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Rapid growth in dairy consumption and food scandals in India in the 2000s increased awareness of food safety issues among consumers and policymakers. This led to the introduction of new standards. However, there is li ttle information about how they affected farm-level activities and whether value chains played any role. Our paper addresses these questions using a two-round panel survey of dairy farms in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. We find significant improvements in adoption of farm-level hygienic practices, especially in Punjab. Value chain innovations do not play a significant role in stimulating safety and quality improvements among dairy smallholders in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased demand of farm products and depletion of natural resources compel the agriculture community to increase the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in various farming processes. Agricultural Decision Support Systems (DSS) proved useful in this regard. The majority of available Agricultural DSSs a re either crop or task specific. Less emphasis has been placed on the development of comprehensive DSS, which are non - specific regarding crops or farming processes. The crop or task specific DSSs are mainly developed with rule based or knowledge transfer based approaches. The DSSs based on these methodologies lack the ability for scaling up and generalization. The Knowledge engineering modeling approach is more suitable for the development of large and generalized DSS. Unfortunately the model based knowledge engineering approach is not much exploited for the development of Agricultural DSS. CommonKADS is one of the popular modeling frameworks used for the development of Knowledge Based System (KBS). The paper presents the organization, agent, task, communica tion, knowledge and design models based on the CommonKADS approach for the development of scalable Agricultural DSS. A specific web based DSS application is used for demonstrating the multi agent CommonKADS modeling approach. The system offers decision support for irrigation scheduling and weather based disease forecasting for the popular crops of India. The proposed framework along with the required expert knowledge, provides a platform on which the larger DSS can be built for any crop at a given location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ubiquitous utilization of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has led the governments of various countries to use ICTs in public administration and social welfare initiatives. Direct use of e-governance technology by citizens in developing countries is hindered by lack of training, education and infrastructure. This makes it inevitable to employ intermediary users who can bridge this gap between technology use and beneficiaries. Analyzing the technology adoption behavior of intermediaries could help policy makers and designers of e - governance technologies to create devices, processes and training programs that target the factors that inhibit as well as encourage the use of ICTs among technology users. We study the effect of technology characteristics and users' internal traits on technology satisfaction of intermediaries who are mandated by the government to use android tablets in order to provide efficient services to end-users in the Indian food security supply chain. We further translate the results into tangible recommendations in context of infrastructure, users' traits, business performance, and technology and policy design. The research model proposes that cer tain technology characteristics (screen design, technology relevance and terminology) and users' internal traits (resistance to change, technology anxiety, trust in internet and result demonstrability) influence their technology satisfaction, either directly or indirectly through UTAUT constructs. Results indicated that resistance to change, technology anxiety, trust in internet, screen design and terminology had an impact on ICT users' technology adoption behavior . Result demonstrability and technology relevance were found to have no effect on technology satisfaction in case of mandatory use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2014, to improve upon the existing scheme, the Punjab government launched a "new wheat-pulses scheme" under the public distribution system. The state decided to distribute grains on a six-monthly basis instead of every month. It claimed various benefits, whereas beneficiaries expressed concerns. The purpose of this research was to identify and understand factors affecting beneficiaries' preference for successful adoption of a biannual or sixmonthly distribution system. Factors affecting beneficiaries' preference included monthly hassle, leakages in system, storage challenges, interval of grain distribution, one-time down payment, trade of bulk grains by family, exploitation by middle-men, communication of arrival of grains, gender, area, and nature of employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]