Technology Assessment and Refinement 2019-2020

1.      On Farm Trials

Home Science:

1.      On Farm Trials (OFT)

   Title :  Assessment of  sugar cane stripper in drudgery reduction

More number of women labour is required for removing leaves which involves high cost in labour,more time,less efficiency on sugar cane leaves ,besides farm women face loof strain and body painswhich causes drudgery.Farm women are not aware of improved implements for agriculture operation.During these activity they adopt un natural body posture due to which their physiological work load increases and they face musculoskeletalproblems as a result efficiency of women o work decreases to   a great extent.

Treatments:

Treatments :

T1-OUAT model Sugar cane stripper

T2- Farmers’ practice-sickel

Critical inputs given: Sugar cane stripper

Musculo-skeletal problems and posture were evaluated by asking the respondents as to where they felt pain in their body after working with traditional and cause severe pain in shoulders, back, hands and fingers and the farmers perceived the task as heavy. On the contrary using improved technology induced moderate discomfort and light pain in shoulders, hands and arms. They were relieved from back pain reported as moderate with use the use of Suar cane stripperand heavy with tradition method of stripping.

Feedback of the farmers involved: . It is easy than farmer practice and reduced drudgery, number of  labour and labour wages

1.  Title: Assessment of Beta carotene enriched millet bar (mango/ papaya)

 Macro and micro  nutrient deficiencies are predominantly observed in all age groups. Gluten free millets can play a pivotal role in preventing and curing several health issues and life style diseases. Millets are a rich source of fiber, minerals like magnesium, phosphorous, iron, calcium, zinc and potassium.Millets are consumed very less due to physical properties and unavailability . Children prefer  sweets and ice creams and mostly depend on un branded snacks that are available in villages which are unhealthy.

Technology Assessed:

T1: No value addition/ farmer’s practice

T2: Only bar with millet – ANGRAU

T3: Millet +fruit (Papaya/mango/carrot)

Critical inputs given: Millet +fruit bar

RESULTS: The bar prepared with fruit pulp is not accepted by the panelists

Technology Assessment and Refinement 2017-18

On Farm Trials (Home Science)

1. Assessment of easy planter in transplantation of Vegetable crops
   1. Rice,redgram  at household level
   2.  Redgram, korra at KVK

More number of women labour are required for transplantation which  involves high cost on labour, more time, less efficiency on transplantation besides farm women are  facing lot of strain  and pain in transplantation of vegetable crops which causes drudgery.

Treatments:

T1: Transplanting by easy transplanter

T2: Farmer’s practice

Performance and ergonomics evaluation of easy transplanter

Drudgery index (DI) scorebetween 70&above = Maximum drudgery

Drudgery index (DI) scorebetween 50&70 = Moderate drudgery

Drudgery index (DI) scorebetween 50&below = Minimum drudgery

Transplantation of tomato seedlings using easy planter was demonstrated  in  6 locations. It is easy than farmer practice and reduced drudgery (minimum to moderate), number of labour and labour wages up to 50%. But it is suitable to the dry land conditions and  not in conditions where irrigation is given prior to the planting

II.Assessment of Fertilizer application of fertilizer granules in tomato crop

            Farm women face lot of strain and body pains in applying fertilizers in agriculture operations by wrong postures. Farm women are not aware of improved implements

Treatments:

T1: Fertilizer application with dispenser

T2: Farmer’s practice (manual application)

Performance and ergonomics evaluation of fertilizer dispenser

Drudgery index (DI) scorebetween 70&above = Maximum drudgery

Drudgery index (DI) scorebetween 50&70 = Moderate drudgery

Drudgery index (DI) scorebetween 50&below = Minimum drudgery

            Application of granular fertilizers using fertilizer dispenser was demonstrated in 6 locations. By using this, minimum drudgery (drudgery index score 42.5) was recorded whereas in farmer practice maximum drudgery (drudgery index score 73.6) was recorded. Time taken for applying fertilizer in one acre using dispenser was 1 hr 15 min whereas in farmer method it was 3 hrs. Crop damage  ( scorching) was reduced during fertilizer application by  using dispenser. 50% of the cost was reduced by using this than farmers practice.

Constraints faced : Fertiliser dispenser supplied by Agri. Solutions, Hyderabad. Performance of the equipment is poor at field level due to its narrow dispenser pipe.Because of which only fine granular fertilizers can be applied . It is not suitable for applying fertilizers with large granular size as dispenser pipe is blocked during application. Hence  farmer refined the equipment with broad, weight less steel pipe for easy application of all types of granular fertilizers.

Farmers feed back: After refining the equipment farmer is using it for application of granular fertilizers in all vegetables crops due to its reduced drudgery and less crop damage (scorching) while applying fertilizers.

III.Assessment of  performance of triple layer hermatic storage bags for storing of rice, redgram dhal and  horsegram

In cereals and pulses post harvest losses occurred  due to incidence of storage pests. In  the villages farm women store their farm produce in conventional methods i.e polyethelene bags/gunny bags.Due to this type of storing method, there is a lot of storage losses due to moisture, rat menace and other losses. There is a strain in the farm women for repeat change of produce.

Treatments:

T1: Triple layer hermatic storage system

T2: Farmer’s practice (Storing in polyethylene bags / gunny bags)

Critical inputs given: Pest free- three layered storage bags

With the use of triple layer hermatic  storage bags, pest incidence was not observed and drudgery was recorded  minimum on frequent cleaning and storing of grains. Labour charges for cleaning of grains was reduced 

Home Science

Front Line Demonstrations

I. Demonstration of drudgery reducing implement for weeding in tomato with three tyned  wheel hoe

Tomato and Groundnut are major crops in KVK Kalikiri adopted villages especially in kharif season. Weeding is a major problem to the farm women.  The farm women sit in squatting position. This increases drudgery leading to back pain and fatigue. The work output is also low and it demands more labour and time. The availability of labour is also a major problem in western mandals of Chittoor district. In view of the prevailing problems, KVK Kalikiri has conducted front line demonstration on drudgery reducing implement for weeding in Tomato and groundnut with wheel hoe.

Treatments:  T1- Weeding with three pronged wheel hoe

                       T2- Manual weeding

No.of locations: 10

Drudgery index (DI) scorebetween 70&above = Maximum drudgery

Drudgery index (DI) scorebetween 50&70 = Moderate drudgery

Drudgery index (DI) scorebetween 50&below = Minimum drudgery

II. Protective clothes while spraying

Now-a-days chemicals are very harmful and the farmers are spraying the chemicals without wearing any protective clothes and it causes health related problems like asthma, skin allergies and sometimes it is highly poisonous to the human beings.

     Treatments:

     T1 : Farmers practice

     T2 : Using Protective Clothes

     No.of locations:10

  Parameters observed on Protective cloths while spraying chemicals

Feedback from the spraying persons:

Ten sets of protective clothes kit (mask, gloves, glasses) distributed to the spraying persons at 10 different locations in KVK Kalikiri adopted villages and collected farmers feedback on protective kit. Decrease skin allergies,respiratory problems and eye infections  observed.

Results of Extension studies 2017-18

1. 1.Formation of Farmer Producer Organizations:

Progress on Farmer Producer Organizations facilitating by KVK, Kalikiri (2017-18)

Step 1: Formation of farmer groups/ Farmer Producer Groups (FPGs)

No. of awareness meetings conducted: 15

Total no.of farmers required to strart FPO is 1000 members

Corpus required is Rs. 10lakhs