The increasing population will need a lot of household wood products, paper products, packing material and fire wood. To meet the growing demand we can't rely on the forests alone, so private agroforestry is inevitable. India's per capita consumption of paper and paperboard is less than 10kg and whereas China is 72kg. The productivity of timber in India is only 0.7 cubic meters /ha/year whereas the world average is 2.1 cubic meters /ha/year. India's forests are covered in 69 million hectares i.e. 19.5% of the country's area, the availability of forest land per person in India is one of the lowest in the world at 0.08 ha, against an average of 0.5 ha for developing countries and 0.64 ha for the world. The demand for timber was 85 million cubic meters in 2008 and now it is expected to cross 153 million cubic meters by 2020, the supply of wood from forests are projected to 60 million cubic meters by 2020. This means India needs to depend on imports or else agroforestry in private and community lands for its growing wood requirements.
Increased cost of cultivation, non availability of farm labor, higher farm wages and various reasons farmers are switching to less investment and less labor intensive farming like short term commercial crops and forestry plantations. Agroforestry system is mostly practiced by the large farmers who have alternative source of income rather than agriculture, It won't viable to small farmers since they need annual returns on agriculture for their livelihood. But some of the areas the small farmers also cultivating the agro forestry by inter cropping the food crops between the rows up to one or two years or till the trees get bigger, which is a good sign for food security and wood security.
Leucaena and Eucalyptus trees are widely cultivated in Andhra Pradesh which give the guaranteed farm income and the yield of each acre is used to be between 25- 30 tonnes for every four years as the trees are harvested only after 4 years.The wood pulp is being used in paper industry and as well as plywood,
particle boards and wood veneer. The waste wood has been used in bio
mass power generation plants as a substitute to coal and other fossil
fuels to reduce the green house gas emission. In Prakasam district alone has more than one lakh acres have been cultivated and producing 10 lakh tonnes of wood valued around Rs 390 crores annually. The market price has increased recently up to Rs.3900 per tonn due to the shortage of wood and fair competition among the firms in industry which is a lucrative income for farmers. Most of the progressive farmers would like to adopt agroforestry model for sustainable agriculture to improve the farm productivity and profitability.
Indian has achieved self sufficiency in food production, now we should focus on ecology, preserving our fossil fuels and also cater the growing wood demand caused by population growth and economic development. The agroforestry system is capable to sequestrate the massive amounts of carbon that helps to mitigate the danger of green house gas concentrates. We can implement this system in large barren lands, farm boundaries to improve soil fertility and water conservation. There is a remarkable scope in agroforestry to focus on the ecological issues, biomass production, cattle fodder and various outputs to industries as well as employment generation.
Showing posts with label Agriculture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Agriculture. Show all posts
Friday, January 03, 2014
Saturday, September 22, 2012
FCTC - The imposed treaty
Recently the Tobacco Institute of India has given awards to the tobacco farmers on their achievements. I met some of the farmers who attended the awards function , in casual chat one of the prospective farmer mentioned that he doesn't know what FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) means until he attend the award ceremony. Most of the tobacco growers don't know about the FCTC which was ratified by Indian government in 5th February ,2004. The world Health Organization ( WHO) adopted the FCTC in May 2003 to reduce the tobacco consumption to protect the global public health and this is one of the most quickly ratified treaties in United Nations history. FCTC formulated the policies for the member countries to adopt the better strategies for tobacco control, those might be mandatory and some of them are provisional.
India is so active in FCTC treaty and was the one among the first signatory countries. Even prior to FCTC, India has been working on tobacco control by several legislations like COTPA (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act) i.e. ban on smoking in public places, ban on underage sales, prohibiting the tobacco sales within 100 yards of schools and hospitals and restrictions on tobacco advertisements & sponsorships. Proactively our Union Health Ministry proposed that all new films have to flash a static anti-tobacco message during a smoking scene. The government initiatives are not only with consumption part but also in production and distribution, government is enforcing the heavy taxes to control the tobacco consumption. The tax on tobacco products in India is are complex and vary for tobacco products, cigarettes taxes are calculated by the length and the process of manufacturing which accounts approximately 38% on retails price and the Bidis (tobacco rolled in a leaf) are taxed very low averaging 9% on retail price.
India is the third largest producer and second largest group of smokers, over 120 millions of Indians smoke which counts 10% of the total world's tobacco smokers and over 250 million people across the country use tobacco products like gutka, cigarettes , bidis and other kinds. Tobacco will be responsible for 13% of all deaths in India, it counts around 900,000 deaths per year. Worldwide, every 1 in 10 adult deaths are caused by tobacco and it kills more than 5 million people per year. The World Health Organization warned that if the same consumption patterns continue, more than 8 million people will die per year by 2030. Everybody has the same questions, why farmers are growing tobacco even that is harm for human health and why governments are allowing tobacco cultivation even lot of health organizations and social groups are advocating a ban on tobacco. Tobacco cultivation is a part of Indian agriculture system, it is legally cultivated agriculture crop and globally trading commodity. Tobacco is the best cash crop among all cash crops… in terms of high value returns and suitable to most environments, on top that it’s a labor intensive crop which helps to improve the rural employment .Indian Tobacco Industry is providing livelihood to more than 25 million people in the country, the tobacco contribution to India’s GNP is about 10%.
Consuming tobacco is a fatal addiction and social problem, it keeps the health in hazard. The problem should be dealt with public awareness, anti smoking campaigns by government and other advocacy groups have not much influenced the tobacco farmers neither threaten to tobacco cultivation nor encourage them to leave the crop. But the FCTC regulations are simple forcing ban farmers from cultivating tobacco. Indian government never consulted and asked the tobacco farmers' opinion before ratifying the treaty in 2004, it's an autocratic decision. The Indian tobacco farmers were not against to our national tobacco control law like COTPA or any legislation which prohibits tobacco consumption, they do concern about public health but imposing FCTC regulations on tobacco farmers without consulting them is unacceptable, FCTC planned to force all the governments to keep the tobacco farming industry in jeopardy. Indian farmers are opposing several articles of the FCTC like 9 and 10 which are dealt with regulation, testing, measuring and disclosure of contents.
FCTC proposals will affect our tobacco farmers and industry, more than 30 million of Indians livelihood will be devastated. Especially in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, tobacco growing is the main source of livelihood for farmers and moreover India is the place where the tobacco grow year-around. AS per FCTC articles 17 and 18, the government should provide technical and financial aid assistance for economical transition to all stake holders whose livelihoods are seriously affected as a consequence of tobacco control programs, but after so many research and field trials they identified that it takes so many years. However, now the working group abandoned its original mandate and came out with new set of recommendations like restrict/stop all financial and technical support for tobacco farming; mandate the seasons when tobacco can and cannot be grown; limit, then reduce, the land area where tobacco can be grown, dismantling all tobacco governing bodies and reduce tobacco production. These irrational destructive proposals are going to be destroy the million lives of tobacco dependents by not offering economically viable alternative crops and livelihood.
I think the FCTC treaty is autocratic and imposed one, because the veto powered nation- United States of America haven't ratified the same and other large tobacco production countries like Argentina, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Indonesia were never signed the treaty. If India implements these guidelines, then non signed countries may dump their tobacco products ,they will increase their production and it may lead to contraband trading, then Indian tobacco farmers livelihood will be in trouble and the Indian economy will go down i.e. almost Rs.13,500 crore of excise revenue and Rs 4,160 crore of export revenue. I am not against to tobacco control, government is spending millions of tax payers' money towards public health and creating awareness on tobacco consumption risks but I request our Indian government to refuse these unreasonable, imposed FCTC proposals and think in a pragmatic approach to help tobacco farmers for their smooth economic livelihood transition.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
My understanding about a fascinating plant
When Columbus and his crew encountered the Native Americans inhaling the smoke of burning Tobacco, they introduced the same to Europe and the rest of the world. Tobacco was the first plant exported to a worldwide market from Americas from 1500s and it has been grown by Native Americans for more then 5000 years. Global tobacco Industry sells around 6 trillion cigarettes every year, China is the biggest consumer of cigarettes about 45% of the global total. After China, the ten countries that consume the largest number of cigarettes are Russia, the U.S., Japan, Indonesia, India, Brazil, Ukraine, Turkey, Korea and Italy. India is the second largest producer of tobacco in the world and ITC limited is the pioneer for India’s tobacco crop. India has different types of tobacco verities i.e. Virginia, Burly and native /oriental tobacco. Tobacco board of India is a government organization which involves in regulating the crop and developing the tobacco Industry.
Tobacco is the hungry man’s food, chilly man’s fire, sad man’s cordial, bachelor’s friend, lonely man’s companion, busy man’s repose: it’s a generic complimentary statement by tobacco lovers. Matter of fact, Tobacco is responsible for 1 in 10 adult deaths and it kills more than 5 million people per year. The World Health Organization warned that if the same consumption patterns continue, more than 8 million people will die per year by 2030. Smoking tobacco is a fatal addiction; it keeps the life at risk…. not only the one who is smoking but also every one around. Everybody has the same questions, why farmers are growing tobacco even that is harm for human health and why governments are allowing tobacco cultivation even lot of health organizations and social groups advocating a ban on tobacco smoking.
Smoking is a social problem; the problem should be dealt with public awareness. But tobacco cultivation is a part of farming system; it is legally cultivated agriculture crop and globally trading commodity. Tobacco is the best cash crop among all cash crops… in terms of high value returns and suitable to most environments, on top that it’s a labor intensive crop, so it definitely improves the socioeconomic conditions of rural areas and the quality of farmers’ life. Sale of the crop is also assured and it’s sold by negotiable price through government operated auction floors. As per economic surveys, the tobacco farmers monthly income is higher than the non – tobacco farmers. Almost 15 million people are involved in Indian tobacco industry, the tobacco contribution to India’s GNP is about 10%.
Indian tobacco farmers have not influenced by the anti smoking campaigns, neither threaten tobacco cultivation nor promote them to leave the crop. They simply grow the tobacco as a part of the cultivation and more over its high return cash crop.In spite of Indian government has been implementing ban on smoking in public places and a ban on underage sales, tobacco consumption and production has been increasing. The consumption pattern in India is: 85% share goes to tobacco products like Bidi, Snuff and chewing and rest of 15% is cigarettes consumption. Despite the just 15% cigarette consumption generates 75% of taxable tobacco revenue and 25% from the other forms of tobacco products which is 85% market share, since the taxes are more on cigarettes comparatively on traditional tobacco products. Major Indian tobacco market is occupied by traditional products which are unorganized sector and cottage industries, so the government authorities are difficult to enforce the taxes on them.
As per my understanding, young &urban population is consuming the cigarettes and adults & rural population is consuming non-cigarette form of tobacco products and worldwide the non – cigarette form of consumption has been increasing. Tobacco consumption is dangerous to health; no one is going to deny that but the government should educate the citizens about the risk factors and at the same time it should protect the poor farmers’ interests and economic strength of the country; we need lot R&D in tobacco in the direction of low –nicotine and organic tobacco crops. The taxes on cigarettes should not be increased because the consumption pattern will be shifted to non- cigarette form which is more harmful to health. I hope they won’t increase in coming budget.
Tobacco is the hungry man’s food, chilly man’s fire, sad man’s cordial, bachelor’s friend, lonely man’s companion, busy man’s repose: it’s a generic complimentary statement by tobacco lovers. Matter of fact, Tobacco is responsible for 1 in 10 adult deaths and it kills more than 5 million people per year. The World Health Organization warned that if the same consumption patterns continue, more than 8 million people will die per year by 2030. Smoking tobacco is a fatal addiction; it keeps the life at risk…. not only the one who is smoking but also every one around. Everybody has the same questions, why farmers are growing tobacco even that is harm for human health and why governments are allowing tobacco cultivation even lot of health organizations and social groups advocating a ban on tobacco smoking.
Smoking is a social problem; the problem should be dealt with public awareness. But tobacco cultivation is a part of farming system; it is legally cultivated agriculture crop and globally trading commodity. Tobacco is the best cash crop among all cash crops… in terms of high value returns and suitable to most environments, on top that it’s a labor intensive crop, so it definitely improves the socioeconomic conditions of rural areas and the quality of farmers’ life. Sale of the crop is also assured and it’s sold by negotiable price through government operated auction floors. As per economic surveys, the tobacco farmers monthly income is higher than the non – tobacco farmers. Almost 15 million people are involved in Indian tobacco industry, the tobacco contribution to India’s GNP is about 10%.
Indian tobacco farmers have not influenced by the anti smoking campaigns, neither threaten tobacco cultivation nor promote them to leave the crop. They simply grow the tobacco as a part of the cultivation and more over its high return cash crop.In spite of Indian government has been implementing ban on smoking in public places and a ban on underage sales, tobacco consumption and production has been increasing. The consumption pattern in India is: 85% share goes to tobacco products like Bidi, Snuff and chewing and rest of 15% is cigarettes consumption. Despite the just 15% cigarette consumption generates 75% of taxable tobacco revenue and 25% from the other forms of tobacco products which is 85% market share, since the taxes are more on cigarettes comparatively on traditional tobacco products. Major Indian tobacco market is occupied by traditional products which are unorganized sector and cottage industries, so the government authorities are difficult to enforce the taxes on them.
As per my understanding, young &urban population is consuming the cigarettes and adults & rural population is consuming non-cigarette form of tobacco products and worldwide the non – cigarette form of consumption has been increasing. Tobacco consumption is dangerous to health; no one is going to deny that but the government should educate the citizens about the risk factors and at the same time it should protect the poor farmers’ interests and economic strength of the country; we need lot R&D in tobacco in the direction of low –nicotine and organic tobacco crops. The taxes on cigarettes should not be increased because the consumption pattern will be shifted to non- cigarette form which is more harmful to health. I hope they won’t increase in coming budget.
Monday, November 07, 2011
India needs reinforced Met Dept
Monsoons are very important to Indian economy because 60% Indian population is depend on agriculture and agriculture share is around 15% in total GDP. Most of Indian farming is depending on monsoons only…. that’s why historically Indian economy used to be called as “Monsoon economy”. Generally Indian monsoon season starts from June to September, but this year southern part of India has heavy deficit in rainfall and Andhra Pradesh has experienced the drought condition. The Estimated yield loss in Andhra Pradesh was 40 lakhs of acres and some of the other regions information yet to be received. Andhra Pradesh government recently announced drought ridden mandals at about 450- 500 which were identified with 50- 60 percent crop losses.
As per official figures there was 60% deficit in North-East monsoon rains in Andhra Pradesh and the loss was 2000 crores of rupees to farmers. India’s 60% farming depends on rains and almost 40% food grains come from these areas only. If the monsoon fails, it’s going to be negative impact on national GDP through agriculture share, Inflation goes up and food prices will be volatile. We can’t blame the Mother Nature but we have Meteorological department to predict the rains, therefore the farmers may select the crops according to that. If the predictions go wrong the farmers will in trouble, that’s what happened in 2009. In 2009, The India Meteorological Department (IMD) was forecasted the monsoons as normal, few months later it revised the earlier predictions and announced that the rains would be a little lower than normal but actually there was terrible drought.
This year also same as 2009, IMD’s initial predictions were normal, second forecast was below normal but finally Andhra Pradesh has witnessed a drought and ultimately cost paid by the farmers is millions of rupees. Why the Met department is unable to give accurate predictions, what kind of technology they are using?....... I have no idea.
Seven years ago, when I first browse the weather website (http://www.weather.com/) to know the weather forecast in New Jersey… that’s so accurate. I admired and dreamt that one day our Indian Met department will give weather forecast as accurate as US Weather report. But still our Indian meteorological department is inefficient in accurate long term predictions.
Yes…. it’s too difficult to predict the weather in long range, but if the predictions are continuously wrong that means something wrong with the Met department technologies, It must update its technology to correct the failures. As India entered into a deal with USA on Nuclear technologies, why can’t the Ministry of Earth Science approach USA for weather related technologies for better predictions? I hope that the Met department will modernize the equipment to serve better since most of Indians are agriculture dependents. If they were informed accurately about the weather they can plan the crops and at lest they can mitigate their losses by cutting down the farm investments.
To encounter the drought, our agriculture scientists should focus on developing the climate resistant crops which are helpful to reduce the risk and food prices instability.
Our governments have been experimenting cloud seeding and artificial rains but those are all nonsuccess models and very expensive. If any drought conditions exist, the governments need to have contingency plans like special budget allocations, subsidies and maintaining buffer stock of food grains to encounter it. However, we hope that IMD will give accurate weather forecasts and such forecasts will give guidelines to farmers to select and plan the crops according to anticipated weather conditions.
Thursday, April 07, 2011
Manpower trend in agriculture
Agriculture is a labor intensive production process, it depends on huge manpower and draft animal power. Nearly 55% of Indian labor force is engaged in agriculture who are contributing to the development of rural economy. Over the past couple of decades the farm labor has been decreasing in agriculture which was caused by occupational change, people mindset, government policies and reforms. As the share of agriculture to GDP has been declining the agriculture work force is also moving to non agriculture sectors.
The Labor scarcity is the biggest threat to Indian agriculture due to urbanized life style, low farm wages, irregular employment in villages and laborious nature of work. Lot of unemployed rural youth moving to other well-paid occupations since farming is a physical drudgery, also the farm work has prejudiced as low profile profession. So the traditional farmers are forced to discard the food crops due to non availability and high wages of farm workers, farmers are switching to less labor intensive farming like short term commercial crops and social forestry plantations.
The intention of rural employment schemes are good, they have been creating employment to rural work force with prevailing wages. But the small and marginal farmers are incapable to pay such a bargain wages which are equal to government schemes, sometimes the availability of the farm labor is less in the crop season since all of the rural work force have engaged in the scheme works.
I am not going to blame the NREG and Food for work programs for diverting the rural labor to public works or non farm work, but the works schedules should be planned according to village priorities. The rural employment schemes should be halted whenever the work force is required for agriculture needs, especially in Kharif and Rabi seasons, Grama panchayath intervention must be required to synchronize the rural labor force.
Farm equipment is also necessary to overcome the labor shortage problem. Large scale farmers are able to adopt the new technologies and equipments since they have large crop area and strong financial power, but the small and marginal farmers are still depend on manpower. The farm equipment manufacturers should produce small scale farm machines, technology awareness has to be created among the farmers. The banks have to give the long term loans to farmers to buy farm equipment and the government should promote the innovative farm equipment, subsidies should be granted to the farmers on such equipments.
Some people often think that the farm labor is dirt cheap, now it’s very expensive. May be in near future the Indian farm labor is also going to be organized by companies like how the security professionals or industrial labor supplied on contract basis in cities. In Americas and Europe, lot of agencies are offering farm services like planting, chemical spraying, harvesting and haying with modern equipment. We never know... it could happen in India also.
The Labor scarcity is the biggest threat to Indian agriculture due to urbanized life style, low farm wages, irregular employment in villages and laborious nature of work. Lot of unemployed rural youth moving to other well-paid occupations since farming is a physical drudgery, also the farm work has prejudiced as low profile profession. So the traditional farmers are forced to discard the food crops due to non availability and high wages of farm workers, farmers are switching to less labor intensive farming like short term commercial crops and social forestry plantations.
The intention of rural employment schemes are good, they have been creating employment to rural work force with prevailing wages. But the small and marginal farmers are incapable to pay such a bargain wages which are equal to government schemes, sometimes the availability of the farm labor is less in the crop season since all of the rural work force have engaged in the scheme works.
I am not going to blame the NREG and Food for work programs for diverting the rural labor to public works or non farm work, but the works schedules should be planned according to village priorities. The rural employment schemes should be halted whenever the work force is required for agriculture needs, especially in Kharif and Rabi seasons, Grama panchayath intervention must be required to synchronize the rural labor force.
Farm equipment is also necessary to overcome the labor shortage problem. Large scale farmers are able to adopt the new technologies and equipments since they have large crop area and strong financial power, but the small and marginal farmers are still depend on manpower. The farm equipment manufacturers should produce small scale farm machines, technology awareness has to be created among the farmers. The banks have to give the long term loans to farmers to buy farm equipment and the government should promote the innovative farm equipment, subsidies should be granted to the farmers on such equipments.
Some people often think that the farm labor is dirt cheap, now it’s very expensive. May be in near future the Indian farm labor is also going to be organized by companies like how the security professionals or industrial labor supplied on contract basis in cities. In Americas and Europe, lot of agencies are offering farm services like planting, chemical spraying, harvesting and haying with modern equipment. We never know... it could happen in India also.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Tobacco crop is injurious to AP farmers wealth
Tobacco is one of the best cash crops in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the Tobacco crop is less perishable and the yield and value is high per acre. The Tobacco auction system is one of the best among the agriculture produces markets in India. The sale is guaranteed, the price is negotiated and determined among the traders and farmers in supervision of Tobacco board. Every year the Tobacco board fixes the crop size to protect the interests of traders, growers and public health.
Normally Tobacco board arranges the convention with growers and traders to discuss the market related issues before the market opens. In this year meeting, the farmers demanded their remunerative price shouldn’t be less than Rs.150.00 per kg for higher variety. As per my understanding… this year tobacco crop quality is good, the yields also lesser than the fixed crop size and the traders have enough quantity of export orders, so the farmers have justified reason to ask for remunerative price of Rs.150.00. The markets were opened on Feb24th and the traders bid their price not more than Rs.120 per kg for higher grades. The farmers were stopped the auction and they have protested for better price since the plantation and processing expenses have gone up by 20% in this year.
Recently the Tobacco Board reopened the auction centers by the force of traders to continue the market with the same low price. Farmers are in misery and they are inescapable condition to sell their crop with the lower rate of Rs.120 per kg. The traders turn into a syndicate and they want to maximize their profits by convincing with fake reasons that the global tobacco yields are high and the buffer stock are still on hold (as usually... they are misguiding the farmers). Tobacco board is showing over enthusiasm to protect the traders by ignoring the farmers’ interests and also the Board has failed to negotiate the trader for getting better price to farmers.
Government of India needs to take necessary steps to help the tobacco farmers in this crisis situation since GOI is getting lot of revenue from local tobacco markets and foreign exchange from exports. The Government has to finance the State Trading Corporation of India or any Tobacco growers’ societies to help the farmers for better price. I strongly support the FDIs in tobacco trade because the farmers will get fair price in the competition of increased traders and manufacturers. If the Government doesn’t curb the traders’ deceitful practices, then the farming tobacco crop is injurious farmers’ wealth.
Monday, December 27, 2010
A super farmer in Indian farmers
Yes, you are reading it correctly and we used to visualize the Indian farmers are always distressed and debt- ridden. But this time I am stating about a big farmer Amitabh Bachchan, a Bollywood's premier action hero, and super star in Indian cinema. Superstar turned to farmer in real life after long journey of his reel life, I don’t want to dig deeper that what kind of circumstances dragged him to become a farmer. However we should appreciate him to be a part of the farmers’ community and farmers also have to be proud such a biggest celebrity chooses his profession as agriculture.
In so many media interviews, he himself insisted that he has right to be called as FARMER. The Superstar recently came in to news which symbolically plowing his agriculture land and trying to prove that he is a farmer. I don’t think that this twitter addicted super star is familiar with the farming practices, crops and agriculture related subjects. I never see his comments on agriculture or farmers’ issues in any social networking websites or his blog in spite he proclaimed as a farmer. In the movies, we used to see the hero eventually bash the bad guys and save the people in critical situations. I expected the same thing from this Super Farmer that he can do something for the farmers towards his social responsibility.
This super farmer is a brand ambassador for Gujarat state…Can’t he look at the perils of Gujarat farmers? This so-called farmer has been living in Mumbai…Can’t he think about Maharashtra cotton farmer’s suicides? The assessment of Bachchan brand was estimated at Rs 700 crores. He used to collect Rs.3-4 crores for each advertisement and Rs.1-2 crores for each episode of TV programs. I would like to state some of the generous persons who shared their earnings for public interest i.e. Azim premji, Shiv Nadar, Narayan murthy and so on. Of course…..this is not about the monitory contribution, it’s all about the mission. As per my knowledge if a celebrity really works towards the society that definitely make an incredible help to the people.
Being such an inspiring and an influence person, Mr. Amitabh can do a lot to the farmers. He can organize the fundraising events to help the farmers or he may work with any farmers’ welfare organization to uplift the farmers or he can adopt a village to implement good agriculture practices or not the least he can carry out a nationwide message campaign against suicides of distressed farmers which shall create courage and hope. I would like to appreciate Mr. Ameer khan since he produced the movie Peepli [Live] which depicted the farmers’ plights and also he joined in Narmada Bachao Andolan for poor farmers’ water rights and fair compensation for land loses.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
December 23rd- KisanDivas
Entire India celebrates Farmers day every December 23rd which was Chaudhary Charan Singh Birthday.Kisan Divas is recognition of his valuable services rendered to the farmers of India. Chaudhary Charan Singh is credited to formulate and implement the famous Zamindari Abolition Act. His passionate appeal and magnetic persona united all the farmers against the moneylenders and landlords. He was also a very effective writer and penned his thoughts on farmers and their problems and solutions. Charan Singh passed away on 29 May 1987.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Heavy rains whipped the Farmers
The depression in Bay of Bengal turned into disaster for Andhra Pradesh farmers, their crops were badly affected with intensified thunderstorms. Heavy showers and thunderstorms all over the districts damaged the crops so much that nothing of the crop remains. The paddy heaps were completely submerged in the flood drowns fields, and the Cotton, Chilly, Corn, Sugarcane which were ready to harvest have gone waste and tobacco was severely damaged in the plantation stage. Total 25.06 lakhs of acers of agriculture crops affected in the rain-hit districts, paddy is 17.84 lakhs of acers and Cotton is 5.83 lakhs of acres among the total. The farmers were shocked to witness their hard grown grain was sinking in floods and the ready-to-be-harvested crops have been spoilt. All the farmers are in tears, frustration, misery with the floods havoc and some farmer’s suicides were reported.
In the 11th 5 years plan, our government set a target of 4% growth in agriculture but this year the agriculture is in retrograde motion. Andhra Pradesh farmers have been facing cyclones in recent months with “Khaimuk”, “Nisha”, “Laila”, “Jal” and most recent heavy rains have caused damage to their crops. Andhra Pradesh has recorded the highest number of floods in 2010 during the last 30years, it will take another 5 years to farmers to recover from all kinds of losses. The government estimates that paddy loss is approx to Rs.2000 crores and farmers have no hope that the mill owners will buy the wet and black colored paddy. Farmers have to spend again to clean the fields from the flood water.
Crop Insurance became a futile exercise, the Agriculture officials are failed to convince the farmers to get the insurance coverage for their crops. Lending Banks are used to endorse the crop insurance while giving the crop loans to the farmers but the most of the loans have given to the land owned farmers. 60% of the farming has been undertaken by the tenant farmers who are not able to get loans from banks since they are not land owners and eventually no insurance coverage. Government has to enumerate the tenant farmers while assessing the crop damages since most of the victims are tenant farmers.
Government has to help the farmers to recover from their perils by paying the compensation by each cropwise. Government should take the steps to buy the paddy which was discolored and soaked in rain water. Fresh loans have to be given for next crop season and the moratorium should be ordered on existing loans. Government has to provide the subsidized seeds, fertilizers and pesticides for upcoming crop season. Government has to come up with a paradigm for crop insurance plan to the tenant farmers since the majority of agriculture land is under lease of them. Government has to support small and marginal farmers otherwise they are unable to bare losses and they can’t keep doing agriculture.
In the 11th 5 years plan, our government set a target of 4% growth in agriculture but this year the agriculture is in retrograde motion. Andhra Pradesh farmers have been facing cyclones in recent months with “Khaimuk”, “Nisha”, “Laila”, “Jal” and most recent heavy rains have caused damage to their crops. Andhra Pradesh has recorded the highest number of floods in 2010 during the last 30years, it will take another 5 years to farmers to recover from all kinds of losses. The government estimates that paddy loss is approx to Rs.2000 crores and farmers have no hope that the mill owners will buy the wet and black colored paddy. Farmers have to spend again to clean the fields from the flood water.
Crop Insurance became a futile exercise, the Agriculture officials are failed to convince the farmers to get the insurance coverage for their crops. Lending Banks are used to endorse the crop insurance while giving the crop loans to the farmers but the most of the loans have given to the land owned farmers. 60% of the farming has been undertaken by the tenant farmers who are not able to get loans from banks since they are not land owners and eventually no insurance coverage. Government has to enumerate the tenant farmers while assessing the crop damages since most of the victims are tenant farmers.
Government has to help the farmers to recover from their perils by paying the compensation by each cropwise. Government should take the steps to buy the paddy which was discolored and soaked in rain water. Fresh loans have to be given for next crop season and the moratorium should be ordered on existing loans. Government has to provide the subsidized seeds, fertilizers and pesticides for upcoming crop season. Government has to come up with a paradigm for crop insurance plan to the tenant farmers since the majority of agriculture land is under lease of them. Government has to support small and marginal farmers otherwise they are unable to bare losses and they can’t keep doing agriculture.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Solidarity to 490 Millions of Small farmers
Agriculture in India has long history, India ranks second worldwide in farm output. India is a land of 490 million small farmers of total 600 million and having the average land size of 3.2 acres (1.3 hectares). They are cultivating their small farms with the support of their family members and local labor. Small Farms have always been the most efficient for sustainable and bio-diversified way of agriculture. Small farms have tremendous scope for increasing productivity because the natural capital - the soil, the water, and the ecology can be improved through conservation and rejuvenation.60% of the farm produces comes from the small farms only which are assuring food security, rural employment, generating the revenue in the form of taxes, cess and foreign currency through exports. But India lost her 200,000 of quality farmers from past 15 years who are committed suicides and around 100 million of farmers are living on less than a dollar per day. 40% of the small farmers are being forced to leave the agriculture and migrating to towns and cities.
Farmers are dragged in to such kind of plights due to various reasons like spurious seeds, poor quality pesticides, non availability of fertilizers, delayed monsoons, ineffective irrigation system, mounting debts, exploitation by private money-lenders and banks, lack of insurance, Government polices and so on… The main problems for the ill-fated farmers are their Indebtedness and credit crisis, because the income from their farms is not sufficient to their farm investment and their generic living expenditure. The farm incomes are connected with the farm produce prices which are not remunerative and farmers are getting very less share for their produces paid by the consumer. Commercial Banks are also responsible for farmers’ perils, they are not extending enough agriculture loans to farmers. Some small farmers are not qualified to avail the credit facilities due to bankers’ abusive norms which are forcing them to turn to private money lenders with exorbitant interest rates. The government improper models of industrialization are pushing the rural communities off the land. The small farmers are migrating to cities as construction labor, apartment watchmen and positively they don’t want their children as to become farmers. Very few young people are coming into farming … If this situation continues, India can’t expect food security and it’s going to be the REPUBLIC OF HUNGER.
In fact, India needs small farmers because her peace, her land sovereignty, her food sovereignty is in their hands. They are the pillars of the country’s development. There is a need to encourage the small farmers by providing easy access to credit facilities, Reserve Bank of India has to control the rural banks/commercial bank to extend the agri loans to small farmers and Tenant farmers. The government has to make sure the supply of quality seeds, prompt distribution of fertilizers, extension support, marketing, and insurance to small farmers. Public Private Partnership is required to promote organic farming among the small farmers. Government should provide subsidized for farm equipment, proper training and techniques to use innovative tools to avoid physical drudgery. Basic literacy and women farmers’ encouragement programmes should be evolved to their family and rural community development. The government should enact the collective farming / Contract farming with the modality of merging small farm land holdings under farmers cooperatives, make the farmers as independent share holder and collectively utilizing the supply chain/value chain with farmers operated marketing societies or private processors. (Just like dairy cooperatives). Government should reinforce the rural communities by providing basic welfare amenities like drinking water, electricity, transportation, primary health and sanitation.
We hope…all the small farmers avail the modern technologies and market opportunities to strengthen their economic status as well as nation’s prosperity. This is a part of campaign to get the United Nations to declare International Year of Family farming. Please Visit: http://www.familyfarmingcampaign.net/
Farmers are dragged in to such kind of plights due to various reasons like spurious seeds, poor quality pesticides, non availability of fertilizers, delayed monsoons, ineffective irrigation system, mounting debts, exploitation by private money-lenders and banks, lack of insurance, Government polices and so on… The main problems for the ill-fated farmers are their Indebtedness and credit crisis, because the income from their farms is not sufficient to their farm investment and their generic living expenditure. The farm incomes are connected with the farm produce prices which are not remunerative and farmers are getting very less share for their produces paid by the consumer. Commercial Banks are also responsible for farmers’ perils, they are not extending enough agriculture loans to farmers. Some small farmers are not qualified to avail the credit facilities due to bankers’ abusive norms which are forcing them to turn to private money lenders with exorbitant interest rates. The government improper models of industrialization are pushing the rural communities off the land. The small farmers are migrating to cities as construction labor, apartment watchmen and positively they don’t want their children as to become farmers. Very few young people are coming into farming … If this situation continues, India can’t expect food security and it’s going to be the REPUBLIC OF HUNGER.
In fact, India needs small farmers because her peace, her land sovereignty, her food sovereignty is in their hands. They are the pillars of the country’s development. There is a need to encourage the small farmers by providing easy access to credit facilities, Reserve Bank of India has to control the rural banks/commercial bank to extend the agri loans to small farmers and Tenant farmers. The government has to make sure the supply of quality seeds, prompt distribution of fertilizers, extension support, marketing, and insurance to small farmers. Public Private Partnership is required to promote organic farming among the small farmers. Government should provide subsidized for farm equipment, proper training and techniques to use innovative tools to avoid physical drudgery. Basic literacy and women farmers’ encouragement programmes should be evolved to their family and rural community development. The government should enact the collective farming / Contract farming with the modality of merging small farm land holdings under farmers cooperatives, make the farmers as independent share holder and collectively utilizing the supply chain/value chain with farmers operated marketing societies or private processors. (Just like dairy cooperatives). Government should reinforce the rural communities by providing basic welfare amenities like drinking water, electricity, transportation, primary health and sanitation.
We hope…all the small farmers avail the modern technologies and market opportunities to strengthen their economic status as well as nation’s prosperity. This is a part of campaign to get the United Nations to declare International Year of Family farming. Please Visit: http://www.familyfarmingcampaign.net/
Friday, April 09, 2010
Agriculture Outsourcing
India is eminent for Software Outsourcing, China is well-known for computer hardware and domestic products outsourcing. Mexico is the global leader in auto parts outsourcing. USA is a giant for high-tech goods like Aircrafts, Automobiles, Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals. Japan is famous for Electronics. So... what about outsourcing of agriculture? Lot of countries are importing food and agro products from other countries to satisfy their population needs. Governments and corporations are buying farmland in other countries to grow their own food to protect their food security. We can call it as outsourcing of agriculture. These countries are outsourcing the farming for various reasons: most of them are lack of natural resources and volatile climate conditions.
Take the instance of Middle East, they don’t have sufficient water resources to grow crops and taking care of the growing population. Saudi Arabia gives up the growing crops in the desert with exorbitant spending. They invested in Indonesia for 500,000 hectares of farmland and other animal production investments in abroad. United Arab Emirates has leased 375,000 hectares in northern Sudan, 325,000 hectares in Pakistan and 5,000 in Ethiopia. Kuwait arranged $546 million loan to Cambodia in exchange for a lease to a large area of rice lands. Qatar leased 100,000 hectares in the Philippines, Vietnam and Kenya. Some of the Asian countries also pursuing same deals, South Korean companies have arranged to lease 690,000 hectares in Sudan and Madagascar. China invested $800 millions in Mozambique agriculture. China bought a lot of farm land in Senegal for Sesame production. More than 300 Indian companies have invested around $4.0 billions in Ethiopia for Floriculture and agriculture. Lot of outsourcing investments in agriculture projects were made in Sub Saharan Africa and South East Asia.
Some of the Latin American countries are encouraging agriculture investments. Mercosul countries (Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Venezuela and Brazil) are attracting the foreign investors with their land & investment policies and their abundance of natural resources. Many of US and Canadian Agribusiness corporations (Bunge Foods, Cargill, Unilever, and ADM) are cultivating and processing the food grains, soya, sugar and ethanol in South America.
We can assume that all these efforts are feeding the people, but one thing we can notice that the entire agriculture trade is going to the hands of the wealthy nations, retails giants and big food processing organizations. The developing and poor countries are unable to feed their people if the surplus food which will be produced will be shipped to abroad. So the investing countries or corporations shall take the consideration of local population food needs. Leasing and selling the land to foreign investors should be transparent and accountable, that revenue shall be used for the benefit of the local population. Please send your comments: YashwanthX@yahoo.com
Take the instance of Middle East, they don’t have sufficient water resources to grow crops and taking care of the growing population. Saudi Arabia gives up the growing crops in the desert with exorbitant spending. They invested in Indonesia for 500,000 hectares of farmland and other animal production investments in abroad. United Arab Emirates has leased 375,000 hectares in northern Sudan, 325,000 hectares in Pakistan and 5,000 in Ethiopia. Kuwait arranged $546 million loan to Cambodia in exchange for a lease to a large area of rice lands. Qatar leased 100,000 hectares in the Philippines, Vietnam and Kenya. Some of the Asian countries also pursuing same deals, South Korean companies have arranged to lease 690,000 hectares in Sudan and Madagascar. China invested $800 millions in Mozambique agriculture. China bought a lot of farm land in Senegal for Sesame production. More than 300 Indian companies have invested around $4.0 billions in Ethiopia for Floriculture and agriculture. Lot of outsourcing investments in agriculture projects were made in Sub Saharan Africa and South East Asia.
Some of the Latin American countries are encouraging agriculture investments. Mercosul countries (Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Venezuela and Brazil) are attracting the foreign investors with their land & investment policies and their abundance of natural resources. Many of US and Canadian Agribusiness corporations (Bunge Foods, Cargill, Unilever, and ADM) are cultivating and processing the food grains, soya, sugar and ethanol in South America.
We can assume that all these efforts are feeding the people, but one thing we can notice that the entire agriculture trade is going to the hands of the wealthy nations, retails giants and big food processing organizations. The developing and poor countries are unable to feed their people if the surplus food which will be produced will be shipped to abroad. So the investing countries or corporations shall take the consideration of local population food needs. Leasing and selling the land to foreign investors should be transparent and accountable, that revenue shall be used for the benefit of the local population. Please send your comments: YashwanthX@yahoo.com
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Square shaped watermelon
But the limitation is cost, the square shaped melon cost is triple than the normal one. The groceries retailers are marketing them as Gift fruits.
You tube video
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Great Inventions for water
QDRUM:Hans Hendrikse, a South African architect invented the QDRUM, the drum made of low-density linear polyethylene to enable people transport of water in a safer, easier way. The Drum can be rolled rather than carrying water on their heads. This is an amazing invention to prevent drudgery and wasting of valuable working hours. It’s really helpful, if some NGO’s or any charitable organizations donate to our drought ridden states in India.See the QDRUM Video on You tube
Two-thirds of small farmers in India don’t have access to irrigation and depend on unpredictable monsoons. Their reliable source for water are only tube wells and bore wells. Tube wells and bore wells need electric motors or Diesel engines to fetch the water to surface. Irregular power cuts in electricity and diesel price hikes were adversely affected on farming crops.
International Development Enterprises (IDE) :developed the Treadle Pump, is an irrigation device by stepping up and down on treadles which drive pistons, creating cylinder suction that draws groundwater to the surface. In most of Indian states, the farmers are using this low-cost and easy to operate devise to boost their yields and their incomes.See the Treadle Pump Video on You tube
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Blazing Brinjal
Brinjal is very common vegetable fruit in India.India is the second largest Brinjal producing country in the world. Now the Brinjal is blazing topic in India caused by Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) Brinjal which was developed by Mahyco Monsanto Biotech. (Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company & Monsanto, USA). Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of India accepted for commercial use of BT Brinjal- the country’s first genetically modified (GM) food crop. The GEAC was set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forests to regulate research, testing and commercial release of GM crops, foods and organisms. However, the government could not taken decision without more consultation with stakeholders.
In the meantime lot of public groups, Environmental activists, scientists, and farmers are protesting against BT Brinjal. The Environment and Forest minister Jairam Ramesh is touring seven cities—Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Nagpur and Chandigarh—and holding public discussions with farmers, activists and scientists on their comfort with Bt brinjal.
The protesters are claiming that: BT brinjal is a threat to plant biodiversity, flaws in the data on the gene inserted into the brinjal, no long-term toxicity and cancer-safety tests were done which leads to kidney and liver damage. Farm workers are suffering with allergies including rashes, itches, and irritations while working in GM crop fields. Cattle health may get harm and negative impact on its milk production.
Supporters are impressing that: BT Brinjal will help to tackle the pest in an environment-friendly manner and increase yields and farm income. BT Brinjal has been tested in full compliance with the guidelines and directives of the regulatory authorities to ensure its safety. It has the same nutritional value and is compositionally identical to non BT brinjal, except for the additional BT protein which is specific in its action against the Pest.
The GM companies should focus their R&Ds on the crops like...
In the meantime lot of public groups, Environmental activists, scientists, and farmers are protesting against BT Brinjal. The Environment and Forest minister Jairam Ramesh is touring seven cities—Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Nagpur and Chandigarh—and holding public discussions with farmers, activists and scientists on their comfort with Bt brinjal.
The protesters are claiming that: BT brinjal is a threat to plant biodiversity, flaws in the data on the gene inserted into the brinjal, no long-term toxicity and cancer-safety tests were done which leads to kidney and liver damage. Farm workers are suffering with allergies including rashes, itches, and irritations while working in GM crop fields. Cattle health may get harm and negative impact on its milk production.
Supporters are impressing that: BT Brinjal will help to tackle the pest in an environment-friendly manner and increase yields and farm income. BT Brinjal has been tested in full compliance with the guidelines and directives of the regulatory authorities to ensure its safety. It has the same nutritional value and is compositionally identical to non BT brinjal, except for the additional BT protein which is specific in its action against the Pest.
I am not against to the technology but we already have more than 200 varieties of brinjal, there is no dearth of brinjal in India. Indians have been eating so many conventional varities of Brinjal for centuries which contains rich health & nutrition values. We can develop new varities by hybridization and natural selection, what is the need of introduction of BT Brinjal. They are mentioning BT Brinjal contains same nutrional values as non BT, so there is no need of Sense of Urgency on BT Brinjal at this point of time.
The GM companies should focus their R&Ds on the crops like...
Ethanol based Transgenic Sugarcane and sugar beet crops have to be developed for support Biofules instead of fossil fuels. Genetically Engineered Tobacco plants are required for medical use. Modified Subabul, Bamboo plants are required more tonnage for paper production.
Please share your ideas on GM crops: farmersindia Email
Please share your ideas on GM crops: farmersindia Email
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Are farmers not eligible for Padma awards?
Yes, 2010 Padma awards committee ignored the farmers. The committee considered the citizens from only Art, Literature, Education, Sports, Medicine, Science and Engineering, Trade and Industry…Click for 2010 awards with discipline They did not recognize the farming & rural community related fields though farming community comprises up to 70 % of Indian population living in rural. I am not under estimating the dignitaries who are nominated, but requesting to update the selection criteria by including agriculture and rural related disciplines also. Film actors, dancers, cricketers, businessmen and others are important but let us give importance to farmers also.
If the committee really want support the farmers, they can consider the scientist from agriculture universities,Journalists in rural and agriculture disciplines,rural business entrepreneurs, rural innovators, Model farmers, individuals who are working for farmers’ development and so on. These distinguished awards encourage them and influence others to strive for excellence. How ever... my beloved humble Indian farmers have abundance of self esteem, they won’t plead and lobby for awards.
General Info: Republic day has been the occasion for India to honor its citizens who contributed for nation. Padma Awards were instituted in the year 1954.The award is given in three categories, namely, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.Padma Shri is awarded for ‘distinguished service’Padma Bhushan for ‘distinguished service of a high order’; and Padma Vibhushan for ‘exceptional and distinguished service’. The Awards Committee submits the recommendations to the Prime Minister and the President for their approval.
If the committee really want support the farmers, they can consider the scientist from agriculture universities,Journalists in rural and agriculture disciplines,rural business entrepreneurs, rural innovators, Model farmers, individuals who are working for farmers’ development and so on. These distinguished awards encourage them and influence others to strive for excellence. How ever... my beloved humble Indian farmers have abundance of self esteem, they won’t plead and lobby for awards.
General Info: Republic day has been the occasion for India to honor its citizens who contributed for nation. Padma Awards were instituted in the year 1954.The award is given in three categories, namely, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.Padma Shri is awarded for ‘distinguished service’Padma Bhushan for ‘distinguished service of a high order’; and Padma Vibhushan for ‘exceptional and distinguished service’. The Awards Committee submits the recommendations to the Prime Minister and the President for their approval.
Friday, January 08, 2010
Genetically Modified Crops
In the controversy of BT Brinjal in India, I would like to share my opinion about GM Crops:
What is GM?
GM techniques are the direct manipulation of the genetic makeup of organisms for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques. Combining genes from different organisms is known as recombinant DNA technology and the resulting organism is said to be "Genetically Modified," "Genetically engineered," or "Transgenic."
Importance of GM:
Today‘s world population is 6.8 billions and by 2050 it’s going to be 9.5 billions upward. In 40 years the population will be increased by 40%, our natural resources are shrinking and many regions of the world will be lack of food and nutritional security. The answer for the challenges is to increase the cultivation with more yields and nutritional values. Bio-technology brought revolutionary changes in crop production and management techniques by reduce the dependency on conventional insecticides, herbicides.GM Corps improve the quality of nutritional contents and of food products, bring higher net economic returns to the farmers and reduce the risk of environment pollution.
A number of developed and developing countries including USA, Argentina, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Spain, France, South Africa and China are growing genetically modified crops. The Indian first Transgenic crop BT cotton made rapid strides to Bio technology crops in India. Lot of farmers adopted the BT cotton, cultivated more than 700,000 acres and got a lot of gain in terms yields and cost wise. GM Maize illustrated great results in South Africa, and American Continent. Most of the scientific organizations like UK academies of sciences, US National academy of sciences, GRAS- FDA, International Food Policy research Institute- Asia, WHO and all are concluded thatGM Crops can be used to produce foods. The global transgenic crops market is going to be $25 billion by 2010.
Achieving Food and Nutritional security is not easy task, we need to try every option either GM or Conventional. The food grains which are cultivated today are not absolutely wholly natural, some of them are altered by selective breeding or chemicals or Viruses. Definitely, we need to depend on these modern technologies to get bumper yields, disease resistant and drought resistant crops for growing food need. The government and the progressive thinkers should focus on public understanding on AG-Bio technology.
We are against to hunger and poverty, not to the technology.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Climate Change... it’s in our hand
The Global Language Monitor has announced the Top Word of the Decade is ‘Global Warming’ and ‘Climate Change’ was the top phrase. Of course both are caused by greenhouse gases (Water Vapor, carbon, Methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.) major caused by Carbon dioxide and Methane. The greenhouse gases emission is increasing the earth’s temperature. The consequences are raise in sea levels, more rainfall, extreme weather conditions, melting glaciers, and uneven seasons.
Affect to Indian agriculture:
Agriculture is extremely vulnerable to climate change. The impacts of climate change on agriculture are expected to be negative, threatening Indian food security. Higher temperatures are eventually reducing yields of crops and encourage the weed and pest. Changes in precipitation patterns may increase of short-run crop failures and long-run production declines. Climate change will have varying effects irrigated yields for all crops like Rice, wheat, and soybeans which will cause food shortages and dramatic price increases. Increase in temperatures need more fertilizers which cause to higher emissions.Climate change is likely to aggravate the heat stress in dairy animals, adversely affecting their productive and reproductive performance. A preliminary estimate indicates that global warming is likely to lead to a loss of 1.6 million tones in milk production in India by 2020.Indian council for agriculture research (ICAR) studies on the effects of climate change found that a temperature increase of one degree Celsius would mean 3 to 7 per cent fall in wheat, soybean, mustard, groundnut and potato crops.
Climate change is reality and it’s in our hand. We need to take the necessary steps and adopt new technologies. Government has to teach the farmers by switching to crop varieties that could withstand heat, because climate change could improve the chickpea, maize, sorghum and millet crops in the West Coast and the potato and mustard crops in northwest India. Investment in agriculture research is needed to develop heat- resistant crop strains. We need to reduce carbon emissions sharply soon and encourage Bio fuels rather than fossil fuels.
For more details on UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen COP 15:United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Father of Green Revolution- Norman Borlaug
The Father of Green revolution Norman Ernest Borlaug has died on September 12th 2009 (March 25, 1914 – September 12, 2009). Dr.Borlaugh introduced high-yield crop innovations for bumper harvests across the fields of India in 1970s that was a turning point in India’s food production pattern. Borlaug is considered the brain behind India’s Green Revolution. He began working with wheat production in Mexico at the end of World War II. He developed varieties of wheat that were resistant to disease and yielded higher crops. He took these varieties to other continents, where in certain places grain yields more than quadrupled. He has collaborated with scientists from India and Pakistan, in adapting the new wheat to new lands and in gaining acceptance for their production.
The Government of India awarded PADMA VIBHUSHAN in 2006 in Science and Engineering for his role in spreading the Green Revolution to India. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for developing disease-resistant wheat that helped developing world in fighting famine and He was also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by US Congress, in 2007.In addition to those Dr. Borlaug has received extensive recognition from universities and organizations in six countries: Canada, India, Mexico, Norway, Pakistan, and the United States.
“Food is the moral right of all who are born into this world” -Norman Borlaug
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Aug,15th 2009 Declared as “Drought India”
India is facing the threat of drought with 60% of rain shortfall and the poorest in 83 years. Farmers are unable to sow crops in this kharif season, India declared 177 districts are in drought among 626 districts. Monsoon rains are critical to India's farm prospects and vital for paddy, sugarcane, oilseeds and other crops. Up to 70 percent of Indians are dependent on farm incomes, and about 60 percent of India's farms depend on rains. This state of calamity will negatively impact on food prices and economy.
The government should take measures to maintain the sufficient food stocks of food grains to distribute in drought affected areas. Necessary steps should be planned for next crop season “Rabi”. We wish the drought couldn’t become famine.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
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