Tribal farmers' perceived constraints in the adoption of good dairy farming practices in the northern hills zone of Chhattisgarh, India

This study was carried out during the year 2014-15 to explore the perceived constraints encountered by the tribal dairy farmers in the successful adoption of Good Dairy Farming Practices (GDFPs). Out of 27 districts in Chhattisgarh, three tribal populated districts were selected for this study from northern hills zone of the state and totally 300 respondents were selected for constraints analysis. The study revealed that 55.33 % of the tribal farmers realised that insufficient knowledge and awareness towards good dairy farming practices is the major constraints in the adoption process, majority (70.00 %) of the tribal farmers perceived that lack of progeny tested superior bulls for AI and natural service are the main constraint in the adoption of good breeding practices, about (75.70 %) of the tribal farmers expressed the higher cost of concentrates, mineral mixtures and vitamin supplements are the main constraints in the adoption of good feeding practices, majority (70.70 %) of the tribal farmers responded that less number of veterinary hospitals in their locality is the main constraints and its ranks first in the healthcare constraints list, little less than three-fourths (67.67 %) of the tribal farmers articulated that lack of advanced farm machineries (portable milking unit) for small dairy holders is the main constraints in the adoption of good management practices and about three-fourths (75.30 %) of the tribal farmers conveyed that the lack of insurance for longer period is the main constraints and tops in the socio-economic constraints. This constraints study will be highly useful to policy makers and the scientific community to assess the dairy production technologies for refinement and appropriate strategies can be formulated to promote tribal dairying from subsistence level to intensive in order to increase the income from dairy sector

Eco-friendly fishing methods and techniques practiced in the northern hills zone of Chhattisgarh state, India

Indian forests have the potential to safeguard the livelihood of forest dwelling people, particularly tribal people, who are among the most disadvantaged groups in our society. Tribal people generally depend on forests for their cultural, spiritual, and to varying degree of economic needs. Fishing is one of the important livelihood activities of the tribal community since the time immortal. Fishing provides the source of livelihood as well as nutritional security to the tribal family significantly. An explorative study was conducted in participatory mode to explore the eco-friendly fishing methods. Totally, 300 respondents were selected for this study. The data was documented with the help of participatory observation, focused group discussions with triangulation procedures. In the paper, eco-friendly fishing methods such as Kumani, Pahata, Mora, Donga, Pelna, Choppa, Mora, Gulel, Bhawarjal, Ditori, Beetaah, Chiwaar, Baahla and Jholna and their working procedures are discussed. Jholna used to catch small and medium sized fishes upto 5-7 kg/day. The production cost of this choppa is less than Rs. 250 and it is used to catch small sized fishes up to 1.5-2.5kg/day. Kumani is used to catch small sized fishes and crabs upto 1-2 kg/day. The making cost of Pelna is around Rs. 650 and it is used to catch fishes upto 6-7 kg/day. The construction cost of Pahata gear is around Rs. 2000 and It is used to catch medium to big sized fishes upto 8-10kg/day

An exploratory study on cultural and health significance of traditional tattooing practices among tribal community in Chhattisgarh state, India

This explorative study carried out from four districts of Chhattisgarh state namely Surajpur, Surguja, Balrampur and Jashpur. From each district, four villages were selected and from each village 25 tribal respondents were selected thus 300 respondents were selected for this study. About 65.33 percent of the tribal were between 36and 50 years of age group, more than one fourth (34.67%) of the farmers were educated up to primary school level, about half (49.00 %) of the respondents were at the income range of Rs. 25,001 to Rs. 75,000 and about 80% of the population of the state is rural and the main livelihood of the villagers is agriculture and agriculture-based small industry. Tattooing is one of the livelihood option for the tribal community in the study area. Tattooing has been practiced across the world since at least Neolithic times (7000 BCE), as confirmed by mummified preserved skin, prehistoric art, literatures, poetry, proverbs and the archaeological records. In Southern India, permanent tattoos are called pachakutharathu. In northern India, permanent tattoos are called Godna. Tattoos have been used as cultural symbols among many tribal populations, as well as the caste-based Hindu population of India. These tattoos have also been used as integral part of the tribal’s lifestyle Chhattisgarh state of India

Socio-Economic Profiling of Tribal Dairy Farmers in Northern Hills Zone of Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh is traditionally known as the Rice Bowl of Central India. Chhattisgarh state has one of highest shares of Scheduled Tribe (ST) population within a state, accounting for about 10 per cent of the STs in India. Scheduled Castes and STs together constitute more than 50 per cent of the state’s population. Agriculture is counted as the chief economic occupation of the state. About 80% of the population of the state is rural and the main livelihood of the villagers is agriculture and agriculture-based small industry. This exploratory study was conducted in the tribal populated districts of Chhattisgarh state. In this paper, socio-economic profile of tribal farmers are discussed in detail. About 65.33 percent of the tribal farmers were between 36 and 50 years of age group, more than one fourth (34.67%) of the farmers were educated up to primary school level, less than half  (39.00%) of the respondents had subsistence dairy farming + Minor forest products collection + labour as their sole occupations, nearly half (43.67%) of the respondents were marginal farmers, more than half (62.00 %) of the farmers were found with medium level of farming experience, about half (49.00 %) of the respondents were at the income range of Rs. 25,001 to Rs. 75,000, about half (44.67 %) of the respondents falling under the category of medium herd size followed by 35.67 percent in small and 19.66 percent in large herd size, more than half (56.33%) of the tribal dairy farmers falling under the category of subsistence level of dairy production system

Seed degeneration in potato : the need for an integrated seed health strategy to mitigate the problem in developing countries

Seed potato degeneration, the reduction in yield or quality caused by an accumulation of pathogens and pests in planting material due to successive cycles of vegetative propagation, has been a long-standing production challenge for potato growers around the world. In developed countries this problem has been overcome by general access to and frequent use of seed, produced by specialized growers, that has been certified to have pathogen and pest incidence below established thresholds, often referred to as certified seed. The success of certified seed in developed countries has concentrated the research and development agenda on the establishment of similar systems in developing countries. Despite these efforts, certified seed has had little penetration into the informal seed systems currently in place in most developing countries. Small-scale farmers in these countries continue to plant seed tubers acquired through the informal seed system, i.e. produced on-farm or acquired from neighbours or local markets. Informal seed tubers frequently have poor health status, leading to significant reductions in yield and/or market value. This review emphasizes the need to refocus management efforts in developing countries on improving the health status of seed tubers in the informal system by integrating disease resistance and on-farm management tools with strategic seed replacement. This 'integrated seed health strategy' can also prolong the good health status of plants derived from certified seed, which would otherwise be diminished due to potential rapid infection from neighbouring fields. Knowledge gaps, development challenges and impacts of this integrated seed health strategy are discussed.PostprintPeer reviewe

Yield Evaluation of Nutrient-rich Potato Clones in High Hill of Nepal

A study was conducted to evaluate the yield of nutrient-rich potato clones in high-hill districts: Dolakha and Jumla of Nepal during the years 2013 and 2014, respectively. Fourteen potato clones were tested as on-station and on-farm experiments at both districts, and those fourteen clones were compared to ‘Lady Rosita' and ‘Jumli Local' respectively as the check varieties in the first year experiment, 2013. Eight promising clones were selected from the first year experiment, and were evaluated and compared with same local varieties in the consecutive year, 2014. Two clones namely; CIP 395112.32 (19.3 tha-1) and CIP 393073.179 (17.8 tha-1) exhibited superior marketable tuber yield than that of ‘Lady Rosita'(14.2 tha-1) in Dolakha and five CIP clones namely; 395112.32 (25.5 tha-1), 393073.179 (22.5 tha-1), 394611.112 (20.9 tha-1), 390478.9 (19.9 tha-1) and 395017.229 (17.0 tha-1) showed higher marketable tuber yield than ‘Jumli Local'(14.5 tha-1). Based on two years' phenotypic and tuber yield result, clones CIP 395112.32 and CIP 393073.179 are recommended to potato growers at high hills of Nepal for commercial cultivation.Journal of Nepal Agricultural Research Council Vol.3 2017: 6-1

Natural ergot alkaloids in ocular pharmacotherapy: known molecules for novel nanoparticle-based delivery systems

Several pharmacological properties are attributed to ergot alkaloids as a result of their antibacterial, antiproliferative, and antioxidant effects. Although known for their biomedical applications (e.g., for the treatment of glaucoma), most ergot alkaloids exhibit high toxicological risk and may even be lethal to humans and animals. Their pharmacological profile results from the structural similarity between lysergic acid-derived compounds and noradrenalin, dopamine, and serotonin neurotransmitters. To reduce their toxicological risk, while increasing their bioavailability, improved delivery systems were proposed. This review discusses the safety aspects of using ergot alkaloids in ocular pharmacology and proposes the development of lipid and polymeric nanoparticles for the topical administration of these drugs to enhance their therapeutic efficacy for the treatment of glaucoma.This work was supported by CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) granted to I.B. (88887.368385/2019-00), by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) and co-financed by FEDER, under the Partnership Agreement PT2020, granted to E.B.S. (UIDB/04469/2020 strategic fund), by the Nutraceutica come supporto nutrizionale nel paziente oncologico, project granted to A.S. (CUP: B83D18000140007), and by Foundation of Research Support of the São Paulo State (FAPESP) for the funded projects 2011/10333-1, 2012/03427-2, and 2018/26069-0 and for the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) granted to W.P.O.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Analysis of Pre-requisities and Framework for Introducing Potato Crop in Non-traditional Anantapuram District of Andhra Pradesh

As per FAOSTAT database, India is the second largest producer of potatoes (45.34 million tonne in 2013) after China (88.99 million tonne in 2013). However, Indian potato production has not been uniformly distributed over its regions and states. About 80% potatoes are produced in Indian Indo-Gangetic plains whereas southern states collectively produce very meagre quantities of potatoes. Karnataka, is an important producers of kharif potatoes which are sold at premium price due to their off season supply. A very large proportion of kharif potato production from the south India is diverted to processing industry and hence the fresh availability of potatoes in the region becomes inadequate to meet the local demand. Consequently, the potato prices in the region remain very high throughout the year in southern part of the country. In order to device a sustainable solution to the problem, CIP and CPRI carried out a joint study to assess feasibility of introducing potato crop in south-western Anantapuramu district of Andhra Pradesh. Notably Andhra Pradesh produces just 1.7 kg/ capita potatoes against 9.1 and 34.2 kg/ ha at Karnataka and All India level, respectively. Results of this study give very strong indication about successful potato cultivation in selected villages of Anantapuramu district along with a comprehensive action plan for introduction of potato crop in the non-traditional area

Benchmarking Farmers’ Economic and Social Status in Anantapuramu and Kurnool Arid Districts of Andhra Pradesh for Probable Introduction of Potato Crop

India has experienced rapid growth in potato production during recent past and the country has almost doubled its potato production during 2003–2013. The potato productivity improved 31.4% over this period of time. However, potato production scenario in southern states of India is quite grim and with the result potato consumers of these states always have to purchase potatoes at very high prices compared to the national average prices. With the objective to augment potato production in southern states this study was carried out for analysing socio-economic characteristics of potential potato growers in non-traditional Anantapuramu and Kurnool districts of arid region in Andhra Pradesh. A long list of socio-economic factors viz. education level, occupation pattern, house condition, tractor ownership, food security level, access and affordability to civic amenities, children's education type, possession of household amenities, expenditure pattern and level of mechanization adoption were studied in this study so that most suitable area for potato introduction may be identified