IT HAS taken almost two decades of consistent research into the northeastern tribal practice of shifting agriculture for P S Ramakrishna, professor of ecology at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, to explode the myth that the system is primitiv
Government has to revise its policies. But it will have to learn from the civil society
The United States is investing billions of dollars each year in subsidies and tax breaks to domestic ethanol producers in the hope that biofuels will become a major plank of an energy security and fuel diversification program. Moreover, the investment has grown in recent years.
Ground water pumping using electricity is a complex issue, leaving all actors - the farmers, distribution company, State government and environment conscious analysts - frustrated and dissatisfied.
The registration of non commercial diesel vehicles may soon be banned in Delhi
The Community Agricultural Policy has become synonymous with the prosperity of European farmers.
Patiala: The Punjab Cooperation Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, today called upon the experts of Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), Ludhiana, to adopt a new approach to develop means for increasing crop production and strengthening the financial conditions of farmers. After inaugurating the kisan mela at Rauni village, the minister said that the farmers have utilised the underground water and fertilisers efficiently in order to fulfill the food demand of the country. However, they have gained nothing but the burden of loans. He said the farmers of the state have been contributing more than 60 per cent of the total national food requirement but they are suffering a loss of about Rs 1,500 crore annually. He urged the agriculture technology experts to take immediate steps to bail out farmers from the present crisis. He said that more than 2 lakh farmers in the state have quit farming during the last decade and 80,000 of them have now started out as labourers in different sectors. He said that in order to improve crop production and increase the income of farmers, special attention and policy formulation are needed. He asked the experts to search for new markets for the farmers' produce. He gave the example of Maharashtra, which is producing grapes in bulk and exporting them to various countries. He urged the PAU to take a lead in this direction. Referring to the loan waiver by the Center, the minister said that it is for the first time that the government has acknowledged the crisis of the food producers. He said that due to the wrong policies of the previous state government, growth rate of the state had come down to only 2 per cent. He strongly supported the continuation of subsidies for the farmers of the country. Capt Kanwaljit urged the farmers to adopt dairy farming and production of fruits and vegetables on a large scale instead of the traditional wheat and paddy farming. He said that a special plant is being set up in Nawanshehr for increasing Basmati rice production, which would contribute immensely in promoting the sowing of Basmati.
<font face=arial size=3 color=#CE181E><b>•</b></font> Army contractors halted operations at the Newport Chemical Depot, in western Indiana, as nearly 500 gallons of caustic wastewater containing hydrolysate, leaked into a sealed area at the facility. This plant is used for destroying Cold War era chemical weapon VX.<br>
The internationally funded programme to promote solar photovoltaic systems remains a nonstarter
A plan to restrict import of bananas from Latin American countries is being opposed tooth and nail by the Germans.
The Netherlands position as an agricultural superpower stands threatened unless it shifts to eco friendlier organic cultivation
The minister for agriculture, Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy, said an Agriculture Regulatory Commission would be appointed to decide payment of bonus for various crops in the state. Speaking to newsmen here on Thursday, he said that the state government has decided to pay minimum support price and bonus for various crops. Mr Raghuveera Reddy said the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, and he had studied various benefits being provided to farmers in China, Israel, America and other countries. The minister said the government has decided to directly pay bonus to farmers. He said subsidy and bonus would be directly credited to the bank accounts of farmers as was being done in other countries. The minister said the government would initiate a discussion on establishment of regulatory commission in Legislative Assembly and Council. After taking into consideration suggestions given by farmers unions, Opposition parties and experts, the government would take steps to help farmers, the minister added. He said a study was also being conducted to help tenant farmers, who were facing problems. The minister said for the first time in the country loans were being directly given to tenant farmers in the state. So far, loans were given to 75,000 tenant farmers in the state, he added. Mr Raghuveera Reddy said there were more tenant farmers in Prakasam district. He said 50,000 ideal farmers would be selected and 4,500 rythu sanghams would be formed in the state. The minister said specific plans would be formulated to strengthen agriculture from village-level. Mr Raghuveera Reddy said it was shameful for Telugu Desam (TD) leader N. Chandrababu Naidu to announce that he had a great plan to help farmers. The minister said that state farmers were unhappy with the statement of Mr Naidu, who during his nine-year-old rule had detested farmers. Mr Raghuveera Reddy said the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leaders had resigned from their posts due to fear that they would lose their existence in Telangana. He said the Congress was ready to face by-elections in the seats vacated by the TRS leaders and the party would abide by the decision of the people.
THE Chinese government, on the face of it: the saga of a mere mortal whose ideas on democracy and free speech exposed a state at its Draconian best begins on February 28, 1989. A book, condemning
The BJP was the only party which mentioned environmental issues in its poll manifesto. But the budget ignores it entirely
Soil testing can help farmers decide on the right mix of fertilisers and maximise benefits
With the country, reeling under an intensifying power crunch, and various authorities only predicting a darker future, the search for alternative energy sources becomes that much more important. N B AMIN, chairperson of the Gujarat based Sardar Pate
The Shree Vivekananda Research and Training Institute has made a name for itself, helping villagers in Kutch district. Among its innumerable projects are solving water problems, soil conservation and dairy farming
During 2006-07, a record disbursement of agricultural credit took place. Against credit allocation of Rs 160 billion, an amount of Rs 168.8 billion was disbursed, which reflects 22.8 percent increase as compared to last year's disbursement. This was disclosed in an Annual Performance Report (2006-07) of Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal), which was released recently. According to the report, the Public Sector Development Project (PSDP) of Minfal for the year 2006-07 included 61 projects. Out of which 41 were ongoing and 20 new projects to support policy objectives set at the national level. The original PSDP allocation was Rs 11,800 million. The allocation was revised to Rs 13,600 million after mid year PSDP review. However, from the enhanced revised allocation, Rs 329.5 million was not released to Minfal. Moreover, Rs 852.4 million savings indicated by Minfal for re-appropriation for its mega project, 'National Programme for Improvement of Watercourses' was diverted to other Ministry. As such, the Minfal's allocation was reduced to Rs 12,418.1 million. Out of this amount, Rs 1,741.9 million approved for re-appropriation for different projects by the P&D Division was also not released which were finally surrendered. Thus Rs 10,676.2 million was released to Minfal's project upto June, 2007 and against it, the utilisation was of Rs 10,244.37 million which is 96 percent of the amount released. Minfal report mentioned that the other key achievements of the government, during the year 2006-07, have been signing of agriculture specific MoUs/Agreements/Protocols with friendly countries and of MFN status for agricultural exports with various other countries. A number of Joint Ministerial Commissions (JMC) were set-up relating to agricultural development, and policy-level negotiations were undertaken under the WTO regime as well as Safta. Minfal report revealed that government recognises the role of agricultural growth in boosting overall growth of the economy and reducing poverty. For achieving higher growth in agriculture, priority objectives set by Minfal include enhanced productivity to ensure food security, efficient import substitution and export orientation. Within these broad objectives, the main element is to accelerate growth by narrowing existing yield gaps, promotion of agriculture related business enterprises, provision of quality support services to farmers, and market reforms to increase profitability of agriculture for small farmers. Moreover, attention is being focused on increasing the production of major crops like wheat, cotton, sugarcane, rice and maize through remunerative market-based prices, evolving new high-yielding varieties requiring low inputs through adaptive research, help improving market and storage facilities with public-private nexus, and providing greater access to farmers for optimal technologies and seasonal credit. Such far-reaching objectives require efficient agriculture institutions to effectively respond to growing and diversifying needs of farmers to accelerate productivity and growth at the grassroots. Minfal has initiated several reforms of the agriculture sector institutions to promote decentralisation and liberalisation of agriculture services. For reforming the research system, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (Parc) is being restructured with more autonomy to the Board of Governors both in formulation of research policy and financial empowerment. Similarly, in agriculture extension, reforms are being conceived to improve research and extension linkages in the backdrop of further decentralising extension services at the union council level. To face the future challenges of policy analysis, APCom's mandate has been redefined to play a meaningful role in the Ministry, priority focusing on agriculture policy issues, monitoring and analysis of international trade agreements for suggesting measures to improve Pakistan agriculture's competitiveness in the global market. To support agribusiness development in the livestock sector, the Prime Minister, in principle, has approved a National Livestock Development Policy. A new market-friendly wheat policy is in place, key elements of which include free wheat marketing, voluntarily selling by farmers at the guaranteed minimum price, and maintaining a clear distinction between operational reserve and strategic reserve by the government. A comprehensive fisheries policy has been prepared and presented to the Prime Minister. In addition to above mentioned policy reforms, Minfal has also undertaken a project for the strengthening of capacity for improvement of agricultural statistics in Pakistan. The objectives of the project are to strengthen the capacity of Provincial Crop Reporting Service (CRS) by providing them motorcycles, vehicles, computers, office equipment, technical equipment and O&M cost for field operations. It will help the CRS in provision of timely agricultural statistics for policy formulation and early warning system. Efforts are underway to augment development component of agriculture through continued supply of financial resources for agriculture sector development to support policy objectives set at the national level. The agriculture sector performed well as compared to the previous year and growth in the agriculture sector bounced back from 1.6 percent in 2005-06 to 5.0 percent in the 2006-07. The major crops registered an impressive growth of 7.6 percent. The minor crops grew by 1.1 percent slightly up from the last year's growth of 0.4 percent. The livestock sector grew by 4.3 percent during 2006-07 as against 7.5 percent in 2005-06. The wheat production of 23.295 million tons during 2006-07 is highest ever in the country's history, registering an increase of 9.5 percent over 2005-06. Sugarcane production improved by 22.6 percent over 2005-06 to 54.7 million tons. Cotton production at 13 million bales remained almost unchanged in comparison to 13.02 million bales in 2005-06. Rice production at 5.4 million tons was marginally lower than 5.5 million tons produced in 2005-06. The major factors responsible for increased agricultural production are, agricultural credit availability, support/intervention prices, government policy of encouraging use of the balanced fertiliser by granting subsidy on phosphatic and potashic fertilisers, increased irrigation water availability and favourable weather conditions particularly during Rabi season. Within crop sector, import substitution and crop diversification are two important development priorities of Minfal. Efforts are being made to maximise oilseed production, such as sunflower and canola etc to substitute imports of edible oil to save foreign exchange. Like-wise under crop diversification programme, government has planned to introduce high value crops to diversify production and to enhance net farm income. The milk and meat production touched the level of 33.2 and 2.6 million tons respectively in 2006-07. It implies 6.2 and 6.6 percent higher production. Fish production was 0.6 million tons ie 3.6 percent higher than in 2005-06. Growth in the targets for milk and meat production and livestock productivity are aligned with Medium Term Development Frame Work (MTDF), which aims to grow by to 6-8 percent annually. Government has provided Rs 100 million for launching 'Grow More Wheat Campaign 2006-2007'. Under the campaign wheat production technologies are being disseminated to the farming community through agriculture extension services in the provinces. Copyright Business Recorder, 2008
ISRAEL'S citrus industry, part of its drive to "make the desert bloom", is a spectacular success story with export earnings in the US $150-250 million range, depending on the quality and quantity of
in a bid to stop pilferage in the Targeted Public Distribution System (tpds), the Union government plans to introduce food coupons for people below poverty line (bpl). Under the scheme
