Book by BestCurrentAffairs.com for IAS Prelims 2020
AGRICULTURE
Be stC
[For IAS Prelims 2020] © BestCurrentAffairs.com. All Rights Reserved.
irs .co
ffa
As per the Fourth Advance Estimates for 2017-18, total foodgrain production in the country is estimated at 284.83 million tonnes which is higher than what was produced during 2016--17. The production during 2017-18 is higher by 24.66 million tonnes than the previous five years’ (2012-13 to 2016-17) average production of foodgrain. Government of India approved the National Policy for Farmers (NPFs) in 2007. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY): The scheme has been approved with an outlay of ₹ 50,000 crore for a period of 5 years (2015-16 to 2019-20). Cabinet decision was taken in July, 2016 for implementation of PMKSY in a mission mode. The mission is administered by Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation with the Per Drop More Crop component being administered by Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW). Agricultural credit flow has shown consistent progress every year. The target for the year 2016-17 was fixed at ₹ 9,00,000 crore and against this target the achievement was ₹ 10,65,756 crore. The agriculture credit flow target for 2017-18 has been fixed at ₹ 10,00,000 crore. The Department implements the Interest Subvention Scheme under which interest subvention is provided on short-term crop loans upto ₹ 3 lakh for a period of one year which is made available to farmers at subvented interest rate of 7 per cent per annum and in case of timely repayment, the same gets reduced to 4 per cent per annum. Government of India introduced the National Crop Insurance Programme (NCIP) with component schemes of Modified National Agricultural Scheme (MNAIS), Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) and Coconut Palm Insurance Scheme (CPIS). In addition, National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) which was withdrawn after implementation of NCIP from rabi 2013-14 and was extended further upto 201516. A new scheme “Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) was implemented from kharif 2016 along with restructured pilot Unified Package Insurance Scheme (UPIS) and Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS). Commission for ‘Agricultural Costs and Prices’ (CACP), set up with a view to evolve a balanced and integrated price structure, is mandated to advice on the price policy (MSP) of 23 crops. These include seven cereal crops (paddy, wheat, jowar, bajra, maize, ragi and barley), five pulse crops (gram, tur, moong, urad and lentil), seven oilseeds (groundnut, sunflower seed, soyabean, rapeseed mustard, safflower, nigerseed and sesamum), copra (dried coconut), cotton, raw jute and sugarcane. CACP submits its recommendations in the form of Price Policy Reports every year, separately for five groups of commodities namely kharif crops, rabi crops, sugarcane, raw jute and copra. Cost of production (CoP) is one of the important factors in the determination of MSP of mandated crops. Besides cost, the Commission considers other important factors such as demand and supply, price trend in the domestic and international markets, inter-crop price parity, terms of trade between agricultural and nonagricultural sectors and the likely impact of MSPs on consumers, in addition to ensuring rational utilization of natural resources like land and water. Thus, pricing policy is rooted not in ‘cost plus’ approach, though cost is an important determinant of MSP. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an autonomous organisation under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE). Formerly known as Imperial Council of Agricultural Research, it was established on July 16, 1929 as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. With its headquarters at New Delhi, the ICAR is the apex body for coordinating, guiding, and managing research and education in agriculture. The ICAR has played a pioneering role in ushering Green Revolution and subsequent developments in agriculture in India through its research and technology development that has enabled the country to increase the production of foodgrains by 5.4 times, horticultural crops by 10.1 times, fish by 15.2 times, milk 9.7 times and eggs 48.1 times since 1951 to 2017. The National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSS&LUP) developed NBSS BHOOMI Geo-portal to access various thematic information on major physiographic regions, sub-physiographic regions, agro-ecological regions (1992), agro-ecological regions (2015) and agroecological sub-regions of the country. The NBSS&LUP developed an android based mobile application on GIS platform for Gujarat. Major explorations were undertaken and 1,532 germplasm accessions were collected comprising 1,095 of cultivated plants and 437 wild accessions. The explorations were undertaken two each in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and one each in Andaman and Nicobar, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Nagaland, Odisha, Tripura and Uttarakhand. The population of momordica cochinchinensis, collected from the middle Andaman Island, was described as a new subspecies momordica cochinchinensis subsp. andamanica, which was subsequently validated through DNA barcoding. 209 varieties were developed 117 high-yielding varieties/hybrids of cereals comprising 65 of rice, 14 of wheat, 24 of maize, 5 of finger millet, 3 of pearl millet, 1 each of sorghum, barley, foxtail millet, kodo millet, little millet and proso millet and released for cultivation in different agro-ecological
ur re nt A
m
Agriculture plays a vital role in India’s economy. 54.6 per cent of the population is engaged in agriculture and allied activities (census 2011) and it contributes 17.4 per cent to the country’s Gross Value Added for the year 2016- 17 (at current prices).
India Year Book 2020 Synopsis
[BestCurrentAffairs.com]
Page No.16
