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Minister for Agriculture C Adinarayana Reddy said that the state government has set up price stabilisation fund with Rs 500 crore to extend helping hand to the farmers.
He addressed a meeting held under the aegis of Acharya Nagarjuna University and Andhra Cotton Association to create awareness on pink bollworm to the cotton farmers on Venkateswara Vignan Mandiram here on Thursday
Speaking on the occasion, he suggested to the farmers to insure their crops to get compensation, if the crop is damaged due to bad climatic condition. He further stated that the farmers have to pay two per cent of the insurance premium and added that the State and Central governments will pay remaining premium. He urged the farmers to avail facility provided by the government.
He further said that the government has already introduced insurance scheme for six lakh cattle in the state. The farmers need to not pay any insurance premium to the government and added that the government will pay insurance premium on behalf of the cattle owners.
He said if buffalo dies, after being insured, the cattle owner will get compensation. He urged the farmers to avail the facility provided by the government. The Minister reminded that the government has given bonus to the red chilli farmers up to Rs 30,000 per farmer to extend helping hand to them in 2017.
He reminded that the government has given bonus to the turmeric farmers during the last year. He said that the government is committed to the welfare of the farmers and urged them what they are expecting from the government. Minister for Social Welfare Nakka Anand Babu, ANGRAU Vice-Chancellor Dr V Damodar Naidu were among those present.
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Despite the promising performance in terms of exports, the local consumption of organic produce is still at a nascent stage, with a market share of less than one per cent. This was stated in a joint report by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and EY, which was titled The Indian Organic Market: A new paradigm in agriculture.
It added that the agricultural policy of India had gradually shifted from espousing a production-centric approach to a more holistic approach, in addition to focusing on increased productivity, factors in climatic considerations, nutritional concerns, environmental impact and standard of living of the stakeholders.
Notwithstanding the enabling environment created by a culmination of the aforementioned factors, there exist several challenges for all the stakeholders involved at every stage of the value chain.
The producers of organic products are continually struggling to optimise the scale of their operations while maintaining profitability. This is primarily because of the gaps in the regulatory framework for organic products in India. The processors of organic food products face significant resistance in the form of a lack of adequate post-harvest facilities for organic products.
Several measures need to be taken in order to avoid contamination and cross-contamination of the produce and the infrastructural capabilities of the country often prove to be inadequate.
The marketing of organic produce comes with its own set of challenges related to global competitiveness and differences in global and national quality standards.
Although there has been a marked improvement in the level of awareness regarding organic products, many consumers are unaware of its benefits, thereby providing no incentives for increased supply and resulting in organic products being priced higher than their conventional variants.
A greater emphasis should be placed on the capacity building of stakeholders, easing access to finance, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of all assets and processes as well as research and development (R&D) to help keep abreast with global progress in the sector.
Additionally, there has emerged an urgent need for infrastructural development and business climate reforms, reinvention of branding and marketing strategies and entrepreneurship development.
Organic farming is practiced with varying levels of success in 178 countries. However, the North American and European Union (EU) regions (as single markets) generate the bulk of the global sales. The global sales increased to $89.7 billion in 2016 from $7.9 billion in 2000. Country-wise, the top consumers of organic products are the United States ($43.1 billion), followed by Germany ($10.5 billion) and France ($7.5 billion).
The increase in demand has led to a considerable increase in the area subject to organic management techniques globally, surging from 11 million hectare (ha) in 1999 to 57.8 million hectare in 2016.
The wild harvest and other non-agriculture organic collection area also increased to 39.9 million ha in 2016 from 4.1 million ha in 1999.
The three countries with the largest area under organic cultivation are Australia (27.1 million ha), followed by Argentina (three million ha) and China (2.3 million ha). “The three countries with the largest wild harvest area for organic products are Finland (11.6 million ha), followed by Zambia (6.7 million ha) and India (4.2 million ha),” the paper highlighted.
The rapid growth of the organic market can be attributed to various factors are increasing emphasis on good health, proliferation of consumption-related ailments, an increased awareness regarding the health benefits of organic products among consumers, enhanced income levels and standard of living, together with government initiatives aimed at promoting organic products are key drivers of this exponential market expansion,” it added.
In addition to ranking third in wild harvest area, India also houses the highest number of organic producers globally with 835,000 organic farmers. It also ranks ninth in terms of area under organic cultivation with 1.49 million ha.
Therefore, it occupied a robust position in producing organic products, having already exported 1.35 million metric tonne (MT) of certified organic food products worth Rs 1,937 crore in 2015-16. The exports are largely concentrated around the US, Europe, Canada, Japan and the West Asian markets.
India is the largest exporter of organic cotton worldwide. In the food market segment, oilseeds comprised half of India’s overall organic food export, followed by processed food products at 25 per cent. The current Indian organic market is estimated at Rs 40,000 million and is likely to increase to Rs 1,00,000–1,20,000 million by 2020 with a similar incremental trend in exports. It has been progressing steadily with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25 per cent as compared to the global growth rate of 16 per cent.
Vastrabharana’s second edition in the city promises to showcase the best of desi handloom traditions
Riding high on the success of its first Mumbai edition, the Craft Council of Karnataka’s (CCK) annual handicrafts exhibition, Vastrabharana, is back to showcase an array of handloom textiles and handmade jewellery from all over India. Sarees, scarves, stoles and dupattas in chanderi and khadi fabrics, Madhubani art weaves, ajrakh prints and hand-woven silks will be on sale at the two-day exhibition and sale. Vastrabharana aims at promoting Indian handlooms and textiles while providing a sustainable livelihood to local crafts people and artisans.
In addition to bridging the gap between artisan communities and urban markets, Vastrabharana also educates weavers and craftsmen on how to cater to contemporary buyers through design intervention and product development. The exhibition also aims at providing a sustainable livelihood and profits for 34 weavers from all around the country. “Fifty percent of our sales are from Vastrabharana,” says Anoop Rai of MARM, a participating brand that will be selling chanderi sarees (?3,500-12,500), dupattas (?1,500-4,500), scarves and stoles (? 1,000-1,500) and fabric (?600-1,000) at the textile exhibition.
CCK also aims at linking contemporary designers to local artisans who master the textile craft of their region. “[CCK] encourages us to work with the craftspeople who are directly involved with handmade products and they also try to keep traditional handicrafts alive”, says Manas Gorai, designer, gemmologist and owner of brand, Manas, which employed 15 craftspersons to put together, a collection of naturally dyed khadi fabrics and handmade jewellery which will be showcased at the exhibition, ranging from ?1500 to ?15000.
Vastrabharana 2018’s highlights include Sufiyan Khatri’s contemporary innovation with the ajrakh prints of Kutch, Metaphor Racha’s functional summer khadi clothing, Nuppur’s recreation of Madhubani art on woven materials and handlooms from Mangaligiri and Banaras by Vishal Kapur Design. Srinagar and vishwakarma sarees that tell stories by Palash as well as home furnishings in kasuti embroidery by Kala Nele. Designer Malavika of Malavika creations, a recipient of the UNESCO Seal of Excellence, will showcase a range of badla craftsmanship on Maheshwari and tussar silks.
The U.S. government has banned all imports of cotton goods from Turkmenistan, which activists have accused of rampant use of child and forced labor in cotton harvesting. The Withhold Release Order, filed by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) service on May 18 and made public on May 24, did not specify the reason for the ban.
But members of the U.S. Cotton Campaign, Alternative Turkmenistan News, and International Labor Rights Forum had petitioned the CBP to ban importation of all goods made with Turkmen cotton that was produced with forced labor.
“These three groups alleged that the Turkmen government forces public-sector employees under threat of punishment, including loss of wages and termination of employment, to pick cotton,” the Crowell & Moring International Trade Group said on its website on May 24.
U.S. law prohibits the importation of products produced through slave or child labor or by violating labor laws.
“The decision of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service is an important step towards the complete cessation of one of the most egregious practices of using forced labor still left in the world,” said Erik Gottwald, director of the International Forum on Labor Rights for Policy Development and Legal Affairs.
Ruslan Myatiev, editor and founder of Alternative Turkmenistan News, said that “annually, the Turkmen government forces tens of thousands of public sector employees, including teachers, nurses, and doctors, to pick cotton, pay a bribe or hire a replacement worker, all under threat of punishment, including loss of wages and termination of employment.”
Several leading global retailers, including H&M and IKEA, have said they were no longer using Turkmen cotton and textiles in their products. Activists have long accused Turkmenistan and some of its Central Asian neighbors of using child and slave labor in their cotton fields and elsewhere. The 2016 Global Slavery Index listed the countries it said have systematically forced their population into labor, including Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Belarus, China, Eritrea, North Korea, Russia, and Vietnam.
The report said that an estimated 15,800 people were believed to be held in “modern slavery” in Turkmenistan.
Vietnamese exports to Africa have faced price-related challenges as they have to compete with other African nations in terms of import tax, given the fact there is no free trade agreement or preferential trade agreement between Vietnam and regional countries.
According to the Vietnamese Commercial Affairs Office in South Africa, 44 African nations officially sealed a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) agreement during the tenth extraordinary session of the African Union (AU) in Kigali, Rwanda, last March.
The deal will come into force within 180 days after at least 22 countries approve it. The agreement has given birth to the world’s largest free trade area in terms of the number of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organisation in 1948. It can create a single market with a population of 1.2 billion and GDP of 2.5 trillion USD.
Under the pact, the signatories committed to remove tariffs on more than 90 percent of goods. The agreement will address seven priority areas related to trade: policy, infrastructure, finance, information, market integration, productivity increase and trade facilitation.
Experts said the deal is expected to drive up intra-Africa trade by about 52 percent by 2022, as compared with 2010. The exchange of industrial products is also projected to expand by 53 percent. The Vietnamese office said the CFTA helps cut commercial costs and enable African consumers to access diverse products with lower prices.
Lower costs of production materials exchanged between CFTA member countries would raise competitiveness of local producers and help create regional value chains, the office said.
Pointing out price challenges for Vietnamese exports to Africa, the office suggested Vietnamese businesses make use of benefits brought about by the pact, which will turn Africa into a busier and more promising area for commercial activities.
Hoang Oanh, head of the Department of Asia-Africa Markets under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said Vietnamese firms should pay more attention to markets like Algeria, Egypt, South Africa and Angola, and products like rice, coffee, pepper, seafood, household electric products, garments-textiles and machines for agriculture and garment-textile. With a 1.2 billion population, the region’s demand for rice is expected to sharply increase, she said, explaining that rice production costs more than imports in African countries as they have to invest much in irrigation.
Besides, they have met difficulties in ensuring food security since the regional population is growing faster than the pace of agricultural production. Additionally, the number of mobile phone subscribers in Africa increases the fastest in the world, she said, describing this as a great opportunity for Vietnamese telecommunications firms.
With ideal time for sowing already over by more than a week, Haryana has so far been able to achieve only 76 per cent of its target of cotton sowing. The weekly report of the Agriculture Department for May 22 shows that cotton had been sown on 4.97 lakh hectares against the target of 6.48 lakh.
Agriculture experts recommend that cotton must be sown before May 15 for maximum yield and lower infestation by whitefly and leaf curl virus.
Sources attribute shortage of canal water in the cotton growing districts from the Bhakra canal system and lesser interest in the crop due to lower prices this year as reasons for the phenomenon.
Dr Dilip Monga, Head, Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), Sirsa, confirmed that the sowing this time was quite low both in Haryana as well as in Punjab despite their specific recommendations that it should be completed between April 15 and May 15. He said late sowing could lead to infestations by whitefly and leaf curl virus thereby affecting the yield badly.
“In 2015-16, a year after one of the worst attack of whitefly and leaf curl virus on cotton crop in the region, the CICR had conducted trials in Northern India for the impact of these infestations on cotton sown on May 15 versus the crop sown on June 7. We found the infestations were much more in the late sown crop and the yield remained one-third in the crop sown on June 7 as against that sown on May 15,” said Dr Monga.
Gurdeep Singh Mann, a farmer from Kirpal Patti in Sirsa, said that failure of cotton last year and prolonged closure of the Bhakra canal were the major reasons for lower sowing.
“The recommended pre-irrigation for cotton sowing is canal water as it is much superior to any borewell water. Cotton growers kept waiting for canal water and the optimum time for cotton sowing was lost,” Mann said.
Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar said that things were beyond the control of the government as water in the Bhakra reservoir was short and the state was proportionately getting 2,000 to 2,500 cusecs less than normal supply.
“Due to lesser allocation of water these days, the farmers are getting water for one week followed by closure of channels for two weeks, while during heydays, it was two weeks of supplies followed by two weeks of closure,” Dhankar said.
The flying machines are used extensively in the United States and other developed countries for spraying chemicals and surveillance of crops.
Taking a leaf out of the agricultural practices of developed nations, the state Agriculture Commissionerate, for the first time, is going to use drones to spray insecticide over cotton crop this year. The pilot experiment is being planned in Yavatmal district, said Subhash Nagare, joint director of agriculture, Amravati division.
Right now, officials of the Department of Agriculture, as well as the revenue department, were looking for a suitable plot for the project, he said. “The selected field should not have any high-tension electric poles or large trees,” said Nagare.
As permission from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is necessary to fly a drone, the necessary modalities are being worked out.
Commissioner of Agriculture, Sachindra Pratap Singh, said the experiment would be closely monitored to check whether it was feasible for other cotton fields. “A large number of permissions are necessary for operating drones and we are working on those,” he said. The Commissionerate will also check the economic viability of the project during the pilot experiment.
For the pilot project, the department will sign a MoU with a start-up, which had come up with this particular idea.
Last year, 18 agricultural labourers had died in Yavatmal after they accidentally inhaled fumes while spraying chemicals on the field. The incident had raised serious concerns, as the labourers reportedly didn’t have adequate safety gear, and some activists had even sought a ban on such chemicals.
Welcoming the move, Kishore Tiwari, chairman of the state government’s committee to combat farm distress, said it would reduce the handling of chemicals by workers. “However, proper care needs to be taken while operating the drones, to avoid spraying over water bodies,” he said.
The usage of drones in agriculture is not a new concept, but in India, it is still in its nascent stage. The flying machines are used extensively in the United States and other developed countries for spraying chemicals and surveillance of crops.
Villages will be advised to go in for one or two varieties of cotton, to go for pickings at the same time, retain cotton only for 140 days so that the pest does not proliferate and also use Phermone traps in case the problem gets serious.
Gujarat’s success in controlling pink bollworm’s resistance to Bt cotton has caught the attention of Maharashtra, a major cotton producing state. There is a general consensus among the industry people that if Gujarat could control the pest attack, Maharashtra could take the same route. This season, cotton ginners in Maharashtra have decided to take the lead and go to farmers persuading them to adopt good practices for cotton cultivation.
The Khandesh Gin/Press Factory Owners Association has begun an aggressive campaign in Jalgaon — a major cotton producing belt in the state — with the help of major cotton institutes, including the the South Asia Biotechnology Centre (SABC). Dr CD Mayee, president, SABC visited Jalgaon to tell farmers on how to go about preventing any form of pest attack. More such campaigns will be held across Khandesh region and a ‘Cotton Recipe Book’ is being published soon for farmers before sowing begins. The book will contain details on what goes into the making of a good healthy crop and farmers will be advised on good practices from the day of the sowing operations on maintaining distance between two saplings to the use of herbicides, fertilisers and duration of the crop itself, Pradeep Jain, president, Khandesh Gin/Press Factory Owners Association said.
The book also provides for helpline for farmers with phone numbers so that they can speak personally with experts on issues related to his crop, he added.
Villages will be advised to go in for one or two varieties of cotton, to go for pickings at the same time, retain cotton only for 140 days so that the pest does not proliferate and also use Phermone traps in case the problem gets serious. Farmers are told to terminate the standing cotton crop before end of February to break the life cycle of the pink bollworm, The recipe books will be distributed through ginning units to farmers.
This is the first time, the association has come out with a book of this nature. For the last couple of years, cotton ginners in Maharashtra had begun an effort in the state to improve productivity of cotton after they discovered that cotton from Gujarat commanded a higher price. What began as an effort to mentor some 40 farmers in 10 talukas of Jalgaon district, resulted in 50-70% improvement in productivity. The yield which was usually 8-10 quintals, rose to more than 15 quintals. With sowing expecting to commence by May 30, the association has repeated the effort this year along with more focus on pink bollworm this season.
“This is an effort to increase awareness among farmers and we have succeeded to some extent,” Jain said, adding that the association has brought in in experts and stakeholders including more seed companies and fertiliser firms to advise farmers.
Soaring mercury across the hill state has thrown life out of gear even as meteorologists predicted that the heat wave is likely to continue for some more days. With the temperature touching 42oC on Wednesday, three degrees above normal, farmers in Terai region have raised concern about its detrimental effect on the sowing of kharif crops.
Meanwhile, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a ‘red-coded’ warning of heat wave in several parts of the state for the next three to four days.
Farmers claim that the soaring mercury is delaying the sowing of kharif crops, mainly paddy and cotton, with water shortage and errant electricity supply compounding the woes.
Natthu Lal Bathla, a farmer from Jafarpur village, said, “Kharif crop is sown in almost one lakh hectares of land in Terai region. However, the unusually high temperatures are delaying sowing activities. If this continues, we will face huge losses as water is scarce and electricity supply is also erratic
Jasvinder Singh Mann, another farmer from Sampatpur, said, “The water sources in our village have dried up. This will affect farmers who don’t have irrigation facilities.”
Talking to TOI, agricultural scientist Anil Hafeez said, “The rising temperatures will be detrimental to the cultivation of paddy and other summer crops. The depleting water level in the region will also affect farming activities.”
Irrigation department engineer Vimal Verma said that the biggest reservoir in the district, Nanak Sagar dam, with a capacity of around 60 million cubic metres has run dry even before the sowing season is over. It caters to around 48,500 acres of arable land in both Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
R K Sinha, meteorologist at GB Pant University in US Nagar district, said, “Mercury has crossed the 42oC mark in Terai for the first time this season on Wednesday. Similar conditions are expected to continue to till the second week of June. Western disturbance in the Himalayan region by mid-June is likely to bring rain and thunderstorm.”
Items must form at least 50% of all cargo
Foreign-flagged ships will be allowed to transport agriculture, horticulture, fisheries and animal husbandry commodities between Indian ports without a licence, the Shipping Ministry said in an order issued on Tuesday in a second round of cabotage relaxation.
On Monday, the Ministry had eased cabotage rules by allowing foreign-flagged container ships to carry export-import (Exim) containers for transshipment and empty containers on local routes without a licence.
Local route access
Only Indian registered ships are allowed to ply on local routes for carrying cargo, according to India’s cabotage law. Foreign ships can operate along the coast only when Indian ships are not available, after taking a licence from the Director-General of Shipping, according to the rule that was designed to protect local ship owners. The cabotage relaxation granted to foreign flagged ships for carrying agriculture, horticulture, fisheries and animal husbandry commodities specified in the Indian Trade Classification (ITC), Harmonised System (HS) of the Director-General of Foreign Trade, Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, is conditional on such commodities contributing to at least 50 per cent of the total cargo on board the ship, PK Sharma, Under Secretary in the Shipping Ministry, said in the May 22 order reviewed by BusinessLine.
Commodities
These commodities are meat and edible meat offal, fish and crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates, dairy produce, bird’s eggs, natural honey, edible products of animal origin (not elsewhere included), vegetables and certain roots and tubers-edible, fruits and nuts- edible, peel of citrus fruits or melons, coffee, tea, mate and spices, cereals, products of the milling industry, malt, starch, inulin, wheat gluten, oil seeds and oleaginous fruits, miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruit, industrial or medicinal plants, straw and fodder, vegetable plaiting materials (not elsewhere specified or included), animal or vegetable fats and oils and their cleavage products, wool prior to yarn formation, cotton, prior to yarn/thread formation, vegetable textile fibres such as flax, hemp and jute.
Water-borne transportation modes, including coastal shipping, being comparatively cheaper modes of transport would enable farmers to access a larger market profitably, widen the range of goods which can be marketed, and lengthen the distances over which domestic trade can be conducted, according to the ministry.
The national perspective plan of Sagarmala programme estimates a potential of more than 9 million tonnes a year for coastal movement of food grains and processed food.
