Agritech India NEWSPAPER - February 2013

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February & March 2013

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Indian Seed Congress 2013

CCFI Conference Report

Pawar presses for introduction of Seeds Bill

Doubling Food Production in 5 Years is Imperative: Pranab Mukherjee. Union Minister for Agriculture, Sharad Pawar and Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Shrikant Kumar Jena also graced the occasion among other industry stalwarts, scientists and policy makers. Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia delivered the key note address. The proceedings of the first day included a panel discussion on the role of key stakeholders in increasing food production, innovation in agriculture and extension work.

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t the inaugural session of twoday Indian Seed Congress 2013, that took place in Gurgao, from 8 to 9 February, Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar emphasised on improved coordination between public and private sectors, and Union Minister of State for Agriculture Tariq Anwar advocated better technology adoption.

“Lack of coordination between the Public and Private Sectors is impeding the growth of Indian Agriculture Sector,” Pawar said at the inaugural session of the Indian Seed Congress 2013, organized by the National Seed Association of India (NSAI). He reiterated that the pending New Seeds Bill must be discussed and passed in the upcoming session of the Parliament to resolve these issues.

“Despite various policy bottlenecks impeding the agricultural sector, the seed industry has significantly contributed to Indian agriculture,” he added. To address challenges faced by the seed industry, the minister proposed to undertake joint deliberations of all stakeholders including the Private and Public Sector, Agriculture Universities and research institutions.

Sharad Pawar & Tariq Anwar along with office bearers of NSAI light the lamp at the inauguration of 4th Edition of the Indian Seed Congress 2013

“A strong framework is necessary to resolve various policy and extension challenges impeding the agricultural sector. There is also a need to develop new technologies to address climatic challenges like drought and monsoons,” he said while addressing the 4th edition of the Indian Seed Congress.

Adoption of latest technology Tariq Anwar lauded the contribution of the seed industry, and said, “Indian Agriculture sector has benefitted immensely from technology in seeds. By 2030, India will have a population of 1.5 billion people when it will overtake China to ...Continued on P8

Farm Mechanization must to meet 280 MT grain target: Pawar U

nion Minister of Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Sharad Pawar recently informed Members of Parliament that in order to attain the projected demand of 280 million tonnes of food grains by the year 2020-21, farm power availability in the country has to be scaled up to at least 2.0 Kw/ha by the end of XIIth Plan. For achieving this, farm mechanization has to be given primacy.

The Minister while speaking at the Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting on Farm Mechanization said that “Indian agriculture is dominated by small and marginal farmers, with small landholdings and weak economic status, which renders single ownership of many high-value agricultural machinery and equipments such as tractors economically unviable. He further added that “though we are

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Interview of D.S. Balachandra Babu, President, AMMA

witnessing considerable progress in farm mechanization, its spread across the length and breadth of our country still remains uneven. Our farm power availability is much lower as compared to many other countries such as Korea, Japan and USA.” He added, “Agriculture Ministry is already promoting farm ...Continued on P6

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IMD to Help Farmers Get Higher Prices

.. Dr L.S. Rathore, DG, IMD

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rop Care Federation of India (CCFI), to address the critical issues of food security, agricultural sustainability and policies for food crisis alleviation, hosted the conference on ‘Doubling food production in five years’. The underlying premise of this three day conclusive convention focused on reviewing current state of Indian agriculture, innovations, sustainable food policies and the effectual balance required for protection of ecology and environment while ensuring profitable agriculture for the farmer and a hunger free India and world. The conference took place from 1-3 February, 2013, at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

Today a number of government initiatives exist for the benefit of the sector including Centrally Sponsored Scheme on National Food Security Mission to enhance production, National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) focuses on problems of the rainfed areas, schemes of debt waiver for small and marginal farmers and debt relief for other farmers and Agricultural Technology Management Agencies (ATMAs) set up in 565 districts. Nevertheless there exists a clear need for coordinated action to even meet the food grain requirement of the proposed National Security bill.

The conference was inaugurated

by President of India, Pranab

Four-Pronged Strategy Inaugurating the conference Pranab Mukherjee, said “Food deprivation should not be allowed to continue in India and was hopeful of early passage of the proposed Food Bill. Food production deserves high priority in our policy formulation.

Today, agriculture which supports the livelihood of more than 50% of the population lags behind other sectors with GDP contribution declining from 23% to 15% by the 11th Five year plan. According to a study, 1% growth in agriculture sector is 2-3 times more effective in reducing poverty than similar growth in any other sector. Union Budget 2010 had defined a four pronged strategy to alleviate agriculture, and be an effective agent for change in rural ...Continued on P9

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News

AgriTech India February & March 2013

Icrisat decodes genome sequence of chana

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Indian tea delegation to visit Pak in August

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(from right) Rajeev K. Varshney, Director, CEG, Icrisat; William D. Dar, Director-General, Icrisat, and Ashish Bahuguna, Agriculture Secretary, addressing a press conference in New Delhi

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n a major breakthrough, a team of global scientists led by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) have decoded the genome sequence of chickpea or chana.

The genome sequencing would help plant breeders develop newer varieties that can yield more and are drought and disease tolerant. The development assumes significance as India is the largest producer, consumer and importer of chickpea.

“It will be a boon to small farmers as genome sequencing will play a crucial role in accelerating the development of new and improved varieties,” said William Dar, DirectorGeneral, ICRISAT. Genome sequencing could help raise the yield potential to about 2 tonnes per hectare from the current 1 t per ha, he said.

About 49 scientists from 23 organisations in 10 countries, including the Indian Council of Agriculture Research, collaborated in the genome analysis. The Hyderabad-based ICRISAT led the International Chickpea Genome Sequencing Consortium that sequenced 90 chikpea genomes.

The University of California-Davis, BGIShenzen and research partners in countries such as Canada, Australia and Germany collaborated in the genome analysis.

An estimated 28,269 genes of chickpea were identified during the project that last for more than two years, said Rajeev Varshney, leader of the chickpea genome sequencing consortium.

Varshney said the sequencing would help reduce the time to breed new chick pea varieties as plant breeders would now have access to genes with the required traits.

Currently, it takes four to eight years to breed a new chickpea variety.

“Chick pea is mainly grown by small and marginal farmers. Any breakthrough in research through new varieties would help farmers realise better incomes,” said Ashish Bahuguna, Agriculture Secretary.

Chickpea is the second largest pulse crop in the world, grown in about 11.5 million hectares.

The highly nutritious crop is grown mostly by poor farmers and in dry areas. Besides India, chana is also is grown in a number of African countries including Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya. It is also an important component of the pulse industry in Australia, Canada and the US.

Jain Irrigation faces Rs 31-cr loss in the Dec quarter

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ain Irrigation has reported a loss of Rs 31 crore in the December quarter against a profit of Rs 1 crore in the same period last year. The loss was largely because of a slowdown in the micro-irrigation business and a forex loss of Rs 57 crore. Net sales were down eight per cent at Rs 750 crore (Rs 816 crore).

Earning before interest, depreciation and tax amortisation for the quarter was down 27 per cent at Rs 138 crore (Rs 190 crore).

Finance cost was marginally higher at Rs 95 crore (Rs 93 crore). The company has been slowing down in the micro-irrigation area as part of its strategy to improve cash-flow by mitigating the risk of government subsidy receivables.

Anil Jain, Managing Director, Jain Irrigation, said this has been another challenging quarter, given the erratic monsoon, liquidity concerns and high input costs. “Overall gross receivables

Tea gardens in Barak Valley seek transport subsidy

Govt may allow export of 5 Million Tonnes more wheat Exports Sources said the Food Ministry had circulated a note for inter-ministerial discussions on allowing exports of an additional 5 mt for which the Union Cabinet is expected to set the price.

The Government has, so far, allowed exports of 4.5 mt from the Central pool stocks mainly by State-run trading corporations.

The State entities, such as PEC, STC and MMTC, have tendered about 2.5 mt so far and have actually shipped out 1.6 mt.

Private trade, which largely sources from the open market, has exported about 2 million tonnes. Total wheat exports from India since October 2011 till date stand at around 3.6 mt.

AP to set up panel on exclusive farm budget

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he Andhra Pradesh Government will appoint a coordination committee to finalise the proposal to go for the exclusive budget for the agricultural sector. The Finance Minister has agreed to carve out a separate budget for the primary sector. But we need to distinguish allocations for this sector and other allied sectors,” the official said.

The Ministers, Principal Secretaries and Commissioners of these sectors are expected to be members of the committee, which will discuss the nitty-gritty of the upcoming Budget.

“Though time is very short for preparation of the budget, the Government has decided to go ahead with the separate budget for agriculture,” a top official of Agriculture Ministry said.

The Agriculture Budget is all set to address the issue of power shortage. It would comprise a Rs 100-crore pilot project to introduce solar pump sets in 3-4 districts. “The Chief Minister has okayed the proposal. The file is with the Finance Minister for his approval,” the official said. The cost of each pump set is expected to be around Rs 4-6 lakh. “The Agriculture Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana is very keen on this project as the agricultural sector is reeling under severe power crisis. Each set is expected to supply nine hours of power. This would augment the regular supply,” the official said.

were down by about Rs 500 crore in first nine months of the company’s operations. The operations of our NBFC Sustainable AgroCommercial Finance will help rebuild growth in the micro-irrigation business next year,” he said.

The company is receiving acceptance from dealers and farmers in Maharashtra of the changed business model and it will take this further in the current and future quarters, it said.

Jain Irrigation raised about $200 million (Rs 1,100 crore) through equity, foreign currency convertible bonds and external commercial borrowing. The funds will be used to repay short-term loans, for capital expenditure and investments in affiliate NBFC and overseas subsidiaries by March. This will result in substantial interest saving in the first quarter next fiscal, it said. With an order book of Rs 891 crore, the company looks forward to a better performance in the fourth quarter.

ea Board of India is proposing to take out a delegation to Pakistan by August as part of its efforts to boost exports. “Pakistan is a thrust market for our tea. We had recently revised the five ‘thrust destinations’ of the US, Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran and Egypt by replacing Egypt with Pakistan,” Tea Board’s Director of Tea Promotion for West Asia and North Africa (WANA), V. George Jenner, said.

He has now taken over the promotion of Indian tea in Pakistan and Afghanistan besides WANA. Tea Board’s Dubai office will do the groundwork.

“By August, we propose to take out a delegation of Indian tea trade to Pakistan. In the last couple of years, we have been facing problems in tea shipments to Egypt. India’s tea exports to Egypt dropped to 5.23 million kg (mkg) worth Rs 42.13 crore in 2010-11 from 5.76 mkg worth Rs 55.78 crore in 2009-10.

Data for 2011-12 are awaited but we are working hard to reach 10-12 mkg in the near future. That would be the level reached in 200809. Meanwhile, we have shifted our thrust on Pakistan,” Jenner disclosed.

“Impacted by internal political problems in the Gulf, India’s overall tea shipment to WANA fell to 57.61 mkg worth Rs 831.69 crore in 2010-11 from 68.39 mkg worth Rs 944.13 crore in 2009-10.

On the contrary, in this period, shipment to Pakistan increased to 22.08 mkg worth Rs 132.63 crore from a mere 8.31 mkg worth Rs 78.89 crore”, he noted.

The thrust on Pakistan means much to Nilgiri tea exporters because Pakistan is a strong purchaser at Coonoor Tea Trade Association’s auctions. It has been picking up select grades in the range Rs 90-118 a kg.

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rivate trade may soon get access to the wheat stored in Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns for exports, as the Government plans to allow an additional shipment of 5 million tonnes (mt) soon.

The Government, the biggest wheat stockholder with an estimated 30.8 mt as on February 1, is under pressure to create storage space for fresh produce as the country looks forward to a bumper harvest for the third year in a row. As on January 1, the current central pool stocks were close to thrice the prescribed buffer and strategic reserves of 11.2 mt.

Bumper crop likely India has emerged as one of the largest exporters of wheat this year and the bulk of it has been shipped to Korea and Taiwan, as also to neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Yemen.

The country, which produced close to 94 mt last year, aided by a conducive climate, expects to harvest a similar crop in the current year as acreage is almost similar to that of last year.

However, the temperature during February and March would decide the crop size.

The Government, which hiked the minimum support price for wheat by Rs 65 a quintal to Rs 1,350, expects to buy about 42 mt in the rabi marketing season 2013-14.

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early 80 tea gardens located in the Barak Valley in Assam want the Assam Government to take up with the Union Government the issue of extension of transport subsidy under NEIIP (North East Industrial Incentive Plan) to the gardens located in the valley.

These gardens produce around 50 million kg annually, mostly CTC variety.

“The industries other than tea have benefited immensely from the transport subsidy granted to them under NEIIP scheme but not tea,” according to N.K. Bagla, Chairman of the Cachar Sub-Committee of Tea Association of India.

“This discrimination must end particularly to help Barak Valley tea that is already handicapped by location of the gardens in remote areas and low price realisation”.

Addressing the annual general meeting of the Cachar chapter of TAI at Silchar recently, he pointed out how transportation was proving to be major stumbling block for movement of inputs as well as made tea to auction centres and main markets outside the North-East.

Exports to Bangladesh The scope of export of Barak Valley teas to Bangladesh, Bagla felt, should be explored due to several reasons.

First, the demand for tea in Bangladesh was steadily rising; next the average price at $4/kg in Bangladesh was remunerative and finally, low shipment cost due to physical proximity of the market which can be accessed by road from Cachar areas.

It would be a major breakthrough if Bangladesh market opened up for Barak Valley teas which did not have any export market at present.

News

AgriTech India February & March 2013

Cheaper input cost pulls down poultry feed prices

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ower input cost pulled prices of poultry feed products down by Rs 20 for a 50 kg bag. Subhash Sharma, Financial Head, Sarvottam Poultry Feed Supply Centre Pvt Ltd, said that the cost of production has decreased marginally over the last couple of weeks.

On Wednesday soyameal went up by Rs

10 at Rs 2,830 a quintal; bajra at Rs 1,380 and maize at Rs 1,550. Di-calcium phosphate sold at Rs 35.50 a kg, rice bran oil at Rs 57 a kg and mustard de-oiled cake was at Rs 1,500.

After ruling flat for almost 20 days, prices of poultry feed products went down by Rs 20 for a 50 kg bag; broiler concentrates at Rs 1,780 while broiler starter mash was at Rs 1,420.

‘Layer concentrate 25 per cent’ sold at Rs 1,385; layer concentrate 35% at Rs 1,070; pre-lay mash at Rs 990 and broiler finisher at Rs 1,400.

Egg went up by 10 paisa and sold at Rs 3.22. Broiler went up by Rs 19 and quoted at Rs 97 a kg, while chicken sold Rs 10 up at Rs 32. Demand for broiler and chick has increased and chick prices are likely to increase further in near future, said market experts.

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Kerala faces poultry strike

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erala has declared a poultry hartal from February 7 as traders, dealers, vendors and eateries ‘chicken out’ blaming a price spiral. The implications are too large to miss.

Or consider this.

Kerala consumes 2.4 lakh tonnes of poultry meat every year. This alone makes for a market of Rs 3,360 crore in size. Internal production is just 90,000 tonnes, explaining the dependence on outside sources.

The market for eggs is estimated to be Rs 1,800 crore. Together, they make for a massive annual demand of Rs 5,400 crore. This is too big an opportunity for the private trade monopoly to lose sight of, much less concede.

Or, are suppliers from across the interState border leveraging this to engineer hike in prices? V. Sukumaran Nair, marketing manager of public sector Kerala State Poultry Development Corporation (Kepco), suspects this is the case.

But broiler producers in Tamil Nadu say they are increasing prices because of costlier raw material and also to compensate the losses that the industry suffered after the recent avian flu outbreak in Bangalore.

“With that bird flu incident, Kerala – our major market– imposed a temporary ban on the poultry products and export market too witnessed a setback. Hence, most of the farmers went for a supply cut – at least a 25 per cent cut in supply from last year. Kerala imposes service tax on chicken from Tamil Nadu, thus escalating the costs further,” said C.R. Selvakumar, DGMTamil Nadu, Venkateshwara Hatcheries.

Nair said that KFC and other eateries may now pick fresh birds from Kepco farms, till now open only to individual consumers.

To add to consumers woes, the Kerala Hotels and Restaurants Association (KHRA) has decided to drop chicken from its menu, citing exorbitant price as a reason. Prices of chicken supplied mainly from neighbouring Tamil Nadu has gone up to Rs 170 a kg from the average Rs 105-120 few weeks ago. Live chicken is now priced at Rs 115-120 a kg against Rs 70-80 a month ago, while dressed chicken is in the range of Rs 160-170.

Jose Mohan, General Secretary of KHRA, alleged that the prices were being manipulated by middlemen. As much as 80 per cent of the chicken brought to the State was consumed by hoteliers and caterers.

According to Balram S. Yadav, MD, Godrej Agrovet, chicken prices have gone up marginally to mitigate the loss that was incurred by farmers during July-December due to over production of poultry. Also considering the high cost of production the current prices are justified.

“Currently, the cost of product per bird at the farm level is about Rs 50-60, while the selling price is around Rs 60-70 in Maharashtra.

A live bird costs about Rs 80-90 a kg in the market while a dressed bird costs Rs 130-135.

Subba Raju, Zonal Chairman of NECC (National Egg Coordination Committee), said that in Andhra Pradesh to keep the cost of production in control, poultry farmers reduced capacity by 20 per cent. “We reduced it with self-discipline. We are getting a farm gate price of Rs 75-83 a kg (live). The break-even is put at Rs 60,” he said.

Feed costs account for one-third of the total production costs and currently a 75-kg bag of broiler feed is ruling at Rs 2,458 against Rs 1,805 in the same period the previous year, said Selvakumar. The cost of feed has gone up due to increase in prices of soyameal and corn, used in the feed. “Farmers had to sell poultry at a price 30 per cent below production. The hike will not impact the consumers,” Yadav said adding that the chicken consumption has been doubling every 6-7 years.

In 1999, the per capita chicken consumption was 1.2 kg which has increased to 4.2 kg in 2012. It is set to increase further, Yadav said and added that India is a protein-deficient market and chicken is a cheaper source of protein given the fact that the prices of pulses have soared.

“We are expecting annual price of Rs 110 a kg for consumers. There is no possibility of it coming down, with the cost of production hovering at Rs 90-95,” Raju said.

An executive of Venky’s, the fast food venture of Venkateswara Hatcheries, said that the demand was growing, particularly for the Just-in-a-Minute brand products.

The rise in prices will not affect institutional buyers such as McDonalds, KFC or other such quick services restaurants as they usually go for annual contract purchase agreement.

Asok Ram, CEO, SFC Plus, the Fried Chicken Restaurant in Kerala, said eatery was not directly affected by the local price hike in poultry. This is because it has a standard rate contract which is higher than existing rates.

SFC is directly sourcing from Coimbatore and is adhering to stringent norms to ensure quality of product.

P. Selvaraj, Zonal Chairman of NECCNamakkal, said that with seasonal uncertainties and austere months coming to an end, consumption will gain momentum in Tamil Nadu and other markets and will stay in the same level as the demand for animal protein is high during summer. This will offset any slack demand from Kerala.

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Interview / News

AgriTech India February & March 2013

What is the Use of Subsidy When States Charge VAT, says D.S. Balachandra Babu At a recently-held National Meet, the Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers’ Association (AMMA) members urged the Central and State Governments to exempt value added tax (VAT) and other taxes on agricultural machinery. they also asked the Governments to increase percentage of subsidy for hi-tech machines.

To know more, Agritech India contacted D.S. Balachandra Babu, President, amma, who is also MD OF farm implements (india) pvt. ltd. In a brief chat, he talks about the issues faced by the agriculture machinery manufacturers, and the possible solutions, among other things. Excerpts:

Chief Guest M.K. ShankaralingeGowda, IAS, Principal Secretary to Government of Karnataka, Department of Horticulture & Agriculture inaugurating the agricultural machinery exhibition.

Chief Guest M.K. Shankaralinge Gowda, IAS, Principal Secretary to Government of Karnataka, Department of Horticulture & Agriculture releasing the souvenir

Past president, AMMA-India Er. Baldev Singh, raising the concern of association

Chief Guest M.K. Shankaralinge Gowda, IAS, Principal Secretary to Government of Karnataka, Department of Horticulture & Agriculture addressing the delegates and accepting the demands raised by AMMA-India

Recently AMMA has urged the central and state governments to exempt VAT and other taxes on farm machinery. Being the President of this association, could you please elaborate your point of view on this matter?

The Central Govt. through its various Agricultural Machinery Promotion Programs gives subsidy to each state for their farmers to make adoption of machinery affordable for them. However, the states are charging various kinds of taxes such as Vat, Entry Tax and other levies thus making it expensive for the farmers.

We are demanding exemption of VAT and other taxes as this is counterproductive policy.

On one hand the Central Govt is allocating funds for subsidy to farmers to make machine cheaper so that poor farmers can adopt it and on the other hand states are generating their own revenues from that amount meant for farmers by charging VAT and other Taxes.

mechanization of farming operation of the farmers of the country, be it small, marginal, medium or big farmers. This is possible only through encouraging and strengthening the Entrepreneurship for different categories of farms or through village Cooperatives. These cooperatives/Entrepreneurs should be given bank loan at minimum possible interest rates may be 4-5% to buy the sets of machines for custom hiring. Even the agricultural machinery manufacturers are also encouraged to take up custom hiring services to help the farmers completing farm operations in time.

What is the overall scenario in agriculture/ horticulture machinery industry including tractor segment in India?

The overall scenario is good for Agricultural Mechanization including tractor and horticulture crops. In fact, there is huge potential for mechanization in horticulture crops. Farm machinery is growing at CAGR of 6% in last 5 years, and is projected to grow at this rate for at least next two decades.

Farm labour problem is a serious issue today in many states. This calls for increasing farm mechanization like what we see in countries such as China, Italy, Turkey, gulf region, etc. What do you think India should do to address this problem?

It is a blessing in disguise for farm machinery sector. India should go for complete

What do you think government should do to strengthen this industry and farm productivity?

There are certain issues which have been raised by AMMA-India at various platforms and brought to the notice of policy makers and concerned authorities. The main issue was inadequate Testing Centres for farm machinery as there were only 4 such Centres all over India. We are thankful to Govt. of India, as on request from AMMA-India, it has established 27 New Testing centres in addition to four earlier, at least one in every state. Some of these are not fully functional; however, the problem will be solved when all the testing centres become fully operation. Some the State Govts are not giving full support these centres, they be requested to support true spirit. Second biggest problem is mechanism of disbursement of subsidy by different states which is totally arbitrary. These mechanisms sometime become an obstacle for the promotion and adoption of farm machinery.

Govt. should have a uniform mechanism for timely disbursement of subsidy in all the

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Farm Mechanization must to meet 280 MT grain target: Pawar mechanization through various schemes and programmes. In order to lay special emphasis on farm mechanization and to bring more inclusiveness, we have proposed a dedicated Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization for the XIIth Plan. This not only includes the traditional components of testing and demonstration of agricultural machinery and subsidy on purchase but also includes- Custom Hiring facilities.”

The Union Minister said that the farmers have an enormous task of feeding millions of people. In past few years the farm sector has emerged as one of the most vibrant sectors of Indian economy. Today also, despite conditions, the country’s granaries are full and the food grain supply is completely assured.

In this regard he added that “demand of food grains is bound to increase rapidly. We have to continue to put more emphasis on enhancing agricultural production and productivity for

ensuring food and nutritional security of our nation.”

The Minister further said, “We have to ensure sustainable agricultural growth against the backdrop of limited availability of natural resources especially cultivable land. Increase in agricultural production would have to come mainly from enhancement in farm productivity in the existing cultivated area. This productivity increase, in turn, can be realized by increasing land and labour efficiency in agriculture through farm mechanization.”

The members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha who attended the meeting were: Shariefud-din Sharif, Dhruva Narayana Rangaswamy, M. Krishnaswamy, K. Sugumar, K.P. Dhanapalan, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Gobinda Chandra Naskar, Sardar Sher Singh Ghubaya, Kunvarjibhai Bavalia, Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, Smt. Renubala Pradhan and special invitee Smt. Santosh Chowdhary.

states. Subsidy distribution system should be transparent and farmers should have choice of purchasing machine from quality manufacturer who can give better service to him. Presently in some states, machines are procured by state agencies through tender process at L1 price. When machine doesn’t work in the field, farmer complains to State Govt and then Govt. to agricultural machinery manufacturers. This should be avoided.

In India, most of the farmers are small. In such a scenario, how should we go about in adopting machines suitable for fragmented landholdings?

Custom hiring is one solution, which is already taking a shape and is being used in many places in many states. In this, Custom Hiring Centre of Agricultural machinery is having a variety of agricultural machinery required for various operations in a field. If a small farmer needs tilling of his field, he just goes to the centre and hires the tractor and machine for required time. In this way a small farmer does not need to own an each and every machine. It is like hiring a taxi to travel a certain distance instead of buying a car. Also in this system, all the capital investment by a farmer for buying the machinery is saved and can be used for other inputs. This can be done through village level cooperative centres or individual entrepreneurship.

Countries like Italy, Turkey, China have penetrated Indian agri-machinery sector considerably. In this scenario, how is AMMAIndia helping manufacturers to contain the tough competition?

It is good for Indian Agriculture. However the prices of these machines are much higher than locally made Indian machines. If we look at the percentage of business of these countries, it is negligible in comparison with the total business volume except in case of Power Tillers which is cheaper in India as compared to local manufacturing. Centre Govt may consider giving incentives to local manufacturers of Power Tiller to compete with Chinese models.

Moreover, it is an open world market. Even our industry has opportunities to explore International markets especially Africa.

What are AMMA-India’s other issues, suggestions, and future plans?

We have already discussed many issues above. As far as the future plans are concerned, we would like to go by the mission statement of our association which says, “Our Association is committed to growth of Agricultural Machinery industry in such a way that it is able to assist the farmers in achieving sustainability and profitability through appropriate mechanization”. Also Association is helping manufacturers in getting information about various policies of Govt and in their endeavour to manufacture quality and low cost machines.

Perfect tool for sugarcane cultivation – G Kathiresan

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eriodical pruning of branches in fruit trees is important for getting a good yield. In crops like cotton, castor, sesame, the practice of nipping is essential for enhancing the number of branches.

Similarly in sugarcane, pruning of the mother shoot is an important practice to be followed by farmers.

Scarce Labour Though this practice is being advocated, many farmers are not following this due to labour scarcity.

But some of them use a sickle or other available farm tools to prune the main shoot.

Existing tools available today are not much popular because the user needs to bend down and hold the stem to prune the sugarcane.

While doing so the probabilities of injuring the hands due to presence of sharp spines on the stem or the serrated margin of the leaves pose a problem.

Practical Problem These make labourers slow down the operation. To address these practical problems the Planning and Monitoring department, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore has fabricated a tool.

Named cane seedling pruner, the device has two parts, one a handle and another hook with an internal knife.

The upper portion of the hook has a two inch length pipe to hold the handle stick.

A labourer can handle the tool with the help of the handle and place the main shoot in the inner portion of the knife. With just one pull, the stem can be pruned. Using this tool a person can cover an entire sugarcane field without bending his body.

Advantages According to Dr. G. Kathiresan, Director, Planning and Monitoring department the farmer can save the two thirds of money required for pruning, it is easy to use, aids growth of more tillers from the pruned cane seedlings, can be used to harvest fruits like papaya, drumstick, sapota and the like, by changing the length of the handle.

(G. Kathiresan is the Director, Planning & Monitoring, TNAU, Coimbatore)

Policy should promote India’s potential in global farm trade

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discussion paper from the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, Farm Trade: Tapping the Hidden Potential, deserves wide attention. It brings out the potential of India’s farm sector to become a generator of prosperity. India, today, is the world’s largest exporter of rice and buffalo meat. India has been a very major exporter of cotton also, until the government banned cotton exports. Rice exports had been banned till recently.

In fact, all agri commodities are subjected to an extremely uncertain trade policy. Yet, India’s share in global farm trade, at 2.1%, is higher than India’s share in global trade per se, 1.7%. Clearly, we need a major shift in our farm sector policies, and tap the sector’s potential to create prosperity. Poverty declines much faster when the sector in which most of the poor are engaged, agriculture, experiences fast growth than when fast growth in other sectors trickles down to the rural poor.

What has been holding farm sector growth back is the usual suspect: weak-kneed politics.

All policy focus is on muting the protests of vocal

urban consumers, who cry foul at the smallest sign of a rise in food prices. This surrender to blackmail has led to a choppy, uncertain policy on farm trade, swinging between outright bans to export incentives. This must change.

Subsidy keeps farm inputs artificially cheap, bloats the fiscal deficit and exaggerates export competitiveness. Exports take off. Prices tend to rise and then the government slams the brakes on. Buyers lose faith in Indian suppliers and switch to new ones. When the negative consequences of the export ban manifest themselves, for example, as 80 million tonnes of grain piling up in government stocks, policy opens an export window. India’s farmers need stable access to fully-priced inputs and global markets. Trade policy has to be stable, liberal and without bias towards either producers or consumers. As a corollary, farmers need functional commodity markets, which lack a statutory regulator, derivatives beyond futures and risk-takers with financial muscle. A stilted farm export policy and stunted commodity markets lower the pace of poverty reduction.

News

AgriTech India February & March 2013

EU promotes potato in a big way

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he potato has a 12,000-year-old history but an even brighter future as a crop that is set to replace rice as a staple in the Asian riceconsuming countries. It requires less amount of water compared to other basic food products, without compromising the nutrition value.

Potato, therefore, is increasingly being promoted, in the genetically modified organism-free European Union (EU), as the foremost solution for meeting the increased food demand for an estimated 6 billion world population by 2030.

Dutch researchers from the famous Wageningen University — dedicated to bio-based economy in food, feed and chemicals produced from renewable resources — told a visiting press delegation that if prepared in a healthy manner and consumed in the right proportion (balanced reduction of calories), consumers can benefit from the many nutrients and dietary fibres in the tuber.

The advantages of potato over other staples were discussed at the “Potato Potential Conference”, which was followed by a vibrant

food exposition organised by the Enterprise Europe Network and Food Valley that facilitated networking of global companies in the potato business. The EU’s focus is now on Eastern Europe and China for processed food markets. The visiting journalists were told that China is already moving towards experiments with replacing rice with potato.

The diverse advantage of potato — the fourth largest consumed food in the world after maize, rice and wheat — is emphasised by studies that have shown potato containing less calories than pasta, rice and bread. The tuber consumes about 30 per cent less water to grow than rice and is being projected as a crop that can contribute to weight loss “if prepared and consumed healthily.”

Researchers and scientists are working towards facilitating higher and sustainable crop yields per hectare that are free from disease and pests.

With an annual export of about eight million tonnes of certified seed potato, the tuber is not only a staple food for the Dutch, but a major contributor to the economy.

Netherlands, known for its success in water management, is the world’s third largest agriculture exporter, second biggest agri-food exporter and third largest potato exporter.

Quality standards The Dutch potato sector is constantly breeding, growing and selecting new varieties based on market demands. Simultaneously, processing companies (like Aviko) continuously experiment with the quality and flavour of their potato fries and how to get the best byproducts from wastes like potato

peels and starch-rich waste water.

The potato crop is normally hit by the most common late blight disease (caused by phytophthora infestans), scab, rhizoctonia, canker, blackleg, fusarium and viral diseases. All research at Wageningen is in partnership with private and multinational companies and, at the same time, with medical institutions so as to not lose sight of the nutritional and safety aspects in food products.

The EU has laid down stringent standards for member countries for seeds and seed potatoes to coordinate with the demand and supply. The visiting press team saw the high standards maintained by the Netherlands government at the NAK, the Dutch General Inspection Service for Agriculture Seeds and Seed Potatoes at Emmeloord. Technical Coordinator of Inspections Jaap Haak explained that every seed potato that comes out of a farm must have quality certification from the NAK. The Plant Protection Service of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, too, monitors the quality of seed potatoes, especially on phytosanitary issues of health, varietal purity and physiological conditions. Interestingly, the NAK has on its board representatives of farmers, breeders, propagators and traders in a set-up in which the farm sector formulates its own standards in line with international measures. The costs are shared by farmers and traders.

Mr. Haak said that only produce from fields free of nematodes are accepted for inspection. Farmers must also specify the sources of the seed, its variety and class.

Inspections are visual, in the labs as well as on-field. As the grower

prepares the lots for delivery, NAK inspectors visit the plot at least once a day to ensure that only the approved lots are being delivered.

Nieck’s Witte Under its Participatory Potato Breeding programme, the Wageningen University collaborates with farmers in producing required varieties. Niek Vos, an organic farmer-breeder, took 12 years to develop the Bionca variety, by crossing small South Holland potatoes with blightresistant potatoes from Mexico.

His is a white fleshy potato variety, resistant to late blight disease, and he sells it under his own brand name — Niek’s Witte (Nieck’s White).

“I turned to organic farming because when I was in conventional farming, my neighbours complained that the late blight afflicting their crop was coming from my field. I thought it was better to grow a variety that has no blight and now I have my own Niek’s Witte,” he said.

He also has an on-farm cold storage of 100 tonnes capacity.

He uses cow manure on his well-managed and clean farm and follows the good practice of keeping his 70-hectare field free after every two years to maintain soil health.

The organic potato is three to four times more expensive than the conventional one, but Vos believes this market is growing.

Vos has an India connection.

After finishing studies, his daughter Michiel travelled to Puducherry “to think out” what she wanted to do in life. She decided to return to Netherlands and join her father in growing potatoes — such is the power of the tuber in Netherlands.

Govt acts tough on imported DAP, complex fertiliser

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n a virtual clampdown on imports, the Government has stopped issuing fertiliser movement control orders on all imported di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and NPK complex nutrients from this month.

The move has been triggered by the huge unsold stocks of fertilisers lying both with companies and the distribution chain, following the recourse to large-scale imports undertaken this fiscal and poor offtake from farmers.

Quantitative curbs While the Government has freed the maximum retail prices chargeable by companies for all non-urea fertilisers, it, however, still regulates how much material is to be sold in different States. Accordingly, it also decides which company would sell how much quantity. These, in turn, are regulated under the Fertiliser (Movement Control) Order issued every month.

Without obtaining an order, a company cannot avail of the Government’s subsidy concession on the material that has been despatched by it. The order, moreover, is applicable on both fertilisers manufactured by the company and imported by it.

“For this month, orders have been issued only for the DAP and complexes being manufactured by the companies. No order is being issued for any new material that is being

imported. The imported material can only be kept in the ports and since no subsidy will be paid without a movement control order, nobody will import,” an industry source said.

According to him, the Department of Fertiliser has told all companies verbally that it will not issue any movement control orders, without giving in writing though.

Imports During April 2012 to January 2013, fertiliser makers have imported about 58 lakh tonnes (lt) of DAP and another 4 lt of complexes containing nitrogen, phosphorous, potash and sulphur in various proportions.

Indian Potash Ltd has been the single largest importer at 14.44 lt (all DAP), while the erstwhile KK Birla Group companies – Chambal Fertilisers, Zuari Industries and Paradeep Phosphates – together have brought in 15.5 lt of DAP and 1.04 lt of complexes.

The other major importers include Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Chemicals (3.60 lt DAP and 1.84 lt complexes), Mosaic India (4.14 lt DAP), Tata Chemicals (3.23 lt DAP), Gujarat State Fertilisers and Chemicals (3.07 lt DAP), Coromandel International (2.05 lt DAP), Krishak Bharat Co-operative (1.96 lt), the SPIC Group-controlled Greenstar Fertilisers (1.78 lt DAP and 18,700 tonnes complexes), Indo Gulf Fertilisers (1.78 lt DAP), and Indian Farmers

Fertiliser Cooperative (1.73 lt DAP).

Besides these, DCM Shriram Consolidated (80,000 tonnes DAP), Deepak Fertilisers (41,000 tonnes DAP) and KPR Fertilisers (35,000 tonnes DAP) have imported small quantities.

Inventories “With some 55 lt opening stocks of DAP and complexes likely on April 1, there is enough material to take care of the coming kharif season requirements. The Government does not want to incur unnecessary additional subsidy burden from fresh imported material.

That is probably why they are discouraging imports now,” the source said.

Rising prices The current unprecedented stock buildup has been due to the erratic monsoon rains that led to poor offtake by farmers. Besides, the prices of de-controlled non-urea prices shot up massively following the Government’s move to cut the nutrient-based subsidy rates on these.

Since Rabi 2011, retail prices of DAP have increased by almost a third, from about Rs 18,200 to Rs 24,000 a tonne, while similarly going up from Rs 12,000 to Rs 17,000 a tonne for MoP. The farm gate prices of single super phosphate has also soared from Rs 4,800 to Rs 7,800 and that of 10:26:26, a popular complex fertiliser, from Rs 16,000 to Rs 22,000 a tonne.

IMD to help farmers get higher prices

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ast kharif, guar prices had ballooned to as much as Rs 30,00035,000 a quintal, but a majority of the farmers did not get more than Rs 6,000 for the commodity. It was another season for the traders who had knocked off a major scoop of the price increase. How do we ensure that farmers get their due share in terms of commodity prices?

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is working on a solution involving linking of commodity market to agro-meteorological

information. “Developing a platform to link commodity market with agro-meteorological data is an effective way to ensure better prices to farmers and avoid the guar-kind of situation that we saw last season,” says Dr L.S. Rathore, IMD Director-General.

He explains how weatherman can help farmers in the commodity trading market.

“Commodity prices depend on demand and supply. Demand is essentially market information, controlled and provided by traders. Information on supplies, which is dependent on climatic condition, can be provided by us – essentially in the form of crop yield forecast. Once the two are linked, farmers will be better placed to demand better prices,” he told press persons recently.

The link is being developed at the ground,

State and national levels, involving different departments, including the Department of Space, National Crop Forecast Centre and the commodity exchanges. “It is at a very early stage, but it will eventually come,” Rathore said.

The IMD, on its part, is in the process of sharpening its crop yield forecast capabilities to make the data suitable to be linked with market information, which can be easily digested by the farmers.

As part of this, IMD is expanding its agromet advisory services, which provide agrometeorological information to farmers through, from the district to the block level. “We want to go to the block level, covering over 6,000 blocks.

This will require an investment of about Rs 100 crore,” he said.

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Fertiliser industry in favour of direct transfer of subsidy

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eiterating its demand for total decontrol, the fertiliser industry has renewed its pitch for direct transfer of subsidy by the Government to farmers. “The industry has no vested interest in subsidy. In fact, we have been requesting the Government to relieve the industry from this responsibility for the past few years,” said R.G. Rajan, Chairman, Fertiliser Association of India (FAI).

Rajan was responding to allegations of ‘misuse of subsidy’ and ‘windfall gains’ by fertiliser makers in a section of media.

Dismissing the allegations, Satish Chander, Director-General, FAI, said the fertiliser makers operated on very thin operating margins, when compared to any other solid bulk commodity such as steel or cement.

To substantiate, Chander said the industry had clocked a net profit of mere Rs 2,500 crore on a turnover of Rs 117,000 crore in 2011-12.

The turnover excluded the subsidy component on imported urea.

Fertiliser makers earned profit of a mere Rs 110 for each tonne of imported di-ammonium phosphate, while the profits are a mere Rs 94 a tonne on muriate of potash during 2012-13, he added.

Each tonne of imported DAP was priced at an average of $580 a tonne, while MOP was $490 . For the fertiliser maker, the total delivered cost for a tonne of DAP worked out to Rs 38,240, while it stood at Rs 31,106 a tonne for MOP, including charges such as handling costs, freight and insurance among others.

Against this, the subsidy offered by the Government for DAP stood at Rs 14,350/ tonne, thereby resulting in an effective price of Rs 24,000 for the farmers. Similarly, the subsidy offered by the Government for MOP stood at Rs 14,400, resulting in a price of Rs 16,800 for the farmers. “These figures clearly establish that there are hardly any margins for the industry,” Chandra said.

He further said the fertiliser subsidy for the year-ending March 31 is likely to overshoot the budgetary estimate by at least Rs 40,000 crore to cross Rs 1 lakh crore. The Government had made a provision of Rs 61,000 crore for fertiliser subsidy in the Union Budget 2012-13. He further said that fertiliser companies had not been paid the subsidy for the last eight months.

Govt to invest in space tech to help farmers

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he Government plans to invest more in leveraging space technology for meteorology and agriculture use over the next five years.

“The 12th Plan is going to invest more in space technology for meteorological and agricultural use to change the way in which the farmer can do farming and the Government can reach farmers,” said Abhijit Sen, Planning Commission member.

Speaking at an Assocham event, Sen stressed on the need for more investment in research and development. He called for better co-ordination between the Department of Space, Meteorological Department and Department of Agriculture in areas such as data collection among others.

He attributed the significant growth in agriculture over the past five years to the turnaround brought about by the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), introduced during the 11th Plan in 2007.

The agriculture growth rate has increased to 3.5 per cent, while it hovered between 2 and 2.5 per cent before 2005. Sen said the Planning Commission would soon add a public-private partnership (PPP) component to the RKVY to allow better and more decentralised decisionmaking.

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Pawar presses for introduction of Seeds Bill

be the most populous country. While India and China both have same acreage of arable land, China is way ahead of India due to massive adoption of technology. India needs to imbibe greater technology in agriculture to address productivity issues.”

Seed Industry’s contribution “The seed industry has contributed about 3.3% during the Eleventh Plan and is projected to contribute 4% in the current plan.” said Dr K.V. Subbarao, President of NSAI. He added, “Uniform operating mechanism will ensure policy uniformity and rules across different states, which is key to the growth of the Indian seed Industry. We are a dynamic, innovative, internationally competitive, research-based industry spending 5-15% of our annual budgets in producing high performance, high quality seeds and planting materials which benefit farmers and significantly contribute to the sustainable growth of Indian agriculture, thereby empowering millions of farmers.” He urged the government to accord tax breaks and incentives to the seed industry to make India globally competitive.

The Indian seed industry which today stands at 11,000 crores is estimated to clock Rs 15,000 crores by 2015 with an annual growth rate of 12% has been at the forefront to usher India into a new era of growth.

The two-day Congress saw a congregation of representatives from seed and allied industry, policy makers, developmental agencies, scientific community, farmers’ organizations and industry leaders from more than 15 countries. The 4th edition of this event is expected to raise and address many of the emerging concerns of the industry that need immediate attention. This event is therefore being watched with considerable interest by governments, farmer associations, industry and media across the world.

Wanting export boost The Rs 12,000-crore Indian seed industry wants the Government to facilitate exports to tap the Rs 2.5 lakh crore ($50 billion) global seed business. It also wants the Government to give Income-Tax exemption and create conducive environment to encourage investments into the seed sector.

“We can be a major supplier of commercial seeds to global markets having good ecosystem of seed production. At present, our share in the global seed business is less than one per cent. We need Government support in removing bottlenecks for exports and provide infrastructure,” Raju Kapoor, Executive Director of National Seed Association of India (NSAI), said, on the eve of the inaugural of the fourth edition of Indian Seed Congress.

Raju Kapoor said the US tops the list of seed business with a share of $12 billion, followed

by China with $9 billion, France with $3.5 billion and Brazil with $2.5 billion. The Indian industry is expected to cross the $3-billion mark by 2015.

Asking for measures to facilitate investments into the industry, he said the seed producers used to have IT exemptions till 2004.

“But it was withdrawn later. The total outgo from this count is less than Rs 200 crore. But it means a lot for the producers,” he said.

He said there was a need to strengthen public-private partnership in order to improve agriculture productivity. The seed component was very small in the overall cost of cultivation but its contribution in the final outcome was very significant.

The theme for this year’s Seed Congress was ‘Seeds of change – enabling evergreen revolution’. “It discussed the Centre-State stewardship of seed sector, regulations versus controls, contribution of the seed sector,” N.K. Dadlani, Director, NSAI, said.

About NSAI NSAI is an association of close to 300 seed companies of India. The Mission of NSAI is to ‘Encourage investment in “State of the Art” R&D to bring to the Indian farmer superior genetics and technologies, which are high performing and adapted to a wide range of agro-climatic zones. It will actively contribute to the industry policy development, with the concerned governments, to ensure that policies and regulations create an enabling environment including public acceptance so that the industry is globally competitive.

India should review FTA to boost trade

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ndia should review Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) that it has entered into with ASEAN, Japan and Korea to boost farm exports, according to a discussion paper co-authored by CACP chief Ashok Gulati.

The paper, authored by three-members, also recommended the government to formulate “more stable” trade policy because the long term trends suggest that Indian agriculture is globally competitive and this potential can be tapped better so as to benefit the farming community.

“It is a pity that in the recent FTA type arrangements that India has entered into with the ASEAN, Japan and Korea, no effort has been made to stimulate agricultural trade flows,” said the paper.

Stressing that there is a scope to increase farm trade with East and South East Asian countries, the paper suggested the government to review the substantial exclusion of farm products from FTAs signed particularly with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Japan and Korea.

It is necessary to reach fresh agreements with these countries to reduce and even remove the impediments in the two way trade, it said.

The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) is a statutory body under the Agriculture Ministry which advises the government on price policy for major farm items.

Gulati said in the discussion paper: “One feature of all these agreements (FTAs) is that there are substantial exclusions of agriculture products from tariff liberalisation. India has excluded almost all the principal agricultural commodities that feature in international trade.”

There are minor differences in the agreements in respect of the excluded products.

In the agreement with the ASEAN countries some weak efforts have been made to stimulate trade in a few products such as palm oil, pepper and tea, he said.

Asia remains India’s major trading partner.

In terms of agri-trade, Asia and Africa have increased their share while there has been a decline in shares of America and Europe.

Agri-exports by India during the 2011-12 fiscal were more than USD 37 billion, as against an import of agri-commodities worth around USD 17 billion, it added.

Let’s green India’s agricultural economy – G. Chandrashekhar

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hat India faces the daunting challenge of feeding its large and growing population with rising purchasing power amid current low level of per capita food availability has by now become a clichéd statement.

With a population of over 120 crores (1.2 billion) expanding at about 1.5 per cent a year and, thereby, adding roughly 1.8 crore (18 million) mouths to be fed year after year, the demand for food can only keep rising. Even as food and nutrition security remains under stress, it is imperative that the poor are lifted out of their poverty soon. The vantage position of agriculture to deliver ‘growth with equity’ is by now well recognised.

At the same time, demands on resources are set to propel higher, driven by demographic pressure and emerging constraints in the availability of natural resources such as water and land. So, can we have a ‘Green economy’ that pursues growth while also promoting sustainable development through more efficient use of resources?

In a recent policy brief titled ‘Ensuring Food and Nutrition Security in a Green Economy ’, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), has pointed out that the objective of a green economy is to simultaneously work toward economic development, environmental protection and greater social welfare.

In particular, it can be achieved by reducing reliance on fossil fuel and non-renewable resources. Like many emerging economies, India is already facing the serious challenge of satisfying the basic needs of people - provision of adequate and nutritious food, water, energy and housing at affordable prices.

Food Prices Rise While population growth and rising incomes drive demand for food higher, rapidly changing food habits especially among the burgeoning middleclass are set to transform the composition of the traditional food basket.

Importantly, with supply growth trailing demand growth and production costs escalating, food prices will rise significantly. This is sure to have adverse consequences for the poor, whose food and nutrition intake already stands diluted. With higher incomes, the emerging middleclass can afford to consume more fruits and vegetables, and more meat which requires much more water and land to produce.

Food Safety Risks In addition, as people demand more perishable and processed foods, food safety risks along the supply chain increase. These risks may also increase with more intensive crop and livestock farming through contamination with chemicals or pathogens, the IFPRI report pointed out. Interestingly, while intensifying food production can boost the country’s food security and serve the poor, it can also cause land degradation, water pollution, depletion of water resources, and new pest problems.

Mono-Cropping Impact Under Indian conditions, the frontline States of Punjab and Haryana are classic examples

of how grain mono-cropping over long years has resulted in soil degradation and alarming decline in water table. Indeed, experts assert, an ecological disaster is waiting to happen.

The unintended consequences highlight the need for adequate agricultural extension, effective regulation, careful pricing policies, the correction of inappropriate incentives, and policy responses that make intensive agriculture compatible with sustainable management of natural resources and the environment, the policy brief has asserted.

This is significant for India in that our farm policies must discourage sustained mono-cropping of grains and encourage crop rotation, enforce water use efficiency by pricing it appropriately and more efficient nutrient use as also have a more rational, well-dispersed national procurement policy for fine cereals.

Pro-Poor, Agriculture Experts argue that agriculture in a green economy has immense potential to address the unsustainable use of natural resources for food production; and a strategy to develop a green economy can support poverty reduction as well as food and nutrition security, if it is both pro-poor and pro-agriculture because, in low-income countries, the agriculture sector employs almost two-thirds of the labour force and generates about a third of the gross domestic product. As for India, nearly 55 per cent of the population is said to be dependent directly or indirectly on agriculture and allied activities for a living and the contribution of this sector to GDP is about 16 per cent.

Smallholders represent the bulk of the poor and half of the world’s hungry; they also depend on natural resources and ecosystem service for their livelihoods; and so a sustainable management through a green economy is bound to directly benefit them, experts point out. According to IFPRI, an integrated approach to economic development, sustainable use of natural resources and food production will avoid solutions with adverse consequences for any one sector.

Triple-Win Situations In agriculture, such ‘triple-win’ situations can be achieved through practices that reduce negative environmental effects while increasing productivity and smallholder income.

Important technologies include plant breeding and slow-release fertilisers that increase nutrient-use efficiency, integrated soil fertility management, precision agriculture, integrated pest management, and further expansion of alternative wet and dry irrigation for rice production (particularly in Asia). For a green economy, there are additional factors to be considered. To fully reflect the value of natural resources and set appropriate incentives, the full cost of environmental degradation as well as all benefits of ecosystem services should be taken into account by decision makers. New indicators to evaluate cross-sectoral impacts - food and nutrition, agriculture and natural resources - are necessary. Multiple stakeholders, especially smallholders, consultations are critical. The transition to a green economy is an opportunity to reconcile economic needs with environmental concerns while promoting food and nutrition security for poor and vulnerable people in one coherent policy framework.

By giving agriculture a central role in the green economy and managing this transition effectively, the nation can accelerate its efforts directed at hunger eradication and lifting people out of poverty.

Is India heading towards farm labour crisis?

– Parakram Rautela, TNN

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aresh Talwar looks wistfully at his fields. A farmer for 40 years, his heart is no longer in his profession. “I used to employ 20 farmhands. Today, I make do with one permanent employee,” says the man who owns land at Khatima, Uttarakhand.

All across the Terai and elsewhere in the country, the same lament is being repeated.

Suddenly, farmhands have vanished.

The cause is two-fold. The rural poor find the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme more attractive than toiling on someone else’s fields; others prefer to work in the construction industry where they make more money. The problem has become so acute that

even the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in Delhi is unable to find workers for its fields. “When we want 60 man days of labour, we’re able to get only 30,” says an official.

With farmhands becoming a difficult commodity, farming practices around the country are changing. In Sahanpur in UP, R P N Singh, a farmer, has subcontracted his farmlands out to a local villager. The villager, in turn, puts his family to work on the land, thereby sidestepping the problem of having to find or to pay for labour.

But agricultural practices are changing because of other reasons as well. First, there is increasing demand for fruits and vegetables as

compared to rice and wheat. And secondly, a new generation of farmers wants to move on from traditional farming of rice, wheat, and sugarcane. In Abohar, Punjab, Ajay Vir Jakhar, who is chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj, a farmers’ organisation, is converting all his land to kinnow plantations. In Kichha in Uttarakhand, Karan Jung has built two warehouses on his farmland, which are rented out to companies that have set up base in a nearby SEZ. And Harsh Singh, who also owns farmland in Kichha, has begun to rear free-range cattle on his land, the milk from which would be used to produce cheese. While this “exodus from the land” is spearheaded by the medium and

big farmer, Malavika Dadlani, joint director (Research) at IARI, says even the small farmer has deserted his land. “In Bihar, more than 70% of small farmers are women. As the men go to the city to find work, they leave behind their women to till the land,” says Dadlani.

So, if nobody wishes to farm their land any longer, is Indian agriculture heading for a crisis? According to experts, the situation is serious. “Last season, Andhra Pradesh’s big farmers left their fields fallow because the money they were getting for their produce was not worth the effort they were putting in,” says Dadlani. “If that happens across the country, we really will be looking at a crisis situation.”

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Doubling Food Production in 5 Years is Imperative: Pranab

areas. I thank Sharad Pawar for his persistent efforts in this direction.”

Food Security Sharad Pawar said “Food security is a major concern for the nation. For enhancement of yields we must adopt modern methods of agriculture. We must also encourage pilot projects that evaluate the efficacy of these methods and technologies. GM crop is another important component in this process. Private and public investment in infrastructure should be encouraged and costs should be managed for long term sustainability.”

Commenting on importance of food security, R.D. Shroff, Chairman, CCFI, said, “With the world population expected to reach nearly 9 billion by 2050, food security at a global and national level needs to be a key priority. Not only is the numbers required to be fed increasing, climate change is also leading to a reduction in available arable land and water resources. This double impact needs proactive and urgent measures in collaborative brainstorming, policy and action across national and state governments, producers, technologists, environmentalists and the consumers. The goal of this conference is to source the best platforms for encompassing PPP Model On the importance of public-private partnership, Shrikant Kumar Jena said “Each state has its own requirement for agricultural inputs dependent on soil conditions, water resources and crop requirements. We therefore need a time bound process to transform recommended processes in to on the ground action. Public private partnership can be successful in helping double food production in five years.”

R.D. Shroff said, “Public private partnership has helped the country deliver record high in food grain production and even better result is expected this year. India could become the food basket of the world with the right inputs.

Private sector is playing an important role across a spectrum of collaborations including seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, finance, and infrastructure amongst others.”

Water Needs Minister of Water Resources, Harish Rawat, said, “Water needs are expanding across all sectors of society. Per capita availability of water in India is already low compared to other countries. Water storage capacity in India is also very short of requirement. The 12th Five year plan is targeting almost three times capacity enhancement of 11th Five year plan.

We are looking at increasing water efficient by 20% and technological inputs will play a key role in this process.”

The second day’s sessions included panel discussions on cooperation between government and regulatory authorities, role of seeds and GM crops in doubling food production, government policies & post harvest management, Agrochemicals and international experiences in agricultural productivity improvement. Some key panelists for the day comprise of Dr RB Singh, Dr Patrick Moore, Dr Ayyappan (DG ICAR), Dr. Mauricio Antonio Lopes (President, EMBRAPA, Brazil) and renowned economist and professor, Dr. Bibek Debroy (Center for Policy Research), to name a few.

The final day’s events include the valedictory function which was led by Sushma Swaraj, MP. This was followed by felicitations and remarks by renowned speakers from various institutions, thus culminating the conference.

Nadir Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Agrovet Ltd., delivered a poetic speech: At current rates it would seem That twenty years is what we need For one doubling to succeed In China though one does find The usage is twenty fold And what if we could be that bold?

Our yield would go even higher But to be a real high flyer We also need to multi crop Thirty percent is just a drop.

Why with three crops on all our land Our goal for growth would be in hand.”

Myths of Agrochemicals Agrochemical industry is being aggressively targeted by NGOs to the detriment of civilization. Potential threat of inadequate environment and food safety coupled with deemed poor efficacies of prescribed doses of pesticides are causing widespread disinformation.

At the conference, S Ganeshan, Advisor, CENTGRO said “There is need for a statuary body under the Section 51-A(H) of the Indian constitution to investigate scientific fraud. The Episode 8 of Aamir Khan hosted Satyamev Jayate program used mal-intended statements and spokespeople to spread mass disinformation. We have filed a case against him and the related organizations.”

“Pesticide usage is wrongly linked to cancer when Indian has one of the lowest cancer rates in the world. In fact Singapore which has no pesticide usage has one of the higher cancer rates in the world,” he added Dr Patrick Moore, Ex Green Peace International Director, said ”NGOs are aware that 5 million children go blind every year due to vitamin A deficiency, yet they block the use of golden rice. They are anti-civilization.

Organic farming being touted takes more land; needs more pesticides and is susceptible to soil erosion and river siltation. GM food is one of the most significant developments in the agriculture sector and the land under cultivation is constantly growing on demand by farmers.”

There is also widespread disservice by multi-agencies that recommend pesticide dosage to farmers. They do not follow and scientific study and nor do they adhere to the prescribed dosage mentioned on the labels by the manufacturers. This in turn leads to higher pesticide usage.

Maximum Residue Levels specified by the government to safe guard farmers and consumers are very stringent and all agrochemicals are well below these limits and thus pose no rick to health even when used in relatively higher dosages.

Learning from Argentina & Brazil On the 2nd day of the conference, the audience witnessed a session on agriculture productivity globally and how the same can be mirrored in India.

Speaking during the session Peter Kenmore, FAO Representative in India said “Food security is not an independent process, but an integrated one. This leads us to possible technologies in plant mechanizations which broadly involve crop sequences, water management and plant breeding. When it comes to fertilizers, lower levels of fertilizers use leads to nutrient mining and the key is to know how much amount of nitrogen should be used in the parts where it is needed most. A good example is Bangladesh which has tripled its yield in rice production over the last few years.”

Kenmore further added “Increase in productivity is going to come from interactions of two or more technologies, sometimes including new plant types. There is great potential significant investment in crop-management research, which is currently under funded. With enough investments innovations may arise at different times and in different places.”

Dr. Gustavo Grobocopatel, Grupo Los Grobo, said “Sustainable development agenda is needed to increase food production. Food security is a complex concept, and encompasses availability, affordability and safety. A major reason for Argetina’s agricultural revolution is massive adoption of technology.”

Irineo Rodrigues, President of Cotriguacu, Brazil highlighted “Brazil is a great example for an international experience in increasing agricultural productivity. We used the right mix of classical genetic mechanizations, agrochemicals and soil management. The indigenous association of farmers looks after the welfare of the entire community of farmers in Brazil, wherein they educate and assist in using biotechnology, legal patents and also using other economic frameworks.”

Underutilised sectors: Animal Husbandry & Allied Activities Doubling food production in five years can power the Indian economy to a new cycle of growth much as the mission to put man on moon powered and transformed the US.

However agriculture sector should not be seen from the myopic lens of food grain. Animal husbandry and allied activities are essential parts of this sector that power more than 50% of our population.

Dr. K M L Pathak (DDG, Animal Science, ICAR) said, “India has 11% of world’s livestock population and contributes 28.4% of Agri sector in India. India is already the highest global milk producer for many years. We are also the third largest producer of eggs. However to feed the food requirements of people and the commercial requirements we need to focus on indigenous breed improvisation by involving private partners.”

Dr. Damres de Castro Monte, Dy. Director Research, EMBRAPA, Brazil said, “Brazil has focussed on scientific based agriculture and this has seen our yields go up dramatically with the food basket prices going down for the consumers. We must however also look at nutritional security along with food security. Prosperity, people education and environment have to be managed in tandem for sustainable agriculture national and global requirements.”

Vijay Sardana (VP, Food Security & Agribusiness, UPL) said, “We must look at agriculture production doubling from the total multiplied impact in the Indian economy perspective food production. 5000 commercial products and more can be created from an agrioriented ecosystem. For example no company in India produces potato starch and thus are not harnessing the full commercial value of potato crop. The commercial markets available for India to capitalize on basis agri-products represent a gigantic opportunity and will require agri production to go up by more than 5 times.”

“We spend enormous amount of energy, resources, water, and subsidies on agriculture to commercially leverage only 5-10% of the final product. We need to utilize the remaining 90% of the agri production. This will also help the smallest of the farmers; financial data shows that the smallest farmers are the most in debt and we need to work with them for all around prosperity,” he added.

Dr. Pitam Chandra (Director, Central Institute of Agriculture Engineering (CIAE), Bhopal) said, “Mechanization of farming is under addressed in India. We need innovative custom hiring schemes as implemented by Madhya Pradesh government to transform farming and agriculture.”

Prof. K.C. Bansal (Director, NBPGR) said, “Key innovations needed in agriculture are heat tolerant wheat, photosynthetic efficient rice for low light, efficient partitioning of oil seeds, pod borer resistant pulses, virus resistant vegetables and fruits. Mix of technology and plant genetic resources will lead to sustainable increase in agriculture production.”

A holistic programme across food grain, live stock, allied activities, and commercial leverage will deliver widespread prosperity in conjunction with sustainable agriculture growth for a new economic reality of India.

Road Map for Doubling Food Production Speaking at the conference, Smt. Sushma Swaraj, MP (Leader of Opposition, Lok Sabha) said that this is possible and will be done in a shorter time frame, with focus from the entire polity. The process is a like a building a necklace, where every point has to be carefully given attention and then threaded in a strong string for the necklace to deliver the desired results. She clearly laid out the required agenda for the this doubling in less than five years with explicit examples where it has been more than achieved in NDA ruled states over the last 5 years.

“Madhya Pradesh had an agriculture growth rate of 2.50% in 2006-07 and in 201112 it has an agriculture growth rate of 18.96%, a nine times increase in growth in five years.

Gujarat has an agriculture growth rate of 7.06% today a seven times increase over 1.10% in 0607. Bihar has increased its rice yield per hectare by 1000kg to 2089 kg per hectare today. Wheat yield in MP has gone up by 800kg per hectare in the same period,” she said.

Smt. Swaraj laid out an eight point agenda for agriculture reforms to not just meet the target of doubling food production in five years but to make it happen in a shorter time frame.

1.

Availability of cultivable land. a) Saving the existing cultivable land from competing developments; SEZ, while an important part of economic growth should be discouraged from coming up on cultivable and productive land. b) Increasing the quantity of cultivable land with irrigation and other solutions C) Increasing yields in the land under cultivation by soil health care. Soil should be treated like the human body, its problems diagnosed and specific solutions (not mass) proposed. Madhya Pradesh in last 5 years increased cultivable land from 7 lakh hectares to 22 lakh hectares. Gujarat introduced drip irrigation and micro (sprinkler) irrigation in 4,73,000 hectares of land from the earlier 43,000 hectare in a period of 5 years. These are many fold increases.

2.

Availability of quality seeds will become a reality with the seed bill in the parliament. Karnataka has created seed and nutrient banks for its farmers to ensure that they get the highest possible yield for their efforts.

3.

Fertilizers have to be made available to farmers in required quantity and at the right time as per the requirements of local crop and conditions. In Karnataka the government is ensuring fertilizer availability as per the need of each taluka.

4.

Pesticides need to be made available according to local needs in the right dosage and in a timely manner. Here solutions like narrowcasting, introduced under Smt. Swaraj’s tenure as information and broadcasting minister, can play a critical role with agriculture programming specific to the needs of the nearby areas.

5.

Fair procurement price has to be provided to farmers for their crops to make agriculture a profitable venture. Minimum support price has to be adjusted to take in to account the increase in input prices. We cannot have situations of crop holiday as in Andhra Pradesh. Buying agencies should procure in time and in systematic manner with farmer centricity in mind.

6.

Storage is woefully short and outdated in the country. Nearly 66 million tonnes worth Rs 90,000 cr of the record 235 million tonne food grain production got destroyed. In addition our storage operates on a last in first out principal leading to the older stock rotting inside. For fruits we require cold chains; these in turn need infrastructure and power, which is chronically short in our country.

7.

New technology usage, R&D needs to be encouraged. Institutions like ICAR are playing a key role. It was a single man’s innovation that brought the apple revolution to Himachal Pradesh. Similarly anaar is being grown in Gujarat, helping raise the average income from Rs 18,000 per acre to Rs 92,000 per acre for the farmers.

8.

Replication of global best practices post adjustment for Indian realities. We need to examine why some countries are doing better than us and what can we learn from them. Can we at least close the gap in the yields if not better them?

R.D. Shroff, Chairman, CCFI, said, “Indian agriculture needs government attention to achieve target growth and social justice. No amount of investment in industries and cities will remove hunger from Indian villages.

Last two years we have witnessed very good growth in agriculture. Post this conference we now have the confidence that the target of doubling food production in five years is achievable. India can truly be the food basket of the world. Private sector is also playing an important role in all sectors of agriculture. In the states and locations where modern methodologies have been adopted, farmer incomes have gone up more than 10 times. Today one of the biggest impediments to agriculture sector growth is the self proclaimed environmentalists. We plan to move forward with facts based education and taking legal action against self centred NGOs. This conference and Smt Swaraj’s support gives us the complete confidence of achieving the food targets of India.”

With the world population expected to reach nearly 9 billion by 2050, food security at a global and national level needs to be a key priority. n

12

AgriTech India February & March 2013

News

Slug Caterpillar in Coconut: Inspection & Solution – S Vijay & J Diraviam

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mong several pests that infest coconut trees the coconut slug caterpillar is the most serious one especially in Karur district, Tamil Nadu. The caterpillar is greenish brown in colour with broad anterior and narrow posterior.

Adult moths It has tiny bunches of minute hairs all over the body. Fully grown larvae feed on the leaf blades. Larval period lasts for 25-45 days. It pupates inside a round white shell like cocoon attached to the leaves. Pupation stage lasts for a fortnight. Brown coloured adult moths with wings emerge from the cocoon.

Females are larger in size than males and deposit about 200 eggs in groups on leaves. The larvae feed by scraping the green leaf tissues.

This causes drying and holes start appearing on the dried portion subsequently. The attack is mostly restricted to tall trees. Affected leaf fronds show a burnt appearance and in case of severe attack the whole tree looks dry.

Management l Remove the affected leaves in the lower rows. l Spray dichlorvos at 2 ml/litre of water with a pedal pump/rocker sprayer/tractor mounted power operated pump and spray gun to

reach the tree top. l Apply monocrotophos (10 ml + 10ml) as root feed. l A waiting period of 45 days must be observed from insecticide application till harvest. l Monitor the pest occurrence in new areas with the help of light traps to attract moths. l Leaflets have to be observed for fresh incidence by cutting 1-2 leaf fronds in the garden.

(J. Diraviam is Programme Co-Ordinator and S. Vijay is specialist, Plant Protection, Saraswati Foundation for Rural Development & Training, Karur, Tamil Nadu)

Rice, wheat to drag foodgrain output by 3.5%

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oodgrain output in the current season is expected to cross 250 million tonnes (mt) for the second consecutive year despite a drought in several parts of the country.

However, it will be lower by 3.6 per cent over last year’s record high of 259.32 mt.

“We had produced a record 260 mt last year. According to 2 {+n} {+d} Advance Estimates, the foodgrain output has crossed 250 mt this year,” said the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar inaugurating the India Seed Congress, 2013 organised by the National Seed Association of India.

The high foodgrain output, despite drought in parts of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka, will be sufficient to meet the domestic demand, Pawar said.

Cereals output The 9 mt shortfall is mainly due to lower output of rice, wheat and coarse cereals though the production of pulses is expected to rise marginally to 17.58 mt over last year’s 17.09 mt.

The oilseed output is expected to decline marginally to 29.46 mt from 29.79 mt. Rice production is expected drop 3.33 per cent to 101.8 mt from last year’s record level of 105.31 mt.

The projected decline in rice output has already led to a flare up in prices of fine varieties mainly in the southern States.

The wheat is pegged lower at 92.30 mt, a 2.7 per cent decline from last year’s record 94.88 mt.

“There is no need to worry over the 9 mt drop in output as there are more than ample stocks. It is a blessing in disguise otherwise the foodgrain stocks would have touched 100 mt in July. The price increase witnessed in rice and wheat is due to the sub-optimal management of food economy,” said Ashok Gulati, Chairman, Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices, the crop advisory body.

Foodgrain stocks in the Central Pool stood at 66.19 mt as on February 1, more than twice the buffer and strategic requirement norm.

Wheat stocks were estimated at 30.8 mt and rice at 35.38 mt.

“In a bad monsoon year, the production of rice and wheat is on expected lines, but there has been no improvement in the output of oilseeds and pulses, where inflation is high,” said D.K. Joshi, Chief Economist, CRISIL. Interestingly, the Central Statistics Office (CSO), while forecasting a decade low GDP growth of 5 per cent for 2012-13 on Thursday, had estimated farm growth at 1.8 per cent for the year, lower than 3.6 per cent last year.

Cash crops Cash crops such as cotton and sugarcane are also expected to be lower than last year. Cotton production is pegged at 33.80 million bales of 170 kg each against last year’s 35.20 million bales.

Jute and mesta is down at 11.13 million bales of 180 kg each against 11.40 million bales.

Sugarcane is expected to be lower at 334.54 mt (361.04 mt).

Printed, Published and owned by Syed Mohammad Baqar Naqvi, printed at Sonu Printer, B-82, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-II, New Delhi 110020 and Published from A-44, 1st Floor, Freedom Fighter Enclave, Neb Sarai, New Delhi - 110068 (India). Editor : Syed Jafar Naqvi