A Study On the Economic Impact of Infarm among the Farmers of Idukki District (Published)
Agriculture sector is the backbone of every human society. It is the foundation stone for the economic growth and development. Due to it’s higher inter-linkage effects no one can underrate it’s significance. Today agriculture is going through a tough period. The farmers find it very difficult to make their both ends meet. The distress of farmers is due to several factors like the changing nature of agriculture, economies of production, policies of the govt and the ongoing reforms in the country. The spate of suicides is considered a tragic manifestation of the deteriorating conditions of farmers. Farmer’s suicide in different parts of India has become a recurring phenomenon over the past one decade so. These represent the concrete expressions of farmer’s problems. The percentage of famer’s suicide is very high in Kerala, when compared to that of other Indian states. The crisis faced by an important section of the population need to be carefully analysed. Indian Farmers movement, popularly known as INFARM , is an organization of farmers in Kerala, came to an answer to the problems faced by the farmers. They addressed issues like higher cost of production, recurring price fall, low quality seeds and seedlings, debt trap of farmers etc. to a great extent.
Keywords: Farmers, Idukki, district, economic impact, infarm
Demonstration of improved potato varieties at Koffele District, West Arsi Zone, Oromiya, Ethiopia (Published)
The study was carried out at Guchi and Hulabera peasant association/Kebele of Kofale District west Arsi Zone, Oromiya Ethiopia. The study was carried with the intension to transfer the potato production technology to increase production. The district is among the potential area for potato production in the west Arsi Zone. From the two kebeles, 14 farmers were selected 7 from each kebele based on their interest to participate in the demonstration activity. Two varieties of potato Belete and Gudanie varieties, those are suitable for high lands of Ethiopia were used in the study with Local variety as reference. All participant farmers were interested and allocated 100m2 for intended experiment. Seed were planted based on its recommended rate and NPS fertilizer was used 195kg/ha. All necessary data qualitative and quantitative were collected starting from the time of planting to harvesting stage. Participatory field visiting was conducted with the participation of farmers, agricultural development agent workers and researchers. Descriptive statistics like mean and tabulation for yield data analysis and also independent t-statistics for yield comparison of the experiment were used. Qualitative data collected during field observation and after yield data collection were analyzed by means of summarization. In addition to the varieties yield for comparison partial budget analysis was used for profitability study. Based on the study result, Belete has more yield advantage than the other. However, in terms of test and market prefer ability Gudanie was preferred. Although Belete has more yield advantage as compared with the other, the yield advantage between Belete and Gudanie was insignificant as compared to the yield difference between Belete and Local. Interms of partial budget analysis, Gudanie was ranked first thus based on the aggregate result Gudanie was recommended for further production and popularization in the study area.
Keywords: Demonstration, district, improved varieties, potato