Indigenous knowledge based abiotic indicators used in weather prediction by farmers of Wayanad, Kerala, India

The paper presents twenty abiotic indicators used by farmers for weather prediction in Wayanad district, Kerala.These indicators were based mainly on the appearance of sky, color and patterns of cloud, moon, wind, rainbow andtemperature. The popularity of these indicators among farmers was measured using use validity score (UVS) based onpurpose of use, extent of use and perceived reliability. With this score, we categorized the indicators into high, mediumand low popularity classes. Five indicators were assessed as high popularity, four as low popularity and the remaining,medium popularity

Perceived Entrepreneurial Training Needs of Trainees of Krishi Vigyan Kendras in Kerala

The present study was conducted in the state of Kerala to analyse the training needs of 100 trainees of five Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK). The findings indicated that the packaging & marketing of mushroom and post harvest handling value addition were the most preferred training areas by the KVK trainees in mushroom production. In apiculture, honey extraction essential operations was perceived as the most needed area of training. In the area of value addition of fruits and vegetables, technology upgradation and packaging marketing techniques were the most preferred areas by the trainees. Relational analysis revealed that socio-economic variables like educational status and annual income, communication variables like extension contact and mass media exposure and entrepreneurial variables like entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial need, entrepreneurial capacity, innovativeness,achievement motivation, decision making ability, risk orientation, self confidence, cosmopoliteness andeconomic motivation were found positively and significantly correlated with training needs. The KVKsshould take concrete efforts to organize need based entrepreneurship development training programmesto improve effectiveness

Performance analysis of coconut enterprises facilitated through agribusiness incubators

Agribusiness incubators (ABI) catalyze entrepreneurship development by facilitating technology and institutionalized services. The study addresses the performance analysis of enterprises promoted through coconut sector ABIs working in Kerala. Primary and secondary data collected from 30 randomly selected ABI graduated entrepreneurs in business were used to characterize the enterprises. The results indicated that 56 per cent of enterprises joined ABIs at the nascent stage and were able to receive government funding under different subsidy schemes. Majority of enterprises (72%) shared features of micro-enterprises in terms of the number of persons employed (01-10) and annual turnover less than ` 25 lakh. Most of the micro-enterprises (66%) functioned as sole proprietary firms, whereas small enterprises were registered as limited company/partnership firms (20%). Virgin coconut oil (VCO) was the major product in 40 per cent of enterprises followed by coconut chips (20%), coconut chocolates (10%), desiccated coconut (07), neera and tender coconut water-based drinks (07%). Performances of two purposively selected enterprises producing VCO and coconut chips were undertaken using break-even analysis. Production and sales of both VCO and coconut chips were more than the calculated BEP values of 1000 litres and 500 kg respectively. This indicated that both enterprises operated at profitable levels. The findings suggest that the entrepreneurs who completed the business incubation program had greater success in their business irrespective of the business size. This can be attributed to their greater access to technologies and entrepreneurship development programmes under the ABI

Climate change perspectives and conservation of sacred groves: Case of Sharngakavu, Kerala

India has a rich tradition in conserving non-forest patches known as sacred groves, through cultural and religious beliefs. Sacred groves not only preserve the indigenous biodiversity, it also mitigates the effects of climate change. This study explored the climate change awareness and environmental and cultural perceptions of people associated with Sharngakavu sacred grove in Kerala. Data was collected separately from native residents (NR) and non-resident devotees (NRD) through interviews and focus group discussions (FGD). Weighted average index (WAI) and Garrett scores were used to measure the perceived effects of climate change and the importance of socio-cultural values in sacred grove conservation. The results indicated that females in the middle age group of 41-65 years belonging to above poverty line economic status and graduate level of education dominated both NR and NRD categories. There was not much difference in the climate change awareness score of NR and NRD which were recorded at 97.5% and 92.5%, respectively. The majority of the respondents indicated a perceived increase in atmospheric temperature, decrease in precipitation, high seasonal variation in rainfall pattern, heavy decrease in water availability in natural sources, frequent occurrence of heat waves, and frequent recurring natural calamities as the important changes in weather parameters which was actually reflected in the weather data recorded from the region. Among the socio-economic parameters, the majority perceived food production to have recorded a very high increase despite the effect of climate change but livelihood options indicated deterioration. Religious beliefs and the conservation of biodiversity were the most important factors that influenced the continued conservation of this sacred grove.

Climate change perspectives and conservation of sacred groves: Case of Sharngakavu, Kerala

433-443India has a rich tradition in conserving non-forest patches known as sacred groves, through cultural and religious beliefs. Sacred groves not only preserve the indigenous biodiversity, it also mitigates the effects of climate change. This study explored the climate change awareness and environmental and cultural perceptions of people associated with Sharngakavu sacred grove in Kerala. Data was collected separately from native residents (NR) and non-resident devotees (NRD) through interviews and focus group discussions (FGD). Weighted average index (WAI) and Garrett scores were used to measure the perceived effects of climate change and the importance of socio-cultural values in sacred grove conservation. The results indicated that females in the middle age group of 41-65 years belonging to above poverty line economic status and graduate level of education dominated both NR and NRD categories. There was not much difference in the climate change awareness score of NR and NRD which were recorded at 97.5% and 92.5%, respectively. The majority of the respondents indicated a perceived increase in atmospheric temperature, decrease in precipitation, high seasonal variation in rainfall pattern, heavy decrease in water availability in natural sources, frequent occurrence of heat waves, and frequent recurring natural calamities as the important changes in weather parameters which was actually reflected in the weather data recorded from the region. Among the socio-economic parameters, the majority perceived food production to have recorded a very high increase despite the effect of climate change but livelihood options indicated deterioration. Religious beliefs and the conservation of biodiversity were the most important factors that influenced the continued conservation of this sacred grove