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.

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.