Infrastructure for Paddy cultivation

1. Soil testing:
   
   Soil testing is important for 4 reasons as:
   
   a) determining salinity in soil
   b)determining nutrients for plants
   c)determining acidity
   d)determining amount of fertilizers and nutrients for the growth of plants.
   
   
2. Seed cleaning
   
3. Organic fertilizer
   
4. Pesticides
   
5. Weedicides

Dhaniakhali

During survey, I have noted people living nearby urban areas are more diversified in occupation - agriculture,business and service. Many prefer non agricultural occupation. This encourages migration and finally develops inferiority people, self-identity crisis and forced poverty in the villages. On the other hand, people living far away from the urban areas are engaged in their traditional occupation. Since, they have their own control over land, they were less anxious. This observation can be evident in the Hooghly district.



Below is the table supporting above assumption.
http://wbagrimarketingboard.gov.in/population-ok/Population_hoogly.htm
There is a dearth of data about distribution of SC, ST population across panchayets. Inadequate and incongruent secondary data create problem in sampling area from which the primary data will be collected.

Dhaniakhali: The block has 18 gram panchayets. Here main cultivation is paddy and potato. On 17th May, 2011, I visited this block. Here the officers of simli farm, agricultural office and BDO office are very co-operative. I am in search of panchayet wise distribution of people by caste, economic condition, literacy level, and crop intensity. Panchayet wise original data collected from the Agriculture office and BDO office were converted into rank. Finally spearman rank order correlation was computed to determine extent of association among different demographic variables (Table 1)

Table 1. Spearman rank order correlation matrix of demographic variables


3rd June (2nd visit, Somaspur-2): At 8am, I started for Dhaniakhali block from my residence. On the Durgapur express highway, there is one under pass road towards Maheswarpur. As there is no sign board, we crossed almost 20 kms away from Maheswarpur. Maheswarpur road meets 17no road. that goes to Dhaniakhali halt station. Going straight, there is one famous school- Priyonath Boso school. My student was waiting there. Next, we moved to BDO office, Somaspur block and ADO office.

I have observed the followings:

Here some farmer families have forced inferiority feeling and identity crisis with their traditional occupation. This results migration from village to city or town for the sake of Rs. 1200-Rs.2000. Where as, farmers could earn the same from own field. During psychological counseling to villagers, psychologists should pay special attention to the above psychological conflicts.

Our primary education fails to provide insight about local needs or knowledge about local resources. Farmers have no idea about how many panchayets are in the block, how many mouzas are in the panchayet but they are aware of the districts of west bengal, or the states of India. They have no idea about local resources available in own panchayet as they are not educated in this fashion.

Today, I collected population data across mouzas of Somaspur-2 panchayet. Some santal families are living here and they communicate through their own language - alchiki. But they know Bengali. Here, I have heard Bengali is the second language. Mother tongue should not be second language as I assume.

PROFILE OF SOMASPUR-2

Somaspur-2 is one of the Village in Dhaniakhali in Hooghly District in West Bengal State . It is 30.93 km far from its District Main City Chinsurah . It is 56 km far from its State Main City Kolkata .

In the Somaspur-2, following census 2001 data, there are 13862 people. Of them, 8210 (59%) people are literates. 3038 people are in cultivation. Other data about infrastructures are in below:

1. Primary school:11
   
2. High school:1
   
3. Jr.High school:1
   
4. Angan bari kendra:24
   
5. Adarsha krishi khamar:1
   
6. Upaswasthya kendra:3
   
7. Tubewells:186
   
8. Land types: 3 cropped areas
   
9. Paddyseed sources: private mostly
   
10. Irrigation: canal, kananadi
    
11. Fertilizers: chemical mainly
    

langal and dhenki are not in use.

Reference:
http://dictionary.sensagent.com/dhaniakhali/en-en/
http://india.gov.in/sectors/agriculture/index.php

Advertisement for Project Linked Person

INDIAN STATISTICAL INSTITUTE
203, B.T. Road, Kolkata – 700 108

No. PU/507/ADV/C

May 2011


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Applications are invited for one Project linked person purely temporary basis to work in a project titled “SELF-EFFICACY OF AGRICULTURAL FARMERS” in the Psychology Research Unit of the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. Essential: Master degree in Agricultural extension/ in social work/ Psychology/Applied
Psychology/Sociology/Statistics with knowledge in Quality of life of farmers and computer applications. Desirable : Experience in collection of data from rural areas and in analysis of data. Pay: Ranging from Rupees twelve thousand only per month (consolidated). Tenure of appointment: The appointment will be till 31 March 2012. Age: Age limit is 35 years as on 01 May, 2011. Usual relaxation for SC/ST/OBC/Women and Physically Handicapped candidates.

Typed application in English addressed to the Director, Indian Statistical Institute stating (a) Name (b) Mailing address. (c)E-mail Address (d)Telephone/ Mobile No., € Father’s/ Husband’s Name, (f) Date of birth, (g) Academic Qualifications (with percentage of marks obtained in each examination), (h) Work experience (if any), (i) SC/ST/OBC/PH status, along with originals and attested copies of all documents/ testimonials should reach the the Head, Psychology Research Unit, , Indian Statistical Institute, 203,B.T.Road, Kolkata – 700108 on or before 31st May. The Institute reserves the right not to appoint any of the above. The advertisement is also available on our website www.isical.ac.in/jobs.php

introduction to paddy cultivation

1. introduction 1


2. Paddy cultivation 20 years before


3. SRI cultivation
   

4

Abstract of the interim report

This interim project is in continuation with earlier project report for the period 2009-10. This report examined six problems : (a) psychometric properties of questionnaire assessing self-efficacy of agricultural farmers; (b) block wise differences in self-efficacy levels; (c) association between self-efficacy and other measures; (d) socio-economic and agricultural conditions of the farmers; (e) awareness of the improved agricultural practices and (f) pattern of adoption of prescribed technology. One 50-items Likert type questionnaire was constructed to assess 5 domains of farmer’s self-efficacy. These domains are (a) Monitoring environmental uncertainty; (b) Enactive Mastery experience; (c) Self-regulation; (d) Vicarious experience and (e) controlling physiological and emotional states. Analysis of the psychometric properties of the questionnaire revealed significant item-item and item-total correlation coefficients suggesting good content validity of each sub scale. Cronbach’s alpha value for each sub scale varied from 0.64 to 0.78 suggesting high internal consistency among the item responses. Data were collected from 286 farmers of 8 blocks of 6 districts in West Bengal. One way Analysis of variance revealed significant mean differences across the blocks on all the 5 measures of self-efficacy. Farmers who used organic fertilizers were more self-efficacious than their counterparts. Results revealed significant positive correlation between self-efficacy and 5 measures as (a) Self-esteem clusters of GHQ-12; (b) Educational level; (c) Housing conditions; (d) Size of Farming Land area and (e) Multiple Crop production. Most of the farmers reported that they possessed less than 2 bighas of land; their monthly expenditure was higher than the monthly income; they maintained conservation following traditional practices of cultivation. They cultivated non-fine quality of rice and did not follow cultivation of hybrid quality of rice. They collected water from shallow tubewells and deep tubewells for irrigation. Though they applied pesticides over the land, they still used organic and inorganic fertilizers. Results based on interview schedule revealed differential patterns of technology adoptions among the farmers.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Professor Bimal Kumar Roy, The Director, ISI, Kolkata for Administrative support.	Professor Shankar Pal, Former Director, ISI. Kolkata for Administrative support.
Professor Madhura Swaminathan Professor -in-Charge, Social Science Division for Administrative support.	Professor Avirup Sarkar Ex-Professor-in-charge, Social Science Division ISI, Kolkata for Administrative support.
Dr. Anjali Ghosh, Head, Psychology Research Unit, ISI. Kolkata for Administrative support.	Dr. Pabitra Banik, Agricultural and Ecological Research Unit, Kolkata for academic support
Dr. Bhola Nath Ghosh, Sociology Research Unit, ISI, Kolkata for academic support.	Dr. Shubhendu Chatterjee, Ex-Director, Department of Agriculture, Govt. of West Bengal for administrative support.
Ms. Deblina Chatterjee, Belgharia, Kolkata for collection and analysis of data as project assistant(2009-10).	Ms. Rupa Roy, Dumdum, Kolkata for collection and analysis of data as project assistant(2010-11).
Dr. Sumit Ghosh, Addl. Director of Agriculture Agri Evaluation office, 17, S.P. Mukherjee Road, Kolkata for academic support.	Dr. Madhab Chandra Dhara, Agronomist, Rice Research Station, Chinsurah, Hooghly,West Bengal for academic support.
Prof. Sunil Kumar Maity, Bidhan Chundra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalyani, Nadia for academic support.	Dr. F.H. Rahaman, Sr. Scientist (Prog. Co-ordinator), Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Budbud, Burdwan for organizing training programs to collect data from Burdwan.
Professor Amiya Saha, Bidhan Chundra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalyani, Nadia for organizing training programs to collect data from Nadia.	Mr. Aditya Bhattacharya, Education Officer, CBWE, Kolkata for organizing training programs to collect data from Hooghly.
Mr. Sabyasachi Sarkar, Education Officer, Central Board for Workers Education, Kolkata for organizing training programs to collect data from Midnapore.	Mr. Nilangshu Gain, Swanirbhar Baduria for organizing training programs to collect data from North 24 paraganas.
Mr. Prabir Chatterjee, Transport unit, ISI, Kolkata, for organizing training programs to collect data from Midnapore.	The fellow farmer participants who spent their valuable time during collection of data.

ORGANIC FARMING

History of organic farming:

The organic farming concept developed in the period prior to 1940 and was pioneered by Sir Albert Howard (1873–1947). Howard, born and educated in England, directed agricultural research centers in India (1905–1931) before permanently returning to England. His years of agricultural research experiences and observations gradually evolved into a philosophy and concept of organic farming that he espoused in several books. Howard's thinking on soil fertility and the need to effectively recycle waste materials, including sewage sludge, onto farmland was reinforced by F.H. King's book, Farmers of Forty Centuries. Howard developed a system of composting that became widely adopted. Howard's concept of soil fertility centered on building soil humus with an emphasis on how soil life was connected to the health of crops, livestock, and mankind. Howard argued that crop and animal health was a birthright and that the correct method of dealing with a pathogen was not to destroy the pathogen but to see what could be learned from it or to ‘make use of it for tuning up agricultural practice’. The system of agriculture advocated by Howard was coined ‘organic’ by Walter Northbourne to refer to a system ‘having a complex but necessary interrelationship of parts, similar to that in living things’. Lady Eve Balfour compared organic and non-organic farming and helped to popularize organic farming with the publication of The Living Soil. Jerome Rodale, a publisher and an early convert to organic farming, was instrumental in the diffusion and popularization of organic concepts in the US. Both Howard and Rodale saw organic and non-organic agriculture as a conflict between two different visions of what agriculture should become as they engaged in a war of words with the agricultural establishment. A productive dialogue failed to occur between the organic community and traditional agricultural scientists for several decades. Organic agriculture gained significant recognition and attention in 1980, marked by the USDA publication Report and Recommendations on Organic Farming. The passage of the Federal Organic Foods Production Act in 1990 began the era of accommodation for organic farming in the USA, followed by another milestone with official labeling as USDA Certified Organic in 2002. Organic agriculture will likely continue to evolve in response to ongoing social, environmental, and philosophical concerns of the organic movement.

Ref: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=693124

Organic farming procedure:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_farming

System of Rice Intensification:
http://www.slideshare.net/ifad/the-system-of-rice-intensification-sri

SES-indicators of rural india

Such indicator may be obtained from urban people but one must be cautious to make similar assumption for rural people as 70% people of India are still involved in agriculture.

My current study about socio-economic status in rural areas has shown following issues:

1. Most of the rural people can not report their income and expenditure as they are not under salary scheme and do not make any family or agricultural budget.

2. Their income and expenditure in agriculture are highly correlated. The income is not correlated with their non agricultural expenses. This suggests that they are not able to improve their quality of life much like urban people. This is a serious issue for the researchers who are interested to relate socio economic status to the health and educational condition or any psychological phenomena.

3. Researcher can follow different parameters used by NSSO to assess socio-economic status and to test their validity. My recent book on questionnaire development presents socio-economic data analysis of rural people. This book will give you guideline to classify the people in terms of SES score.

With best wishes,

D. Dutta Roy, ISI., Kolkata