Optimization of machine parameters of Parvatiya Sugam motorized thresher using response surface methodology

A Parvatiya Sugam Thresher was designed and developed at College of Home Science GBPUA & T, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India. It is a low cost motorized machine for threshing paddy crops especially for hill region, it is user friendly and more efficient in its working. The machine performance was evaluated for optimal design parameters viz, height 755 mm, time 5.1 minutes and crop load 1.5 kg. Comparative performance tests between the newly developed (Parvatiya sugam thresher) and existing thresher were conducted to the optimization. Test result indicates that Parvatiya sugam thresher gives better result compared to existing thresher. It was inferred that ½ hp motor was introduced to have optimum drum speed and threshing performance of paddy thresher

The Philosopher and The Dancer

The Philosopher and The Dancer is an act of spontaneous, solo, movement improvisation; offered here as one particularized instantiation and re-enactment of the corporeal situatedness and interrelatedness of self and world that characterizes Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy. The improvisation can take place in any indoor studio/space, ideally with a suitable floor - the ostensibly static nature of an indoor space/place serving as a clear context for the embodiment and modeling of some of Merleau-Ponty’s core philosophical constructs. As an improvised event, The Philosopher and The Dancer can last for a few minutes (6 or 10) or for longer (15 or 20) and is unaccompanied by music; it is the embodied weave of dancer and immediate environment - a cultivated sensitivity and practised responsiveness to one’s spatial and temporal inherence in a particular world - that is foregrounded. This demonstration/performance is offered as a place in which an alternative articulation of Merleau-Ponty’s thought will be evident

Global Progress Toward Implementing the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement

This brief examines the progress made in implementing the Fish Stocks Agreement, based on a review of the status of certain highly migratory stocks and the effectiveness of regional fishery management organization (RFMO) measures in meeting specific mandates. It also looks at whether recommendations made in prior reviews have been implemented

Land Rental Markets in India: Efficiency and Equity Considerations

Despite the fact that land rental is restricted to varying degrees in India, the participation in this market is widespread and it is observed to operate relatively efficiently in 12 villages studied in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The estimated probit models predicted that the rental market transferred land to those with relatively smaller holdings, but greater ability to make productive use of land, more assets to invest, more adults available for labour and fewer off-farm opportunities. Also land is rented out predominantly to younger farmers and to farmers not involved in off-farm jobs. Renting in is predicted to be relatively higher in the villages which are remote and weakly integrated into mainstream infrastructure and institutions. Land rental markets make an important contribution towards land use redistribution in the villages where land rental is high and where land distribution without land rental is relatively more unequal. The study recommends that existing policies restricting land rental should be eased, and investment towards infrastructure development and off-farm employment generating projects expanded.land rental markets, economic efficiency, equity, India, Land Economics/Use,

MA-IRRI Industrial Extension Program for Small Farm Equipment

This article is part of the seminar-workshop on the “Consequences of Small Farm Mechanization on Production, Employment and Incomes in the Philippines” sponsored jointly by the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Economic and Development Authority, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) held on December 1-2, 1983 at Tagaytay City. It discusses the extension programs implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and IRRI. It then points out areas where policies and actions are likely to be useful.agriculture sector, mechanization

Development and testing of a Prosopis africana pod thresher

Prosopis africana is an under utilized tree crop with immense medicinal and industrial values. Manual threshing of the pods to extract the seeds is uneconomical, time consuming, associated with drudgery and low output capacity. A motorized Prosopis africana pod thresher was designed, fabricated and assessed for performance. The main components of the thresher include hopper, threshing unit, cleaning fan and the frame. The best threshing performance index of 92.55 % which comprises of 98.03 % threshing efficiency, 94.45 % cleaning efficiency, 2.36 % seed loss and 1.59 % mechanical damage index was obtained. A combination of 1200 rpm cylinder speed, 1200 rpm fan speed, 30 kg/h feed rate and 16 % wb moisture content of the pods is recommended for optimum results. The thresher has a capacity of 70 kg/h. The performance of this thresher has indicated the possibility of exploiting the full industrial potential of Prosopis africana pods and seeds

Gender and innovation processes in rice-based systems

This GRiSP report is based on the perspectives of women and men from three rice-growing villages in the Nueva Ecija province of the Philippines

Heirloom Dry Bean Variety Trial

Dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), a high-protein pulse crop, have been grown in the Northeast since the 1800’s. As the local food movement continues to diversify and expand, consumers are asking stores to carry more and more locally-produced foods, and dry beans are no exception. Currently, the demand for heirloom dry beans has far exceeded the supply. In an effort to support and expend the local bean market throughout the northeast, the University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops and Soils (NWCS) Program, as part of a USDA NE-SARE Partnership Grant (PG15-045), established trials in 2015 to evaluated heirloom dry bean varieties under organic management to see which ones thrive in our northern climate. The trials were established at the Borderview Research Farm in Alburgh, VT and at our partner farm, Morningstar Meadows farm in Glover, VT