As per the latest statistics released by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), the level of support to agricultural producers (expressed as a percentage of producer revenues) in 2007-09 was 9% in the US and 23% in the European Union (EU).

A substantial reduction in trade-distorting domestic support is a key element of the mandate of the Doha Round of trade negotiations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The current agriculture negotiations in the WTO are based on a draft text of proposals brought out on 6 December 2008. As and when these draft modalities are agreed, developed countries, including the US and EU, will be required to reduce their maximum permissible levels of overall trade-distorting domestic support to farmers by 55%-80% over the implementation period of the Doha Round of trade negotiations.

This information was given by Shri Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

]]> http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/subsidy-by-us-and-eu-countries-to-agriculture-under-wto/feed/ 0 http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/ensuring-food-security-amid-challenges-dr-s-ayyappan/ http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/ensuring-food-security-amid-challenges-dr-s-ayyappan/#comments Wed, 11 Aug 2010 10:36:03 +0000 India Current Affairs http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/?p=9557 The National Agricultural Research System (NARS), one of the largest in the world has been playing a catalytic role in the overall growth and development of agriculture through generation of technologies for enhancing the productivity and production by overcoming production constraints. India, which was once upon a time dependent on imports of food grains to feed its population, has now become exporter of food grains.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) continues to lead the country in the area of agricultural research, education and extension through its wide network of 98 Research Institutes and 578 Krishi Vigyan Kendra’s across the country. In addition, ICAR supports 45 State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) in their region specific research and academic pursuits. Owing to globalization and liberalization, the Council has reoriented its research education and educational programmes to make agriculture more remunerative. The system-based orientation is initiating a paradigm shift in the farming system, keeping production-to–consumption system of operation in view.

Currently, India accounts for about 12 percent wheat, 21 percent rice (paddy), 25 percent pulses, 10 percent fruits, 22 percent sugarcane and 16 percent milk of global production. This is being achieved from 2.3 percent of the global land, 4.2 percent of the water and little over 11 percent of arable land having only 50 percent potential for irrigation, to support 18 percent of world’s population. The returns from investment on R&D in agriculture are of the order of 48 percent, and strength of this sector was demonstrated in the wake of recent downturn in the global food situation, while India remained in a comfortable situation.

However the ICAR, being a knowledge based organization, has to address the challenges through technology driven innovative approach. The constraints of increasing biotic and abiotic pressures, decreasing biodiversity, shrinking and degrading natural resources and increasing climate variability are being tackled in pro-active manner. The overall strategy is to achieve the goal of farmers’ well being, livelihood, food and nutritional security, equity and economic prosperity. Collaborative effort of the Council with various public and private enterprises provided technology led sustainable rural livelihood models on production to consumption system in important commodities. Council introduced models of technological innovation-based sustainable rural livelihood initiatives in 102 of 150 most disadvantaged districts, benefitting 50,000 farm families.

To safeguard the food security from climate variability, a National Institute on Abiotic Stress Management, with deemed-to-university status has been established in Maharashtra and is already operational. The important research programmes of this institute would be in a matrix mode and conducted through four multi-disciplinary schools dealing with different type of abiotic stresses and policy support. To contain crop losses due to droughts and floods, special emphasis is given to develop new varieties of food crop that can withstand moisture stress and water submergence. An ambitious multi-disciplinary programme involving 35 institutes aims to broaden the window of optimal growth conditions for cultivated crops under adverse climate, thereby increasing yield and reaping enhanced stabilized production under changed climatic conditions.

To ensure availability of quality seeds and planting materials to farmers, the ICAR has stepped up its efforts resulting in production and distribution of more than 7340 tonnes of breeder seeds and over 25 lakhs planting materials during 2009-10. The Council is ensuring timely supply of these materials along with necessary instructions by making good use of its wide network of 578 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) across the country.

To achieve targeted growth rate of 6% in livestock output and safeguard the livestock production, a high security animal disease laboratory was established. The laboratory is playing a pivotal role in providing diagnostic services for avian influenza besides developing vaccine. Establishment of an international Foot-and-Mouth Disease Reference Laboratory is underway and will facilitate global participation and eradication of the disease from South Asia. Similarly, diagnostic kits have been also developed for important plant diseases. An e-pest surveillance for cotton and soybean is developed based on the three-tier architecture, consisting of a database, an offline data entry and uploads application and an online reporting and advisory application.

To address the issues relating to intellectual property management, the Council formulated its own guidelines that provide the required policy framework to develop research partnerships. The ICAR has adopted a decentralized three-tier institutional mechanism; wherein an Institute Technology Management Unit (ITMU) and a Committee (ITMC) are established in each institute that are empowered to handle various intellectual property and technology management matters on day-to-day basis. Five institutes generating more of technologies with commercial potential were identified as the Zonal Technology Management & Business Planning and Development (ZTM&BPD) units to serve as the middle-tier, in synergy with the ITMUs in their respective zones, and work out the best-fit strategies and work plan for technology transfer and realization on a zonal basis. The Central Technology Management Committee at the ICAR (Headquarters) is the apex decision-making body facilitating in techno-legal and policy matters/concerns. The central unit is also to catalyze more initiatives in building sustainable public-private relationships.

In the current knowledge intensive era, sharing of agricultural knowledge and information among various stakeholders is an essential component. Hence, the Council is continuously striving to develop a knowledge based and technology driven information dissemination system for quick, effectual and cost- effective delivery of message to all the stakeholders in agriculture. Keeping pace with the current knowledge diffusion trends, ICT is being employed vigorously to reach out to target audience in a most compatible fashion. A Hub has been operationalized at ICAR Hq. for e-connectivity of 192 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and 8 Zonal Project Directorates (ZPDs) in the country and gradually it will broaden its range of reach. The e- facility is expected to foster an enabling environment to KVKs for developing partnerships and collaborations between scientists and farmers for sharing appropriate technologies, best practices and innovative ideas among all stakeholders. The facility will provide internet access to global e-content on agriculture and development of KVKs web pages with user-friendly information such as FAQs, weather forecasting, calendar of activities etc. A two way audio and one way video multicasting and broadcasting will further facilitate and strengthen communication bond between stakeholders. It will also provide computer generated agro-advisory alerts to mobile phone holder farmers and other stakeholders in the district. Updated weather based agro-advisories are posted on ICAR website regularly for farmers. A Kisan Mobile Advisory (KVK-KMA) service has been initiated in which messages will be delivered on every Tuesday and Friday to the farmers by the KVKs. It is expected that 60,000 farmers will be benefited by 6,24,000 messages.

Keeping pace with the current knowledge diffusion trends, the Council is delivering and showcasing appropriate agricultural technologies to farmers and other stakeholders through print, electronic and web mode. A range of authoritative books, monographs and periodicals are regularly published and circulated across the country on agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries and other allied sectors. Recently, ICAR has launched regular video and audio programmes on Doordarshan and All India Radio wherein experts of the different disciplines share their knowledge and experiences directly with target groups. Video films produced by ICAR on remunerative agricultural technologies are being regularly screened on various channels of Doordarshan. The website of the Council has been recently revamped to make it more user-friendly by including FAQs, motivating success stories and useful information as Krishi Gyan. More than 97,000 visitors are taking advantage of the website per month. The research journals published by ICAR have been made available in open access mode for global reach and visibility.

As agriculture is becoming more and more knowledge-intensive and market-driven, far more innovative research, development efforts, efficient policies and effective delivery of services, supplies and markets are imperative. The national agricultural policy has set a goal of 4 percent plus growth rate in agriculture to ensure sustainable household food security. With the passage of time, the new research would certainly be more capital and knowledge intensive. Further, with given investments in R&D in general and agriculture in particular, it is important to be selective about what needs to be done, how it should be done and delivered so that resources are judiciously used.

The growth in agriculture being an outcome of interplay of several factors implies that besides a vibrant NARS, an enabling policy environment, adequate public funding, supportive markets and financial institutions, availability of inputs including energy, feed and fodder, and improved income, are equally important to provide impetus to the farm sector. As agriculture and food sector in the next two decades will be very different from what it is today, ICAR is working on a new vision required for transforming present day agriculture into more productive, efficient and sustainable. (PIB Features)

]]> http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/ensuring-food-security-amid-challenges-dr-s-ayyappan/feed/ 0 http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/special-tax-benefits-and-facilities-in-sezs/ http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/special-tax-benefits-and-facilities-in-sezs/#comments Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:20:30 +0000 India Current Affairs http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/?p=9513 Special tax benefits/facilites are offered to Special Economic Zones (SEZs)  in the country.  They include:

I.      Duty free import/domestic procurement of goods for development, operation and maintenance of SEZ units.

II.      100% Income Tax exemption on export income for SEZ units under Section 10AA of the Income Tax Act for first 5 years, 50% for the next 5 years thereafter and 50% of the ploughed back export profit for next 5 years;

III.      Exemption from minimum alternate tax under section 115JB of the Income tax Act;

IV.      External commercial borrowing by SEZ units up to US $ 500 million in a year without any maturity restriction through recognized banking channels.

Facilities offered to Developers:

(a)           Exemption from customs/excise duties for development of SEZs for authorized operations approved by the Board of Approvals.

(b)          Income Tax exemption on income derived from the business of development of SEZs in a block of 10 years in 15 years under Section 80-IAB of the Income Tax Act.

(c)           Exemption from minimum alternate tax under Section 115 JB of the Income Tax Act.

(d)          Exemption from dividend distribution tax under Section 115 O of the Income Tax Act.

Position with regard to Service Tax benefits offered to SEZs/Developers are as under:

I.             Any taxable service provided wholly within the SEZ is exempted an initio.

II.             Taxable services provided outside the boundaries of SEZ but are for use of SEZ are exempted by way of refund i.e. tax has to be paid by the service provider but SEZ developer/unit can take refund of it.

III.             SEZ units providing taxable service to DTA units are subjected to normal service tax.

IV.             Like any other service provider taxable services exported out of SEZ are not chargeable to service tax.

The details of area under millets as compared to rice and wheat during last three years are given below:-

Crop	Area in Lakh ha
	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Millets	197.61	185.7	186.43
Rice	439.14	455.37	418.70
Wheat	280.38	277.52	283.42

Millet  crops are largely grown in arid and semi-arid areas with low rainfall (200-600 mm) under rainfed condition with low input consumption. These crops have more tolerance to dry spells rather than high water consuming crops and also have ability to escape the drought. During last 15 years, more than 80 hybrids of millets and more than 100 high yielding varieties of millets have been released. A variety of products like multi grain flour, multi –grain roasted snacks, bakery, barnyard rice are available in retail chains for urbanites.

Millets contain more protein, fiber, minerals, vitamins, etc. which are normally deficient in Indian diet. Compared to rice, jowar has 8 times more fiber; ragi has 40 times more calcium; bajrahas 8 times more iron and 5 times more riboflavin and folic acid

An area of 9.30 lakh ha & 10.17 lakh ha have been covered under drip and sprinkler irrigation respectively including Andhra Pradesh who contributed 3.51 lakh ha under drip and 1.24 lakh ha under sprinkler system.

Farmers of all States are not well versed with the said irrigation system and to address this, the Government is conducting demonstration, training and awareness programme on drip and sprinkler irrigation system in districts.

This information was given by Prof. K.V. Thomas, Minister of State for Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha

]]> http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/drip-and-sprinkler-irrigation/feed/ 0 http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/adding-value-to-bamboo-a-mission-for-the-21st-century-sitanshu-kar/ http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/adding-value-to-bamboo-a-mission-for-the-21st-century-sitanshu-kar/#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 08:52:11 +0000 India Current Affairs http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/?p=9190 Bamboo is a versatile material. Its versatility can be gauged by the fact that Thomas Edison successfully used a carbonized bamboo filament in his experiment with the first light bulb. This light bulb still burns today in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. He also used a bamboo as rebar for the reinforcement of his swimming pool. To this day, the pool has never leaked. Bamboo has an unrivaled utility. One resource book lists over 5,000 uses including paper, scaffolding, diesel fuel, airplane “skins”, desalination filters, musical instruments, medicine, food, as also Alexander Graham Bell’s first phonograph needle. Amidst death and destruction, bamboo survived the Hiroshima atomic blast closer to ground zero than any other living thing and provided the first re-greening in Hiroshima after the blast in 1945.

With a tensile strength superior to mild steel (withstands up to 52,000 Pounds of pressure psi) and a weight-to-strength ratio surpassing that of graphite, bamboo is the strongest growing hardy grass on earth. It also grows the fastest: clocked shooting skyward at 2 inches an hour. Some species grow one and a half meters a day.

India is home to about 130 species of bamboo-the second highest in the world. In many parts of the country the use of bamboo is ubiquitous. For centuries, communities have put the material to functional yet aesthetic use; their skills having evolved over centuries. Even today, by far the most important uses of bamboo are in the every day lives of people. In recent years, a range has emerged of products and applications that use bamboo in newer and value-added way, and have been developed through the application of scientific and engineering skills. It is these products and applications that lend credence and substance to the belief that bamboo can be an important vehicle for widespread and sustainable development. The National Mission on Bamboo Applications (NMBA) is one of the key initiatives of the Department of Science & Technology for the Tenth Plan. It is structured as a Technology Mission, and implemented in a mission-mode by the Technology, Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC).

Bamboo is in the process of being ‘rediscovered’ in India. Its attributes and potential are increasingly recognised. NMBA has been tasked with creating the basis for enlarging the bamboo sector, and to supporting the efforts of the Government of India towards augmenting economic opportunity, income and employment especially in areas, and amongst people who are disadvantaged.

The Mission has carried out extensive testing and an assessment of inherent characteristics of Indian species of bamboo. The results were matched with existing and potential uses of bamboo. Based on this exercise, and taking into account availability and dispersal of bamboo species, the Mission has evolved a recommendation for focus on 16 commercially significant species. These are:Bambusa bambos, Bambusa balcoa, Bambusa nutans, Bambusa pallida, Bambusa polymorpha,Bambusa tulda, Dendrocalamus asper, Dendrocalamus brandisii, Dendrocalamus giganteus, Dendrocalamus hamiltonii, Dendrocalamus strictus, Melaconna baccifera, Ochlandra travancorica, Oxytenanthera stocksii, Phyllostachys bambusoides, Thyrsostachys oliverii. The core application and thrust areas of the Mission include wood substitutes and composites, structural and constructional applications, bamboo shoots, propagation and cultivation, machinery and process technologies, industrial products and energy.

Wood Substitutes & Composites

The Mission is promoting wood substitutes and composites, including boards of varying descriptions and uses. These materials provide an opportunity to establish integrative models of economic activity. It links the organised and unorganised sectors, operating at differing levels of scale, enterprise and technology, and creating multi-product synergies.

The Mission is helping in the establishment of a 60,000 sqare metre per annum plant at Guwahati to manufacture composites/ flooring boards.

Development of Machinery A major thrust area of the Mission is the development of machinery for processing of bamboo. So far, most processing of bamboo has been done only with traditional and simple hand tools. Imported machinery is expensive, and often unsuited for Indian bamboo, which is strong, and has a high silica content in its outer layer, leading to the faster wear-out of cutting tools. The Mission has worked with machinery manufacturers in Ludhiana, Dewas and Delhi to develop ranges of efficient, sturdy and low-cost tooling and processing machinery, suited to Indian conditions and species, to reduce drudgery, improve productivity and minimize wastage.

Industrial Products

Bamboo processing ‘waste’ is an excellent source material for high grade charcoal and activated carbon. The Mission is testing and establishing technologies to enable the manufacture of charcoal and activated carbon to be taken up at different scales of economic activity. Drum based bamboo charcoal units have been designed to process 25 Kg/ shift, 50 Kg per day.

Bamboo for Energy

Gasification of bamboo can produce energy and a range of valuable by-products. It reinforces a commitment to clean and renewable electricity and thermal energy.

The Mission promotes the induction of gasifiers using bamboo and bamboo waste to generate electricity and thermal energy, especially in off-grid and remote locations, and to meet captive industry and utility needs.

The technology has been developed, tested and stabilised and is now available for large scale induction, suitable for application in the 10Kw to 1Mw range. Already approved for operationalisation are two thermal units (1 Mw equivalent each) at Jagi Road and Silchar in Assam, using the bamboo processing waste from paper manufacturing units of the Hindustan Paper Corporation.

Cultivation Despite India’s wealth of bamboo resources, a constraint inhibiting the development of value added enterprise is that of sourcing adequate raw material at reasonable prices. In most application areas there is a need for quality material, defined by species, maturity, bamboo characteristics, harvesting technique and post-harvest treatment. The Mission is developing, demonstrating & encouraging intensive and scientific cultivation practices for higher productivity. Demonstration of packages of practices for intensive cultivation and higher productivity, utilising fly-ash soil amendment in Sehore, Madhya Pradesh and Korba, Chhattisgarh have taken place. NMBA, the Department of Bio-Technology, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), laboratories and private entrepreneurs have worked together over the past year to effect a breakthrough in tissue culture of commercially significant species of bamboo. It is now possible, through tissue culture methods, to supply large quantities of good quality plant material at reasonable costs.

Soil Stabilisation & Rejuvenation

Bamboo contributes to the soil and environment, giving back as much as it takes. The Mission is developing a range of packages of practices for soil stabilisation and rejuvenation activities, and disseminating and demonstrating them. NMBA is establishing a community managed bamboo resource in Farukkhabad with an annual production of 200 tonnes of culm timber and 100 tonnes of shoots. It has undertaken plantation of a bamboo green wall for erosion control and soil stabilisation along a 2 kilometre stretch on Majuli, the largest river island in the world.

BambooShoots

Bamboo shoots carry the potential of value added economic activity at the entrepreneurial and community level through cultivation, processing and packaging. Working with laboratories, testing facilities, technology developers, communities and entrepreneurs, the Mission is developing mechanisms, methodologies and markets to encourage entrepreneurs to take up the processing of bamboo shoot for the market. It is helping in the establishment of a 900 TPA unit for processing/ packaging of bamboo shoot at Dimapur, Nagaland.

Amending an Act

To encourage and develop the bamboo sector, it needs to be exempted from the regulatory provisions of the Indian Forest Act 1927 which require transit passes for the movement of forest produce. A similar move has enabled the plantation economies of Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh to flourish. In a way, the success of NMBA will depend to some extent on how soon such changes are brought about in the Indian Forest Act

]]> http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/adding-value-to-bamboo-a-mission-for-the-21st-century-sitanshu-kar/feed/ 0 http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/coffee-development-programme-in-agency-areas-of-andhra-pradesh/ http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/coffee-development-programme-in-agency-areas-of-andhra-pradesh/#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 04:57:01 +0000 India Current Affairs http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/?p=9108 In Andhra Pradesh, the scheduled tribes constitute 11.2 per cent of the population and own 3.1 per cent of the cultivable land. There are eleven revenue mandals in the declared agency area of Visakhapatnam district.

The Scheduled Tribes in Andhra Pradesh comprise primitive tribal groups of Gadaba,Paraja, Kanda and Kondhu and the progressive and responsive tribe sects of  Bhagatha, Valmiki,  Koyadora,  Konda Kapu, Konda Reddy etc., and the ever migrating and most hardworking Samantha tribes. The Bonda Tribe living in Machkund and adjoining areas on the border of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa are the most primitive and backward among the tribes in these areas living in isolation in remote and inaccessible areas.

These tribals are engaged in collection of major forest produce such as Bauhenialeaves, Tamarind, tree bark, Honey and Gum etc. and the same are disposed in the weeklyshandies (market places) in exchange for domestic requirements.

Some of the tribal groups are also involved in rearing of animals (Cattle, Sheep and Goats etc.). Most of the tribal population still remains economically backward and live below poverty line. The tribal communities were totally dependent on primitive agriculture, practice the pernicious podu/shifting cultivation by removing the existing forest, burning and utilizing the virgin land for cultivation of rain fed crops such as paddy, maize, oil seed, vegetables, turmeric, ginger and peepal among the spices. After cultivation of these crops for one or two seasons they used to move on to new forest areas to repeat the process of denuding the virgin forest. To prevent this age old practice of shifting cultivation (Podu) and to settle these tribalson permanent basis, the Central Government as well as the Government of Andhra Pradesh initiated several economic activities.

Introduction of Coffee

Coffee was first introduced in Andhra Pradesh in 1898 by Mr. Brodie, a Britisher, inPamuleru Valley of East Godavari and also in Sircilla of Karimnagar District. Coffee had a second entry into Andhra Pradesh in 1920 introduced by the Jamindars/Revenue Officers and progressive tribal growers and coffee cultivation gradually spread to Ananthagiri, Minimuluruand Chintapalli areas of Visakhapatnam District.

Coffee Board’s participation in development of coffee in the State of Andhra Pradesh which is a Non Traditional Coffee Area (NTA), was initiated during the late fifties through a survey conducted in the areas of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh by Sri W.Raghavendra Rao, the then Senior Liaison Officer, Coffee Board.

In order to prevent shifting cultivation by local tribals and protect and conserve agro-eco system of this important hot-spot, Coffee Board planned and programmed to introduce coffee on a large scale under two tier shade system.

Coffee Board established its extension office at Paderu during 1971 for the benefit of tribal growers and other agencies to render technical advisory. The Regional Coffee Research Station was established during 1976 to cater to the needs of NTA areas such as development of newer selection materials and study the zone specific problems.

Development Activities and Progress

As on 1999-2000, around 15,900 Ha. was under coffee cultivation and the number of tribal growers involved was 23,500 with a coffee production of 2,245 metric tones. Then the income from coffee was between Rs. 15,000 – Rs. 18,000 per ha. The quantum of quality coffee produced was 10 metric tonnes. Then the infrastructure included only one mechanizedpulper and one baby pulper.

As compared to this, in the year 2009-10, the area under coffee cultivation has increased to around 42,700 ha. covered by 78,000 tribal growers with an estimated coffee production of 5,085 metric tones. The income from per heacters has gone upto Rs.30,000/- to Rs. 36,000/-, one acre has gone up to Rs. 12,000 – 15,000/-. Besides the income from coffee, the additional income from subsidiary crops ranges between Rs. 2,500 to 10,000/-. On an average the tribal grower at present is earning Rs. 22,000 – 25,000/- out of coffee and subsidiary crops. The infrastructure available are 3,465  cement drying yards, 2165 babypulpers and 29 storage/godowns. As of now the pucca houses owned by tribal growers is around 30 per cent.

Capacity Building Programme

Capacity Building is a process of strengthening procedural, technical, organizational capabilities of individuals, groups and organizations involved in the developmental project. Under this, the tribes are imparted the training on working knowledge and skills involved in different aspects of coffee cultivation. Capacity building has been one of the most importantfunction that contributes for the development of tribes of Agency areas in Andhra Pradesh. (PIB Features)

]]> http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/coffee-development-programme-in-agency-areas-of-andhra-pradesh/feed/ 0 http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/productivity-of-bt-cotton/ http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/productivity-of-bt-cotton/#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:46:38 +0000 India Current Affairs http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/?p=8970 The area under Bt. Cotton has increased from 29,000 hectares in 2002-03 to 80lakh hectares (anticipated) in 2009-10.  The average yield of Bt. Cotton has also increased from 300 kg per hectare in 2001-02 to 560 kg per hectare in 2007-08.  Cultivation of Bt. Cotton has resulted in 31% increase in yield, 39% reduction in pesticide usage and more than 80% increase in profitability of farmers (ISAAA 2009).  The factors identified for better yield include elite germplasm, better resistance to bollworms thus reducing pest incidence and thereby resulting in higher yield of Bt. Cotton.

The comparative figures for Bt. Cotton and non-Bt. Cotton in terms of yield, insecticide use and net revenue are as under:-

Source:    Bt. Cotton in India – A Status Report (2nd ed.), Subramanian and Qaim, 2009.

This information was given by Prof. K.V. Thomas, Minister of State for Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha

So far, 281 major/medium projects have been funded under Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) of which, 121 projects are reported as completed, 5 projects have been deferred by the State Governments and remaining 155 are ongoing by the various State Governments. Apart from above, so far 10808 surface water Minor Irrigation Schemes of various States have been funded under AIBP of which, 7898 schemes are reported as completed and remaining schemes are ongoing by various State governments.

The ultimate irrigation potential of these 281 major/medium projects and 10808 surface water minor irrigation schemes is about 134 lakh hectare.

The State wise and year wise details of Central Assistance released during 2007-08 to 2010-11 are given in given below :-

For major/medium projects, Central Water Commission is required to carry out monitoring visits twice a year and issue monitoring reports which inter-alia contains bottlenecks in project implementation “if any” and possible remedial measures for timely implementation of the projects. Ministry of Water Resources convenes Review Meetings as and when required for monitoring performance of the AIBP assisted projects and surface Minor Irrigation Schemes. Monitoring of surface minor irrigation schemes is carried out by the respective State Governments and Ministry of Water Resources monitors their performance on sample basis.

In addition to seven Central Government Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and 12 State/Private Sector SEZs set up prior to the enactment of SEZ Act, 2005, formal approval has been accorded to 576 proposals out of which 358 SEZs have been notified.  A total of 114 SEZs are already exporting. Further details about these SEZs including sector, location etc. are available on the website www.sezindia.nic.in.

As on 30th June, 2010, an investment of Rs. 1,66,526 crores has been made in SEZs and direct employment for 5,50,323 persons have been generated. The total physical Exports of Rs. 2,20,711.39 crore approximately have been made from SEZs during the year 2009-10 registering a growth of about 121.40% over the exports for the previous financial year.  The exports in the first quarter of financial year 2010-11, has been to the tune of Rs. 58,685.46 crores approximately registering a growth of 68% over the exports of corresponding period of the previous financial year.

In terms of Rule 6 of the SEZ Rules, 2006, validity of approval is for a period of three years within which time effective steps are to be taken by the developer to implement the approved proposal. On a request received from the developer, the Board of Approval can extend the validity period.

Requests for de-notification by the developers have been approved by the Board of Approval in respect of 18 SEZs located in various states and Union Territories.  The final denotification is allowed only on refund of duties/ benefits, if any, availed by the Developer.

The total cultivated land during the year 2007-08 was 155.7 million hectare (Mha) whereas the net irrigated area was 62.3 Mha and gross irrigated area was 87.2 Mha, as per information provided by the Ministry of Agriculture. The irrigation potential created up to 2007-08 has been reported as 104.4 Mha.

The total Plan expenditure for major, medium and minor irrigation projects and command area development works during the IX Plan X Plan were about Rs. 63,049 crores and Rs. 1,00,106 crores respectively and irrigation potential created during the IX Plan and X Plan were about 7.69 Mha and 8.82 Mha respectively.

Water being a State subject, projects for creation of irrigation potential are planned and implemented by the respective State Governments. However, Government of India provides central grants to State Governments under Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme and Command Area Development & Water Management Programme. Ministry of Water Resources has also launched scheme for Repair, Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies under which assistance is provided to the States.

Agriculture sector is vital for the food security of the country. It is the principal source of livelihood for more than 58% of the work-force.

In order to sustain these efforts and to keep the momentum, the Government has taken several steps to ameliorate the conditions of farmers particularly small and marginal farmers. The Government has also conceptualised several schemes for the benefit of agrarian community. Some of these initiatives and programmes/ schemes are:

Minimum Support Price

In order to make agriculture a remunerative vocation on a sustainable basis, substantial increase in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of major cereals ranging from 39% to 78% was provided during the last five years (2004-05 to 2009-10). MSPs of pulses and oilseeds were enhanced by up to 104% during the same period.

Investment In Agriculture

As a result of progressive steps taken by the Government during the last 5 years in agriculture & allied sectors, public investment in Gross Capital Formation in agriculture and allied sectors has been going up. The public sector investment increased from Rs.16,183 crore to Rs.24,452 crore (at 2004-05 prices) during the period from 2004-05 to 2008-09. The total investment also saw an upward trend. The outlay under NREGS is also proposed to be used for agriculture related activities such as land development, creation of water resources and construction of rural roads.

Credit Flow And Debt Waiver

Improving access to institutional credit for farmers has been a priority for Central Government since it is a critical input necessary for improving productivity and income of the farmers. A comprehensive credit Package for agriculture sector was announced by the Government on 18th June, 2004 containing measures for increasing agriculture credit flow and provision of debt relief to the farmers affected by natural calamities. Since Kharif 2006-07, farmers are getting crop loans up to a principal amount of Rs. 3 lakh at 7% rate of interest and the Government and State Governments are providing necessary interest subvention to NABARD and Banks for this purpose. Further, from 2010-11, the Government is providing an additional interest subvention of two per cent for timely repayment. Thus, in case of timely repayment, the effective rate of interest for such farmers is now five per cent per annum.

In order to give succour to farmers stuck in debt trap, a scheme of debt waiver and debt relief for farmers was announced by the Government in the Union Budget 2008-09. The scheme has benefited about 3.68 crore of farmers with total amount of waiver and relief amounting to about Rs.65318.33 crore.

National Food Security Mission

Food security at national and at the household level is of paramount importance for the Government. With a view to enhance production of foodgrains to meet increasing demand on account of burgeoning population, National Food Security Mission (NFSM) is being implemented in 467 districts of 17 States from Rabi 2007-08 with three components viz. NFSM-Rice, NFSM-Wheat and NFSM-Pulses. An additional production of 20 million tonnes of foodgrains, comprising 10 million tonnes of rice, 8 million tonnes of wheat and 2 million tonnes of pulses by the end of Eleventh Plan (2011-12) has been targetted. More than two crore farmers have benefitted from the Scheme. The regions earlier labelled as food deficit areas, are today contributing significantly to the food basket of the country. The production of wheat, rice and pulses has increased by 4.87, 5.83 and 0.37 MT respectively from 2006-07 to 2008-09.

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna

RKVY is a unique scheme in which the States have been given the complete autonomy of planning and implementing programmes related to agriculture and allied sectors as per their local needs. An additional central assistance of Rs.25000 crore has been earmarked for RKVY during the 11th Plan. Allocations under RKVY to various States has also been linked to increase in the total Plan expenditure in Agriculture and allied sectors in the previous year over the year prior to that year. Thus, the States are incentivised to increase public investment in these sectors. In case of natural calamities, the State Governments have full flexibility in financing immediate measures like distribution of seed mini kits, extension support, augmentation of water resources etc. under this scheme. The State Governments have been evincing keen interest in financing sectors such as food grain crops, horticulture, organic farming, animal husbandry etc. under RKVY. The scheme has also been successful in providing the critical infrastructure such as State Seed Farms, Soil and Fertilizer Testing Laboratories. RKVY has definitely given a fillip to agriculture and allied sectors.

Eastern India Initiative

The Government is determined to extend green revolution to Eastern India, namely Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Eastern UP and West Bengal. An initial allocation of Rs 400 crore has been made for this purpose. This would help in increasing crop productivity by intensive cultivation through promotion of recommended agricultural technologies & package of practices and development of missing links in agriculture infrastructure.

Pulses and Oilseeds Villages

A special initiative has been launched for Pulses and Oilseeds in Dryland Areas. This would be done by organising 60,000 pulses and oilseeds villages in identified watersheds and by providing farm machinery and equipment on custom hiring basis to service the fields of pulses and oilseeds farmers and dovetailing with other existing schemes of the Government of India having components for promotion of oilseeds and pulses production. During 2010-11, a sum of Rs.300 crore has been earmarked for the purpose.

National Horticulture Mission

The National Horticulture Mission is being implemented since the year 2005 with requisite backward and forward linkages and an end-to-end approach covering research, production, post-harvest management, processing and marketing. The mission envisages two fold increase in horticulture production by 2011-12 with a production of 300 million tonnes with 6% annual growth. Under the Mission, 367 districts in all the States and three Union Territories except eight North Eastern States, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which are benefitting under the Technology Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture in the North-Eastern States (TMNE). With the launch of NHM, 1.66 million hectares have now been brought under horticulture crop. NHM is extensively promoting green house cultivation, plastic mulching, shade net cultivation, and low tunnel cultivation. Moreover, about 0.1 million hectares area has been brought under cultivation of flowers like roses, carnation, gladiolus etc., to meet both domestic demand as well as exports. On the infrastructure aspects like cold chains, pack houses, grading and packing units, cold storages, refrigerated vans, the Government has been providing tax benefits and assistance for the capital investment made by entrepreneurs.

Extension Reforms

In order to rejuvenate and reform existing agricultural extension support system and to overcome systemic constraints being faced by the Extension machinery in the country Support to State Extension Programmes for Extension Reforms scheme is under implementation in 591 rural districts of the country. The Scheme has been recently strengthened to provide Specialist and Functionary Support at State, district, and Block levels and innovative support through a Farmer Friend (FF) at village level (one FF per 2 villages) to promote Farmer- to – Farmer learning. Around 10000 Farm Schools have already been set up. Besides this, Agriculture Clinics and Agriculture Business Centres (ACABC) scheme encourages setting up agriclinics and agribusiness centres by unemployed agriculture graduates. Under this Scheme, 21579 agricultural graduates have been trained and 7667 agri-ventures have been set up.

On the mass media front, tens of thousands of location specific agriculture related programmes are being telecast by Doordarshan Kendras and All India Radio every year. The Kisan Call Centres provides critical location specific information on real time basis to the farming community through toll-free, country-wide common number 1800-180-1551. Kisan Knowledge Management System (KKMS) is being developed to provide instant information back-up to the call centre agents while replying farmers’ queries. Over 46 lakh calls have been received up to March 2010 through 25 KCCs located across the country.

Availability Of Seeds

There has been substantial increase in availability of seeds. Production of certified/quality seeds of high yielding varieties has made a quantum jump during last few years. 279 lakh qtls. of certified/quality seeds has been made available in 2009-10, as against 250 lakh qtls. during 2008-09 and 194.31 lakh qtls. during 2007-08. Seeds Villages Scheme has been a tremendous success. 64,634 Seed Villages have been developed across the country leading to a production of 112.65 lakh quintals of seeds. On the qualitative side too, there have been significant achievements.

Continued growth of agriculture is essential to meet the food and nutritional security requirements of the people and provide livelihood and income in rural areas. The convergence of the above schemes will surely bring greater synergy to efforts for rural upliftment. (PIB Features)

]]> http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/initiatives-to-boost-agricultural-growth-steps-shri-prabeer-kumar-basu-2/feed/ 0 http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/godowns-for-foodgrains/ http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/godowns-for-foodgrains/#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 06:36:59 +0000 India Current Affairs http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/?p=8074 Government is implementing credit linked back-ended capital investment subsidy scheme of Construction/Renovation of Rural Godown with the objective of creating scientific storage capacity with allied facilities in rural areas to meet out various requirements of farmers for storing farm produce, processed farm produce, agricultural inputs etc.

Under the scheme, financial assistance up to 25% of capital cost of project is given to farmers, agriculture graduates, cooperatives, Central Warehousing Corporation/Stare Warehousing Corporation for construction of rural godowns. For North Eastern States/Hilly Areas, Scheduled Caste/Schedule Tribe entrepreneurs and women farmers, subsidy @ 33.33% is provided.

A capacity of 257.33 lakh MTs corresponding to 21888 rural godowns with subsidy of Rs.620.51 crores, have been sanctioned since the inception of the scheme i.e. 2001.

This information was given by Prof. K.V. Thomas, Minister of State for Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha

The project aims at improving farmer’s income by improving productivity of lead crops/activities through adoption of appropriate technologies, reduction in costs and better price for the produce by way of value addition.  In the identified villages, the project will focus on selected location specific lead crops/activities like cereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, fruit crops, dairy, silvi-pasture, etc.

Under this project, 4 to 6 clusters comprising of 5 villages per cluster in every State will be identified.  The basic criteria for selection of villages are:

(i)  Villages where the yield gap is high (Yield gap is difference between the average yield of lead crops obtained in the selected villages and that of the progressive farmers.)

(ii)        The cluster of villages should have active Farmers Clubs (FCs) or well functioning Primary Agricultural Cooperative Credit Societies (PACS). Preference will be given to those clusters of villages where Common Service Centres (CSC) of Government of India have already been established.

(iii)       Presence of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), agri input outlets, soil-testing facilities and suitable Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in near-by areas.

All farmers of the cluster may be part of farmer’s collectives like Primary Agricultural Cooperative Credit Societies/Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies/Producer Companies etc.

The project is planned to be implemented over a period of three years and envisages convergence with the development interventions of Central/State Governments /State Agriculture Universities/Krishi Vigyan Kendras/ Commodity Boards/Corporate Social Responsibility schemes as also with the existing schemes of NABARD.

It is expected that after completion of the project, the gap between average productivity of lead crops/activities generally obtained by farmers in the cluster and the yield obtained by progressive farmers would be bridged by at least 50% and the average income of the farmers may go up by 30%.

The project has so far been launched in Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. In Orissa, six districts namely, Balasore, Bargarh, Bolangir, Boudh, Dhenkanaland Mayurbhanj have been identified for the project.  NABARD has also initiated process for launching of project in other States.

This information was given by Prof. K.V. Thomas, Minister of State for Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in written reply to a question in the LokSabha

]]> http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/sustainable-farming-practices/feed/ 0 http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/initiatives-to-boost-agricultural-growth-steps-shri-prabeer-kumar-basu/ http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/initiatives-to-boost-agricultural-growth-steps-shri-prabeer-kumar-basu/#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:29:16 +0000 India Current Affairs http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/?p=8039 Agriculture sector is vital for the food security of the country. It is the principal source of livelihood for more than 58% of the work-force. While the global economy had been reeling under recession and our farmers had been facing vagaries of weather, the average growth rate of agriculture sector was more than 4% during the four years preceding the last one. A record level of food-grain production of 234.47 million tonnes was achieved in the year 2008-09. The adverse impact of an unprecedented drought in Kharif, 2010 on food grain production was minimized due to timely action taken by the Central and State Governments. The severity of the drought last year can be gauged from the fact that in the last major drought during the year 2002-03, there was a deficit of 19% rainfall whereas during last year, rainfall was deficient by 23%. The corresponding production figures for wheat and rice were 71.82 (Rice) and 65.76 (Wheat) MT in 2002-03 and 89.31(Rice) and 80.98 (Wheat) in 2009-10 respectively.

In order to sustain these efforts and to keep the momentum, the Government has taken several steps to ameliorate the conditions of farmers particularly small and marginal farmers. The Government has also conceptualised several schemes for the benefit of agrarian community. Some of these initiatives and programmes/ schemes are:

Minimum Support Price

In order to make agriculture a remunerative vocation on a sustainable basis, substantial increase in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of major cereals ranging from 39% to 78% was provided during the last five years (2004-05 to 2009-10). MSPs of pulses and oilseeds were enhanced by up to 104% during the same period.

Investment In Agriculture

As a result of progressive steps taken by the Government during the last 5 years in agriculture & allied sectors, public investment in Gross Capital Formation in agriculture and allied sectors has been going up. The public sector investment increased from Rs.16,183 crore to Rs.24,452 crore (at 2004-05 prices) during the period from 2004-05 to 2008-09. The total investment also saw an upward trend. The outlay under NREGS is also proposed to be used for agriculture related activities such as land development, creation of water resources and construction of rural roads.

Credit Flow And Debt Waiver

Improving access to institutional credit for farmers has been a priority for Central Government since it is a critical input necessary for improving productivity and income of the farmers. A comprehensive credit Package for agriculture sector was announced by the Government on 18th June, 2004 containing measures for increasing agriculture credit flow and provision of debt relief to the farmers affected by natural calamities. Since Kharif 2006-07, farmers are getting crop loans up to a principal amount of Rs. 3 lakh at 7% rate of interest and the Government and State Governments are providing necessary interest subvention to NABARD and Banks for this purpose. Further, from 2010-11, the Government is providing an additional interest subvention of two per cent for timely repayment. Thus, in case of timely repayment, the effective rate of interest for such farmers is now five per cent per annum.

In order to give succour to farmers stuck in debt trap, a scheme of debt waiver and debt relief for farmers was announced by the Government in the Union Budget 2008-09. The scheme has benefited about 3.68 crore of farmers with total amount of waiver and relief amounting to about Rs.65318.33 crore.

National Food Security Mission

Food security at national and at the household level is of paramount importance for the Government. With a view to enhance production of foodgrains to meet increasing demand on account of burgeoning population, National Food Security Mission (NFSM) is being implemented in 467 districts of 17 States from Rabi 2007-08 with three components viz. NFSM-Rice, NFSM-Wheat and NFSM-Pulses. An additional production of 20 million tonnes of foodgrains, comprising 10 million tonnes of rice, 8 million tonnes of wheat and 2 million tonnes of pulses by the end of Eleventh Plan (2011-12) has been targetted. More than two crore farmers have benefitted from the Scheme. The regions earlier labelled as food deficit areas, are today contributing significantly to the food basket of the country. The production of wheat, rice and pulses has increased by 4.87, 5.83 and 0.37 MT respectively from 2006-07 to 2008-09.

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna

RKVY is a unique scheme in which the States have been given the complete autonomy of planning and implementing programmes related to agriculture and allied sectors as per their local needs. An additional central assistance of Rs.25000 crore has been earmarked for RKVY during the 11th Plan. Allocations under RKVY to various States has also been linked to increase in the total Plan expenditure in Agriculture and allied sectors in the previous year over the year prior to that year. Thus, the States are incentivised to increase public investment in these sectors. In case of natural calamities, the State Governments have full flexibility in financing immediate measures like distribution of seed mini kits, extension support, augmentation of water resources etc. under this scheme. The State Governments have been evincing keen interest in financing sectors such as food grain crops, horticulture, organic farming, animal husbandry etc. under RKVY. The scheme has also been successful in providing the critical infrastructure such as State Seed Farms, Soil and Fertilizer Testing Laboratories. RKVY has definitely given a fillip to agriculture and allied sectors.

Eastern India Initiative

The Government is determined to extend green revolution to Eastern India, namely Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Eastern UP and West Bengal. An initial allocation of Rs 400 crore has been made for this purpose. This would help in increasing crop productivity by intensive cultivation through promotion of recommended agricultural technologies & package of practices and development of missing links in agriculture infrastructure.

Pulses and Oilseeds Villages

A special initiative has been launched for Pulses and Oilseeds in Dryland Areas. This would be done by organising 60,000 pulses and oilseeds villages in identified watersheds and by providing farm machinery and equipment on custom hiring basis to service the fields of pulses and oilseeds farmers and dovetailing with other existing schemes of the Government of India having components for promotion of oilseeds and pulses production. During 2010-11, a sum of Rs.300 crore has been earmarked for the purpose.

National Horticulture Mission

The National Horticulture Mission is being implemented since the year 2005 with requisite backward and forward linkages and an end-to-end approach covering research, production, post-harvest management, processing and marketing. The mission envisages two fold increase in horticulture production by 2011-12 with a production of 300 million tonnes with 6% annual growth. Under the Mission, 367 districts in all the States and three Union Territories except eight North Eastern States, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which are benefitting under the Technology Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture in the North-Eastern States (TMNE). With the launch of NHM, 1.66 million hectares have now been brought under horticulture crop. NHM is extensively promoting green house cultivation, plastic mulching, shade net cultivation, and low tunnel cultivation. Moreover, about 0.1 million hectares area has been brought under cultivation of flowers like roses, carnation, gladiolus etc., to meet both domestic demand as well as exports. On the infrastructure aspects like cold chains, pack houses, grading and packing units, cold storages, refrigerated vans, the Government has been providing tax benefits and assistance for the capital investment made by entrepreneurs.

Extension Reforms

In order to rejuvenate and reform existing agricultural extension support system and to overcome systemic constraints being faced by the Extension machinery in the country Support to State Extension Programmes for Extension Reforms scheme is under implementation in 591 rural districts of the country. The Scheme has been recently strengthened to provide Specialist and Functionary Support at State, district, and Block levels and innovative support through a Farmer Friend (FF) at village level (one FF per 2 villages) to promote Farmer- to – Farmer learning. Around 10000 Farm Schools have already been set up. Besides this, Agriculture Clinics and Agriculture Business Centres (ACABC) scheme encourages setting up agriclinics and agribusiness centres by unemployed agriculture graduates. Under this Scheme, 21579 agricultural graduates have been trained and 7667 agri-ventures have been set up.

On the mass media front, tens of thousands of location specific agriculture related programmes are being telecast by Doordarshan Kendras and All India Radio every year. The Kisan Call Centres provides critical location specific information on real time basis to the farming community through toll-free, country-wide common number 1800-180-1551. Kisan Knowledge Management System (KKMS) is being developed to provide instant information back-up to the call centre agents while replying farmers’ queries. Over 46 lakh calls have been received up to March 2010 through 25 KCCs located across the country.

Availability Of Seeds

There has been substantial increase in availability of seeds. Production of certified/quality seeds of high yielding varieties has made a quantum jump during last few years. 279 lakh qtls. of certified/quality seeds has been made available in 2009-10, as against 250 lakh qtls. during 2008-09 and 194.31 lakh qtls. during 2007-08. Seeds Villages Scheme has been a tremendous success. 64,634 Seed Villages have been developed across the country leading to a production of 112.65 lakh quintals of seeds. On the qualitative side too, there have been significant achievements.

Continued growth of agriculture is essential to meet the food and nutritional security requirements of the people and provide livelihood and income in rural areas. The convergence of the above schemes will surely bring greater synergy to efforts for rural upliftment. (PIB Features)

]]> http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/initiatives-to-boost-agricultural-growth-steps-shri-prabeer-kumar-basu/feed/ 0 http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/rs-30000-crore-worth-of-fruits-vegetables-go-down-the-drain-each-year/ http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/rs-30000-crore-worth-of-fruits-vegetables-go-down-the-drain-each-year/#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:02:14 +0000 India Current Affairs http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/?p=8026 Even as the Government pins its hopes on a good rabi crop and a good monsoon next year to contain food price inflation, the huge wastage fruits and vegetables worth Rs 30,000 crore annually due to a highly fragmented supply chain & cold chain infrastructure, stares it in the face.

To stimulate the growth of the food processing sector and minimize waste, FICCI has suggested immediate policy interventions by way of a 16-point package of measures to streamline and augment the entire agri supply chain, clogged as it is with several intermediaries including farm processors, distributors, and retailers.

Apart from initiating steps to make it easier for corporates to enter into contract farming, agri-product distribution, post harvest management, warehousing and development of cold chains, FICCI has stated that the need of the hour is sustained development in agriculture and large investments in technology, infrastructural development.

India is one of the world’s largest producers as well as consumers of food products, and the food processing sector plays an important role in the Indian economy. This industry is the front end of agriculture sector, which is a significant economic component, employing nearly 60% of the country’s population and contributing to around 25% of India’s gross domestic product. With access to a large natural resource base of 161 million hectares of arable land, 15 million hectares of fresh water reservoirs, the largest livestock population in the globe and diverse agro-climatic conditions, India is a favorable destination for growth in the food industry.

Food is the biggest consumption category in India with 31% of the consumer’s wallet expenditure and by 2015, the Indian food industry is expected to reach USD258 billion from the current level of USD181 billion (FICCI- E&Y report 2009)

The following are the FICCI recommendations to stimulate the growth of the food processing sector through policy interventions for beefing up supply and cold chain infrastructure:

1. So far there is not enough private investment in the development of agri-focused infrastructure such as creation of pre-cooling facilities at farm gates, warehousing and storage infrastructure facilities including cold storage, wholesale/terminal agriculture markets, because of inherent viability gaps. The Government needs to ensure funding of viability gap, for existing food processing units or other entities having cold storage facilities for food products, up to 5 crore for 5 years. Such tax incentives should be viewed as investments, which will have enormous positive multiplier effects on the agriculture and food processing sectors and the national economy in general.

2. The incentives provided for establishing cold chain infrastructure under section 80-IB (11) and (11A) has not proved attractive enough. In last year’s budget, Government has introduced investment linked tax incentive for specified businesses, by way of allowing 100% deduction of expenditure of capital nature incurred by the assessee (section 35-AD). The benefit is merely of accelerated depreciation, which is neither attractive nor an adequate substitute for profit-linked incentive, the restriction is that the losses incurred in such “specified businesses” can now be set-off only against profits from another “specified businesses” ( section 73-A also introduced last year). This would even negate out whatever deduction benefit is provided. The “specified businesses” means the any one or more of the following business, namely:-

(i) Setting up and operating a cold chain facility;

(ii) Setting up and operating a warehousing facility for storage of agricultural produce;

(iii)Laying and operating a cross country natural gas or crude or petroleum oil pipeline   network for distribution including storage facilities being an integral part of such network

For this purpose the “cold chain facility” means a chain of facilities for storage or transportation of agricultural and forest produce, meat and meat products, poultry, marine and dairy products, products of horticulture, floriculture and apiculture and processed food items under scientifically controlled conditions including refrigeration and other facilities necessary for the preservation of such produce.

FICCI has, therefore, suggested that the establishment of cold chain and other modernized technology for up gradation of storage handling and transportation etc. should be granted infrastructure status and the tax benefit thereto provided under section 80 – IA.

3 Priority sector lending norms for the banks should be appropriately changed to include investments made by corporates in agri infrastructure concerning supply chain and cold chain in the direct finance category of priority lending.

4. Private sector investment in agri infrastructure impacting supply chain and cold chain infrastructure should be eligible for 150% weighted deduction as is the case with investment in R&D.

5. Research and development in the area of agri business supply chains should also be eligible for 150% weighted deduction to promote innovation and cost effective solutions.

6. Grant fiscal incentives by way of 100 per cent depreciation on all investments in physical assets like infrastructure development by the private sector in agriculture and the entire agri-value chain. They should be given 100% tax holiday in respect of the profits of the undertaking for a period of at least 10 years and further giving the assessee an option to claim this tax holiday for any 10 consecutive years out of 15.

7. The excise duty on the refrigeration machinery components & material handling equipment should be totally waived. This should also include thermal insulation materials including sandwich insulation panels and doors.

8. Extend cost subsidies to all cold chain projects, ranging from 25% to 50% of the cost of the total cost of the project.

9. Under the current scheme ‘Development/Strengthening of Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure, Grading and Standardization and/or Rural Godown’, and creation of quality added rural infrastructure, the subsidy cap should be raised 3 crore to Rs 5 crore to encourage faster development of agri-infrastructure.

10 Banks and other financial institutions should offer term loans for all supply chain and cold chain projects at lower interest rate of 6%. NABARD under a new window of direct financing should provide direct loans at this rate of interest to the private sector for warehousing, integrated supply / cold chain and allied infrastructure development activities in the rural areas, under RIDF funds.

11. Subsidy up to 50% of the total cost should be offered for up gradation and modernization of old projects to make them energy efficient.

12.  Incentivize Green cold chain projects which have eco-friendly design, energy efficient thermal insulation & plant and machinery, water recycling, renewable energy systems etc.

13. Investment by foreign companies in  modern distribution / supply chain formats with Cold storage facilities should be classified / categorised as part of ‘infrastructure’ sector  (and to be entitled to funding even through ECB route}

14. Concessional customs duties on imports of equipment / machinery for cold storage facilities.

15. All Cold Chain projects, be treated as agriculture activities for the consideration of land use, electricity tariff etc. States to provide power subsidy for first 10 years to all cold storage facilities for storage of food products.

16. Provide transport assistance @ 25% of freight on export of fruits & vegetables, flowers, fresh poultry, meat, marine and dairy products.

]]> http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/rs-30000-crore-worth-of-fruits-vegetables-go-down-the-drain-each-year/feed/ 1 http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/rising-milk-prices-common-man-suffers-again/ http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/rising-milk-prices-common-man-suffers-again/#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 06:05:51 +0000 India Current Affairs http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/?p=7925 Following a hike in the prices of petrol, diesel, gas, milk prices have also gone up. Between January 2007 and March 2010 the price of milk rose seven times in Delhi. In last one year, prices increased from Rs 17 to Rs 22 a litre. Earlier it was pulses which became expensive and now even milk is becoming difficult. On a year-on-year basis, the inflation in milk has been 21.12 per cent.

Though  India is  the world”s largest milk producer, the demand is projected to grow sharply in the coming years. At present there is gap of 1.8 million tonne between the demand and current milk supply. This demands an average incremental increase in milk production of 5 million tonne per year as against the annual increase of 3.2 million during the last 15 years.

The drought in north and northwest India in 2009 made things worse. Drought affected the agricultural yield which in turn led to low fodder yield, and increase in prices. Cost of milk production includes 70 per cent of the fodder; this includes dry wheat, millet or paddy stalks and green fodder. Apart from this there are concentrates like de-oiled cakes and molasses, among others. The remaining 30 per cent includes medical and labour costs.

Price rise is a fall out of various policies of the government that affect the costs of the entire supply chain and is natural to have a recycling effect on the consumer who is at the end of the link.

CII urges  the Government to take some strong measures to ease the milk price pressure as well as benefit the smallest stake holder. Some of these steps could be in terms of:

Short term measures include:

Ø       Increasing availability of fodder

Ø       Provision of improved seed variety for the production of fodder to the farmers. Good quality fodder will fulfill the nutritional requirement of the milch animal which in turn will enhance the productivity per animal.

Ø       The slaughter of milch animals for export of beef has to be stopped rigidly.

Medium term measure can be :

Ø      Improving the infrastructure of milk chilling, transportation and processing. This itself can lead to increase in business and hence lower down operational costs (as leakages would get reduced and added volume will enable per unit costs to come down), improve storage facilities which will help in reducing quantity and quality losses.

The long term measure include :

Ø      Increasing milk productivity through cross breeding and amplifying the availability of better germplasm for breeding, etc.

Ø      Availability of land for fodder cultivation needs to be increased. At present land availability is difficult task and agricultural land available, is being used for production of grains and food but not fodder cultivation. Hence Non agricultural land should be made available to grow more fodder than at present levels.

The result of all these efforts would lead to increase in business, better animal health and prosperity for the stakeholders and eventually reduction in the prices of the end products for the consumer, states CII.

]]> http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/rising-milk-prices-common-man-suffers-again/feed/ 0 http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/prioritise-agriculture-and-give-it-equal-weightage-%e2%80%93-agriculture-minister-sharad-pawar/ http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/prioritise-agriculture-and-give-it-equal-weightage-%e2%80%93-agriculture-minister-sharad-pawar/#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 04:24:00 +0000 India Current Affairs http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/?p=7893 Shri Sharad Pawar, the Minister of Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has  urged the States to priortise agriculture and give it equal weightage with other sectors of economy. Addressing the 55th National Development Council meeting,  Shri Pawar also urged the States to ensure adequate input for enhancing agricultural growth and productivity, proper pricing of power and introduction of modern technology for scientific utilisation of our scarce water resources, balanced use of fertilizers, seed replacement programmes and support to use of bio-technology which has tremendous promise for raising agricultural productivity.

On Government’s efforts to put agriculture on a higher growth path, Shri Pawar pointed out,” Public sector investment, which was only around Rs. 9000 crore in 2002-03 forming 15.7% of total gross capital formation in agriculture, has risen to over Rs. 24000 crore in 2008-09 amounting to 28.3% of gross capital formation. Outlay of agriculture and allied sector, which was only Rs. 26,108 crore during Tenth Plan, has been raised to Rs. 87,339crore during Eleventh Plan.”

About the agriculutre growth rate, the Minister said, ” The first three years of the plan has been a mixed story with agricultural growth rate varying from 4.7% to 0.2%. Our combined endeavour must be to have a sustained growth in this sector to ensure rural development and prosperity.” He expressed hope that the growth rate would be substantially higher than 4% this year, given the satisfactory progress of monsoon andprogrammes taken up by the Government.

Here is the text of Shri Pawar’s speech:

Prime Minister, my Cabinet colleagues, Chief Ministers, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission and other dignitaries and officials present. At the very outset let me compliment the Planning Commission for bringing out a well-researched and insightful Mid Term Appraisal (MTA) document which affords highly valuable insights into the working, achievements, challenges, strengths and weaknesses of the important sectors at the mid-way point of the 11th Five Year Plan.

2. Members of NDC are aware that our country has been aiming at achieving an annual average growth of 4% in agriculture and allied sector since Ninth Plan. The first three years of the plan has been a mixed story with agricultural growth rate varying from 4.7% to 0.2%. Our combined endeavour must be to have a sustained growth in this sector to ensure rural development and prosperity.

3. Government has been making considerable efforts to put agriculture on a higher growth path. Public sector investment, which was only around Rs. 9000 crore in 2002-03 forming 15.7% of total gross capital formation in agriculture, has risen to over Rs. 24000 crore in 2008-09 amounting to 28.3% of gross capital formation. Outlay of agriculture and allied sector, which was only Rs. 26,108 crore during Tenth Plan, has been raised to Rs. 87,339crore during Eleventh Plan.

4. Besides this schemes like RKVY, NFSM, National Horticulture Mission and others have been introduced, the benefits of which have started percolating down to our farmers. Government has provided price incentives to farmers by raising minimum support prices significantly during last five years.

5. Results of all these efforts are reflected in the comprehensive analysis of performance of agriculture and allied sector since 1981-82 brought out by Planning Commission in MTA. I would like to highlight some of these:

a. Average growth during 2005-10 was significantly higher for most sub-sectors than 2000-2005.

b. Growth performance during five year period of 2005-10 has been found to match with the best five yearly growth performance in any five year period.

c. Overall growth during 2005-10 compared to 2000-05 has nearly doubled.

d. Share of high value agriculture has gradually increased and today it accounts for more than half the value of agriculture.

6. MTA has rightly concluded that the change in governance and implementation system of major initiatives like RKVY, NFSM, etc has lent to flexibility in choice and effectiveness in implementation of these schemes. We are undertaking an exercise to bring about further consolidation of development schemes in the agriculture and allied sector to make them more sharply focussed on the desired outcomes.

7. I would like to take this opportunity to apprise you of several recent initiatives which will benefit the agriculture sector greatly. Nutrient based subsidy for balanced use of fertiliser, an accelerated pulses production programme for yield improvement of pulses, programmefor extending green revolution to the eastern states, organising 60,000 pulse villages in the rain fed areas, popularisation of hybrid rice, national mission on micro irrigation and modified national agriculture Insurance scheme are a few such initiatives.

8. While we rejoice our successes, it is imperative for us to understand and internalise the major reforms issues facing Indian agriculture.

Besides population which impacts directly impacts agriculture, the development deficit in Indian agriculture can be best understood in terms of (i) the investment and credit deficit; (ii) the infrastructure deficit; (iii) the market accessibility deficit; and (iv) the technology, knowledge and research deficit. The issues are known to all of you so I will not elaborate on them but I must say that we must strive towards bridging these deficits if our agriculture sector is to deliver on the promised 4% growth rate.

9. Performance of agriculture sector depends on multiple factors, each crucial in its own respect. I would urge the States to:

a. Prioritise agriculture and give it equal if not more weightage than industrial and services sector.

b.Ensure adequate input for enhancing agricultural growth and productivity. Reforms in the power sector by undertaking separation of agriculture feeders in rural areas and providing power supply to farmers for fixed and predictable times using these dedicated feeders. Proper pricing of power and introduction of modern technology is a must for scientificutilisation of our scarce water resources. This will also help in bringing down the T&D losses which are quite substantial.

c. Promote balanced fertiliser use by encouraging use of micro nutrients.

d. Initiate seed replacement programme on a large scale. Public Private Partnership in production of good quality seeds must be encouraged.

e. Encourage scientific water management and use. Watershed management, popularising

of drip irrigation, revival of traditional water harvesting systems and adoption of scientific cultivation practices will go a long way in increasing production and productivity with limited water resources.

f. Invest in maintenance of canals, desilting of storage dams and undertaking plantation in the catchment of water bodies to arrest soil erosion.

g. Check the over drawal of sub soil water. Time has come for us to realize that we must suitably modify our agricultural practices to available water and not vice versa.

h. Use the reported shortage of agriculture labour in many parts of the country as an opportunity for large scale and faster mechanisation of farming operations which will not only reduce cost of cultivation but bring in much needed efficiency as well.

i. Support use of Bio-technology which has tremendous promise for raising agriculture productivity. With stringent regulatory control mechanism, we should be open to adopting bio-technological improvements in our crops.

10. It is most gratifying that investment in the infrastructure sector like electricity, roads, irrigation etc. in the country is higher than projected in the Eleventh Plan. This will have a multiplier effect on the economy as a whole. Private sector investment is also poised to exceed targeted levels in the Plan period. The PPP model seems to be

working well in many sectors of the economy.

11. MTA sets out a good course correction for Eleventh Plan and also builds in foundation for the Twelfth Plan. I am in broad agreement with the analysis made and conclusions drawn in MTA. Approval of the document by the National Development Council will pave the way for adopting some of the policy prescriptions and mid-course corrections suggested in the Mid Term Appraisal. I therefore commend the MTA for adoption byNDC.

12. I would conclude by saying that agriculture and allied sector will need to grow at 7% per annum in the remaining two years of Eleventh Plan to achieve planned growth rate of 4%. While this may not be realistic, I do expect growth rate to be substantially higher than 4% this year, given the satisfactory progress of monsoon and programmes taken up by the Government. I also share the conclusion of MTA that growth of agriculture & allied sector during Eleventh Plan would definitely exceed 3% and might cross 3.5%. For achieving all this your initiative and resolve is a must and I am confident that the State Governments will join hands with the Centre to ensure that the deficits in Indian agriculture, about which I have talked of earlier is bridged at the earliest and the underlying theme of inclusive growth envisaged in the 11th Plan is truly realised.

]]> http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/prioritise-agriculture-and-give-it-equal-weightage-%e2%80%93-agriculture-minister-sharad-pawar/feed/ 0 http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/agriculture-production-in-2009-2010/ http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/agriculture-production-in-2009-2010/#comments Tue, 20 Jul 2010 06:38:09 +0000 India Current Affairs http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/?p=7542

Foodgrain Production in 2009-10 Stands at 218.2 million tonnesWheat, Pulses achieve Record production;Oilseed production Plummets

As per the fourth advance estimates of crop productions released , total foodgrain production in 2009-10 is likely to be 218.2 million tonne, slightly up from the third advance estimates issued in May.

The estimates cover the 2009 kharif crop that was heavily impacted by a severe drought. The impact was especially severe in the case of kharif rice, groundnut and coarse cereals. In the subsequent rabiseason, some ground was regained but the overall production was still about 16 MT lower than 234.47 MT achieved in 2008-09. Incidentally, 2008-09 had been a year of record production of foodgrains following years of good weather conditions.

As per the latest estimates, wheat production has reached record 80.71 MT, marginally higher than the earlier best of 80.68 MT achieved in 2008-09. Similarly, pulses production has reached record 14.59 MT achieved in the last six years (2008-09: 14.57 MT).

Production of rice in 2009-10 stands at 89.13 MT, wheat 80.71 MT, coarse cereals 33.77 MT, pulses 14.59 MT, oilseeds 24.9 MT and sugarcane 277.8 MT. There has been minor upward revision in most crops as compared to third estimates.

The details of crop estimates are as follows:

million tonnes

• (i) Circulation of Model Bill to all the States / Union  Territories  to facilitate  regulationand control  of  development and management of ground water.
• (ii)  Issue  of directions by Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) to States having ‘over-exploited’ areas for taking necessary measures to adopt / promote artificial recharge to ground water / rain water harvesting, conservation of ground water and also to include provision for making construction of roof top rain water harvesting structures mandatory under the building bye-laws.
• (iii) Notification of 43 areas by CGWA in 10 States / UTs for regulation of ground water development.
• (iv) Implementation of schemes / programmes namely Artificial Recharge of Ground Water through Dugwell for over-exploited, critical and semi-critical areas of hard rock region covering seven States, Demonstrative Projects for Artificial Recharge to Ground Water and Rain Water Harvesting, Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies.

In addition, awareness programmes are organised by the respective State Governments as well as Government of India. A Web Enabled Ground Water Information System (WEGWIS) has also been launched.

To encourage non-governmental organizations (NGOs) / gram Panchayats / urban local bodies / institutions / corporate sector and individuals for adoption of innovative practices of augmentation of ground water, promoting water use efficiency, recycling & re-use of water and creating awareness  through people’s participation, the Ministry of Water Resources has instituted Ground Water Augmentation Awards and National Water Award.

Analysis of water level data of observation wells of CGWB of May 2006 and May 2009 indicate decline in ground water table in about 57% of the wells and rise in about 43% of the wells during the period.  Following are the  state-wise details:

Comparative Statement Showing Fluctuation during May 2006 with   May 2009 of Water Levels in respect of observation wells monitored by CGWB

State No. of wells Analysed by CGWB Wells indicating rise in ground water table Wells indicating fall in ground water table No. No. as % of total No. No. as % of total Andhra Pradesh 638 210 32.92 428 67.08 Arunachal Pradesh 9 2 22.22 7 77.78 Assam 181 29 16.02 152 83.98 Bihar 148 60 40.54 88 59.46 Chandigarh 17 9 52.94 8 47.06 Chhattisgarh 280 98 35.00 182 65.00 Delhi 142 38 26.76 104 73.24 Gujarat & Daman-Diu 629 301 47.85 328 52.15 Haryana 237 98 41.35 139 58.65 Himachal Pradesh 82 44 53.66 38 46.34 Jammu & Kashmir 123 58 47.15 65 52.85 Jharkhand 115 60 52.17 55 47.83 Karnataka 566 247 43.64 319 56.36 Kerala 535 242 45.23 293 54.77 Madhya Pradesh 770 261 33.90 509 66.10 Maharastra 703 270 38.41 433 61.59 Meghalaya 26 3 11.54 23 88.46 Orissa 679 266 39.18 413 60.82 Punjab 126 62 49.21 64 50.79 Rajasthan 765 335 43.79 430 56.21 Tamil Nadu 663 412 62.14 251 37.86 Tripura 21 11 52.38 10 47.62 Uttar Pradesh 811 338 41.68 473 58.32 Uttaranchal 48 24 50.00 24 50.00 West Bengal 537 311 57.91 226 42.09 Total

for more reading

WATER OF UNDER GROUND SOURCES

DROP IN GROUND WATER RESOURCES

AUGMENTING GROUND WATER RESOURCES IN INDIA