Krishi Jagran Agriculture World Magazine June 2016

Volume II | Issue 6 | June 2016| `70

ISSN 2455-8184

AGRICULTURE

W RLD The Pulse

Global Agriculture

Biofortified Rice to Fight Malnutrition Echoing Sustainable Environment and Agriculture krishi.jagran

@krishijagran

www.krishijagran.com

AGRICULTURE WORLD The Pulse

Global Agriculture

CONTENTS

Volume 2 Issue 6 June 2016 Total Page- 44

IN THIS ISSUE

Editor-in-Chief MC Dominic

Head Pre-Press Alka Gupta

Directors Shiny Emanuel MG Vasan

Graphic Designer Yogesh Kumar Rakhee Sharma

Sr. Executive Editor Dr. KT Chandy RK Teotia

Accounts KB Indira

Assistant Editor Ruby Jain Sr. Correspondent Imran Khan Correspondent Sonal Handa Manish Chauhan Sameer Tiwari Deepshikha Aslam Rasool Khan Jyoti Sharma Vipin Mishra V.P. Int. Business D.D. Nair Gavrilova Maria Marketing Head Sanjay Kumar GM - Marketing Farha Khan Sr. Manager Marketing Mukundan Nair K J Saranya Sara Khan Marketing Manager Megha Sharma Afsana Malik Sr. Executive Marketing Chunki Bhutia Poonam Bishwakarma Rinki Pundir Laxmi Pandey Soniya Mahajan Shifali Mahajan Preeti Chauhan Kanchan Singh Hema Sharma Rajni Kumari Karishma Lehri Meena Pandey Priya Tripathi Aayesha Khan Vanita Singh Meenu Laxmi Koli Circulation Head Nishant K Taak Circulation Manager Rahul Singh Abdus Samad Sr. Executive Circulation Prashant Sharma Anku Yadav Pappu Ray Mohit Furkan Qureshi Shahzeb Ahmed

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Saga of Transformation from Chemical to Conservation Farming

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12 Natural and Ecological Farming

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20 As Good as Gold: Biofortified Rice to Fight Malnutrition

27 Harmonious Growth Of Plant Protection Industry

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Agriculture World is published by Krishi Jagran Media Group.

Editor: MC Dominic

34 Piggery: An Easy Source of Animal Protein

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EDITORIAL

H

umans exhibit frequently a tendency to over react to events in their life: tendency to rush to hospital for any small ailments and that too they want to consult the specialist. Such tendency leads to over use of medicines and other chemicals. The same tendency is seen in them in taking care of their crop plants. Anxiety makes a farmer to go for over use of pesticides. The case study presented through the article “Saga of Transformation from Chemical to Conservation Farming” by Vinod Anavrat is a good example of relying on the natural resistance power of the plants and animals including humans. The results reported on the use of organic manure prove the fact that often plants deficient in micro-nutrients are more liable to diseases.

Golden Rice is yet another out of the GM technology and the article by Ankita Trivedi and co. is indeed praise worthy especially pitted it against the global scenario of Vitamin A deficiency. Among the cereals GR is unique. However the scientists as well as the people at large are ignorant about the fact that Vitamin A is abundantly present in the nature as it is present in all the edible green leaves, yellow or yellowish coloured fruits and vegetables. That GR is a credible feat in the genetic engineering but projecting it as a blanket solution to global Vitamin A deficiency will be too much of an assumption to hold.

Pesticide is a multi-million dollar industry and forms the back born of agriculture production from the plant protection point of view. We have to reconcile with the fact that pesticide is an essential component in the agro-industry; but the question is how to optimize and specify its use. Dr. J. C. Majumdar in his article on “Harmonious growth of plant protection industry is a key factor to agricultural prosperity and farmers' income” describes the growth and development of pesticide industry in India. It is very informative.

The saying “Of the pig only its squeal is useless” is literally true. Everything of the pig has economic value and its growth is faster than all other animals because its feed conversion efficiency is very high. In a well maintained and well fed piggery an individual animal will attain marketable size and weight within six months. Its meat is easily digestible compared to other types of meat. There is tremendous scope for piggery in India but for the caste and creed biasness. Piggery: “An Easy Source of Animal Protein” by Dilip Kumar Sarma and R. Thomas is an eye opening to people who wants to have quick money in animal rearing.

As environment and ecology has become the buzzwords of modern environmentalism traditional and modern farming practices are scaled against environmental principles and practices. Also it is a fact that among all the human interferences on earth farming and related human activities are doing maximum harm to the eco-system. Hence the concepts of Natural and Ecological Farming is evolved as a solution to many of the negative impacts modern farming. The article by Dr. Chandy defines and describes briefly the various types of farming which are more environment-friendly.

In the same wavelength Ram Kumar Jha, Policy Analyst from Jaipur in his article on “Climate Change Actions in India for Reducing Crop Losses” describes the possible impacts, mostly negative, of the climate change on various crops and agriculture in general. The temperature increase due to global warming can reduce the yield of many crops. The ring tone of this article is that of preparedness to face the inevitable global warming phenomenon by one and all in the country.

M C Dominic Editor-in-Chief dominic@krishijagran.com

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Conservation Farming

Saga of Transformation from Chemical to Conservation Farming “A successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way�; this quote of Dale Carnegie befits well to Mr. Sriram Bhele and Manohar Bhele. The journey of Bhele brothers is an eye opener for all those concerned about sustainable production.

Hailing from Chandur Bazar, in the Amravati District of Maharashtra both were traditionalists like their fellow farmers. But the circumstances changed course such that they set an example for others to follow. Firm in their resolve to move forward overlooking the criticisms hurled at them, they became trend setters. Those who are keen to take up fruit farming and establish it as a more remunerative venture can certainly learn from their saga.

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Those who followed them benefited whereas others are still straining to grasp the rationale of conservation farming.

Bhele brothers inherited an ancestral mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata Blanco) orchard of 250 trees. Their grandfather was the pioneer of mandarin orange cultivation in their taluka. Those were the days when farmers would irrigate their orchard with the bullock driven wooden structure locally called as 'moat'. After death of their father in 1966, Mr. Sriram had to look after the orchard besides the retail cloth shop. The elder brother Manohar continued his education up to 12th standard and subsequently joined him in the business as well as farming.

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In order to concentrate on citrus farming, they had one well dug out in 1968 and planted mandarin oranges in 1969. It started fruiting in 1975 and the initial production of six tons per acre was quite satisfactory. Following regular spray schedules of pesticides for controlling insect pests was a common practice. It went on smoothly for almost a decade till 1986, as they did not encounter any serious problem. Encouraged by the ascending productivity graph, additional one thousand Nagpur mandarin plants were augmented in their existing orchard in 1983-84 and fourteen hundred plants in 1984-85.

Turning point

However, the year 1987 proved to be a turning point in the krishijagran.com

In the meantime, the issue was also raised in the State Legislative Assembly and the then Minister for Agriculture, Govt. of Maharashtra visited the area. A team of experts comprising of an entomologist, plant pathologist, horticulturist and soil scientist surveyed the affected area including Mr. Bhele's orchard.

As the experts were consulted after trying out all other available chemical control measures, much time had elapsed and it was not easy to save the trees. Yet, the last ditch efforts were made to overcome the crisis. This time the mandarin orange growers were krishijagran.com

very skeptical hence extra cautious before complying to the experts recommendations. Hence they insisted on assurance from the experts that their trees would be saved. As it was not easy to recover the plants on the verge of death; the experts declined to give any such guarantee.

However, while commenting on the severity of problem one of the members of expert committee accused them of being irrational in taking up citrus plantation on unsuitable soil. 'This sort of uncalled for remarks were unpalatable and seemed like rubbing salt on the fettering wound''; Bhele expressed.

It hurt them deeply as the onus of quick decline and death of the mandarin orange trees was squarely laid on them. One month later, the committee sent report, which stated that the problem was due to continuous stagnation of rainwater. It resulted into rotting of roots and adversely affected the uptake of nutrients. It gave rise to die-back symptoms and high humidity favored the growth of black fly that aggravated the menace of Kolshi.

Learning through experimentation Hence after 1989 onwards Bhele brothers decided not to undertake spraying of any insecticide or fungicides, whatever be the situation. It was a bold decision to embark upon and they noticed that, it affected neither fruit bearing nor the overall fruit yield.

Instead, the profit margin increased due to elimination of expenses on spraying. It gave them further encouragement and since then, they did not look back.

Once again in 2001, a patch of 250 trees got infected with Kolshi and psylla. Though the infestation was visible they considered it as a natural phenomenon hence

ignored. All other farmers got spraying done in their orchard to get rid of Kolshi and the decision of Bhele brothers were considered regressive. As a result, they got no yield on those affected 250 trees.

Bhele brothers say, "As it was expected; it did not matter much.

But the satisfaction was, those who got spraying in their orchard were also in the same boat; as the pesticides failed to control the black fly and in turn the standing crop". It strengthened their point of view of being on the right track and gradually made them pragmatic in thinking. Hence during 1984-95, when the compulsor y mass spraying campaign was carried out by the State Depar tment of Agriculture for the control of Black fly, Bhele brothers refused to oblige.

This time too they were considered backward by fellow farmers since the expenditure on spraying was borne by the govt. However, when they compared the impact of spraying with that of control, they noticed insignificant difference.

Shift to Conservation farming Through their own experience over the years they learnt many things which got rationalized in due course of time. It helped them get pulse of mandarin orange cultivation and they learnt to live with reality with no qualms whatsoever. This kind of maturity in their outlook can be attributed to their tr yst with the mandarin farming in a pragmatic and rational approach. They learned from the past mistakes and rectified it. The keen observation and knowledge of ecosystem took them closer to nature inducing them to respect the nature instead of exploiting it for one's greed.

"As a part of ecosystem, insect pests will continue to exist. At the same time when the harmful ones feed on the crop, the beneficial

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Conservation Farming

life of Bhele brothers. The incessant rains from 11 to 22 August with more than 10-inch rainfall, led to water stagnation. The heavy downpour offered no respite to drain out excess water. But no one imagined that; such situation would strike death knell on their orchard.

A week afterwards, the orchard was severely infested with black fly (Aleurocanthus Woglumi Ashby) and the Kolshi (Black sooty mould) engulfed the entire orchard. Barely one month later, entire foliage turned pale yellow, twigs drying and subsequently dying of the tree resulted in loss of 60 to 70% of full grown trees. Similar condition was reported by other mandarin orange growers in the viscinity. The insecticides like endosulphon, Dimethoate, Monocrotophos, and copper oxychloride as a fungicide were tried out but of no avail. The condition of the affected trees further worsened and there seemed no solution at sight. It caused concerns and the orchardists were willing to do every possible remedy to save the trees. Desperate to save the trees, a group of 35 aggrieved farmers approached Punjabrao Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola and Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth Rahuri, (Maharashtra) for seeking immediate remedy.

Conservation Farming

insects feed on them leading to the natural control of insect pests. But by spraying pesticides to kill the harmful insects; the beneficial also get eliminated." Hence they decided not to worry anymore at the sight of insect pests in their orchard. This wisdom dawned in them through their close observations of the orchard and experiential learning.

"We observed the increased population of birds in our orchard with the emergence of lemon butterfly. They eat away the larvae as well as adults thus the damage due to lemon butterfly is minimized. It was not noticed in other orchards in the vicinity where spraying of pesticides was done" said Manohar Bhele. Their belief is that if the plant is healthy it can withstand many adversities including the attack of insect pests and diseases.

lot of cash return to the growers.

Hence the notion was inculcated that a part of it must be given back to the orchard. It was certainly an admirable step since the regular application of chemical fertilizers, timely spraying of insecticides; once the insects are noticed was followed as a part of one's concern for the orchard. He further added, "Farmers were under full grip of pesticides and would take pride in narrating to other colleagues that they gave four sprays, if two were recommended." It was their belief that more the number of sprays, quicker would be the control and vice versa. However, scanty knowledge about the

Pest control: Rational approach needed "The chemical pesticides and fertilizers although intended for increasing production, directly or indirectly; little knowledge about it led the farmers fall in the self created fetters'' Bhele opined.

He further added that, "As a marketing propaganda through mass media, farmers are made to believe that, the plant protection chemicals and inorganic fertilizers are indispensible for more yield.

But even before the introduction of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, our ancestors used to harvest good crop yield. However, the instant tangible results in terms of productivity made all the difference in thinking. The farmers started believing that in order to prosper; there is no substitute for chemical (modern) farming.

But gradually they are realizing that 'instant is not constant''.

Initially mandarin crop gave

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phenomenon of natural control or development of resistance etc. led them fall in the trap of indiscriminate use of pesticides.

concern that, the staple food of mandarin orange is well decomposed farm yard manure (FYM) and the chemical fertilizers are supplementar y. But it is conveniently ignored that supplementary cannot replace the staple and the farmers are paying heavy price for It.'' he asserts.

However the truth also is that, farmers generally do not get the well decomposed compost. Hence Bhele brothers are not averse of applying chemical fertilizers in moderation. They regularly harvest 15-20 tons per ha fruits with minimum external inputs and plant protection chemicals.

Now through their own experience, other mandarin orange growers in their area also realized their folly and shifted to conservation farming. Yet, many are still in dilemma due to the constant publicity about external input driven modern farming. On the other hand, many are diverting back to traditional horticulture giving fillip to conser vation farming. This makes farmers contemplate on whether to go by the dictates of modern farming or follow the middle path for the sustainable production? The appropriate answer rests in the rationality of their judgment.

Be pragmatic but be not dogmatic ''This was realized by the researchers, which brought transformation in their thinking, and they are now advocating the bio-pesticides� adds Manohar Bhele. ''This sudden shift from chemical to herbal pesticides again made us believe that, whatever was told in favor of chemical control measures was half-truth. These were some of the instances, which strengthened their belief. He narrated with a

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Dr. Vinod Anavrat Pr. Scientist, ICAR- National Citrus Research Institute , Amravati Road, Nagpur- 440 033.

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Natural and Ecological Farming

Eco Farming

T

he agriculture which is suitable to natural environment is said to be natural or ecological farming. In other words, all the agricultural practices must be environmentally suitable.

Environmentalists, agriculturists and conservationists all over the world have been expressing their serious concern about the hazardous effects of modern agriculture, which relies heavily on the chemical fertilizers and the plant protection chemicals. They favour an environmentally sound and sustainable method of food production and an ecological agriculture which is strictly in tune with the principles of nature. However this method of farming is hotly debated among people arguing for and against. Here an attempt is made to describe the principle and practices of natural/ecological farming.

Modern agricultural techniques employing fertilizers and chemical pesticides often result in the loss of environmental quality from water pollution, soil erosion, pesticide residues and pests develops resistance to chemical control measures. Diverse forms of alternative agriculture have emerged with the aim of reducing the input costs, preserving natural resources and protecting human health.

CONCEPT OF NATURAL FARMING Natural farming advocates no machines, no chemicals and very little weeding. In other words natural farming is an attempt to develop a method of farming which could help to reverse the degenerative momentum of modern agriculture. The soil is not ploughed and even the use of compost is not recommended. Hence, this method of farming can be said to be "do nothing" method of farming. Natural farming is based on the notion that we cannot isolate one aspect of life from another. Natural farming is gentle and easy and indicates a return to the source of farming. In the natural farming method, crops have to

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grow themselves and do not have to be grown.

Everything should be left to its natural course. Over the years, this system is claimed to be the most simple, efficient and up-to-date method.

PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL FARMING The following steps must be followed to make the farming in a natural way.

1. No cultivation No cultivation, that is, no plough or turning of the soil as the earth cultivates itself naturally through penetration of plant roots and by the activities of the micro-organisms, small animals and earthworms. Thus, non-cultivation is fundamental to natural farming.

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Weeds play their part in building soil fertility and in balancing the biological community. As a fundamental principle weeds should be controlled and not eliminated. Straw mulch, a ground cover of white clover interplanted with crops and temporary flooding provide effective weed control.

4. No dependence on chemicals Nature if left alone, will be in perfect balance and there is no need to depend on chemicals.

Cultivation of white clover, incorporation of straw and addition of poultry manure provide adequate fertilizer to strengthen the plants. But as a result of gradual interference by some un-natural practices like ploughing, fertilizer application etc. diseases and insects have become a great problem in agriculture.

Harmful insects and plant diseases are always present in nature but below the threshold level. Any imbalance in nature increases their incidence and people start using chemicals for their control. In natural farming, emphasis is given on natural control methods by using botanical pesticides i.e. extracts from different plants can be used for pest control.

SUSTAINABILITY PRINCIPLES The main purpose of farming is to add ecological sustainability and acquit in agricultural development. According to Swaminathan M.S, the most basic principles of sustainability include land, water, energy, nutrient supply, pest management, post-harvest systems and systems approach.

1. Land However, absolute no tillage may be impossible if we want to sow the seeds into the soil. Here what is meant by no cultivation is that stirring of the soil by plough or harrow may be minimum.

2. No chemical fertilizers No chemical fertilizers should be used as the soil left to itself maintains its fertility in accordance with the orderly cycle of plant and animal life as in forests.

On the other hand, their careless farming practices drain the soil of essential nutrients and the result is constant depletion of the land.

3. No tillage No weeding is done by tillage or herbicides. krishijagran.com

Continuous monitoring of land suitable for sustainable intensification for soil health and not diverting for non-farm uses; improving waste or degraded lands; and protecting conservation areas rich in biological diversity. The fertility of the land is maintained by mulching and incorporating all the organic matter generated on the same piece of land; organic matter cycle. Never burn any biomass but incorporate into the soil.

2. Water Effective water saving, equity in watersharing and efficient water supply and use. Watershed management is an effective means of maintaining water cycle.

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Eco Farming

These principles represent a complete reversal of the approach and philosophy behind modem agricultural techniques. In particular, the "no ploughing" recommendation is likely to shock most people, as the ploughing is regarded as the basic and foremost practice to be done before sowing of any crop.

3. Energy Integrated systems of energy management involving appropriate use of renewable and nonrenewable resources. Solar energy, biogas fuel, wind energy are some of renewable energy sources.

4. Nutrient supply Reduction in the use of chemical inputs and adoption of integrated systems of nutrient supply including crop rotation, green manuring, bio-fertilizers, use of compost to improve soil structure and fertility.

5. Pest management.

Adopting an IPM (Integrated Pest Management) system, convserving natural enemies of pests and using botanical pesticides and conserving genetic diversity for breeding strains possessing resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses.

6. Post-harvest systems Drying, storage and marketing should prevent damage to food grains and not make much demand on non-renewable resources of energy.

Eco Farming

7. Systems approach A systems approach involving integrated attention to crop and livestock farming and to agroforestry and aquaculture to protect soil health.

INTEGRATED NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT Integrated nutrient supply systems aim at maintaining the status of soil fertility and plants nutrients. Nutrient management is based on the judicious use of organic, mineral and microbial fertilizers to build soil fertility. These involve crop rotation, and intercropping using leguminous plants, practising green manuring and organic manuring and use of biofertilizers, thus reducing the fertilizer doses and gradual build up of organic matter in the soil.

A. Nitrogen fixing plants A suitable cropping pattern and integrated crop management is necessary for improving soil fertility, crop rotation should include at least one legume crop for nitrogen fixation to sustain soil fertility in terms of physical, chemical and biological properties.

Research has shown that inclusion of leguminous crops in the crop rotation of cereals like wheat, rice, sorghum, maize and millets helped in saving 40 to 50 kg N/hectare. Problems with paddy wheat system like soil sickness and grassy weeds can be controlled by changing the crop rotation from ricewheat to cow-pea-rice-wheat, rice-wheat-dhaincha (a green manure crop), rice-sunflower and rice-lentil.

Crop rotation also helps in controlling nematodes,

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cutworms and wire worms.

B. Intercropping Intercropping can improve the soil to a larger extent as against monocropping and is also effective in pest control. For instance it has been observed that intercropping soybean with sugarcane has led to higher cane yields in Karnataka. The advantages of this intercropping are mentioned here.

I.

Water and nutrient requirements being minimal for soybean this does not compete with sugarcane in utilizing natural resources.

ii. Soybeans produce nitrogen by bio-fixation of w h i c h only one-third is utilized by it. This has a positive impact on quality of juice. iii. Soybean grows vigorously after which its leaves shed, add more nitrogen to the soil and by decomposition process also organic matter to the soil. Its leaves also create a good mulch, prevent evaporation of water and nutrient loss and smother weed growth. iv. Soybean roots grow fast and profusely penetrate the soil breaking clay-colloids in heavy soils thus providing better aeration, while in sandy soils they provide a binding and cohension effect to soil particles facilitating better moisture and nutrient retention. v. It is a good crop for trapping the pests since soybean leaves are more succulent (juicy) and pests prefer these an attacks one cane are minimised. vi. Soybean provides fodder rich in protein through its

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stem, pod husk and leaves and increase milk yield.

C. Green manuring Green manuring involves cultivation of fast growing leguminous plants between seasons and utilizing the same by ploughing it back into the soil. This offers potential source of nitrogen, improves soil microbial activity, enhances the availability of phosphorus and micro-nutrients and improves crop yield. It has been reported that substitution of fertiliser nitrogen with green manure can save 60 to 120 kg N per hectare. Dhaincha, sunhemp, cowpea are the common green manure crops.

D. Mulching Mulching is the process of covering the soil between crop rows with crop residues. This reduces loss of organic matter and plant nutrients from the soil.

However, nitrogen fixation potential of leguminous trees can be harnessed by integrating them in a suitable agro-forestry system. Tree component

manure (FYM) or compost for plant nutrient supply.

Composting is conversion of biodegradable material to a utilizable condition for improving and maintaining soil fertility. Manure helps to supply a wide range of nutrients that helps to improve the physical characteristics of soil, increase the water holding capacity of sandy soils while improving its structural stability. Good organic manure can be produced from waste material of various kinds such as cereal straw crop stubble, cotton stalk, groundnut husk, farm weeds and grasses, leaves, wood ash, raw vegetable material, etc. This needs to be fully decomposed before application to the soil.

F. Vermi-culture If This is a compo sting technique which is currently generating a lot of interest to the farmers and has shown promising results.

checks soil erosion and ensures close nutrient recycling by extracting nutrients from deeper layers and subsequent return to surface layers in the form of leaf litter. Organic matter content is quite high under an agro-forestry system.

E. Organic manuring Organic manure can accelerate the soil's natural recuperation process and improve fertility and is an important source of plant nutrients. Principal sources of organic manure are coin post, bio-gas plant and sewage. Locally available material of plant and animal origin may be recycled and used as farm yard krishijagran.com

Vermi-culture is the technique of producing compost from degradable organic matter through earthworms. Earthworms are grown and cultured in different kinds of waste material and used as bioreactors for converting biodegradable organic matter into rich biofertilizer called as vermicompost. Useful species of earthworms for vermincomposting are Eisenia foetida, . Eudrilus eugineae, Perionyx arboricola.

The earthworms take organic matter from the soil surface into their gut, grind the organic matter together With soil particles and leave their castings throughout the soil profile. These vermin-castings are rich in nutrients. Earthworms, through burrowing increase water holding capacity of the soil and also provide ideal aerobic conditions for bacterial growth as well as plant roots.

Earthworms help in recycling nutrients like N, P, K and can increase the soil fertility and thus crop yields. Vermi-compost contains nitrogen, phosphorus, AGRICULTURE WORLD | JUNE 2016

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Eco Farming

Integration of nutrients by organic fertilization helps to bring about improvements in soil physical properties, moisture retention capacity and status of micronutrient and microbes. Various methods for integration of nutrient include farmyard manure, compost, coir pith, sewage sludge (an organic produce remaining after the treatment of sewage in sewage disposal plants used as fertilizer) sewage effluent (this is the liquid portion of the sewage), green manure, crop residues, non-edible oil cakes and bio-fertilizers. Thus, organic manures are the most important integral part of the integrated nutrient plant nutrient system.

annuals do not.

4. Crop rotation This is highly effective in controlling the pests which originate in the soil like nematodes, wireworms and cutworms. The interruption of the life cycle by introducing a non-host reduces spread of pests in subsequent cultivations.

5. Natural rhythms and optimum planting season As, pest attack is associated with a particular stage of development of the host plant, hence, choosing the right time for sowing of a plantation keeps the infestation low.

Eco Farming

potash in sufficient quantities, beneficial microorganisms, earthworm cocoons, actinomycetes, micronutrients, all in available form. Earthworms can cast up to 1200 tonnes of soil per hectare per year by ingesting 2 to 30 times their body weight per day. Mulching and addition of organic fertilizers improves their population. Agricultural residue, animal manure, dairy and poultry waste, food industry waste, bio gas sludge can all be recycled to give vermin-compost. Earthworms keep the soil aerated, do not destroy roots and increase moisture and humus levels.

PREVENTIVE CROP PROTECTION Crops are very often attacked by insects and other pests which reduce the yield and presentability of the products. It is now widely felt that the pesticides are no longer as effective as they used to be. Use of pesticide has led to the disturbances in the natural ecosystem and the poisonous chemicals end up in ground water eventually having harmful environmental consequences. Therefore, the preventive principles for crop protection which must be kept in mind are mentioned here.

1. Knowledge of agricultural ecosystems Farmers must know about the species of pests and beneficial insects, their biology, life cycle, stage of development of a plant when it is vulnerable to attack, host plants, predators and parasites which might be encouraged.

2. Mixed f'arming and diversification This provides considerable preventive protection due to the multiplicity of the food sources.

Mixed farming can also help in disorienting pests and help to maintain a higher permanent population of predators and parasites of pests.

3. Type of vegetation An abundance of perennial growth such as bushes and trees encourage predator population which

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6. Manuring and plant health Under nourished plants are seen to be more susceptible to pests and diseases. Balanced manure and healthy organic soil results in strong resistance to pests and diseases.

7. Soil tillage Soil tillage prevents pests which exist as larvae and pupae in soil or in crop residues. But this should be carefully weighed against its harmful effects such as destruction of humus and soil erosion.

8. Choice of variety This involves breeding varieties which can resist pests and diseases.

9. Field hygiene This is aimed at interfering the life cycle of pest and includes the removal of harvest residues of any infested material to prevent further development of pests.

ECO-FRIENDLY PLANTS Certain ecologically friendly plants that help to promote ecological balance are described here briefly.

1. Neem Neem tree is commonly found in most parts of India, grows well in all soil types and all the parts of a neem tree, namely, bark, roots, sap water, leaves, flowers, seed and oil posses valuable properties. a. As fertilizers Neem cake contains about 5.5% nitrogen, 1 % phosphorus and 1.5% potash and is found to minimize the nitrogen loss, when mixed with nitrogenous fertilizer. Its application increases the nitrogen recovery in rice from 28% to 47.4 per cent. b. As insecticide As an insecticide neem is effective against different species of insects in India. It acts as an antifeedant, growth retarder, repellent, oviposition krishijagran.com

deterrent and toxicant.

Neem oil and neem seed kernel extract and neem cake extract control the brown plant hopper, green leaf hopper and leaf folder in rice and pod borer in pulses. Neem cake extract controls gallmidge and earhead bugs. In cotton, application of neem oil decreases the incidence of white fly, while neem cake controls stem weevil. Neem seed kernel extract mixed with grain protects the grain from storage pests. Seed treatment with neem oil checks multiplication of stored grain pests, acting as ovipositional deterrent. It does not affect the seed germination or leave any residual effect. c. As fungicide Spraying of neem oil or neem seed kernel extract controls the leaf sheath diseases. Neem oil application controls the red leaf spot diseases in rice, powdery mildew disease in sugarcane and rust disease in groundnut. Neem cake applied to soybean crop reduces the incidence of root rot. Spraying neem kernel extract controls the spread of tungro virus disease in rice by reducing the green leaf hopper population.

Neem leaves possess good fodder value as they contain high protein with low cellulose content.

Neem cakes are used as animal feed and its ripened fruits are eaten by the goal" and sheep. e. As amendment Application of neem leaves is found to be useful. in alkaline soil reclamation and they are also the cheapest source of amendment for problem soils.

2. Coconut palm It has been recognized that the coconut holding can be converted into viable agro-ecosystems. This can be supported by the following facts.

I.

In coconut holdings where the palms are optionally spaced, there is enough space for accommodating other crops.

ii. A coconut based agro-ecosystem can reduce the run-off and soil erosion as the soil surface in the vicinity of the trees is covered by accumulated leaf litter forming an organic mulch.

vi. Coir pith is a valuable organic material for composting and has been found useful in ameliorating saline and alkaline soils. vii. Weed growth is suppressed under the plant material on the soil surface. The accumulated debris on decomposition augments the organic matter status of the soil leading to effective weed control and improves water holding capacity. viii. Coconut palm is adaptive to problem soils and has been successfully tried in low lying and sulphate soils.

3. Jatropha Jatropha is well adopted to arid and semi-arid conditions and has low moisture demand and is a profitable crop.

I.

It has been found that Jatropha oil from seed can be used as a substitute for kerosene. Smoke of the soil is odourless and non-pungent.

ii.

Gas obtained from Jatropha oil cake has no environmental hazard and can be used as fuel for jeeps, tractors, pump sets, etc.

iii. Jatropha provides protective soiI cover at a faster pace and at a cheaper iv. Revegetation of barren and denuded hills with Jatropha plants combat environmental pollution. v.

Jatropha oil cake is an environmentally feasible organic fertilizer.

An unending list of eo-friendly plants including medicinal and aromatic plants etc. is there from which we get botanical pesticides.

INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEMS Integrated farming systems include a mix of crop, livestock, poultry, fishery, and tree-culture, etc. and can help ensure self sufficiency in farmers food requirement,

iii. They act as effective barriers against wind erosion and sand dune formation. iv. Abundant supply of organic matter on the soil surface stimulates natural diversity 'of soil life.

Earthworms multiply, tree roots harbour useful organisms and encourage beneficial microbial activities.

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Eco Farming

d. As fodder

v. Integrating the livestock component would help in recycling the organic wastes and their conversion into organic manure.

increase incomes, provide increased employment opportunities and also help in effective recycling of farm residue and wastes.

1. Agro-pisciculture

Eco Farming

The concern for sustainability has generated interest in integrated farming systems. AgroPisciculture, that is, integration of pond fish culture with crop and livestock production could help increase food production and arrest declining soil fertility.

Integration results in synergy, offers recycling and reduces waste. It has been proven that pond fish culture in small farms is profitable only when fish ponds are integrated with crop and livestock production. Fish in the pond may feed either on crop by-products like cereal bran, on vegetable trimmings and on small plants and micro-flora and fauna that are encouraged to grow in the nutrient enriched water.

Water stored in the pond can be used to water crops and extend their growing period into the dry season; availability of pond water may even permit a second crop of short season crops to be harvested.

When fish are harvested and the pond is drained, nutrient rich mud in the pond can be used on crop land. This increases yields bringing more income, an enriched diet and more fertile soils.

2. Pond based horticulture In India, the horticulturists are advocating a combination of different farming systems like horticulture, animal husbandry, pisciculture, apiary, and mushroom cultivation in an integrated manner in rice grown coastal areas.

The system suggested, involves digging trenches on two sides of a rice field and cultivating fish, shrimps, prawn and ducks. Fish can feed on rice bran, weeds, while leaves of fruits trees provide food for cattle, cattle manure can enrich the soil.

Water from trenches can be used for irrigating crops. Trench mud is also a good source of nutrients. Rice straw acts as good mulch for soil moisture conservation and provides nutrients to cattle and poultry.

I. Agri-silviculture -i.e., crops + trees; ii. Silvipasture -i.e., trees + pasture + animals; iii. Agri-horticulture -i.e., crops + fruit trees; iv. Agri-silvipasture -i.e., crops + trees + pasture + animals; v. Hortipasture -i.e., fruit trees + pasture + animals; vi Agro-hortisilviculture -i.e., crops + fruit tree + multipurpose tree species. vii Agri-pisci -silviculture -ie., crops + fish + trees; viii Silvi-apiculture -ie., trees + honey bees; ix. Pisci-silviculture -i.e., fish + trees and x. H o m e s t e a d a g r o - f o r e s t r y - i e . , m u l t i p l e combination of various components.

Hence, adoption of various agroforestry systems will help the farmers make agriculture as sustainable and also improve their economic conditions.

CONCLUDING REMARK Agriculture is rarely defined, partly because people already consider that they know what it is about. It may be defined as an activity of man that is aimed at production of food, fibre and other materials required by controlled use of plant and animal.

Natural farming is a traditional form of agricultural practices popularly associated with a back to nature movement which does not accept the modem agricultural methods. It is better said to be as low-input farming, which is a serious and growing effort to reduce dependence on inorganic fertilizers and chemical controls without drastically reducing the agricultural industry's capacity to feed the world's growing population.

Hence, the main objective of natural farming is to make maximum possible use of natural resources, thereby, avoiding the use of chemicals liable to kill or reduce the activity of beneficial soil organisms and avoiding direct feeding of land with soluble minerals.

3. Integrated agro-forestry systems Integrated agro-forestry system involves the use of multi-purpose trees including nitrogen fixing trees and shrubs and fruit trees along with the crops and pasture in different cultivated, marginal, submarginal and other waste lands have significant importance.

The common agro- forestry systems in India can be categorised as-

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Dr. K.T. Chandy Senior Execu ve Editor Krishi Jagran

AGRICULTURE WORLD | JUNE 2016

18

As Good as Gold: Biofortified Rice to Fight Malnutrition

Golden Rice

Introduction

preliminary studies. By 2002, Golden rice was technically ready to go. Animal testing had found no health risks.

Around 5,00,000 cases of irreversible blindness and Nonetheless, the usefulness of GR is questioned by some, up to 2 million deaths occur each year due to Vitamin A and the technology has become the centerpiece in the public deficiency (VAD). Globally, it has been estimated that controversy over genetically engineered crops. Except for around 19 million pregnant women and children are the regulatory approval process, GR was ready to start particularly susceptible to VAD. Worldwide morbidity saving millions of lives and preventing tens of millions of (increased susceptibility to disease) and mortality is due to cases of blindness in people around the world who suffer dietary micronutrient deficiencies, such as the lack of vitamin from Vitamin A deficiency. It's still not in use anywhere, A, iodine, iron or zinc. These deficiencies affect particularly however, because of the opposition to GM technology. children, impairing their immune system and normal Since GR is still at the development, causing disease s t a g e o f research and and ultimately to slow death. opposition to this particular development (R&D), its actual Apart from increasing child effectiveness remains unknown. mortality, VAD can lead to visual application of genetically modified Recently, a second generation of problems, including blindness food has contributed to the deaths GR has been developed, with a and increase in the incidence of beta-carotene content up to 20 measles. The best way to avoid of and injuries to millions of times higher than in the initial micronutrient deficiencies is by lines.

More than half of the people. The opponents of Golden way of a varied diet, rich in world's population consumes vegetables, fruits and animal Rice who have caused this harm Rice as their staple food crop, p r o d u c t s . D i e t a r y especially important in Asia. should be held accountable supplementation of vitamin A can Millions of people in the eliminate the problem of VAD , developing countries, like India which is rather a good news. One don't have access to a variety of of the way is the administration via Golden Rice (GR), which nutritious foods, due to which they are at risk of vitamin A had been engineered to produce large amounts of vitamin deficiency. While Rice is ample in calories, it lacks VA , A. According to data and estimates, supplementing GR for which plays an important role in maintaining one's good 20% of the diet of children and 10% for pregnant women health. To end such chronic health disorder, enriching rice and mothers will be enough to combat the effects of VAD. with vitamin A seems to be one of the potential solution.

Golden Rice (GR), which has been genetically engineered to Genetically modified variety of rice is Golden rice which produce beta-carotene, a precursor of Vitamin A, has been produces beta-carotene (pro-vitamin A), an orange-yellow proposed as an intervention for VAD. The technology's pigmentin the rice grain, which gives the rice its golden potential for VA deficient populations has been shown in colour. Like rice, many other fruits and vegetables that are

‘‘

‘‘

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AGRICULTURE WORLD | JUNE 2016

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Figure 1. Prevalence of vitamin A deficiency across the world

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Figure 2 : Biochemical pathway for beta-carotene production in golden rice.

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21

Golden Rice

commonly eaten such as squash, papaya and carrots, also get their colour from beta carotene.

Golden rice was developed to combat malnutrition and other deficiencies that were caused due to lack of vitamin A , such as blindness. Each year, 250000 to 500000 children go blind because of vitamin A deficiency. The reason behind discovery of GR was that the crop, Rice itself does not contain vitamin A or precursor beta-carotene. All required genes to produce pro-vitamin A protein are present in the grain but some of them are turned off during the development process.

This fact clicked the minds of two European scientists, Profs Ingo Potrykus (formerly ETH Zurich) and Peter Beyer (University of Freiburg), who figured out how to turn on the complex pathway of grain development with a minor invention. They were called as Golden Rice inventors. The minor invention made by them involved insertion of two genes from daffodil and one gene from a bacterium. They have managed to engineer a beta-carotene pathway into a japonica rice variety, i.e., Taipei 309. The fruit of their research was named as “Golden rice” in August 1999. They signed a deal shortly afterwards with Astrazeneca, which agreed to waive technological fees to enable the development of the rice for “humanitarian” purposes.

The biotech lobby is selling the idea that genetically engineered (GE) crops, starting with golden rice, will solve problems of malnutrition (Potrykus I 2000). This is an ambitious goal for small grain of rice. Major agricultural biotech company, CGIAR, USAID, and its main funder, the Rockefeller Foundation are supporting the countries suffering from malnutrition. GR is garnering greater support and acceptance for genetic engineering amongst the public, the scientific community and funding agencies. The promise of Golden rice should be taken with a pinch of salt, with the given reality. Further improvement of nutritional quality of golden rice was carried out by transformation of phytoene synthase (psy)-encoding gene. This novel trait has been transferred into several indica rice varieties, such as IR64. (16,3, 4). It has not been cleared and determined whether daily intake of GR does improve the VAD among the poor and could therefore reduce the related problems such as malnutrition and night blindness, confirmed by IRRI in 2013. (10). Beta-

carotene was effectively converted to vitamin A , when humans take GR as their diet.

Metabolic Mechanism Beta-carotene is synthesized in Rice chloroplasts, not in the edible seed tissue. GGPP (geranyl geranyl diphosphate), a carotenoid production precursor, is present in rice seed. Scientists genetically engineered GR to express the enzymes necessary for conversion of GGPP to beta-carotene (Fig.2). Betacarotene synthesis from geranyl diphosphate requires four biochemical reactions, each catalyzed by a different enzyme. A bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, containing three plasmids, was used to introduce all the genes necessary for the complete biochemical pathway for beta-carotene production. It was possible to use three enzymes instead of four because the bacterial enzyme phytoene desaturase accomplishes what two plant enzymes (phytoene desaturase and beta-carotene desaturase) do. Golden Rice technology is based on the simple principle that rice plants possess the whole machinery to synthesize â-carotene, and while this machinery is fully active in leaves, parts of it are turned off in the grain. By adding only two genes, a plant phytoene synthase (psy) and a bacterial phytoene desaturase (crtI), these downstream enzymes are constitutively expressed in rice endosperm or are induced by the transformation, e.g., by enzymatically formed products. The pathway is turned back on and â-carotene consequently accumulates in the grain the transmitted gene was supposed to cause the formation of lycopene (red) and not ß-carotene. (Fig. 3) but both are carotenoids. Carotenoids and their derivatives include a vast number of molecules and accordingly a great number of enzymes and cofactors.

Food Start is a good start Biofortified rice acts as a contribution to the alleviation of lifethreatenin g micronutrients deficiencies in developing countries. GR has met with excitement in every corner of the world. Biotechnology and genetic

Golden Rice

engine ering has offered all the richness to GR, that has become a symbol and directly benefited the consumers, which the first generation of g e n e t i c a l l y engineered crops has failed to do. GR provides and effective Figure 3 : β-carotene biosynthesis pathway and inexpensive solution to vitamin A deficiency in poor, rice eating countries where drug-based supplementation and fortification have been ineffective.

Those who cannot afford a balanced diet, can be provided with nutrient-dense staple crops. For an example, Sweet potatoes are available as varieties that are either poor or rich in pro-vitamin A. The crops those produce and accumulate provitamin A (orange-fleshed sweet potatoes) are called “biofortified”, as opposed to the normal / original sweet potatoes which do not accumulate provitamin A. There is no natural pro-vitamin A-containing rice varieties. In societies where rice is an important part of the diet, the absence of -carotene in grains of rice manifests itself in a marked incidence of blindness and susceptible to various diseases including malnutrition. Due to such consequences, incidence of premature death of small children has been increased. GR is considered as a star among GMO foods. Golden Rice, often touted as a shining example of the benefits of genetic engineering.

The beta-carotene in GR is as effective as pure betacarotene in a capsule, and even more effective than spinach supplementing children with vitamin A. Golden Rice is considered as the golden child of pro-GMO interests (Fig. 4) Golden Rice and health issues : A myth In Rice ,small number of anti-nutritional factors are concentrated in the bran fraction ,which are subjected to heat de-naturation except for phytic acid. The main question arises is the Golden Rice safe from any novel genotypic characteristics that could harm our genome because in genetic engineering, pleiotropic (unintended and unwanted) extra fragments of the inserts and rearrangements or deletions of the plant's own DNA are known to occur; these effects are common as the gene transformation process is random in that there could be more than one site of insertion of foreign genes. The foreign genes are also likely to rearrange or they may be subjected to deletions or repetitions, which produce new kinds of protein products that are not within the evolutionary history of human consumers, and thus raise the risks of reduced nutrient levels, or enhanced levels of anti-nutrients, toxins or allergens; Reports suggests that the

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Figure 4: Golden Rice developed in field yellow colour of GR grains are due to pleiotropic effects which was unexpected as the colour represents the biotransformation products. Golden Rice opponents should be held accountable for health problems linked to vitamin A deficiency. The study published in the journal Environment and Development Economics, estimates that the delayed application of Golden Rice in India alone has cost 1,424,000 life years since 2002. That odd sounding metric – not just lives but 'life years' accounts not only for those who died, but also for the blindness and other health disabilities that Vitamin A deficiency causes. The majority of those who went blind or died because they did not have access to Golden Rice were children. These are real deaths, real disability, real suffering, not the phantom fears about the human health effects of Golden Rice thrown around by opponents, none of which have held up to objective scientific scrutiny.

It is absolutely fair to charge that opposition to this particular application of genetically modified food has contributed to the deaths of and injuries to millions of people.

The opponents of Golden Rice who have caused this harm should be held accountable. Society needs groups like Greenpeace and other environmental organizations to hold big companies accountable when they put their profits before our health, as they too often do. But society also has the right to hold advocates accountable when they let their passions blind them to the facts and, in pursuit of their values, put us at risk. That is precisely what opposition to genetic modification of food is doing, as the study of the Golden Rice delay in India makes sobering clear. GM technology contribute to food security and reduce hunger and starvation. Skeptics like the Union of Concerned Scientists criticize GM technology for not having fulfilled this promise. But that's because opposition has prevented these products from coming to the market in the first place. It's pretty tough to keep a promise you're not allowed to try to keep in the first place. Opposition to several GMO applications, based on fears that don't stand up against evidence from extensive safety testing, is denying people food and nutrition, and doing real harm.

Conclusion ''Golden Rice could save a million kids a year '', proclaimed by times magazine shows that it's highest humanitarian goals. An agreement has been signed between the governments of India and Switzerland for the technology transfer of genetically engineered Vitamin A rice. Local institutes underwent with

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Get recognized for your efforts

Ankita Trivedi, Manoj Kumar Sharma, Reshu Chaudhary, Ashu Singh and R.S.Sengar Tissue culture Lab, College of Biotechnology, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology, Meerut-250110. krishijagran.com

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25

Golden Rice

local transformation and breeding of Golden Rice, like the Central Rice Research Institute, Punjab Agricultural University, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, and University of Delhi.

Various varieties have been engineered with Vitamin A, some of them are IR64, ASD16, PR114, and Pusa Basmati. WHO figures have shown that between 23 and 34 percent of child mortality could be prevented by having a universal source of vitamin A. In remote rural areas or even other parts of globe, Golden Rice could be a major contributor towards sustainable vitamin A delivery. The low fat content in the diets of poor families is responsible for the high incidence of VAD. This can be achieved by a strong, concerted, and interdisciplinary effort, which includes scientists, breeders, farmers, regulators, policy-makers, and extensionists. The latter will play a central role in educating farmers and consumers as to their available options. While the most desirable option would be a varied and adequate diet, this goal is not always achievable, at least not in the short term.

Golden Rice is a step in the right direction in that it does not create new dependencies or displace traditional foodstuff.

The best chance of success in fighting vitamin A deficiency and malnutrition is to better use the inexpensive and nutritious foods already available, and in diversifying food production systems in the fields and in the household and the answer available to this question is rice, be it Golden or whatsoever.

Scientists now are working on new GM rice. This new variety would have an iron gene, causing the grain of rice to become an important source of iron. Iron-deficiency causes low birthweight babies and anemia, both of which can be fatal. It hasn't been possible to combine both vitamin A and iron in the same grain, but scientists are hopeful that this will be possible at some point in the future.

P

rogressive farmers are looked upon and respected in their village. They are the game changers as they bring innovation in farming techniques and are benchmark to other farmers in their village. However, the recognition of progressive farmers is unfortunately limited to the village level. If someone does a similar innovative work in the corporate arena, he gets recognized at the national level and his work is written about in the media. Why should farmers be deprived of this? It's time we recognize the progressive farmers at the national level.

The HR Club, the largest organization of HR professionals in India, with over 40,000 managers as members and the Leadership Lounge, a forum for leaders across all sectors in India, has now instituted the India's Best Farmer Awards. The Lead Media Partner for the awards is Krishijagran.

To apply for the award, if you are progressive farmer, just send a note of about 200 words on your achievements with your photograph to agroidol@thehrclub.net.

Distributors not only play role in supply, storage and sale of agri inputs. Distributors in agri business are an important chain. They are also influencers. Hence they are referred as Channel Partners.

Individual companies do recognize the efforts of distributors. However there is a need to have national award.

Are you a leading distributor? Have you received any award from an agro company? If yes, you could be India's Best Channel Partner. All you need to do is just send a note of about 200 words on your achievements with your photograph to agroidol@thehrclub.net. You could win the State, Zonal or All India Best Channel Partner Award.

Agro Idol is India's first and only national quiz contest for students pursuing Bsc and Msc in agriculture and for those pursuing Agri Business Management. The quiz will be judged by Managers from India's leading agriculture companies. Students would receive cash prizes, certificates and trophies and also benefit from corporate interaction.

The resumes of the top 30 team members would be circulated to the Placement Partners. The Placement Partners for the 2nd Agro Idol Contest are Biostadt India Ltd. & Indogulf Cropsciences Ltd. The best institutions will also be honoured with Centre of Excellence Awards.

The HR Club has also instituted the 'Young Turks' Award to recognize executives with 1-3 years experience in an agro company. This is India's first and only national contest of its kind. It would use quiz, case study and role plays to evaluate how much the executives know about their company. It will also assess their belongingness and pride. The companies, whose executives do well in this contest, will also be honoured with the 'Leader in Talent Retention' Award.

IFFCO KISAN & KRISHI JAGRAN Join Hands Together for the Benefit Indian Farmers

News

IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Ltd. and Krishi Jagran Media Group joined hands today for a better and efficient dissemination of information on the recent technological advances in agriculture. Both the companies signed an MOU to share the platform and the media base to ensure faster progress and qualitative enrichment of Indian farmers.

Mr. M. C. Dominic, Editor in Chief, Mrs. Shiny Emmanuel, Director, Mr. R. K. Teotia, Senior Executive Editor, Mr. Sanjay Kumar, Head Marketing, Mr. Nishant. K. Taak, Head Circulation, Miss. Ruby Jain, Assistant Editor of KrishiJagran Media Group and Mr. Kukreja, COO, Dr. T. Sudhakar, Head IT and BD, Dr. Nagendra Sharma, DGM(Content) and Mr. Naveen Choudhary, DGM- SI, were present at the function.

Both the parties have agreed upon to share their data base and technical contents. They will cooperate with each other to disseminate the fruitful information and take it to the farmers for the effective application of the same.

Tulips of Netherland T Attract More Tourists to HP

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he Government of Himachal Pradesh with the support of Netherland Government is planning to open a 2nd Indian Tulip garden in Dharamshala. The 1st of its kind is in Srinagar. As we all know that Himachal Pradesh is famous for its Himalayan landscapes, hill stations and temples but after opening of second Tulip garden it might be possible that more tourists will attract towards this place. This garden will be cultivated on the 200 kanal Government land of Tapovan adjacent to Dharamshala. For this garden, the bulbs will be imported from the land of Tulips i.e.

Netherland, Holland. Dhauladhar, in Himachal Pradesh, known as the valley of flowers will become Asia’s most beautiful garden. The target to complete this garden has been set for the next year but it might be possible that the work will be started within a month or two. This will be developing under the supervision of Department of Tourism and the funds will be provided

by Asian Development Bank. This project will give several job opportunities to peoples. Asia’s largest Tulip Garden is in Srinagar where more than 10 million flowers of 40 different shades are cultivated.

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HARMONIOUS GROWTH OF PLANT PROTECTION INDUSTRY

· ·

India is 2nd largest Agricultural Producer Rapid strides during last 14 years

Growth 1970-2000 (30 yrs)

US$ 76 bn

Growth 2001-2015 (14 yrs) (3.5 x 2 = 7 times higher growth in 2001-15)

US$ 266 bn

Current Agricultural Output

US$ 367

bnAgriculture Export

US$ 43 bn (Rank 6)

Problems: However, behind this bright and shining shield of Indian Agriculture Sector there are some hard facts and vulnerable areas which indicate that we have still to go a long way to lift our agriculture to the standards of developed countries. Most of the outstanding performance krishijagran.com

in the Agriculture Sector has come from horticulture, dairy and fisheries while the core agriculture has been growing at a snail's pace. CAGR of our food grain production during the last 5 years has been barely 2% against the modest National/Government target of 4% per annum. CCFI had organized a National Seminar in 2013 on “Doubling Food Production in 5 years” which would mean more than 15% growth per annum but we are still struggling at 2 per cent.

Our food grain production reached 266 MMT (Million Metric Tones) in 2013-14 but dropped to 257 MMT in 2014-15. It is expected to marginally grow at 1.2% in 2015-16. If agriculture has to reach 4% growth during the 12th Plan (2012-2017) as a whole, it must attain 7% growth per annum during the next two years to overhaul the low growth rate of 2% in the first 3 years of the Plan. It should be a matter of great concern if a sector engaging 54.6% of workforce of the country grows at 1.2% during 2015-16.

Unexpected damage caused by untimely rains and hailstorms in March 2016 has further aggravated the problem. Admittedly the poor growth has been due to two consecutive deficient monsoon seasons but it is ringing alarms bells. Fortunately, there are ample agri-commodity buffer stocks in the country to meet the domestic requirement of food, feed and fibre as well as export some quantities.

The problem is not going to be the production basket but in Farmer's Income which will slide because of poor harvest and falling prices.

The contribution of Agriculture Sector to the national GDP has been progressively declining from 51.18% in 1950-51 to 17.1% in 2014-15. The corresponding figures for Services and Industry Sectors have been 33.2%/52.9% and 14.6%/30.02% respectively.

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Role of Pesticide Industry

Indian Agriculture: Growth, Problems and Socioeconomic Impact Many of us may not be aware that India ranks 2nd in Agricultural Production in the world and also ranks 6th in Agricultural Export [Agriculture Sector includes Agriculture proper & Livestock, Forestry & Logging, Fishing and related activities]. During the last 14 years (2000-2014) there has been a phenomenal growth in the Agriculture Sector which grew at a rate of about 7 times of that in the preceding 30 years (1970-2000), and the output in 2014 shot up to US$ 367 bn. Agriculture Sector in India is also the largest employer accounting for 54.6% of the total work force (Table 1).

Table 1: Growth of Agriculture Sector (1970 – 2015)

Role of Pesticide Industry

The following diagram shows the trend for the last 65 years (Fig 1). There is nothing unnatural about these trends. All the industrialized countries have gone through the same process during their transition from agrarian to industrial and modernization phases. In fact, lower contribution from agriculture sector to the national economy is considered as a positive sign of a country's progress.

Fig. 1: Sector-wise contribution of GDP of India (19502014)

a) By increasing farmers' income: Substantial investments are required in the agriculture sector. However, the gross capital formation in agriculture which was 18.3% agri-GDP in 2012-13 has fallen to 14.8% in 2014-15. This situation will have to be reversed. In view of this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set the target of doubling Farmer's Income by 2022 and the Government will build adequate infrastructure to achieve this target. In order to achieve 4% targeted growth, the 51 ongoing schemes of the Ministry of Agriculture have been re-structured in to 5 missions, viz. i) National Food Security Mission (NFSM), ii) Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), iii) National Mission on Oil Seed and Oil Palm (NMOOP), iv) National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) and v) National Mission on Agriculture Extension & Technology (NMAET). b) By taking people out of agriculture and employing them in other sectors: For this, jobs will have to be created in the Industry and Service Sectors. For instance, USA has only 2% of its population engaged in farming who feed the nation and export food, feed, fibre and animal products all over the world. Similar is the situation in other industrialized countries.

Role of Plant Protection in Source: Planning Commission, Govt. of India Agriculture Prosperity and The current GDP figures are given in Table 2 Farmer's Income Yields of most field crops in India Table 2: Sector-wise Contribution of GDP in India 2014-15 are lower than not only those in SECTOR GDP (INR LAKH CRORES) US $ (BN)# PERCENT developed countries but also than *SERVICES 61.18 934 52.97 those in some of our neighboring *INDUSTRY 34.67 529 30.02 countries particularly China which *AGRICULTURE produce more than double the & ALLIED 19.65 300 17.01 quantity of food grains compared to TOTAL 115.50 1763 100.00 India from less than same area under cultivation. Therefore there is Source: Planning Commission, Govt. of India # 1 US$ = INR 65.50 for conversion *Explanation immense scope to increase our yield levels and productivity.

There are two basic aspects of food security, viz.

Agriculture & Allied: food production and food protection. Seeds, Manures & Agriculture (Agriculture Proper & Live Stock) Fertilizers, and Irrigation are the main inputs required for Forestry & Logging, Fishing and related Activity. food production. However, even if we attain excellent yield Industry: levels with high yielding varieties of seeds, balanced Manufacturing (Registered and unregistered) fertilization and adequate irrigation, the crops will become Electricity, Gas, Water supply and Construction. a veritable feast for insect pests, diseases, weeds, rodents Services: etc. unless we protect them. Here is where crop protection Trade, Transport, Storage, Communication Service comes in. High yields and production must be protected related to Broadcasting, Financial, Real Estate and with crop protection chemicals like insecticides, fungicides, Professional Services, Community, Social and Personal herbicides, rodenticides etc. services.

According to an estimate by the government of Social Impact India, the total losses caused by weeds, insects, diseases, However, the problem with Indian agriculture is rodents etc. in India, is roughly 28% of our production of that 17.01% of the economy has to sustain more than 50% food grains amounting to Rs. 90,000 crores. By now, at of the population and 54.6% of the total workforce with the today's costs, the losses might have even crossed 1 lakh result that the majority of the farmers and agricultural crores mark. The break-up of losses by various agents are workers are poor. There are two ways to improve the as follows: Weeds 33%, Insects 26%, Diseases 25%, situation:

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Figure 2: Crop-wise Consumption of Pesticides

Figure 3: Category-wise Consumption of Pesticides – Changing Trend

Changing Trend in Consumption of Pesticides: Category-wise Indian Agriculture is predominantly insecticidal oriented. In 2000, Insecticides accounted for 76% while usage of Fungicides and Herbicides were merely 10% and 12% respectively. However, the situation has been changing over the recent years. The share of insecticides came down to 51% in 2012 and may well have gone under 50% now. This has happened due to drastic reduction in pesticide usage in Cotton following the introduction of Bt cotton. On the contrary the use of fungicides and herbicides has gone up correspondingly during this period. Due to intensified control of diseases in fruit and vegetables, whose shares are growing rapidly, the consumption of Fungicides has doubled from 10% to 20%. Similarly increased wages of agricultural labour and introduction of new selective Herbicides in several crops has pushed the sale of Herbicides to 22% from 16%. This is in line with international trend. (Fig.3).

Registration of Pesticides All pesticides must be registered under the Insecticides Act 1968 which regulates the import, manufacture, sale, transport, distribution and use of pesticides. The registration status of pesticides in the country is given below.

1.

Insecticides/Pesticides Registered U/S 9(3) of the Insecticides Act 1968 for use in the Country 1.1 Total No. of Products registered

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-261

Insecticides -

93

Herbicides -

54

Fungicides -

53

Plant Growth Regulators -

12

Bio-pesticides

-

23

I) Fungicides

-

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Role of Pesticide Industry

Rodents and others 16%.

In other words, taking the current production of food grains at 257 mill t (2014-15), we are losing about 72 mill tonnes of food grains. Even if the losses could be brought down to a reasonably acceptable level of 10%, we would be able to save 46 mill tones of food grains per year.

This would be sufficient to feed 230 mill people per year or about 17.7% of our estimated population of 1,300 mill, at the current rate of our food availability of 200 kg per capita per year.

Much of this pre-harvest and post-harvest losses can be drastically reduced by proper use of crop protection products. Unfortunately, the consumption of crop protection products is abysmally low in our country. While the agrochemical usage (kg/ha) is 8 in USA and 13 in China, it is a dismal 0.6 in India which is even much lower than the world average of 3. Thus, there is a tremendous scope for improving the productivity and availability of food in the country by increasing the usage of crop protection products both at pre-harvest and post-harvest stages.

Crop-wise Consumption of Pesticides There is wide variation in the crop wise consumption of pesticides, paddy/rice consumes the maximum quantity of pesticides which comes to 28% and cotton comes next with 20%. Not long ago cotton used to consume 50% of pesticides but introduction of Bt.cotton brought down the use of insecticides drastically.

Consequently there has been a shift to other crops mainly vegetables and fruits. Crop wise consumption of pesticides is given in the following chart (Fg.2)

ii) Insecticides

-

10

iii) Public Health

-

9

Figure 5: Pesticides Exports from India (US$ bn)

2. Pesticides which are Banned, Refused Registration, and Restricted in Use 2.1.Pesticides Banned for manufacture, import and use -

28

2.2. Pesticide formulations banned for import, manufacture and use -

4

2.3. Pesticide / Pesticide formulations banned for use but continued To manufacture for export –

2

2.4

Pesticides Withdrawn -

8

3. Pesticides refused registration -

18

4. Pesticides restricted for use in the country -

13

Role of Pesticide Industry

5. Chemicals included in the Schedule to the Insecticides Act 1968 (as on 30.11.2014) - 870 INDIAN PESTICIDE INDUSTRY Let us now examine some of the salient features of the Indian pesticide industry.

Size: The total size of Indian pesticide industry in terms of value is US$ 4.1 bn out of which US$ 2.1 bn is consumed in the country and US$ 2.0 bn is exported from India to various countries of the world including USA, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa.

Growth Rate: During the 5 year period 2008-2013, the pesticides industry grew at the rate of 8% per annum.

During the next 5 years 2013-18, the growth rate is estimated at 7% as shown in Fig. 4.

Export:

Figure 4: Indian domestic Crop Protection Industry

Pesticide export form India is growing at a much faster rate than the growth of domestic market viz. at CAGR of 17.5 % (Fig. 5).

Technical Manufacture

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Indian companies have been leading the way all along the historical development of pesticide manufacture in the country starting with DDT 60 years ago in 1950.

Many Indian companies have strong R&D facilities and possess high competence in chemical technology for basic manufacture. Thus, they are able to produce technical pesticides of high quality, sometimes purer than the imported pesticides.

Companies like UPL, Rallis, Gharda, Excel, HIL, Indofil, Nagarjuna, Hyderabad Chemicals, IIL, Sudarshan, Crystal, PI Inds., Coromandel International etc. have been in the forefront in R&D and the production technology.

Rallis introduced several pesticides by developing their own manufacturing technology and generating registration data, e.g. Hexaconazole, Metribuzin, Pendimethalin, Lamdacyhalothrin, Thiamethoxam, Acetamiprid, Imidacloprid etc. UPL which has grown to be a truly global crop protection and seed company has 70 subsidiaries, 16 associates and 3 joint ventures spread across all the continents. The company produces a large range of pesticides and export more than sell in the domestic market.

UPL manufactured several products of MNCs attaining higher purity but sell them at cheaper prices.

Sulphosulfuron, Chlodinafop etc. are some prominent examples. Excel Industries started with manufacture of mercury-based seed dressing fungicides as well as rodenticides and fumigants. Gharda Chemicals is another research-oriented Indian agrochemical company which has contributed many firsts in the field of pesticides. The company won several awards at National and International levels for innovation and development. Some of the important products developed indigenously by Gharda are Isoproturon, Cypermethrin, Alphacypermethrin, Deltamethrin, Fenvalerate etc.

Hyderabad Chemicals and Insecticides India have forged collaboration with Japanese companies recently in the field of R&D and production.

Formulations Exports of formulations from India are growing krishijagran.com

steadily. India is exporting formulations to a large number of countries across all the continents. Indian companies have started giving a lot of emphasis on formulations R&D and have come up with novel single and combination formulations. They are also working on environment friendly and safer formulations.

Strengths Human Resources are one of the most important strengths of Indian companies. They have highly competent chemists, engineers and scientific manpower who are engaged in various activities related to manufacture, formulation, process development, quality control etc. They are quite capable of manufacturing good effective pesticides which have recently gone off-patent. Capability to develop cost effective high quality technical products and formulations is another strength. Strict quality control including “Total Quality Management (TQM)� is quite common with many Indian companies. Thus, the Indian companies are in a good position to benefit from the government's Make in India policy.

Lower cost of production of the Indian companies results in lower price to farmers. Many Indian companies have extensive distribution network ensuring availability to farmers all over country even in remote areas.

A very important function of most Indian companies are Farmers Extension Programmes like Training programmes for Farmers, Dealers, Farmers, Dealers, Agriculture Officers; Farmers' Meetings/ Seminars, Field Demonstrations, Field Days, Farmers' Festivals/Kisan Melas, Audio Visual units, Product literature/ Hand outs, Film shows/Slide shows, Press releases etc.

Another very common complaint by the NGOs is that many pesticides which are banned in other countries are used with impunity in India, and India is a dumping ground of discarded pesticides. This is a blatant lie. India has got a very stringent Registration system for pesticides, whereby extensive data on Safety (toxicology) as well as Chemistry, Bio-efficacy, Shelf life and Packaging have to be submitted by prospective registrants and these data are examined by the regulatory authorities before granting registration to any pesticides. Unfortunately, due to our democratic form of Government, these NGOs are able to ventilate their preposterous allegations through the Parliament. The consequences are often very unfavorable for the pesticide industry. For instance 72 (= 66 + 6) pesticides are currently under review, and there are possibilities that many of them may be banned or restricted thereby crippling the domestic pesticide industry and seriously affecting availability of pesticides to farmers.

Registration Policy

Despite many favourable conditions for a healthy and sustained growth of the pesticide industry, there are many major hurdles which are impeding the desired development of the indigenous industry. A few major hurdles are mentioned below.

Another serious hurdle for the growth of the Indian pesticide industry is that the regulatory / registration policy of pesticides in India is heavily tilted towards import of pesticides at the cost of indigenous manufacture. Instead of giving preference for manufacture of pesticides in the country, as is done in many countries, the Indian authorities rather tend to encourage import of pesticides. This policy is leading to progressive decimation of the indigenous manufacturing capacity and making the country more and more dependent on import particularly on countries like China where the quality of pesticides is often questionable.

NGOs

Illegal Import of Substandard Pesticides

Many NGOs, some of which are foreign-funded are vitiating the atmosphere against pesticides through relentless malicious and motivated tirade based on fabricated, fake and unsubstantiated half-truths impacting production and sale of pesticides and scaring away unsuspecting public.

This is another major concern of the domestic pesticide industry. Many unscrupulous parties resort to highly unfair means and deceits to import this kind of pesticides. Unless the Government and the industry are able to jointly devise some effective measures, this menace will be difficult to be eliminated. These illegally imported spurious pesticides are not only harming the domestic pesticide industry but are also subjecting the crops, the environment and the human beings to unknown dangers.

Major Hurdles in Indian Pesticide Industry

Much of their complaints are about the s0-called presence of pesticide residues in fruits, vegetables and agricultural commodities as a result of which they are claimed to pose safety concerns of the people. However, as I have already mentioned earlier, out of a total 113,744 samples analysed by Government Laboratories (All India krishijagran.com

Bio-pesticides Laced with Chemical Pesticides Many unscrupulous parties are selling biopesticides mixed with chemical pesticides in utter disregard AGRICULTURE WORLD | JUNE 2016

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Role of Pesticide Industry

Benefits offered

Network Project on Pesticide Residue, ICAR) only 2.06% of the samples had pesticide residues above MRL. Not only that but even the presence of pesticide residues above MRL does not necessarily mean that the produce is unsafe because there is a built-in safety factor of 100 in MRL values. Apart from plethora of media reports by environmental NGOs, Greenpeace had recently maligned the Indian Tea Industry by publishing by some unfounded atrocious residue data. They were challenged but could not substantiate their data.

Role of Pesticide Industry

Table 3: Pesticide residues in “Organic” Vegetable Samples National Level (2014-15)

of the Insecticides Act and the Insecticides Rules. Some bio-pesticides are often not sufficiently effective as standalone products but are integral part of IPM system. Mixing chemical pesticides enhances the efficacy of bio-pesticides and farmers are satisfied with their performance. However, needless to say that bio-pesticides laced with chemical pesticides are not only illegal but also are fraught with danger to human beings, animals and environment.

There is another flipside of bio-pesticides laced with chemical pesticides. Many of these products are used in organic farming as a result of which the so-called organic food, which should be totally free of pesticides, have more pesticides than crops grown under modern agriculture with application of pesticides. Analysis of 166 samples by Government Laboratories (AINPPR, ICAR) showed that 4.8% of organic vegetable samples had pesticide residue above

TABLE 4: Comparison of Pesticide Residues in Fruits & Vegetables in India and other countries Country

Year

Samples Analysed

Samples with Detection

Above MRL

India

2008-2015

60,432

9388(15.5%)

1460 (2.4%)

USA

2008-2013

6142

2742 (44.6%)

137 (2.2%)

UK

2008-2014

11738

7088 (60.4%)

394 (3.4%)

EU

2011-2013

54208

20255 (36.4%)

2714 (5.0%)

Source: All India Network Project on Pesticide Residues , ICAR MRL. In contrast to this, in a long term project, where 113,000 samples of non-organic fruits and vegetables were analyzed only 2.06% samples of fruits and vegetables and other crops had pesticide residue above MRL.

Correction of regulatory/registration policy by reorienting it more towards transparent, uncomplicated and fast registration of pesticides remains the crying need of the Indian pesticide industry.

Harmonious Growth of Pesticide Industry Sustained growth of the pesticide industry, i.e. manufacture, distribution, sale and use for pesticides in harmony with environment is a key factor for agricultural and rural prosperity and improvement in farmers' income.

As discussed in the previous sections, various steps in various spheres have to be taken to achieve this objective. These can be summarized as incentives to the Indian pesticide industry for following the “Make in India” policy leading to availability of quality pesticides at affordable prices to farmers and boosting export of technical as well as formulations. The situation for export is favourable at the moment due to decline in Chinese exports.

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Dr. J. C. Majumdar

Scientific Advisor, Crop Care Federation of India, New Delhi

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Piggery: An Easy Source of Animal Protein

Piggery

Introduction Pig production, among other species has a high potential to contribute to high economic gain and this is because of two reasons: first the pigs have high fecundity, high feed conversion efficiency, early maturing, short generation interval and relatively small space requirement.

Secondly, they are multipurpose animals providing about 40% of meat in the world market, cooking fats and bristles.

It is produced under a variety of production systems ranging from simple backyard pigs, pigs living on garbage belts to family operated farms or large scale integrated pig industries with sophisticated bio-safety measures. Pig rearing is one of the most important occupations of rural society especially the tribal masses of India. It has largely remained under nomadic system of rearing (scavenging) with the weaker sections of the society both as a source of income and a choice of meat for consumption. Cost of inputs and returns were not a serious concern in this system.

The demand for meat and meat products in India is increasing due to rapid urbanization, increasing economy level, change in life style and increase in the health awareness. Securing the food as well as nutritional security to the fast growing population is the biggest challenge faced by this country. The per capita per day availability of meat in India is only about 10 g as against the per capita requirement of 25-30 g meat per day. The present meat production is over 6 million tones as compared to world's 272 million tones. The gap between requirement and consumption is indicative of an urgent need for increasing meat production to meet the ever increasing internal demand of our huge population.

Piggery sector in India In India, pigs are widely distributed in all the ecoregions of the country and piggery is an important occupation of the rural society especially the tribal masses and ethnic groups. People of certain ethnic groups prefer to

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keep more pigs, especially black ones, for festivals and ceremonial purposes. Interestingly, these ethnic groups are mainly concentrated in the North-Eastern Region, where almost 40% of the country's total pig population exists. th According to 18 Livestock census records, India's pig population is about 10.29 million comprising desi, cross bred and exotic breed pigs like Yorkshire, Landrace, Duroc, Large Black and Hampshire and it constitute about 1.05% of world pig population. Among Indian states, Assam has the maximum number of pigs (1.63 million) succeeded by Uttar Pradesh (1.33 million), Jharkhand (0.96), Bihar (0.65) and West Bengal (0.65 million). (Livestock Census, 2012).

The share of pork to the total meat production in India is about 10% and has been almost static for last 15 years. Considering the poor status of pig production, eight bacon factories were established during the second and third five year plans and All India Coordinated Research Project on Pig (AICRP) was initiated during Forth Five year plan (1970-1971) with the main objective of studying the performance of pure breed pigs under existing management conditions. In spite of pig developmental programmes and establishment of bacon factories, pig farms have not yet been progressed to any considerable extend.

Strategies for development of piggery Result oriented interventions to improve pig krishijagran.com

highly heritable, selection of breeding stock can bring about considerable improvement. Our aim is to increase the frequency of desired genes in the stock, thus increasing superior germplasm in the base population at the expense of the undesired genes. Countries that have developed livestock industries, maintain special breeding flocks to supply superior germ plasm to commercial flocks. The exotic breeds of swine like Hampshire, Large White Yorkshire, Landrace and Duroc have shown a good performance under the local conditions and they can be raised on the basis of selective breeding. In case of free range rearing, attempts in grading up of the local nondescript with exotic can be a feasible approach. But there should be simultaneous improvement of feeding and management.

Conservation of indigenous germ plasm: Use of available indigenous breeds for low-income rural communities could be helpful because they require low inputs. Improvement of pigs through cross breeding should be done in commercial and large-scale farms, since most of them have capacity to provide continuous intensive inputs.

The genetic makeup of the pig will have the highest impact on its ability to grow muscle. Since the characteristics related to meat production (body weight gains, efficiency of feed conversion, and dressing percentage) are moderate to

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Efficient Breeding system: An entrepreneur need to give more importance to the productive and reproductive criteria viz. weight gain, feed efficiency and fertility rates and also selection of individual animals from a herd is more important than the selection of a particular breed. The primary traits of reproduction that are normally recorded for each litter size at birth, strength and vigour of litters, litter size at weaning, milking ability and temperament.

Sow with large number of survivable litter and which can attain marketable weight at an age of 8 months or less should be selected for breeding. Each producer at the time of setting up his herd should purchase his animals from a reliable disease free herd and should obtain as much information of the animals as possible. Once the herd is established the selection of the gilts and boars for replacement in the breeding herd should be based on the types and performance. Judicious culling and replacement of animals in a herd is necessary for economic viability of the farm. Optimal managemental conditions lead to two farrowings in a year. For every 10 -15 sows, one boar must be maintained for maximum fertility. The consumer desire for healthy pork products directed breeders to evolve designer pigs with lower back fat thickness and lower fat percent of retail carcass weight.

Right nutritional approaches: Nutrition is the single most important non-genetic factor which can influence animal production and the studies revealed that AGRICULTURE WORLD | JUNE 2016

35

Piggery

production could deliver significant livelihood benefits for tribal and other marginalized groups engaged in piggery.

Presently, the local feed resources define the scale of production of backyard enterprises and therefore, improved feed resources and feeding practices will be the key interventions to increase the productivity and profitability of small-scale backyard piggery. Educating farmers on breeding, feeding and health care management, modern husbandry practices together with knowledge on zoonotic diseases and market-oriented production systems will help in producing good quality pork from healthy pigs, which can fetch better price.

Therefore, it is the high time to develop client-oriented, needs-based extension programs using participatory methods that address how to improve production with limited household resources, could maintain their pigs in good health and to breed productive crosses.

Production of improved germ plasm: In order to ensure profitable pig production, we need to have a breed, which must produce fast and efficient growing young ones.

The bulk of the pig population in India is indigenous type with low growth rate and productivity. However, these breeds are very well adapted to harsh climate, poor nutrition and tropical diseases. A sizeable population is non-descript due to indiscriminate breeding and intermixing of breeds. Low productivity of these animals is due to poor exploitation of genetic potential, little stress on selection of animals used for breeding and frequent intermixing takes place among breeds.

Piggery

even genes are expressed in the presence of optimum nutrition. Pigs, being mono-gastric animals, are able to transfer nutrients and feed additives directly to muscle and tissue. The animal industry has been aware of the need for better nutritional intake of the animal to maximize lean growth. Feed with specified amino acid ratio and not just by total protein content is essential to maximize muscle development. However, the availability of feeds and fodder is not commensurate with their requirements. A gigantic gap of about 44% concentrate, and 36% each of green fodder and dry roughages exists between the demand and supply of animal feed resources in the country.

There is, thus, a clear and sound need to look beyond the traditional feed resources available to alleviate the demand for animal feeds. Development of feeding strategies based on cheap feed stuffs locally available such as leaf meals, grain by-products, oil cakes and root tubers like cassava which are not extensively used presently is must for low income communities. Exploitation of non conventional feed resources viz., waste from kitchen/hotel/cold storage in replacing the balance rations will help in minimize the cost of production. Improving the digestibility of feed has a direct effect on feed requirement. Therefore, it is necessary to solve the feed problem before the farmer can be convinced that he should not let his pig roam around.

Setting up pig villages/ nucleus herd: Communitybased systems need to be developed and private-sector investments encouraged to better meet the unsatisfied demand for improved breeding stock and quality piglets.

The possibility of introducing artificial insemination in sows and a need-based training program designed for smallholders on the care and management of breeding stock should be explored by R&D agencies. In this regard, as an initiative measure, National Research Centre on Pig, Guwahati has launched 'Mega seed project' in 2008 with the aim to incorporate highly prolific germplasm under field condition and distribute the improved germplasm to the farmers from the nucleus herd.

Setting up hygienic yet affordable pig slaughter houses and retail meat shops: Even though pork and pork products are acceptable to a section of population, they are not finding widespread acceptance since, the existing production, processing and marketing conditions are very unsatisfactory. Meat spoils and become unacceptable for human consumption in a matter of hours particularly in hot, unhygienic condition and there exists no routine pre- or post-mortem inspection of slaughter pigs because of inadequate manpower and physical resources and the absence of physical infrastructure for slaughtering and selling of pork. This position has deterred many elite pork consumers from eating pork. Addressing these deficiencies in public health measures through a risk assessment along the production-to-consumption value chain, establishing required infrastructure and inspection (manpower and

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Niang Megha (Meghalaya local) sow

physical resources) facilities and training all the stakeholders in meat hygiene and food safety are the need of the hour for wholesome meat production. In order to address this long standing problem, National Research Centre on Pig, Guwahati has designed a model retail pork shop suited to rural Indian conditions and submitted the same to National Meat and Poultry Processing Board for consideration to spread them across the country.

Augmenting value addition in processed pork products: Less than 2% of total meat is processed into products for trade in India as compared to more than 60 % in developed countries. Hence, there is lots of scope exists in the pork processing and value addition sector. A trend is observed that apart from poor and a section of elite urban people, the middle class people are also gradually developing taste for pork and pork products. Pork quality is an important consideration in the processing of pork to meet consumer requirement with sustained demand.

Tenderness, juiciness, colour, aroma and flavor are the important palatability factors that determine acceptability of pork products. Desirable quality pork has a firm, dry surface with a pinkish red colour. Careful selection of raw material, proper handling, hygiene, suitable equipments are essential for making good quality meat products.

Indigenous pork processing technologies need to be refined/standardized and validated. In order to refine, standardize and popularize technologies to process different pork products with local taste, Ministry of Food Processing Industries has recently provided funding to National Research Centre on Pig to carry out research activities in this field.

Disseminating cheaper housing patterns and scientific management practices: Housing for the herd should be designed in such a way to give maximum comfort to pig, so that their growth is optimum. Dampness, draft and overheating should not be allowed to occur.

Dissemination of simple, relevantly designed pig houses affordable for poor rural population, i.e. cheap houses featured by ample sanitation, good ventilation and hygiene conditions to control parasites and pathogens affecting pigs is a major intervention in the production of wholesome meat production. Periodical deworming and timely vaccination must be planned to protect the animals from common diseases. Feeding of the sows during pregnancy is krishijagran.com

most important for increase in litter size. A good grower ration fed to sows and gilts seven to ten days before breeding helps in increased ovulation rates in them. After breeding sows and gilts should be fed a limited but well balanced ration until the last six weeks of pregnancy and then full feeding should be resumed. Pigs should be vaccinated against swine fever at the age of 2-4 weeks and breeding pigs should be tested for brucellosis and leptospirosis. As a routine measure, all young pigs at the time of weaning should be inoculated against swine fever.

Anemia can be prevented and cured by supplying iron either orally or by injection. Animals purchased for the farm should be purchased from disease free herds. Newly purchased animals should be quarantined for a period of three to four weeks.

Presently the institute is engaged in all aspects of basic and strategic research on pigs besides trying its level best to bring overall development in the piggery sector of the country. In addition, this institute coordinate the activities of the following centres viz. 1) All India Coordinated Research Projects on Pig (viz. Assam Agricultural University, Khanapara; Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi; Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences

Piggery

Promoting intensive and integrated pig farming: Raising pigs as a subsidiary farm activity in mud lots with minimum shelter to utilize garbage and leftover grains to produce meat for family use should move towards intensive system of production involving good breeding stocks and better nutritional input to produce marketable pork products. The intensive swine production system is economically viable in areas with shortage of land to grow feeds and in large cities because of availability of industrial by-products. Integration of pig farming with other livestock and crop will result in full utilization of the inputs viz. feed, land, manpower, capital etc. Integrated farming can play a role in increasing employment opportunities, nutrition and income of rural populations and has received considerable attention in recent years.

international Airport has already formulated and implemented the prestigious 'Mega seed project' in 2008.

This project is mostly aimed at boosting of pig production in the North-Eastern region. It is focused on production of better quality germplasm as per the need of the farmer by incorporation of highly prolific germplasm under field condition and distribute the improved germplasm to the farmers from the nucleus herd. Further, the Institute is a) providing training on low-cost production technology, modern husbandry practices together with knowledge on zoonotic diseases in order to produce good quality pork from healthy pigs, which can fetch better price and b) emphasis on developing 'pig villages' in specific selected areas.

Ensuring micro credit facilities: Lack of working capital is a recurring constraint among pig farmers and traders. Pork and piglet traders mostly depended on local money-lenders to run their business. The government-sponsored Swaranjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) schemes extend credit to Self Help Groups (SHGs) but not to individual members. Hence, more effective schemes for availing credit are required. Extension of micro-credit through NGOs may be a viable alternative. In the same way, insurance coverage for the pigs of small-scale producers may be possible by SHGs through the Group Insurance Schemes of insurance companies will ensure an effective, farmer-oriented extension service.

Boosting of piggery sector in India- Action plan unveiled ICAR-National Research Centre on Pig, the Nodal Agency in India under the auspices of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, is located at Rani, which is about 10 km away from Guwahati krishijagran.com

AGRICULTURE WORLD | JUNE 2016

37

Piggery

University, Mannuthy; Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Science University, Kattupakkam; Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University, Tirupati; Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar; ICAR Research Complex for GOA, Old Goa; Central Agricultural University, Aizwal, Mizoram; Nagaland University, Medziphema; Central Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Island; Central Agricultural University, Imphal, Manipur; ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Barapani, Shillong; ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Tripura Centre, Agartala, Tripura and Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Dudhnoi, Goalpara, Assam), 2) Mega Seed Projects on Pig (located at Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi; College of Veterinary Science, AAU, Khanapara; ICAR RC NEH, Nagaland Centre, Medziphema; Directorate of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Aizwal, Mizoram; Animal Resource Development Department, Govt. of Tripura, A g a r t a l a , Tr i p u r a ; C h h a t t i s g a r h K a m d h e n u Vishwavidyalaya, Durg, Chhattisgarh; K e r a l a Veterinary and Animal Science University, Pookode, Kerala and State Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh) and 3) Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK-Goalpara), each of which has separate activity with the ultimate aim of developing sustainable technology or packages or practices that can be transferred to the end users i.e. pig farmers.

In addition to the above steps, to bridge the gap between production and consumption and to combat the production performance of indigenous pigs of the region, the Institute has undertaken the following steps: a)

An extensive crossbreeding program has been undertaken using Ghungroo and Niang-Megha as indigenous and Hampshire and Duroc as exotic breeds to develop a suitable crossbred combination.

This programme could impart positive heterosis in the F1 crosses with promising results for production and reproduction parameters. The terminal triple cross evolved using these breeds with optimum inheritance from each breed has high potential for growth rate.

b)

In order to tackle the problem of non-availability of breeding boar, ICAR-NRC on Pig has standardized the procedures for training boars, semen collection, extension in GEPS extender and preservation at 1315oC for successful AI in the field level with more than 65% conception rate.

c)

In order to address the problem of inadequate availability of quality feed at affordable cost, the Institute is undertaking research programmes for partial replacement of concentrate feed with unconventional seasonal feed ingredients for viable pig farming.

d)

38

The Institute is keen to provide consultancy and AGRICULTURE WORLD | JUNE 2016

trainings (routine basis as well as on request) to the far mers on scientific pig production and management practices and market-oriented production systems to impart knowledge about improved management practices. e)

The institute has a state-of-art R&D pig slaughter house cum pork processing plant with 10 pigs per day throughput capacity which is equipped with all essential equipments required to ensure hygienic slaughter operations. The unit also has secondary processing section for processing of different value added pork products. This centre is a unique facility in the public funded research system and is acting as a platform for training students as well as entrepreneurs. The technologies developed by the unit has already commercialized through publicprivate-partnerships.

Conclusion Piggery sector is still in the developing stage in India with most of our small sized indigenous pigs with lower fecundity, slower growth rate and poor pork quality.

Innovative community-based systems need to be developed and private-sector investments encouraged for supplying improved breeding stock and quality weaners. Efforts shall be put to identify and utilize the crop residues and agro industrial by-products for compounding feedlot rations and supplementary concentrate mixtures is must for resource poor communities. Feed compounding mills capable of incorporating crop residues, tree leaves and natural vegetation in the feed mixtures should be set up in the rural areas. Considerable efforts shall also be put to educate the farmers and to encourage them to adopt new technologies especially for breeding and health care to produce quality pork on commercial lines. Further, there exists need to establish and strengthen the marketing mechanisms at the local level to terminal market and the production program integrated with slaughterhouses to ensure better sustainability. Establishing required infrastructure and inspection facilities and training all the stakeholders in meat hygiene and food safety will ensure wholesome meat production. Standardizing indigenous pork processing technologies and refining of western style pork products to suite Indian consumer's taste would further increase the demand for pork products.

Dilip Kumar Sarma and R. Thomas ICAR-National Research Centre on Pig, Indian Council of Agricultural Research Rani, Guwahati- 781 131, Assam.

1

2

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Banana and Insecticide Free Brinjal

B

rinjal a native of India and is the most commonly grown popular and principal vegetable crop in our country after Potato. It is grown throughout the year in most parts of the country except at higher altitudes. It is a perennial crop in Chhattisgarh and Orissa as the people in those areas are fond of it. However the crop is destroyed by insects even up to 50 per cent.

To control the insect pest in brinjal a PhD student of entomology from Indira Gandhi Agriculture University, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, under the guidance of VK Dubey have researched and found out a control measure to save the crop from the common insect known as Brinjal Fruit and shoot borer. The medicine is nothing but a powder made out of dried banana leaves. This powder is sprinkled from time to time on the crop to control the insect on brinjal.

He also informed us fruit and shoot borer is a moth species in the genus Leucinodes. It bores into the young fruits by making holes and feeding from within thereby making the fruits unfit for consumption. The larvae may also bore into tender shoots causing wilt and dieback of terminals of branches. To control this insect the farmer can either use costly insecticides which are also really harmful for human health or the powder made out of dried banana leaves.

News

They further informed us that to reduce this type of insect attack on crops, nine other types of experiments are being carried out in the university. Although the powder-containing banana leaves was proved to be most effective. Those plants where the powder was used showed very favourable results. There are still ongoing experiments on this particular technology to make it more refined before introducing it the market for farmers. If the dried banana leaf comes true, it will be like a blessing to our farmers.

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Published on 25th & Posted on 27th - 28th of Every Month

RNI No.-DELENG/2015/65174

Postal Reg. No. DL-SW-1/4191/16-18