INDIAN AGRICULTURE—CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

Some of the important challenges Indian agriculture is facing at present are given below:

1. Stunted Yield:
2. Dry Farming:
3. Inadequate Marketing Facilities:
4. Inadequate Formal Sources of Credit:
5. Mismanagement of Public Distribution System:
6. Sustainability of Agriculture:
7. Soil Erosion:

DRY FARMING IN INDIA

• The spread in the regions where the average annual rainfall is less than 75 cm.
• rainfall is scanty and uncertain, where hot and dry conditions prevail.
• It is not only that the average annual rainfall is low, the variability of rainfall in these areas varies between 25 to 60 per cent.
• Agriculture belongs to fragile, high risking and low productive agricultural ecosystem.
• The areas in which more than 75 cm of average annual rainfall is recorded are known as the areas of rain-fed agriculture.
• In India dry-lands cover about 32 million hectares or about 25 per cent of the total arable land.
• The dry farming areas cover the greater parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat. Moreover, there are small tracts of dry land farming in Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, harkhand, Orissa, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
• These areas having scanty rainfall and high variability of rainfall are adversely affected by erratic precipitation, frequent droughts, high temperature, and high wind velocity resulting in soil erosion.

 

Significant Features of Dry Farming

• Moisture conservation is basic to dry farming. In order to achieve this objective, the field is ploughed repeatedly, especially during the rainy season.
• Sowing of crops in alternate years or fallowing of land after each harvesting of crop. The fallowing of agricultural land helps in the recuperation of soil fertility.
• Pulverisation of the soil before sowing.
• Regular hoeing and weeding of the crop. Hoeing is generally done before sun-rise so that the night dew may be mixed into the soil to provide moisture to the crops.
• Covering of the land with straw to prevent evaporation of the soil moisture and to control soil erosion.
• Livestock keeping and dairying are also important allied agricultural activities in the dry farming regions.

Crops

• The main crops grown in the dry farming areas are coarse, grains (maize, millets, bajra), pulses, groundnut, oilseeds and fodder.
• Though 75 per cent of the total population of dry-farming regions are directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture, their per capita income, and standard of living are significantly low.

 

Main Problems of Dry Farming

The main problems of dry farming agriculture are as under:

1. Scarcity of precipitation, erratic occurrence of rains leading to famines, droughts, and floods.
2. The soils, being sandy, lack in humus and organic nutrients.
3. The dry farming areas are highly vulnerable to soil erosion.
4. These are low yields per unit area.
5. In the absence of moisture and irrigation, the use of High Yielding Varieties and new technology is not possible.
6. Most of the farmers in the dry farming regions being poor are not able to apply the new costly inputs.
7. These areas are not having the basic irrigation and other infrastructural facilities, like roads, marketing and storage

 

Strategy for Development

• As stated earlier, agriculture is a highly vulnerable occupation in the scanty rainfall recording areas in which dry farming is practiced.
• In dry farming areas, water harvesting should be done. The government and other non-government agencies should provide the necessary guidance to the people.
• Seeds of food crops which are drought resistant should be provided to the farmers at a subsidized rate.
• Efforts should be made to check soil erosion by adopting soil conservation practices.
• The farmers should space their crops at a wide gap and there should be regular weeding and hoeing.
• Seeds of the quick and short duration maturing crops should be developed.
• Cultivation of crops requiring more moisture should be done in the low lying areas, especially in the lower parts of the catchment.
• Cotton should be grown only in the areas where rainfall is more dependable or sprinkle irrigation is available.
• Soil fertility should be enhanced by applying cow dung and compost manures.
• Repeated tilling of the field is required during the rainy season.
• Research should be promoted in the dry land farming.

 

POULTRY FARMING (SILVER REVOLUTION) IN INDIA

• practice of raising poultry, such as chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, as a subcategory of animal husbandry, for the purpose of farming meat or eggs for food.
• requires small capital and provides additional income and job opportunities to a large number of rural population in the shortest possible time.
• The vast majority of poultry are farmed using factory farming techniques.
• The contrasting method of poultry farming in free range and friction between the two main methods, has led to long term issues of ethical consumerism.
• Opponents of the factory farming argue that it harms the environment and creates health risks, as well as abuses animals.
• In contrast, proponents of factory farming highlight its increased productivity, stating that the animals are looked after in state-of-the art confinement facilities and are happy; that it is needed to feed the growing global human population; and that it protects the environment.

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Poultry Farming in India

• Poultry farming in India is quite old.
• At present, more than three million people are directly or indirectly employed in poultry farming.
• Further, landless labourers derive more than 50 per cent of their income from livestock, especially poultry.
• Uninterrupted supplies of feed as well as avian influenza are critical for the continued robust growth of the poultry sector.
• The first outbreak of avian influenza occurred in India in the state of Maharashtra in the Nandurbar district on 18th Feb. 2006.
• The Central Poultry Development Organisation has been playing a pivotal role in the implementation of the policies of the Government with respect to poultry as a tool for alleviating nutritional hunger and palliating the impecuniosity’s of the resource-poor farmers, especially the women.
• The mandate of the Central Poultry Development Organisation has been specifically revised, by restructuring all poultry units of this Department to focus on improved indigenous birds, which lay on an average 180-200 eggs per annum and have a vastly improved FCR ratio in terms of feed consumption and weight gain.
• The Central Poultry Development Organisations have been entrusted with the responsibility of producing excellent germplasm in the form of day-old chicks and hatching eggs of these varieties like Nierbheek, Hitkari, Vanaraja, Shyama, Cari, Chabro, etc.
• Besides, these organisations are also playing a crucial role in analysing feed samples.
• A new Centrally-sponsored scheme called Assistance to State Poultry, is being implemented during the Tenth Plan where one time assistance is provided to suitably strengthen the farms in terms of hatching, brooding, and rearing of birds with provision for feed mill and their quality monitoring and in-house disease diagnostic facilities.
• A new scheme, Dairy/Poultry Venture Capital Fund, has been launched during the 2004-05, wherein there is a provision to grant subsidy on interest payment.
• The nodal agency for the implementation of this scheme is NABARD through nationalized commercial bank.

 

SERICULTURE IN INDIA

Production

• Silkworm larvae are fed on mulberry leaves and after the fourth molt, they climb a twig placed near them and spin their silken cocoons.
• The silk is a continuous-filament fibre consisting of fibroin protein, secreted from two salivary glands in the head of each larva, and a gum called sericin, which cements the two filament together.
• The sericin is removed by placing the cocoons in hot water, which frees silk filaments and readies them for reeling.
• The immersion of cocoons in hot water also kills the silkworm larvae.
• In India, silk worms thrive on the leaves of mulberry, mahua, sal, ber, and kusum trees. India ranks third among the silk producing countries of the world.
• Silk production is mainly confined to areas between 15° and 34° N latitudes.
• The state of Karnataka is the largest producer of raw silk (65°/o) followed by Andhra Pradesh (17%) West Bengal (8°/o), Tamil Nadu (5°/o), and Assam (3%).

 

SECOND GREEN REVOLUTION

The main objectives of the second Green Revolution are:

(i) To raise agricultural productivity to promote food security

(ii) More emphasis on bio-technology

(iii) To promote sustainable agriculture

(iv) To become self-sufficient in staple food, pulses, oil seeds, and industrial raw material

(v) To increase the per capita income of the farmers and to raise their standard of living.

 

AQUA CULTURE

• the cultivation of aquatic organisms.
• aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, implies the cultivation of aquatic populations under controlled conditions.
• Mariculture refers to aquaculture practiced in marine environments.
• Particular kinds of aquaculture include agriculture (the production of kelp, seaweed, and other algae), fish farming, shrimp farming, shellfish farming, and growing of cultured pearls.

Growth and Development of Aquaculture

• has been used in China since circa 2500 BC.
• practice of aquaculture gained prevalence in Europe during theMiddle Ages since fish were scarce and thus expensive.
• Americans were rarely involved in aquaculture until the late 20th century but California residents harvested wild kelp and made legal efforts to manage the supply starting circa 1900, later even producing it as a wartime resource.
• the rise of aquaculture is a contemporary phenomenon.

 

Types of Aquaculture 1. Algaculture

• A form of aquaculture involving the farming of species of algae.
• Majority of algae are intentionally cultivated fall into the category of microalgae, also referred to as phytoplankton, microphytes, or planktonic algae.
• Macro algae, commonly known as seaweed, also have many commercial and industrial uses, but due to their size and the specific requirements of the environment in which they need to grow, they do not lend themselves as readily to cultivation on a large scale as microalgae and are most often harvested wild from the ocean.

 

2. Fish Farming

• The principal form of aquaculture, while other methods may fall under mariculture.
• Involves raising fish commercially in tanks or enclosures, usually for food.
• Fish species raised by fish farms include salmon, catfish, tilapia, cod, carp, trout, and others.
• Increasing demands on wild fisheries by commercial fishing operations have caused widespread overfishing.
• Offers an alternative solution to the increasing market demand for fish and fish protein.

 

3. Freshwater Prawn Farming

• An aquaculture business designed to raise and produce freshwater prawn or shrimp for human consumption.
• Shares many characteristics with, and many of the same problems as, marine shrimp farming.
• Unique problems are introduced by the development life cycle of the main species (the giant river prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergiz).

4. Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture

• A practice in which the by- products (wastes) from one species are recycled to become inputs ( fertilisers, food) for another.
• Fed aquaculture (e.g. fish, shrimp) is combined with inorganic extractive (e.g. seaweed) and organic extractive (e.g. shellfish) aquaculture to create balanced systems for environmental sustainability (biomitigation), economic stability (product diversification and risk reduction), and social acceptability (better management practices).

5. Mariculture

• a specialised branch of aquaculture involving the cultivation of marine organisms for food and other products in the open ocean, an enclosed section of the ocean, or in tanks, ponds or raceways which are filled with seawater.
• the farming of marine fish, prawns, or oysters in saltwater ponds.
• Non-food products produced by mariculture include fish meal, nutrient agar, jewelleries ( e.g. cultured pearls), and cosmetics.

 

6. Shrimp Farming

• an aquaculture for the cultivation of marine shrimp for human consumption.
• Commercial shrimp farming began in the 1970s, and production grew steeply, particularly to match the market demands of the US, Japan, and Western Europe.
• About 75°/o of farmed shrimp is produced in Asia, in particular in China and Thailand.
• The other 25% is produced mainly in Latin America, where Brazil is the largest producer.
• The largest exporting nation is Thailand.
• Shrimp farming on modern lines is being done in Andhra Pradesh (Nellore District), a state of India (see Blue Revolution)

Strategies for the Fisheries Development

• Under the Jawahar Rozgar Yojna, village panchayats have been authorised to carry out fisheries development programmes in respective villages.
• Under the programme of Development of Model Fishermen Villages, basic civic amenities such as housing, drinking water and construction of community halls for fishermen villages are provided.
• Brackish Fish Farmers Development Agencies (BFDA) functioning in the coastal areas of the country is providing a package of technical, financial and extension support to shrimp farmers.
• Insurance facilities have been extended to fishermen for the insurance and security of their life.
• The government is collecting data on the micro-climates of various water bodies to promote fisheries in the country.

Problems and Prospects

1. Most of the fishermen are poor. They are not able to purchase good equipment to improve the harvest of fish.
2. The water bodies (rivers, lakes, ponds, and coastal areas of the seas) are increasingly polluted.
3. The area of paddy fields in which fisheries used to be kept is also decreasing under the impact of fast growth of population, industrialisation, and urbanisation.
4. Adequate information about the environment of water-bodies (ponds, lakes, rivers, and sea is not available).
5. Unpredictable nature of monsoon as a result of which the inland fisheries suffer adversely.
6. Problem of marketing, storage, and transportation.
7. Inadequacy of research and extension service facilities.
8. There is need of Pink Revolution (Prawns) in the coastal regions of the country.

 

BLUE REVOLUTION IN INDIA

• the adoption of a package programme to increase the production of fish and marine products.
• started in 1970 during the Fifth Five-Year Plan when the Central Government sponsored the Fish Farmers Development Agency (FFDA).
• Subsequently, the Brakish Water Fish Farms Development Agency were set up to develop aquaculture.
• brought improvement in aquaculture by adopting new techniques of fish breeding, fish rearing, fish marketing, and fish export.
• tremendous increase in the production of shrimp. Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have developed shrimp in a big way.
• The Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh is known as the ‘Shrimp Capital of India’.
• There are more than 1800 species of fish found in the sea and inland waters of India, of which a very few are commercially important.
• important sea fish include catfish, herring, mackerels, perches, mullets, Indian salmon, shell fish, eels, anchovies, and dorab.
• the main fresh water fish include catfish, loaches, perches, eels, herrings, feather backs, mullets, carps, prawns, murrels, and anchovies.
• Marine fisheries contribute about 50 per cent of the total fish production of the country.
• Kerala is the leading producer followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Goa.
• The fishing season extends from September to March.
• The higher fish production in the Arabian Sea is due to the broader continental shelf.
• The important fish varieties include sardines, mackerel and prawn.
• The East Coast contributes about 28 per cent of the total production of marine fish in the country.
• The fishing activity along the East coast is mainly carried on from Rameswaram in the south to Ganjam in the north, with fishing season from September to April along the Coromandal Coast.
• The National Fisheries Development Board has been set up to realize the untapped potential of fishery sector with the application of modern tools of research and development including biotechnology.

 

WHITE REVOLUTION IN INDIA

 

• The package programme adopted to increase the production of milk is known as White Revolution in India.
• The White Revolution in India occurred in 1970, when the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was established to organize the dairy development through the co-operative societies.
• Varghese Kuerin was the father of White Revolution in India.
• The dairy development programme through co-operative societies was first established in the state of Gujarat.
• The co-operative societies were most successful in the Anand District of Gujarat. The co-operative societies are owned and managed by the milk producers.
• These co-operatives apart from financial help also provide consultancy.
• The increase in milk production has also been termed as Operation Flood.

Objectives

1. The procurement, transportation, storage of milk at the chilling plants.
2. Provide cattle feed.
3. Production of wide varieties of milk products and their marketing management.
4. Provide superior breeds of cattle (cows and buffaloes), health service, veterinary treatment, and artificial insemination facilities.
5. Provide extension service.

 

Achievements

• Some of the important achievements of the White Revolution are as under:

1. The White Revolution made a sound impact on rural masses and encouraged them to take up dairying as a subsidiary occupation.
2. India has become the leading producer of milk in the world.
3. The import of milk and milk production has been reduced substantially.
4. The small and marginal farmers and the landless labourers have been especially benefitted from the White Revolution.
5. To ensure the success of Operation Flood Programme, research centres have been set up at Anand, Mehsana, and Palanpur (Banaskantha). Moreover, three regional centres are functioning at Siliguri, Jalandhar, and Erode. Presently, there are metro dairies in 10 metropolitan cities of the country, beside 40 plants with capacity to handle more than one lakh litres of milk.
6. Livestock Insurance Scheme was approved in February 2006 and in 2006-07 on a pilot basis in 100 selected districts across the country. The scheme aims at protecting the farmers against losses due to untimely 2. In most of the villages the cattle are kept under unhygienic conditions.death of animals.
7. To improve the quality of livestock, extensive cross breeding has been launched.
8. For ensuring the maintenance of disease-free status, major health schemes have been initiated.
9. The government implemented livestock insurance on pilot basis in 2005-06.

 

Problems and Prospects

1. Collection of milk from the remote areas is expensive, time consuming, and not viable economically.
2. In most of the villages the cattle are kept under unhygienic conditions.
3. There are inadequate marketing facilities. The marketing infrastructure needs much improvement.
4. The breeds of cattle is generally inferior.
5. The extension service programme is not effective.

 

Green Revolution in India

• A term coined to describe the emergence and diffusion of new seeds of cereals.
• Norman-e-Borlaug is the Father of Green Revolution in the world, while Dr. M.S. Swami Nathan is known as the Father of Green Revolution in India.
• The new cereals were the product of research work and concentrated plant breeding with the objective of creating High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) of use to the developing countries.
• New varieties of wheat were first bred in Mexico in the 1950s and that of rice, like IR-8 (miracle rice) at the International Rice Research Institute, Manila, (Philippines in the 1960s).
• The increase in the yield from the new seeds has been spectacular as during the last forty years, agricultural production, particularly of wheat and rice, has experienced a great spurt and this has been designated as the Green Revolution.
• The Green Revolution has been used to mean two different things. Some experts of agriculture use it for referring to a broad transformation of agricultural sector in the developing countries to reduce food shortages.
• Others use it when referring to the specific plant improvements, notably the development of HYVs.
• Whatsoever the meaning of Green Revolution may be taken as, the adoption and diffusion of new seeds of wheat and rice has been considered as a significant achievement as it offered great optimism.
• In fact, these varieties of seeds have revolutionised the agricultural landscape of the developing countries and the problem of food shortage has been reduced.
• In India, hybridisation of selected crops, i.e. maize, bajra (bulrush millets), and millets began in 1960.
• The Mexican dwarf varieties of wheat were tried out on a selected scale in 1963-64. Exotic varieties of rice such as Taichung Native I were introduced in India in 1964.
• The diffusion of HYVs, however, became fully operational in the country in the Kharif season of 1965-66.
• The diffusion of the new seeds was mainly in the Satluj-Ganga Plains and the Kaveri Delta.
• Subsequently, a number of varieties of wheat and rice were developed by the Indian scientists and adopted by the Indian farmers.

 

Merits of the High Yielding Varieties

The High Yielding Varieties have certain advantages over the traditional varieties of cereals which are given as under:

 

1. Shorter Life Cycle
2. Economize on Irrigation Water
3. Generate more Employment

Geographical Constraints in the Adoption of New Seeds

The new seeds are less resistant to droughts and floods and need an efficient management of water, chemical fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides.

The conditions required for the good harvest of new seeds have been described below:

 

1. Irrigation
2. Availability of Chemical Fertilisers
3. Plant Protection Chemicals
   • The new seeds are very delicate and highly susceptible to pests and diseases.
   • The danger of pests and insects may be reduced by using plant protection chemicals.

 

• The problems of crop disease and pests may also be tackled by timely application of insecticides and pesticides

 

4. Capital Constraint

4. Mechanization

4. Marketing and Storage Facilities

7. Extension Service

8. Human Factor

Environmental and Ecological Implications of Green Revolution

Some of the environmental and ecological problems that emerged out of the cultivation of the High Yielding Varieties are depletion of forests, reduction in pastures, salination, water-logging, depletion of underground water-table, soil erosion, change in the soil chemistry, reduction in bio-diversity, decline in soil fertility, silting of rivers, increase in weeds, emergence of numerous new plant diseases, and health hazards.

 

An overview of these environmental and ecological problems has been given here.

1. Salination

 The saline and alkaline affected tracts, locally known as kallar or thur in Punjab and kallar or reh in Uttar Pradesh have expanded and increased in area.The problem of salinity and alkalinity can be solved by use of manure (cow dung, compost, and green manure) and by a judicious selection of leguminous crops in the rotation

 

2. Waterlogging

Water logging is the other major problem associated with over-irrigation.The progressive and ambitious cultivators of the irrigated areas of these districts have changed their cropping patterns and have introduced rice and wheat in place of bajra, pulses, cotton, and fodder.Repeated irrigation of these crops in the summer and winter seasons have resulted into waterlogged condition, especially along the canals.

 

3. Soil erosion
4. Pollution:
5. Lowering of the Underground Water-Table:
6. Deforestation
7. Noise Pollution:
8. Health Hazards:

 

Green Revolution—Achievements, Problems and Prospects

Green Revolution—Achievements

The main achievements of Green Revolution may be summarized as under:

 

1. The production and productivity of wheat, rice, maize, and bajra has increased substantially.
2. India has become almost self-sufficient in the matter of staple foods.
3. The double cropped area has increased; thereby intensification of the Indian agriculture has increased.
4. In the areas where Green Revolution is a success, the farmers have moved from subsistent to market oriented economy, especially in Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, and the plain districts of Uttarakhand (Hardwar and Udhamsinghnagar).
5. The adoption of High Yielding Varieties under the Green Revolution has generated more rural and urban employment.
6. Green Revolution has increased the income of farmers and landless labourers, especially that of the big farmers and the semi-skilled rural workers. Thus Green Revolution has increased rural prosperity.
7. Green Revolution has created jobs in the areas of biological (seed fertilisers) innovations, and repair of agricultural equipments and machinery.

 

Green Revolution—Problems and Prospects

1. Depletion of soil owing to the continuous cultivation of soil exhaustive crops like rice and wheat.
2. Depletion of underground water table due to over-irrigation of more moisture requiring crops like rice and wheat.
3. Green Revolution has increased the income disparity amongst the farmers.
4. Green Revolution led to polarization of the rural society. It has created three types of conflicts in the rural community, namely, between large and small farmers, between owner and tenant farmers, between the employers and employees on agricultural farms.
5. Green Revolution has displaced the agricultural labourers, leading to rural unemployment. The mechanical innovations like tractors have displaced the agricultural labour. 6. Agricultural production in the Green Revolution areas is either stationary or has shown declining trend.
6. Some valuable agricultural lands have submerged under water (water-logging) or are adversely affected by salinity and alkalinity.
7. Green Revolution is crop specific. It could not perform well in the case pulses and oil-seeds.
8. The traditional institution of Jijmani system has broken. Consequently, the barbers, carpenters, iron-smith, and watermen have migrated to the urban areas.
9. The soil texture, structure, soil chemistry, and soil fertility have changed.
10. About 60 per cent of agricultural land in the country remains unaffected by Green Revolution.
11. Green Revolution technologies are scale neutral but not resource neutral.
12. Punjab feeds the nation but farmers in the state, especially in the Malwa region fall prey to cancer. The take ‘Cancer Train’ to Bikaner for cheap treatment.