DESIGN DISSERTATION ON INTEGRATED FARM SCHOOL (B.ARCH) PDF

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This work would not have been possible without the support of my guide , my parents and my friends. I would like to thank my guide Prof. Anand Borgaonkar and Prof. Jagdeep Desai for all the guidance and patience. My parents have been very supportive and I am grateful for all the ass...

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This work would not have been possible without the support of my guide , my parents and my friends. I would like to thank my guide Prof. Anand Borgaonkar and Prof. Jagdeep Desai for all the guidance and patience. My parents have been very supportive and I am grateful for all the assurance and guidance. My friends Sneha Mathew , Bijal Balsara , Anisha Ahuja , Sharvi Chavan ,and Jaya Gangwani for all

the help and making me realise my potential and supporting me. I would also like to thank Ar. Serah Varghese for all the guidance. Special gratitude to Mrs. Anita Menon , Dr. Mandavkar and Akshaykumar Ramanuj for all the guidance through my whole research. I thank God Almighty for making it possible.

- MERLYN MATHEW

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CONTENTS 01 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………….06 1.1 - Aim…………………………………………………………..08 1.2 - Objectives……………………………………………………08

1.3 - Architectural Scope………………………………………….08 1.4 - Hypothesis…………………………………………………....09 1.5 - Limitations………………………………………………........09 02 BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW…………………………...10 2.1 - Overview of the study………………………………………..15 03 METHOD – CASE STUDY……………………………………..16 ONLINE CASE STUDY……………………………………...18 3.1 - Marudam Farm School……………………………………….19 3.2 - Hershey Montessori Farm School……………………………24

LIVE CASE STUDIES………………………………………..31 3.3 - Yellow Train Grade School…………………………………..32 3.4 - College of Agriculture………………………………………..48 PART I - HOLISTIC EDUCATION……………………………….66 04 MONTESSORI EDUCATION SYSTEM……………………..67 4.1 - What is holistic education…………………………………...67 4.2 -

Montessori Education system……………………………….68

4.3 - Adolescence…………………………………………………70 4.4 -

Stages of Development……………………………………...71

4.5 -

Integration of NCERT Syllabus……………………………..74

4.6 -

Importance of school gardening in education………………76

4.7 -

Nutrition Education…………………………………………76

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CONTENTS PART II - INCLUSION OF NATURE IN EDUCATION……………….77 05 AGRICULTURE FARMING…………………………………………78 5.1 - Stages of Farming………………………………………………...78 5.2 - Farm Layout Design……………………………………………..101 5.3 - Sustainable Agriculture…………….............................................104 5.4 - Green House……………………………………………………..108 5.5 - Vertical Farming……………………………................................115 5.6 - Green Roof Farming…………………………………………..... 123 PART III - CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY………………………….126 06 Contribution To The Society…………………………………….127 07 CONCLUSION………………………………………........................129 08 ANCILLARY STRUCTURE………………………………………..131 8.1 - Hostel and Staff Residence 8.2 - Farm House and Farm Office 8.3 - Storage for Machinery 09 SITE ANALYSIS…………………………………………………......132 9.1 - Justification of site……………………………………………….132 9.2 - Raigad District…………………………………………………..133 9.3 - Roha City………………………………………………………...134 9.4 - Soil Specification………………………………………………..137 9.5 - Site Specifications……………………………………………….139 9.6 - Area and Location…………………………………………… 140 9.7 - Surrounding structures…………………………………………..141 9.8 - Existing structures………………………………………………142 10 AREA AND SPACE PROGRAMME………………………………. 143 11 CLASSROOM DESIGN……………………………………………..145 12 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………….146

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PREFACE

Agriculture is the main occupation of most of the population in India. Yet there seems to be a decline in Agriculture in the past few decades. Yes, this is true

because the people are not exposed to such a problem, till there will be a crisis in food. Food is one of the basic need of a person and it is necessary for the younger generation to be aware of the problems and innovate in future. My thesis topic caters to this problem of Agriculture.

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“Don’t limit a child to your own learning , for he was born in another time.” - Rabindranath Tagore

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INTRODUCTION “No race can prosper till it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem “ - Booker T Washington

Agriculture is the science, art or practice of cultivating the soil , producing crops and raising livestock and in varying degrees the preparation and marketing of the resulting products.

Agriculture is the oldest profession in the world. In India, agriculture has an extensive background that goes back to ten thousand years. India has prospered due to the agriculture. It is said that, agricultural production contributes a major share in the Gross Domestic Product of the country. India, having its varied topography, houses a variety of crops and some indigenous crops that grow only in India. The agriculture sector recruits about 5% the entire man power. Thus , agriculture has seen its most number of employment in India. This plays a key role in the socio-economic growth of the country. The country also faces its share of problems. India having the second largest population, the third largest economy , fourth largest agricultural sector in the world, still it cannot feed our farmers. Farmers, that provide food, are undernourished. This has led to the economic downfall in the agricultural sector. One of the reasons for this stagnation in agricultural sector is the lack of research and adopting new technologies. Due to climate change, our crops production is declining.

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Introduction

One way to revive it through research and innovative ways to crop production.

The decline in agricultural innovation is directly related to the decline in agricultural education. Can the education system be responsible ? Our education system has become a platform for students to give a lot of emphasis on marks only , ignoring the other aspects beyond academics. Education should make a person free should broaden the horizon of thinking and should encourage to experiment. The inclusion of agriculture as an integrated subject along with academics will provide a holistic approach in the way of educating them. My thesis topic caters to this approach by introducing an Integrated

Farm School. 75% of the world’s poor live in rural areas and most are dependent on agriculture for food and income , thus the school is proposed in a rural setting. Children will have an experiential learning possibilities in the school. They will be more sensitive to their surroundings. As farming is a community based occupation, children can develop social skills and in turn help their community. “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you are a thousand miles from the cornfield.”

- President Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Introduction

1.1 AIM: 1. To promote agricultural education by integrating agriculture in the curriculum. 2. To provide a holistic approach in education.

1.2 OBJECTIVES; 

Holistic education for children through experiential learning.

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Inclusion of nature in education through agriculture.

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Contribution to the community in the form of research and production of

food.

1.3 ARCHITECTURAL SCOPE: Teaching agriculture to young children opens them to understanding how things grow, live and die. From flowers to potatoes , teaching students about farming and gardening introduces knowledge about how food get on their tables. Starting agriculture at a young age helps children get perspective on their lives and the world around them. The school caters to kindergarten to

Junior college students. The outcome of the project is beneficial to the children, environment and the community. Agricultural education will not only be a academic subject but also be an effective tool for their lives. Agricultural education introduces different types of farming techniques according to the climatic changes in the area. Farm schools follow the 3 basic principles:

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Introduction



Improve student health by providing a variety of nutritious food options.



Provide hands on experience and nutrition development on local food systems.

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Support local economy by providing business for community farms.

1.4 HYPOTHESIS: The need to promote agricultural education in children by way of introducing it in their academic education. This will give an exposure to agriculture as career option and also help children learn more about their environment 1.5 LIMITATIONS

The agriculture education is limited for the bachelors degree. There are very few farm schools in India. The study has been derived from different sources and complied according to the requirements. The main limitation was the idea of educating children in agriculture. Agriculture is a complex subject to be taught thus it has to be narrowed down to make children understand. Thus the agriculture curriculum is introduced at the age of 12 -18 years. The students from kindergarten to 11 years will be involved in other subjects related to agriculture , like gardening , etc.

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BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW “I believe in the future of agriculture with a faith born not of words but of deeds” -E. M. Tiffany

This quote from E.M.Tiffany was written with a purpose and that purpose is to encourage the farmers of the world to keep believing in what the future holds for them. With this passion each farmer goes to the field and works hard and gets his produce. This produce is not only shared by him but also by the community. Agriculture has

been and will be the largest industry in the world, because it is about feeding the nations and that can never get into a recession. Feeding the nation is one of the noblest job yet people shy way from the prospect of taking agriculture as a profession or let alone know what is agriculture. People have a misconception that farmers of India are illiterate and know nothing about the world. But its not true, many may be illiterate but they are excellent at their jobs i.e farming. This has been a misconception that has fuelled the exploitation of farmers. Agricultural marketing is plagued with a multitude of problems. These farmers are the target of exploitation by raised agencies, institutions and middlemen. Problems faced by them : •

Timing of sales are not provided correctly.

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Transportation facilities are scarce.

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Storage facilities are inefficient.

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Delay in settlements of account and payment of dues.

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Unscientific grading.

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Providing wrong information.

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Manipulation of accounts.

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Inadequate marketing information.

The farmers are bearing the brunt of all these exploitations. Literacy has been one of the issue facing the farming industry.

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Background And Overview

Other issues pertaining to Indian farmers are as follows: 1. Stagnation of major crops Rice and wheat are the major crops of India. Rice production covers the Indian Gangetic Plain and South India. The stagnation of these crops has resulted in a huge gap between the demand and supply of growing population and production. The main causes for this stagnation are : 

Industrial farming: In this type, rice production is the only crop grown in the field. Due to this the soil looses its nutrients in some years. This causes the stagnation of rice.



Population Increase: Population has risen since 1947, when the agriculture sector in 1947 contributed almost 50% in the GDP, now in 2016 it contributes only 14% in the GDP. The reasons are interconnected, industrial farming gave rise to more production , feeding more population. This continued for some years. But now it has stagnated.



Non-environmentally friendly techniques: The soil has turned into a source of pollutants due to the conventional tillage practices.

2. Soil Exhaustion : Soil Exhaustion means depletion of nutrients in the soil due to farming of same crops again and again. This is one of the main reasons for stagnation of crops. The soil becomes compact. The compactness of the soil in the first 15 cm - 20 cm depth does not let the roots of the crops reach below. This causes them to shrink the root growth.

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Background And Overview

3. Ecological issues : Irrigation is the basic need for agriculture, but its un-judicious use has resulted in the depletion of ground water. Before the introduction of bore well system and canal system the depth of the ground water was 40 m deep but now it is only 3m deep. This caused because the ground water irrigated land has increased 6 times in the last few decades. 4. Effect of Global Climate Change In recent years, there has been a global climate change which has had a great impact on the Indian agriculture. The change in the climatic conditions has resulted in an increase of about 2-3 degree Celsius which affects the agricultural practices. 5. Decline in Agricultural Education “Agriculture is not crop production as popular belief holds- it’s the production of food and fiber from the world’s land and waters. Without agriculture it is not possible to have a city, stock market, banks, university , church or army. Agriculture is the foundation of civilization of any stage economy. - Allan Savory

Looking into the future of agriculture, agriculture research plays an important role. Agricultural research needs young minds to initiate innovations. A very small percentage of our students opt for agriculture major as they don’t know its potential. The demand for trained professionals in the field of agriculture is high. But in the past decades there is a decline in the agriculture education sector. The reasons are as follows :

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Background And Overview

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Agriculture means an archaic lifestyle and a future with limited

opportunities. 

Lack of effective public investment in small holder farms



Lack of public infrastructure needed to link markets

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Special change resulting from rapid increase in mass education provision.

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Land fragmentation.

Can the current system of education be responsible for this decline ?? Indian education system is perhaps the second largest in the world which is catering to more than 978 million students of different socio-economic grounds. In terms of literacy India is one of those at the top of the world rankings. “Education is not the learning of facts but the training of the mind to think.” -Albert Einstein The Indian education system promotes learning facts, concepts i.e. learning theoretically. This has led to a lot of competition. The students nowadays are

fiercely competitive and their only goal is to memorize the textbooks. The Indian Education system has not seen any alteration since decades. Even now, we follow the old traditional system of education. Our education system has become a process of spoon feeding facts and knowledge. We do not think of selecting careers other than – Doctors, MBAs, IAS Officers etc. We can conclude that the problem may be in the previous generation. They were made to think in a certain way and this pressurizes the child to achieve more.

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The course structure is rigid and has very minimum option of exposure. This makes the child think that getting good grades is the only option. This closes doors to other type of learning possibilities. The lack of exposure of the outside world to the students can make them more concentrated in their studies. Technology has played an important part in exposure to the children but its not enough. In the end every child should not only have academic education but also self-education. “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all “ - Aristotle Educating children is nurturing our future generation. They have to be aware of all the possibilities, dangers, responsibilities and duties of a person through education. This is a holistic approach to teaching. It can be attained in many ways – experiential learning, student centered learning, through play and games etc. This thesis is trying to promote not only academic education but also experiential education through farming. This will give an opportunity for them to think out of the box and be more social among their community. “Education is our greatest opportunity to give an irrevocable gift to the next generation “ - Ernie Fletcher

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Background And Overview

2.1 OVERVIEW OF THE SUTDY The method used for research is the case study method. The case studies are divided into online case studies and offline case studies. They give an overview of the agriculture education in India. The research is based on these findings. The research methodology consists of 3 main parts :

Part I –Holistic education for children through experiential learning.

In this chapter, the research is based purely on the benefits , children are gaining through a farm school. Sub sections include the importance of school gardening in the holistic approach of teaching, how a different type of education system like the Montessori education system works in a farm school and also the significant occupational benefits gained by these students. 

Part II – Sustainability in agriculture

This chapter consists of the various methods in farming. Sustainability is the core of the design process thus many factors abiding sustainability is discussed in this section. 

Part III – Contribution To The Community

The chapter explains, how local farmers can be a part of the project. Farmer field schools (KVK) are open to research in this school and finally the production of excess food can be supplied to the community market. These have helped me to reach the final conclusion of the project. Lastly, the site analysis and conclusion of the study is explained. These have helped me to reach the final conclusion of the project. Lastly, the site analysis and conclusion of the study is explained.

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METHOD – CASE STUDY

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“Task of modern educators is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts”

-C.S.Lewis

Agriculture is the science of the earth. Agriculture is the cultivation and breeding of animals, plants for food, fibers, biofuel, medicinal plants and other products used to sustain and enhance human life. Thus, agriculture is the start point for any other field .In the thesis, I have integrated agriculture and education to help in experiential learning. There are some case studies of schools, colleges and institutes that promote teaching of agriculture to varied age groups.

The children will be exposed to a varied range of opportunities in agriculture. In this thesis, I have focused on farming as the agricultural activity. The case studies are tailored in such a way that each case study caters to a certain age group. 

Age Group - 3 to 5 years

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Age Group - 6 to 11 years - Marudam Farm School (Online)

- Farming Kindergarten (Online)

- Yellow Train Grade School (Offline) 

Age Group – 12 to 18 years - Hershey Montessori Farm School (Online) - College of Agriculture (Offline)

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Method Case Study

The purpose for understanding the concept of teaching agriculture , I have also visited the Tata Agriculture Centre for Blind. They cater to blind population in

India and it is one of a kind agriculture center in the world. Every case study has helped me formulate my methodology and understand the concept of uniting agriculture and education.

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