Technology at work…

Krishnagiri district of Tami Nadu, located at the border of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, has seen several cases of pilferage and cross border smuggling of essential commodities meant for public distribution. But now, it has become history, as the district administration has implemented a novel way of keeping a tab on the whole process, right from the point of dispatch from stockyard till the point of delivery to the card holders. The entire chain of network is manned by Geographical Positioning System (GPS), which is fitted into every truck carrying the grains, and tracked online by the co-operative department official. If there is any diversion or a long stopover, the official on duty can alert the field officer to check the status of the vehicle. To check pilferage from fair-price shops, electronic weighing machines have been installed and, at the time of sale, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) enabled handheld billing machine is used. Each time a sale is conducted at a shop, the machine prints a bill and the bill is generated in the local language Tamil for the convenience of users and the salesman. As it gets generated, the billing details are updated in the central database and a report is generated periodically to monitor the pilferage. This pilot project will be rolled out in 12 more districts of the state, including Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, and Tiruchirapalli.

Farm loan@1%

Madhya Pradesh government led by Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced that co-operative banks would provide farm loans at a meager interest rate of 1 per cent from the upcoming financial year. The state also plans to waive off a year’s interest on standing loans and reduce the interest rate for the following years from 12 per cent to 3 per cent. Besides, government also suspended recovery of loans from farmers affected by recent natural calamities like unseasonal heavy rains and drought, and their land rent were waived off too. All the state department officials are directed by the Chief Minister’s office to have liberal approach while assessing crop losses; otherwise they may face disciplinary action. With this, MP becomes the first Indian state to announce such waivers, which is supposed to come amid reports of farmers committing suicide due to crop failure and recent losses due to frost.

Beating inflation, Andhra way….

Today, food inflation, particular in fresh fruits and vegetables, has become the biggest cause of worry, not only for the common men but also for the Governments. Looking into the same, the Andhra government has come up with a unique initiative to tame the unwarranted situation, which was, till now, in the public domain. The state government has introduced two different family packages of vegetables at subsidised rates. The first package is available for Rs 99, which consists of 1kg each tomato, potato, brinjal, carrot, 1 cauliflower, 1 cabagae, 250 gm green chilli, and 2kg onion. The other pack, priced at Rs 49, will have 1kg tomato, 550 gm each potato, brinjal, carrot, 1 cauliflower, 1 cabbage, 250 gm green chilli, and 1kg onion. This is part of the government’s market intervention scheme. This facility is provided to consumers in all Rythu Bazaars /farmers’ market run by the state government across the state. At present, there are about 100 Rythu Bazaars in the state. This is a first of its kind initiative taken by the Andhra government to supply vegetables and essential commodities in Rythu Bazaars in order to quell rising food prices. This scheme will be implemented in all the districts and the transportation costs will be borne by the govt. The state government will do a review meeting after a month to look into the need of further extension of the scheme.

Rubber and Pineapple intercrop

A win-win situation has been created for both rubber and pineapple growers. It works like this. The pineapple farmers take the rubber plantations on lease for three-and-a-half years. Apart from growing their own crop, the pineapple farmers have to buy rubber saplings, prepare the pits, and plant them as per guidelines of the Rubber Board and the grower. In simple words, pineapples and rubbers trees grow side by side for three years but only till one point. Growers are allowed to plant pineapple shoots in between two rows of rubber saplings. It is the responsibility of the pineapple farmer to take care of the rubber plants for the next three years until the tree forms a canopy, forcing the pineapple to quit the field. The trend of cultivating pineapple as an intercrop in rubber estates began a decade back in the Vazhakkuam region of Ernakulam district. Rubber benefited when small-scale pineapple cultivators of Vazhakkulam, the largest pineapple producing region in the country, began scouting for bigger and newer plots of land to expand their activity. Now, pineapple has become a common cultivation in rubber-growing regions of Kerala. In the past, pineapple farmers had to plead with rubber cultivators to give their land on lease at the time of replantation. But now, rubber planters are approaching the pineapple growers to use their land for cultivation. And as the trend grows, rubber-growing giants such as Harrison Malayalam Plantations and Kottanad Plantations Limited have also started leasing out hundreds of acres of land to pineapple cultivators at the time of replantation. A pineapple farmer has to spend Rs 1.25 lakh per acre in the first year of cultivation, which includes the cost of rubber replantation. In the second and third year, the cost of rearing the rubber and pineapple comes down to Rs 55,000 and a farmer would get a minimum profit of Rs 20,000 from an acre during the three-year planting period. These days, no one would plant pineapples on less than five acres of land. If one cultivates pineapples on 50 acres of land, he would get a profit of Rs 10 lakh. Pineapple farmers, who do not replant rubber, would give Rs 20,000 as lease amount. Out of 640 members of the Pineapple growers’ association, nearly 400 farmers belong to Vazhakkulam and nearby places in Ernakulam district. Farmers have even moved to the Konkan belt and north of Goa, in search of land.

Banana chips rising on branding…

For years, banana chips production was done by an unorganised sector in the major banana growing areas of Kerala and bordering Tamil Nadu districts. With the entry of branded snack food companies, this cottage industry is set for a make-over. Besdies the domestic market, the companies tend to target overseas markets such as US, Australia, UAE, Egypt, Singapore, Thailand, and other Gulf countries in the view of Indian diaspora considerable presence in these regions. Due to the value addition brought by the companies, Banana chips are now sold in more than 10 varieties and flavours like Malabar masala, chilli, pepper, sugar, fruit, and mint flavours. These chips are sold at anywhere between Rs 180- 200 per kg. The spurt is mainly in the region of Kerala and adjoining districts of Tamil Nadu. Coimbatore has almost become the hub of banana chips with the presence of over a dozen companies engaged in banana chips production and exports. ‘Nenthran’ variety of plantain, which is mainly used in the quality chips production, is grown in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is very suitable for making chips and has high nutritional value. The demand is high for banana chips. But now the problem is the scarcity of raw materials. So, the industry is in talks with Coimbatore based Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and Avinashilingam University to develop good-quality bananas that can be grown round the year to fulfill the demand of raw material.

Basmati’s fragrance at risk…

Experiments carried at Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) point that global warming may rob the exquisite basmati fragrance. This variety of rice may lose not just its aroma, but the famous long grains may also get shorter. Dr. H Pathak, principal investigator of IARI’s Climate Change Challenge Programme, found that Tarawari basmati grown in research fields in Delhi did not grow long enough and wasn't as fragrant as it should have been when cooked. He said that global warming might be to blame for the disappointing basmati produced in the 2006-07 experiment. Temperatures, that year, had crossed 26 degree Celsius in September when the basmati flowers and, 15 to 20 days later, when the grain begins to fill out, because of which a shrivelling of the grain was seen. Consequently, it failed to grow to the right length. The heat also destroyed fatty acids stored in the grain, which gives basmati its distinct fragrance when cooked. IARI has been receiving regular complaints from farmers about a sudden warming that is damaging rice crops. Pathak says the best solution would be to bring planting dates forward, so that high temperatures in September don't affect the crop. The other solution would be to develop a new, heat-resistant basmati variety, though they generally have smaller yields. Yet, no extensive field studies have been done so far; but if true, global warming may have enormous implications for India's prized basmati crop.

Exclusive agri budget

Karnataka is likely to be the first state in the country to have an exclusive budget for agriculture with a corpus fund of Rs 5,000 crore per year. Agriculture Minister, Umesh Katti, said that discussions with the chief minister were on to present a separate agriculture budget. “There are plans to present the agriculture budget the next day after the presentation of the general budget,” the minister said. Katti said farmers had no access to several facilities that other sectors have. A separate budget for agriculture would help farmers get minimum support prices, relief for cross loss, and a scientific price mechanism. A few laws will have to be amended to provide for the separate budget, the minister added.

Vidyasagar P. awarded

Vibha Seeds CMD, Vidyasagar Parchuri, has been awarded with the "Outstanding AgBio Leadership Award” at AgBio Global Summit, 2011, at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore. This recognition comes for his outstanding commitment and leadership vision in promoting Research & Innovation and Development of quality hybrid seeds and crop genetics programs for the benefit of farmers. His work also maintained our national pride in food security and agriculture education, and the welfare of the Indian farming community at large. The award has conferred by Maryland India Business Round Table Inc. (MIBRT), USA. Vidyasagar Parchuri, the Chairman and Managing Director of Vibha Seeds Group, is a shining example of entrepreneur in seed industry. He has demonstrated how dedication, attention to details, and sheer hard work can transform lives for many, especially the needy rural populace. The meteoric rise of his group of companies in the very competitive Indian Seed Industry is due to his vision and multi-pronged strategy. He attributes his success to key factors such as exploiting novel germplasm, application of emerging technologies, quality seed production and seed conditioning, and timely supply of seeds, along with required training to the farmers. He takes great pride in his own passion for the farmer-centric approach and focused commitment to conduct research and business to bring in and deploy the best technologies and business practices with the sole purpose of modernizing the ailing Indian agriculture.