Krishi jagran agriculture world october 2015 by Krishi Jagran

Volume I | Issue 10 | October-2015 | `70

AGRICULTURE

W RLD WHITE FOR BLACK A REPORT FROM THE WHITE GOLD FIELDS

AGRICULTURAL GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND INSTITUTIONAL CREDIT

WOMEN FRIENDLY TECHNOLOGIES FOR REMOVING DRUDGERY

INDIAN FARMERS AT THE CROSS ROADS

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W RLD Volume 1 Issue 10 October 2015

contents 06

AGRICULTURAL GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND INSTITUTIONAL CREDIT

AN ALTERNATIVE TO AGRO CHEMICALS VERMI COMPOSTING

Key amon the enumerated reasons for the poor performance of ariculture with major steps bein taen

Excellent organic manure and its detailed description

INDIAN FARMERS AT THE CROSS ROADS Majority of the Indian farmers unable to make a living. Structural and Economic Problems Proposes a number of Solutions

WHITE FOR BLACK A REPORT FROM THE WHITE GOLD FIELDS Details of Happenings and the Expert Comments is the showcase of the eect . Also the remedies as new development suggested by NBRI & PAU

WOMEN FRIENDLY TECHNOLOGIES FOR REMOVING DRUDGERY

To ease their workload a number of women friendly technologies suggested in most of the agricultural operations from planting

36 BIO-BOTANICAL PESTICIDES - REDUCING HAZARDS AND INCREASING SAFETY Pesticides are dangerous to life- a perennial controversy. Bio-Pesticides is a welcoming innovation beneﬁting the farmers

GM Crops K Vijayaraghavan Sathguru Management Consultants

Make Country Farmer Oriented Dr R S Paroda TAAS

Agriculture World is printed and published by: M. C. Dominic 60/9, 3rd Floor, Yusuf Sarai Market, Near Green Park Metro Station, New Delhi 110016. Tel: 011-26511845, 26517923, Mobiles: +91-9313301029 - +91-9654193353. Email: info@krishijagran.com, editor@krishijagran.com • Web: www.krishijagran.com, www.kjcommoditynews.com Printed at: HT Media Press, B-2,Sector 63, Noida - 201301, Dist. Gautam Budh Nagar (U.P.)

Editor-in-Chief MC Dominic Directors

Reorganization of the Agriculture Sector Required

Shiny Emanuel MG Vasan

Sr. Executive Editor Dr. KT Chandy RK Teotia Chander Mohan Editorial Head Sanjay Kumar Asstt. Editor Dr. Sangeeta Soi Senior Correspondent Ruby Jain Correspondent Aniket Sinha Kanika Chauhan Imran Khan Marketing Head PS Saini GM - Marketing Farha Khan Sr. Manager Marketing KJ Saranya Sara Khan Marketing Manager Megha Sharma Sr. Executive Marketing Afsana Malik Chunki Bhutia Poonam Bishwakarma Geeta Rawat Rinki Pundir Laxmi Pandey Soniya Mahajan Shifali Mahajan Preeti Chauhan Kanchan Singh Punam Pradhan Rachael Xavier Agnes Marry Hema Sharma Circulation Head Nishant K Taak Sr. Executive Circulation Chander Dev Bhatt Rahul Singh Abdus Samad Sujata Gautam Anku Yadav Sukumar Dalai Pappu Ray Mohit Head Pre-Press Dharmendra Kumar Designer Yogesh Kumar Accounts KB Indira Office Assistant Prem Kumar Ranjan

he contribution of agriculture sector to the gross value added at 2011-12 is the least compared to industrial and services sector. e twel h National Development Plan (2012-2017) also emphasizes the need to reverse the recent economic slowdown and make growth more inclusive and sustainable. e key among the enumerated reasons for the poor performance of agriculture, according to Ram Kumar Jha, is poor institutional investment. e author in his article Agricultural growth performance and institutional credit lists out the major steps being taken during the budget plan 2014-15. e recent devastating attack of the White y across the North India`s Cotton belt hit the yields, particularly in Punjab and Haryana. `White for Black A Report from the White Gold Fields` gives the details of the happenings and the comments of the experts which is the showcase of the e ect. Chander Mohan in his write up concluded with the developments of NBRI and PAU giving some relief to the cotton grower farmers.

Devastating Attack of Whitey in North India Blackened the Farmers White Gold Field

e vast majority of the Indian farmers being small and marginal types are simply unable to make a living on their pieces of land mostly inherited from their forefathers. As time goes by the situation is getting worse requiring a complete reorganization of the agricultural sector. Dr. K.T. Chandy a er describing their structural and economic problems proposes a number of solutions which the Ministry of Agriculture should take up. Women do most of the agricultural operations from planting to harvesting and from threshing to milling of grains. In many cases they also do sowing of the crops. Traditionally they are not allowed to plough the land which the menfolk are supposed to do. To ease their workload a number of women friendly technologies are presented by Dr. Uday R. Badegaonkar describes a number of technologies like Naveen dibbler, Rotary dibbler, Paddy drum seeder, Manually operated 2 row rice transplanter, Twin wheel hoe weeder, Cono weeder, Manually operated fertilizer broadcaster, Serrated sickle, Tubular maize sheller, Ground nut decorticator for women, Hand grain cleaner, Double re ector box type solar cooker, Portable charring kiln and Multi-fuel cooking stove. Malformation is an age-old disease in mango. e article authored by Mukesh K. Meena, Dr. D. K Sarolia, Dr. O P Meena, Dr. D. D. Sharma, Dr. YS Parmar is an exhaustive study on this problem vexing vehemently the mango farmers all over the mango growing regions of the world.

DD Nair VP International Business (Russia & CIS Countries) 6 Mikluho-Maklaya STR, Moscow, Russia 117198 Mob: +7903729 98 30, Tel: +7499501 99 10 Email: ddnair@krishijagran.com

Vermi-composting is excellent organic manure and its detailed description of preparation and use in the article by Gagan Jyot Kaur, Aman Preet and Amrit Paul Singh Brar, from Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Moga is a practical one. With a little e ort and determination any farmer can prepare this valuable compost in his own farm and reduce the expense on the use of chemical fertilizers.

M Mezhukanal E-16F - 33, Hamriya Free Zone, Sharjah, UAE Mob: +971 50 2870465 Email: mezhukanal@krishijagran.com

Use of pesticides though unavoidable is very expensive as well as dangerous to life and there is going around a perennial controversy on the same all over the world. In this respect use bio-pesticides is a welcoming innovation. e article on Bio-Botanical Pesticide Arpana Kumari, Kumari Richa, Anjali Prabha, Ranju Sharma, P. K. Patanjali, A. Agarwal & S.K. Raza is a soothing information for many farmers in India.

All rights reserved. Copyright @ Krishi Jagran Media Group. Agriculture World is published by Krishi Jagran Media Group. Editor: MC Dominic Disclaimer: While every care has been taken to ensure accuracy of the information contained in this publications, the publishers are not responsible for any errors or omissions that might have crept into this publications. No part of this publication may be reproduced or kept in a retrieval system, without the express permission of the publishers.

M C Dominic Editor‐in‐Chief editor@krishijagran.com

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Agricultural Growth Performance and Institutional Credit

Agricultural growth performance and institutional credit

he growth of gross value added at 2011-12 basic prices for agriculture and allied sectors, industrial sector and services sector has been estimated at 1.1 percent, 5.9 percent and 10.6 percent respectively in 2014-15, as compared to 3.7 percent, 4.5 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively in 2013-14. The Ministry of Finance, India has projected the annual growth rate of the Indian economy at 7.3 percent in 2014-15 as compared with 6.9 percent in the 2013-14. Yet the decline in the growth in agriculture and allied sector is a cause of concern. India's 12th National Development Plan (2012-17) also emphasizes

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the need to reverse the recent economic slowdown and make growth more inclusive and sustainable. The target of achieving an overall growth for agriculture and allied sector of 4 per cent is under suspense due to various reasons. The contribution of agriculture and allied sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has fallen from 61 percent in 1947 to 19 percent in 2014. It should be noted that agriculture supports 58 percent of the population in 2014, as against about 75 percent in 1947.

result was a reduction in grain output by 3percent. As per the 3rd advance estimates released by Ministry of Agriculture released in May 2015, production of total food grains during 2014-15 is estimated at 251.1 million tonnes compared to 265.6 million tonnes in 2013-14 and 257.1 million tonnes in 2012-13 respectively. This could reduce agricultural production by 4 per cent. A 4 per

Agriculture is a weather dependant and uneven weather conditions hinder agricultural productivity. Last year there was 11.9 percent deďŹ cit rainfall. And the OCTOBER 2015

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Agricultural Growth Performance and Institutional Credit cent decline in agricultural production could cut 0.6 to 0.7 per cent in the overall growth rate. Such a decline could bring the overall GDP growth rate down below the 7 per cent. Slower agriculture growth could hamper overall economic growth despite robust rise in services or manufacturing sectors. Several industries in India receive their raw material from agriculture and allied sector; for example cotton, jute, textile, sugar, vanaspati, etc. Handlooms, spinning, oil milling, rice milling etc. are various small scale industries, which are also heavily dependent on agriculture sector. India's foreign trade is also deeply associated with agriculture and allied sector. Agriculture and allied accounts for about 14.7 per cent of the total export earnings. Inadequate production of pulses and oilseeds has resulted in increase in import of these commodities. Thus a decline in agricultural production would affect the economy by increasing imports and reducing export potential. The poor growth rate in agricultural sector owes to lack of public investments in creating infrastructure. In a country where rain fed agriculture contributes to 60 percent of the net sown area, investment in irrigation sector was negligible in the past decade. Similar is the case of rural infrastructure development which includes roads, electricity, markets, warehouses and cold storages. It is this rain fed region which sustains the livelihoods of small and marginal

farmers and vulnerable to weather aberrations. More than 85 percent of the capital formation in agriculture comes from private sector, bulk of which is from households rather than corporates. That said the signiﬁcance of credit services to small and marginal farmers cannot be overlooked as it enables farmer to buy inputs, tools and equipment and machineries for agricultural activities. The Government of India has since 2006-07 been subsidizing short term crop loans to farmers up to 3 lakhs at 7 per cent per annum through interest subvention with the help of banking sector. During 2014-15, besides 2 per cent interest subvention, an additional 3 per centsubvention is given for prompt repayment of loan thus reducing the

effective rate of interest for such farmers to 4 per cent. There is also an argument that the interest subvention has distorted the price of credit and lead to misuse of loans for non-productive purposes. Of the total agricultural credit, the share of investment credit has been diminishing which has direct implications in agricultural asset creation. In the budget 2014-15, the government has taken a number of steps to enhance the growth rate of agriculture sector. These include enhanced institutional credit to farmers, promotion of scientiﬁc warehousing infrastructure including cold storages and cold chains, improved access to irrigation through 'Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichayee Yojana', provision of Price

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Stabilisation Fund to mitigate price volatility in agricultural produce, mission mode scheme for Soil Health Card to enhance nutrient use efficiency, setting up of Agri-tech Infrastructure fund, provide institutional finance to joint farming groups of 'Bhoomi Heen Kisan' through NABARD etc. A target of Rs. 8.5 lakh crore has been set for agricultural credit during the year 2015-16.Corpus of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund has been raised by additional Rs. 5000 crores to Rs. 25000 crores and Rs.5,000 crores has been provided for the Warehouse Infrastructure Fund. The current budget reects a favourable policy approach and budget allocation by the government to increase investment credit to facilitate capital formation within the sector. But these efforts are not enough. With the advent of climate change, there is a need to strengthen agricultural research and extension services to equip the farming community with adaptation strategies to minimise the risks. Bringing more area under irrigation, efficient use of water resources, crop diversification, increased mechanization, development of value added market chains all are inevitable components to sustain agricultural growth rate.

Ram Kumar Jha Policy Analyst, CUTS Interna onal, Jaipur Email: rk@cuts.org

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White for Black - A Report from the White Gold Fields

he devastating attack of the White (y) across the North India`s cotton belt hit the yields, particularly in Punjab and Haryana. It has affected about twothirds of standing cotton crop in the Punjab state causing a loss of around Rs. 4,200 crore resulting the 15 cotton farmers committing suicide. This white has made the black day for these farmers. Roti, Kapada aur Makaan, the Food, Clothing and the Shelter are the three basic needs of the human beings including the farmers. Farmer is the Anna Data, who provides the food for all to eat and also grows the cotton as basic raw material for the clothes to cover the body. When he was unable to get food for himself and the family with his own produce, he is compelled to commit the suicide. This is the third whiteﬂy attack in the state in the last 18 months, with the most affected region being the Malwa belt. The reasons for spiraling of the attack are still unclear. Some say that the pesticides (to combat the whiteies) sold by some dealers were spurious, which led to the arrest of director of Punjab's agriculture department and some pesticide dealers. Another theory is that whiteies have become immune to pesticides (much like the theory about mosquitoes and repellants), while some say farmers may not know how to properly spray the pesticides to effectively kill whiteies and their eggs. The state government has announced a compensation package of Rs. 640 crore, which has been dismissed by the farmers. In Maharashtra, a suicidal death leads to a compensation of Rs. 1 lac to 5 lac, so many a times natural accidental deaths are presented as suicide due to crop failure. The Farmers suicides are interlinked with the so many factors. Farmers hard work is related to cultivation of the crop, selection of the proper seeds, irrigation, crop

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White for Black - A Report from th protection with judicious use of pesticides and selection of right kind of pesticides and fertilizers and then post harvest management which fetch him the earnings to run his household otherwise, the debt may pile up and resulting the decision of suicides giving darkness for his family members for time to come. Now, it is very necessary to create awareness among the farmers for the insects which can cause damage to the crops and their remedies. In the case of the cotton, the whitey is the main culprit. Whiteies are small Hemipterans that typically feed on the undersides of plant leaves. They comprise the family Aleyrodidae, the only member of the super-family Aleyrodoidea. More than 1550 OCTOBER 2015

species have been described. The ability of whiteies to carry and spread disease is the widest impact they have had on global food production. In the tropics and subtropics, whiteies have become one of the most serious crop protection problems. Economic losses are estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars. While several species of whitey cause crop losses through direct feeding, a species complex, or group of whiteies in the genus Bemisia are important in the transmission of plant diseases. Whiteies -- a notorious pest -bumbled through vast tracts of Punjab's cotton ﬁelds, destroying a sizeable chunk of the crop in the state. www.krishijagran.com

White for Black - A Report from the White Gold Fields about 30% crop loss. Punjab is the fourth largest producer of cotton, at 1.8 million bales (of 170 kg each), but it has the highest yield of 800 kg/hectare, making it a signiﬁcant source of farm income. Punjab's farmers have moved wholesale to Bt cotton for higher yields, since India allowed GM cotton seeds in 2002. Bt cotton, which offers protection against bollworms, is credited with higher yields. But not all Bt cotton varieties available in the market have been found suitable for Punjab.

he White Gold Fields

According to Dr B K Kang, Professor of entomology at the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). “Farmers have been ignoring advisories to grow varieties not approved by us. In a bad year like this one, this precisely caused serious problem,” PAU acts as the state-level farm advisory body. Such unapproved varieties account for roughly 30-40 percent of Punjab's cotton crop, according to PAU. Farmers often shop for the cheapest brand.

These insects, which slurp on juicy, tender bolls, seemed to have inicted heavy losses, sparking a serious farm crisis in India's agricultural powerhouse in a decade. A back-to-back drought meant farmers grew more cotton, a hardy crop that requires less water to grow.

A long dry spell in August due caused the whitey population to peak, triggering a lethal pest invasion. Bt cotton doesn't protect against whiteies but unapproved varieties may be more vulnerable. “Normally, adequate rains drive away half of the whitey population. Pesticides do rest of the job,” Kang said.

But proﬁt-chasing cotton growers, who often throw caution to the winds, may have themselves -and some ill-suited genetically modiﬁed (GM) cotton varieties -- to blame. “Field inspections are still going on so I can't comment on total loss. Roughly, 1.36 hectares of the 4.5 lakh hectares under cotton looks affected,” Suresh Kumar, the state's agriculture secretary opined. That's www.krishijagran.com

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support price (MSP) of cotton from Rs.4000 per quintal to Rs.4100 per quintal in comparison to the ination of 7/8-9 percent, which is not sufﬁcient. One more thing that in 2017 the Bt royalty of Monsanto is also going to be an end. Whether the seed price of the cotton is going to reduce? Government is also not clear on the available price of the cotton seed. Cotton growers are smart but there is need to make them more trained. As regards the Whitey is affecting not only on the leaves but it affects the stem, and the spray is required to do properly under the leaves. There is need of the weed management, crop management in a proper manner and the Government should improve the Agriculture Extension. The Cotton Growers can do intercropping viz. Moong, Urad and Soya beans and few pulses. If cotton crop fails the other crops can give the proper yield to get the money. So, it is the right time for the Government to have his own Agriculture Extension Company for the beneﬁt of the Farming community. According to the Agricultural Scientists, the use of "cocktail of insecticides" by some "ignorant" cotton growers, which led to killing of "friendly insects" to keep a check on whitey, was another reason. The hot and humid weather in the northern region was instrumental in the huge build-up of whitey that caused massive damage to the cotton crop in Punjab and Haryana, forcing both states to

Ved Prakash Sharma, an Agriculture Expert in a discussion given an overview of the cotton industry that Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR), Nagpur has not come out with any new variety for the beneﬁt of the Farmers. They had done some trials, I had also seen their trials, CICR was failed in that and the farmers had also not adopted their R&D. Now I can add that the Government has increased nominal, the minimum 2015 OCTOBER

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White for Black - A Report from the White Gold Fields one of the reasons behind the whitey attack," said the HAU VC. Notably, agro-chemical company Bayer CropScience has claimed that "lack of awareness" among cotton growers about life cycle of whitey has contributed to the damage.

look for ways to contain it. Hisar-based Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) Vice-Chancellor Krishan Singh Khokhar opined “It is hot and humid weather condition, which was the main reason for whitey attack," HAU Director of Research, S S Siwach added "Initially, June saw heavy rains which made climate humid. Hot and humid climate favours whitey. July and August did not see well distributed rains, which also led to build-up of whitey. This is the major factor,” Farm scientists further pointed to farmers using a number of insecticides to contain the spread of whitey that led to the are-up of the problem. Siwach further added "Another factor is that worried farmers used cocktail of insecticides for spraying, which compounded the whitey problem." The heavy spray of insecticides on cotton, they added, also killed friendly insects which usually eat up nymphs of whitely. The attack of whitey is considered as more damaging as the pest thrives on Bt cotton plants that contain more juice."Leaves of Bt cotton have more juice and whitey lives on by sucking juice. We have about 95 percent area under Bt cotton which proved favorable for the pest to spread fast. You will not ﬁnd heavy damage in desi cotton," said Khokhar. Scientists have also warned against use of unrecommended insecticides. "Spurious pesticides are also

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Meanwhile, whitey has started spreading to other crops including sugarcane, guar and bajra though it is not alarming at the moment. Of the total cotton area of 4.50 lac hectares in Punjab, nearly 1.36 lac hectares have come under the whitey attack. In Haryana, out of 5.80 lac hectares, about 3 lac hectares of cotton area were affected by whitey. Curiously, the crop in the adjoining field, and another in the vicinity, showed far less whitey infestation. In fact, in the adjoining field, farmer Yadvender Singh had sprayed no chemical pesticides at all. Instead, he had used biofertilisers and other non-chemical formulations. Yadvender's field is expected to yield 800 kg of cotton per acre compared to 300 kg that Manjeet would hope to harvest. In the other plot, a non-Bt variety of

cotton too was far less affected by whitey. Yadvender's ﬁeld, where chemical pesticides were not used, showed spider webs on the plants. These are natural predators of whitey. In ﬁelds where pesticide is heavily sprayed, these are decimated leaving the whitey to ourish. Why did the pesticides fail? There are various theories doing the rounds among agitated farmers. The most popular one, which the government seems to be backing, is

India the Second Largest Producer of Cotton India is the second largest producer of cotton in the world after China accounting for about 18 percent of the world cotton production. It has the distinction of having the largest area under cotton cultivation in the world ranging between 12.2 million hectares and constituting about 25 percent of the world area under cotton cultivation. The yield per hectare is however, the lowest against the world average, but over the last two years have shown a promising potential to reach near the world average production level in near future.

Area in Lac Hectares Word ‐36.01 India ‐12.19 Quan ty in Million MT World‐26.88 India‐6.05

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White for Black - A Report from the White Gold Fields

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Government Schemes Over the years, country has achieved significant quantitative increase in cotton production. Till 1970s, country used to import massive quantities of cotton in the range of 8.00 to 9.00 lakh bales per annum. However, after Government launched special schemes like intensive cotton production programmes through successive five-year plans, that cotton production received the necessary impetus through increase in area and sowing of Hybrid varieties around mid 70s. Since then country has become self-sufficient in cotton production barring few years in the late 90s and early 20s when large quantities of cotton had to be imported due to lower crop production and increasing cotton requirements of the domestic textile industry. Since launch of "Technology Mission on Cotton" by Government of India in February 2000 significant achievements have been made in increasing yield and production through development of high yielding varieties, appropriate transfer of technology, better farm management practices, increased area under cultivation of Bt cotton hybrids etc. All these developments have resulted into a turnaround in cotton production in the country since last 6/7 years. The yield per hectare which was stagnant at about 300 kg/ha for more than 10 years, has increased substantially and reached a level of 554 kg/ha in cotton season 2007-08. The fundamental changes that taking place in the realm of cotton cultivation in the country, are having the potential to take the current productivity level near to the world average cotton production per hectare in the near future. Apart from meeting the increased cotton consumption by domestic textile industry, country may have sufficient surplus cotton to meet the cotton requirements of importing countries. Progress with regard to area, production and yield in the country over the last ten years is enumerated as under: Area in lakh hectare/Production in lakh bales/Yield kgs per hectare Year

Area in lakh hectares

2000-01 85.76 2001-02 87.30 2002-03 76.67 2003-04 76.30 2004-05 87.86 2005-06 86.77 2006-07 91.44 2007-08 94.14 2008-09 94.06 2009-10 103.10 2010-11 111.42 2011-12 121.78 2012-13* 116.14 Source: Cotton Advisory Board

Production in lakh bales

140.00 o158.00 136.00 179.00 243.00 241.00 280.00 307.00 290.00 305.00 325.00 353 334 *Projected

Yield kgs per hectare

278 308 302 399 470 472 521 554 524 503 496 493 489

that spurious pesticides were sold by dealers. Testing of some samples has indeed shown this. This has led to the arrests of conniving ofﬁcials and makers of spurious chemicals. But others point out that spurious samples make up not more than 15 percent of the total pesticides sold. Punjab consumes an estimated Rs. 800-900 crore worth of pesticides per year, of which about Rs 150 crore worth are used on cotton alone. The size of the spurious pesticide market in India is as high www.krishijagran.com

2015 OCTOBER

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White for Black - A Report from the White Gold Fields

as 30 percent by volume and 25 percent by value, according to a recent study released by industry lobby FICCI and the Tata Strategic Management Group. The spurious chemicals market is growing at 20 percent per year, the study said, adding that this will lead to a loss of 10.6 million tonnes in food grain production during the current year. The study, titled Substandard, Spurious/Counterfeit Pesticides in India, predicted that the market for spurious agro-chemicals will reach 40 percent by value of pesticides sold in the country by 2019.At present, the size of the domestic crop protection industry is estimated at Rs13,000 crore. "It is possible that whitey has developed resistance to the commonly used pesticides," says Uday B Philar, who heads a Punebased biofertiliser company, Sequoia Biosciences. Philar spent over three decades in the pesticide industry before deciding to set out on his own, formulating nonchemical, eco-friendly products. Philar also points out that farmer have not been taught how to properly spray crops. They spray the upper layers of standing crops assuming that the pesticide will step down. But this does not happen. "Whitey lays eggs in the middle section of the plant, on the

underside of leaves. Top sprays often miss the eggs and nymphs in middle layers," he said. There are fears that whitey will now start attacking other common crops in the region such as chillies or vegetables. With pesticides running out of steam and pests developing resistance, alternatives would have to be quickly found. Recent Development by NBRI & PAU National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow has developed a cotton variety that is resistant to the pest. Even as Punjab farmers rue the loss of nearly twothirds of their cotton crop to whitey. The technology has been tested on cotton plants at the institute's polyhouse, where a gene derived from a vegetable - which the institute did not disclose - was found effective against whitey. The ones injected with the 'gene' at the polyhouse are healthy and others are stunted and infested with whitey."The 'gene' makes whitey sterile thus controlling the reproduction of the pest," said Dr Singh, principal investigator of the project, 'Development of Resistance against Whitey in Cotton', at the institute. NBRI, a research lab of Council of Scientiﬁc and Industrial Research (CSIR), has applied for a patent for the technology in eight

countries. Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has also developed a seed variety f-2288, which shows tolerance to sucking insect-pests and other diseases. The new cotton variety would be helpful to farmers especially in the Hanumangarh and Sri Ganganagar districts (Rajasthan) and Muktsar, Fazilka, Abohar and Ferozepur disricts (Punjab) where irrigation facilities are not robust. This kharif season, cotton has been sown more than 4.5 lakh hectare of agricultural land in the state. However more than 1.3 lakh hectare of cotton ﬁeld had been attacked by whitey. Punjab mostly grows Bt cotton, the only genetically modiﬁed crop approved for cultivation in the country.

Chander Mohan Sr. Execu ve Editor Krishi Jagran, New Delhi Mob: 9891311166 Email: cmohan@krishijagran.com

SUBSCRIPTION

YEAR

MONTHS

RATE

DISCOUNT

PER RATE

1 YEAR

840

140

700

2 YEARS

1680

380

1300

3 YEARS

2520

720

1800

5 YEARS

4200

800

3400

10 YEARS

120

8400

1400

7000

15 YEARS

180

12600

2100

10500

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INTERVIEW

Genetically Modified Crops K VIJAYARAGHAVAN

hat is the main strategy behind India adopting GM (Genetically modified) food crops? Does it have to do with keeping abreast of technological innovation in this area?

crops. Bangladesh has just cleared commercial cultivation of GM Brinjal (aubergine), raising fears in India of contamination through natural crosspollination and lateral gene transfer.

The main strategy for adoption of GM crops in India is directly related to addressing food security concerns for the country through increasing crop yield and productivity for the burgeoning population with diminishing agricultural land. Given the constraints, the technological innovation taking place in agriculture, especially with introduction of GM crops ensures food sufficiency for the country is met along with socio economic upliftment of farming communities, reduction in use of chemical pesticides and improving environmental quality.

Brinjal is a self-pollinating crop. Genetic modification of Brinjal has not in any way altered its pollination profile as the modification was not carried out for that purpose. Moreover, Brinjal (whether GM or Conventional) is not sexually compatible with wild Brinjal relatives. Brinjal and wild species of Brinjal have both co-existed in nature since ages and their diversity in nature has in no way decreased or been compromised.

Neighbouring countries in South Asia are going ahead with GM food

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Lateral gene transfer from plants to animals (including humans) or microorganisms is extremely unlikely. No evidence has been identified for any mechanism by which plant genes could be transferred to humans or animals, nor any evidence that such gene transfer has occurred for any plant species during evolutionary history, despite animals and humans eating large quantities of plant DNA. The likelihood of Brinjal genes transferring to humans and other animals is therefore negligible. Similarly gene transfer from Brinjal, or OCTOBER 2015

any other plant, to microor-ganisms is extremely unlikely. Horizontal gene transfer from plants to bacteria has not been demonstra-ted experimentally under natural conditions and deliberate attempts to induce such transfers have so far failed. Will GM crops add to India's food security? Yes, as it will augment food productivity under limited availability of natural resources, ensure good crop yield under unfavourable environmental conditions and produce more with less agricultural input. What would be the most important challenges facing agriculture worldwide in the next 25 years? Increasing food productivity under the pressure of climate change and environmental degradation is the most important challenge facing agriculture in the coming years. Increased instances of droughts and submergence, and changes in insect infestation patterns is making technological innovation in agriculture a mandatory practice. K Vijayaraghavan Founder and Chairman of Sathguru Management Consultants Email: vijay@sathguru.com www.krishijagran.com

Indian Farmers at the Cross Roads

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Indian Farmers at the Cross Roads Need for Reorganization of Farm Sector The socio-economic problems of the majority of the people in India are vitally connected with their occupation namely agriculture and animal husbandry. These people till about 145 million hectares of land and rear take care of 512 million domestic animals and 19000 million birds to provide food for the nation. But for themselves life is always at stake. They grow cotton and other ﬁbre crops to clothe others yet they go about poorly clothed. Besides they are exploited and ill-treated. They are caught up in the worst of the situations. The fate of being a farmer has to be seen in the whole context of socio-economic political and ecological situation in which he lives. This situation is summarized into the following pages. The various aspects of this situation are briey explained further. Socio-Ecological Situation

ho is a farmer? A farmer is the one who cultivates the land. He may be the owner of the land he is cultivating or he may be a tenant or a share cropper. The last two types bring in another group of people who own the land but never cultivate the land. There may be owners of land who are doing sharecropping also. The big land holders do not cultivate land but employs labourers or leases out to tenants. They are often linked with industrialist and politicians. Also they often have a permanent source of income through jobs or business. Hence they do not belong to real farming classes. They own the land and collect the tax payment a part of which is remitted to the www.krishijagran.com

government. This type of land ownership and land tax system is quite prevalent in European countries. In India the tax remittance is done directly by the farmer himself. The real farming classes in India mostly belong to medium, small and marginal farmers. They may be scheduled castes, backward castes, tribals and their women. Their socioeconomic status is intimately linked with their occupation. Most of those who are engaged in farming and related operations belong to scheduled castes. The plight of small and marginal farmers in India is understandable from the fact that thousands of farmers are committing suicide every year. 2015 OCTOBER

As already mentioned the Indian farmer is caught up in a number of agro-ecological and socio-economic situations which makes their life unbearable while remaining in their traditional farming occupation. The number of people in the agricultural sector, as per the recent estimates, is decreasing by about 2000 per day in India. At the time of Independence more than 85% of the population was depending on agriculture. Now the same has come down to 53% which includes ﬁshermen, animal rearers and people engaged in other related occupations. According to the last census (2010-11) 90 million households are engaged in farming and if we take the average number of family members as ﬁve then 450 million persons are engaged in farming which comes to about 36% of the present population. Hence the AGRICULTURE WORLD

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Indian Farmers at the Cross Roads

actual number of people engaged in cultivation of crops is much less than what is being publicized. This only shows that people do not appreciate working in agriculture and related lively hood activities. The reasons and situations for this depreciatory feeling of people towards farming are examined in this article under various aspects. 1. Excessive land use for farming According to the National Commission on Agriculture (1976) out of the total geographical area of 329 m.ha 145 million hectares are under cultivation, 109 million hectares are set apart for forestry. The rest of the land (75 m.ha) are under other uses such as cities, towns, villages, residential areas, industries, roads, railways, lakes, aerodromes, cantonments, schools, colleges, hospitals, administrative complexes etc. For the last two decades the land under cultivation has not been increased. Because we have already gone beyond the limit of ecological balance in cultivated area. At present we are cultivating nearly 45% of the total area which is ecologically very destructive. Normally a country should not exceed its cultivated land area more than one-third of the total area. In other words we have already exceeded more than 10 per cent of the area for ecologically sound cultivation.

d. Decrease in microbial activity decreases plant and crop growth and organic matter cycle. e. Low plant growth decreases animal growth and diversity. f.

All the above mentioned process (a to e) affect production of basic requirements for man's co-existence and development leading to socio-economic and political exploitation.

The forest area at the same time went down below the required limit from 33.3% to 22% according to the government. However, independent and satellite studies have shown that our forest coverage is less than 11 per cent. Such drastic reduction on the forest area further increases soil erosion affects water resources beyond imagination and decreases oxygen content in the atmosphere. The ﬁrst two effects results in the breakdown of water cycle which ensures the steady and continuous supply of water to all living beings. Obviously breakdown in water cycle seriously affects the organic matter cycle which ultimately affects the supply of ﬁrewood, timber, fodder and green manure production. The mushrooming cities which attracts rural poor and unemployed who are forced to live in slums, discharges dangerously polluted

efuents in liquid and solid form. The rate at which we expand cities and town caring nothing for the drainage and sewage we can be sure that our cities are going to be ooded with sewage. The less is said about the ecological endangerment created by the stinking sewages around human habitats the better. The question is are we interested in long term scientiﬁc and viable solution. The solution for the above mentioned problems consists in decreasing the cultivated area, increasing the area under tree cover and recycling the solid and liquid waste from human habitats. 2. Small and non-viable land holdings Ninety per cent of land holdings are belonging to medium, small and marginal farmers. Slowly they are becoming landless. The main reasons for this dangerous process are: (1) The law of inheritance due to which land holdings are divided and subdivided endlessly generation after generation. (2) Frequent changes in the ownership by free sale and buying, tenancy changes, and by inheritance. Consequences of this process are the following: a.

There is no proper and continued land management. Soil erosion and soil fertility loss is accelerated. As a result there is

No country in the world is cultivating as much land as in our country. Constant cultivation of such a vast area year after year accelerates soil erosion, water depletion leading to slow but steady ecological imbalance which affects the mankind in the following manner. a.

Increased soil erosion decreases water holding capacity of soil and disrupts water cycle.

b. It decreases soil fertility. c.

Decreased soil fertility and moisture content decreases microbial activity. AGRICULTURE WORLD

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Indian Farmers at the Cross Roads no sustained productivity of land. It is to be noted that the productivity of soil in our country is one of the lowest in the world.

substantial proﬁt and capital for initial investment. Nobody can go on working without adequate remuneration, nor a farmer. 5. Impossible jumble

b. Agricultural development will be impossible. Agricultural development needs long term planning and implementation of soil and water management and cropping plan. These are not possible when land is endlessly divided and changed hands.

“A small or marginal farmer has to be a jack of all trades but master of none”. Farmer is expected to develop and prepare land, get the implements and repair and maintain them. Procure or produce the seeds, and fertilizers, purchase agrochemicals, plant or sow the crops, control weeds, diseases and pests, harvest, thresh, store and market the produce. He has to arrange for transport of the external inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, agro-chemicals better implements etc. and for marketing the produce. Similarly an animal husbandry man has to arrange for purchase of animals, construction of sheds, growing or procuring fodder and feed, preparing feed and fodder, feeding the animals, caring for them, cleaning the cowshed, marketing the products, breeding the animals etc.

The total food production will fall causing shortage of food. India has already imported grains.

d. The agricultural sector will remain always crippled and food security will be always a problem. For the socioeconomic and political stability food security and agricultural development is a prerequisite. 3. Unorganized farming classes Farming is not considered as an organized sector but as a way of life. Hence the farmers do not get the same security as the workers in industry and service sector. Their total remuneration for their work is always far below their requirements for their existence and development. Hence they are always poor and in debt. Many of them are committing suicide. 4. Improper pricing Cost accounting in farm sector is not done realistically and scientiﬁcally. Consequently prices for agricultural products are decided without considering the actual cost factors and the just remuneration for the farmer. It will be no exaggeration to say that not a single agricultural commodity is properly cost accounted and the average unit cost is estimated neither by the farmer nor by the voluntary agencies. The price of any non-agricultural commodity is ﬁxed after calculating all the possible expenditures including the marketing, a www.krishijagran.com

It is humanly not possible to carry out all these responsibilities by one man. And it is done in no sector except agriculture and other primary occupations like ﬁshing animal husbandry etc.. In a factory there are separate people for production, repair and maintenance, purchase a of machines and installation, purchase and storing of raw materials, storage of products and marketing them to maintain accounts and records etc. Similarly a driver of a bus does not repair and maintain the bus nor he issues the tickets to passengers. He does his work and is held responsible for his job. This is true in the case of all the organized sectors. This anomalous situation in agriculture is taken for granted by every one in the country even by the farmer himself. Moreover, people have got into a set pattern of thinking that it should be so in the agricultural sector. Such traditional thinking should be changed. 2015 OCTOBER

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Farmers should only be doing specific works and there should be diversification and specialization of works in the, farming sector also. For this farming sector should be industrialized and organized. To be more specific there should be separate people for various activities such as procurement of various inputs, animal deep ploughing, land development activities, cultivation, disease and pest control, procurement, repair and maintenance of machineries and implements, storing and marketing of products etc. For all these activities the responsibility should be fixed on those who do the specific work. The main purpose of the diversification is to reduce the workload of the farmer. 6. Waste of human energy A farmer's working hours should be made equal to those in organized sector and he should be provided enough rest period every day and one day at least in a week. A farmer is a human being and he can work only 6 to 8 hours a day for 5-6 days a week. Actually speaking when people work in organized sector 8 hours farmers should do only 6 hours work. Because the working condition of the farmers is much more difficult than those in the organized sector. The same is the case with fishermen and people doing animal husbandry. 7. Undernourished and overburdened When a man in the organized sector requires 2400 calories (tertiary occupation) to 2800 calories (secondary sector) people who do farming, fishing and manual AGRICULTURE WORLD

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Indian Farmers at the Cross Roads

labourers need 3900 to 4000 calories are required.

the second is skill development and third is tools for development.

Farming people require more food supply of calorific value, people get the least amount of food and energy. At the same time the physical energy spend for their work is three to four times more than the others. Therefore they need three to four times food than others. Only then he can work without being affected by work. NGO's should make a study of the energy and food requirements of farming and fishing people and pressurize at all levels to provide the required food sufficient in quality and quantity. 8. Second rate citizen

Whereas, in agriculture and animal husbandry sectors, certain new technologies are introduced without, theoretical understanding, without developing or providing skills and without providing appropriate tools. Most of the small and marginal farmers are uneducated. Hence we have introduction of hybrid seed without educating farmers basics of genetics, fertilizers without giving the idea of plant nutrients and soil chemical reactions, chemical fungicides and insecticides without teaching basics of plant disease organisms and insect pests, irrigation without knowing the plant-water soil relationships and herbicides without knowing what it is and how it is used. Obviously the ecological and human cost cannot be obviated. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

At present the small and marginal farmers are working like slaves. Together they produce millions of tones of food and feed millions of people but they themselves go hungry and undernourished. They produce millions of tones of milk but they hardly drink enough milk for themselves. So too is the case with eggs, meat, vegetables and fruits. Their sons and daughters migrating to cities to construct houses of palatial buildings but they do not even have a make shift roof above their head. They produce tones of cotton and raw material for clothes. But they themselves go poorly dressed. If the farmers are considered the real citizens of India they should be provided with all the basic amenities like any other citizen in our country. 9. Under developed agricultural sector Take any other sector: whether transport, communication, education, medicine, music, printing, marketing, industry, accounting, banking, recreation, administration; in all these sectors there is a simultaneous development: in science or theoretical (knowledge) technology (applied science) and instruments (tools). The ﬁrst is the personnel development in theoretical analysis,

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Following are the four possible solutions to rectify the above mentioned hurdles among the small and marginal farmers: 1. within the present structure, 2. freeze the size of the farm holdings, 3. management of land by corporations and 4. nationalization of land. Let us see them one by one. 1. Within the present structure The present ownership and management structure is cauterized by free holdings, free sale and buying within certain upper limits and equal share of the property for all the members of the family. As already mentioned under this situation the land holdings become smaller and smaller even below the viable level. Under this situation people only will be struggling to exist only. Even the existence will be impossible. In that condition no one can think of ecological balance. Possibly there are three ways to ameliorate the situation. a. Cost based pricing with adequate proﬁt Average cost of production per unit of all agricultural commodities OCTOBER 2015

produced should be estimated taking into consideration all factors of the cost of production including the cost of the farmers and his families both the normal time and over time labour. To this percentage of profit comparable to profits in any other business should be added per unit commodity. This should be the actual remuneration to the farmer per unit of every agricultural commodity. b. Providing all the inputs to farmers Giving the farmers the actual remunerative price per unit of agricultural products will be effective and profitable to farmers only if farmers get all their inputs at their door step or within 4-5 kilometers reach. For most of the rural farmers it is impossible to get all the inputs readily. Hence there should be a proper structure to supply all the inputs required for the farmers. This can be done through a cooperative or through a social service centre at a fixed price. c. Providing key services Most of the farming people being illiterate are unable to use the inputs such as land development, deep ploughing seeds, fertilizers, pest and disease control, chemical weed control, storage and marketing. Therefore such key services should be rendered by farm clubs, farmers, unions, cooperatives or social service societies or government on charge basis. The responsibility should be fixed on the organization to perform the key function for the production of agricultural commodities. 2. Freeze the size of the farm holdings For a farm holding to be viable it should have a minimum size. Too small or too big are either non viable or too difficult to manage. The size of viable holding may vary with the number of crops that can be taken on the land. This again depends on the availability of moisture or irrigation. Those that are irrigated throughout www.krishijagran.com

Indian Farmers at the Cross Roads the year can be cropped during all the seasons of the year. Next there are lands that are cropped for two seasons and ﬁnally there are lands that are cropped once a year depending on rain alone. The size of the viable farm unit should be ﬁxed taking all these aspects into consideration. These viable units should not be divided further into non viable fractions under any circumstance. After dividing the land into viable units each holding should be developed into a productive unit by completing soil and water conservation structures setting up irrigation and drainage system etc. Then each family is provided with one unit on a long term basis for cultivation and management. All the inputs should be provided through farmer's 1 cooperatives or inputs along with key functional services as explained earlier. The land should be inherited by one of the sons or the same unit may be managed by all the sons. But the unit will not be fragmented. To freeze the land holdings into viable size there should precede a host of socio-cultural and legal changes. However, if it is realized environment balance can be achieved by making soil and water conservation farm forestry and organic matter recycling as a compulsory practice in each farm unit. These frozen units can be grouped into cooperatives based on watersheds. village level, or panchayat level or block or taluk level or district level for better management and administrative purposes. 3. Land management by corporations In this system all the land will be owned and managed by big national or multinational corporations. Each of them consists of hundreds or thousands of acres. Certain number www.krishijagran.com

of farmers will be employed as permanent workers or as the plantation crops employees. The workers will be provided with all the basic requirements for existence and development. Farming will be just like an industry managed by rich and powerful. Certain number of people will be employed. Others will have to ﬁnd other employment. Or the government should give the employment opportunities or give maintenance allowance. Processing of farm products and marketing will generate a lot of employment. For example in the US less than 3 per cent of the population is involved in the actual farm work. But more than 70% of the population is involved in the processing and marketing of farm products under corporations. Under this situation both production improvement as well as ecology improvement can be achieved. The government can insist on the corporations to follow the ecological principles in the land management. 4. Nationalization of land Under this scheme all the land should belong to the government and production of basic requirements should be the responsibility of the government. People employed in the farms will be government servants just like any other public sector. It seems nationalization of the agricultural lands would be the best solution to attain justice to man and nature in the long run though initially it may cause some chaos. Because food and other basic requirements are everybody's prime concern. CONDITIONS FOR ECOLOGICAL BALANCE Ecological balance in the farm sector can be maintained only if the following conditions are fulﬁlled. 1. Population control The ever increasing population pressure offsets all the calculations of developmentalists and makes huge production records into 2015 OCTOBER

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pittance in per capita availability. Uncontrolled population creates always scarcity of every commodity; scarcity encourages hording, black marketing, corruption and exploitation. 2. Universal education Rampant illiteracy forces man to remain as the unskilled labourer in the agricultural sector. They cannot learn any other skilled labour nor can start a self employment scheme. The agricultural sector itself cannot develop with such a load of illiterates nor can the ecology be maintained. For any social and economical development formal education is necessary. However, adult education is not a substitute to formal education. Formal education from the two and half to the age of 18 or 20 should be made available for all. CONCLUDING REMARKS Indian farmer is born in debt, live in debt and die in debt. No socially minded people look at him as a man toiling on land (as a farmer). All seems to be interested in lokking at them as belonging to scheduled castes, exploited, powerless and marginalized. But they are like this because their occupation is non-remunerative. In a country like India where majority of the people are engaged in agriculture sector as small, marginal and landless agricultural labourers, new policies should be formulated the problems of the people as farmers and help them to get adequate remuneration and make a decent human living.

Dr. K. T. Chandy He has authored 676 booklets on various topics coming under environment management and agri‐related subjects. He is on the Editorial Board of Krishi Jagran Media Group. Email: ktchandy@krishijagran.com

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MAKE OUR COUNTRY FARMER ORIENTED DR R S PARODA Dr Paroda was the Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the Secretary Department of Agricultural Research and Education. Dr Paroda is a Fellow of almost all Science Academies of India, beside Fellow of Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Tajik Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Armenian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He is also elected Honorary Member of the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America. He has been conferred honorary D.Sc. Degree by 15 academic institutions including Ohio State University, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, ScientiďŹ c Council of Agricultural Academy, Republic of Azerbaijan and State Agricultural Universities at Pantnagar, Kanpur, Jorhat, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Udaipur, Varanasi, Srinagar, Meerut, Bhubneshwar, Ludhiana and Dharwad. He also received Honorary degrees from Agricultural Universities of Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. International Crop research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad has named its Gene Bank after him as 'Rajendra S. Paroda Gene Bank'. He is also winner of Norman Borlaug Award.

arnessing Agricultural Sciences with an accelerated movement for the welfare of people as a goal and to promote growth and advancement of agriculture through scientific interactions and partnership as a mission, the TAAS was created in 2001 as Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences. In view of the increasing population and making the India `Hunger Free`. during the last one decade, TAAS as a `Think Tank`, has been able to catalyze the process of either creating an enabling policy environment or generating much required public awareness on issues of national importance. Through Efficient and Sustainable use of our human, natural and other resources by 2020 India will be free of poverty and malnutrition, and become an environmentally safe country. Dr R S Paroda,

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Chairman of the Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS) had interacted the Agriculture World Team on the Overall Achievements and Impact of TAAS. The Agriculture World Team especially tries to find out how TAAS is working for the benefit of the Farmaing Community. Dr Paroda elaborately explained the role of the TAAS and also informed that TAAS has been publishing several strategy papers of eminent scientists and the proceedings of national seminars organized on the subjects of national importance. To create much needed public awareness on issues of immediate relevance for the benefit of the Scientists, Farmers and the other key stakeholders. Dr Paroda also emphasized that we always talk about the India as an agriculture based country and now the need is to give importance to the Farmer to make our country self reliant because we are having the innovation and new technologies in the

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agriculture, which are not fully utilized and implemented. Today the farmers are looking towards the technologies which are cheaper and the profitable. For that appropriate ways and means are to be used. IPM, INM, Climate Smar t Agriculture to be given preferences so that the farmer to be benefitted with the profit.

He further stressed the urgent need for out scaling the innovations that save inputs and enhancing the income of the farmers such as conversion agriculture, plastic mulching, direct seeding of rice, alternate furrow irrigation, microirrigation, fertigation, etc. Adoption of small farm mechanization is also for achieving much needed resilience in agriculture. TAAS is also working for the researchers, policy makers, and development officials by sensitizing them to up-scale and out-scale farmer led innovations, which are cost effective, sustainable and useful to them for increasing both production and profitability. He also informed that TAAS is not involved in any R&D of Agriculture but the Agriculture Scientists finds some solutions for the farmers who has to face these problems daily during their course of action. These problems are climatic changes, the loss of protein nutritious elements, lack of sufficient funds, soil management etc. to be addressed by the world renowned www.krishijagran.com

Dr Paroda also informed that recently they had initiated the life membership for the emeritus agriculture scientists and also initiated the corporate institutional membership. They can get the information as well as they can participate in all the activities of the TAAS. Apart from this TAAS also gives away the Awards for the significant contributions in the field of agricultural research and technology development as Leadership in Agriculture titled Dr M S Swaminathan Award. Up till now Eight Awards have been conferred so far. Speaking on the issues of the Genetically Modified Crops, Dr Paroda advocacy was for the GM crops which are the new and successful technology. The cotton farmers are getting good yield with this technology. Efforts have also been made to change the public perception based on scientific reasoning and informed knowledge concerning the benefits of technology to both farmers and the consumers. He also emphasized the need for efficient regulatory system in the conduct of confined field trials and ultimate release of GM crops for general cultivation in the national interest. With this technology many countries are progressing. Many farmers are not adopting the modern techniques resulting less than average yield. Farmers are required to get the good yield through the modern techniques usages as well as the qualitative and quantitative production. He also emphasized the women empowerment and advised that the women should also come forward in the area of agriculture and the youth to be par tner in the agriculture production. For that the vocational training and the innovative approaches to be catered to them. Efforts are on to provide need

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based knowledge to the farming community through use of ICT, smart phones and media to address effectively the adverse effects of climate change and also the weather related calamities. TAAS is working to promote climate smart agriculture, crop as well as livestock insurance, seed banks, credit at low interest, immediate compensation using GIS based weather data and on the spot quick assessment are being considered critical to redress the grievances of small holder farms. Dr Paroda further stressed that the Food, nutrition and environmental security cannot be attained without an immediate check on the runaway population growth. TAAS vision of 2001 was to make India free of poverty, hunger and malnutrition, and become an environmentally safe country. He was of the opinion that will be possible to achieve through accelerated social and economical and economic development. Dr Paroda added that India can banish poverty and emerge as a developed nation by promoting growth through efficient and sustainable use of our human, natural and other resources. India`s strong institutional and human resource base in science and technology is fully capable of bringing about a technological transformation of agriculture, paving the way for an ever-green revolution. Dr Paroda emphasized to increase productivity through creation of a `Seed Mission` at the national level with better coordination and convergence of public and private seed organizations for faster growth, including rolling plan for 5 years in each State to ensure availability of good quality seed for higher replacement ratio in important crops. Interviewed by

Ruby Jain¹ and Imran Khan² ¹Sr. Correspondent, ²Correspondent Krishi Jagran, New Delhi Email: ruby@krishijagran.com, imran@krishijagran.com

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INTERVIEW

In view of the current challenges of retaining youth in agriculture, TAAS is working as catalyst to the National Agriculture Research System (NARS), to engage youth in agriculture and evolve progressive strategies to attract them towards secondary/specialty agriculture by ensuring much needed vocational training and bank credits. Our proposal to make them technology agents/service providers and input implement providers, entrepreneurs for value addition and primary processing and also for linking farmers to market is currently receiving due attention of the policy/decision makers.

scientists in the seminars organized by the TAAS. TAAS is an independent organization without any financial help from the Government sources.

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An Alternative to Agro chemicals Vermi-composting

An Alternative to Agro chemicals VERMI-COMPOSTING Introduction Punjab is an agricultural state with 80 percent of the population involved in agriculture. With shrinking landholdings, declining water table, nutrient deficient soil, increase in input costs, stagnant production, environmental pollution and dumping of waste in water bodies, agriculture is facing a lot of problem. The increase in price of the commercial fertilizers has further worsened the situation affecting the rural income. Other than this, usage of commercial fertilizers b e y o n d t h e recommended levels leads to the presence of residue making it unfit for h u m a n consumption. Due to the presence of these residues the export of agri-products has become a sensitive issue. Vermi-compost is an alternative which can be used for fulfilling the nutrient requirement of the crop and the residue problem is eliminated. It is capable of addressing the problem of soil fertility, manages and reduces the biological waste and generates extra farm income. It is the process where earthworms convert solid organic waste into nutrient rich worm casts (vermi-compost). Vermi-compost is finely divided peat like material with high porosity, aeration, drainage and water holding

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capacity. Earthworms consume and fragment the organic wastes into ﬁner particles by passing them through a grinding gizzard and derive nourishment from microorganisms that grow upon them. After digestion the undigested matter moves through the alimentary canal of the earthworm, a thin layer of oil is deposited on the casting. This process transforms the organic

degradation of organic matter. the species responsible for composting are broadly divided into two groups humus formers (also known as epigeic or detritivorous worms) and humus feeders. Humus formers are pigmented, red in color and have a at tail. These dwell on the surface and feed on 90 % fresh organic matter and 10 % soil. Humus feeders are deep burrowing worms, useful in making the soil porous, mixing and distributing humus through the soil. Under Indian condition epegic species E. eugeniae, E. foetida, P. excavatus and P. sansibaricus are used for preparation of vermicast. Other than worms there are ﬁve essential commodities required for v e r m i composting viz. ·

· · · · was te to natural fertilizer. These worm casts are much higher in nutrients, microbial life and are higher value product. The nutrients present are readily available for plants, with the added beneﬁt of microbial organisms that are essential for plant growth for a longer period of time. Preparation of vermin-compost The earthworms are the major component responsible for OCTOBER 2015

Bedding material/Or ganic Residue

A f o o d source

Adequate moisture Adequate aeration

Protection from high temperature

Bedding material/Organic Residue: It provides a stable habitat for the worms for decomposition of organic matter and breeding. The bedding should be able to provide high moisture absorbance as the worms breathe through the skin. Peat moss, corn silage, hay, straw, paper mill sludge, saw dust and plant stalks can be used for the bedding. The layers are formed with saw dust/husk/coir waste in the www.krishijagran.com

An Alternative to Agro chemicals Vermi-composting bottom covered by ﬁne sand and then garden soil. All the layers are moistened with water making the conditions appropriate for the vermin-composting. A container of size 1 m2 is able to maintain 2000 adult earthworms. Such a container can compost about 200 kg. The size & shape of the bed depends on the requirement and availability of waste to be composted and the number of live earthworms to be cultured. The dung obtained from one cow, can produce an average vermin-cast of 2 tons which is sufﬁcient to fertilize one acre of land for two crops. Housing/Shed Facility: Sheltered culturing of worms is recommended to protect the worms from sunlight and rain. Vacant cow sheds, poultry sheds and backyards can be used as housing facility. Permanent structures like cement tubs (circular/rectangular) and temporary structures like polyvinyl based exible sheet containers, plastic containers can also be used as vermin-compost are used. Worm Food Compost worms are big eaters and are able to consume in excess of their body weight/day but it generally recommended to feed half of their body weight/day. They can feed on anything organic (plant/animal origin), cattle, poultry, sheep and goat manure, crop residue, vegetable market waste, biogas slurry, fresh food scraps and sea weed. The vermincompost made from the biogas slurry is highly concentrated in bacteria. The biogas slurry aged aerobically for 15 days enhances the vermin-composting process. The waste should be predigested with cow dung (30% by weight or volume) for twenty days before placing in the vermin-bed for composting and then transferred to the container. The earthworms are placed uniformly on the top. Watering the Vermi-bed The moisture should be www.krishijagran.com

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should be checked a.

Earthworms should have adequate food to live, feed and breed.

b. The surroundings should be optimally moist and close to neutral pH. c. maintained at 60% throughout the period. Sprinkling of water should be preferred to pouring of water and it should be stopped before the harvest enabling the movement of the worms to the bottom. The vermin-compost prepared is collected, dried, passed through 3 mm sieve to recover cocoons, young worms and unconsumed organic matter. The periodical harvesting enables the free ow and maintains the quality of the vermin-compost. Preparation of vermin-compost requires a speciﬁc methodology in which steps involved are systematically represented in the ow diagram Fig 1. Physiochemical factors like soil, temperature, moisture, pH, inorganic salts, aeration, available food (herbage, leaf litter, dung) and ability to reproduce are responsible for production of good quality vermin-compost. While preparing vermi-compost following points

Protection against insects and predators to prevent any harm to earthworm.

d. Periodic harvesting of vermincast and removal of feed. e.

For separation of worms during harvesting, watering should be stopped 2-3 days before emptying. This forces 80% of worms to the bottom of the bed enabling the removal of compost. The rest of the worms can be removed by hand.

Properties The worms are capable of converting almost all types of waste (some may require preconditioning) with exception to waste having traces of ammonia and salts in it. Vermi-composting differs from composting as later is a thermophillic process which reaches a temperature of 60-70°C while in vermi-composting temperature must be maintained below 35°C (optimum temperatures for the

Collection of the waste Separation of non-degradable material Preparation of the earthworm bed. Layers of organic waste, rock phosphate, cow dung slurry. Spreading a layer 2-3” layer of agro waste and cow dung ( 20 days old) Sprinkle water (at the interval of three days) Microbes along with the waste is introduced Forking

Harvesting, separation of earthworms, storing and packing of vermi-compost Fig 1-Flow chart for preparation of vermin-compost

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An Alternative to Agro chemicals Vermi-composting

worms to work are 20-25°C and 7090% moisture). Vermi-cast is widely used in horticulture for wide range of ornamental and vegetable crops, as plant growth media for increased rate of germination, growth, owering and fruiting. Vermi-casts are rich in available nutrients, allowing not only an immediate supply of plant nutrients but also builds up reserves for future crops. Vermi-casts are generally higher in available nutrients when compared the parent material. Physical properties:- Vermicompost is humus rich coarse granular material and light weight. Being electrically charged, it improves absorption of plant nutrients. The particles are coated with mucus type substance, which increases aeration in the soil, water retention properties in sandy soils and improves drainage in heavy soils. The physical properties of vermin-compost are listed in Table 1. Table 1 Physical properties of Vermi-compost. Parameters

Physical appearance

Colour

Dark brown black

Feel

Soft

Odour

Nil

Contamination Nil

Chemical properties: Presence and bioavailability of nutrient (macro and micro) in the growing media plays an important role in the plant growth, protection against various diseases, insect and pest attack. The manorial value in vermin-compost is approximately 10 times than farm yard manure. Vermi-compost contains sufficient moisture (20-30%) macro and micro ora to continuously enhance plant nutrients. The pH ranges from 7.07.5(neutral) which acts as a buffering agent making the nutrients bioavailable and enhancing the decomposition of organic matter in the soil. It prevents the nutrient losses and increases the efficiency of the chemical fertilizer. The specific

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composition of vermin-compost is listed in Table 2. Table 2 Nutrient content of Vermi-compost Nutrient

Percentage (%)

Nitrogen

1H40 ^ 1H60

Phosphorous

0H47 ^ 0H70

Potassium

0H70 ^ 0H80

Calcium

0H50 ^ 4H40

Magnesium

0H20 ^ 0H46

Iron(ppm)

175H00 ^ 7563H00

Manganese(ppm)

96H50 ^ 475H00

Zinc(ppm)

24H50 ^ 278H00

Copper(ppm)

5H00 ^ 27H00

Calcium

15H5

pH ratio

7.0-7.5

C:N ratio

12-15%

Biological properties: The cast contains enzymes such as protease, amylase, lipase, cellulose and chitnage which continue to disintegrate organic matter even after they have been excreted. The total bacterial count present is more than 1010.The count of Actinomycetes fungi, Azotobacter, Rhizobium, Phosphate solubiliser, Nitrobactor ranges between 10 2 -10 - 6 .The prepared vermin-cast is free from all the pathogens. Application of Vermicompost to crops Vermi-compost can be used for all crops such as agricultural, horticultural, ornamental and vegetable etc. The general recommendation for high value vegetables and fruit crops are listed in Table 3. Table 3.Recommended dosage for various crops Cultivation

Dosage

Agriculture

3- 4(t/ha)

Fruit Trees

5.0-10.0 kg/tree

Vegetables

3- 4(t/ha)

Flowers

500700kg/ha

Government Policy/Economics Preparation of vermin-cast is OCTOBER 2015

both eco-friendly and can be started as a subsidiary occupation. A farmer can earn an average of 4,000-10,000 annually. To encourage the farmers the Government of India has launched a scheme under National Horticulture Mission (NHM) in which they are providing 50 % subsidy on the cost of permanent structure. The approx cost for a structure of size 30'x8'x2.5' is Rs 60,000/unit. It is an eco-friendly enterprise which helps in improving the soil health, increasing the farm income and reducing the pollution. Conclusion Green revolution enhanced the agricultural production by many folds but the excess use of fertilizers, pesticides, and other inputs have made the soils problematic. Vermicomposting is an eco-friendly product, it is organic, safe, non-toxic and odour free with wide application in agriculture (cereals, vegetables, fruit trees, lawns etc.).It is an alternative approach to waste management, as the waste is neither land ﬁlled nor burned rather recycled. It acts as a valuable input for sustainable agriculture and wasteland development in India. It is expected that the demand of vermin-compost will increase in future for developing cultivable land subjected to some form of degradation. The nutrient content in comparison to the FYM is high. Its regular application increases the fertility of the soil and reduces the application of fertilizer to the great extend Vermi-compost production encourages local and decentralized nutrient production and recycling systems which are economical and eco friendly.

Gagan Jyot Kaur, Aman Preet and Amrit Paul Singh Brar Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Moga Email: engg‐gagan@pau.edu

www.krishijagran.com

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Women Friendly Technologies for Removing Drudgery

omen as agricultural labourers, perform several activities such as seeding, transplanting, weeding, fertilizer application, plant protection, thinning, harvesting and post-harvest operations like grading, cleaning, milling etc. All of these tasks are time-consuming and full of drudgery. Drudgery is termed for physical and mental fatigue and other health problems resulting from inappropriate working posture in ďŹ eld for long duration. Drudgery can be reduced by providing gender-friendly farm tools and equipment which increase the productivity of worker with safety and comfort to her. The need of the day is to empower women through technology. The research and development institutes of ICAR and agricultural universities have developed numerous technologies efďŹ ciently

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applicable for land development, crop production, irrigation & drainage and processing of agro produces using manual, animal and mechanical and renewable power sources. Some of the women friendly technologies have been presented here. Naveen dibbler T h e automatic dibbler is manually operated hand tool which is suitable for dibbling bold seeds like maize, soybean seeds in small area and for gap ďŹ lling purpose. About 13% saving in cardiac cost of workers per unit of output with the dibbler as compared to traditional. It also OCTOBER 2015

avoids bending posture, which is generally adopted in traditional method. Weight: 4 kg Capacity, h/ha: 30 Missing (%): 6.00 Placement Depth, mm: 35 Rotary dibbler The rotary dibbler is a manually operated push type device for dibbling of medium and bold size seeds uniformly in a row. It consists of a rotating dibbling head with penetrating jaws, covering-cumtransport wheel, seed hopper with cell type wooden roller and a handle. The jaws penetrate into the s o i l a n d automatically drop the seeds. The seed to seed www.krishijagran.com

Women Friendly Technologies for Removing Drudgery distance depends upon size of the polygon plate to which jaws are attached. Seed metering : Cell type wooden roller, six cells Capacity (ha/day) : 0.6 to 1.0

transplanting. It also avoids bending posture, which is generally unavoidable in traditional method. Line sowing is done with the equipment which permits use of mechanical weeders. Productivity of worker is increased by 79% as compared to traditional method. Twin wheel hoe weeder

Paddy drum seeder Paddy drum seeder is a light weight and easy to operate equipment for sowing of sprouted paddy seeds. It consists of a seed drum, main shaft, ground wheel, oats, and handle. Arrangement of drums gives a row-to-row spacing of 200 mm. Line sowing is done with the equipment which permits use of mechanical weeders thereby reducing drudgery and cost during weeding operation.Number of rows sown: 4 Weight, kg : 5 Capacity, ha/day : 1.1 Row to row spacing, mm: 200 Manually operated 2 – row rice transplanter This equipment is suitable for transplanting of 20–25 days old mat type rice seedlings in two rows simultaneously under puddled conditions. About 16% saving in

cardiac cost of workers per unit of output with the transplanter as compared to traditional hand www.krishijagran.com

The wheel hoe is a weeding tool for weeding and interculture in row crops. It is a long handled tool operated by push and pull action. It can accommodate different types of soil working tools such as straight blade, sweeps, V -blade, etc. which can be operated by a single person. The handle assembly has a provision to adjust the height of the handle to suit the operator. For operation, the working depth of the tool and handle height is adjusted and the wheel hoe is operated by repeated push- pull action which allows the soil working components to penetrate into the soil and cut/uproot the weeds in between the crop rows. With this action, the weeds also get buried in the soil. The equipment is operated at optimum soil moisture condition and preferably after 20-25 days of sowing i.e. when the weeds are small (1-3 cm height) for better weeding performance. Cono weeder The cono weeder is a weeding tool suitable for weeding in paddy ﬁelds. It uproots and bury weeds in b e t w e e n standing rows of rice crop in wetlands. Two truncated rollers one behind other are ﬁtted at the bottom of a long handle. The 2015 OCTOBER

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conical rollers have serrated blades on the periphery. A oat provided in front portion prevents the unit from sinking into the soil. The cono weeder can also be used for trampling green manure crop in addition to weeding operation. It disturbs the top soil and increases aeration also. The equipment is operated in standing posture thus avoiding bending involved during uprooting of weeds by hands in traditional practice. Capacity, ha/day Weight, kg : 5 to 6

: 0.18

Manually operated fertilizer broadcaster It is useful equipment for applying fertilizer in the field with much less effort and therefore reduces drudgery to a great extent. It consists of a hopper with tapered bottom. A circular disc is fitted on a vertical shaft below the fertilizer hopper and is rotated by a handle through gear arrangement. A metered quantity of the fertilizer through adjustable opening falls on the disc, w h i c h s p r e a d s uniformly d u e t o centrifugal f o r c e . Machine is mounted on the shoulders and is operated at a forward speed of about 2.0 km/h. A woman worker should start the broadcasting work keeping 2.5 m away from bund of field and maintain 5 m spacing during the operation in subsequent passes. The quantity of fertilizer in hopper may be observed from its transparent lid and when required it may be filled. The broadcaster may be cleaned thoroughly after use. A woman can easily mount and dismount the refined broadcaster. AGRICULTURE WORLD

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Women Friendly Technologies for Removing Drudgery strokes repeatedly. The tapered edges of the ﬁns dig into the space between the rows of the grains in the cob and with the forward or backward stroke the grains are released from the cob. Ground nut decorticator for women

Serrated sickle Harvesting of cereal crops in India is mostly done manually by sickles. There is large variation in the types of sickles being used in different parts of the country. Mostly the sickles are made by village artisans with wide variation in shapes and sizes. The serrated sickle introduced by CIAE employees a steel blade with special serration and a special handle that makes operation of the sickle easy and comfortable compare to the traditional sickles. The special shape of the handle gives protection of ﬁngers from getting rubbed to the soil or stubbles. The sickle has been found very useful for harvesting wheat, rice, fodder and other crops that do not have woody stem. Output can easily be higher atleast by 20 per cent compared to the traditional sickle harvesting. Tubular maize sheller The Octagonal Hand Maize Sheller is a manually operated simple device to remove maize grains from the dehusked cobs. The sheller is of octagonal shape. The sheller has four tapered projections in side the sheller body that accomplishes removal of the grain from the maize cob. For operation, the sheller is held in left hand and the dehusked maize cob in right hand (for right hand person). The cob is inserted in the sheller and is given clockwise and anticlockwise

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It is a manually operated equipment to separate kernels from groundnut pods. Perfectly suitable for rural women, who are accustomed to work in a sitting posture. The unit consists of frame, handle and oscillating arm sieve with oblong hole. The pods are fed in batches of 2 kg and crushed between concave and oscillating arm having cast iron/nylon shoe t o a c h i e v e shelling. Capacity, kg/h: 35-40 Shelling efﬁciency (%) : 93-98

top of screen. After collecting the chaff from top of screen, gentle movement of cleaner is done to remove dirt, broken and ﬁner chaff etc. present in the grain. Apart from 63% saving in cardiac cost of worker per unit of output, the productivity of the worker increased more than four times as compared to traditional thereby reducing drudgery. Double reector box type solar cooker In order to increase the solar radiation entering the hot box, additional reectors have been incorporated to reduce the cooking time. In this cooker, twin reector mirrors (unbreakable acrylic mirror) are ﬁxed. It is effective in central and North India especially in winter season. It is useful for cooking food and baking. As compared to the box type solar cooker with one mirror available in the market, the twin reector box type cooker is capable of maintaining 25 to 30°C higher temperature. It saves 20% time spent

Total grain loss (%): 3-4 Broken kernels (%) : 2-3 Hand grain cleaner It is used for separating impurities like stubbles, chaff, dirt and broken grai n from the threshed material. It is hanged from the ceiling with the help of four ropes at four corners and operated in oscillating mode. The handle height of cleaner from ground should be at waist height of operator. Provided with three different sizes of sieves and based on the size of grain, screen may be selected. Slow movement of cleaner is required after pouring grain on top of screen so that grain goes slowly down the cleaner box and chaff/ stubbles are remained on

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in cooking food drying winter and 12-16% of time during other months. Portable charring kiln The portable charring kiln is a simple unit for converting agricultural residues to a charred mass. Due to its cylindrical shape, it can be rolled to the site of use easily. Waste agricultural mass such as soybean straw, pigeon pea stalks, cotton stalks and other material can be used. A small quantity of residues is fed into the kiln and ignited. When it gives a whit smoke and starts to burn properly, additional material is added to the kiln. By continuing the process, whole of the kiln gets ﬁlled. www.krishijagran.com

Women Friendly Technologies for Removing Drudgery Labour requirement, man-hr/q: 16 Multi-fuel cooking stove

The cover is then closed and the hot mass is allowed to pyrolyse. After the end of about 6-8 hours, the unit cools down and the charred mass can be emptied. The char obtained is used for making smoke free kitchen fuel by converting them into briquettes. Weight, kg

: 45

Input crop residue, kg/day: 200 Output Charcoal, kg/day: 80

Briquettes made from charred agricultural residues can be burnt efficiently in this cook stove. It consists of concentric grates made of perforated mild sheets. Fuel is fed in the annular space and ignited from below. The whole unit is supported on a mild steel grill to drive out the ashes to be bottom. A double walled aluminum reector having asbestos insulation is placed around the burning bed to prevent convection and radiation to the surroundings. Hence the stove has high thermal efficiency of 25%. On a charge of about 450 to 500 grams of fuel it can bum for one hour, which is sufficient for the cooking needs of a small family. It is simple to operate and highly suited for cooking all kinds of Indian recipes including frying, roasting and baking. Besides balancing a variety of

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tasks related to crop and livestock production, rural women spend a large amount of time on additional household obligations such as child care, food preparation and collecting ﬁrewood and water. These occupy a large amount of their time and limit their leisure time and participation in more productive and entertaining activities. The agricultural tasks which they are involved in can be made easy and less time-demanding through the adoption of these simple technologies.

Dr. Uday R. Badegaonkar Sr. Scien st Central Ins tute of Agricultural Engineering Bhopal, India Email: udayrb@gmail.com

Cravo introduces new Retractable Greenhouse Technology for Tropical and Mild Climates in India system integrates climate, crop, plant physiology and market conditions” to create a production strategy that uses an innovative retractable roofing system that can help farmers reap huge benefits, resulting in saving of huge costs, labour and time. According to the president, using the advanced greenhouse technology solution can result in typically 50% to 100% increase in profit and quick return on investment in 2-5 years.

n a move to rejuvenate the country's rickety agricultural system, Cravo Equipment Company, an Ontario-based, Canadian company is introducing latest greenhouse technologies that promise to transform the farming practices in India. In a seminar “Innovative Protected Cultivation Technologies in India” organized by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the capital today, Cravo's President Richard Vollebregt showcased an innovative plant protection system called “The Retractable Roof Production System” (RRPS)™ . In an interview to Krishi Jagran, he said “the www.krishijagran.com

“There are at least 36 ways that Cravo Retractable Roof Greenhouses and Retractable Roof Production System (RRPS)™,” can positively impact your agricultural system”, says Mr. Vollebregt. “It helps farmers produce more crops per hectare, produce larger fruit with longer shelf life, over a longer harvest season while using less water, electricity and virtually eliminating chemicals,” he added. The RRPS has proven to be effective in helping to grow crops sustainably particularly in warm and hot climates where conventional greenhouses and tunnels are typically not effective. The 30-year old Ontario Canada-based company has sales offices in Mexico, Spain, Turkey and representative offices in Australia, Chile, the Netherlands, and India. 2015 OCTOBER

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Malformation in Mango

MALFORMATION IN MANGO

Introduction Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is the most important fruit of India and it contributes about 62.2% of total mango production of the world, however, our productivity (7.2 t/ha.) is very low in spite of great potential (Indian Horticulture Database, 2013). This crop has a long standing problem of mango malformation, which renders mango orchards unproductive throughout the subtropical and region of the world. Mango malformation is an intricate disorder of mango, which was ﬁrst reported by Watt at Darbhanga (Bihar), India in 1891. This is a very serious melody but its incidence is more in north - west than north - east and south India. About 50- 80 per cent trees are damaged by this physiological. Most of the north Indian mango cultivars are prone to it that is Bombay Green, Dashehari, Langra. Now it is widely reported in mango growing countries such as

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India, Brazil, USA, Egypt, South Africa, Israel, Pakistan and Mexico. Type of malformation; Mango malformation appears in two forms: vegetative and oral malformation. Vegetative Malformation - This type of malformation appears mostly in the seedling stage of plant or new grafts in the nursery. However, it may appear in the older plants occasionally, particularly in those, which have suffered from oral malformation. The affected seedling and grafts produce small shoot-lets, bearing small scaly leaves with a bunch like appearance on the shoot apices. The vegetative buds in the axils and shoot apices swell, the apical growth is inhibited which affects the orientation and development of lateral buds of plant, as a result produces numerous vegetative buds sprout and the whole mass of rudimentary leaves gives a bunch like OCTOBER 2015

appearance, resembling witch's bloom like structure, which is called bunchy top. The root system of the affected seedling does not develop properly, which checks the seedling growth. Seedlings infected at an early stage ﬁnally die. These seedling are also not suitable for their use as rootstock because the grafting success are very poor. Bunches of small scaly leaves are commonly seen on shoot tips bearing malformed panicles along the malformed buds or internodes. These structures, however, soon dry up and remain hanging to the branches or shoots as dry masses.

Fig. 1: Vegeta ve Malforma on in Seedling Stage www.krishijagran.com

Malformation in Mango Floral Malformation Malformation of inorescence manifests as deformed, suppressed and clustered inorescence, thickened rachis, shorter primary and secondary axis. The panicles bear males with seldom a hermaphrodite ower. The manifestation in intricate in respect that from the same terminal, few buds are normal other malformed. It indicates the intricacy of the problem or that there is some disorder in the internal system which either stops proper functioning or promote abnormal functions at certain site and from there the normal growth of the panicle is disrupted. Floral malformation appears in the bearing trees when they start owering. The inorescence/panicles get deformed due to enlargement of the owers. The primary, secondary and tertiary rachises becomes short, thickened and much enlarged or hypertrophied, giving the ower a characteristically clustered appearance. Such panicles are usually greener and heavier than normal panicles. Malformed owers are usually male and rarely hermaphrodite. The ovary of the malformed hermaphrodite owers is usually large, non functional with very poor stigmatic receptivity. The malformed hermaphrodite owers had 1- 4 ovaries/ ower as compared to normal hermaphrodite owers 1-2 ovaries. The malformed hermaphrodite owers also show abnormal development of stigma, style, ovary and embryo abortion takes place at a faster rate.

Fig.2 : Vegeta ve Malforma on Ini al Stage www.krishijagran.com

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Causative Factors The various factors associated with this malady have been briey discussed below. The disease has miscellaneously been credited to be acarological, viral, fungal, and physiological in nature. The diverse species of Fusarium, including the recently reported Fusarium mangiferae, were probably related to the disease. Recently, we have reported on stress-induced ethylene formation in mango plants, which causes deformed structure in mango owers and thereby malformation. Varietal Factors: Almost all the varieties of north Indian mangos except Bhadauran, Abib, Dhudhiya and Langra, are highly susceptible to this melody. In Egypt Zebba , Hiendi and Anshas have been reported to be resistant to malformation. When owering takes place at a temperature lower than 25 0 C (December- January) under north Indian conditions, the tree tends to produced more malformed panicles. Although, all the varieties in tropical climate are free from malformation, but when grown under sub-tropical condition, they are severely affected by the malformation. Fungi: In recent years, several Fusarium spp. associated to malformation, such as Fusarium mangiferae in India, Fusarium sterilihyphosum from Brazil and South Africa, I from Mexico, Fusarium proliferatum from China and most recently, Fusarium tupiense from Brazil, have been implicated in mango malformation. The association of Fusarium subglutinans with mango malformation is much more accepted than other species, because both the vegetative and oral malformation tissues contain hyphae of this fungus in higher proportion than healthy tissues. It has also been isolated from cortex, phloem and parenchymatous pith cell of the malformed tissue. Viruses: An early as 1946, Sattar a famous virologist suggested that 2015 OCTOBER

Fig.3 Numerous Small Fruits in ﬂoral malforma on

malformation might be of viral originate disorder. This view was based on the inconsistent transmission and failure to isolate any pathogens from the malformed tissues. This view was further strengthen because of occurance of high incidence of malformation in trees severely infested by mango hopper (Amaritodus atkinsoni). Some workers also reported the transmission of this disease through infested bud wood, but the other failed to transmit it thorough different grafting techniques. Similarly, some workers have used modern techniques like electron microscopy techniques for detect the possibility of environment of viruses being the cause of this malady. Mites: Various investigation are associated with several mites like- Aceria mangiferae and Tyrophagus castellanii with the cause of mago malformation. However, later the possibility of mites as a cause of this malady was ruled out, because the correction between bud mite population and incidence of malformation could not be established and acaricidal sprays under ﬁeld conditions also did not check the disease. Several workers also reported the role of mites as carrier of fungal pathogens as a cause of this malady. Nutritional Factors: Association of nutrient imbalance with mango malformation has been a matter of controversy among the scientists. Some earlier investigators AGRICULTURE WORLD

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Malformation in Mango might have been caused by suboptimal levels of endogenous gibberellins, while the production of small leaves, showing epinastic curvature might be result on an increases ethylene production.

3. Carbohydrates - Some horticulturist have reported the level of the carbohydrates to be higher in shoots bearing malformed panicles than healthy ones. They emphasized that starch in the malformed panicles was not hydrolyzed in to sugars to meet their energy requirements. Some ones view that the malformed panicles or the shoots bearing them had lower level of starch than healthy ones, ruling out the possibility that starch in the malformed panicles was not hydrolyzed into simple sugars to meet their energy requirements. In contradiction, he postulated that low level of starch and high level of sugars in malformed panicles suggests the hydrolysis of starch into simple sugars, which provides sufﬁcient energy for excessive growth of the malformed panicles.

Fig. 4 Malformed panicle bunchy appearance

have reported that the malformed tissue had lower level of N than the healthy tissues, but the others reported higher N, P and low Zn in malformed panicles. Physiological Factors: Some horticulturist in association with plant physiologist reported the association of the following physiological factors with the cause of mango malformation.

1. C h l o r o p h y l l c o n t e n t s Contradictory information is available on chlorophyll content of the leaves producing healthy and malformed panicles. For example, some workers have been reported higher amount of chlorophyll A, B and total chlorophyll in the leaves from malformed shoots.

2. Phyto-hormones - Low level of auxins and high level of gibberellins, cytokinins and ABA has been reported by various scientist in malformed tissues than in the healthy ones. However, a few have reported low level of gibberellins in malformed tissues. The higher level of gibberellins like substances may account for the production of solely male owers and continuous growth of the malformed panicles. Low level of auxins and high level of gibberellins, zeatin, ABA and ethylene in the malformed seedlings caused inhibition in their apical growth, which affects the orientation and development of lateral organs, resulting in the production on numerous small shoots. Short internodes affected shoots

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Biochemical Factors: On the basis of the information available in the literature, the following biochemical factors associated with mango malformation. 1.

C/N Ratio - Many researchers had been of the view that in malformed panicles failure to fruit set is caused by improper C/N ratio, which was considered to be an important factor responsible for differential growth and disturbed sex ratio in the malformed panicles. However, it is almost impossible to conclude whether low or high C/N ratio is responsible for the cause of mango malformation. For example, some researchers have predicted higher C/N ratio in malformed panicles and

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leaves bearing malformed panicles, respectively. From this discussion, it appears difﬁcult to concluded whether high or low C/N ratio is responsible for the cause of malformation in mango. 2.

Malformin- The ﬁrst time isolated malformin like substances from the malformed panicles and seedlings, which was later conﬁrmed by various scientists (Ram and Bist, 1984). Thus, they concluded that the accumulation of mangiferin results in an excessive vegetative growth, which helps in the continuous emergence of rudimentary leaves, inorescence bearing orets intermixed with leaets and orets transformed into leaf structures probably due to hormonal imbalance. However, the mechanism of synthesis of such substances in the plant system is still not yet understood.

Mangiferin - Some workers have isolated mangiferin, a non toxic polyphenol from the malformed tissues, conformity the facts that high contents of phenols and steroids have strong correlation with the intensity of malformation.

Fusicoccin - Fusicoccin, a phytotoxin produced either by the inject injury or fungi, has been reported to be one of cause of malformation by the scientists of IARI, New Delhi.

Enzyme activities - Some workers have correlated the malformation with the activities of enzymes like IAA oxidase and polyphenol oxidase. The activities of these enzymes were reported to be higher than the healthy panicles. In contrast, the activities of amylase and catalase have been reported to higher in healthy panicles than the malformed one. www.krishijagran.com

Malformation in Mango Environmental Factors: Various factors responsible for the development of malformation, environmental temperature are play important role. It is a known facts that malformation occurs frequently in subtropical climate, but tropical areas are almost free from this incidence. Moreover, the panicles, which appear early in the season ever under subtropical climate tend to malformed and unproductive than those, which appear late in the season. Because, the temperature in the tropics remain almost the same and higher than the subtropics, where the temperature goes quite low in winter and higher in summer. Hence, it can be concluded that environmental temperature appears to be most closely related with the causation of malformation. Control Measures Use of resistant cultivars: Growing of malformation resistant varieties, like Bahaduran, Alib. Hence, development of resistant varieties is the only solution for this long lasting chronic problem. However, when Bahaduran an immune variety to malformation, has been used as one of the parents in the hybridization programme at IARI, New Delhi,all the resultant hybrid seedlings were not observed to be resistant to malformation. In addition, Bahaduran also transmitted all its undesirable characters to the hybrid seedlings. Later, Lal Sundari variety has been used as one of the parents in hybridization programme. Fortunately the resultant hybrids of cross combination, Ampapali and Lal Sundari, have been observed to be free from malformation. Use of pesticides: Some workers have claimed that application of diazinon (0.04%), bavistin (0.1%), phosphamidon (0.03%), methyl demeton (0.1%) and www.krishijagran.com

fytolan (0.2 %) minimise the incidence of malformation, but others have contradicted that either fungicides or insecticides are effective for controlling mango malformation. Spray of fungicides like Topson-M and Captan were applied during panicle pruning in April-May. Use of Plant growth regulators: On the basis of various recommendations, it can be concluded that application of NAA or planoﬁx (200 ppm) during October (Prior to ower bud differentiation) is most effective in reducing the incidence of oral malformation in almost all the cultivars of mango. In addition, some workers had been of the view to spray ethrel (400 ppm) at bud inception stage during February. Application of NAA (200 ppm) during October, followed by a spray of ethrel (200 ppm) during February has also been quite effective to reduce the oral malformation effectively. Use of Phenolics compounds: It has been suggested that polyphenols also minimize the destruction of auxins and recommended that the application of catechol (1000 ppm) during the ﬁrst week of October to be very effective measure of reducing the oral malformation in Dashehari. Cultural practices 1.

Removal of panicles - It has been reported earlier that

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panicles, which appear early in the season (December - January) when the temperature is low, tend to malformed and unproductive. Hence, it is advisable to remove such panicles as and when they appear. 2.

Mulching- Some experiments has been conducted with the use of black polythene either as mulch or covering the plant can be an effective practice for reducing malformation.

Deblossoming- Deblossoming at bud burst stage alone or in combination with the application of NAA (200 ppm) d u r i n g  o w e r b u d differenciation is perhaps the most effective treatment to reduce the incidence of malformation signiﬁcantly.

Selective pruning - Selective pruning of the malformed panicles and parts helps in reducing the incidence of malformation in the subsequent years. The pruned malformed panicles should be destroyed or buried deep in the soil to avoid the spread of inoculums.

Raising seedlings in polyhouse - Vegetative malformation is a serious propbem in seedling mangos in the nursery. Some pomologist has been experience that seedlings raised for grafting in the polyhouse are relatively free from malformation.

Mukesh K. Meena1, Dr. D. K Sarolia2, Dr. O P Meena3 and Dr. D. D. Sharma4 1

Ph. D (Hor culture) RCA Campus, MPUAT, Udaipur (Rajasthan) Assistant Professor (Hor culture) RCA Campus, MPUAT, Udaipur (Rajasthan) 3 Assistant Professor, Division of Agronomy, Rajasthan Agriculture Research Ins tute, Durgapura, Jaipur 4 Senoir Scien st (Pomology) Hor culture Research Sta on, Kandaghat, Dr. YS Parmar University of Hor culture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India. 2

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Bio-botanical Pesticides– reducing Hazards and Increasing Safety

Bio-botanical Pesticides– reducing Hazards and Increasing Safety Abstract The chemical pesticides are used in India for last many decades.India is second largest manufacturerof pesticides in Asia after China and ranks 12thin world. There has been a steady growth in the production of technical grade pesticides in India. The chemical pesticides are hazardous to the environment, non target organisms and human being. The increase in consumption of chemical pesticides in modern agriculture is posing hazards to user and environment. Long time pesticides exposure causes diseases like liver malfunction, immune malfunctions, neurological impairment and reproductive effects The use of botanical and bio pesticides has come up as a better alternative to chemical pesticides. The botanical and bio pesticides are safe to the user, environment and non target organisms. They are economical, safe, biodegradable and easily available.The article provides information about different types of botanical and bio pesticides and possible role of institute of Pesticide Formulation Technology (IPFT)in promoting bio-botanical pesticides for reducing hazards and increasing Safety in crop protection. Keywords: Chemical pesticides, Hazards, Biopesticides, Formulation, Bioefﬁcacy, Antifeedent, Insect pest, Biopesticide market.

Introduction Agriculture is the backbone of Indian Economy and contributes 18% to the GDP (Tulsi Bhardwaj and J.P. Sharma 2013). Ensuring food security for more than 1.2billion Indian populations with diminishing cultivable land resource is a herculean task. Pesticides are widely used in agricultural production to prevent and control pests, diseases, weeds, and other plant pathogens in an effort to reduce or eliminate yield losses and maintain high product quality. India is second largest Pesticide manufacture in Asia after china and ranks twelfth globally (Mathur 2010). There has been a steady growth in the production of technical grade pesticides in India, from 5,000 metric tons in 1958 to 85,000 MT in ﬁscal year 09-10. (Directorate of Plant Protection and Quarantine; 2011). The size of the Indian pesticide industry was estimated at Rs.180 billionduring ﬁscal year 2010, including exports of Rs. 100 billion which is about 2% of the total worldmarket (Statistics

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India Data 2011). However in global context pesticide consumption in India is low (around 500 g per ha) compared to other countries like Japan (12 kg per ha) and Germany (3 kg per ha). The consumption of insecticides is more in India (approx. 76% of total pesticide consumption) and differs from global consumption pattern of (Mathur 1999). Andhra Pradesh has highest consuming state (23% of total pesticide consumption in the country) followed by Punjab and Maharashtra. The cotton and paddy crops share 57% of total consumption of pesticides due to higher infestation of insects (Ministry of Agriculture 2009).Use of fertilizers and pesticides have made us self-sufﬁcient with respect to food security. Due to low awareness of farmers, sometimes there is indiscriminate or injudicious use of pesticides in agricultural applications. If thepesticides are not used in proper way these are hazardous to environment and non target organisms. They pose adverse effect on plants, animals, beneﬁcial OCTOBER 2015

soil microorganisms, non target organisms, ﬁsh, birds, wild life and human being. Long time pesticide exposure may cause liver malfunction, immune malfunction, and neurologic impairment. An excess mortality from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases may be possibly related to chemical contamination. Indian records show ﬁrst case of lethal death back in 1958 in Kerala while consuming contaminated wheat our. 25 Million Agricultural workers in the developing countries are suffering of pesticide poisoning every year. The series of lethality continues with many incidences such as Bhopal MIC tragedy & latest Bihar, Saran district, tragedy where more than 30 children died because of consuming of insecticide Monocrotophos. The long term exposure at even low concentration causes serious health problems such as immune-suppression, hormone disruption, diminished intelligence, reproductive abnormalities, and cancer. With increasing awareness about the harmful effects of synthetic plant protection and agrochemicals, the demand for www.krishijagran.com

Bio-botanical Pesticides– reducing Hazards and Increasing Safety

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technologies and products based on biological processes has been increasing steadily worldwide. The use of botanical and bio pesticides has come up as a better alternative to chemical pesticides. Bio-botanical Pesticides The botanical and bio pesticides are safe to the user, environment and non target organisms. They are economical, safe, biodegradable and easily available. Not only those certain secondary metabolites of plant origin can be used as a source of new pesticides, but also their botanical derivatives are more environment friendly than synthetic chemicals. Over 2000 species of plants are known to possess some pesticidal activities. The concept of Bio- botanical pesticides refers to all types of natureoriented and beneﬁcial pest control materials that can contribute to reduce the pest population (Koul et al, 2009). Biopesticides typically include plants (e.g. pyrethrum (Chrysanthemum sp.), neem (Azadirachtaor Meliasp.) etc., microbials (e.g. Trichogramma parasitoid‐ a protozoan, Crypto laemusmontrouzieri‐ a coccinellid predator etc.), microscopic animals (e.g. nematodes), bacteria (e.g. Bacillus thuringiensis), viruses (e.g. nucleopolyhedrosis virus), fungi (e.g. Beauveriasp.) and the transgenic plants containing a pest combating gene (e.g. Bt cotton). The biochemical pesticides include insect pheromones, plant extracts and oils, plant growth regulators and insect growth regulators. These are becoming popular because of their undisruptive impact on non-targeted organisms, (Murugan et al, 2002) biodegradable nature and environmental friendliness (Jacobson, 1989). When incorporated into integrated pest management programs, biopesticides can greatly decrease the use of conventional synthetic pesticides or can be used in rotation or in combination with other insecticides, potentially reducing the overall quantities applied and possibly mitigating or delaying the development of resistance in pest www.krishijagran.com

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Bio botanical pesticide Market: Biological products currently represent just one per cent of the world pesticide market.. Most are small enterprises with small turnovers, and just one or two products aimed at niche markets (Dubey et. al., 2008). Biopesticide sales are expected to have passed the $1bn mark in 2010, while analysts estimate the market is growing at about 10% compound average annual growth rate (CAAGR). AgraQuest estimates market demand for biopesticides could reach $10–$13bn by 2020 due to several market forces, which are expected to strengthen in the coming years .While the US is today the largest biopesticide market with sales of about $300m, the EU market is growing most rapidly, in large part due to the loss of other solutions as many pesticide active ingredients are disallowed. The EU market is estimated at $270m, with a growth rate of about 15% per year. Barriers to Commercialization: There are several barriers for the commercialization of botanical pesticides, such as constraints in production on a commercial scale, standardization of chemically complex extracts, regulatory approval, the slow action of many botanicals, and the lack of residual action and the availability of new synthetic products. In addition, variation in physical properties of essential oils hinder them form large scale application (Dubey et. al., 2011). More information about standardization, regulatory approval, must be generated for the promotion and commercialization these safer products (Isman, 2006). Development of Bio-botanical Pesticides: Sustainable agriculture in the 21 st century will rely on alternative

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Bio-botanical Pesticides– reducing Hazards and Increasing Safety

products for pest management which are environment friendly and reduce the amount of human contact with chemical pesticides. Another important issue of minimization of pesticide residue in food products may be addressed by reducing the application of chemical pesticides in agriculture. Biopesticides may be incorporated into integrated pest management programs. Currently, botanical pesticides are not facing competitions in organic food production. The use of microencapsulation technique allows slower release rates of active ingredient, thus the efficacy of bio botanical may be prolonged. Biosynthesized silver nanoparticles have been used in antimicrobial, anti-viral and antihuman immunodeficiency virus studies. These particles showed the in vitro and in vivo inhibitory effect on the protozoan, Leishmania infantum (Baioccoet.al. 2011). Nanoparticles loaded with garlic essential oil are efficacious against T. castaneum Herbs. Aluminosilicate filled nanotube can stick to plant surfaces, while nano ingredients of nanotube have the ability to stick to the surface hair of insect pests and ultimately enters the body and inuences physiological functions resulting in mortality of target insects. Different types of botanical based pesticide formulation:1. Emulsion (a) M i c r o e m u l s i o n s : M i c r o e m u l s i o n s a r e thermodynamically stable, transparent and isotropically clear dispersion of two immiscible liquids, consisting of microdomains of one or both liquids stabilized by an interfacial film of surface active molecules. They have a very fine droplet size of less than 0.1 µm. Oily liquid or solid dissolved in organic solvent, water and surfactant/co-surfactant (Singla et al., 2013). In the preparation of microemulsions, two different types of surfactants are needed; one water soluble and one oil soluble. The water soluble surfactant is usually anionic or non-ionic with a very high HLB (HydrophilicLipophilic Balance) value, and the hydro-phobic part of the surfactant molecule should match the oil. The cosurfactantshould be oil soluble and should have a very low HLB value, for example hexanol. Anionic or nonionic with a very high HLB (Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Balance) value, and the hydro-phobic part of the surfactant molecule should match the oil. The cosurfactant should be oil soluble and should have a very low HLB value, for example: hexanol. For example, microemulsion formulation of eucalyptus oil possesses a certain desirable properties worth exploiting for pest management. (b) Nanoemulsions: Recently, the preparation of submicron emulsions, called nanoemulsion or

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miniemulsion has emerged as a promising alternative for both intravenous and dermal applications. Nanoemulsions are fine oil-in-water dispersions having droplet size ranging from 100-600 nm (Solans et al., 2003). For example Nanoemulsions containing citronella oil, hairy basil oil and vetiver oil with mean droplet size ranging from 150-220 nm showed prolonged mosquito repellent activity against Aedesa aegypti (Nuchuchua et al., 2009). 2. Controlled Release Formulations (CRF): Controlled release is the technique by which active agent is made available to the target site at a rate and duration designed to accomplish intended effect on targeted pest. 3. Botanical Tablet Formulations: Tablets are emerging type of dry formulations especially useful with compounds that are effective at grams per hectare application rate. The Basic components of pesticide tablet are active material (eg. Powders of various active components derived from naturally occurring plants), diluents or filler, binder, lubricants and wetting/dispersing agent. Floating tablets are used for aquatic insects and pests like mosquito larvae. 4. Botanical Coil Formulations : A novel synergistic botanical mosquito repellant composition comprising botanical active ingredients (20-45%), inerts: burning materials and binders (derivedfrom naturally occurring plants) and preservatives in the proportion: Saw dust (binder) - 30-60%, Jigat (binder) - 20-30%, Guar gum (binder) -5-7%, Potassium Nitrate (burning) – 2-3%, Sodium Benzoate (preservative) - 0.5 -1.0%. These ingredients are properly dried, powdered, mixed well and finally extruded through a coil machine to get the product i.e. coil. Preservatives are used to preserve the repellant properties for a longer period and to increase their shelf life. 5. Dustable Powder: It consists of active ingredients (botanical powders) along with inerts and carriers like china clay. Active ingredient either solid or liquid is gradually added in chinaclay. After complete addition of the active ingredient it is ground in a mixer to www.krishijagran.com

Bio-botanical Pesticides– reducing Hazards and Increasing Safety

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get a uniform composition. It is easy to formulate and use. Institute of Pesticide Formulation Technology (IPFT), Gurgaon is actively engaged in development of user & environment friendly new generation formulation of pesticides. IPFT has also focused on development of bio-botanical pesticide formulations. neem and karanja oil microencapsulated formulation developed by IPFT was found effective against fourth instar larvae of Aedes aegypti.(Pant et al, 2012). Botanical tablets were developed by the botanical active ingredients derived from naturally occurring plants. These tablets shown good bioefficacy against Periplaneta americana (American cockroach) and Dustable powder formulations have been also developed by IPFT, Gurgaon for the control of stored grain pests and a patent has been filed. The comparative results reveal that the particular novel compositions comprising of various combinations of the botanical wastes are synergistic in nature. The compositions are economical, and highly specific to the household pests without any particular effect on human beings as well as non-toxic in nature.

International. 4.

Isman, M.B. (2006). Botanical insecticides, deterrents, and repellents in modern agriculture and an increasingly regulated world. Ann Rev Entomol., 51, 45–66.

Jacobson, M., (1989). Plants, insects and man-their interrelationships. Economic Botany, 36, 346-344.

Koul, O., &Walia, S. (2009). Comparing impacts of plant extracts and pure allelochemicals and implications for pest control. CAB Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and natural Resources, 4.

Mikhaiel, A.A. (2011). Potential of some volatile oils in protecting packages of irradiated wheat our against Ephestiakuehniella andTriboliumcastaneum. Journal of Stored Products Research, 47, 357364.

Murugan, K., Thangamathi, P. &Jeyabalan, D. (2002). Interactive effect of Botanicals and Bacillus thuringiensisSubsp. Israelensison CulexquinquefasciatusSay. Journal of Scientiﬁc & Industrial Research. 61, 1068-1076.

Mathur SC. Future of Indian pesticides industry in next millennium. PesticideInformation. 2010; 24 (4):9–23.

Conclusion The application of chemical pesticides poses hazards to harm human being, environment, and non target organisms..The use of botanical and bio pesticides has come up as a better alternative to chemical pesticides. With the development of bio-botanical pesticides, which are safe to environment, human being and non target species, the hazards created by chemical pesticides in crop protection may be minimized. With the combined efforts of research institutions, industries, government and regulatory authorities, the bio-botanical pesticides may be promoted and safe crop protection may be achieved. References 1.

Baiocco, P., Ilari, A., Ceci, P., Orsini, S., Gramiccia, M., Di-Muccio, T., &Colotti, G. (2011) Inhibitory effect of silver nanoparticles on trypanothionereductase activity and Leishmaniainfantumproliferation. ACS Med ChemLett., 2, 230–233.

Dubey, N.K., Srivastava, B., & Kumar, A. (2008). Current status of plant products as botanical pesticides in storage pest management. J. Biopestic., 1, 182-186.

Dubey, N.K., Shukla, R., Kumar, A., Singh, P., & Prakash, B. (2011). Global Scenario on the Application of Natural Products in Integrated Pest Management Programmes. In: NK Dubey (Ed.) Natural Products in Plant Pest Management, 1, 1-20. CAB

10. N u c h u c h u a , O . , S a k u l k u , U . , U a w o n g y a r t , N . , Puttipipatkhachorn, S.,Soottitantawat, A., &Ruktanonchai, U. (2009). In Vitro Characterization and Mosquito (Aedesaegypti) Repellant Activity of Essential-Oils-Loaded Nanoemulsions. AAPS Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, 10(4), 1234-1242. 11. Pant, Megha, Dubey, Saurabh, Raza, S.K., & Patanjali, P.K. (2012). Encapsulation of neem and karanja oil mixture for synergistic as well as larvicidal activity for mosquito control. Journal of Scientiﬁc & Industrial Research, 71, 348-352. 12. Singla, M., & Patanjali, P.K. (2013). Phase behaviour of neem oil based microemulsion formulations. Industrial Crops & Products, 44, 421-426. 13. Solans, S., Esquena, J., Forigianini, A., Uson, N., Morales, D., Izquierds, P.,Azemar, N., &Garcla-Celma, M.J. (2003). Absorption and aggregation of surfactants in solution In: Mittal, K.L, Dinesh, O.S. (Eds.) Nano-emulsion: Formation Properties and Applications (pp. 525-554). New York: Marcel Dekker. 14. Tulsi Bhardwaj and J.P. Sharma, Impact of Pesticides Application in Agricultural Industry: An Indian Scenario.2013 Volume 4, Number 8: pp. 817-822

Arpana Kumari, Kumari Richa, Anjali Prabha, Ranju Sharma, P. K. Patanjali, A. Agarwal & S.K. Raza Ins tute of Pes cide Formula on Technology, Sector‐20, Udyog Vihar, Opposite Ambience Mall, Gurgaon ‐ 122016 (Haryana) www.krishijagran.com

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Tokita Tomato for the European Market

o retain a focus on special, innovative seeds, the goal is to grow niche products into mainstream items. Tokita Sementi Italia, the Italian subsidiary of Tokita Seeds in Japan, is expanding its tomato presence in the European market. “With this program in Sicily, we are working on new markets for Italy and export in Europe,” said Gregorio Padula of Tokita Sementi Italia. “In the past, our breeding program was based on what was selling in Japan. But it's different when you work in the European market. In order to get more sales, you need to get into what the market is here.” European standards are different from Japanese ones, and more than just taste characteristics have to be taken into account when designing a mainstream tomato.

“It might sound strange, but we're trying to make these niche markets bigger,” said Padula. “We hope to increase the market for our specialty varieties, but we also want to always bring something new when proposing varieties that are suitable for the European system.” “When getting into bigger segments you have to get into what growers need,” said Padula. “When harvesting bigger quantities, you need

SYNGENTA`S Seedless Bell Pepper

yngenta has obtained a patent for a seedless bell pepper. This fact is shown on a the disclosure of the European Patent Register. The patent does not apply for seedless bell pepper in general, but only addresses the 'seedless feature' in bell peppers. Breeders who want to use this feature, have to pay a compensation for the use of this feature. The patent was requested in 2009 and was granted in September 2015. In 2012 Syngenta launched of Angello, the first seedless bell pepper in the world. With thhis pepper, the breeders won the 2012 Fruit Logistica Innovation Award. ANGELLO™, the sweet and seedless pepper from Syngenta, won the prestigious Fruit Logistica Innovation Award in February. A team around breeder Benny Nir developed this ideal snack for adults and children alike. Unlike standard peppers, the ANGELLO™ pepper has no seeds to remove before consumers can enjoy the fruit. It is also 25% sweeter than standard peppers and has a crunchy texture, making it an ideal snack for children and

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certain characteristics, like a longer shelf life, for example.” In this new phase, Padula noted that the number of growers who have the same variety will still be limited in order to ensure that an over-abundance of the same tomato doesn't bring down the market for that variety. “For us, it's not really about market competition, because nobody else has the kind of material we have,” said Padula. “It's more about finding a customer that's interested in selling a particular type of tomato.” The new varieties being developed are best suited for growing in the Mediterranean region of Europe, though those same varieties could find good growing climates in places like California and Mexico. The rest of Europe is also of interest, especially Poland, which Padula described as a big market but one with many challenges.

adults alike. Even people who normally do not like peppers will enjoy this one. It is ideal as an ingredient in cooking, in salads, at breakfast, playing sport, at work, or in children's lunch boxes. Preparation is minimal, making it the ultimate healthy convenience food. Syngenta's breeding program to produce the ANGELLO™ pepper began almost 8 years ago. “It started as a small-scale project. We needed two years to produce the first seedless fruits,” explains Benny. Having achieved this breakthrough, the project became a full-scale conventional breeding program. Using natural techniques, the team began working towards producing the first sustainable, highly-flavored, seedless baby pepper. Syngenta worked with a major British retailer from the start. “As breeders, one of our responsibilities is to learn what consumers want. We gain a lot of insights into consumer tastes by working with retailers, who are pioneers in providing products that their customers enjoy,” says Benny. Although convenience for consumers was the main driver behind the search, the sensory experience was of equal importance. “Flavor and texture are obviously critical. They have to be at least as good, or better, than the existing standard. These elements are important to the consumer so they are important to us as breeders.” To guarantee an all year round supply, the pepper is being produced in greenhouses in Spain, Israel, and the Netherlands. The innovative breeding program to develop the ANGELLO™ pepper is part of Syngenta's continuous efforts to introduce new varieties of fruit and vegetables with improved flavor and convenience to meet the needs of consumers. Our breeding program to generate more innovations in fresh produce under the ANGELLO™ brand continues in Spain, the Netherlands, Morocco, and Israel. Each product will offer consumers exciting and unique sensory experiences with a sustainable premium quality.

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