SPECS

Abstract

Evaluation Study of Soil Conservation Schemes (FVS) is the module of SPECS (Software Product for Economics and Statistics) for Economics and Statistics Department of Kerala.The EVS consists of two sets of agricultural lands -Scheme area and Control plots. The agricultural lands where these Schemes area implemented are known as scheme areas.

The Control plots are those agricultural lands which have not been used to implement any schemes but are of the same soil type, topography and area as that of the scheme area. The Control Plots are used for comparison with the Scheme Area to study the effectiveness of the various schemes implemented by the Government in the Scheme Areas.

The control plots are selected carefully as they have to he almost of the same nature as that of the Scheme Area. The beneficiaries refer to the farmers who own the Scheme Areas and have implemented Government's Soil Conservation Schemes. The cultivators refer to the owners of the Control Plots. The farmers are divided into different categories according to the area of their holdings. Presently there are four stratums of farmers.

The data regarding the details of the control plot and the scheme area is collected by trained personnel of the DES. The details include the details of income, production, loan details, cropping pattern and the opinion of the farmers. These data are very helpful as they provide a better insight about the effectiveness of the different Soil Conservation Schemes being implemented by the Government and Soil Conservation Departments. The shortcomings or improvements in the schemes, if any, can be rectified using this data.

The module EMS deals with the evaluation of different soil conservation schemes implemented by the Soil Conservation Department. The District Statistical Offices will collect the relevant data regarding the scheme area and control plots. The data collected during a period of five years will be tabulated at DES. For the efficient collection and processing of data, the basic functionality's in the system are identified and separate data entry forms are designed.

So the module EVS will automate the crop details like the cropping pattern and annual production, cultivator opinion and income and necessary information collection activities of DI S. Up-to-date reports are generated to satisfy the immediate needs of ICES.The software is developed using Power Builder as front end and DBE as back end.