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Yb 2018 PDF
Yb 2018 PDF
Yb 2018 PDF
Dear Readers,
It gives me immense pleasure to introduce to you the recent edition of the Ag-
riculture Today Year Book. The 11th edition is the result of hours of hard work,
months of preparation and dedicated efforts put together by a remarkable team.
The readers, our source of motivation, have also played their role in bringing out
the best in us.
Agriculture Today has emerged as a strong force in the Indian agricultural scene
for close to two decades. Faring the test of time, the magazine has earned the trust
of its readers over the years and has become the ideal platform to discuss and
debate topics of agricultural relevance.
Agriculture Today Year Book of 2018 features articles penned down by the some
of the brightest minds in Indian agriculture. These articles evolved from years of
experience are a powerhouse of knowledge for the stakeholders of agriculture.
The articles address the most contemporary as well as the most significant issues
faced by agriculture and carry glimpses of hope, and plans of action. The year book
2018, besides featuring some of the best articles written in agriculture strikes a
right balance with data, analysis and information.
I would like to thank all the eminent writers for their valuable contributions for the
Year Book 2018. Their timely and valuable contributions were critical in making
this year book a reality. I trust that the Year Book will serve as a useful guide and
reference to all those related to the agriculture sector, including government of-
ficials, policy makers, scientists, agribusiness companies, NGOs, institutions, agri
researchers, professionals, planners, students etc. Our best efforts have gone into
the creation of the Year Book. At the same time, we also believe that there is al-
ways room for improvement. I request all our esteemed readers to impart their
valuable support by sending in comments and suggestions.
I take this opportunity to express our gratitude to Prof. MS Swaminathan, Chairman
and all the members of the organizing committee of the 11th Global Agriculture
Leadership Summit 2018 for their valuable guidance. I am thankful to Dr. MJ Khan
for guiding us throughout the entire process of compilation. My colleagues specifi-
cally, Fariha Ahmed and Mr. Abdul Rehman deserve special mention whose untir-
ing efforts in compiling the Agriculture Year Book 2018 were exemplary.
Anjana Nair
GLOBAL AGRICULTURE Engagement and Multilateral Relations Division (GEM), International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD)
1. Global Food Production 8
10. Mergers and Acquisitions in the Global Seed Sector and
2. Geographic Distribution of Global Food Production 11
Their impact on Indian Seed Industry 42
3. Distribution of Global Animal Husbandry and Dairy
- Dr. Pramod K Agrawal, MD, Prasha Agri-Consultants Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi and
Products Production 13
Mr Lakshmi Narasimha, MD, Noble Seeds Private Limited, India
4. Zambia Agricultural Investment Opportunities 16
11. Agriculture and Animal Husbandry - A Source of
H.E. Ms. Judith Kangoma, Kapijimpanga, Hon’ble High Commissioner, High Inspiration for Artisans - Lithuania 46
Commission of the Republic of Zambia, New Delhi
H.E. Mr. Giedrius Surplys, Minister of Agriculture, Republic of Lithuania
5. Czech Republic: Reliable Partner with Considerable
12. Poland’s Agricultural Strength 48
Potential 20
- HE Adam Burakowski, Ambassador of Poland to India
- H.E. Milan Hovorka, Czech Ambassador to India
13. Agriculture Sector and Indian Economy 51
6. Serbia - The Leaders in Apple and Raspberry Production 24
14. Status of Food Security in India and in the World 54
- Vladimir Maric, Serbian Ambassador to India
15. Agri Credit Scenario in India 56
7. India – Brazil – Immense Scope for Agribusiness
Cooperation 28 16. Warehousing Scenario in India 58
- Blairo Maggi, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply, Government 17. Indian Agribusiness Export - Import Scenario 60
of Brazil
8. AVOCADO: The ‘Green Gold’ of Mexico 32 CROPS IN FOCUS
- Ambassador Melba Pria, Ambassador of Mexico to India, Embasssy of Mexico 13. Horticulture Sector Production in India 66
9. How the International Fund for Agricultural Development 14. Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) and the AYUSH
(IFAD) uses South-South and Triangular Cooperation in Sector in India 68
rural transformation to meet the sustainable development
15. Palm Oil for Food Applications 70
goals 36
- Dr. NagendranBalaSundram, Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), Mumbai and
- Ashwani K. Muthoo, Director; AmaBrandford-Arthur, Senior Technical
DrAinieHjKuntom, Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), Malaysia
Specialist/South-South and Triangular Cooperation Unit Coordinator and
Maurizio Navarra, South-South and Triangular Cooperation Specialist, Global 16. Future of Sugarcane Agriculture in India 74
- Bakshi Ram, Director, ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore
G
lobal production of
the important agri
commodities in the
last three years ex-
hibited more or less
the same level of production. Wheat
recorded 758 million tonnes in 2017-
18 which was a little above the pro-
duction of 752 million tonnes the
previous year. The global production
of wheat is projected at 736.3 million
tonnes for the current year, till August
2018. However, the global produc-
tion of total coarse grains witnessed a
marginal decline in 2017-18 at 1314.5
million tonnes from that of about 1370
million tonnes in the previous year.
Geographic
Distribution of
Global Food
Production
Asia has always been the leader in
production of cereals across the world.
The average total cereal production in
Asia was 1124 million tonnes during
2014 to 2016. It increased to 1150
million tonnes in 2017 and this year,
it has been forecasted to be 1147
million tonnes (Fig 10). The highest
growth in cereal production has been
stock scenario in case of maize re- cades. This has also caused a dent in registered in the South American re-
veals a different story though. While soybean prices as US tries to find new gion, growing at a CAGR of 3% from
the total global production of maize markets for its produce. The biggest 180 million tonnes (2014-2016 aver-
is showing fluctuating trends in the impact of this trade war has been on age) to197 million tonnes in 2018
recent past years, its trade and con- the farmers of Louisiana in US who (forecast). North America, Europe
sumption has shown upward trend, are forced to sell their crops at a very and Oceania regions witnessed fall
perhaps due to its increasing use in bio low price. The overall global trade in production with the steepest fall in
fuel production. At 151 million tonnes however has been on a slightly in- Oceania. The production of cereals in
in 2017-18, trade of maize increased creasing trend, as can be seen in Fig 9. Oceania witnessed a negative CAGR
from its previous year’s quantity of From 148 million tonnes in 2016-17, of 5%, decreasing from 42 million
138 million tonnes. This year till Au- it increased to 152 million tonnes in tonnes (2014-2016 average) to36 mil-
gust, the projected trade is 156 mil- 2017-18 and this year, it has project- lion tonnes in 2018 (forecast).
lion tonnes. Consumption increased ed to increase further to 154 million Among cereals, Asia is the highest
from 1045 million tonnes in 2016-17 tonnes. The consumption has been in- producer of wheat closely followed by
to 1078 million tonnes in 2017-18 and creasing too. However, the carryover Europe. The highest growth in wheat
this year, the consumption is projected stocks are showing a fluctuating trend, production is seen in the South Ameri-
to increase further to 1105 million
tonnes. However, the global stocks of
maize has been depleting constantly
in the recent years. From 330 million
tonnes in 2016-17, it dropped to 297
million tonnes in the following year
and is further projected to drop this
year to 256 million tonnes.
The global soybean trade and
the market for soybean in the recent
years have been witnessing interesting
twists and developments. Recently,
China had imposed tariffs against U.S.
soybeans and in the process heralded
a major trade shift for a crop that has
soared to prominence in recent de-
Z
H.E. Ms. Judith Kangoma
Kapijimpanga ambia is a Country centrally located be in excess of USD4 billion.
Hon’ble High Commissioner, in Southern Africa bordering Investing in Zambia’s agriculture sector
High Commission of the 8 Countries namely; Tanzania, is attractive because it is a gateway to
Republic of Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, three regional markets - Southern African
New Delhi
Botswana, Namibia, Angola and Development Community (SADC), Common
Congo D.R. Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
Though it is geographically landlocked, (COMESA) and East Africa Community (EAC).
Zambia is now landlinked because of the SADC alone has a population of 401 people,
massive investment in infrastructure such as EAC 153 million people and COMESA 582
roads. Zambia can easily be accessed from million people. These provide enough base for
India as it is only 6 hours from Dubai, 4 hours sell any agricultural produce or implement.
from Ethiopia, 2 hours 45 minutes from Kenya, 2 Since independence in 1964, Zambia
hours from South Africa, 2 hours from Tanzania has only known peace with a flourishing
and 45 minutes from Harare. democracy and strong legal frameworks
With only a population of 15 Million, that protect private sector investment.
Zambia is endowed with abundant land of 752 Zambia’s GDP growth rate is 3% as at 2016
614 kilometres squared. It should be noted that with inflation under a single digit of 7% as at
the Indian companies at present, constitute a 2016. Investing in Zambia’s agriculture sector
huge proportion of Zambia’s FDI estimated to is attractive because of a favourable business
T
he Czech Republic and India enjoy explained by the fact that it is being considered
H.E. Milan Hovorka
a thriving relationship in a number here as a primarily highly industrial, knowledge-
Czech Ambassador to India
of areas including trade, investment, based and technologically-advanced economy.
education, research, development And truly so! The Czech Republic finds place
and people to people contacts. They among countries with highest industry-to-GDP
are like minded on a number of international ratio which exceeds a 30 percent mark. It is the
issues and work together to find proper answers country which has gifted the world with so many
to key challenges of today’s increasingly industrial inventions and solutions.
globalized world. On its part, the agricultural sector accounts
There is, however, one area where the two for 2.5 percent of the Czech economy. However,
countries have not yet been able to find the way as in any other developed nation, the role of
to explore fully the existing potential despite all agriculture in the society is much higher than
the complementarities that exist between them. any quantifiable parameter may indicate.
It is the world of agriculture, farming and food It is also about multifunctional character
processing. of the agriculture, its efficiency, rural areas
Numbers speak for themselves. Nearly USD development, food security, increasingly popular
1.5 billion bilateral trade flew between the two organic farming, not to forget the quality of
friendly countries in 2017 in which agricultural products.
products accounted for mere 5 per cent. It is only The Czech Republic does not rank high
fair to say that Indian exporters are doing much among major world agricultural exporters.
better on one of the fastest growing markets in However, the country is world-wide known for
Europe compared to their Czech counterparts in a number of brand products and distinguishes
1.25 billion India. itself for high quality execution and impressive
The rationale behind not necessarily shining consumer satisfaction record.
performance of Czechia, which is a one-word The purpose of this article is to increase
name of the Czech Republic, in India and may be awareness of the potential of the Czech
D
ue to its geographical position, this type of agricultural production.
favorable agro-ecological and On the global level, Serbia ranks 12th in
climatic conditions, coupled the world based on the total land area (25,134
with the introduction of the hectares) under apple production.
Vladimir Maric latest technologies used in the Apple production in Serbia is expanding.
Serbian Ambassador to most developed countries, and a broadbase The average annual apple production is
India of fruit varieties that are competitive in foreign approximately 426,000 tonnes. More and more
markets,Serbia has become one of the leading advanced apple orchards are using modern
apple and raspberry producers in Europe. cultivation technologies, with irrigation and
The intensification and modernization anti-grid systems, to harvest apple varieties
of agricultural production, construction of that are competitive on foreign markets.
irrigation systems and investments in anti-hail New cultivation systems employing a greater
nets represent a winning strategy that has led concentration of seedlings per unit area have
to significant growth yields and excellent fruit led to an intensification of production and an
quality. increase in production volumes on smaller
With its high natural potential resulting land areas.
from the physical, chemical and biological The average apple yield in the last five years
properties of the land, the Republic of Serbia is has been approximately 17.3 t/ha. In newly-
also among countries where organic production developed high-intensity plantations that have
is successfully expanding. Recognizing the introduced compact seedlings, anti-hail nets
economic and export potential, the Serbian and new irrigation systems, yields range from
Ministry of Agriculture will focus its future 50 to 70 t/ha, depending on the apple variety.
activities on intensifying and strengthening Apples are one of the few fruit species where
A
s Brazil and India celebrate the bound to play a key role in the development of
70th anniversary of bilateral our countries and in the strengthening of our
relations, there are certainly many relationship. In both our countries, agriculture
Blairo Maggi reasons to celebrate. We have is a crucial part of our economies and essential
Minister of Agriculture, strong democratic institutions for providing income to a large share of the
Livestock and Food Suply, and increasingly active civil societies. Our population. It is also a field in which most of
Government of Brazil
countries have come a long way over the last today’s pressing challenges are at play.
seven decades in terms of socio economic Turmoil in global trade, the importance of
development, placing Brazil and India among food security, climate change and the quest for
the ten largest economies in the world. Wisely, sustainable development are only a few of the
we made sure the growth which transformed many difficulties we must face. In this context,
our economies, was coupled with significant it is important for Brazil and India to reflect
poverty reduction. We are also developing upon such challenges and harness bilateral
countries of great territorial and demographic cooperation to benefit from opportunities that
dimensions, with an extraordinary ethnic, lie ahead.
cultural and religious diversity. However, we It is our strong belief that Brazilian
have no intention of limiting ourselves to the agribusiness will play a major role in providing
appraisal of past achievements. food security and promoting sustainability
As we now look to take this successful and in agriculture worldwide. Brazil is currently
long lasting partnership further, agribusiness is one of the countries with the most effective
T
ake a glance at any restaurant
menu worldwide or any trending
Ambassador Melba Pria food website, and you will notice
Ambassador of Mexico to that the popularity of avocado
India, has skyrocketed. World imports
Embasssy of Mexico of avocado have increased worldwide at an
impressive rate of 172 per cent over the last
decade. People from California to New Zealand
have discovered avocadoes and cannot seem
to get enough of its creamy, delicious flavor.
Labeled as a ‘super-food’ for its nutritious
contents, avocado has managed to transcend
its ‘guacamole’ form and find a place in every
table, from breakfast to dessert,within all
kinds of cuisines. Avocadoes are rich in
monounsaturated, or “good”, fats. They contain
a lot of fiber and are rich in vitamins and
minerals, such as B-vitamins, vitamin K, vitamin
E, vitamin C, potassium and copper. One
avocado consists of 73% water, 15% fat, 8.5%
carbohydrates and 2% protein, and 100 grams in the United States, it is normal that fans
contain approximately 170 calories. consume around 100,000 tonnes of avocadoes.
Consumption has soared in the neighboring
Mexican avocado: a jewel country and keeps growing in the rest of the
from Mexico to the world world.
In Mexico, avocadoes are far from being a fad. Mexico is the indisputable world leader
The Persea americana has its origins in the in production and exports, and harvested
highlands of Eastern and Central Mexico and nearly 2 million tonnes of avocadoes in 2017.
had been a staple of the Pre-Hispanic cultures Today, 1 of every 3 avocadoes in the world is
for thousands of years. The first evidence of its Mexican. The national demand for avocadoes
use as food is from a cave in Tehuacan, Puebla, in Mexico is currently covered in 100 per cent,
dating back 7,000 to 8,000 years. Avocado has and there is still enough to export. The most
always been a sought-after crop in Mexico; important market for Mexican avocado is the
its leaves were used to fight parasites and for United States, but avocadoes are increasingly
natural healing preparations in ancient times, exported to China, the European Union, and
and they are still used as seasoning for hearty many other countries. Moreover, 91 per cent of
dishes. all avocadoes consumed by Americans come
Despite its long-standing history, avocado from Mexico; in Canada the share is 95 per cent
became popular outside of Mexico recently. In and in Japan 93 per cent.
1994, Mexico, the United States and Canada The export market for Mexican avocado
entered the North American Free Trade is growing and diversifying, thanks to the
Agreement (NAFTA) and shortly after that, quality of its product but also to the creative
the United States started lifting its ban on strategies adopted for its promotion. Recently,
the product. During the Super Bowl weekend the Mexican trade promotion agency, Pro
F
ollowing a large number of mergers considerable drop in cereal prices caused great
in the past few years, the global losses to farmers all over the world, especially
Dr. Pramod K Agrawal
MD, Prasha Agri-Consultants seed market is now represented by commercial growers in North and South
Pvt. Ltd. multinationals such as Monsanto, America. The price fall eventually affected
New Delhi DuPont, Syngenta, and Limagrain, the income of all seed companies. According
who have expanded their businesses all over to one report, since 2014, the growth in the
the world. Among them, Monsanto and DuPont, income of major seed companies has stopped,
took 20% and 15% of the world’s total seed even declining in 2015 and 2016. When organic
market share in 2014, ranking at 1 and 2. growth slows down, it can only be achieved
through inorganic growth. Hence, industry
Reasons for Mergers mergers occur for the sake of maintaining
The main reason for the mergers within the competitiveness.
Mr Lakshmi Narasimha seed industry was the continued depression in Since 2012, a sustained downturn in the
MD, Noble Seeds Private prices of global farm products. Figure 1 reveals world cereal market (Figure 1 and 2) and
Limited, India the downturn in the world cereal price index, the slow natural growth made it difficult to
since the record high it achieved in September maintain growth based on the existing market
2012, which was down by 45% in November size. The market slump continued in 2015 and
2016. With regard to specific crops, Figure 2 2016, compelling multinationals to look at
shows a 54.56% and 66.06% reduction in corn opportunities for collaboration.
and wheat prices, respectively, by November On December 11, 2015, the first merger was
2016, compared to their record high prices announced between Dow AgroSciences and
in 2012. The soybean price remained on the DuPont. Soon afterward, ChemChina announced
rise in the first half of this year, but started to its acquisition of Syngenta, and Bayer announced
dip in the second half, falling by 40.86% this the takeover of Monsanto. The global seed
November from its record high in 2012. The industry was thus redefined.
Industry
consolidation
involving large
numbers of seed
enterprises
In addition to the three super mergers,
the adverse market situation has hit
a large number of seed enterprises
worldwide, including the top 10.
Top 10 Companies as the market leader remained ● In February, Limagrain an-
before Mergers unshakable. In 2015, the sales of field nounced the acquisition of Gen-
By sorting through the financial crops of the company reached $9,627 ica Research Corporation (USA),
statements of most of the seed billion, backed by the superiority of which was expected to enhance
companies operating in 2015, the its genetically modified organisms its leading position in the US veg-
top 10 companies in terms of sales (GMOs). In the meantime, it also etable seed market. AgReliant Ge-
(Figure 3) have been identified. led in the vegetable seed business, netics, its joint venture with KWS
They include four US companies reaching sales worth $816 million. in the United States, announced
(Monsanto, DuPont, Land O’Lake, Presuming the three super this September the completion
and Dow AgroSciences), five mergers get approvals from their of the acquisition of a soybean
European companies (Syngenta, respective countries, great changes seed factory from Sand Seed Ser-
Bayer, Limagrain, KWS, and DLF) and are expected to take place in the vice, located in Marcus, Iowa. The
one Japanese company (Sakata). global seed industry structure. completed acquisition is expect-
Among them, Monsanto’s position According to Figure 4, a more ed to enhance the local soybean
corteva.com
Corteva AgriscienceTM
Agriculture Division of DowDuPont
TM
a trademark of DuPont.
L
Republic of Lithuania
ithuania is a Baltic country with a Lithuanian agriculture and food industry
history reaching back to ancient is one of the key economic sectors in the
times. We greet our guests not only country that has long traditions. Traditionally,
with spectacular landscapes, but Lithuania holds a strong position in the
also with amazing and unique works production of milk and meat products, with
of our artisans, the traditions of festivals, our a focus on organic production and farming,
culinary heritage, and the hospitality of people. national heritage. Milk production is one of
In Lithuania, agriculture and animal husbandry our country’s largest agricultural sectors and
have been not only a means of living, but also it accounts for about a fifth of all agricultural
a source of inspiration for artisans. Thus, in the production. In Lithuania, milk production has
world full of changes the nurturing of traditional been a traditional agricultural business since
crafts allowed our country to retain its
uniqueness and foster national consciousness.
Since ancient times, Lithuanians ate rye bread,
fresh, salt-cured and smoked meat, fresh and
sour milk products, drank barley beer, and
used linseed oil. Inhabitants of the seaside
and lakeside areas consumed more fish. The
interest in traditional and healthy food that
has increased in the recent years encouraged
restaurants and food producers to revive the
food preparing traditions.
A
griculture and allied activities have pro- l Share of livestock in total farm incomes which was just
vided a solid foundation to the Indian 4 per cent during the early 2000 has increased to 13 per
economy, especially in a year marked by cent currently.
shocks imparted by demonetisation and Percentage growth of GVA from the Agriculture, for-
the implementation of GST in the recent estry and fishing sector have been witnessing a fluctuating
time. trend in the recent years. The growth was 0.6% in 2015-
In the recent times, as the Indian economy continues 16 and increased to 6.3% in the following year before de-
its steadfast progress being the fastest growing economy clining again to 3.4% in 2017-18 (Fig 29). As a part of the
of the world, agriculture sector of the country is present- recent emphasis of the policy makers, the contribution of
ing some noteworthy fundamental changes vis-a-vis the women to agriculture and food production is gaining more
Indian economy. Contribution to the nation’s economy importance from the point of view of a sustainable devel-
by the primary sector is shown in Fig 28. The noteworthy
fundamental changes about the agriculture
sector can be viewed as follows:
l The share of livestock in GVA in
agriculture has been rising gradually, the
share of the crop sector in GVA has been
on the decline.
l Agriculture sector in India is undergoing
re-orientation in policies towards this
sector in terms of strengthening the
agricultural value chain.
l Focus on allied activities like dairying
and livestock development along
with gender-specific interventions is
increasingly gaining centre stage.
Current Status of
Minimum Support
Prices for Important
Agri Crops in India- A
Quick Look
Based on recommendations of the
Commission for Agricultural Costs
and Prices (CACP), Government every
year announces minimum support
prices (MSPs) for 23 crops every year.
This year, Government in its Union
Budget 2018-19 announced provision
of MSPs for crops at 1.5 times the cost
of production, which is 50% higher agencies to undertake procurement, market for agricultural commodities,
than the production costs incurred by in addition to the already announced e-NAM, the e-trading platform for
the farmers. In 2017-18, the National Rs.15,053 crore to be spent over a two- the National Agriculture Market was
Agricultural Cooperative Marketing year period. The other salient features launched in April 2016. Today, its
Federation of India said it bought 31.9 of PM-AASHA are: reach has expanded considerably and
lakh tonnes of pulses and oilseeds at l Price Deficiency Payment the platform now covers 585 markets
the MSP, benefiting 20 lakh farmers. Scheme: For pulses and copra, across 16 states and two Union Terri-
This accounted for about 6% of the Central agencies like the NAFED tories. Leveraging the ICT platform,
total production of pulses and oilseeds and the Food Corporation of India the scheme has immense potential to
during the year across the country. will procure the produce whenever transform the agricultural marketing
India produced about 240 lakh tonnes the market rates fall below MSP, structure and ushers in a new era of
of pulses and 300 lakh tonnes of up to a maximum limit of 25% of smoother inter-state movements, more
oilseedsduring 2017-18. the total harvest. Under the price efficient price discovery and removal
deficiency payment scheme, farm- of intermediaries. However, one can
Pradhan Mantri ers will sell their produce in the argue that the adoption process is
Annadata Aay market, and the government will still relatively slow and gradual with
Sanrakshan Abhiyan directly pay them the difference a majority of traders and farmers still
(PM-AASHA) between the MSP and the aver- continuing with the manual auctioning
On 12th September, 2018, Cabinet age market rate. The cash payment process. To give a fillip to the speed of
Committee on Economic Affairs gave will be deposited in their bank ac- adoption of eNAM across the country,
green signal to PM-AASHA scheme. counts recently the following measures have
This scheme clubs together an existing l Pilot Scheme for Procurement been undertaken:• simplifying regis-
procurement scheme with two newly by selected private procurement tration of farmers on the portal
introduced options meant for oilseeds agencies: Under this pilot scheme, l expanding payment options and
only. These two new options are ad- selected private procurement agen- addition of Unified Payment Inter-
ditional procurement by private trad- cies will procure the commodity at face through BHIM
ers or a cash payment scheme. This the MSP, instead of the govern- l extending e-NAM trading in six
scheme is aimed to enable farmers to ment. Maximum service charges different language (Hindi, Eng-
take advantage of the increased MSP up to 15% of the notified MSP will lish, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi
because in case the farmers are not be payable to the private agency. and Telugu) and making the web-
able to sell their produce, MSPs are of site readable in eight different lan-
no use. To enable this initiative, Cabi- e-NAM and its Growing guages (Hindi, English, Gujarati,
net approved an additional government Acceptance Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali
credit guarantee of Rs.16,550crore for In order to create a unified national and Odisha). n
I
ndia will witness a total utilization of cereals to
the tune of 238 million tonnes in 2018 with a
stock status of 40 million tonnes. The average uti-
lization of cereals in India from 2015 to 2017 was
233 million tonnes and the stock balance was 40
million tonnes. The forecast stock in 2019 is 241 million
tonnes. Per capita cereal consumption in India is about
147 kg per year.
In terms of monetary value, experts feel that India
currently has a stock of cereals worth Rs 50,000 crore,
over and above the stipulated buffer limits. Out of the
total cereals, the stock of wheat currently in India is
about 18 million tonnes. The coun- India currently has stock of 18 currently is about 1.5 million tonnes.
try consumed a total of 94.5 million million tonnes of wheat in the country Per capita consumption of maize in
tonnes of wheat as the average of and the total consumption in 2017-18 the country is about 7 kg/year.
2015 to 2017. Similarly in the coarse is estimated to be about 95 million The estimated utilization of rice
grains segment, India currently has tonnes. The consumption in 2018-19 in the country during 2017-18 is 97.5
an estimated stock of 2 million tonnes is forecast to increase to 96 million million tonnes. Utilization has in-
which is a marginal decline from 3 tonnes and the corresponding stock creased from the previous average uti-
million tonnes in the previous years’ status will be 21 million tonnes. The lization figure of 96.5 million tonnes
average. The total average utilization per capita wheat consumption in the from 2014-15 to 2016-17. The pro-
of coarse grains in India from 2015 country is 60 kg per year. jected utilization will further increase
to 2017 was 42 million tonnes which Similarly for maize, the total con- to 99 million tonnes this year. The cur-
increased to 44 million tonnes in the sumption was 26 million tonnes in rent stock status of rice in the country
current year. The per capita consump- 2017-18 which is forecast to remain is about 20 million tonnes and the per
tion of coarse grains in India is about the same in the current production year capita rice utilization is about 69 kg
19 kg per year. too. The stock status of maize in India per year. n
rice was about 205 lakh MT and wheat was 36 lakh tonnes while state agen-
was 386 lakh MT. 30.47 lakh MT of cies together made a procurement of
unmilled rice was also in the stock of 272 lakh tonnes of wheat. Highest
FCI till the end of September 2018. procurement of wheat during the RMS
For the stocks under FCI as on 1st in 2017-18 by the state agencies was
September, 2018, Northern region ac- in Punjab with a total procurement of
counted for 63% of the total stocks, 102.5 lakh tonnes.
while the Western region has 20.3% Total procurement of rice by FCI
of the stocks. The North East has a during the Kharif market season in
meagre share of 0.7%. 2017-18 was 382 lakh tonnes. Highest
Apart from storage and procure- procurement was done in Punjab with
ment of food grains, another important a total of 118 lakh tonnes. Andhra
activity of the organization is related of stocks are moved by rail to different Pradesh and Haryana witnessed a total
to the movement of food grains across parts of the country. procurement of 40 lakh tonnes each
the country. FCI undertakes move- The total procurement of wheat while Telengana contributed with a
ment of foodgrains in order to: by FCI during the kharif market sea- procurement of 36 lakh tonnes. Pro-
• Evacuate stocks from surplus re- son (KMS) in 2017-18 was 308 lakh curement is undertaken by state-run
gions tonnes. Highest procurement of 117 Food Corporation of India (FCI) and
• Meet the requirements of deficit lakh tonnes was done in Punjab, fol- state agencies for the central pool to
regions for NFSA/ TPDS and Oth- lowed by Haryana and M.P. as the sec- meet the requirement of food security
er Schemes ond and third states in terms of total law. Rice is purchased at the minimum
• Create buffer stocks in deficit re- procurement of wheat during the KMS support price (MSP).For the 2017-18
gions in 2017-18. The procurement in these crop season, the Government had
On an average 40 to 42 million two states was 74 lakh tonnes and 67 fixed paddy MSP of ‘common’ grade
tonnes of foodgrains are transported lakh tonnes respectively. For the rabi variety at Rs 1,550 per quintal, while
by FCI across the country in a year by market season (RMS) in 2017-18, the that of ‘A’ grade variety at Rs 1,590
rail, road and waterways.Around 85% total procurement of wheat by FCI per quintal. n
S
hare of agricultural exports in total exports of quantity of dairy products was to UAE in terms of values. In
the country was about 12.3 percent in 2016- 2017-18, India exported dairy products worth Rs. 2 billion.
17. This is a marginal decrease from the share The total quantity of the dairy products exported to UAE
in 2015-16 which was about 12.6%. In terms was 5.7 thousand tonnes. As seen in Fig 35, UAE, Egypt,
of figures, India’s agricultural exports were Bhutan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Singapore, Bangladesh, USA,
US$ 33.87 billion in 2016-17 while it was US$43.23 bil- Oman and Qatar are the top ten destinations for India to
lion during the previous year. The highest exported agri- export its dairy products. One can note that even though
culture commodity from India is Basmati rice. In 2017-18, the quantity of export to countries like Bhutan, Afghanistan
India exported about US$ 4.2 billion worth of Basmati rice and Nepal is almost equivalent to the quantity of products
(Fig 60). Closely followingin 2016-17 was buffalo meat sent to countries like UAE, Egypt etc., in terms of value,
which was exported to the tune of US$ 4 billion. About the trade receipt is lower in case of countries like Bhutan,
US$ 3.6 billion worth of non basmati rice was exported in Afghanistan, Nepal etc. This is because of the trade benefits
the same year. Thus if one sees, rice category constitutes that these countries enjoy apart from the possibility of im-
a whopping US$ 7.8 billion, which is about 23.5% of the porting low value dairy products.
total value of agri export from the country. The export scenario of the food processing sector as a
India’s exported 48039.4 MT of dairy products worth whole is unfortunately not that encouraging and a lot re-
US$ 185.49 million during the year 2017-18.The highest mains to be done to boost the sector. After witnessing a
I
ndia has witnessed record production of horticul- age of the previous five years. As seen in Fig 19, produc-
ture crops during 2017-18. Production of horticul- tion of fruits increased by 10% from 86.3 million tonnes in
ture crops like vegetables and fruits touched 275 2015-16 to 95 million tonnes in 2017-18. Plantation crops
million tonnes in 2017-18, about 1.5 % higher than recorded an increase of 15% from 15.6 million tonnes in
the previous year and about 7 % higher than aver- 2014-15 to 18 million tonnes in 2017-18.
This is the sixth consecutiveyear when India’s horticul-
ture sector production has exceeded food grains production.
This clearly showcases a structural change in Indian agri-
culture, where farmers are increasingly growing perishable
commercial crops due to a growing market and a quicker
cash flow. Horticulture crops require less time from sowing
to marketing when compared to other field crops or agri-
cultural crops.
However, what remains as a major point of concern for
the horticulture sector is the price volatility. Several times
I
ndia is a rich cradle of 15 agroclimatic zones har- large sized companies in the trade of herbal medicines and
bouring 17000-18000 species of flowering plants Patanjali is a striking example of the success story of herbal
of which 6000-7000 are estimated to have me- based companies. The use of herbal remedies has also been
dicinal usage. These plants have found use for widely embraced in many developed countries. Termed in
their medicinal properties in folk and indigenous these countries as Complementary and Alternative Medi-
population of the country along with documented systems cines (CAMs), herbal remedies are now becoming main-
of medicine, like Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoe- stream in the UK and the rest of Europe, as well as in North
opathy. America and Australia. Some of the important growth driv-
The use of medicinal plants in herbal medicinal prod- ers for medicinal plants sector in the recent times are:
ucts and supplements has increased tremendously over the l Scientific research based claims on the efficacy or ef-
past three decades with not less than 80% of people world- fectiveness of plant medicines
wide relying on them for some part of primary healthcare. l Preference of consumers for natural therapies and a
India has also seen increased use and awareness about greater interest in alternative medicines
medicinal plants. India has witnessed the emergence of l General belief that herbal products are superior to man-
S
ugarcane, the prime source of 68 t ha-1, against the theoretical maximum
sugar in India is cultivated in an cane yield of 375 t ha-1 and there exists a
Bakshi Ram area of 4.78 million hectares with a wide gap between the potential yield and the
Director production of 355 million tonnes. present yield of sugarcane. The reasons being
ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Sugar industry, the second largest continuation of old and degenerated varieties,
Institute
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu agro based industry in India sustains the use of inferior quality seeds over years, improper
livelihood of 12.34 million farmers and farm crop and ratoon management, dwindling water
workers. In India, sugarcane is cultivated all resources, poor soil health, high labour cost
over the country from latitude 80N to 330N, and non-availability of timely labour for doing
except cold hilly areas like Kashmir Valley, various cultural operations. Conventional
Himanchal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh. method of sugarcane planting requires 8 to 10
India by contributing 19.08% area and 18.10% tonnes of seed cane per hectare and this is the
production ranks second among sugarcane main reason for slow rate of seed replacement.
growing countries of the world in both area and Sugarcane being a long duration crop and
production of sugarcane. Sugar industry is also heavy biomass producer requires about 1500
emerging as a substantial source for meeting to 2500 mm water. The availability of water
a part of the ever increasing energy needs of is declining at a faster rate. The problem is
the country through the co-generation of further aggravated by the variability of rainfall
electricity and Ethanol, which are renewable influenced by climate change. So, unless
sources of energy. So, there is the opportunity sugarcane farmers are provided with options
in terms of growing demand for sugar and of high yields with much less water, India will
other by-products of sugarcane. The average find it difficult to meet its growing demand for
productivity of sugarcane in India is about sugar. Hence, there is a need to adopt water
Advantages
l Saving in power consumption
and irrigation labour cost is 58%
and 90%, respectively in the drip
irrigation method over furrow
irrigation. Intercropping
l About 50 per cent saving in water Adoption of wide rows would
by adopting drip system with an facilitate intercropping during the
increase in cane yield of 10 to 20 initial stages of sugarcane growth,
per cent can be achieved when which will generate intermittent
compared to furrow irrigation income to the sugarcane farmers.
method. Under wide rows, as the availability
T
M. G. Nayak
and Siddanna Savadi he cashew tree (Anacardium occi- the kernel pieces are used in confectionary. In
ICAR- Directorate of Cashew dentale L.) is an important export- recent times, oil extracted from kernels is also
Research, Puttur, Karnataka
oriented plantation crop support- gaining importance. Cashew apple is also edible
ing the livelihood of farmers and and it is processed into products like jam and
providing employment to rural jellies. The cashew juice after fermentation is
poor in India. Cashew is believed to be a na- used in the beverages production. Cashew nut
tive of Brazil, from where it has dispersed to shell liquid (CNSL) is the byproduct of cashew nut
different parts of the world primarily for soil processing industry and it is used in insulating
conservation, afforestation, and wasteland de- varnishes, brake linings, waterproofing of boats
velopment. Cashew was introduced to India by etc.
the Portuguese between 1563 and 1570 AD In the early 1920s, world cashew trade
primarily for soil conservation along the West started with the visit of representatives of the
coast, where fertile soil were lost due to erosion General Food Corporation to India. Gradually,
by heavy rainfall. Indian cashew export expanded to several
Currently, cashew cultivation has assumed European countries, particularly to the United
a great importance and commercially it ranks Kingdom and Netherlands. By 1941, the cashew
second to almond among the important tree kernels export by India had reached about
nuts in the world trade. The main economic 20,000 tonnes. Since then, the number of
product is the kernel, which is a rich source cashew producing countries across the world
of nutrients. The whole kernels are consumed has increased and new producers continue to
directly or after roasting and salting, whereas emerge resulting in expansion of world cashew
World production,
area, and
productivity
Currently, a total of 33 countries
in Asia, Africa, and Americas are
commercially cultivating cashew
over an area of 6.08 m ha. Among
these, Vietnam, Nigeria, India, Côte countries like the Philippines and
d’Ivoire, Philippines, Tanzania, Vietnam. India stands in 20th
Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, position with respect to the cashew
Benin, and Mozambique are productivity with 648 kg/ha. The
the major producers of cashew. highest productivity is achieved in
World production of cashew nuts S.E. Asian countries like Philippines
is increasing annually and it has and Vietnam.
reached 4.89 million tonnes in 2016.
Vietnam is the world leader in cashew Cashew trade and
production and has produced 1.22 with 1.56 m ha (26% of total) and increasing demand
m tonnes (25% of world production) India with 1.04 m ha are leading for cashew
followed by Nigeria with 0.96 m countries in the area under cashew Traditionally, India dominated the
tonnes (20% of world production) cultivation. However, due to poor international cashew trade and in
and India with 0.67 m tonnes (14% productivity, the production levels fact, it was the first country to set
of world production). Côte d’Ivoire are low compared to the emerging up processing industries dependent
on skilled labor. Till 2006, India
Area and production under cashew cultivation in was the world’s primary importer
the major cashew growing countries of the world
of raw nuts, as well as the primary
exporter of processed nuts mainly
to the USA and European countries.
Vietnam overtook India in cashew
kernel exports in 2006. Since
then, there has been a constant
increase in the export quantity
and earnings in Vietnam, whereas
in India it shows a declining trend
with a drastic reduction in export
quantity. Currently, the exporting
earnings in Vietnam from kernels is
I
ndia has come a long way in terms of adoption of However, when looked at the degree of farm mechani-
farm mechanization since the early years of inde- sation, expressed as a ratio of mechanical power to cultiva-
pendence. At the time of the green revolution in ble unit area, a very slow progress has been noticed during
the late sixties, 92% of the farm power was com- the last several decades. From 0.48 kW/ha in 1975-76, it
ing from animate sources. Thereafter, farm mecha- has increased to 1.84 kW/ha in 2013-14 and further to 2.02
nisation had received attention of policy makers and dur- kW/ha in 2016-17.
ing the current times, the situation has reversed with 90% In between 2015-16 and 2017-18, sale of tractors in In-
of the farm power coming from mechanical and electrical dia decreased from 627000 to 583000 in 2016-17 before
sources. witnessing an increased sale of 711000 in 2017-18 (Fig
73). Tractor sales recovered its momentum due to consecu-
tive years of healthy monsoons, still penetra-
tion of tractors in India is low (20 tractors per
1,000 hectares) whereas growing use of trac-
tors for non-agriculture use which is currently
at estimated at 20% of the total sales has been
observed. Because of non agricultural use of
tractors, the sales cannot be completely linked
to the aspect of farm mechanisation in India.
Power tillers on the other hand maintained a
relatively consistent market trend, hovering
between 46000 and 49000. The sales of pow-
er tillers in 2017-18 as shown in the figures
is an estimated figure from various industry
reports. n
How have we
approached this?
billions of bytes to provide weather, tools which can benefit farming. In order to deal with these
soil conditions etc. are becoming Digital is not only helping farmers, uncertainties that plague the
affordable. Now information being it is also throwing up new business Agriculture ecosystem, Rallis has
made available digitally about opportunities for companies. come up with a State of the art remote
weather, soil conditions and crop sensing based Crop monitoring
health is already helping farmers What are the problems system “DRISHTI” which provides
maximize their harvest yields. The for Indian Farmers? actionable insights with respect to
digital revolution is changing the The different issues that impact farming operations, thereby helping
way agriculture is to be done, with productivity for farmers in India are them to take informed decisions
technological advancement, digital l With a limited area covered under & improve their farm net incomes.
way of doing farming has become irrigation, farm sector is very Through DRISHTI we monitor 160
the most important for farmers heavily dependent on monsoon. million hectares of Indian agricultural
worldwide. Highly automated With climate change issues, the land on regular basis.
tractors and other equipment monsoon over the last few years Various technologies are
are already traversing our fields, have become more unreliable available to generate remote
collecting data about plant health, with issues on timing of sensing based information related
yields, soil composition and field monsoon, which refuses to stick to weather& crop like Aircraft, Drone,
topography. Drones and satellites are to schedules & is scanty in many and Satellite. Among these Best
likewise helping farmers work more areas while excess in others. available tools are Satellite based
efficiently by generating millions l Climate change, deforestation, agri – monitoring and forecasting
of relevant data points. Nowadays excessive use of fertilizers, erratic system. Satellite technology allows
satellite imaging allows us to analyze use of pesticides – these have coverage of thousands of kilometers
a single patch of land at a resolution made the productive capability in few minutes and it is also less
of just 30 centimeters. The ability to of soil go down costly than other options. With the
analyze highly accurate data from l Small land holding impacting number of satellites being launched,
the previous growing season and the cost effectiveness to use high the cost of this service is also coming
comparing it with current years, technology down.
brings a whole new dimension to l Labour availability impacting de- For this project we are using
modern agriculture. “Farmers are weeding and spraying activities pictures of more than 9 satellites
able to better predict influences l Insect and disease attacks are both from ESA & NASA to acquire
affecting yields and respond more becoming adhoc and difficult to adequate spatial & temporal
quickly to changes. This means they predict with legacy systems. resolutions. Multi spectral satellite
can take prompt action to prevent l Farmers unable to predict the images are analyzed and outcomes
harvest losses. Many global AgChem supply-demand for their produce are plugged into the AI to derive
companies are investing huge at the end of the season – leading information regarding following
sums of money to develop digital to produce being destroyed important agricultural parameters.
Zinc fertilizer increases crop Zinc fertilizer increases the Zinc fertilizer increases
yield and reduces the impact nutritional value of crops, the yield and quality of
of drought, resulting in resulting in increased zinc crops, resulting in increased
healthier, stronger crops. nutrition in the diet. income for farmers.
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Fertilizer sector:
ndia is second biggest consumer of chemical fertil-
izers in the world, only next to China. Following are
some of the important statistical aspects of the fertil-
izer sector of the country:
l Production of total nutrients (N+P2O5 ) registered a
marginal increase of 0.1% during 2016-17 over 2015-
16
l Production of nitrogenous fertilizers declined by 0.7%
whereas phosphatic fertilizers (P2O5) increased by
2.8% during the period
l The Indian Agrochemical industry is valued at USD 2.2
billion in FY16, having grown at a CAGR of around
3.5% from FY13 to FY16
l It is further estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.4% to
reach USD 3.2 billion by FY22
l Export market is expected to grow at 8.6% (Data
source: FICCI Report on Indian Agrochemicals Indus-
try, 2018)
T
he occurrence of Fall Armyworm This highly destructive and invasive insect-pest
(commonly referred to as “FAW”, has been prevalent in the Americas since several
and scientifically known as decades, but was reported for the first time in
Spodoptera frugiperda) has recently West Africa in the beginning of 2016. Since then,
been reported for the first time in FAW incidence was noticed so far in 44 countries
Karnataka and a few other states in southern across Africa (except countries in North Africa).
B.M. Prasanna India, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana As per the assessment made by CGIAR Research
Director, CGIAR Research and Tamil Nadu. There are several other insects Program on Maize, led by the International Maize
Program MAIZE, and Global belonging to this group - adult moth laying and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the
Maize Program, CIMMYT eggs; caterpillars damaging parts of specific FAW in the last two years caused damage to more
Nairobi, Kenya
crop plants, and then completing the life cycle. than 1.5 million hectares of maize crop in Africa,
However, presence of FAW in maize fields (as of affecting the food security and livelihoods of
now, the incidence is highest in maize, which smallholder farmers, and triggering widespread
is the most preferred among various crops that concern.FAO experts recently have warned that
FAW can potentially feed on) has generated lot fall armyworm is likely to spread from India to
of significant concern among the stakeholders other parts of Asia, with south-east Asia and
and heightened the attention of Government south China mostly at risk. The invasion by fall
machinery for some important considerations. armyworms could potentially become global,
FAW is not new to the scientific community. if collaborative efforts are not made by actors
at each level, be it local; regional; national or
international.
The pest migrates very fast (almost 100km
per night, and nearly 500 km before laying
eggs), and thus, can invade new areas quickly.
It can complete its life cycle within 1-2 months
(depending on weather conditions), with each
female moth capable of laying on average
I
ndia has attained global supremacy in pre-cooling, grading, packaging, transport,
CJ Dangaria
the production of fruits and vegetables, storage, processing and marketing altogether
Vice Chancellor,
occupying the first and second positions, compound the post-harvest losses for more than
Dev Raj and CS Desai
Navsari Agricultural respectively. Despite such a huge Rs 65,000 crores. The food processing industry
University, Navsari production, there is 25-33% post harvest ranks fifth in size in the country and employs
(GUJARAT) INDIA loss of horticultural produce owing to highly 16 lakh workers which is 19% of the country’s
perishable nature of fruits and vegetables. industrial labour. It accounts for 14% of the
The major cause of post harvest loss is lack of total industrial output with 18% of industrial
infrastructure for post harvest management GDP and 6.3% of countries GDP. Despite such
(PHM) and processing of commodities. These good rank, there is only <2.4% processing in
losses can only be minimized by proper India as compared to advanced countries
handling, marketing and processing of the (60-70%). So, food processing can play a vital
agricultural commodities. According to role in India’s prosperity. The food processing
national level study conducted under AICRP on industry sector in India is one of the largest
PHT, the post-harvest losses during different sectors in terms of production, consumption,
farm handling operations like harvesting, export and growth prospects. According to
sorting, grading and packing accounts for ASSOCHAM-Grant Thorton Research paper,
about 13% ,during farm storage stands about food processing sector possess potential to
6% and during storage at godown, wholesale generate employment of 9 million persons by
and retail level about 12%. Thus on an average, 2024 in India and expected to generate about
about one third of horticulture produce never 8,000 direct and 80,000 indirect jobs. India
reaches the ultimate consumer. Insufficient exported 12.70 Lakh tonnes of processed foods
knowledge of pre and post-harvest operations comprising of mango pulp, juices, concentrates,
and lack of proper facilities for handling like dried and processed vegetables, pickle and
O
Prof.M S Swaminathan ur agriculture is making good these in several reports, lectures and in the
India’s Architect of Green progress but there are many Kuttanad package. Immediately, there have to
Revolution
problems which need attention be programmes aiming at the rehabilitation
as it is clear from the many of agriculture and the plantation industry. At
farmers’ agitations in different the same time, drinking water supply should
parts of the country. Farmers face the problems receive overriding priority. It is essential to
of climate change and market volatility and avoid water borne diseases. For the future,
steps will have to be taken to ensure income we should set up in every Panchayat a Rainfall
stability to farmers. I would like to deal in this Management Centre which will prepare both
article with a few contemporary issues starting drought and flood codes for anticipatory
with the problem caused by the flood fury in action. For example, immediately in the case
Kerala. of agriculture, farmers need seeds or planting
materials. The appropriate varieties will have
Beyond the flood fury in to be provided. This will need building of Seed
Kerala Banks for use on occasions like this. I hope the
There are signs of abatement of the rain fury in calamity caused by the floods will become an
many parts of Kerala, the time has come both to opportunity for a flood tolerant agriculture. At
look back and to look forward. The immediate the same time, the human dimension of flood
concern should be relief and rehabilitation management needs adequate attention.
of the affected population. At the same time,
an inter-disciplinary committee could be set Impact of floods on
up to mitigate hardship during similar future radioactive sand in Kerala
rain induced problems. I have dealt with The unprecedented floods and rains in Kerala
Education: Junagadh Agricultural University offers education (UG & PG) in the faculties of
Agriculture, Horticulture, Agricultural Engineering, Fisheries Science, Veterinary Science &
A.H. and MBA in Agri-Business Management. University also offer Diploma Courses in the
field of Agriculture, Horticulture, Agril. Engg., Agro Processing and Animal Husbandry. The
University accredited for five years from 28th March, 2016 by ICAR, New Delhi.
Research: The University has 31 research stations, functioning in the North Saurashtra &
South Saurashtra Agro-climatic Zones and part of North-West and Bhal & Coastal Area Agro-
climatic Zones of Gujarat. The research activities leads to varietal development and generate
production technologies of mandated crops of the region. As an outcome of the research 61
varieties of different crops were released and 512 technologies/ package of practices
recommended for the benefits of the farmers and 232 recommendations were made for
scientific community. To strengthen the location specific research 62 Plan, 26 Non-Plan, 20
AICRPs and 57 external funded research projects are functioning in the University.
Extension: Extension activities through Sardar Smriti Kendra (SSK), seven KVKs, CoC,
Farm Advisory Service Center, T&V Scheme, ATIC, Agriculture Diploma course, Agro based
ITI, Bakery, Mali and Fisheries Training are carried out for the benefit of farmers and stake
holders. Community Radio Station "Janvani 91.2" is broadcasting extension programmes.
N
G. Kaito Aye agas are basically an agrarian with well distributed rainfall and favorable
Hon’ble Minister of society with Agriculture as agro climatic condition for growing wide range
Agriculture, Nagaland the main source of livelihood of crops.
especially in rural areas. Therefore the major challenge is how to
According to the latest report, adapt its land use pattern and production
about 73% of the state population is involved in systems to the increasing population, changing
agriculture contributing a major share in GSDP. lifestyle and growing market demand.
Two types of farming systems are practiced in Jhum-based Farming system occupies
the State, namely shifting cultivation (Jhum the major chunk in the land use scenario
cultivation) and WRC/TRC. Rice is the staple of Nagaland. Annually land use for Jhum is
food and occupies 70% of the total cultivated over 90,000 Hectares which comprise of 70%
area and constitutes 75% of the total food of the total crop of the State. It is a highly
grain production in the State. Other crops complex system of farming which integrate
include maize, oilseeds, pulses, tapioca, potato, indigenous agricultural wisdom passed down
sugarcane and spices. However, Nagaland still from generations of farming experience by
continues to be food-deficit depending mostly the tribal communities. Majority of the food
on import of food items, especially rice from and nutritional requirement of a household
other states. The main reasons are continued in a village is met through this system of
subsistence farming, poor infrastructure and cultivation. Therefore it acts as a lifeline for rural
topography. people for meeting their livelihood. One of the
On the other hand, Nagaland is blessed main reasons why Jhum has been viewed as
with a very congenial climatic condition from unsustainable is that, till now very few or no
Sub-tropical, temperate, sub temperate zones technology has been developed to enhance or
assist this system of farming. Rather, can be made more productive and mutually dependent components
it has been portrayed negatively and sustainable. A number of innovative are not achieved. Whereas
labelled as destructive and primitive, technologies have been developed within a watershed boundary, an
in spite of the fact that it is practiced which can well fit in the system independent system consisting of
in over 10 million hectares in and if well-adopted can bring dynamic and interrelated physical,
South-East Asia meeting nutritional significant increase in production social and economic factors exist.
requirement of almost 400 million and productivity level of any given Thus the effective conservation
farmers of this region. crop in a season. and management of land, water
Land and water are the two Watershed approach for and vegetation resources aimed at
critical resources for survival of life resource conservation: The concept obtaining optimum and sustained
and environment protection. Soil of soil conservation, of late has been return from these resources without
erosion is a serious threat to the expanded to: degrading them can be achieved by
preservation of quantity and quality a. Protect soil against physical adopting watershed as a basic unit
of these resources. The root cause loss by erosion or excessive loss of development.
of soil erosion stems out from a of fertility either by natural or In shifting cultivation most of
combination of factors: Agriculture artificial means. the farm operations are labour-
intensification, rolling topography, b. Safeguard the soil depletion by intensive and performed mostly
soil degradation and high rainfall. natural or manmade factors by using small traditional hand
The problem is more pronounced c. Create awareness of resource tools. Improved hand tools and
in hilly and mountainous ecosystem conservation implements are not used on these
like Nagaland where high amount d. Develop community based areas. Though the existing farm
of runoff and concomitant losses approach for resource tools suit the existing farming
of soil and nutrients result in fast conservation and livelihood system of this area; the human
degradation of land resources. This improvement drudgery, long working hours and
situation is more significant where The basic principle of low output are the main problems.
Jhum system of farming is more watershed is to achieve agricultural Drudgery of farming in hilly areas is
prominent. Therefore, this is one of development in harmony with largely shared by women. Improved
the main reasons why Jhum farmers nature; it has to be understood tools and implements and partial
have to look for fresh forest land that nature does not recognize mechanization will confer definite
for next Jhum causing immense administrative or political boundary. benefits in terms of increasing
pressure on land and its resources, Earlier, planning was done taking efficiency, reducing drudgery and
leading to shortening of Jhum cycle into consideration the manmade enhancing the economy which will
and finally resulting in degraded soil boundaries such as district, block also help attract younger generation
and poor productivity. or village as a unit for development. to farming.
Of late, there is a growing But such units are heterogeneous The Jhum cultivation still
realization among the scientific in its resource endowment, depends on availability of manual
communities that with certain therefore optimum utilization of work and human labour. Introduction
modification in the Jhum system, it these resources and integration of of improved technology in Jhum
NRDC is engaged in the development, promotion and transfer of technologies emanating from various national R&D
institutions/universities. The Corporation offers its IPRs and Technology Transfer services in wide ranging areas like:
Agriculture, Chemical, Agro & Food processing, Life Sciences, Mechanical, Electrical & Electronics, Energy and Telecom. It
acts as an effective catalyst in translating innovative research into marketable industrial products. NRDC has the largest
repository of Indian technologies and licensed about 2,500 technologies to more than 4,900 entrepreneurs/start-ups/
corporate in India and abroad. Some Agriculture technologies are available with NRDC for commercialization having great
potential in India and Abroad:
z Extraction of Azadirachtin from Neem Seeds Kernel z Automatic Rice Classification and Grading System
and its Pesticide formulation z Tractor Mounted Soil Conductivity Mapper
z High yielding variety of Ashwagandha z Monitoring and Control Systems for Potato Storage
z Super Absorbent Hydrogel z Small Hydraulic Tractor
z Biopesticidal NemaGel z Krishi Sakti (10 HP Tractor)
z Potassium Humate z Rotary Drum Washer for Ginger and Turmeric
z Polymeric Seed Coat z Inter-Row Rotary Cultivator for Wide-Row Crops
z Nitrification Inhibitor z Pneumatic Precision Planter for Vegetables
z Improved Neem Larvicidal Composition z Programmable Irrigation Scheduler
z Slow or Controlled Release Mosquito Larvicidal z X-ray imaging based Mango Sorting System
Composition and Process of preparation thereof z Phosphate Rich Organic Manure (PROM)
z Jute-LLDPE Composite Based Tank for Consumer z Coirret - Innoculant for Retting Coconut
Application z Mobile Coir Fibre Extraction Machine
z Low Cost Jute Based Sanitary Napkin z Cashew Nut Processing Unit
z Karnataka Rice Hybrid (KRH-4) z Palm Oil Extraction Technology
z Complete package of production of Stevio Glycoside z Cotton Production and Processing Technologies
z Tea Leaf Pre-conditioning Machine for Withering z Biogas and Bio-Manure from Poultry Litter
z Mobile Essential Oil Distillation Unit z An Improved Green House Type Solar Dryer
z Technology Package for Palm Oil Extraction z Hybrid Combine Harvester Machine
z Extraction of Banana Fibre from Leaf over Trunk z Pneumatic Precision Planter
I
H.E. Marten van den Berg ndia’s agro and food future looks bright. & food markets, there remains a lot to be done.
Ambassadorof Kingdom of
the Netherlands The main reasons are domestic, as the Just one example: 93% of poultry meat is still
consuming middle class is pursuing more traded via so called wet markets, while only 7%
healthy diet. Therefore investments are is traded as processed –i.e., more expensive and
up, technology flows in and commodity more food safe- poultry meat.
prices are much more aligned with international
market prices. The government targets a So how does the Indian agro
double of farmers’ income. So will we have a & food sector look from the
third agricultural (r)evolution after the green outside?
revolution in the 1960s and 1970s and the white In a recent joint study by the OECD
revolution after that? And if so, how will this (Organization for Economic Cooperation and
consumer led (r)evolution affect the relationship Development) and ICRIER (Indian Council for
between farmer and market? Research on International Economic Relations)
Why do I talk about an (r)evolution? Because on Agricultural Policies in India, the authors
this time most of the developments will be occasionally allow themselves to express some
depending on the purchasing power of the emotion; like when they speak about “correcting
growing Indian middle class? As there is some the perverse incentives to continue to produce
macro-economic uncertainty worldwide, to a water-intensive crops” (p. 45). Similarly “there is
large extent linked to trade policy differences, a fundamental difficulty in trying to keep prices
it seems wise to project an evolution instead of low for consumers while ensuring remunerative
a revolution for the development of the Indian returns to farmers” (p. 54); subsidizing both
economy in general and the middle class and its producers and consumers is not only costly
move to a more healthy diet, in particular. to the state and the taxpayer, it also gives
While big steps have been taken already in contradictory market signals. Of course, it keeps
opening up and modernizing the various agro numerous stakeholders relatively happy; but it
O
Martien Van Nieuwkoop
Director, Agriculture Global
Practice, World Bank Group ver the past six decades, India imbalanced use of fertilizers has added to
has come a long way from soil and water contamination. Recently, the
being a famine-prone country widespread burning of crop residues and
to comfortably producing food its contribution to severe air pollution has
for 1.25 billion people from attracted both national and global attention.
finite arable land. Food security firmly in hand, The continuing public procurement of rice and
the government is now targeting to double wheat, together with subsidies for fertilizer
farmers’ incomes by 2022. Today, with rapidly and energy, and other dis-incentives to use
growing urban food markets, India is emerging water efficiently - all in the face of a changing
as a global agricultural powerhouse. climate - have put these states in the eye of a
At the same time, the comprehensive “perfect storm”.
strategy put in place decades ago to usher in All the above echoes the need for urgent
the Green Revolution is inadvertently fostering policy action towards a “paradigm shift” to put
a “perfect storm”. India is now confronted with Indian agriculture on a more resource efficient
the deadly troika of resource degradation, as and resilient path.
well as water and air pollution. Given India’s
high vulnerability to climate change, these What does this paradigm
conditions threaten the future sustainability of shift would look like?
its food production, the very objective that this First, measures to conserve natural resources,
bold strategy sought to achieve. make agriculture climate-resilient, and reduce
The northern states of Punjab and agricultural pollution must safeguard farmer
Haryana, which spearheaded India’s food welfare and contribute to doubling farmers’
security, now face multiple environmental incomes. For states such as Punjab and
problems. Their resource intensive system Haryana which are at, or near, the production
of rice-wheat production has led to the frontier for cereals, the priority is to shift to
over-extraction of groundwater, and their high-value agriculture and value addition.
W
hen we talk about agriculture, Soil Health Management
it means different things Compost techniques viz. NADEP, INDORE
Dr. N. C. Patel to different sections of the etc should be encouraged at village level to
Vice Chancellor, Anand society. For the government convert organic waste into good quality organic
Agricultural University,
Anand it is often about food manure which also helps in sanitization. Crop
security, for consumers it is about availability residue management insitu should be facilitated
of food items at reasonable prices, for industry by providing farm implements. Training
it means a source of raw materials as well as a programme to dairy farmers for making vermin
buyer of agricultural inputs, but for more than compost/ vermiwash and other natural organic
600 million people of the country it is a source products should be provided. There is a high
of livelihood. With about half of our country need to advocate fertigation and strengthen the
dependent on agricultural income, this aspect soil health card programmme. There is a need to
needs some serious attention. It is more so produce good quality micronutrient fertilizers
because over the last several decades, the and promotion of biofertilizers. The soil sampling
terms of trade have become unfavourable and must be based on scientific method and should
a typical farmer’s income is approximately one be constantly monitored and results must be
third of the non-farmer. Therefore, the rightly cross-checked. Soil Testing Laboratory should
envisioned call given by the Hon. Prime Minister recruit at least one B.Sc. (Agri.) employee to look
to double farmers’ income by the year 2022 is after soil analysis activities and provide proper
critical for the well-being of the nation. There recommendation to farmers.
are no simple answers to the obstacles faced by Farmers should follow zero tillage or need
the agriculture sector, and action is required on based minimum tillage and use low cost bio inputs
several fronts. like organic manures, recycling of farm wastes,
bio fertilizers, bio-degraders, vermicompost,
ROADMAP FOR DOUBLING green manuring etc. Seed treatment or need
FARMERS’ INCOME based foliar application of micronutrient and
water soluble fertilizers instead of blanket soil
application of bulk granular
fertilizers.
Selection of Seed
and Planting
Materials
The Government may consider
an option of Contract Seed
Production by advance
indenting of the seed of desired
improved varieties/hybrids to
both public/private sector seed
companies.
Promotion of hybrids/HYVs
in major field crops should be
given high priority and the
seed sector could also consider
Disaggregated
patterns within the Employment participation rate (Usual Status) in
nonfarm sector by its subsectors in rural India,
non farm sector 1993–94 to 2011–12
The disaggregated patterns within
Sector Employment participation rate Change, %
the non-farm sector reveal different
(%)—Usual Status (1993–94 to
trends over time. In 1993–94, the
1993–94 2004–05 2011–12 2011–12)
manufacturing subsector witnessed
the highest participation (32.2 Mining 2.9 2.0 1.1 -62.1
percent); followed by community, Manufacturing 32.2 28.8 20.9 -35.1
social, and personal activities (24.3 Electricity and water 0.9 0.5 0.5 -44.4
percent); trade and hospitality Construction 11.4 20.0 39.9 250.0
(20.2 percent); construction (11.4 Trade and hospitality 20.2 22.5 15.8 -21.8
percent). In contrast, electricity and
Transport, storage, 6.7 8.8 7.2 7.5
water subsector employed the least
and communication
number, with only 0.9 percent share.
Financing, real estate, 1.4 1.8 1.0 -28.6
By 2004–05, the share of
insurance, and others
manufacturing declined to 28.8
Community, social, 24.3 15.7 13.5 44.4
percent, whereas the share of
and personal
community, social, and personal
Source: Authors’ calculation based on NSSO data.
services declined to 15.7 percent.
A
t the dawn of independence, India produce surplus of wheat and paddy, on the
RG Agarwal
Chairman, Dhanuka Agritech was dependent on US for feeding other hand, deficit in production of oil seeds
Limited its population by importing food makes it imperative to invest Rs.70-80 thousand
under PL 480 programme.However crores on import of edible oils. The ground water
over the years, we became self– level in north Indian states are at alarming stage,
sufficient, self–sustainable and self–dependent still states like Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan
in food production, and today we are exporting are sowing water intensive crops like paddy and
the surplus production. But despite being an sugarcane. This can be replaced with such crops
agrarian country, we are unable to give due which are not water based and hence need to
importance to the sector by streamlining the be produced more. Water, being most precious,
entire process chain that will benefit both must be used judiciously both in agriculture
farmers and actual consumers. There have and in every day consumption. Apart from drip
been numerous factors being ignored which irrigation under govt scheme of ‘ Per Drop More
are not only affecting the process of agriculture Crop’, we must focus on rainwater harvesting for
production, but are adding on to every day agriculture by creating more ponds in every field
distress among our farming community - the and more Talabs in every village. Again, due to
biggest being heavy dependence on monsoon usage of R. O system in cities, today 75% of water
for agriculture and failure of govt mechanism is wasted. Those if preserved, can be used for
which could purchase the produce on promised other requirements.
MSP rates. Recently, Tata Strategic Management Group
The need of the hour calls for a change presented a report which mentioned that 35-
in cropping pattern. While on one hand, we 40% pesticides available in markets are spurious
Y
PVT. LTD.
outh unemployment and graduate from agricultural universities prefer
underemployment are serious to switch over to other professions. It is called
problems in most countries, the “great Indian agro brain drain.”
and often more severe in rural For long, the agricultural sector has been
than in urban areas. Small‐scale neglected. Though 80-90 per cent of students
agriculture is the developing world’s single studying agriculture belong to the farming
biggest source of employment, and with the community, most of them prefer to choose a
necessary support it can offer a sustainable different career. At present, around 0.4 million
and productive alternative to the expansion of students are enrolled in agricultural universities
large‐scale, capital‐intensive, labour‐displacing and institutes. But sadly, only 0.1 million
corporate farming. This, however, assumes that students manage to graduate. Most of them
a generation of young rural men and women (between 70 and 80 per cent) join the banking
who want to be small farmers, while mounting sector in institutions like the National Bank for
evidence suggests that young people are Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
uninterested in farming. The young amongst There are many ways to enhance job
the farming communities are hardly interested opportunities for students of agriculture.
in agriculture, even a majority of students who Both the government and the corporate
A
griculture is the major livelihood demand for food grains for which we need
for the rural community in India. more food production. However, majority of
Most of the rural poor depends youth are coming out of agriculture. One of the
on agriculture and forests for reasons is many are small and marginal farmers
Dr. N. Parasuraman their livelihoods. More than 70% with less than 1 ha of land and the income
Principal Scientist of the rural population still practice agriculture from the small landholding is not sufficient to
M. S. Swaminathan as their occupation. A survey conducted across run the family. Apart from this, erratic rainfall,
Research Foundation 18 states of India by the Centre for the Study diseases outbreak, poor yield, fluctuations in
Chennai of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi between the market and demand and declining profits
December 2013 and January 2014 revealed in agriculture are the other reasons of farmers
that 72% farmers are still interested in farming. leaving farming. Hence, most of the rural youth
India is losing more than 2,000 farmers who are are migrating to urban areas for eking their
leaving farming every day and since 1991, the livelihood. In addition to the facilities, livelihood
total number of farmers has reached 15 million opportunities and amenities also attract youth
in 2013. The same trend is continuing because towards the urban area. According to the UN
the farmers are incurring loss in agriculture and World Health Organization (WHO) by 2030,
poor economic benefits in the farming practice. 60% of the 10 people will live in a city, and by
Only few youth are coming forward to take up 2050, it will be 70% indicating that more youth
agriculture as age old practice of faming is would be migrating to urban areas leaving
being continued. India is a land of the youth only few behind to work in rural areas. As many
and the population including adolescents is youth are leaving agriculture, there will be
around 550 million as per 2011 Census. As the huge implications on the food security in India
population is increasing, there will be huge in future. Therefore, it is important to make
I
t is not anybody’s concern; it’s concern towards the end of the last century. But recent
of all of us…male-female, men-women, decades have seen a slight reversal of the trend.
boys-girls. There are several indices to Gender bias varies from states and districtsin
measure gender gap viz. Global Inequality India. While Kerala and Puducherry boast of
Index (GII) of United Nations Development a female-heavy population, the rest of the
Programme (UNDP) and Global Gender-gap states are male-heavy. Many states have gone
Index (GGI) of World Economic Forum (WEF). much below the average female to male ratio.
V. Patil The GGI was launched in 2006 and is based on Even at districts level, the situation is similar.
Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth,
Dapoli, Maharashtra annual assessment. It includes 4 sub-indices and But certainly there are few communities where
14 indicators. The four sub-indices are namely-i) the fairer gender is abundant. For example, in
economic participation and opportunity, ii) Maharashtra there are 1123 females per 1000
educational attainment, iii) health and survival, males in Ratnagiri district.
and iv) political empowerment.
How does gender gap widen?
History and distribution of India is rapidly improving its gender parity.
gender bias in India Accordingly, its GGI rank has improved from 114
Gender inequality in India refers to health, in 2016 to 108 in 2017. But the fact that this rate
education, economic and political inequalities is not enough is clear as this rank is among 144
between men and women. Unfortunately, countries. From the numbers in population, the
there is no systematic data on this in India. We gap further widens in the social and economic
have been always biased leading to a gap. And spheres of population. Patriarchy as a social
this gap starts in the population ratio itself. As system leads to male domination: as against
a country we have never had women more North-Eastern Region and other hilly tribal areas
than men at least in the last century. Child- where women dominate. Even in the fisheries and
birth preferences worsened the situation a few agricultural sectors, women outwork men.
Gender-gap in
education
Education and literacy should not Gender-gap in agricultural research
T
he present agricultural education language comprehension, communication,
Prof. S. K. Patil
Vice Chancellor, in India is not fully meeting the and interpretation are provided at limited
Indira Gandhi Krishi requirement of retaining graduates scale. Further, the issues of education and self-
Vishvavidyalaya, Raipur as agri-businessman in farming due employment are more complex. The employers
to limited exposure of working in are finding it more and more difficult to get
real world situation in rural areas, and limited suitable candidates for the kind of work available
opportunities of vocational trainings for with them. Hence, it is essentially desired that
school dropouts in agricultural universities. building professional skills should be given high
Hence, students do not acquire confidence weightage in higher education, particularly at
and skill to practice knowledge gained during graduate level.
undergraduate program for their living. Further, Curricula and programmes are hardly in line
there is no focused institutional mechanism with the demands of industry and present social
available to provide background support, and life. The future is of fourth industrial revolution
handholding to such students after graduation based on cyber physical systems characterised
program. The present system has largely by the technologies integration and blurring of
succeded in producing manpower efficient in lines between physical, digital and biological
doing research and makes graduates aspirant aspects of life. There is also a need to ensure that
of further higher studies after graduation. everyone can continue to learn, adapt and apply
Hence, the graduates are becoming job seekers relevant technologies to the dynamic learning
than job providers. and work environment, and re-adjust to cultural,
The gap in skills training is enormous, economic, political and social advancements.
and skills required to become successful in However, our social infrastructure has failed
real working situations, including life skills, to be quick in adapting to the technological
like problem solving, logical reasoning, advances and their influence on our work and
I
• Increased retail distribution of milk and milk products
• Increased profit sharing with the farmer which in turn is
ndia has a bovine population of 300 million ac-
ploughed back to enhance productivity
cording to the 19th livestock census of 2012. India
In terms of per capita milk availability as seen in Fig
is the largest milk producer in the world consitut-
48, Punjab has a per capita milk availability of 1075 gms/
ing both cow and buffalo milk. In terms of cow
day and tops the list. While Uttar Pradesh is the largest milk
milk production, India ranks second in the world.
producer in the country, it ranks 10th in terms of per capita
The estimated milk production in 2017-18 is 176.35 mil-
availability as a result of its large population. Rajasthan is
lion tonnes (Fig 46) which is about 7% more than the pre-
the second largest milk producer in the country and in terms
vious year and accounts for nearly 18% of the total milk
of per capita milk production, it ranks third with 785 gms/
production in the world.
day of milk production. Gujarat is the third largest milk
Looking at the seasonal pattern of milk production, to-
producer of the country and it ranks fourth in terms of per
tal milk production has increased from 51.33million tonnes
capita milk production.
during 2016-17 during the summer to 53.77 million tonnes
Per capita milk however needs to increase further in the
during the summer of 2017-18. This translates into a growth
country considering its growing population and need for nu-
of 4.7%. The same is comparatively higher than the growth
tritional security, particularly for women and children. India
rate of summer season 2015-16 to
is also the largest consumer
2016-17 which was 3.9%. It is a
of milk in the world and as
positive fact that even during the
such, more concerted efforts
summer season 2017-18 the growth
are needed to further increase
rate is higher and sustained.The top
the milk production. The coun-
five milk producing States during
try has set a projected milk
summer season 2017-18 are Uttar
production of 254.5 million
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Mad-
tonnes by 2021-22 as per the
hya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh.
vision 2022 document. n
A study of the decadal trend of per
M
eat production in the country in the re- constitutes the maximum share and in 2016, share of poul-
cent years have comparatively slowed try meat was 46% of the total meat production of the coun-
down as far as the annual growth rate try (Fig 50). This high share of poultry meat is mainly due
is concerned. The country produced to factors like its popularity, affordable price, easy avail-
about 7 million tonnes of meat in ability and that poultry meat has very less religious taboos
2015-16 which is marginally more than 6.7 million tonnes and acceptable to many unless someone is a strict vegetar-
in 2014-15 (Fig 49). Among the States, Uttar Pradesh, Ma- ian.Egg production in the country is exhibiting an upward
harashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana growth curve but similar to the meat production scenario,
are key meat producers. India’stotal meat production con- it is also experiencing relatively lower growth rate in the
stitutes just about 2% of the world’s production whereas recent years. As seen in Fig 51, India produced about 88
the potential is higher. Despite big potential owing to the billion eggs in 2016-17 at a year on year growth rate of
large livestock population, the meat industry in India has 6%. In 2015-16, production of eggs in the country was 83
not taken its due share. Apart from systemic weaknesses billion, where as in 2014-15, it was 78.5 billion. The layer
in the entire production system and across the value chain, segment of the poultry industry in the recent years is wit-
of late certain socio-political factors have dampened the nessing a slow but definite structural change. Small layer
production scenario of meat in the country. However, the units are becoming unviable and these are making way for
major problems are inadequate infrastructure facilities and the large units with million birds and 100,000 birds in one
poor post-harvest management of the meat sector along house. States like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharash-
with preference of domestic consumers to buy freshly cut tra and Karnataka in south and Punjab in the north is home
meat from the wet market, rather than processed or fro- to almost 70% of the layer birds in the country. In the re-
zen.Most of the abattoirs in the country are far from being cent years, considerable number of production units is com-
hitech and are actually outdated. Slaughtering facilities in ing up also in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar. The
various parts of the country are inadequate and even today need is for the North eastern states to have more number of
in the age of modern infrastructure facilities, animals are poultry units which will enable them to have fresh eggs at
slaughtered in the most primitive manner. reasonable prices.
In terms of the percentage share of different animals With regards to seasonal estimation, the total egg pro-
as sources of meat production in the country, poultry meat duction has increased from 26.03 Billion during the sum-
mer of 2016-17 to 27.95 Billion during the summer of
2017-18. This translates into a growth of 7.4%. The same is
comparatively higher than the growth rate of summer sea-
son 2015-16 to 2016-17 (5.5%). Thus, even during the sum-
mer season 2017-18 the growth rate is higher and sustained
which is an encouraging indicator for the poultry sector.
The production of egg is largely contributed by commercial
poultry farms with nearly 80.83% and remaining produc-
tion is from household/backyard poultry. n
P
otential of fisheries as a
sector for a country hav-
ing adequate resources
is unquestionable. There
is very few other sub-
sectors of the agriculture sector or
even among other major sectors of
the economy which has tremendous
potential to provide profitable liveli-
hood to people, contribute in foreign
exchange earnings and play a critical
role in providing nutritional security
to the people. In comparison to other
non vegetarian foods, fisheries as a
sector is much cleaner and environ- Federation. additional people along the value
ment friendly. Combining the production of all chain. Indian fisheries sector has been
India’s fisheries sector has come types of fisheries that includes capture able to bring about a transformation
a long way and now the sector is not and culture, the total fish production in from traditional to commercial scale.
only meets the domestic demand, but the country reached about 11.41 mil- This has led to an increase in fish pro-
also adds substantially to the foreign lion tonnes in 2016-17 (Fig 53). The duction from a meagre 7.5 lakh tonnes
exchange earnings through export of rate of growth is however decreas- in 1950-51 to 107.95 lakh tonnes dur-
fish and fisheries products. In 2017, ing over the years which indicate the ing 2015-16. Fisheries is also a vi-
India emerged as the second largest need forsome immediate remedial tal foreign exchange earning sector.
fish producing country in the world. measures. Fish production in 2014-15 The export earnings from the sector
For too long, the fisheries sector has and 2015-16 was 6.5 million tonnes in 2015-16 were US$ 4.69 billion.
been termed as a sunrise sector but and 10.8 million tonnes respectively. The sector contributed to about 0.9%
to help it realise its fullest potential, This translates into a year on year to the National Gross Value Added
Government launched the Blue Revo- growth rate of 5.8% between 2014-15 (GVA) and 5.43% to the agricultural
lution scheme with the outlay of Rs and 2015-16 and a further decreased GVP in 2015-16.
Rs.300 crore. growth rate of 5.6% between 2015-16 In 2016, India produced a total
Globally Indian fisheries sector and 2016-17. The recently launched of 5.7 million tonnes of fish and fish
is considerably behind the Chinese, Blue Revolution aims to increase the prodcuts from aquaculture segment
which currently produces more than growth rate of fish production to 8% of fisheries sector.As a result of the
18 million tonnes of fish and fish and achieve a total fish production of ‘Blue Revolution’scheme, overall fish
products from capture fisheries. In- 15 million tonnes by 2020. production has registered an increase
dia’s production is behind Indonesia Fisheries engages over 14.50 mil- of about 18.86% in comparison to the
and at par with EU, USA and Russian lion people at the primary level and last three years, whereas inland fish
A
Dr.Sujit Nayak,
Assistant Commissioner,
s the per capita availability of land In 2016-17 the annual income of farmers
Department of Animal
Husbandry, Dairying & is getting reduced progressively, was about Rs. 97,000 per year or Rs. 8083/
Fisheries, horizontal growth in agriculture month. At present, the farmers in our country
Ministry of Agriculture & has very limited scope in future. concentrate mainly on crop production which
Farmers’ Welfare.
Animal husbandry activities is subjected to a high degree of uncertainty
require much lesser space in comparison to in income and employment to the farmers. In
farming. Animal husbandry generates more this context,integration of various agricultural
income per unit of land when compared to crop enterprises viz., agriculture, animal husbandry,
agriculture. Livestock and poultry production is poultry, fishery, horticulture, forestry etc. have
less water intensive in comparison to traditional great potential in the agricultural economy.
agriculture and thus when taken as an ancillary These enterprises not only supplement
activity also, they fulfil the goal of ‘per drop, the income of the farmers, but also help in
more crop’. increasing the family labour employment.
Some of the
advantages of
composite agri-
allied sector farming
activities:
l Increased farm income through
proper residue recycling and
allied components
l Sustainable soil fertility,
environmental protection and
productivity through organic
waste recycling
l Integration of allied activities
will result in the availability of
nutritious food enriched with
protein, carbohydrate, fat, small and marginal farmers. integrated farming system, they
minerals and vitamins can use it as a cash crop anytime
l Reduced production cost of Poultry based and this will provide static income
components through input Integrated farming which enhances their standard of
recycling from the by-products system living. Traditionally, farmers grew
of allied enterprises Agriculture is an important sector in the country birds under integrated
l Regular stable income through our country, with seventy percent farming system at the pond bank
products like eggs from the linked of the total land area is cultivated and integrate with fisheries. By this,
activities in integrated farming under rain-fed situation. Small and water and landmass is fully used. The
l Inclusion of biogas & agro forestry marginal farmers with one or two birds growing in the bank of pond,
in integrated farming system will acres of rain-fed land holding cannot will provide fertilizer and enrich
help in energy generation rely on agriculture alone throughout pond’s nutrient status and increase
l Cultivation of fodder crops as in- the year. By adopting agriculture with the yield. Integrated farming system
tercropping and as border crop- allied enterprises, they can generate generates employment opportunity
ping will result in the availability self-employment and income with reduction in cost.
of adequate nutritious fodder for throughout the year. It will increase
animal components like milch the economic status and standard of Integration of Fish
cow, goat / sheep, pigs etc. Gen- living of the farmers. and Poultry Farming
eration of regular employment Therefore, if farmers undertake Integrating country chicken with fish
for the farm family members of country chicken rearing under farming can be done in two ways.
F
Former Director-cum-Vice
Chancellor,
S.V.S. Malik Principal ast changing global climate of emergence and re-emergence of animal and
Scientist (VPH) and Head, our planet is increasingly posing communicable diseases, including zoonoses;
& Scientific Secretary to indomitable challenges and serious increase in the vector population and disease
Director,
Puneet Kumar, Principal public health threats to mankind spread to newer territories; increase in the
Scientist (Physiology and and every form of life. Special report diseases causing potential of infectious agents,
Climatology), and on global warming warns that average global and thereby, inflicting more harm to hosts in
Manesh Kumar, Ph.D. temperatures could breach the 1.5oC level as wildlife, domestic species, as well as humans;
Scholar (VPH),
IVRI, Izatnagar early as 2030. The mean global temperature besides compromising their body defence due
is expected to increase by another 1.8 to to enormous stress caused on account of extreme
5.8°C by the end of this century. The overall temperatures as well as loss of shelters and food.
effects of climate change are likely to be While climate change is a global phenomenon, its
long-standing and remain harmful in terms negative impacts are more severely felt by poor
of increased spread of diseases, heat-related people in developing countries, who rely heavily
deaths and air pollution. Climate change- on the natural resource base for their livelihoods.
induced natural calamities quite often disrupts Resource poor communities in rural settings
the natural ecosystems by providing more depend heavily for their survival on agriculture
suitable environments for infectious diseases, and livestock keeping that are amongst the most
allowing the disease-causing bacteria, viruses climate-sensitive economic sectors. Livestock
and fungi to move into new domains. In short, production is likely to be adversely affected by
climate change is strongly associated with climate change, as the competition for land,
fast changing disease dynamics favouring the water and food security would increase, making
T
Adviser (Fisheries), Bihar
Animal Sciences University
(BASU) oday capture fisheries and fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) with many potential ben-
Aquaculture, Fisheries and aquaculture provide 3.0 billion eficial effects for adult health and child devel-
Rural Development Adviser people with almost 20 percent of opment. Besides, fish is an important source of
International Civil Service
FAO of the UN - Retired their average per capita intake of essential micronutrients – vitamins D, A and B,
Ex Director / VC, CIFE (ICAR), animal protein, and a further 1.3 minerals (calcium, phosphorus, iodine, zinc, iron
Mumbai, India billion people with about 15 percent of their and selenium) – especially so for many small fish
per capita intake. This share can exceed 50 species that are consumed whole. The potential
percent in some countries. contribution that fish (even in small quantity) can
Surprisingly, despite its significant nutri- offer to address multiple micronutrient deficien-
tional value, fish has received little attention cies, such as phosphorous deficiency in LIFDCs
in food security and nutrition strategies at or B-vitamins deficiency, is now being increas-
national level. Although increased consump- ingly recognized.
tion of fish, and its addition to the diets of low The fact that fish and all related economic
income populations including certain target activities in the “fish-chain” represent an
groups like pregnant and breastfeeding moth- important means to generate jobs, income and
ers and young children, have shown evidence wealth, with positive effects from household level
of improving food security and nutrition. The to broader economic scales facilitate access to
bioavailability of fish protein is approximate- food. Estimates of global employment in fisheries
ly 5–15 percent higher than that from plant and aquaculture is particularly difficult and
sources. Further, the lipid composition of fish uncertain because of the high level of informal
is unique, having long-chain, polyunsaturated employment in the sector and also because of the
T
Dr. H. Rahman
Regional Representative for
South Asia, he contribution of Animal and nutritious food to millions of people in the
International Livestock Husbandry to the national economy world. Agriculture and livestock production are
Research Institute,
New Delhi and socio-economic development inherently linked with each other, which makes
of the country is highly significant. them dependent on each other and it is crucial
In rural India, livestock remains as for food security. Among all the sub-sectors of
a main source of livelihood where about 80% agriculture, livestock play an important role in
of them belong to small and marginal farmer’s the Indian economy.
category and 15-20% being landless farmers.
Rural families, which are belonging to weak CONTRIBUTION OF LIVESTOCK
socio-economic conditions of the society, FOR GLOBAL LIVELIHOODS
depend mainly on different livestock species to Globally, about 70% of the world’s rural poor rely
supplement their income. on livestock for their livelihoods. Livestock sector
Agriculture along with Animal Husbandry,
Dairying and Fisheries activities continue to
be an integral part of livelihood for most of
the small holder farmers. Besides livelihood,
livestock plays an important role in the
maintenance of ecological balance. Livestock
plays a significant role for income generation
in rural areas, especially with relation to
small, landless and marginal farmers and
women. Because of this, it provides cheap
ANIMAL NUTRITION
The exact prediction of animal
growth, animal performance, feed
composition and expulsion of waste
products are highly essential in
analysing the nutritive requirements.
These factors are highly useful
for improving the efficacy and
accuracy of analysing the nutritive
requirements of the animals.
However the advancement in the
fields of nutritional proteomics,
metabolomics and transcriptomics
helps in getting the desired
achievement of measuring different
nutritional strategies. Better
understanding of animal nutrition is
highly recommended to understand
the desired nutritional requirements
of the animals and to prevent the
variations. Decline is very high high environmental temperatures unwanted economic loss because of
in high humidity areas when and the degree varies with breed, high feed cost. At the same time, the
compared to areas with low age, fatness, plane of nutrition and minimum nutritional requirements
humidity. Milk production decreases relative humidity. Animals lose of the animal has to be taken into
approximately 1 kg for each more weight during the winter consideration, otherwise there will
degree (⁰C) rise above the normal when kept out of doors than similar be a greater decline in the normal
range. Optimal environmental animals kept indoors. Nutritional production strategies.
temperature for lactation is mainly requirements of the animal are When animal nutrition is taken
dependent on species, breed and highly dependent on environmental into consideration, there are various
degree of tolerance to heat or cold. temperature. Reduction or cessation strategies which act as a major
Milk constituents may increase or of body growth at high temperature hindrance. The main hindrance
decrease when exposed to high is apparently due to a reduction includes reduced availability of feed
environmental temperature with in voluntary feed intake, increase and fodder. Because of this, the
different levels of relative humidity. in energy expended for heat landless farmers have to purchase the
Climatic conditions which dissipation, particularly through fodder. But it is highly complicated
include temperature, humidity, respiration enhancement, reduction for the small scale farmers to
air movement and radiation in the amount of nitrogen, fat, or purchase fodder and feed the animal.
may impose stress in the rate of water stored and changes in the So they tend to allow the animal for
prenatal, pre-weaning and post- differential growth of body organs. grazing to a poor quality fodder or
weaning growth. Animal growth Response of wool growth to the those fodders of not any nutritive
after weaning can be stunted by environment varies according to value. This will obviously end up in
C
limate change has adversely impacted
agriculture as a whole, the very foundation
of food for human beings. Fig 10 shows how
carbon dioxide as a green house gas emitted
from burning of fossil fuel and some of the
intensively polluting industrial processes is occupying more
than 65% of the different green house gasses. Forestry and
other land use is emitting another 11% of total CO2 . Similarly,
Fig 11 and Fig 12 indicate how different countries and different
sectors of the economy is adding green house gases. China as
a country is the biggest polluter and agriculture, forestry and
other land use activities of human beings across the globe is
the second largest contributor in global emissions.
Following are some of the recent Studies Revealing the
Alarming Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture and
Food Security:
l A recent study mapped the impact of the current global
green house gas production to the global vegetable
and legume production. It was come down by 18%. l Hotter air is also causing faster
concluded that if the green house l Yields of various crops are evaporation of surface water
gases continue to rise at the current decreasing as a result of climate causing droughts and decreasing
level, the world production of change and rise in temperature. crop production.
vegetables and legumes will come In addition, climate change is l For an important crop like rice
down by 35% by the year 2100. altering rainfall patterns around which is a staple food for more
l Findings of various scientific the world. Increased temperature than half of the global population,
studies have one common leads to holding of more moisture drought and water shortages are
conclusion about the rise of the by warmer air envelop, causing expected to affect the production
world’s temperature. The global more intense precipitation. This of rice.
temperature is destined to rise by is the reason these days extreme l There are 23 million hectares
about 4 degree Celsius by the year precipitation events are becoming under rice cultivation in South
2100. In such a situation, the global more common, thereby directly and Southeast Asia which are
corn production could decrease by damaging crops and resulting in entirely rainfed. There areas are
50 %. decreased yields. already subject to water scarcity.
l Even if the rise of temperature is l Flash floods are becoming more In the rainfed rice growing areas
contained up to 2 degree Celsius common these days as a result of of Africa, recurring drought affects
according to Paris climate accord, climate change which is damaging almost 80 percent of the area under
still the production of corn will crops worldwide. rice cultivation.
A
Richard Vattay ccording to FAO data, 3.2 billion RETAINER obtained from food industry is a by-
Director, hectares of arable land globally product of vegetable origin, with high content
Water&Soil Ltd. are affected by water stress. of organic matter; absorbent, moistening and
At the same time, population surfactant substances; protected mixture of
growth is putting further water.
pressure on agricultural production; more food The WATER RETAINER offers the interna-
will be required with less water available. As tional agricultural market a safe, affordable
demonstrated across Europe, North America and commercially attractive product to miti-
and Australia throughout 2018, drought is gate the increasing impacts of water stress
becoming more frequent and typically lasts and drought, and dramatically improve pro-
longer. Economic losses originating from duction yields. The WATER RETAINER is a novel
drought in just California in 2012 was estimated liquid product that is applied by spraying to
at $2.7 billion. Other adverse impacts of the soil surface, and without the need for spe-
drought include soil erosion, degradation, and cialized equipment. It reduces the irrigation
competition for scarce water resources. water use by up to 50 % in irrigated cultiva-
Effective water management is vital for tion or provides higher yield in not-irrigated
soil health and good crop yields. The WATER cultivation as crops can survive the drought
RETAINER is designed to achieve this. Topically longer.
applied as a physical soil conditioner, its efficacy The Water Retainer has been developed
is independent of the soil and plant type and it and brought to market by Water&Soil® Ltd.,
does not adversely impact either. The WATER Hungary.
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FACTORY :
I
n the recent years, record agricultural production and oil seeds. This in turn has resulted in prolonged defla-
has considerably brightened the near-term out- tion in the prices of pulses and oilseeds. This has also led
look of the Indian economy as a whole. A total of to record buffer stock levels of rice and wheat which is the
275.1 million tonnes and 279.5 million tonnes of highest in five years. Good production and sizable erosion
food grains were produced in the country in 2016- in the terms of trade of the farm sector under the weight
17 and 2017-18 respectively, which is a record (Fig 31). of this supply glut emerged as an area of concern for the
Production of rice increased from 109.7 million tonnes economy for some time. Overall, agricultural production is
in 2016-17 to 111.5 million tonnes in 2017-18. A normal likely to remain strong for the third consecutive year.
monsoon for the third consecutive year should lift agricul- In 2016-17, India produced a total of 23.1 million
tural output even this year too. Imports resulted in excess tonnes of pulses which increased to 24.5 million tonnes
supply conditions in key crops such as rice, wheat, pulses in 2017-18 (Fig 32). Increase in production of pulses is a