Proportionate Random Sampling Procedure Research Articles

Constraints Faced and Suggestions Offered by Women Self Help Group Members in Cuddalore District, India

Women's empowerment is essential to ensuring equal access to opportunities and their rights are properly respected. This is accomplished by enhancing and expanding women's social, economic, political, and legal existence. The present study was conducted in Cuddalore Block of Cuddalore District. A proportionate random sampling procedure was applied to select 120 respondents. They were members of Mahalir's Women Self-Help Group. Thittam project under, the organizational efforts taken by the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women (TNCDW) to define the constraints faced and suggestions offered by the members of SHGs. The study found that lack of awareness about credit sources, followed by a lack of adequate communication skills and more dependence on leaders are the major personal constraints faced by women SHG members. Also, insufficient credit facilities, followed by a lack of periodical training and a lack of marketing channels for selling their produce, are the major organisational constraints women SHG members face. Among the suggestions, the majority of the members offered to increase the loan amount, enhance the subsidy amount to the women members and create employment opportunities for women members.

Adoption of Improved Cotton Cultivation Practices among the Farmers in Sriganganagar District of Rajasthan, India

The study was conducted during the year 2022 in Padampur and Suratgarh blocks of Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan to study the extent of adoption of cotton growers on improved cotton cultivation practices. A sample size of 120 respondents was selected based on proportionate random sampling procedure. Personal interviews with the help of a structured schedule were taken for data collection The study revealed that majority of the respondents (58.34%) had medium level of adoption of improved cotton cultivation practices followed by 30% high and 11.66% low level of adoption of Cotton cultivation practices by the respondents. The study analyzed that high adoption found in time of sowing cotton with 89.30 MPS, and respondents had less adoption of seed treatment in cotton crop with 61.66 MPS.

Examination of Rythu Bharosa Kendra (RBK) Services in Vizianagaram District of Andhra Pradesh with a View to Improving Service Delivery to Farmers

Rythu Bharosa Kendra is a State Government initiative of Andhra Pradesh in India for providing various services to the farmers from seed to sale at gross root level. The present study highlights the knowledge level of farmers along with the constraints and suggestions of farmers regarding the services provided by RBK. Ex post facto research design was employed to conduct the study, using multi stage proportionate random sampling procedure, a sample of 140 farmers were selected from Vizianagaram district. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse and categorize the data regarding knowledge level of farmers and to identify and rank the constraints and suggestions Garrett’s Ranking Technique was employed. The findings of the study identified that nearly three-fourths (73.00%) of the farmers had medium level of knowledge regarding services rendered by RBKs followed by high (17.71%) and low (9.29%) levels of knowledge. The prime constraints faced by the farmers were lack of expertise to use digital kiosk, delay in disbursement of payment for the marketed produce and lack of proper infrastructure facilities. The foremost suggestions given by the farmers were on time disbursement of payment for the marketed produce and timely supply of inputs and Rythu Bharosa to farmers and improving infrastructure facilities of RBK. The findings of the study will aid policy makers to formulate new interventions for improving the services of RBK and also functionaries of RBK in improving the existing lacunae and formulating new ones.

Christian Religious Studies Teachers’ Content Knowledge: Do Areas of Specialisation, Teaching Experience, Professional Qualification and Academic Qualification Matter?

This paper ascertained the influence of the area of specialisation, teaching experience, professional qualification, and academic qualification on CRS teachers’ content knowledge. Cross-sectional survey was the design employed to conduct the study. The population comprised 3,523 individuals including both CRS teachers and students from form 1 and 2. The study utilised a sample size 423 made up of 23 teachers and 400 students. The students were sampled using the proportionate random sampling procedure from a population of 3,500 whereas all the teachers were selected with the census method from eight senior high schools. Data from CRS teachers and students were collected using questionnaires. The results showed that teachers of CRS have a high level of content knowledge even though more than half of them did not specialise in religion. It was found that there was no statistically significant effect of CRS teachers’ area of specialisation, teaching experience, professional qualification, and academic qualification on their Content knowledge, F (16, 6) = 1.097, p = .489, partial ƞ2 = .245. There was a significant interaction effect of teachers’ area of specialisation and professional qualification on their content knowledge F (1, 6) = 0.00, p = .001, partial ƞ2 = .000. This indicates that the effect of area of specialisation on a teachers’ content knowledge depends on their level of professional qualification. There was also a significant interaction effect of teachers’ professional qualification and academic qualification on their content knowledge F (1, 6) = 0.00, p = .000, partial ƞ2 = .000, implying that, the effect of professional qualification on content knowledge depends on the teacher’s level of academic qualification. It is recommended that the Ghana Education Service in the Eastern region ensure regular workshops and upgrading are provided for teachers of CRS despite their high level of content knowledge. This is because more than half of the teachers did not specialise in religion and may encounter some bottlenecks in their lesson delivery.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROFILE CHARACTERISTICS OF WOMEN SHG MEMBERS AND THEIR EMPOWERMENT THROUGH TNCDW

Women’s empowerment is essential to ensuring that they have equal access to opportunities and that their rights are properly respected. This is accomplished by enhancing and expanding women’s social, economic, political, and legal existence. The present study was conducted in Cuddalore Block of Cuddalore District. Proportionate random sampling procedure was applied to select 120 respondents. They were the members of women Self Help Groups of Mahalir Thittam project under the organizational efforts taken by Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women (TNCDW) to explore the relationships between profile characteristics of women SHG members and their empowerment. From the study it was found that SHGs have contributed significantly to the empowerment of women. Out of thirteen variables, six variables viz., educational status, mass media exposure, information sharing behavior, decision making behavior, self-confidence and awareness on women development programmes were found to have positive and significant relationship with the empowerment of women. SHG member’s personal traits as well as group and social activities were the major determinants of empowerment.

Human capital assessment of rice-fish farmers: A study from Coastal Odisha

The study was carried out to investigate the socio-economic background, knowledge, and livelihood of the farmers engaged in Rice-Fish farming. Purposive sampling was used to select the study area. One hundred twenty farmers were selected from 6 villages by proportionate random sampling procedure. The responses were obtained from each individual respondent using a pre-tested structured interview schedule designed for data collection. The collected data was tabulated and analysed using appropriate statistical tools and techniques such as frequency, percentage, mean score, and rank order. According to the study, the majority of respondents (48.33%) were middle-aged and had only completed primary school (36.67%). The majority of respondents (46.67%) reported a medium level of social participation. Among the respondents (59.17%) belonged to nuclear families, while the maximum number of respondents (51.66%) had small family size. According to the survey, the majority of respondents (53.33%) had a medium level of extension contact, and all rice growers (100%) had a good understanding of the productivity of high yielding varieties. The vast majority of fish growers (95.0%) knew that the pond should be located in an open space receiving ample sunlight, and the knowledge gap was only (2.50%). The results of the study will be useful to the extension workers for development of appropriate educational strategies, for the researcher, policy makers and commercial farms to extend the benefits of their activities to increase the knowledge and skill of the farmers in respect to Rice-Fish farming system and the livelihood of the farmers also.

Parenting Style, Social Development and Academic Performance of Junior High School Pupils

This paper looked at parenting styles, social development, and academic performance of pupils in the Assin north district of the Central region. The cross-sectional survey design premised on the quantitative approach which is also seated in the positivist orientation to research was adopted. Using the proportionate random sampling procedure, 327 pupils from 30 Junior High Schools in the District were sampled. Data collected were analysed using both descriptive (frequencies and percentages) and inferential (Spearman rank and Pearson correlation) statistics. It was found among others that, the majority of parents of pupils in the Assin north district used an authoritative parenting style. Again, most of the pupils in the Assin north district have high social development. There was a weak positive non-significant relationship between parenting styles and the social development of the pupils (r=0.035, sig.=0.052). Also, there was a weak negative significant relationship between parenting style and the academic performance of the pupils (r=-0.111, sig.=0.044). It was recommended among others that, parents in the district are educated through District Assembly policies and programmes on the importance and influence of their parenting styles. Also, the District Assembly, chiefs, parents, and teachers in the district should put in measures to ensure the continuous and optimum social development of JHS pupils.

Demographic Profile of Knol-Khol Grower in Sub- Tropics of Jammu Region of Jammu and Kashmir

The present study was conducted purposively in Jammu and Samba districts because these two districts were having the maximum area under knol-khol cultivation in Jammu region. A proportionate random sampling procedure, based on the area under knol-khol cultivation in these districts was employed for the selection of villages. The area under knol- khol cultivation in Jammu district and Samba district was 599 ha and 121 ha, respectively. A list of knol-khol growing villages was prepared and 12 villages from Jammu district and 2 villages from Samba district were randomly selected. A list of knol-khol growing farmers with a minimum of 1 kanal (1/20 ha) area under vegetable cultivation was prepared from the selected villages during the year 2020 and 10 farmers from each selected village were randomly selected, The KVK Samba carried out front line demonstrations (FLDs) of the university released G 40 variety of knol-khol. The KVK laid 9 demonstrations on the farmers’ fields, each in 2017-18 and 2018-19. In the year 2019-20 KVK samba again laid the FLDs for 20 farmers. Thus, to study the adoption and adoptability of university released G 40 knol-khol variety, 38 farmers of Samba district were selected as final respondents. Thus, a total sample of 178 (140+ 38) farmers were taken as respondents for the present study. The result showed that majority of the respondents fell under middle age category. Literacy rate of the respondents were quite good. Social participation of the respondents was low. Average operational land holding of the respondents was 1.24 ha and that majority of the respondents were fell under small (1-2 ha) and marginal (<1 ha) category of farmers. Cow was possessed by majority of the respondents.

Adoption Behaviour of Farmers towards Improved Cultivation Practices of Soybean in Dimapur District of Nagaland, India

Soybean is known as “golden bean”, “miracle crop” etc, because of its several uses, It is an excellent source of protein and oil. Soybean is considered an important crop because of its dual purpose that is oil seed as well as pulses crop. In Nagaland, soybean is cultivated almost in all the districts. The present study was carried out during the session 2021-22. The investigation was conducted in Kuhuboto block of Dimapur district of Nagaland. A total number of 120 respondents from 6 villages were selected using proportionate random sampling procedure.
 The study was conducted with the objectives to find out the characteristics of soybean growers, the extent of knowledge and ascertain the extent of adoption behavior of farmers towards improved cultivation practices of soybean and to delineate the constraints faced by the respondents and to obtain their suggestions. An interview schedule based on the study was prepared and data were collected and processed through primary and secondary tables and statistical analysis. The respondents were contacted personally and interviewed. The study revealed that majority of the soybean growers belonged to middle aged group, acquired Upper Primary school education, had medium level of annual income with small size of land holding. Majority of them had medium (10-20) years of farming experience, use of sources of information and medium level of extension contact. It was observed that the majority (70.84%) of the respondents had medium level of knowledge on improved cultivation practices of soybean followed by 13.33% having high and 15.83% having low knowledge level respectively. In respect of correlation analysis between knowledge level and the independent variables, it shows that annual income, land holding and extension contact had positive and found to be significant. Whereas, age, education, marital status, family type, family size, type of house, occupation, farming experience, mass media exposure and source of information was found to be non-significant. As for analysis between adoption level and the independent variables, it was revealed that variables like annual income, land holding and extension contact are significantly associated with adoption of soybean growers. Further, the variables age, education, marital status, type of family, family size, type of house, occupation, farming experience, mass media exposure and source of information was found to be non significant. The major constraints faced by the respondents were lack of proper resources and capital, high cost of inputs, lack of proper information at time, lack of consultancy, shortage of labors etc.

Adoption behaviour of Farmers and Constraints towards Improved Sugarcane Cultivation Practices in Dimapur District of Nagaland

Adoption of the improved technology is the ultimate aim for enhancing the production and income of the farming system. This study was conducted in Kuhuboto block of Dimapur district, Nagaland during the session 2021-22. Through proportionate random sampling procedure, a total number of 120 respondents from 4 villages were selected. The findings revealed that around 54.1 per cent of the respondents were middle aged group with a primary level education of 42.5 per cent had medium level annual income of 68.33 per cent and medium size land holding of 45.84 per cent. Majority of the respondents have a nuclear type of family having upto five members and semi-cemented type of house had medium (10-20) years of farming experience, use of sources of information, mass media exposure and level of extension contact. The findings also revealed that around 71.66 per cent of respondents are medium category adopters. In respect of correlation analysis between adoption level and the independent variables like age, occupation, annual income, farming experience and source of information are significantly associated with adoption of sugarcane growers. The major problems experienced by the respondents were lack of proper resources and capital, costly critical inputs, lack of proper market facilities, lack of credit facility at time, lack of technical knowledge, unavailability of seed at time, lack of knowledge about major insect- pest diseases & their control, lack of training program related with improved practices etc. Thus, the study suggests for immediate attention of the extension functionary for convincing the sugarcane growers which would result in the higher adoption and income.

ADAPTATION STRATEGIES OF JHUM CULTIVATORS TOWARDS CLIMATE CHANGE IN MOKOKCHUNG DISTRICT, NAGALAND

In the recent years, the impact of climate change for Jhum cultivators has been very apparent as jhum cultivation is purely a rain-fed agricultural system and crop production can be extremely sensitive to year-to-year weather fluctuations. The present investigation was conducted in Ongpangkong block of Mokokchung district of Nagaland. A total number of 120 respondents from 4 villages were selected using proportionate random sampling procedure. Data was collected through pre structured interview schedule and processed through primary and secondary tables and statistical analysis. The study revealed that the overall adaptation practices towards climate change were medium. Age, farming experience, extension contacts, mass media exposure and social contact were positively significant with the adaptation level towards climate change.

Adoption Behaviour Of Farmers Towards Off-Season Improved Cucumber Cultivation Practices In Wokha District Of Nagaland

Cucumber is one of the oldest vegetable crop grown widely throughout India as well as tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world. Nagaland, one of the eight states of the north east region is blessed with suitable agro climatic conditions and its soil is suitable for agriculture, where cucumber is grown in all the districts. Cucumber farmers in Nagaland have a lot of potential to venture out economically and establish successful adoption practices. The study was conducted with the objectives to study the characteristics of cucumber growers, the extent of knowledge and determine the level of adoption by off season cucumber growers and to delineate the constraints faced by the respondents and to obtain their suggestions. An interview schedule based on the study was prepared and data were collected with the help of interview schedule and processed through primary and secondary tables and statistical analysis. The present study was conducted in Baghty block of Wokha district of Nagaland. A total number of 120 respondents from 4 villages were selected using proportionate random sampling procedure. The respondents were contacted personally and interviewed. The study revealed that majority of the cucumber belonged to middle aged group, educated between primary and high school level, had medium level of annual income with medium size of land holding. Majority of them had medium year of farming experience, use of sources of information and medium level of extension contact. It was observed that the majority of the respondents had medium level of adoption of recommended off season cucumber cultivation practices.

Agri-Entrepreneural Behaviour of King Chilli Growers Under Dimapur District, Nagaland

The present study was conducted with the objective to find out the socio economic profile, agri-entrepreneural behaviour and attitude of king chilli growers in Dimapur district of Nagaland and find out the constraints faced by the respondents and to obtain their suggestions. A total of one hundred twenty farmers were selected from 4 villages using proportionate random sampling procedure. Data was collected by using interview method using pre-structure D interview schedule and analyzed using appropriate statistical tools. The study revealed that majority of the respondents belonged to middle aged group, had medium level of annual income with medium size of land holding. Majority of them had medium year of farming experience and medium level of extension contact. On analyzing the entrepreneural behaviour level, highest number of respondents i.e. 65.83% were having medium level of entrepreneural behaviour followed by 25 % having high and 9.16% having low levels. In respect of correlation analysis between entrepreneural behaviour level and socio- economic profile of respondents it shows that annual income, extension contact, mass media exposure and social contact are positively significant. Whereas, age, education, family type, family size, type of house, land holding, and farming experience are non-significant. In respect of the correlation analysis, the annual income, extension contact, mass media exposure and social contact were positively significant at 0.05 % level related to attitude of the people whereas age, education, family type, family size, type of house, land holding, and farming experience were found to be non-significantly related to attitude of the respondents towards king chilli production respectively.

An Analytical study on Continuance Level of TNAU Recommended Technologies among the Tapioca Growers

New agricultural technologies are need to increasing the production andproductivity of agricultural crops. Technological change has been the majordriving force for increasing agricultural productivity. It was found fromdifferent study that growers’ perceptions of technology characteristicssignificantly affect their adoption decisions. The technology which wasadopted at one time may be discontinuing in other time in different way.This study identified the reason for discontinuance of TNAU recommendedpractices among tapioca growers. Salem and Namakkal district of TamilNadu have been chosen as it records top in area covers under tapiocacultivation. The growers were selected by following Proportionate RandomSampling procedure. Accordingly, 129 tapioca growers were selected asgrowers for the study. From the study it was found that majority of growerscompletely discontinued the nursery management practices. Except biofertilizer, fungicide usage, recommendations for mealy bug, cassava mosaicand TNAU recommended varieties all other technologies still followed bytapioca growers.

Training Needs of Farmers in Adoption of Groundnut Production Technologies in Ariyalur District of Tamil Nadu

Groundnut is called as the king of oil seed. It plays an important role in oil seed economy of India. Groundnut oil is mainly used as cooking purpose and also used for manufacturing soaps, cosmetics, shaving creams and lubricants. Groundnut was cultivated both as rainfed and irrigated crop. Increased productivity greatly depends on available technologies and extent of adoption by farmers. With poor productivity, the economy of major groundnut district of Tamil Nadu like Ariyalur has been shattered as evidences with debt ridden farmers and migrating agricultural labourers of the region. Even through considerable changes with regard to knowledge and skills among the groundnut farmers were brought by the scientists and extension personnel, still there is a wide gap to be filled in by effective training programmes. If the training programmes are need based, a definite improvement in the knowledge level of groundnut farmers would occur leading to increased productivity and there is a possibility to make the predominant small and marginal farming systems more sustainable. Keeping these in view, the research study was taken in Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu with the following objectives. Analyze the training needs of groundnut farmers on production technologies through the use of objective techniques. It would be of great use to find out the relationship between the selected independent variables and dependent variable. Identification of problems faced by groundnut farmers in adopting the recommended practices and their perceived solutions will be of immediate use in removing the existing deficiencies and to plan a sound future strategy of training the groundnut farmers. Proportionate random sampling procedure was applied to select 120 respondents from the district. The data were collected by using a well-structured interview schedule, and analyzed with statistical tools like percentage analysis, cumulative frequency method, and correlation and regression analysis. It could be observed that out of the eleven major subject areas, only four areas viz., ‘plant protection measures’, ‘fertilizer application’, ‘micronutrient application’ and ‘weed management’ were the most needed areas on which trainings were demanded. ‘Lack of suitable weed control measures’ was the fifth most important constraint expressed by (90.83 per cent) of the respondents in groundnut cultivation.

Effect of Public Secondary Schools Categorisation on Students’ Commitment to Democratic Values

Nurturing students who cherish commitment to democratic values remains to be one of fundamental desires on the perpetuation of democracy in Kenya since independence. In pursuit for this desire, the categorisation of public secondary schools have remained to be a cardinal instrument toward realisation of this democratic goal. This study was designed to explore the potential of various categories of public secondary schools in influencing students’ commitment to democratic values in Kiambu County, Kenya. In so doing the study sort to find whether there were significant differences in commitment to democratic values between students attending; National schools, Extra-County schools, County schools and Sub-County schools. The study was carried out among public secondary schools in Kiambu County, Kenya. A total of 384 students were involved drawn from target population of 28,213 Form IV students using stratified proportionate random sampling procedure. The study results revealed that, there were statistical significant differences in commitments to democratic values among students attending; National schools, Extra-County schools, County schools and Sub-County schools at F (3, 339) = 16.73, p =0.001, p < 0.05 with Tukey’s test indicating National schools were significantly different from other three categories of public secondary schools (which did not have significant difference among them).Multiple regression on categorisation of schools yielded a significant regression equation (F (4, 338) = 12.790 p<0.001) with R 2 of 0.131 . Thus, confirming that, there were variations in influence of different categories of public secondary schools on students’ commitment to democratic values.

Exploring the potential for green growth uptake in the South African forest sector

This study assesses the current mode of forest use and management at rural community level in South Africa with a view to locating space for forest-based green growth initiatives development and factors that might shape the uptake of such initiatives. This was done with respect to the need to decouple rural livelihood activities from forest degradation. Vegetation type was used as a criterion to select three municipalities (Makhado, Mutale, and Thulamela) in Vhembe District. Seven rural communities in each municipality were selected giving a total of 21 rural communities. Using stratified proportionate random sampling procedure, a total of 366 households were selected and interviewed. Findings showed that the informal forest sector is best positioned for immediate delivery of green growth benefits to the local communities. Firewood and wild edible insect (mopane worms) were identified as the priority products for forest green growth initiative uptake. However, issues relating to skill and technical capacity were identified as a barrier to the uptake of green growth initiatives in the communities. The study thus recommends capacity enhancement initiatives and forest establishment programmes such as afforestation and reforestation as a means of facilitating forest green growth uptake and delivery of green growth benefits to the study communities.

Analysis of rural people’s attitude towards the management of tribal forests in South Africa

ABSTRACTThe management of forests for multiple purposes coupled with a varying socioeconomic profile of forest users can result in attitudinal differences towards forest management. This study examines the attitudes of rural people in South Africa towards the management of tribal forests. Attitude towards forest management was analysed with respect to five forest management objectives: 1, forest management for rural livelihood resilience to climate change; 2, forest management for reduction and management of forest fire risk; 3, forest management for sustainable forest-based livelihood; 4, forest management for household socioeconomic wellbeing; and 5, forest management for community-based climate change adaptation initiative. A household questionnaire survey was used to elicit information from 155 rural households using the proportionate random sampling procedure. Chi-square test was used to analyse data from the household survey. Factorial analysis was used to analyse variance in attitude towards forest management. The results showed that rural people generally have positive attitudes toward the management of tribal forests. Factor analysis isolated 2 major factors that explained 61% variance in attitude. Based on the findings we conclude that centralising forest management around the four management objectives (1, 3, 4 & 5) are likely to promote inclusive forest-based development in the study communities.

Assessing forest-based rural communities' adaptive capacity and coping strategies for climate variability and change: The case of Vhembe district in south Africa

In this study, various coping strategies used by forest-based rural communities in Vhembe District of South Africa in response to climate variability and change challenges were investigated. The effect of community socio-demographic characteristics on the adaptive capacity and choice/effectiveness of coping strategies was examined. Household level data were collected from 366 respondents selected from 21 rural communities using the proportionate random sampling procedure. The Pearson Chi-square test was used to analyse the coping strategies. The effects of household and community socio-demographic characteristics on choice and effectiveness of coping strategies were determined using the binary logit model. It was observed that the respondents used diverse coping strategies, depending on the nature of climate variability and extreme weather events they were confronted with. Rainwater harvesting was the most popular strategy that the respondents in Makhado (90%), Mutale (96.3%), and Thulamela (50%) used to cope with erratic rainfall. Tree planting around houses and on farmland were the most popular strategies (90–100%) to counter the effects of extreme temperature. Furthermore, household and community demographic characteristics in particular education and skills levels, and forest products, institutional services and infrastructure available in the communities such as markets, and water supply facilities significantly (p<0.05) influenced the choice of households’ coping strategies. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that efforts that enhance the household's capacity and community infrastructural development might be viable and sustainable ways of improving rural communities’ resilience to climate change and variability challenges.

Perception-based analysis of climate change effect on forest-based livelihood: The case of Vhembe District in South Africa.

Forests are vulnerable to climate change and are also major sources of livelihood for many rural households in Africa. This study examines rural people’s perceptions of climate change impacts on forest-based livelihoods using rural communities of Vhembe District in South Africa as a case study. The study was based on the principles of perceived impact-based assessment, and sustainable livelihoods framework. Using the stratified proportionate random sampling procedure in combination with weighted Enumeration Area for the selected communities, 366 households were chosen and interviewed. Data analysis involved computing frequencies and conducting the Chi-square, binomial tests and binary logistic regression analysis. The respondents identified erratic rainfall, extreme temperature, extreme drought and flooding as key climatic events in their community. But not all identified key climatic events were perceived to constitute risk to forest products and forest-based livelihood. Only extreme drought was indicated to constitute risk to availability of forest products. In addition, the binary logistic regression showed a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the perceived risk of climate change to the availability of essential forest products across the three municipalities. Hence the need for forest development initiatives that target vulnerable forest products per community as a means of enhancing resilience of forest-based livelihood to climate change impacts in rural community development in South Africa.