Agricutural tips on radio,mobiles along with Technical prediction and solutions by vramanu

Hi, Thanks for your feedback and questions. 1)It is important to form a community, if we can use the students, the better as they have the ease of understanding the technology and they will act as an interface with the local community and they will understand the requirement of their people better as they have a cultural benefits. This community should feel free in discussing about the issues and can give their suggestion as well, so here we need to use the researchers who are already working with them as they have developed a good rapport with these peoples. 2)We can use the https://www.climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/1301102/phaseId/1306618/planId/1313804 as a reference to the resource to be used or We need to collect the weather prediction report from the climate data, Soil analysis based on weather prediction (fertility changes with flood), change in mountain heights due nature catastrophic and expert judgment and fine tune the analysis. The expert judgment data will contain the information from the community, researchers working with them based on their past predictions they need to give the information,Along with the above information we can use the predicted/forecast climate information as mentioned to provide information to the farmers. So we can build a calendar with this feedback as a delta correction in terms of days, so the farmers will understand it better as the calendar is better interface to make them understand. As per my understanding currently the farmers prediction based on the calendar is not working, their judgement on the season gets changed by 15 or 20 days, this days can help in choosing an alternative crop or if possible mixed agriculture.Probably in the current generation, the prediction is not accurate as there has been a change in the climate and natural calamities which has not been considered in the calendar. This changes is introduced some where but when we consider earth as an system, a change in one place will trigger a big change in another place so it is important to use the scientific data along with the experts feedback to produce a delta factor which helps in fine tune the prediction. Based on taking the recordings for few years we can re build a stable calendar and share with the community. please let me know if i have answered your question. Can some one elaborate the statement "The proposal does not address, at least adequately, the issues of the resources that the farmers currently use" I am not getting the statement "issues of the resources that the farmers currently use" is it about the calendar or how the agriculture is being conducted in this region? Thanks Venkatesh

we need to share the history of the calendar, so that the younger generation understands bit, so a gen introduction program on the mapping will help them to get up to the speed, then we can introduce the complex section of addressing the issue through the questionnaire, once the people gets up to the speed, probably the scientific team can make an approx delta value that can be incorporated in the calendar as mention in previous comments.

Hi, There are two parts in this radio program: Part 1 1)Session on the Calendar so the generation gap in the understanding of the calendar gets addressed. So youngsters participates with enthusiasm Part 2 2)The expert interview, where the farmer with in the community will predict, answers the questions to the other farmers. 3)Is the use of technology to predict and fine tune the prediction along with the expert judgement. The use of technology will be complex as it leads to the interaction between various team to get the exact output. As a change in climate, will change water vapor contents, number of earth worms may also change,and because of natural calamities there may be a shift in the altitude of the mountains, so in directly the wind flow as well changes. So we need to measure all these and the interaction between experts in the field is a must. Directing the locals with Technology team and Expert Judgement Team So the representative from the technology side along with the expert prediction, they need to answer and guide the other farmers.This guidance can be given through the radio. For the initial days, these may be like spoon feeding where the prediction needs to be done at least 2 weeks ahead of the season, with weather prediction and in turn soil erosion / fertility needs to be analyzed, so that farmers can make the preparation. Where as the expert judges based on their experience, and the amount of sun light falling on the region at a given time. Making the locals to take ownership: Going forward the technology team, needs to develop a delta correction value, based on the region's location such as availability of water, air temp, mountain heights, soil fertility etc. so that going forward prediction becomes more accurate and the farmers can take the ownership of the same. Probably the need to do this 4 times in a year, so that can for an accurate formula As a start up, the soil fertility analysis and air temperature measuring team can be formed as technical team.We can use,research students for this analysis so they get an opportunity to learn if they are within this region or nearby country it would be better as they can interact with the local people, and going forward based on the accuracy of prediction we can add other teams that can predict the wind speed in the region, if there is a change etc. The students will work with the villagers and the local technical team in collecting sample data such as soil, wind speed measurement, how the air temperature is varying, and the data on fauna and flora and their population etc, if we can set this as part of the education curriculum it would be better /or we can give some credit points to keep them motivated. Please let me know, if any further clarification is needed. Thanks Venkatesh

Hi, I have updated the proposal description section please check. Thanks Venkatesh

Hi, Apart from the points i have mentioned in the proposal and the blog links i have shared, i want to share few important points on pastorals and habitual fuel consumption in these regions. Which shouldn't get ignored or missed out. We need to clear the unwanted and poisonous grasses as per this research the pastoral gets affected due to some grasses http://www.researchgate.net/profile/S_Breckle/publication/261596535_Effects_of_Grazing_on_Biodiversity_Productivity_and_Soil_Erosion_of_Alpine_Pastures_in_Tajik_Mountains/links/0c960534c3e6e3ed4f000000.pdf they can remove the soil nutrients at a faster rate and can turn into barren lands. Some research shows that Mycorrhizal Fungi helps in growing plants but, we need to check its feasibility for crops and if Nitrogen fixation is possible? or does it help pamir soil in any way ?, Effect on Nitrogen cycle in pamir region http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cyrus_Samimi/publication/51482531_Human_and_climate_impact_on_N_natural_abundance_of_plants_and_soils_in_high-mountain_ecosystems_a_short_review_and_two_examples_from_the_Eastern_Pamirs_and_Mt._Kilimanjaro/links/53e89c480cf21cc29fdc785a.pdf if mixed farming along with Mycorrhizal Fungi will provide results in pamir regions and make the land fertile ? a must watch documentary film on plants what plants talk about ? Alternate thermal insulation: As per MRD-Journal research on pamirs fuel consumption the main fuel consumption in this area are more for thermal insulation rather than cooking so switch to alternate powers it will reduce the woods and grasses consumption as well, check the feasibility of idea http://winter2015.unhcrideas.org/Page/ViewIdea?ideaid=3797 probably Catalina Oaida and Anne Nolin can comment on this, as this is their specialization, if such a thermal insulation can help this region. we can ask the people to move to this type of houses at least for the new ones and its not going to cost them much.More over if they can switch to solar and wind energy it can save a lot of vegetation and soil erosion. In Recent years there has been a change in the life style of the people, so it is a must that we need to use these changes as well in the calendar as a shift/ correction value. Though the calendar has considered the season,altitude and sun light etc, the other side of detrimental effects has not been considered for e.g the poison grasses and their consumption by cattle and the change of people's life style by consumption of energy for thermal insulation has not been covered. These will have an effect on the calendar correction as well, which cannot be ignored. Probably the calendar can be iterated over a period of time with some adjustment values, in the mean time i feel we can develop an integrated agriculture tips comprising technology and experts advice. I have updated a lot of information in the main proposal and in the related blog content. Please ensure its been read thoroughly. Thanks Venkatesh

conclusion of proposal cont... Sections updated in proposal 1)Summary 2)Who will take these actions? 3)What are the proposal’s costs? point 6 to 12 4)References -> Logical Flow diagram Team Structure http://vramanu.blogspot.in/2015/06/team-composition.html Answer to Morgan's question : Technical tips and samples to be collected / places where students needs to interact with technical team has been listed out in the blog http://vramanu.blogspot.in/2015/06/conclusion.html The priority one being the Soil Sample, and about 16 points been listed out, i feel fellow team has more experience and knows the pamir mountains better than me, so they can revisit these points and can re-order the priorities. Few of the points needs feasibility study so please go through these, this information is for prediction and guiding the farmers ahead,so the output of these research should be given as agricultural tips in otherwords give a simplified message to the farmers in terms of crop names(based on amount of rainfall predicted, earthworm prediction), amount of fertilizers (based on N2 samples,weed presence in area/valley, feasibility of earthworm fertility enhancement for the valley),grazing strategy (feasibility of algae fodder in the valley),alternate thermal insulation (based on feasibility dung cake/algae frame based houses and switching to alternate energy source). Thanks Venkatesh