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A STUDY ON AGROBIODIVERSITY IN TRIBAL REGION OF VISAKHAPATNAM DISTRICT OF ANDHRAPRADESH

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Title A STUDY ON AGROBIODIVERSITY IN TRIBAL REGION OF VISAKHAPATNAM DISTRICT OF ANDHRAPRADESH
 
Creator SWATHI, G
 
Contributor VASANTHA, R
 
Subject rice, biological phenomena, land resources, crops, millets, area, tillage equipment, land races, sowing, yields
 
Description The present study entitled ‘A Study on Agrobiodiversity in Tribal Region of
Visakhapatnam District of Andhra Pradesh’ had been initiated mainly focusing on the
documentation of landraces and status of Agrobiodiversity (landraces) in the selected
tribal region.
Exploratory research design was adopted in the present investigation.
Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh state was selected randomly for the study.
The study was conducted in 12 villages selected from 3 mandals of Visakhapatnam
district. A sample of 120 tribal farmers were selected for the study.
The analysis of profile characteristics of tribal respondents indicated that majority
of the tribal respondents had marginal farm size in podu cultivation and small farm size
in normal cultivation, had medium farming experience in both podu and normal
cultivation, had nuclear family and medium levels of socio-economic status, religious
belief, fatalism, extension contact and innovativeness. The results on changes in food
consumption pattern indicated that consumption of rice, red gram, vegetables and
miscellaneous items like ready to eat, ready to cook, milk and milk products, coffee and
tea had been increased whereas consumption of millets like ragi(Finger millet), sama
(Proso millet), jowar (Sorghum) and korra (Fox tail millet) had decreased when
compared to ten years back. Majority of the tribal respondents used own seed, organic
manures and implements. Majority of them acquired fertilizers from shandies and
pesticides from dealers in vizianagaram. Majority of them stored cereals in Gunny
bags, millets and pulses in Polythene bags, and oil seeds in doki and majority (50.00%)
of them did not use any seed protectant practices for control of pests and diseases and
majority (75.00%) of them preferred Attic as their place of storage. The major source of
irrigation to the tribal respondents was rainfall with 95 per cent of the rainfed area.
Documentation on Agrobiodiversity was done in tribal region where, in cereals 20
land races were documented (5 land races in dry paddy and 15 land races in wet
paddy), in millets 34 land races were documented (5 land races in sama, 18 land races
in ragi, 5 land races in jowar and 6 land races in korra), in pulses 30 land races were
documented (6 land races in red gram, 4 land races in horse gram, 5 land races in broad
bean, 4 land races in rice bean, 4 land races in cow pea, 2 land races in rajmah (French
bean), 2 land races in black gram and 3 land races in green gram), in oilseeds 5 land
races were documented (4 land races in ground nut and 1 land race in niger), in
vegetables 23 land races were documented (5 land races in chilli, 2 land races in ginger,
3 land races in brinjal, 1 land race in cabbage, 1 land race in radish, 2 land races in
tomato, 2 land races in ridge gourd, 3 land races in bottle gourd, 1 land race in radish, 1
land race in spinach and 2 land races in colocasia).
Majority of the tribal respondents had high knowledge in paddy, pulses and
vegetables and medium knowledge in millets and oilseeds. On the whole majority
(40.83%) of the tribal respondents had high knowledge on Agrobiodiversity followed
by medium (31.67%) and low (27.50%) knowledge, respectively
Results on status of Agrobiodiversity indicated an increase in current area under
landraces of cereals (62.13%), pulses (77.69%), oilseeds (27.42%) and vegetables
(173.33%) and decrease in millets (19.72%) area under landraces when compared to 20
years back. Jurilu landrace in green gram was already extinct. Pedda Kandulu in
redgram, Rotton cidi, Kanta kuli and Tettem danu in wet paddy, Palla batalu, Payaka
dhanyam in dry paddy, Mai sama and Luddamama sama in sama, Budi dera, Kora dera,
Bodu madiya, Chepadera and Rotta madiya in ragi, Kaki/Geera Jonna, Tella Jonna and
Chinna Jonna in Jowar, Koya korra, Pedda korra, Nalupu korra and Burisi korra in
korra, Tella ulavulu, Nalla ulavulu, Sarking and Guram ulaving in horse gram are at the
threat of extinction as indicated by tribal respondents in the study area.
The attributes of Agrobiodiversity were perceived by majority of respondents as
high in case of cereals, pulses and vegetables whereas in case of Jowar, perception was
low. On the whole, the attributes of Agrobiodiversity of all selected crops were
perceived as high by majority of tribal respondents (37.25%).
The major factors contributing towards the loss of Agrobiodiversity as
perceived by the tribal respondents are Introduction of High Yielding Varieties
(HYVs), modern varieties, or introduced crops and hybrids in place of local land races
for commercial cultivation, Lack of processing facilities for millets, Lack of proper
storage facilities leading to loss of land races, Natural problems of cyclones, floods and
drought causing varietal loss, Changes in food habits, Land races gives low yields than
high yielding varieties, Changing attitudes from coarse to fine grains, Long crop
duration, Supply of HYV seeds and other inputs at subsidized cost by the government,
Migration of farmers to plain areas for employment and reduced interest in traditional
agriculture. Changes in Socio-economic factors, Lack of traditional knowledge and
awareness, Population growth and land fragmentation and Poor grain quality (loss of
aroma and taste) than hybrids and high yielding varieties were ranked from 1st to 14th
respectively by the tribal respondents.
The major factors contributing towards the gain of Agrobiodiversity as
perceived by the tribal respondents are cultivation for commercial purpose to make
more money, high yields, pest resistant, increased population leading to increased area
under cultivation, land races gives high yields without any fertilizer application, land
races have more aroma than hybrids and HYV, short duration, suitable for mixed
cropping, excellent cooking quality and good taste, can withstand heavy rains, comes
up well in low moisture conditions, no germination on standing water, highly relished
as ambali preparation and exclusively used in certain traditional foods were ranked
from 1st to 14th respectively by the tribal respondents.
Strategies suggested for the promotion of Agrobiodiversity are germplasm
collection by NBPGR, initiation of community seed banks and biodiversity registers,
declaration of bioconservation zones, organizing awareness programmes to tribes on
importance of vanishing land races, incentives for farmers cultivating land races,
training programmes on preparation of various recipes from land races, premium
prices for organic cultivation of land races, improvement of processing facilities to
make post harvest easy, training programmes and method demonstrations on
preparation and use of indigenous/modern storage structures to improve keeping
quality, announcing incentives for farmers who are interested in seed multiplication of
land races, introduction of foods that are prepared out of highly nutritious millets,
which are at the edge of depletion (in mid day meals programmes and anganwadi
centres).
 
Date 2016-06-13T12:11:26Z
2016-06-13T12:11:26Z
2012
 
Type Thesis
 
Identifier http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/67258
 
Language en
 
Relation D9108;
 
Format application/pdf
 
Publisher ACHARYA N. G. RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY