Warmer winter could affect wheat crop

Winter months are getting more warmer than usual. The trend has started to affect the cultivation of wheat. Agro-meteorologists believe if the present weather conditions continue for a week, the wheat yield could decrease by 15-20 per cent. According to Aniruddha Dubey, agro-meteorologist at Chandra Shekher Azad (CSA) Agriculture University, the day temperature is seven degrees above normal and it is not suitable for wheat cultivation. He said that wheat irrigation requires a moderate temperatures of 20-23 degrees Celsius of maximum temperature and 4-5 degrees Celsius (minimum temperature). If the temperature exceeds this limit, the crop develops moisture which leads to early maturation. "High temperature and no rains make crop susceptible to moisture stress. It would lead to early ripening of the grains. Generally, wheat is planted November and December. If the existing temperature prolongs for a week, it can disturb the cycle of wheat which is still in the milking and flowering stage," Dubey added. UP is the largest wheat producer in India, providing 35% of total wheat production. This year, the target of wheat production is over 300 lakh tonnes. During 2009 and 2008, wheat production in the state stood at 275 lakh tonnes and 255 lakh tonnes respectively. The annual mean temperature of Kanpur region has increased by 3 degree Celsius in past three years. This year, from January 20 onwards, there has been a rise in the day and night temperatures. The day temperature has increased from 21 degrees Celsius to 28 degree Celsius in February, which is seven degrees more than the normal temperature (23 degree Celsius). Similarly, the night temperature has also increased from 5 degree Celsius to 10 degrees. Weather scientists say that the trend of variation in temperature is being observed since the past three years. From 2009, the trend has become apparent and it is evident that it is the impact of global warming that has made the winter months more warmer. However, from Monday morning the direction of the winds had changed. The westerly winds are now being taken over by easterly winds, which can lead to partial cloud coverage and two to three degrees decrease in day temperature in the coming days.

Mukherjee projects 6 percent farm sector growth

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday projected farm sector growth of 6 percent and hoped the dip in factory output in November was temporary. 'With normal monsoons, we are looking at a significant rebound in agriculture and allied sector growth at about 6 per cent,' the finance minister said. 'Exports have also done reasonably well with growth in April-November 2011 at 26.7 percent,' he said at a pre-budget meeting with economists. In the first half of 2010-11, the Indian economy recorded an overall growth of 8.9 percent, back on the high growth path in the years prior to the global financial crisis, he said. 'The recovery has been broad-based with agriculture, industry and services all contributing to the consolidation of the growth momentum,' he said. 'Though industrial growth during November 2010 has slipped to 2.7 percent, cumulative growth from April is still high at 9.5 percent compared to 7.4 percent during the corresponding months of 2009-10.' This was the fifth in the series of pre-budget consultations held by the finance minister with stakeholders of different sectors. The others were with stakeholders in agriculture, captains of Indian industry, representatives of different trade unions and NGOs. Mukherjee said India was fortunate in surviving the global financial crisis without major disruptions and had recovered its growth momentum much faster than most others.

TNAU to set up labs to analyze toxic residues on vegetables

Analysis of toxic residues on food, particularly vegetables will soon be possible as the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University plans to set up Pesticide Testing Laboratories at its constituent colleges in Madurai and Killikulam, according to a top university official TNAU Vice-Chancellor Dr Murugesa Bhoopathi said farmers resort to 12 to 15 sprays of chemical pesticides for vegetables, which results in toxic residues in harvested produce. These laboratories would analyze them, he said. He stressed the need to increase vegetable productivity to meet projected demand of 170 million tons in 2025 against the present 109 million tons and said the demand could be met through improved Integrated Pest Management practices. Though the area under vegetable crops occupied only about two per cent of cultivated area in the country, it consumes 13 to 14 per cent of total pesticides used for agriculture, he said, addressing a function of 'Farm school on All India Radio,' recently. By adopting IPM practices with special emphasis on biopesticides, farmers can reduce pesticide load on crops and supply quality vegetables to the consumers, he said.

Is India ready to embrace GM food crops?

Debates and researches are continuing across the world on GM crops and its repercussions on environment and other plants. Many countries including India remained hesitant even to experiment with the latest technology in agriculture which could feed the millions of people added every year to the food chain. In India, GM food crops are not allowed to cultivate and only BT cotton is cultivated via this technology, which proved useful to boost output many folds. The use of BT cotton has fostered Indian yields since the season of 2000-2001. But this doesn’t prompt Indian authorities to experiment with a food crop.

India last year rejected requests for BT Brinjal after holding public consultations across several cities and meeting up with farmers, scientists, environment activists and ordinary citizens. Indian society still sees the technology through suspected eyes and believed that unquestionable benefits in the short term could lead to potential risks to human health and country’s agriculture heritage in the long term. However, many agriculture scientists in the country remained hopeful and of the opinion that exploiting the progress in science and technology was essential to enhance agricultural productivity.

They think opposition to GM seeds was superstitious and application of GM seeds would increase productivity and address the issue of malnutrition. On the other hand, some argues that Indian farmers aren’t’ well equipped to deal with the latest technology and without basic knowledge of the system, it could harm other crops and surroundings and eventually their own health. Indian society as a whole too wasn’t prepared for such a technology, they added. Many strikes and protests that may occur will virtually put the whole nation to a standstill even if two or three food crops are allowed to cultivate through this technology.

They pointed out that even in the US, where the USDA recently allowed GM sugar beet cultivation under strict conditions with no threat to the environment and other plants, the opposition remained strong.

The USDA and other authorities there are supporting the technology and the USDA in their part completed an environmental impact study in a hurry to bypass a court ban that halted the planting of GM sugar beets until the completion of USDA study. Considering the fact that GM sugar beets are planted on more than 1 million acres in 10 states in the US and supply half the nation's sugar, this was a significant move. However, in India the situation was entirely different and needs more studies before introducing them to the vastly agriculture based economy like India. Genetically modified food should not be allowed as there is inadequate scientific understanding of their impact on environment and human health, argues some others.

They argued that India required following the European Union which has banned the cultivation of GM crops.

Yet others said the opposition to GM foods comes from out of fear of new technology. Recently a senior politician from a prominent Left party publicly supported the use of GM crops by saying opposition to GM crops was superstitious. It was not right to blindly oppose development in science and technology and authorities must show positive attitudes towards. It is estimated that there are over 40 plant varieties that have completed all scientific studies for cultivating on a bigger scale. It might take years for GM crops to make a mark in India, but once in, it will not only play a big role in country’s self sufficiency in food sector but also help tremendously to its economic boosting.

Government can’t guarantee equal access to food for all: CJI

The government can’t be expected to provide food, education and healthcare to all but relief would be offered to the deprived sections, Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia has said while advocating the adoption of minimum core approach. Saying that the financial meltdown has ushered in a paradigm shift from equality in terms of equal access to minimum core approach, the CJI said, “Equal access to food cannot be given. You cannot have access to all in a population of one billion but those who are below the poverty line can have it.”

Speaking at the 17th Commonwealth Law Conference in Hyderabad, Kapadia said that there is no way to ensure that everyone has access to everything though it would be an immediate need to address the issues related to people below the poverty line. Being held after about 40 years, the conference has brought about 800 delegates and includes chief justices and jurists from 54 countries. Prime minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday inaugurated the biennial five-day conference.

Blaming the stagnation in the agriculture sector for the scarcity of food, Kapadia said that the industrial and services sectors have recorded a 12 per cent growth while the growth of agriculture has remained at about 4%. Addressing it straight to the prime minister sitting on the dais, Kapadia said, the government should consider setting up of a system of Indian Regulatory Service on the lines of IAS or IPS.

Agriculture growth target at 4 % for 12th Plan: Montek

The Planning Commission todaysaid the annual agriculture growth target for the 12th FiveYear Plan (2012-17) would be set at 4 per cent as it was inthe previous two plans. The Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek SinghAhluwalia also said, "During the current five year plan(2007-12) we are likely to achieve average farm growth ofabout 3.5 per cent, which would be little lower than targeted4 per cent." Ahluwalia who was conferred a doctorate degree ofscience by Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) here,stressed on the need for more investment in agriculture research. "The investment in farm research should be 2 per cent ofagriculture gross domestic product (GDP) which ranges from0.5-0.6 per cent at present," he said.

Ahluwalia also expressed concerns over relatively loweragriculture yields in India compared to the developed world. He pointed out that production could be increased only byreducing knowledge deficit. The government expects the agriculture sector growthoutput during 2010-11 at over 6 per cent, which is the highestin the Eleventh Plan. The farm growth is significant in the back drop of highfood prices in the country. The performance of the farm sectorwas dismal in the previous fiscal as the growth was just 0.2per cent against the annual average target of 4 per cent in the 11th Plan (2007-12), on account of widespread drought.

In the first year of the 11th Plan, the farm growth was recorded at 4.7 per cent, which slowed down to 1.6 per cent in2008-09. Besides, the annual average farm growth during the 10thPlan (2002-07) also missed the 4 per cent target, and grew instead at the rate of 2.13 per cent.

The deceleration in agriculture growth, which began in the Ninth Plan (1997-02) period, has become a major area of concern as half of country's population derives greater part of their income from agriculture. The annual average farm growth which was 4.72 per cent in 8th Plan (1992-97), slowed down to 2.44 in 9th Plan and further to 2.13 per cent in 10th Plan period.

Climate-resilient farming

That climate change will impact Indian agriculture is a foregone conclusion. In what way precisely is not clear, though some clues are emerging through various research projects to capture these signals and assess their impact on crops, livestock, fisheries and other fields.

The most widely trusted estimate indicates that crop yields may drop 4.5 to 9.0 per cent as a result of climate change in the next three decades, depending on how much temperatures rise and the impact of extreme climate in different parts of the world. A dent of this level in crop productivity translates into an overall cut of around 1.5 per cent in India’s gross domestic product (GDP), given that agriculture accounts for 15 per cent of total GDP.

Business as usual will put the country’s food security in jeopardy and cause widespread distress among farmers by threatening their livelihood security. Strategies to mitigate global warming by slashing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions alone will not help much. That’s because India contributes just 4 per cent to the world’s total harmful emissions. Its domestic efforts to reduce it further may, therefore, make little difference to overall global warming. The real need is for strategies to adapt agriculture to impending climate change.

Fortunately, the country’s farm scientists are unlikely to be caught unawares on this count. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), which runs the country’s national agricultural research system, has recently augmented its efforts to combat climate change by launching a new research-cum-technology demonstration project called "National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture" (NICRA). This project received Cabinet approval on December 15, 2010, with an outlay of Rs 350 crore for the remaining two years of the current plan. The project will probably continue in the 12th plan (2012-17).

"The project will concentrate on creating research and capacity-building infrastructure and on conducting on-farm demonstrations of available climate-resilient technologies," says ICAR director-general S Ayyappan. A significant aspect of this project is that it is entirely India-centred and focuses on finding location-specific solutions to climate change challenges.

Infrastructure to carry out basic and strategic research will help create capacity for developing technologies for medium- to long-term challenges. In the shorter run, the project aims to transfer to farmers climate adaptation technologies that are already available.

Significantly, about 100 of the most vulnerable districts in 27 states will be selected for field demonstrations of climate-resilient technologies. About 100,000 farmers are expected to benefit directly from this exercise. Millions of others will gain in the long run with the dissemination of these technologies and evolution of new ones.

It is critical to recognise that the consequences of global warming will vary from region to region. The mean temperature in India has risen by 0.6 degrees centigrade in the past 100 years. It is not certain whether the rate rise in warming will accelerate or decelerate, though most fear the former case. Evidence also suggests that weather extremes, such as drought, unusually heavy downpours, flash floods, intense heat and cold waves and the like may steadily exacerbate. All this bodes ill for agriculture, livestock and fisheries. Even more worrisome is the projection that though the overall amount of annual rainfall in India will increase, the number of rainy days will shrink.

This will increase uncertainties about crop yields, increasing the risk element in farming.

While many of these challenges can be tackled through technological interventions, some others may need policy support in addition to science-induced resilience. Agricultural scientists, on their part, can develop new crop varieties capable of withstanding stresses caused by heat, cold or water related factors. They can also conceive other kinds of technologies and cultivation practices to create tolerance to climate extremes. But the government, on its part, will need to revamp and expand arrangements for crop insurance and other means of hedging the heightened risks posed by climate change.

Ultimately, what we need is the ability to convert the challenge posed by climate change into an opportunity to mitigate the vulnerability of Indian agriculture.