which conflict was seen as an inevitablefact of organizational life to be recognized and addressed. During this period,

the emphasis was on finding and using appropriate methods for resolving conflicts

by managers. This school of thought highlighted that since organizations are

composed of individuals with different perceptions of goals and differing value

systems, conflict is bound to arise in organizations. Agreements over priorities,

time schedules, method of doing a job, allocation of resources give way to conflicts.

Behavioralists believed that conflicts need not always be detrimental, as sometimesit may focus on problems and instigate a search for better and more innovative

solutions to problems. Though this school of thought maintained that conflict is

inevitable and will lead to creativity in problem solving and hence beneficial to

organization, yet they opined that conflict should be resolved once it arises as

it is harmful and detrimental to an organization. Achieving co-operation is the

very essence of any organization. The Behavioralistic view reflected “ a popular

pre-occupation with morals, human relations and co-operation and the general

value that peace is good and conflict is bad”. During 1960s, the focus was onthe structural sources of conflict, particularly for conflicts that occurred between

various functional departments and the choice of methods in managing conflicts.

The Interactionist view: While behavioralists believed that conflict is

inevitable and must be accepted, interactionists argued that conflict is not only

acceptable but should be encouraged. It has a broader scope. The inevitability

of conflict results from the interaction between an organizations imposed

struggle for limited rewards and the innate aggressive and competitive instincts





in people. This school of thought argues that if harmony, peace tranquility

and cooperation prevails in an organization over a longer period, the group

will be prone to become non responsible to creativity, innovation and change

and may become contended with the situation. Hence, a minimum and optimumlevel of conflict has to be maintained to make the organization viable, creative

and self-critical. The mission of the management is not to create harmony,

and cooperation, but to attain its goals effectively. Hence managers must find

ways and means to increase the beneficial effects of conflicts and reduce the

dysfunctional or negative effects. Interactionists maintain that stimulation of

conflicts in organization is necessary to make the organization viable, creative

and filled with diversion and excitement. Conflict is integral to the nature of

change. It is an inherent structural component in all-social relations.

Thus, conflict management travelled its journey through avoidance, acceptance

and encouragement and stimulation over the years. The current thought acknowl-

edges the inevitability of conflict and focuses it as a useful tool or vehicle to shake

the organization from stereotype and contention to innovation and creativity.

Consequences: Conflicts may yield either beneficial effects or negative

effects in organizations.

Beneficial Consequences: When properly managed, conflicts can have beneficial

consequences.

4 Motivate individual to do better and to work harder. One’s abilities

and talents come to the forefront in a conflict situation

4 Satisfy certain psychological needs like dominance, aggression, esteem

and ego, and thereby provide an opportunity for the constructive use

and release of aggressive urges4 Provide creative, constructive and innovative ideas

4 Add variety to one’s organizational life

4 Provide diagnostic information that can generate cues for better

organization and management to prevent occurrence of similar problems

4 Facilitate an understanding of the problem, people and interrelationships

between people, better co-ordination among individuals and departments,

in addition to strengthening intra-groups relationships




Dysfunctional consequences

4 Conflicts affect individual and organizational performance. Resolving

conflicts consumes a considerable amount of managerial time and energywhich could be more productively spent in the absence of conflicts

4 In a conflict situation, people may promote their self-interests or

personal gains at the cost of others in the organization

4 Intense conflicts over a prolonged period affect individuals emotionally

and physically and give rise to psychosomatic disorders.

4 Time spent on conflicts, if costed, could mean considerable amount

of money wasted

4 Conflicts may lead to work sabotage, employee morale problems, decline

in the market share of product / services and consequent loss of productivity.

4 Organization – related individual consequences:

4 Absenteeism

4 Job dissatisfaction

4 Apathy or indifference to work

4 Job stress and burnout

4 Disloyalty

4 Work sabotage

4 Employee turnover

4

Increased resistance to change4 Decreased information sharing

Types of conflict

Conflict has been classified in different ways. Following are some of the

classifications.

4 Realistic and non-realistic.

4 Inter psychic and psychosocial conflicts





4 Conflict of interest and conflict of understanding:

4 Intra-personal, interpersonal, organizational, inter-organizational and

revolutionary conflict. Intra-individual conflict involves frustration,

goal conflict, and role conflict and ambiguity. Frustration occurs when

goal-directed behavior is blocked. Goal conflict occurs when a goal

has both positive and negative features or when an individual has two

or more competing goals thus blocking one another. three types of goal

conflict are generally identified.

4 Approach – approach conflict, where the individual is motivated to

approach two or more positive but mutually exclusive goals.

4 Approach – avoidance conflict, where a single goal has both positive

and negative characteristics and the individual is motivated to

approach and avoid it at the same time. This has relevance to the

analysis of organizational behavior.

4 Avoidance – avoidance conflict, where the individual is motivated to

avoid two or more negative but mutually exclusive goals.

4

Role conflict and ambiguity arises as individual is expected to playvarious roles and a clash there from.

4 Organizational conflict includes Hierarchical conflict, Functional con-

flict, etc. Line – staff conflict and Formal – informal conflicts exist

between formal and informal organizations.

4 Bargaining, bureaucratic and systems conflict

4 Perceived, latent and manifest conflicts

4 Organized and unorganized conflict

While there are different kinds of conflicts explained above, all conflicts in

organization fall within one of six categories mentioned below (Arnold, 1993)

4 External (conflicts related to competition, the market place, regulation,

or on adversarial take over)

4 Management process and style (conflicts stemming from leadership

style, the decision making process, or organizational structure




4 Strategic direction (conflicts over the company’s mission direction,

objectives and strategies)

4 Operational (conflicts related to issue such as “quality verses schedule’

or “design-to-production transition”.)

4 Interdepartmental (conflicts that occur when divisions compete with

themselves rather than with other companies

4 Value system (conflicts over business philosophy)

Dynamic process of conflict development

Conflict before taking its final shape, undergoes a gradual process of

development. For effective conflict management, it is necessary to under-

stand the developmental stages of conflict.

Pondy (1957) identified five stages of conflict episode viz. latent conflict

– the conditions that lead to conflict, perceived conflict – cognition, felt

conflict – effect, manifest conflict – behavior and conflict aftermath -

conditions and consequences of conflict.

Arnold (1993) explained conflict development process in five sequential stepsviz.

ò individuals seek support for their cause, forming “we - they” boundaries

ò polarization and conflict become more visible over time

ò conflict touches every aspect of the organization, from board room to

boiler room

ò emotions and hostilities increase

ò Conflict becomes life- threatening

Different ways of reacting to conflict

Conflict management strategies are different from conflict resolution. Conflict

management brings conflict under control, whereas conflict resolution

attempts to terminate the conflict. Conflict management recognizes the

importance of positive conflict in relationships and may be a strategy to

prevent conflicts from being resolved. However, these terms are

interchangeably used in the conflict literature.





Three basic strategies for conflict resolution are : lose-lose approach where

both parties lose, win-lose approach where one party emerges as a winner

and the other party loses and win-win strategy where energies and creativity

are aimed at solving the problems so that both parties emerge as winners.

People respond in different personal styles to resolve conflicts in groups:

ò The tough battler seeks his own goals, he demonstrates that he is right

by using facts that support his position and views conflict as nuisance

ò The friendly helper overvalues the importance of his relationship with

the group and undervalues his own personal goals, he thinks that

conflict should be avoidedò The jelly fish simply removes himself, either mentally or physically, from

the conflict. He sees conflict as a hopeless, useless and punishing experience

ò Compromiser actively seeks to find some middle ground, using voting

and rules to avoid confrontation. He strives to develop a workable

solution, rather than the best solution.

ò The problem solver actively seeks to satisfy the goals of himself as well as

others. Conflict is natural and helpful. He insists on getting disagreementsinto open, so that they can be worked out and a greater commitment to solution.

Depending on the conflict situation, a person may react in different styles to suit

the situation. A person’s behaviour in any situation is influenced by his emotionality,

self-concept, the extent of fear of punishment and behavioural rigidity / flexibility

that he has, in addition to how clear he is of the goals, tasks etc., to be performed.

Conflict management processConflict can be managed by the conflicting parties themselves by employing

negotiation skills or by a third party intervention i.e. through mediation.

Arnold (1993) explained conflict resolution process in ten steps.

ò Specify the conflict in terms of its identity, location, time and magnitude of each

ò Describe what is outside the conflict

ò Identify the distinctions about the conflict




ò Test these distinctions for cause

ò Identify values of the parties and your own

ò Adopt a winning, opportunistic philosophyò Develop criteria, determine what each party in the conflict wants to

achieve, preserve and avoid

ò Prioritize into “Absolute” and “Highly desirable” criteria

ò Generate possible resolutions

ò Evaluate and choose the best resolution and test alternatives against criteria.

Conflict can be creatively resolved by following different approaches, themost comprehensive as mentioned by Dunn (University of Arizona)

ò Listen objectively to the other persons views

ò Let the situation pass without comment

ò Reflect : Both parties should understand the other persons view and

check with each other

òVent emotion : The affected person should be encouraged to express his feeling,to get every thing off his chest. Rational discusion and empathy can follow

ò Compromise : Both parties give up something to come up with a

win-win solution

ò Gently confront with facts : If the above approaches do not work,

confront the person head-on with the realities of the situation. Facts

have to be used and not judgments

ò Directly confront, with feelings : Both parties should openly expresstheir feelings as to what is bothering them and encourage each other

to react to feelings.

ò Productively argue : If nothing else works, get the underlying conflict out

in the open and thrash it out . But fight fair and preserve the relationships

Managers have to be sensitive to the conflicts and realize that conflict

management is a gradual process. Conflicts have to be managed creatively

to yield beneficial consequences.





Skills required to manage conflicts

Conflicting parties will have to possess the following combinations of skills

to manage conflicts effectively.Understanding Conceptualizing Sensitivity

Analytical Objectivity Planning

Initiative and proactive Observation Empathetic

Honesty and enthusiasm Persuasiveness Active listening

Communication Coordination Probing

Information collection Influencing Flexibility

Result oriented Patience

A Multi-dimensional approach to conflict management

Different individuals react to conflict in different ways due to several factors.

Philosophers, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists and management

thinkers analyzed the factors from the perspective of their respective field

of disciplines. Infact, factors from all these disciplines would contribute to

understand, analyze and react to conflict in a particular way. The following

aspects may influence the individual’s behavior during conflict.

ò Social factors: include Culture, Length of relationship of the conflicting

parties, Status in the organization, Leadership styles and Knowledge

about the people involved in conflict

ò Psychological factors: include differences in ideology and value system,

earlier experience in conflict handling, multiplicity of roles and needs, goals

and choices, motivation and hygiene factors, task role, emotionality –

expression of emotions in public, individual maturity, ability to influence

others, degree of self – confidence, risk taking behavior and intent of conflict

ò Political dynamics within an organization: include organization factors

like goals, structures, procedures, etc; size of the conflicting parties;

time of conflict; context of the conflict and power - power, the use

of power, or the lack of power is at the center of any conflict





ò Competition among the producers and heightened demand for the best

products and services from customers is forcing organizations to be

innovative to produce customized products in a vast array of choices

in order to withstand the market forces and retain their market segment

in view of liberalized market economy.

ò As a result of fierce competition in the market, organizations are

prompted to introduce changes in the processes relating to production,

distribution, sales, human resource management and financials man-

agement. This

redesigning makes the jobs challenging and difficult and necessitates

people to do their jobs differently than what they did previously. Peopleoccupying different positions may perceive this change as a threat and

feel insecure and hence conflict may sprout.

ò As multi-level hierarchy of functions and departments is disappearing

and a flat organizational structure is the order of the day. As a result

of fierce competition from all quarters of the globe, customers’ increased

quality requirements for goods and services and intensive time pressures,

organizations will be forced towards more flat and flexible organizationalstructures. In an era of rapid change open, flexible responsive organi-

zation is of crucial importance. The restructuring of working relation-

ships in teams, with multiplicity of roles and memberships in different

teams, self-directed work teams might emerge to respond to the situation.

ò Trend is towards increasing the participation of stakeholders in many

business processes and decisions. Stakeholders of different interest groups

possessing different goal directed behavior might foster conflicts.ò Marriage of organizational profits to social events i.e. of late

organizations have began to look at the business from the social point

of view and environmental and ecological restoration has gained focus.

ò Organizations are on the path to becoming learning organizations

facilitating the learning of all its members and continuously

transforming themselves. Participation, openness, trust and responsi-

bility are all concepts encouraged in learning organizations.




Conflict management should lead to empowerment of people in

organizations. Features of an empowered organization are

òExpanding the skills and tasks required for a job

ò Enhancing the content of a job

ò Unfolding creativity and innovation

ò Better human relations and high morale

ò Greater control over decisions about the work as a result of participation

ò Customers satisfaction

ò Team work

ò Better communication and healthy organizational environment

ò Clarity of goals and mission

Conclusion

Realizing the interdependence in performing any activity and even to lead

a successful and peaceful life, people may face a variety of conflicts in almostall walks of life in organizations with their interface to members at

organization, family and society. People have to reconcile and co-ordinate with

several members and stakeholders to achieve the desired results. This neces-

sitates the need for taking conflicts in a positive way in order to generate

processes, systems, structures to improve the effectiveness of individuals and

teams. A culture has to be built up where in team members will be encouraged

to participate and share their ideas, unlock the creativity and innovation and

interact freely with each other for institutional learning and growth. Crisisof conflict may be seen as a chance to bring all the issues and concerns in

to the forefront and people may openly vent out their feeling leading to

cooperation and synergy of energies, and empowerment. An empowered team

has all the talents and skills of the players to create even better results.

The effectiveness of managers depends on how well they understand the

underlying dynamics of conflict, which may be all together different from its

expression, and whether they can identify the crucial tactical points for intervention.





Conflict management some times becomes programmed and institutionalized

in organizations as in the case of decision making process. To a great extent,

an organization’s success depends on its ability to structure and operate

appropriate mechanism to stimulate and manage a variety of conflict

phenomenal. Increasing nature of technological development and

competitive global market demanding higher levels of quality of service,

greater sensitivity to customers needs has prompted organizations to create

and manage organizational culture that foster commitment, responsibility

and the development of individual potentiality for the organizational

betterment. Conflict management is people-oriented but at the same time

all the processes should be focused on achieving strategic aims, goals andmission of the organization.

References

Arnold John, When the sparks fly- Resolving conflicts in your organization,

McGraw Hill, Inc, New York, 1993

Druckman Daniel and Zechmeister Kathleen, Conflict of interest and value

dissensus: proposition in the sociology of conflict, Human Relations,vol. 26, No. 4, pp 449-466, 1973

Dunn Douglas, How to motivate people in groups, community guide, Motivation

series, The University of Arizona

Harigopal K, Conflict Management – Managing interpersonal conflict, Oxford

& IBH publishing Co. Pvt Ltd., New Delhi

IGNOU, Management of organizational conflicts, Course on Management

Function and Behaviour, MS1, Study material of Management Programme

Murphy Jim, Managing conflict at work, American Media Publishing, Iowa, 1994

Pondy R Louis, Organizational conflict: concepts and models,

Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 12, pp 298-320, 1967




* Senior Scientist and ** Scientist, National Research Centre for Agroforestry,Jhansi

FOOD GRAIN PRODUCTION IN INDIA – AN

ANALYSIS OF TREND AND SEASONAL PATTERN

DURING THE POST-GREEN REVOLUTION PERIOD

K.Kareemulla* and R.H.Rizvi**

Introduction

Food grains comprising of cereals, millets and pulses, form the primary and

staple food of majority of the population in India. Food grain production in India

increased from a low level of 72 million tonnes (1965-66) to 152 million tonnes

(1983-84) and touched a peak of 209 million tonnes (1999-2000). Thus it took

18 years to double and another 16 years to treble the production. This increase

has put the country from a net food scarcity to food surplus status. In the recent

past, favourable monsoons have enhanced the food grain buffer stocks to about

60 million tonnes. However, it is a great concern that due to lack of purchasing

power a significant proportion of the Indian population is going hungry to the

bed. From the producer’s viewpoint, surplus production meant, inadequate

market opportunities and discouragement for further continuance of such crops.The substantial increases in production have been made possible due to

technological innovations in terms of varieties, enhanced irrigation

capabilities and better infrastructure. Given the variety of agro-climatic

situations across the country and weather abnormalities in the long run, one

would be tempted to analyse the trend and the seasonal pattern of food grain

production in terms of changes in the area, productivity and production as

such. These changes may present a clue for policy analysis like incentives

to farmers for anchoring to food grain area. Hence, the present paper attempts

to analyse the trend and seasonal pattern of food grain area, productivity

and production in India at the aggregate level in the past 35 years.

Methodology

Data on area, productivity (per ha) and production of food grains- both season-

wise (kharif and rabi) and annual for the period 1966-67 to 2000-01 were





collected from the web site of the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operation,

Government of India. Trend curves were fitted for the total area, productivity

and production of food grains. Based on the trend type, whether linear or

logarithmic or polynomial, projections for a further period of 15 years i.e. up

to 2015-16 were made. The growth in production was further analysed, using

the decomposition technique into area effect, yield effect and interaction effect.

The changes in the seasonal area and production were analysed by relative

percentages, while the productivity changes were compared in terms of growth

rates and percentage changes. The moving averages of the data at three-year

interval were also estimated for the area, productivity and production.

Results and Discussion

The results of the analysis are presented in four sections viz. trend, decom-

position of growth, seasonal pattern and forecasts.

Trend

The trend of the time series data for the total food grain crop area, productivity

of food grain crops and total food grain production over the period 1966-67to 2000-01 was estimated. The type of curve was decided based on the value

of coefficient of multiple determination (R2). Thus for the total area under food

grains, polynomial function with a degree of two was found to be the best fit,

while for the total productivity and production, linear function was appropriate.

The trend curves are given in figures-1, 2 and 3. The linear trends in respect

of productivity and production are purely in the long run. However, in the short

run, say 2-3 years, both the productivity and production will be increasing and

decreasing due to various reasons. Hence, the real changes in the trend couldbe noted in the moving averages. The three-year moving averages for the total

area, productivity and production are given in Table-1.

The three-year moving average for the food crop area slightly decreased up

to 1981-82 but declined subsequently. Whereas, the productivity increased

from 736 Kg/ha (1966-67) to 1598 Kg/ha (2000-01), an increase of more

than 117 per cent in 35 years. Consequently, the total food grain production

increased by 125 per cent in the reference period.




Decomposition of Growth

The growth in food production obviously comes from area growth and yield

growth. There will be contribution from the interaction effect also. This

decomposition can be modelled as follows:

ªP = A0. ªY +Y0. ªA +ªA ªY

(change in Production) (yield effect) (area effect) (interaction effect)

Where-

ªP : Change in production between two points of time (t1-t0)

A0

: Base year yield

Y0 : Base year yield

ªA : Change in area between two points of time (t1-t0)

ªY : Change in Yield between two points of time (t1-t0)

The changes in production for certain intervals were decomposed using the

above model. The results of such an analysis are given in Table-2. It may

be noted that the highest incremental production was recorded in the green

Table-1: Three-Year Moving averages of Food Grain Area, Productivity

and Production

3-year period Total area Productivity Total production

(million ha) (Kg/ha) (million tonnes)

1966-67/68-69 119.05 736.00 87.76

1969-70/71-72 123.50 845.00 104.36

1972-73/74-75 122.30 821.33 100.51

1975-76/77-78 126.69 943.00 119.54

1978-79/80-81 126.96 973.67 123.73

1981-82/83-84 128.47 1076.33 138.40

1984-85/86-87 127.30 1150.67 146.47

1987-88/89-90 124.71 1284.33 160.441990-91/92-93 124.29 1406.33 174.75

1993-94/95-96 122.54 1512.67 185.39

1996-97/98-99 124.20 1597.67 198.44





revolution period, followed by the decade 1981-82 to 1990-91. The yield

effect was significantly higher through out the reference period, while the

area effect decreased from 17.02 per cent to –10.76 per cent. Interaction

effect was positive only during 1966-67 to 1980-81. Due to negative effect

of area from 1981-82 onwards, the gains in productivity were slightly offset

and impacted the total production.

Table-2: Decomposition of Food Grain Production Changes

(in million tonnes)

Period Incremental Yield Area Interaction

Production Effect Effect Effect

1966-67 to 70-71 34.19 26.31 5.82 2.06

(100.00) (76.95) (17.02) (6.03)

1971-72 to 80-81 24.42 20.27 3.48 0.67

(100.00) (83.01) (14.25) (2.74)

1981-82 to 90-81 43.09 44.88 -1.34 -0.45

(100.00) (104.15) (-3.11) (-1.04)

1991-92 to 2000-01 27.69 31.22 -2.98 -0.55

(100.00) (112.75) (-10.76) (-1.99)N.B.: Figures in parentheses indicate percentages to total

Seasonal Pattern

The share of area and production of food grains in the country by seasons

at different points of time during the past three and half decades is given in

Table-3. It may be seen that both the area and production from Kharif season

have reduced over the study period 1966-67 to 2000-01. The decrease in thearea was 5 per cent compared to 13 per cent in case of production. Obviously

the loss in Kharif season’s share was due to increase in rabi area and pro-

ductivity. The relative proportion of food grains production, which was more

favoured towards Kharif at 2:1 in 1966-67, was approaching towards 1:1 by

2000-01. This meant the greater reliance on rainfed food grains production

is giving way to sustainable rain (water) harvest production. The increase in

rabi contribution to the food grains kitty may further be analysed through,

the changes in seasonal food grain crop productivity (Table-4).




The overall productivity of food grain crops has increased from 644 kg/ha

(1966-67) to 1638 kg/ha (2000-01). This amounts to an increase of 154 per

cent. The productivity increase across seasons was higher in case of rabi

at 206 per cent compared to about 119 per cent for Kharif food grain crops.

Forecasting

Kumar and Mathur (1996) and Kumar (1997) adopted the compound growth

rate and total factor productivity approach and forecast the supply of food

grains in the country. The former study projected a food grains supply of

243.2 million tonnes from 120.80 million ha of area for 2006-07. Whereas,

the latter reported that the food grain supply would be 271.3 million tonnes

in 2010. In another study, Goel (2000) projected a food grains supply of

270 million tonnes by 2011. The present study employed the trend method,

which is basically slope of the trend (curve), and forecast the area, produc-

tivity and production of food grains in India for the next 15 years. The figures

for different points of time are presented in the Table-5. The trend of forecast

may also be noted from the figures 1-3.

Table-4: Food Grain Crops’ Productivity by Seasons (Kg/ha)

Year Kharif Rabi Pooled

1966-67 625 683 6441970-71 837 941 872

1980-81 933 1195 1023

1990-91 1231 1635 1380

2000-01 1371 2088 1638

Table-5: Forecasts of Food Grain Area, Productivity and Production

Year Area Productivity Production

(million ha) (kg/ha) (million tones)

2001-02 119.43 1682 209.00

2005-06 115.60 1780 223.55

2010-11 109.68 1947 241.73

2015-16 102.53 2093 259.91





The forecasts are conservative as compared to that of similar studies quoted

in the paper. It is also likely that after a few years, the productivity will reach

a plateau due to limitations of land and technological capabilities, which will

limit the production consequently. The decreasing trend in case of food grain

crop area may be due to replacement by the commercial crop, as indicated

by the quadratic trend of the area under food grain crops (figure-1).

Conclusions

The trend analysis indicated that the area under food grains slightly increased

in the long run and started declining from 1987-88 onwards. This is justified

since the farmers could offset the area loss by increased yields to a largeextent. However, the use of food grain area for other crops is not likely to

come back due to better remuneration from such crops. This will be a concern

in the future, as the decrease in food crop area reaches unmanageable

proportions. The shift in greater burden of production from kharif towards

equal contribution from both kharif and rabi is good for two reasons viz.

spread of risks of production as also scope of uniform employment for the

farm families and the agricultural labour. The unfavourable terms of trade

of farmers for food grains in terms of disproportionate increase in input prices

and more or less stagnant output prices will gradually discourage farmers

to allocate increased areas under food grain crops. Further, deliberate policy

efforts are required to reduce the huge buffer stocks of food grains, which

propel the demand and consequently supply from the farmers.

References

Goel.A.K.2000. Agricultural Production Scenario in 21st Century. Manage

Extension Research Review. 1(1):1-10

Kumar.P.1997.Food Security-Supply and Demand Perspective. Indian

Farming. December.

Kumar.P. and V.C.Mathur.1996. Agriculture in Future: Demand-Supply

Perspective for the Ninth Five Year Plan. Economic and Political Weekly.

September.28.




Fig-1:Total Area under Food Grains

Fig-2:Total Productivity of Food Grains

Fig-3:Total Food Grain Production

1 9 6 6

- 6 7

1 9 6 9

- 7 0

1 9 7 2

- 7 3

1 9 7 5

- 7 6

1 9 7 8

- 7 9

1 9 8 1

- 8 2

1 9 8 4

- 8 5

1 9 8 7

- 8 8

1 9 9 3

- 9 4

1 9 9 6

- 9 7

1 9 9 9

- 2 0 0

0

2 0 0 2

- 0 3

2 0 0 5

- 0 6

2 0 0 8

- 0 9

2 0 1 1

- 1 2

2 0 1 4

- 1 5

1 9 9 0

- 9 1

1 9 6

6 - 6 7

1 9 6

9 - 7 0

1 9 7

2 - 7 3

1

9 7 5 - 7 6

1 9 7

8 - 7 9

1 9 8

1 - 8 2

1 9

8 4 - 8 5

1 9 8

7 - 8 8

1 9 9

3 - 9 4

1 9

9 6 - 9 7

1 9 9 9

- 2 0 0

0

2 0 0

2 - 0 3

2 0

0 5 - 0 6

2 0

0 8 - 0 9

2 0 1

1 - 1 2

2 0 1

4 - 1 5

1 9 9

0 - 9 1

1

9 6 6 - 6 7

1

9 6 9 - 7 0

1

9 7 2 - 7 3

1 9 7 5

- 7 6

1

9 7 8 - 7 9

1 9 8

1 - 8 2

1 9 8

4 - 8 5

1

9 8 7 - 8 8

1

9 9 3 - 9 4

1 9 9

6 - 9 7

1 9 9 9 -

2 0 0 0

2

0 0 2 - 0 3

2 0 0

5 - 0 6

2 0 0

8 - 0 9

2

0 1 1 - 1 2

2 0 1

4 - 1 5

1 9 9

0 - 9 1





* Assistant Professor (Agronomy) Krishi Vigyan Kendra, PO-Chander Nagar,

Saharanpur district, UP - 247001

IMPACT OF PARTICIPATORY PLANNING ON

ADOPTION OF NEW TECHNOLOGY THROUGH

FLD (OIL SEEDS)

Dr. P.K. Singh

Front Line Demonstration (FLD) is a new concept of field demonstration

evolved by the Indian council of Agricultural Research with the inception

of Technology Mission on oil seeds crops during mid eighties. The field

demonstrations conducted under the close supervision of scientists of the

National Agriculture Research System / Krishi Vigyan Kendra are called

Front Line Demonstrations because the technologies are demonstrated for

the first time by the scientists themselves before being fed into the main

extension system of the State department of Agriculture. The main objective

of Front Line Demonstration is to be demonstrate newly released crop

production and protection technology and its management practice in the

farmers field under different climatic regions and farming situations.

In Saharanpur (UP) district FLD on Oilseeds is carried out by Krishi Vigyan

Kendra on three crops viz., Mustard, Sunflower and Groundnut. The present

study focuses on Mustard. The area under mustard during last five years (from

1995 to 1999-2000) is around 6000 ha with average field between 9-10 qt/

ha. Under Front Line Demonstration, (FLD) component demonstration is

followed rather then full package demonstration so that there is an impression

that the farmer is not getting subsidy but technology for improving yield.

Selection of Technology to be demonstrated :-

The most crucial point for transferring the message of demonstrations to the

farmers is selection of superior technology over the technology already in use

because many a times under the top down approach, recommended package

of practices is considered as the ultimate basis for technical planning of

demonstrations and it has been observed that in many cases yield under





Gap in adoption as the basis for selection for critical inputs

under demonstration:

The intervention points were identified on consultation with the farmers fromproblem cause three

The deciding factors for selecting critical inputs under demonstration were

gap in adoption of a technology (full, partial) and percentage of farmers not

following recommended practices.

Item Recommended Existing Gap in Percentage Farmer

Practice Practice Adoption Farmers not Prioritization

Recommended for critical

Practice inputs

Variety Vardan Local Full 90% IV

Seed rate 5 kg/ha 3-4 kg/ha Partial 50% IV

Seed treatment 2g thiram / kg seed Nil Full 100% VI

Gypsum application 200 kg / ha Nil Full 100% III

Fertilizer N-120 kg/ha N-80 kg/ha Partial 100% II

P-60 kg/ha P-30 kg/ha

K-40 kg/ha K-Nil

Weed control Pendimenthal Manual Partial 70% Vin 3.3 lit/ha control

Aphids** Monocrotophos Application Partial 90% I

750 ml/ha of insecticide

without knowing

White rust Dithan M-45 In correct dose Partial 100% II

2 kg /ha

Note : Farmers always fail to distinguish between infestation of disease and insect attack.

The following inputs were finalized by farmers and scientists under

demonstration:

I. Improved treated seed (Vardan variety)

II. Gypsum @ 200 kg / ha

III. Insecticide Monocrotophos @ 850 ml / ha control aphids

IV. Fungicid Dithane M-45 @ kg / ha to control white rust




Results and discussion

The demonstration was conducted at the farmers field under the management

of scientists and farmers on finalized package of practices. The resultsobtained during last the 5 years are given below.

Conclusion:

The participatory approach in planning and conducting the demonstration

help to motivate the farmers in adopting new technology. The approach in

conducting the demonstration was positive from farmers side as they felt

involved. The farmers paid substantial cost of demonstration rather than

treating the demonstration critical inputs as subsidy.

The bottom-up approach planning and conducting the demonstration proved

better as it created sense of “owning” the demonstration among farmers. The

bottom-up approach of planning led to the selection of the right intervention

and critical inputs for better transfer of technology.

Year No. of farmers Demonstration Local yield

yield (q/ha) (q/ha)

1995-96 13 17.10 12.00

1996-97 10 15.80 11.00

1997-98 11 14.00 9.00

1998-99 6 15.20 10.50

1999-2000 8 20.9 12





were adopted, were confined to certain selected / adopted community, block,

district, region or states and their results were expected to percolate automati-

cally to the rest of the population. “The assessment of Communication linkages

in Indian agriculture provide an insight that information channels to the

ultimate beneficiary could not bear the desired fruit”. (Tyagi & Sinha, 1999).

Idea of selection or adoption of State, district, block or village has made great

loss to the Indian agriculture. There are the regions in our country which are

saturated with the different development programmes through different agencies

but there are areas / regions where still neither the government nor non-

government organizations have registered their attendance. Way of selection

or adoption may. be good for the purpose of testing research findings but certainlynot for the dissemination of information and that too in liberalized economy.

Future

India is the 7th larger country in the world in terms of area. Its share in land

resources is only 2% but it sustains 18% & 15% of the global human and livestock

population. In changing perspectives world wide, Indian agriculture has to feed

its own huge population first it has to maintain environmental sustainabilityand subsequently has to compete in the international market to keep the economic

growth of the country steady and stable. The Government has opened the market

globally, it has also the responsibility of safeguarding the interest of its farmers,

first by increasing their purchasing power and then by making them capable

competing in the international market, and for that it is indispensable to add

something more to the present system of approach to information dissemination.

Information should be available to the whole population to create such an

atmosphere to change the farmers mindset to think & work scientifically which

is a must for maintaining sustainability both on ecological and socio-economic

fronts. “Exploitive agriculture offers great possibilities if carried out in a

scientific way but poses great dangers if carried out with only an immediate

profit motive. The emerging exploitive farming community in India should

become aware of this. Intensive cultivation of land without conservation of soil

fertility and soil structure would lead, ultimately, to the springing up of deserts.

Irrigation without arrangements for drainage result in the soil getting alkaline




2. Present system has to be modified drastically and it has to be honest

enough in terms of its responsibility, accountability and commitment

to win the peoples confidence, their participation, co-operation and

cover more and more population with desirable outcomes, because

credibility of the system, deliver informnation or provide services,

counts much more at the grossroot level. “ Failure of programmes may

be due to many reasons but one which has been largely overlooked

is the disparity between the way bureaucracies operate and the require-

ment of development programrnes which can mobilize the rural poor

for sustained, effective self development and encourage innovative

farmers for adopting hi-tech agriculture”(Dr. Ranjit Singh - 1998).3. Telecast / Broadcast timings on Television / Radio are to be increased

and quality of programmes is also to be upgraded with maximum load

of information’s. ‘Technologies’ - and ‘ Package of Practices’ should

be well screened and coded interms of their feasibility, adoptability

and the cost effectiveness. Detailed guidelines may also be provided

for supporting enterprises viz: Dairy, Piggery, fish farming, Poultry

keeping, Goat / Sheep rearing, Rabbitry, Bee-Keeping Sericulture etc4. According to a 1999 readership survey 42% of Indian villagers own

television sets and the Govt. of India can afford to have a separate

television channel on agriculture, like Discovery channel and the

national Geographic channel to telecast only agriculture related programmes

giving complete details and highlighting the benefits from different

enterprises and practices. Simultaneously, efforts can also be made in

radio computer and print media. A compute approach should be adopted.

5. Farmers have to be provided I educated with variety iof technologies

so that they can choose what suits to them.

6. It is important to ensure that what is being highlighted by the media or

other information sources, their inputs products and training facilities are

available with concerned development departments, NGOs or in private.

7. Farmers should also be given a comprehensive idea of import and export

of agriculture produce and tips to make the maximum benefit out of that.





8. An atmosphere of desired development in agriculture has to be created

and inculcated among the farming community where farmers

themselves can take the right decision and come forward to the available

sources, agencies & systems to see their decision in reality. Sources,

agencies & systems may or may not reach to the whole population but

population may reach them if guided sufficiently & properly.

Conclusion

Information Revolution would be helpful to enhance the adoption of latest

technologies to increase both quantity and quality production and also will

benefit the rural educated unemployed youth struggling for jobs, so that the

problem of unemployment could be minimized and by enriching their know

how sustainability could be maintained both on ecological as well as

socio- economic fronts. It will help to lead quality development in the field

of agriculture.

References

Hansra, B.S. and Adhiguru, P. (1998). Agriculture Transfer of Technology Approaches

since Jndependence in India. Ji of Extn. Edu. Vol.9, 4; 2167-2176.

Singh, Ranjit (1998). Mgt. Of Extn. Edu.: New Dimensions of Extension Strategy

in changing Agril. Scenario. md. JI. Of Extn. Edu. Vol. 35, 1&2 6-12.

Lawrence, Layle D. (1999). Creating the future: Extensions role in Sustainable

Economic development. md. JI: Of Extn. Edu. Vol. 35, 1&2 6-12

Tyagi and Sinha (1999). Communication linkages in Indian Agriculture.

INTERACTION, National council of Development Communication.

Vol . 34, 1&2 93-95.

Swaminathan, M.S. (1999). Green Revolution the challenges ahead. TheHindu Survey of Jndian Agriculture - 1999 9- 16

Venkataramani, G. (1999). Information Technology - Ushering in a new era.

The Hindu survey of Indian Agriculture- 1999; 33 -34.

Towards food and nutritional Secuity in new Millennium. The Hindustan

Times, Nov. 1, 2000:10

Sengupta Jayshree (2000). Is Indian Agriculture going to seed. The Hindustan

Times, Oct. 31.2000.: 10




* Research Associate, National Academy of Agricultural Research Management,

Rajendranagar, Hyderabad

** Research scholar, EEI, ANGRAU, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad and

*** Retd.Professor, Department of Extension Education, Agricultural College,

Bapatla, A.P

CYCLONE DISASTER PREPAREDNESS OF PRAWN

GROWERS IN ANDHRA PRADESH

T.Krishna Prasad*, Md.Suleman Khan** and M.Veera Raghava Reddy***

Introduction

Now-a-days aquaculture has been recognized as a part of agricultural activity

in many coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. Since the arable land for crop

production is on the decline, mainly due to population pressure, aquaculture

has gained momentum. Since the gestation period is short, technology is easyto operate and returns are higher, most of the coastal farmers are now switching

over to prawn culture. Asia alone is accounts for about 90 per cent of the

world’s aquaculture production, while South America and Africa contribute

a meager 1.4 and 0.3 per cent, respectively. India, by virtue of its 8.5 per cent

contribution to the world aquaculture production, ranks second in the world.

Aquaculture in India has sustained an average annual growth rate of 17

per cent during 1985-’94. India’s seafood production has increased by 300per cent in the last four years and the annual export earnings exceeded 1.107

billion dollars (US$) in the four consecutive years since 1996, according to

MPEDA. In India, out of 1.2 million hectares of total coastal land available

for brackish water aquaculture, only 70,700 hectares are under prawn farming

at present, out of which Andhra Pradesh ranks third in area and second in

production. There is still a vast potential to expand aquaculture and thereby

increase production. But, aquaculture development, especially in coastal belts

of Andhra Pradesh is severely constrained due to recurrent exposures tocyclones, which causes irreparable losses.





As cyclones have become an annual feature, prawn farmers along the

1,030 km of Andhra coast are facing heavy losses. Among the cyclone-affected

states, Andhra Pradesh ranks second in terms of average monetary losses.

In this scenario it is therefore, essential to reorient the extension and de-

velopmental efforts by integrating the scientific disaster management

principles. This would not only ensure minimizing losses due to disasters,

but also give a boost to gainful economic activities like prawn farming.

In doing so, it is desirable to understand the level of preparedness of prawn

farmers towards cyclone disaster and also the factors influencing it.

With this background, the present study was carried out with the objective

of knowing the disaster preparedness level of prawn farmers and theinfluencing characteristics.

Methodology

Ex-post facto research designs reinforced with a few case lets was used since

the variables, socio economic status, educational status, prawn farming

experience, prawn farm size, mass media exposure, innovativeness, risk

orientation, scientific orientation, economic orientation market orientationand cyclone disaster management had already occurred.

A case let in an extension part of case study is to explore and analyze the

life of a social unit, be that a person, family, institution, cultural group or

an entire community. In the study, the prawn growers were purposively

selected based on their successfulness in cyclone disaster management in

tackling different specific cyclonic adversaries. A prawn grower who has

previous experience of cyclone disasters was selected to study the differentmanagement practices after cyclone disasters and lessons learnt which includes

coping mechanism and preparedness, the second and third prawn growers

are selected depending on the small and large size of prawn farm considering

the cyclone disaster managerial abilities. These cases are conducted to

reinforce the findings drawn out of ex-post facto by following major steps

like location, data collection in relation to factors associated with the selected

phenomena, identification of relevant points on diagnosis, interpretation and

determination of the out come of the study.





It can be seen from Table 1 that a majority (58.34%) of the prawn growers

had high cyclone disaster preparedness followed by low and medium levelsof cyclone disaster preparedness.

Table.1: Distribution of prawn growers according to their cyclone disaster

preparedness

S.No Category Prawn growers frequency Percentage

1 Low 29 24.16

2 Medium 21 17.503 High 70 58.34

Total 120 100.00

Mean = 15.77 Standard Deviation =2.46

The reason may be that the prawn growers with lower cyclone preparedness

were of the opinion that cyclones will definitely sweep away all their

preparedness efforts, so whatever remained was due to their luck and God’s

grace. They felt that they couldn’t manage the cyclones with preparedness

efforts alone. Even though they used to take some measures such as strength-

ening of the bunds around prawn ponds, decreasing the level of water in

their ponds, keeping coconut leaves around the ponds (inside) to prevent

the escape of prawns, keeping the nets at inlets and outlets etc., suitable

production technology in prawn culture at times of cyclonic conditions

should be developed in order to tackle the cyclone disasters. So far, the

Agricultural University, fisheries departments, government agencies likeMPEDA and CMFRI had not paid much attention to the captive prawn

cultivation. Till today very meager amount was spent on the development

of the cyclone disaster preparedness technology on prawn cultivation.

Dissemination of early warnings plays a crucial role in taking preparedness

measures. Mass media sources should be strengthened.

Relationship between the selected independent variables and cyclone disaster

preparedness of the prawn growers:




Summary and Conclusions

1. The study clearly advocates that there is an urgent need for an inte-

gration of research and extension system to work hand in hand to

develop and popularize the cyclone disaster management technology.

2. The extension agencies of state department of fisheries and other

agencies like MPEDA, CMFRI, CIFE, ANGRAU, etc., should come

forward to convince and educate the prawn growers for the adoption

of new technology.

3. Fisheries research should be more emphasized on disease resistant strains.

4. Insurance agencies should come forward to extend insurance facilitiesfor prawn culture, which was previously present.

5. Government agencies like MPEDA should came forward to purchase the

damaged produce and should pay the compensation to the prawn growers.

6. Fisheries extension should be strengthened to focus on coastal devel-

opment and should facilitate proper training programmes to the prawn

growers about cyclone disaster management practices.

7. Non-governmental organizations should come forward to bring changesin prawn growers attitude towards cyclone disaster management.

8. In order to take up large-scale cyclone disaster management activities,

the banks, MPEDA and other financing agencies should provide loans

to the prawn grower and the repayment period should be extended

at times of cyclones.

9. The cyclone monitoring system and cyclone information dissemination

system (cyclone warning system) should be strengthened to take upimmediate preparedness activities.

10. The broadcast media such as radio and television and the print media

like newspapers should be improved to disseminate the authentic

cyclone warnings.

11. The remote sensing agency and department of space can be inte-

grated into research system in cyclone disaster management with

various agencies, universities.




* Scientist (Agril. Extension), WTCER, (ICAR), Chandrasekharpur,

Bhubaneswar - 751023

** Principal Scientist (Agril. Extension), IARI, New Delhi-110012

DEVELOPMENT ORIENTED PERFORMANCE

APPRAISAL SYSTEM FOR THE AGRICULTURAL EX-

TENSION PERSONNEL

Souvik Ghosh* and K. Vijayaragavan* *

Introduction

Performance appraisal is an integral part of most extension organizations.

There is a great degree of unhappiness in agricultural extension personnel with

the present performance appraisal systems. The performance appraisal is not

meant to be a mere reporting of an individual’s performance once a year but

serves as an instrument of motivation and development of employees (Rao,

1992). The development oriented performance appraisal system (PAS) is

expected to help an employee to create learning spaces for himself in an

organization and it can substantially contribute to the organizational health

and facilitates multiplication of managerial resources (Mufeed, 1998). the

bove-mentioned changes in the performance appraisal offers a greater scope

to improve the human resources of agricultural extension organizations. Thequality of the human resources in an agricultural extension organization is

a determining factor in its success or failure. Of a programme success the

hinges largely on the performance of extension agents in the field. Performance

appraisal is a critical management function in an extension organization and

an effective way to improve performance of extension personnel (Davis, 1993).

In an era where agricultural extension has the role of not only meeting the

increased production but also conserving and protecting natural resource base,

the effectiveness of extension workers’ performance has become very

important. For the ever increasing complexity of challenges facing extension

organizations and the place of change, both signal the escalating pressures

that will be brought to bear on extension personnel to play a proactive and

strategic partner roles. Therefore, if development oriented performance





appraisal system is implemented well, it can take the extension organization

on a fast development track by meeting all the challenges through motivated,

committed and competent personnel. In this context, the present study is aimed

to design an alternative development oriented PAS for the extension personnel.

Methodology

This study was under taken in the State Department of Agriculture, Haryana

(INDIA) and two Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in the state of Haryana

(INDIA), were purposively selected. An exhaustive sample of eight sub-division

level and eighteen circle level extension personnel and a random sample of fifty

four village level extension personnel were taken from the randomly selectedtwo district units of State Department of Agriculture. Fifteen extension personnel

were chosen from each of the two NGOs on the basis of random sampling method.

Thus, a total of eighty extension personnel from State Department and thirty

personnel from NGOs were selected for data collection through personal

interview method. In order to design the development oriented PAS for the

extension personnel the following aspects were taken into consideration.

For the designing of an alternative development oriented performance appraisalsystem the following dimensions were considered, operationalised and measured.

(i) Identification of key performance areas (KPAs)

The KPAs of a role are those functions, which require priority attention. In

the present study, Key Performance Areas of the extension personnel working

at different levels were identified with the help of a schedule developed. All

the functions that a role occupant expected to carry out were listed on the

basis of literature search and discussions with agricultural scientists, expertsand officers of the State Department of Agriculture. KPAs were weighed

according to their importance for the role, which was measured through

frequency of performance and level of performance on a 5-point continuum.

For each task/activity, mean scores and rank ordering were worked out sepa-

rately for each category of extension personnel working at different levels

(village, circle and subdivision level) in State Department as well as for the

extension personnel of NGOs. Five KPAs were identified for each category

of extension personnel on the basis of higher mean scores and rank ordered.





(viii) Final assessment

Findings and Discussion

The development oriented PAS was designed which included the following

components in it.

A. Identification of KPAs for different categories of extension

personnel

Analysis of a role for its Key Performance Areas (KPAs) is necessary for

performance appraisal because performance appraisal has to be done against

certain functions and objectives on which a person works. Therefore, the

identification of KPAs is an essential component of PAS. The KPAs of a

role are those functions that require priority attention.

Key Performance Areas of the extension personnel working at different levels

were identified and prioritized on the basis of job analysis (level of performance

as well as frequency of performance) following the procedure as described

in methodology part. The KPAs identified for each category of extension

personnel are furnished in Table 1, Table 2, Table 3 and Table 4.

Table 1. Key Performance Areas (KPAs) for village level extension

personnel (in priority order)

Key Performance Areas (KPAs) According According Overall

to frequency to level of Importance

of performance performance

Mean score Mean score Mean score

1. Visit to group of farmers to 4.39 4.44 8.83communicate technical know

how and attending their

different problems and queries

2. Inspiring and motivating farmers 4.72 3.59 8.31

3. Identification of problems and 4.20 4.07 8.27

needs of farmers

4. Giving talk to group of farmers 4.61 3.59 8.20

5. Attending training conducted by 4.04 3.69 7.73

subject matter specialists and

superiors





It is evident from the data present in above-mentioned tables that KPAs and

their priority or importance is different for different categories of extension

personnel. Training and Visit System has been prevailing in State Departmentof Agriculture. The most important Key Performing Area of village level

extension personnel, grass root level workers is to communicate the technical

know-how to the farmers and attend to the problems and queries of the farmers

during their fortnightly visit. Each circle level extension personnel supervises

and provides constant professional advice to eight village level workers and

assists them in getting the message across to the farmers. Above the circle level

there is sub-division level where one sub-division level officer is responsible

for conducting fortnightly training for circle level and village level personnel

to providing technical know-how, technical support and helping them to

accomplish their tasks. Each district of the State has two to four sub-divisions.

Experience has shown that identification of KPAs also leads to an

understanding of difference of one role from another in the organization.

It helps to remove the existence of role-ambiguity in different jobs leading

to poor performance. Superiors realize that their KPAs have to be

qualitatively different, indicating higher responsibility, from those of their

Table 4. Key Performance Areas (KPAs) for NGOs’ extension personnel

(in priority order)

Key Performance Areas (KPAs) According According Overallto frequency to level of Importance

of performance performance

Mean score Mean score Mean score

1. Visit to farmers to communicate 3.76 3.43 7.19

technical know how and attending

their problems and queries

2. Identification of problems and 3.70 3.43 7.13

needs of farmers

3. Organizing farmer’s training, 3.90 3.13 7.03

meeting, seminar etc.4. Visit to field to supervise and 3.23 3.42 6.66

arrange different field trials,

demonstrations and other

extension activities

5. Giving talk to group of people 3.67 2.83 6.50




subordinates. They are forced to think of delegating to the subordinates, what

they can do (Pareek and Rao, 1992). Thus, the specification of KPAs for

different extension personnel not only serves the basis of their performance

evaluation, but also for a general development of them in the organization.

The identified KPAs are to be included in the performance appraisal format

of development oriented PAS.

B. Target setting

It is not fair to assess the performance of any employee on tasks and targets

that have not been made clear to him/her and that do not take into consideration

of mutual consultations and discussions. Therefore, in addition to the identi-fication of KPAs, it is useful to set targets for a set period. These targets should

deal with the tasks expected to be accomplished by the appraisee with respect

to their KPAs. The targets should be fixed at beginning of the year with

consultations and discussions between the supervisor and extension personnel.

The study revealed that the targets for different extension personnel usually set

at the state level and district level with little/no consultations of the lower level

extension personnel. The existing PAS do not take into consideration the targets

set forth and their achievement by the extension personnel. Therefore, the

proposed development oriented PAS would include the different targets and their

achievements by different categories of extension personnel.

C. Identification of critical behavioral attributes required for the Job

Another important aspect of employee performance is the extent to which each

employee exhibits the qualities desired for his/her job. Organization should identify

a list of such qualities desired to be shown by different personnel and include

these in performance appraisal (Rao, 1992). Appraising the behavioral attributes

of employee periodically will enable the employees to strive for developing such

attributes, which will help them to perform specific role better. This will help

in improving the effectiveness of the role occupants. Critical attributes are those

which distinguish an effective role occupant from an ineffective one. Critical

attributes include all kinds of qualities - educational, experience, physical

characteristics, mental abilities, skills, personality characteristics, attitudinal





characteristics, etc. In the present study behavioral attributes for extension

personnel, that might be required to handle different tasks, were analyzed. The

critical attributes required for different categories of extension personnel are

reported in Table 5. It is evident from the table that critical behavioral attributes

in priority order as indicated by the ranks (higher value indicates higher priority)

are different for different categories of personnel. Basic knowledge of local

agricultural situation as well as modern farm practices and problem-solving ability

were found to be mostly required attributes for all kind of extension personnel.

Table 5: Critical behavioral attributes required for the job of extension

personnel.

Critical Extension personnel of State NGO’sAttributes Dept. of Agriculture (n=80) Extension

Village level Circle level Sub-div. PersonnelMean Mean level (n=30)

criticality criticality Mean Meanscore score criticality criticality

score score

1. Basic knowledge of 8.39 (1) 8.50 (1) 8.38 (2) 7.30 (2)

local agricultural situation

2. Knowledge of modern farm 7.78 (2) 7.56 (2) 7.88 (3) 7.60 (1)practices

3. Communication abilities 7.30 (6) 7.28 (4) 7.13 (9) 7.16 (4)

(verbal, written)

4. Skills in conducting 7.22 (7) 7.00 (6) 7.88 (4) 6.43 (5)

demonstrations, campaignmeeting, etc.

5. Showing genuine interest 7.57 (3) 7.50 (3) 6.88 (11) 6.43 (6)

in helping farmers

6. Motivation to influence 7.04 (8) 6.83 (7) 7.38 (7) 6.00 (12)

others

7. Planning ability 6.50 (13) 6.61 (11) 7.38 (8) 6.03 (11)8. Organizing ability 6.70 (12) 6.64 (10) 7.88 (5) 5.75 (13)

9. Problem solving ability 7.48 (4) 7.17 (5) 8.50 (1) 7.16 (3)

10. Team spirit 7.02 (9) 6.28 (12) 6.13 (15) 6.37 (7)

11. Persuasiveness 6.70 (11) 6.17 (14) 6.63 (13) 5.35 (15)

12. Initiative 6.48 (14) 6.22 (13) 6.38 (14) 5.70 (14)

13. Flexibility and openness 5.83 (15) 5.72 (15) 6.75 (12) 6.23 (9)14. Decision making ability 7.35 (5) 6.67 (9) 7.50 (6) 6.20 (10)

15. Willingness to learn 7.00 (10) 6.78 (8) 6.88 (10) 6.37 (8)

from others

Figures in parentheses indicate ranks/priority




For the relatively higher-level extension personnel (sub division level), skills in

conducting training, demonstrations, etc; organizing and decision making ability

are highly required attributes to perform their role better. Grass root level extension

workers should show genuine interest in helping the farmers and have the effective

communication ability to pass the message to the farmers properly. The

development oriented PAS would make a provision of evaluating extension

personnel on the critical attributes needed for their effective performance.

D. Self-Appraisal

At the end of the year or the appraisal period the appraisal process will begin

with self-appraisal by each extension personnel. To appraise one’s own self on KPAs, targets and qualities, the appraisee would go through a process of

reflection and review. Provision has to be made in the development oriented

performance appraisal form to include self-rating of appraisee on KPAs, targets

and behavioral attributes. It has established beyond doubt that change is faster

when it is self-initiated (Rao, 1992). Besides, when one reviews one’s own

performance, one also gets an opportunity become more aware of his/her own

strengths and weaknesses. It would provide the employees with an opportunity

to look back on their own performance (introspection) and to plan and work for achieving the improved performance (perspiration). Verma (1991) has also

reported the need for introducing self-appraisal. For example, an extension

worker might say to himself/herself that he/she has done well in conducting

a demonstration, but failed to make the farmers understand the practice and

to convince them about the benefits on its adoption. On the basis of self-

appraisal he/she might discover his/her lack of interpersonal convincing skills

and interpersonal communication skills. Thus, self-assessment helps extensionpersonnel to discover their developmental needs and plan for development

that also helps the organizational effectiveness.

E. Performance Analysis

The performance appraisal climate of an organization should ensure the

communication between appraisee and appraiser. The appraiser should know

more about the situation under which his appraisee is working, the difficulties

he/she is experiencing and the contribution he/she is making. The appraisee





should also understand how he/she himself/herself is responsible for some

achievements or non-achievements. To meet these objectives development

oriented PAS includes the ‘performance analysis’ component in it. Under

this performance analysis, extension worker reflects about his performance

at the end of appraisal period and identifies factors that helped in doing

whatever he/she has done and factors that prevented him/her from doing

better. The appraisee then gives his/her analyses to the supervising officer

who may add to the list other relevant issues influencing the performance.

F. Performance Discussion

The performance discussion on a prefixed date is intended to improveunderstanding and support between the supervisor and extension worker. The

form of self-appraisal and performance analysis is submitted by the extension

worker to supervising officer that serves as an initiator of discussions.

Extension personnel may be able to share a lot of things in mutual discussions,

which they may not be able to put in writing. The purpose of it for the

extension personnel is to know more about the perceptions, expectations and

assessment of the supervisor and also to communicate the difficulties and

ask for support. For the supervisor, it is an opportunity to understand thesubordinates better, help them to understand their own strengths and

weaknesses and assist them to identify mechanisms for technical

development and improve performance standard.

G. Identifying Developmental Needs and Action Plan

The performance analysis and performance discussion would generally lead

to the identification of developmental needs. The poorly performed KPAs or

targets not accomplished by the extension personnel may be indicators of

inadequate understanding or lack of capabilities (Knowledge, skills, etc.). If

it is lack of capabilities, development of capabilities through training, on the

job-coaching, etc. becomes the action plan. If poor performance is due to lack

of motivation, it should be dealt with during the performance discussion

session. Developmental needs flow directly from the assessment (self-assess-

ment as well as assessment by the appraiser) of performance. The appraiser

should therefore, indicate the developmental needs of the appraisee and suggest




action. The suggestions are to be attended by the personnel department of

organization and actions are to be initiated at the appropriate time.

H. Final Assessment

The final assessment will be given by the appraiser after completion of

all the above mentioned components of PAS. By this stage the appraiser

would have a thorough understanding of the subordinates, their

accomplishments, strengths and weaknesses, developmental needs, etc. on

the basis of which the appraiser is expected to be in a good position to prepare

final assessment report of the subordinates. Besides, the development needs

identified should get special attention leading to the implementation of actionplan. The final assessment report would include the above-mentioned facts

along with the future action plan to develop the extension personnel for

the improved performance leading to enhanced organizational effectiveness.

The final assessment will have to be communicated to the appraisee. In case

of any strong difference the appraisee will have the scope to communicate

his/her reaction to the higher authority.

Basic structure of a model format of development oriented PAS for extensionpersonnel will include all the above-mentioned eight dimensions. The

KPAs, targets, behavioral dimensions in the appraisal form will be different

for different categories of extension personnel as mentioned earlier.

Therefore, different appraisal form will have to be developed for different

categories of extension personnel considering respective KPAs, targets,

behavioral dimensions in the format.

Conclusion

The development oriented PAS is expected more likely to produce positive

and less likely to produce negative outcomes than the existing PAS that are

used only for control and administration. This development oriented PAS

is expected to improve the performance appraisal climate which will have

a positive impact on overall organizational climate and job satisfaction of

extension personnel. This offers greater scope to improve the human

resources of agricultural extension organizations at minimum cost. The need





to improve the human resources of agricultural extension organizations to

face the emerging challenges arising out of present techno-economic scenario

can be met through the implementation of development oriented PAS.

References

Davis, William L. (1993). Performance appraisal: How extension agents view

the system. Journal of Extension. Winter, Vol. 31(4). p. 15-17.

Mufeed, S. (1998). Evaluating employee performance : A successful instru-

ment for human resource development. Indian Journal of Training and

Development 28 (2): 72-92.

Pareek, U. and Rao, T.V. (1992). Designing and managing human resource

systems. Oxford and IBH Pub. Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi p. 408.

Rao, T.V. (1992). Appraising and developing managerial performance. Academy

of human resource development, Ahmedabad.




* Ph.D Student, EEI, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad.

** Scientist(Agricultural Extension), District Agricultural Advisory and

Transfer of Technology Centre, Agricultural Market Committee, Guntur,

Andhra Pradesh

*** Assistant Professor, Extension Education Institute, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad.

DEVELOPMENTAL PRIORITIES OF FARM WOMEN

IN AGRIBUSINESS MANAGEMENT - A CASE OF AN

ADOPTED VILLAGE K.B.PALEM

Neelaveni S*, Rambabu** and Punna Rao***

Agriculture is the source of livelihood for over 70 percent of the population

in India. Women carry out 50-90 percent of agricultural operations in this

country. Thus, the prosperity and growth of the nation depends on the status

and development of women. Despite these contributions, women continueto be marginalized, undervalued and unrecognized. There is a tendency

among most administrators and policy makers to see “men as farmers” and

women as farmers wives” and highlight their “supportive role” than

“productive role”. There is an increasing attitude of farm women towards

farm business (Chakravarthy and Chakravarthi 1996) Involving farm women

in mainstream of development is sound strategy and hence there is a need

to foucs on their priorities in for overall development. Hence the research

study was conducted in village Kondabhotlapalem of Bapatla Mandal in

Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh with the following objectives.

1. To study the profile characteristics of farm women

2. To study the developmental priorities of farm women in ARM

3. To know the relationship between selected characteristics of farmwomen

and developmental priorities

4. To suggest a strategy for effective implementation of village adoption

programme in accordance with their developmental priorities.



7 6

J u l y-D

e c e m b er ,2 0 0 2

Fig. 1 : Model of strategy for effective implementation of village adoption





Distribution of the respondents according to profile characteristics of farm women

(n120)

S.No Variable/Category Frequency Percentage Mean S.D

1. Age:

a) Young age 32 26.66

b) Middle age 80 66.68 41.33 10.166

c) Old age 8 6.66

2. Education:

a) Illiterate/no schooling 49 40.83

b) Functionally literate 27 22.50 2.25 0.97

c) Primary school 33 27.50

d) Middle school 9 7.50

e) High school 2 1.67

3. Social participation:

a) Low social participation 32 26.67

b) Medium social participation 79 65.83 2.242 0.93

c) High social participation 9 7.5

4. Mass media consumption:

a) Low mass media consumption 39 32.50

b) Medium Mass media consumption 60 50.00 9.558 2.2

c) High mass media consumption 21 17.50

5. Extension contact:

a) Low extension contact 17 14.16

b) Medium extension contact 79 65.83 10.133 2.26

c) High extension contact 24 20.016. Urban pull:

a) Low urban pull 18 15.00

b) Medium urban pull 92 76.67 20.108 3.5

c) High urban pull 10 8.33

7. Aspiration:

a) Low aspiration 16 13.33

b)Medium aspiration 88 73.34 18.83 2.95

c) High urban pull 16 13.33

8. Leadership status:

a) Women who were never consulted by others 30 25.00

b) Women who were rarely consulted by others 46 38.33

c) Women who were some times consulted by others 32 26.67 2.223 8.92

d) Women who were often consulted by others 10 8.223

e) Women who were most often consulted by others 2 1.67

9. Opinion about sponsoring agency:

a) Unfavourable opinion 9 7.50

b) Neutral opinion 64 53.33 19.133 2.4

c) Favourable opinion 47 39.17

10. Drudgery:

a) Low drudgery 6 5.00 19.525 2.78

b) Medium drudgery 95 79.17c) High drudgery 19 15.83




Regarding social participation, half of the respondents had medium level

of social participation followed by low (26.67%) and high social participation

(7.5%). The probable reasons for the above trend might be lack of more

number of social organizations in the village and hindrance from male

members of the family for their social participation. Social participation of

women could be improved through formation of more number of mahila

mandals, organizations for women ,women charcha mandals, local village

institutions like primary cooperative societies. There was a need to break

the iceberg of shyness and traditionalism among the women.

With regard to mass media consumption, half of the respondents belonged

to medium mass media consumption category followed by low (32.5%) andhigh (17.50). Illiteracy and inaccessibility to printed literature might be the

reasons for this trend.

The results on extension contact focused that majority (65.83%) of the

respondents had medium extension contact followed by high(20.01%) and

low(14.16%). This trend might be due to the fact that study area is an adopted

village of Agricultural college Bapatla where scientists of this college make

regular visits to the village for transfer of technology.

Regarding urban pull, majority of the respondents had medium (76.67%)

urban pull followed by low (15%) and high (8.33%) urbanpull. Busy schedule

of farm and house hold activities coupled with more attachment with rural

area might have made them to inhibit urban pull.

While coming to aspiration, nearly three fourth of the respondents had medium

aspiration . A sense of fatalism and blocked opportunities might have

conditioned the farm women to have medium and low level of aspirations.

Results on leadership status denoted that most of the farm women were rarely

(38.33%) consulted by others followed by some times consulted by others

(26.67%), never consulted by others (25%), often consulted by others (8.33%)

while very few( of the respondents were most often(1.67%) consulted by others.

With regard to opinion about sponsoring agency that most of the respondents

had neutral (53.33%) followed by favourable (39.17%) opinion about




It is an indication of the fact that farm women had given priority to the areas

in which they were participating mostly i.e. farm production sector includes

sowing/transplanting, weed management, water management, pest and dis-

ease management and harvesting techniques. It is quite natural that partici-

pating activities are prioritized more than non-participating activities. To

that extent farm production sector includes only the activities which involve

active participation of farmwomen (Bhagyalakshmi, 1997). This calls for

a strategy to formulate women friendly technology for reducing their hardship

and drudgery. In input sector, quality seed, quality fertilizer, plant protection

chemicals were given first rank in their developmental priorities. In farm

production sector, sowing/transplanting, weed management were given firstrank in their developmental priorities. Harvesting was given second rank

in their developmental priorities. In output sector, post harvest techniques

were given first rank in their developmental priorities . In extension skill

development, information-seeking skills were given first rank in their de-

velopmental priorities.

Table 3. Regression coefficients between the independent variables and

developmental priorities of farmwomen

S.no Variable Regression Standard t-value

coefficient error

1. Age -0.29168 0.1446 2.016

2. Education 0.5829 2.1460 0.272

3. Social participation -1.7192 3.8875 0.442

4. Mass media consumption1.8012 0.53312 3.379

5. Extension contact 1.9851 0.54768 3.624

6. -0.039233 0.32172 0.122

7. Urban pull 0.26774 0.46708 0.573

8. Aspiration 3.3539 3.3410 1.004

9. Leadership 0.088833 0.33807 0.263

10. Status Opinion Drudgery -0.20461 0.4307 0.472

R2=0.875 F=76.05* * Intercept=64.24




III. Relationship between selected personal social and psychological

characteristics of farmwomen and their developmental priorities in ARM

Perusal of Table 4 reveals that variables of age and drudgery were negativelyand significantly associated with developmental priorities. Education, social

participation, mass media consumption, extension contact, urban pull,

aspiration, leadership status, opinion about sponsoring agencies were

positively and significantly associated with developmental priorities.

As age increases energy declines, and their interest in management of farm

activities d eclines. Hence it might be the reason for negative relationship

between age and developmental priorities.

As drudgery increases, due to hardship and busy schedule of farm and home

activities, their attention might be decreased in management of farm

activities. Hence priorities in agribusiness management decreases.

As education , mass media consumption, extension contact, leadership status,

opinion increases, their interaction with others and exposure to new

technology increases and their attention in management of activities in

Agribusiness increases thereby developmental priorities in Agribusinessmanagement also increases.

IV Strategy for effective Implementation of village adoption programme

in accordance with their identified developmental priorities

Based on the findings of the study the following strategy is suggested.

As majority of the farm women have given priority to farm pro-

duction sector women friendly technologies like transplanters, sickles,hoe, spade etc. have to be designed which are most suitable for the

physique of women.

Training programmes should be conducted in identifying pests and

diseases and to improve their knowledge and skills in pests and disease

management, 1PM and skills in identification of physiological disorders.

Save grain campaign should be conducted to improve storage techniques





Seed village Concept should properly be implemented in the village

by taking group of progressive and innovative farmers covering the

area of at least 50 acres and they should make the villagers self sufficient

in producing quality seed for the use of farmers in the same village.

Agricultural growth centres were required to be established in the

village to provide up to date technology by identifying their priorities.

Incentives should be given to farm women to improve their participation

in social activities.

Conclusion

Farm women had medium developmental priorities and farm production

sector was highly prioritized. So as to reduce drudgery and hardship women

friendly technologies should be developed. Women should be educated to

improved their prioritization.

References

Chakravarthy Ritu and Chakravarthi R 1996 Comparitive case studies of farm

women in Nethrlands and India. Journal of Dairying, Foods and Home

Science 15:81-87.

Bhagyalakshmi K 1997 A Study on participation and perception of drudgery

in farm women in Srikakulam dt.of A.P., M.Sc.(H.Sc.). Thesis ANGRAU,

Hyderabad.

Sabitha Kumari 1995 Developmental priorities of rural women in Chandapur

village of Medak dt. of Andhra Pradesh M. Sc. (H. Sc).





Ø Technology to Eco-technology

Ø Mono cropping to crop diversity

Ø Supply driven to Demand driven and

Ø Exploitative to sustainable agriculture.

There is a need for promotion of farmer participatory, demand-driven and farmer

accountable extension. Organisations which are the assembling of interacting

human beings collectively seeking to attain common goal, should be sensitive

to change. Change has become an inevitable part of life. Organizations that do

not change when needed or are not sensitive to the need for change do not survive

long. The human resources available to agricultural extension is one of the key

elements that affects the success of the system. Organizations need not have

more people but more competent people who can recognise the requirements

of the profession and improve their competency in accordance with changing

times. Competencies are the characteristics of an individual which underlie

performance of behaviour at work. Nowadays, competency movement has

entered into the human resource scene to identify, evaluate and retain the

competent people in the organizations. People require different competenciesin dynamic and growth oriented organizations viz., technical, managerial, human

and conceptual. The importance of Human Resource Development (HRD) for

agricultural extension is increasingly being realized. In the context of the latest

changes in the development front, there is a need for a fresh look at the HRD

scenario and for necessary efforts to build the capacity and capability for HRD

in the emerging issues. This calls for examining the Strengths, Weaknesses,

Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) of the human resource in the organisations.

With this in mind, an attempt has been made to analyse the potential of Extensionscientists through SWOT analysis.

Methodology

The study was planned with scientific human resource working in the only

agricultural university in the state of Andhra Pradesh i.e., Acharya N.G. Ranga

Agricultural University (ANGRAU). All the teachers, trainers and TOT Scientists

serving in ANGRAU with M.Sc(Ag)/Ph.D in Agricultural Extension were




considered for the investigation. At present 64 Scientists are working in the

Agricultural l Extension discipline in ANGRAU at its centres like Colleges,

KVKs, District Agril Advisory and Transfer of Technology centres (DAATTCs),

Extension Education Institute, (EEI), Agril. Information & Communication

centre (AI & CC), ATIC and Extension Units of ZARS. The questionnaire

with a request to indicate their own strengths, weaknesses opportunities and

threats was sent to all these Agril Extension Scientists. Few simple questions

were also asked which reflect the domain under study with a view to obtain

as many SWOT items as possible to facilitate the logical discussion, a few

attributes mentioned in results were also included in the questionnaire. The

responses received from the 45 respondents (70.31%) were analysed by usingsimple frequency and percentage and ranks are presented for the purpose.


The profile analysis based on the few selected attributes is given in Table-1

Table-1 Profile of Agricultural Extension Scientists

n=45

Sl. No. Attribute F %

1 Cadre

a) Asst Professor 27 60.00

b) Assoc. Proffessor 12 26.70

c) Professor 6 13.30

2. Nature of Work

a) Teaching 6 13.34

b) Training 6 13.34c) Field extension 35 77.78

d) Administration 2 4.44

3. Academic qualifications

a) Masters degree 17 37.78

b) Doctoral degree 28 62.22

4. Age

a) Upto 35 years 12 26.67

b) 35 to 50 years 21 46.66

c) 50 and above 12 26.67





It is seen from the Table 1 that a majority of the respondents (60.00%) were

Assistant Professors followed by Associate Professors (26.70%) and Profes-

sors (13.30%). There is a scope for sharpening the abilities of the Asst

Professors as a major force through career planning, counselling, training anddevelopment mechanisms so as to mould their behaviour towards achieving

goals for excellence. Most of the scientists (78%) are working in field extension

i.e., in KVKs, DATTCs, ZARSs and Communication centre. The main job

of the scientist working in these field units is to develop a data base, identify

the needs, prepare action plans, train the stake holders, village adoption, content

generation and dissemination to educate the farmers on reducing the cost of

cultivation by 15% and increase productivity by 15% in the wake of WTO.

A majority (62.22%) of the scientists possessed Doctorate Degree in Ex-

tension Education while 37.78 per cent were having basic qualification of

M.Sc (Ag). The facility of deputation for inservice candidates for higher

degree leading to Ph.D helped the 19 respondents to acquire Doctorates. This

clearly shows the interest of the organisation in Human Resource Devel-

opment for growth. About 47.00 per cent of the respondents are belonged

to the age group of 35 to 50 years while rest of these were equally distributed

under upto 35 years and 50 & above categories.

A. Strengths

Every employee requires the highlighting of his strengths. His strong areas

need to be known and capitalized. An effort in this regard could see the

employee performing to the best of his potential. The strengths identified

as perceived by the respondents are presented in the Table 2.

Table 2 Strengths of Agricultural Extension Scientists. n = 45

Sl. No. Strength Frequency Rank

1 Hard working 36 III

2. Expertise 32 IV

3. Self confidence 24 VIII

4. Empathetic ability 31 V

5. Self motivation 27 VII

6. Optimistic attitude 29 VI

7. Job commitment 41 I

8. Positiveness 38 II




As seen from the results, job commitment was found to be the major strength

of the respondents. This shows that they perceive a particular job as useful,

emotionally attaches himself to the ideals of a job to extend loyalty and there

by making him obligatory rather than mandatory to sperform better to the

maximum extent. ‘positiveness’ and `Hard working` of the respondents

should be exploited by the organisation, through assigning productive tasks

as these are the characteristics of true extension functionaries.

The ‘Expertise’ is considered as specialist knowledge, skills, know how,

competence and capacity to perform difficult activities. Extension Scientist

are always concerned with doing difficult activities like teaching and training

of abstract subjects, convincing/ motivating people of having unlimitedtreasure of knowledge, while maintaining pace with rapidly changing

technologies. Thanks to the DAATTCs a successful innovation in technology

dissemination was introduced by ANGRAU by reorganising its Extension

Education units. The working Experience in this centres and KVKs might

have made them experts in their area of work.

The Empathetic ability‘ which is a basic feature of an ideal extension worker

was the other strength identified. This trait distinguishes them from the cropscientists. Due to this ability, extension scientist could work for the

satisfaction of the stake holders compared to others. The ‘Optimistic attitude’

of the extension human resource is really a strength that an organisation can

exploit to attain the goal of extension mandate ‘Reach the unreached’ an

individual should be a self starter in life. It should be his endeavour to set

his own goals and finish them within his own prescribed time limits. The

self motivation and self confidence would pave the way to set their realistic

goals and succeed both in their professional and personal life. It is genuine

to expect that higher degree of self confidence helps an individual in motivating

himself by increasing his decision making ability, as stated in the theory

of transactional analysis by Berne (1964).

B. Weaknesses

Not only the strengths, it is equally important to realise the areas of

improvement of an employee and help him to overcome it. The identified





weaknesses of the respondents have been given in Table 3

Table 3 Weaknesses of Agricultural Extension Scientists n = 45

Sl. No. Weakness Frequency Rank

1 Junior in Service 27 IV

2. Poor drafting skills 18 V

3. Poor participatory management skills 34 III

4. No exposure to I.T. 40 I

5. Less professional interaction 36 II

It could be noticed that ‘no exposure to IT’ was the major weakness.

Development of computers and improvements in telecommunications offerfarmers many new opportunities to obtain technical and economic information

quickly and use it effectively for decision making. Communication technologies

can range from low cost radio and videos to networked environments involving

computers and satellites to expert systems, interactive video disc and Geographi-

cal Information systems. The extension scientists therefore have rightly recognised

the area for improvement. The Less professional interaction was the other

weakness recognised. Professional interaction will help the scientists to cometo know about the happenings outside the box. Hence, frequent interaction

meetings at least once in a year may be thought of for extension scientists to

share the ideas. The ‘poor participatory management skills’ and ‘poor drafting

skills’ were also identified as their weaknesses. The whole world is now moving

around participatory approaches to involve all the players of the gaming the

process. Drafting is a skill necessary to inform the readers / stakeholders about

the technologies in a concise and convincing form, particularly in the wake of

WTO which requires educating farmers on the cost reduction technologies.

Though the seniority should be respected and recognised, the junior scientist

should also be recognised and given challenging jobs. Majority (60.00%) of

the respondents were of Asst. Professor cadre. Given an opportunity, junior

scientists will also prove their metal. This also helps them in experiential

learning and mould them in a way what their organisation wants. Not giving

an opportunity for conducting meetings with senior level people, participation

in State, National and International level seminars / workshops / conferences,




in the organisation enhances employee performance, boosts up their

morale and motivation. The respondents could notice rightly that ‘Rapidly

changing technology’ was the threat. Frequent interactions with

higher ups, participation in national and international level workshops could

help him/her to keep pace with rapid changes and face the challenges.

Conclusion

The study has brought out the potentials of Agricultural Extension Scientists

through perceived strengths like job commitment and positiveness; weakness

like no exposure to IT and less professional interaction, opportunities like

creativity and team spirit; and threats viz., feeling of transfer at any timeand poor recognition.

The strong areas need to be capitalized and the areas of improvement should

be realized to help the extension human resource to overcome them through

planned and continuous counselling and training and development. Chal-

lenging work environment, enconragement, creativity and out of the box

thinking, placement of individuals based on their competencies provide

positive stroke for the human resource to exploit their potential.

References

Anonymous (2001) Reading material on HRD in Extension Organisations.

Extension Education Institute, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad.

Berne Eric (1964) Games people play. Grove Press, New York.

Jhansi Rani G (1985) Scientific productivity of Agricultural Scientists – An

Activity Analysis Approach. Ph.D thesis, ANGRAU, Hyderabad.

Shiv Khera (2002) You can win. Macmillan India Ltd, Delhi.




Turnover: It the volume of business done in a year in terms of Rupees.

Whose annual turnover is less than Rs.5,00,000/- are scored (1), and whose

turnover is more than Rs.50,00,000/- are scored (5).

Income : It is the gross annual profit in Rupees obtained in the business.

The income of less than Rs.50,000 was scored as (1), and More than Rs.

10,00,000/- was scored as (6)

Loan: It is the debt in Rupees outstanding at present against the money

borrowed from various sources. Those who have outstanding loan of less than

Rs.50,000/- are scored (1), and more than Rs.10,00,000/- are scored (5).


The data reveals that 46 per cent of entrepreneurs in agriculture are in the age

group of 31 to 40 years. However, on educational front, things are not that

encouraging. Twenty four percent are not even graduates, 42 per cent do not have

a science degree. Only 6 per cent are agricultural graduates and 12 percent are

post-graduate in agriculture. Majority of entrepreneurs (54%) have completed less

than 10 years in the business. The initial investment of less than one lakh rupees

was made by majority (66%) of the respondents. The annual turnover for 48%

entrepreneurs is between 5 to 25 lack of rupees and 60% respondents have annualgross income of Rs.50,000/- to Rs.2.5 lack. However, 38% reported that their

income is just enough to meet all needs comfortably and 44% respondents said

the income is just enough to barely get by on. For 14% entrepreneurs, their income

is not enough to live on. Seventy nine per cent of entrepreneurs in agriculture

are have outstanding loans to the tune of Rs.50,000/- to Rs.5 lakh and a majority

of them (62%) are very concerned about repaying the loan but 76 per cent have

reported that current financial condition of their family is not a problem. The data

also reveal that 46 per cent entrepreneurs have financially very resourceful parentsbut not many of them are having politically influential parents or in-laws.

The correlations among all the indices of work alienation are presented in

Table 1. The pattern of relationships indicates that those entrepreneurs having

higher income also have higher turnover (r = .77) and higher amount of

outstanding loan (r = 62). The relationships are positive, quite strong and

significant. Entrepreneurs having higher turnover are also likely to take higher

risk (r .35). The relation is significant. Correlation matrix also reveal that

younger entrepreneurs are associated with higher degree of alienation. Simi-





larly, entrepreneurs with lower income have higher degree of work alienation.

Those with lower investment have higher alienation. Data also indicates that

as the turnover increases, alienation decreases and as the loan amount increase,

work alienation also increases. The relationship between risk taking abilityand work alienations seems to be positive (.08) but not significant.

Table 1 : Zero order Correlations between age, income, investment,

turnover, loan, years in business risk taking ability and alien-

ation from work.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 Age

2 Income .29*

3 Investment -.10 -.05

4 Turnover .23 77** -.01

5 Loan .22 .62** .23 .58**

6 Years 37** .23 -.13 .26 .24

7 Risk .18 .23 -.01 ·35* .11 .02

8 Alienation -.10 -.10 -.02 -.24 -.06 .08 .03

* p< .05, ** p< .01

The bivariate relationships dictated the strategy for multivariate analysis. The

model was tested to explain the effects of independent variable on work related

alienation among entrepreneurs in agriculture. The structure of regression model

conforms to the classical fixed effects, least-squares configuration. The model

assumes that the effects are linear and makes no explicit provision for interaction.

Table 2: Standardized partial regression coefficient of independent

variables on alienation from work.

Variables Beta T

Age -.17 -1.06

Income -.23* -.92

Investment -.01 -.07

Turnover -.54** -2.22

Loan .07 .35

Years .22* 1.35

Risk .18 1.17

Multiple R 38*R Square .15

*p<.05 **p<.O1




The multivariate analysis also yields consistent relationship for age,

income, investment, and turnover as all the Beta are negative. This

supports our hypothesis that these variables inversely contribute to the

explanation of work related alienation among entrepreneurs in agricul-

ture. The contribution of income and turnover looks quite strong and

significant. Number of years in business and risk taking ability also yields

consistent relationship in terms of positive Beta. Number of years in the

business also emerges as s strong predictor of alienation from work. The

overall model is significant (Multiple R .38), and 15 per cent of the

variance in work related alienation among the entrepreneurs in agriculture

is explained by this model. Among all the variables in the model Annualturnover emerge as the very strong predictor for alienation.

The outcome confirms a notion suggested earlier that work alienation is a very

complex phenomenon. Financial factors which are consistently neglected in

previous alienation studies seem to interact with the work situation to produce

different levels of work alienation. In this study, the volume of annual turnover

seems to make a significant difference in alienation from work. Younger

entrepreneurs, appear to be more alienated than older entrepreneurs indicatingthat younger entrepreneurs react more strongly to alienating job conditions.

The findings of this study may have implications for the development of

entrepreneurship in agriculture. With the diversification and modernization

of agricultural practices, there is a need to augment and support extension

services for agriculture. For this purpose, several Agriclinics and Agribusiness

Centers are being set up by the agriculture graduates with the sponsorship

of NABARD. They will strengthen transfer of technology, extension services

and also provide self-employment opportunities to technically trained

persons. No doubt, the role of entrepreneurs in agriculture will be crucial

in changed economic environment. The entrepreneurs who are motivated

by the desire to excel in achievements can conquer new horizons in

providing services to the majority of farmers. But, those who are alienated

from their work will be thrown out of business by dynamic market forces

and the investment made in them by the society may not yield the returns.

Such entrepreneurs need to be identified, counseled and properly trained.





References

Blauner, R., 1964. “Alienation and Freedom. Chicago : Uni. Of Chicago

Press.Jajoo, Alka S., Sneha Mahajani, and S.Y.Kulkarni, 1994. “Factors in job

satisfaction of women entrepreneurs.” Maharashtra Journal of

Extension Education XIII: 249-52.

Marx Karl, 1963. Early writings. Trans and T. B. Bottomore (eds.). London

: C. A. Watts.

Mottaz, Clifford J., 1980, “Some determinants of work alienation.” The

Sociological Quarterly 22 515-29

Singh Karam, 1990. “Case studies of successful farmers, societies and

private entrepreneurs experiences and issues” Indian Jn of Agril.

Econ. 45:350-357.

Seeman, M., 1959. “On the meaning of alienation.” American Sociological

Review, 24:783-91.





An effective monitoring system is able to

o Director problems (deviations from schedule, emergence of unforeseen

technical problems) early enough for remedies to be applied.o Provide realistic, adequately summarized and easily interpreted informa-

tion on the likely progress of the project, both technical / social and financial

o Identify those who failed to do things on time.

Project Monitoring and evaluation stages

Start of the project End of the project

----------------------------------Input ------------------- Output effect

Monitoring Concurrent Impact

Evaluation Evaluation

Monitoring is a continuous or recurrent process that can be perceived and conducted

at three levels. Programme monitoring, evaluation and impact monitoring.

Project cycle:

Project Project Project

Identification Formulation Appraisal

Execution Management

plan

Expost project

Implementation

Monitoring and concurrent

Evaluation





B. Channel of Instructions:

The methods by which the targets are communicated to the project

supervisors are often unsatisfactory. It must ensure that the supervisorsare instructed on their role in a timely and comprehensible manner.

Often, no formal provision is made for this and junior staff are expected

to decide upon their responsibilities from a circulated generalized over

all description of the project.

C. Feedback mechanisms:

A systematic reporting system will facilitate objective identification of reasons

for delay and, forms a reliable basis for forecasting future progress. Without

proper identification of reasons for delay, it is difficult to devise effective

remedies. Timing of a reporting system must be appropriate in relation to the

duration of the project cycle to identify delays before they become serious.

Techniques used in monitoring

A. Traditional method:Periodical reports like monthly reports, quarterly reports etc in prescribed

formats. Limitations / deficiencies:

å Targets are often unrealistic

å Lack of a systematic method of converting targets into instruction at

the right time to the right people.

å There is no methodical checking of what has to be done, by whom

and when certain activities maybe overlooked

å Distortion in reporting and delayed communication results in delayed

decision making on cross check measures.

å Physical progress summary tends to be presented after issues have

already arisen because deviations are picked up after they have

become serious.




å It gives no guidance to the project manager on the relative importance

of project activities at any one stage

åProvides no logical basis for summarizing the state of progress. Itremains as an undigested, unclassified list of everything that has

happened. The overall picture is concealed.

å Instead of identifying the problems the reports often end up reassigning

the blame.

Self Monitoring:

The process by which the community and beneficiaries can participate inmonitoring their own progress in development initiatives.

Improved method : critical path method

It involves realistic working methods and rates of implementation to generate

a feasible plan and provide a means of implementing it. It consists of the

following steps.

Assembly of a complete list of all activities needed to complete the projecttogether with the relationships between them (that is, which job must follow

which) and the length of time required to complete them.

å Calculation of the time needed to complete the project and the dates

on which each job should be commenced and finalized.

å Setting up instructional and feedback links between the project manager

and executives.

Critical path activities:

Delay in any activities will automatically lengthen the project. The continu-

ous line of activity from the start to finish of the project is known as the

critical path. The method of project control depending on this sort of analysis

is referred to as the critical path method (CPM). The length of the CPM

is the minimum time in which the project can be completed. For easy

understanding it is explained by citing following example on yield gaps.





Basic data in CPM on the extension activities of an agricultural assistant.

Programme Evaluation Review Technique (PERT)

Moder and Philips (1970) enlist the following key advantages of using PERT.

1. It encourages logical discipline in planning, scheduling and control of

projects2. It encourages more length range and detailed project planning

3. It provides a standard method of documenting and communicating

project plans, schedules and time and cost performance.

4. It identifies the most critical elements in the plan, thus focusing

management attention on the 10-20 percent of the project that is most

containing and procedural changes on overall schedules.

Activity Activity description Duration Activities

number proceeding1 Mass meeting Jan (4 weeks)

2 Selection of groups of farmers Feb (2 weeks) 1

3 Group meeting of selected farmers Feb (2 weeks) 2

4 Identification of yield gaps on Mar-April 3

individual land holdings (6 weeks)

5 Understanding farmers perceptions * *

about technologies

6 Identification of production constraints * *

7 Setting goals on yield levels * *8 Preparation of technology plan for * *

land development and crop production

9 Documentation technology plan May-Oct 8

(24 weeks)

10 Follow up on implementation of Nov 92 233ks) 11

technology plan

11 Collection of yield data Nov. (2 weeks) 10

12 Group meeting on performance appraisal Nov (2 2weeks) 11

13 Mass meeting on publicity of Dec (4 weeks) 12

performance

* Need based.




Monitoring the management

In addition to field level implementation, project monitoring should assess

the management as well, for the effectiveness of the institutional set up.

Check list for monitoring the management

Whether a standard review mechanism has been scheduled.

Whether proper training / orientation has been given to extension

workers on the extension mechanism.

Whether the requirements like teaching materials, audiovisual aids and

stationery have been supplied to extension workers. Whether inspection, supervision and guidance are organized with reference

to identified steps in the extension approach.

Whether the reporting system has been standardized.

Evaluation is normally a once only exercise to determine if a project was

carried out efficiently, effectively, within budget and conforming to objec-

tives. It can be midterm, or expost, and may be sued, for example, to decide

whether a project should be continued or not and if so, whether and whatchanges are to be made in design and or management.

Impact Monitoring

Impact monitoring is to determine long term, sustained changes that occur

because of intervention, whether or not they are planned. It looks at the result

and provides impacts to long range planning and design of future interventions.

Steps in participatory impact monitoring

Preparing the monitoring

Step 1 : Deciding on programmes to be monitored

Step 2 : Identifying impacts of the programmes

Step 3 : Clarifying key and agreeing on the meaning of the impact

Step 4 : Deciding on impacts to be monitored




Many external and internal evolution studies have been conducted in the

field of extension activities by many government agencies, research

institutions, voluntary organizations. Various types of evaluation such as

Enante, Concurrent, Ex-post factor and Terminal are carried out. It has been

seen that the evaluation studies lose sight the purpose for which those are

conducted resulting into more problems than solutions. Thus, the evaluation

study should strictly be restricted to the parameters already designed. There

is a need for imparting trainings to the personnel engaged in evaluation and

also making use of modern electronic tools to get evaluation results in time.

ReferenceBarnabas A.P. and Lakshmiswaramma M., 1980, “Assessment of Evaluation

system for Rural development” In, Kuldeep Mathu and Inayatullah (eds)

Monitoring and Evaluation of Rural Development: Some Asian Expe-

riences, KaulA Lumpur U.N. Asian and Pacific Development Centre.

Goel S.C. and Jain R.K. 1988, Monitoring and Evaluation, Social Welfare

Administration Theory and practice Vol 1, Deep and Deep publications

D-1/24, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi-110027Moder and Phillips., 1970(Cecil R) Project management with CPM and

PERT, Edition 2, VANJ NOSTRAND REINHOLD COMPANY, 450

West 33rd street New York NY-1001.

Myrada and IIRR 1997, Resource Management in rainfed dry lnds HYRADA,

Bangalore India and IIRR Silang Cavite, Philippines

MYRADA 1998, Participatory impact monitoring of an integrated rural

development programme in holalkara, Karnataka.




The concept of sustainability has been aroused because of increasing soil

and environment pollution which were caused by injudicious land utilization

with high intensity cropping and dumping of chemical and synthetic

pesticides, fertilizers and growth promoters. At this juncture, there was an

additional responsibility on agricultural research system to minimise the soil

and environmental pollution, keeping the primary objective of achieving the

targeted food grain production intact.

The two approaches to achieve sustainability in Indian agriculture are

i) Integrated Farming Systems (IFS)

ii) Blending of Indigenous Farm Practices (IFP) into modem technologies

These two approaches have advantage that they are eco-friendly,

economically feasible and the IFS gives more income per unit area by

reducing the cost of production and increasing income per unit area.

i) Integrated farming systems

Farming system is defined as a unique and reasonably stable arrangements

of family enterprises that the household manages according to its physical,

biological economic and socio cultural environment in accordance with household’s

goal, preference and resource. The farm wastes are better recycled for pro-

ductive purpose in the integrated system. A judicious mix of agricultural

enterprises like crop production, horticulture, silviculture, sericulture, dairy,

poultry, piggery, fishery etc. suited to given agroclimatic conditions and socio-

economic status of the farmers would bring prosperity to the farmers.

In IFS, the waste products of rice formed 33 per cent of the poultry feed

and the feed cost could be reduced by 57.5% by substituting rice grain, maize,

oil cakes of crop component and the Luceme grown around fish pond. In

commercial poultry farm, cost of production per egg will be around 42 paise,

by way of reducing the feed cost, the cost of production per egg under IFS

was reduced to 19 paise. Thus the net income under the IFS was Rs.15,145/

acre (0.4 ha) while Rs.9,010/acre (0.4 ha) was obtained from the cropping

system rice-rice-green manure (Rangaswamy eta!. 1988).





ii) Blending of Indigenous Farm Practices (IFP) with modern

technologies

The study was conducted in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts of NorthCoastal Zone of Andhra Pradesh in two phases. First phase involves

identification or documentation of IFP through informal interview with

selected elder farmers and rationality was found out by referring

questionnaire to 30 agricultural scientists and testing of awareness adoption

and knowledge of farmers on IFP by administration of structural pre-tested

interview schedule for 120 farmer respondents.

The results shows that out of 96 identified IFP on 6 major crops existing in

the study area 80.21% were rated rational by the scientists. The respondents

have more awareness, adoption and knowledge on rational IFP than the irrational

IFP. This shows that rational IFP are more liable and compatable with the culture

and traditions of the farming community hence it is very easy for the extension

agency to disseminate such technologies. So identification of viable rational

IFPs which are economically feasible can be disseminated by involving a

Suggestive model for effective harnessing of IFP

Inventory of crop wise IFP

Fixing rationality

Experimentation of rational

Integration of IFP with scientific

Recommendations

Technology Technology Technology use

Generation system dissemination system

System

Evaluation




participatory extension approach. I would like to suggest a model for effective

harnessing of IFP to achieve the sustainability in Indian agriculture.

In this model, extension workers are encouraged to identify the existing IFPintensively and test verification of IFP by discussing with the team of

agricultural scientists for their rationality. Experimentation of selected rational

IFP at farm and research stations to test the validity behind the IFP with

integration of scientific technologies and for their cost benefit analysis. These

integrated technologies further disseminated to technology user system for

their adoption. Evaluation of these three systems involving a participatory

approach further strengthens the scope for identification of unidentified IFP

and their integration into modern technologies.

It could be concluded that the two suggested approaches are very much useful

in keeping the environment pollution intact in addition to the primary

objective of achieving targeted agricultural production. This is because

rational IFP are eco-friendly, economically feasible and culturally

compatible with the traditions of the society and IFS is an eco-friendly and

economically feasible approach and give more income per unit area of land.

References

Lakshmana Kella 2000 Documentaiton and analysis of indigenous farm

practices on major crops an inventory, Unpub. (M.Sc. (Ag) Thesis,

TNAU, Coimbatore

Ranga Swamy A, Venkatasamy R, Premasekar M, Jayanthi C, Purushothaman

S and Palaniappan S P 1 995 integrated farming system for rice based

ecosystem. Madras agric J. 82:287-290.

Singh S N 1998 Research in Extension a critique of four decades of

performance, IJEE, Vol.34 : No. 3 &4: pp.19-26




* The following are the state level technical units

Flower crops Sheep

Vegetables crops BeekeepingDeciduous and subtropical fruit crops Crop Protection

Citrus Irrigation & Fertilization

Field crops Farm machinery

Poultry Farm management

Dairy and beef production Landscape & gardening

* * The following are the six newly organized extension regions

1. Kiriyat Shmonah Region (Northern Galilee and the Golan Heights)

2. Amakim Region (beit-she’an and Jordan Valley and Afula, Yezreel Valley)

3. Acre Region (western Galilee)

4. Central Region (central coast, from dadera to Ramana)

5. Rehovot Region (southern Plain)

6. Hanegev Region (kiryat Gat, Beer-Sheva and the Negev).

Shaham -The extension and production services shahams mission is

to serve

National Policy

Land settlement

Population spread

Self supply

Promote exports

Protect Environment

Farmer welfare

Standard of living

Efficient production

Profitability

Consumer welfare

Safe nutrition’s food

All year round supply

At reasonable prices





Shaham role :

Gathering and analyzing info – know how

Developing new technologies

Transfer of know how and technologies

Application of know how

Promoting agricultural production

Shaham – The extension and production service, Ministry of

Agriculture Some guiding principles

Initiate extension and advice to all farmers

Guide and follow-up application on farm

Generate and develop relevant technologies

Guided by professional considerations

Provides professional and technical advice only Intensity of advising according to needs

Shaham continuously upgrading to needs

Shaham continuously upgrades staffs competency

Technology and know how

Extension methods

Maintain strong on-going ties with research

Cooperate fully with agricultural organization

The main objectives of the Israel Agriculture extension service

5 Promoting agriculture and rural environment by varying farmers

production and management capability.

5 Providing information, knowledge and agricultural technological

services to the Ministry of Agriculture and rural development and to

the sectors an a public and private basis.




5 Providing technological development, including technology

generation, different and adoption.

5Providing quality and excellence in both agricultural production andmarketing

5 Providing a national policy of sustainable agriculture for all the answers

of agricultural goods with particular attention to environmental and

natural resource productivity.

The service generates applied knowledge with the help of field trials

and observations and diffuses it relying on a series of information

dissemination techniques

5 One to one advice visits of advisors on farmers fields

5 Group activities – with selected groups of farmers

5 Training sessions for farmers

5 Pre-season, seasonal and season end meetings

5 Publication of leaflets and data sheets

5 Publication of crop production and protection recommendation guides

5 Filming and editing videotapes for the use of the individual farmers,

in most agricultural branches.

5 Preparation of radio programs for farmers.

The extension services operates technical support laboratories all over

the country, being responsible for the accuracy of the results, their

incorporation into technical recommendations and their interprettion

to farmers in the following areas

5 Soil analysis

5 Leaf tests for the formulation of fertilization recommendations

5 Analysis of dry matter content

5 Tests for water quality in irrigation, brackish water , etc. with particular

attention to environmental and natural resource protection.




The Extension & Technology Service




Livestock owners

About three-fourths of India’s population and poor live in rural areas, and

over 70 per cent of them own livestock. A large majority of them comprises

small and marginal farmers and land less households (Table 1). Overall, the

distribution of livestock is much more equitable than that of land, the bottom

60 per cent of rural households own 65 per cent of all milch animals, leadingto more equitable sharing of gains from livestock production. On an average

the farmers are willing to pay between Rs.600-700 per year for veterinary

services in Gujarat and Rajasthan and about Rs.300 in Kerala. For the service

at the hospital, the farmers are willing to pay approximately Rs.300-350 in

Rajasthan and Rs.140-150 per annum in Kerala. Analysis of determinants

showed that willingness to pay was lower for poor households ( Ahuja, Vinod

et.al.,2000). When livestock extension services are privatized, livestock keepers

with small herds of one or two animals are more likely than larger farmers

Fig: Classification of Livestock services

Source: JPS Associates, 1994




Public Veterinary Personnel

In the public sector, the focus throughout the past planning periods has been

on enhancing the supply of veterinary services by strengthening the capabilities

and coverage of the State Animal Husbandry Departments ( SAHDs). The

number of state run veterinary institutions grew from about 2,000 in 1951

to over 50,000 at the end of 1997-98. There were 7,415 veterinary hospitals/

polyclinics, 14,573 veterinary dispensaries, and 23,682 veterinary aid centres

including mobile dispensaries and 43,782 Artificial Insemination (AI) centers.

Despite that, however there was only one veterinary institution per 10,000

animals. Only Tripura, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala had

one institution for 5,000 animals as recommended by the National Commissionon Agriculture (1976). The comparable figures for West Bengal and Rajasthan

were 20,000 – 25,000 (GOI, 1997). On the AI side, there were about 4.2 centers

per 10,000 breedable bovines with Kerala appearing on the top of the list with

10.3 AI centers. Comparable figures for Gujarat and Rajasthan were 7.2 and

2.4 respectively. AI programmes cover only 17 million cattle and buffaloes,

which comprises of about 15 per cent of breedable population. The only

exception is Kerala, where coverage is more than 50 per cent. (Table 2).

Table 2 : Veterinary institutions and AI centers in India

State Vetrinary institutions/ AI centers/ AI centers / 1000

1000 livestock 1000 bovines breedable bovines

Andhra Pradesh 0.14 0.18 0.48Assam 0.11 0.07 0.22Bihar 0.07 0.06 0.21Gujarat 0.09 0.31 0.72Haryana 0.24 0.35 0.78Himachal Pradesh 0.23 0.31 0.75Jammu& Kashmir 0.09 0.15 0.38

Karnataka 0.10 0.34 0.96Kerala 0.19 0.49 1.03Madhya Pradesh 0.07 0.08 0.24Maharashtra 0.09 0.18 0.45

Orrissa 0.15 0.11 0.35Punjab 0.26 0.26 0.53Rajasthan 0.05 0.11 0.24Tamilnadu 0.12 0.29 0.72Tripura 0.27 0.14 0.43Uttar Pradesh 0.08 0.06 0.16WestBengal 0.04 0.16 0.49

All India 0.10 0.15 0.42

Source: GOI, 1997





Economic analysis of the Services and their Externalities

The principles of excludability and subtractability determine whether a service

is closer to being public or private (Fig. 2). The two types of services, whichare closest to being pure private services, are Production services, curative health

services and the provision of veterinary pharmaceuticals that often go together.

In receiving treatment for a sick animal the owner reduces the stock of the drugs

available to others (subtractability) and at least at first sight, is the sole beneficiary

(excludability) of the services. For instance in Andhra Pradesh, drugs worth of

Rs.1000 /- per annum are provided by the Government for each panchayat under

Fig2. Economic analysis of Livestock extension services

Excludability

Public goods Toll goods

Common pool goods Private goods

Subtractability

Low

Low

High

High

Source: Adapted from Umali and Schwarrtz, 1994 and Beynon et al, 1998

a public veterinary dispensary. These drugs hardly meet the treatment requirements

of animals for less than one-month period. Here the principles of subtractability

and excludability matter much to the livestock owners. A pure public livestock

service provides benefits that are non-excludable and non-rival. In contrast, the

benefits provided by a pure private veterinary service is fully excludable and rival.

The services such as disease surveillance, quarantine and food hygiene/inspection

comes under pure public services, and clinical diagnosis, prescription and AI comes

under private services. Due to the characteristics of non-rivalry and non-exclud-

ability, the free access tends to under provide public veterinary services since the

provider cannot appropriate the full profits. Thus, it becomes the obligation of

the Government to provide these services. The private practitioners at a socially




optimal level on the other hand provide private goods, if there are no

externalities. Between the two extremes of pure public and pure private goods

lies a whole continuum based on the degree of excludability and rivalry (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3: Division of responsibilities between private and public sector

Public Sector Shared Responsibilities Private Sector

Disease survivalence Disease diagnosis and Clinical

Compliance monitoring reporting diagnosis/treatment,

Quarantine Compulsory testing, Drug/vaccine production/

Drug/vaccine quality accreditation distribution,

control Diagnostic support, Artificial Insemination

Food hygiene/inspection animal welfare Herd health and

production Export inspection and Notified disease control programmes

certification Disease emergency Marketing livestock and

Accreditation of personnel response, zoonosis control products,

Planning for emergencies. Research advice and

extension

Source: FAO (1992)

Among curative services, diagnosis involves externalities because by making

diagnosis and communicating it to the animal owner, the veterinarian isincreasing the overall level of knowledge in the social system – especially

important if the illness in question might grow to epidemic proportions (Gros,

1994). Treatment only involves externalities where the illness in question

is infectious and can be cured, thereby reducing the risk of other livestock

owners. Despite all these externalities, public provision of curative livestock

extension services is not justified to all sections of livestock keepers. Gros

(1994) concurs with this, but gave more emphasis to the private nature of

curative services on account of two factors. First no body but the ownerof the animal receives immediate economic benefit from the treatment.

Second, most of the curative treatment does not involve infectious diseases.

Preventive health services also largely involve externalities through which

the social benefits are much higher than individual benefits. In order to

maximize social benefits, the Government will have to intervene in the

production of preventive goods. If it does not directly provide the goods

it self, then it will have to pay subsidies to the providers.




and Umali et al. (1992) and was modified to the Indian conditions ( Fig.3).

Public funded veterinary services are expected to be responsible for providing

services where no free market incentives justifies or create a demand for a service.

In public health services, there is a free market incentive but there are economies

of scale, externalities or professional or biological determinants which dictate

how best to deliver specific services, viz., disease eradication by area wide

vaccination. Further services are provided based on the need for specific services

and how much the public is willing to pay for them. Public sector veterinary

services should also direct their activities in accordance with national

development policies for investment, poverty alleviation, food security, envi-

ronmental protection, support for disadvantaged groups, sustainable livestock production and other socially desirable goals. Where these principles do not

apply, selected services can be legitimately diverted to the private sector.

Conclusion

Until recently the provision of livestock outreach services have essentially been

the responsibility of the government. However, the emphasis in recent years

is on cost recovery due to cut downs in budgetary allocations. Rationalization

in the delivery of services has been advocated as a means of improving the supply

of veterinary services to the end users. One major intention of rationalization

is to allocate costs where individual benefits are expected more, i.e. increased

production is to be paid for by the livestock owners. Overall environmental and

public health aspects remain Government responsibilities, and thus Government

operational capacity and effectiveness can be improved by rationalizing the

delivery of public veterinary services, while diverting those services which can

be commercialized and ultimately benefit individual owners of livestock.Reference

Ahuja, Vinod, George P S, Sunil Ray, MC Connell K E, Kurup M P G, Gandhi

V, Dina Umali D and De Haan 2000 Agricultural services and the poor:

Case of Livestock Health and Breeding Services in India. IIM, Ahmadabad.

Beynon,J Stephen Akroyd, Alex Duncan and Stephen Jones 1998 Financing

the future options for agricultural research and extension in Sub-

Saharan Africa, Oxford policy management, Oxford, England





FAO 1992 Principles for rational delivery of public and private veterinary

services. FAO, Rome

GOI 1998 National Accounts Statistics, CSO, Department of Statistics.Ministry of Planning, GOI, New Delhi.

GOI 1997. Basic animal husbandry statistics, DAHD, Ministry of

Agriculture, New Delhi

GOI 1996 National livestock Policy: Report of the steering group, GOI,

New Delhi.

Gros J G 1994 Of Cattle farmers, veterinarians and the World Bank: The

political economy of veterinary services privatization in Cameroon.

Public Administration and Development 14 (1) : 37 – 51.

James A and Upton M 1995 Cost recovery for veterinary services. University

of Reading.

JPS Associates 1994 A study on institutional aspects of livestock and animal

husbandry sector in India. JPS Associates, New Delhi.

Leonard D 1985 The supply of veterinary services. Harvard Institute for In-ternational Development, discussion paper 191. Cambridge, Mass, HIID.

National Commission on Agriculture 1976. Report of the National Com-

mission on Agriculture. Part VII. Animal Husbandry, Ministry of Food

and Agriculture, Govt. of India, New Delhi.

Umali D L, Feder G and de Haan C 1992 The balance between public and

private sector activities in the delivery of livestock services, world bank

discussion paper 163, Washington DC: World Bank Publications.

Umali D L and Schwartz L 1994. Public and private agricultural extension:

Beyond traditional frontiers. World bank discussion paper No 236,

Washington D C

VCI 1995 Human resource development in the veterinary profession: A brief

report on the zonal meeting of Directors of animal husbandry of state/

union territories. Convened during 1994 and 1995, Veterinary Council

of India, New Delhi.




* Research Associate, National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management

(MANAGE), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad – 500 030.

UTILISATION OF INFORMATION SOURCES BY

THE TRIBAL FARMERS IN RAMPACHODAVARAM

AGENCY AREA : A MICRO STUDY

P.L.Manohari *

Introduction

Communication plays a vital role in all social changes. Studies in India and

elsewhere have pointed the need for an ‘Effective Communication Strategy’

to enable research results to reach the farmer’s fields without much timelag. It is obvious, therefore, that the change from traditional to modern ways

of life essentially involves communication of new ideas and their unhesitating

acceptance by people. For this purpose, various communication media ranging

from the sophisticated TV to the common and casual ones like interpersonal

channels have to be utilized.

There are many sources through which farmers seek or get information about

the technological changes in farming. The preference and selectivity for a

particular source may vary with the individuals. Nevertheless, interpersonal

communication still plays an appreciable role in communication of technol-

ogy in tribal areas because of their social bindings.

The available and relevant research information in mass communication

indicates that the interpersonal channels both cosmopolite and localite enjoy

the confidence of farmers and have obviously the capacity to influence them

to willingly adopt what is urged through these channels (Rogers with Svenning,

1969 and Daniel Lerner and Schram, 1967).

In tribal situation today, the effectiveness of the sophisticated media can

at best be very limited because majority of the tribal farmers are socially

backward, economically poor, psychologically traditional and a majority of

them are illiterates. In such a situation greater stress should inevitably be





placed on the fostering of less sophisticated media like informal,

interpersonal channels of communication to reach the isolated tribal farmers.

The main thrust of all the tribal agricultural development programmeis to spread farm technology in tr ibal areas through different

communication sources. Extension workers use various channels to send

the developmental messages. Hence the pattern of source util ization is

likely to be different from tribal farmers to non-tribal farmers because

of their culture and personality. Keeping this in the view the present

study is taken with the following objectives.

Objectives

1. To understand the personal sources of information utilized by the tribal

farmers.

2. To know the extent of utilization of extension staff and mass media

as a source of information by tribal farmers.

Methodology

Three villages in R.C.Varam agency area i.e Cheruvupalem, D.N.Palem

and Madicherla were selected purposively to represent 3 major tribal groups

i.e Konda reddy, Konda kammara and Konda kapu. 10 % of the village

population was selected as a sample respondents. Thus the size of the

sample is 150 which covers 30 respondents from Cheruvupalem, 60 re-

spondents from D.N.Palem and 60 respondents from Madicherla. Utilisation

of information sources is measured by taking into consideration all the18

sources available to the tribal farmers which are listed and classified intothree categories viz., personal localite, personal cosmopolite and mass

media on the lines followed by Sadamate (1978), Sangle and Kulkarni

(1980), Kulkarni (1985) and Pandey (1989). Each respondent will be asked

to indicate how often he will utilise farm information from each of the

listed sources. Based on the responses the utilization

percentages of each source was calculated.




Profile of the Respondents

The household profile of the sample respondents is presented in the following

table.Profile of the Respondents

S.No Particulars Cheruvupalem D.N.Palem Madicherla

1. Average literacy (%) 10.76 15.04 13.78

2. Average farm size (acres) 7.22 3.979 4.026

3. Average family size (no) 7 6 7

4 Average asset composition (Rs)

a) Buildings 62000 5985 6402

b) Livestock 5964 6491 5631

c) Implements 525 585 4895) Gainful employment (in man- 134 158 163

days/annum)

From the above table, it can be seen that the average literacy percentage of

the sample villages were 15.04 in D.N.Palem, 13.78 in Madicherla and 10.76

in Cheruvupalem. This clearly shows that the literacy percentage is very low

in these villages. The average farm size of these 3 villages are 7.22 acres in

Cheruvupalem followed by 4.026 acres in Madicherla and 3.979 acres in

D.N.Palem. This farm lands includes uplands, medium lands, low lands and

irrigated lands. Negligible amount of irrigated land is existing in Cheruvupalem

and D.N.Palem. The average family size of the respondents is in between 6-

7. After seeing the average asset composition the total assets in livestock and

implements are more when compared to the building assets in all the 3 villages.

This clearly indicates the dependency of the farm on the livestock for the

purpose of draught, manure, fuel, meat etc. It is seen that the total employment

in a year is between 134-163 mandays, which includes agriculture and nonagriculture sources. The income from non agricultural sources like collection

of forest produce, wages from forest department, road construction and watershed

works were more when compared to regular farm activities. This key issue

is to be addressed in terms of increasing the cropping intensity by the intro-

duction of double cropping or bringing additional area under cultivation so

that the additional employment on the agricultural lands could be brought about

which ultimately leads to the production, income and employment status of

the farmers and thus improve the standard of living.



J u l y-D e c e

m b er ,2 0 0 2

1 3 5


The results and discussion of the utilization of information sources was presented below.

Utilisation of Information Sources

Category Sl. Sources of Most often Often Some times Nev

No information No.of Percen No.of Percen No.of Perc

respon tage respon tage respon tage

dents dents dents

Personal 1 Family members 28 18.66 99 66 13 8.67

Localite 2 Friends / neighbors 126 84.00 20 13.33 3 2.0

3 Other farmers 126 84.00 22 14.67 1 0.67

4 Local leaders 125 83.33 20 13.33 3 2.05 Tribal farmer leaders 107 71.33 13 8.67 19 12.6

6 Religious leaders 14 9.33 31 20.67 55 36.6

Personal 7 Sub Assistant - 2 1.33

Cosmop 8 A.O - 1 0.67

-olite 9 ITDA personnel 1 0.67

10 APAU scientist - 1 0.67

11 Cooperative personnel 2 1.33

12 Voluntary agency 1 0.67

13 Bank personnel

Mass 14 News paper 1 0.67

media 15 Information material 1 0.6716 Radio 3 2.0

17 Demonstration 1 0.67

18 T.V 1 0.66 3 2.0 1 0.67




Personal Localite Category

Among all the 6 sources of information available to the farmers the priority

of the sources which were used ‘most often’ are friends/neighbors (84 %),other farmers (84 %) followed by local leaders (83.33%), tribal farmer leaders

(71.33%), family members(18.6%) and religious leaders (9.33%). The sample

farmers had expressed their first priority to friends/neighbors, other farmers

and local leaders as their main source of information because of their social

values in the tribal setting. The other reason may be they have less or no

social awareness of different sources of information. Only 18.66 % of the

respondents are utilizing the family members as a source of information

followed by religious leaders (9.33%). Keeping this in view, the ITDA(Integrated Tribal Development Agency) has to take up their extension

activities through these identified sources.

It can be observed from the above table that 66% of the respondents are

‘often’ utilizing family members as their source of information followed by

religious leaders (20.67%), other farmers (14.67%), local leaders, friends/

neighbors (13.33%) and tribal farmer leaders (8.67%). In tribal habitats,

before the onset of monsoon family members used to discuss about the

activities to be carried out in the field. Due to this reason more than half

of the respondents (66%) were ‘often’ used family members as a source of

information. The extension personnel in agency area has to involve all the

family members in all the extension activities.

The respondents were also ‘some times’ using the information sources like

religious leaders (36.67%) followed by tribal farmer leaders (12.67%), family

members (8.67%), friends/neighbors, local leaders (2.0) and other farmers

(0.67%). In Rampachodavaram agency area few religious institutions areworking for upliftment of the tribals. Along with the religion they are

organizing some awareness programmes on health, education, agriculture

etc. Because of this reason sometimes 36.67 % of the farmers are utilising

the religious leaders as their source of information.

From the above table it can be clearly seen that the farmers had never used the

information sources like religious leaders (33.33%), tribal farmer leaders ( 7.33%),

family members (6.67%), local leaders (1.33%) and other farmers (0.67%).





Majority of the farmers expressed that most often they use information sources

like local leaders, friends/neighbors, other farmers and tribal farmer leaders.

Personal Cosmopolite Category

Under the personal cosmopolite category the sources of information like GCC

- personal and ITDA personal were found to be utilized ‘often’ by very few

respondents’ i.e (1.33%) and (0.67%). Similarly, a very few respondents were

utilizing the other four sources of information ‘some times’ i.e. sub assistant

(1.33%), agricultural officer, ANGRAU scientists and voluntary organiza-

tions (0.67%) each respectively. And (98%) a majority of the respondents

“never” utilize the sources like Agriculture Sub Assistants, Agricultural

officers, ITDA personnel, APAU Scientists, Cooperative personnel and

Voluntary Agency. None of the respondents utilized bank personnel as their

source of information. The reasons for never or poor utilization of the above

said source of information by the tribals may be attributed in many ways,

their habitat (living on the hill slopes amidst thick forest) difficult to reach,

lack of awareness, illiteracy, non-recognition of the extension personnel etc.

Some of the leaders and outspoken tribals utilize the sources of information

and others do not. The meetings conducted by the extension personnel at

village level and Government interventions like “Janmabhoomi (a scheme

of Andhra Pradesh Government) conducted in each village provides an

opportunity to the tribal farmers to utilize the sources.

Mass Media

It is evident from the table that the utility of mass media is very limited.

The sources of information like news paper, information material, demon-

stration, radio and television are used. Among these 5 sources of informationtelevision was used as a information source most often by 0.66%, often by

2.0% and sometimes by 0.67 % of the respondents. A percentage of 2 and

0.67 of the respondents use radio and newspaper respectively as a source

of information sometimes. A majority of the respondents (almost 98

per cent) do not use any of these mass media as the source of information.

The reasons for a majority of respondents not utilizing the mass media as

a source of information is poverty, illiteracy, unaware of receiving messages

from such sources etc.




(Organization of the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management)

A Half-yearly Journal devoted to dissemination of knowledge in the field of

Agricultural Extension Management

Chief Editor

A.K. Goel, IAS

Director General

MANAGE

Editor

Dr. J.P. Singh

Director

MANAGE

Associate Editor

Dr. P. Chandra Shekara

Deputy Director

MANAGE

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Agricultural Development. Papers on Agricultural Extension will be preferred. Article

contributions and editorial correspondence should be sent to the chief editor/editor.

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Place of Publication - HyderabadPeriodicity of Publication and - Half Yearly

Printers Name Heritage Print Services Pvt. Ltd.

Nallakunta, Hyd-44.

Publisher's Name - A.K. Goel, IAS

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cost price analysis of sugarcane tamil nadu

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