Category Archives: Agriculture

Faced with drought, Banda farmer invents low-cost plough

Agriculture, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Science & Technology

Kannpur:

Faced with drought, a farmer from Chahnehra village in Banda district of Bundelkhand region has built a low-cost ploughing machine. He used an old bicycle, iron pieces for ploughing agriculture fields.

The innovative machine costs between Rs 3,000 and Rs 4,000, making it cheaper than traditional and mechanical ploughs. It could also perform several other functions such as weeding and sowing.

Ram Prasad, 50, who hires farm land on ‘batai’, thought of inventing a machine to solve the problems of ordinary farmers of the region who are facing nature’s fury, including recurring droughts and untimely rains.

“Adversity of nature in Bundelkhand forced my families to sell their bullocks. In fact, most of the farmers are unable to bear the maintenance cost of tractor or even bullocks due to huge losses,” said Ram Prasad.

He added that a farmer has to spend around Rs 50,000 for a pair of bullocks or Rs 5 lakhs for purchasing a tractor. On both, he will have to incur a huge sum in terms of fodder and kerosene or diesel.

“After struggling for seven-eight years and several rounds of trials and errors, I managed to design the machine from an old bicycle which was lying as crap in the backyard of my house. I have also helped many farmers by converting their old bicycles into a ploughing machine,” Ram Prasad informed TOI.

The machine has a single wheel with three diggers attached, besides a front and a rear handle and can be used for multi-purpose agriculture work such as weeding out grass, ploughing, sowing seeds and mixing soil with fertilisers as well as manure. “My ploughing machine doesn’t require kerosene or diesel. It only requires two persons,” he said with a smile on his face.

Villagers of Chahnehra, who initially used to make a mockery of Ram Prasad, now praise his invention. “Ram Prasad has proved that where there is a will, there is a way,” said Mohd Talha, his neighbour.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kanpur / by Faiz Rahman Siddiqui / TNN / April 06th, 2016

10 kg wood apple attracts all at AgriHorti Tech fair

Agriculture, Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All

Kanpur:

A 10 kg wood apple, popularly known as bel, remained the centre of attraction on the second day of AgriHorti Tech international fair in Saifai, Etawah.

The wood apple has been displayed at the stall of Chandra Shekhar Azad Agriculture university of Kanpur.

The farmers visiting the fair also showed interest in ‘Rabi’ crop seeds, saplings, farming literature, agriculture equipment and new technologies, at various other stalls.

“During ‘Rabi’ season, the farmers should go for maize instead of sowing wheat crop as it’s yield is quite high as compared to latter,” said Dr Athar Husain Warsi, a scientist, Agriculrure department, Etawah.

Chief development officer Anil Kumar Singh said visitors are showing interest in farm machinery developed by various institutes and ‘chukandar’ and wood apple plantation, stalls of which have been put up by the CSA University of Kanpur authorities.

Scientists from the university said the seeds of the 10 kg wood apple are available at the university. Farmers are being trained on cultivating onion and garlic.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kanpur / TNN / March 29th, 2016

Lucknow University faculty receives NASI Young Scientist Award

Agriculture, Education, Records, All

Lucknow :

Smita Kumar of Lucknow University faculty from department of biochemistry has been conferred the prestigious Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award by the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) for her contribution in the field of plant sciences and agriculture.

Smita is among the four teachers to have received this award in her field. The three others, one each from IIT-Roorkee; Ghent University, Belgium and International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru in Telangana.

“It’s a privilege to have won the award,” said Smita.

Smita completed her MSc from department of biochemistry, LU in 2007 and PhD from Banaras Hindu University in 2013 while working in National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow. “I worked on molecular aspects of heavy metal stress in plants with special reference to arsenic which is a big public health menace in Indo-Gangetic plain and causes various skin diseases and cancer,” said Smita.

After completing her PhD, Smita was awarded prestigious DST-INSPIRE Faculty Award, after which she joined LU in June 2014 to pursue her future research on heavy metal stress in Arabidopsis (a small genus of annual or biennial herbs of north temperate regions) natural variations.

Smita was awarded the NASI Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award in the 85th meeting of NASI held recently at Bhubaneshwar.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / by Isha Jain, TNN / January 19th, 2016

India’s first Elephant ambulance bringing Mia and Sita, the female jumbos rescued from Tamil Nadu circus,to Mathura.

Agriculture, Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Nature, Records, All, Travel

Agra :

After spending decades in the circus, Mia and Sita were rescued by wildlife SOS under their circus elephant rescue mission, coordinated by union government, on Sunday. The two female jumbos are currently traveling in India’s first modern custom designed elephant ambulance and will be sent to Elephant Conservation & Care Center in Mathura.

The female elephants, “Mia” and “Sita” are the 6th and 7th circus elephants to be rescued in the year since the Centre has teamed up with animal rescue organization Wildlife SOS to rescue captive elephants being illegally used for circus performances, as part of its project to check maltreatment of wild animals. Wildlife SOS was instrumental in the release of Raju, the elephant who cried after being released from a life of chains after 50 years, and has collaborated with the government against the practice of using bears for dance performances. The organization is partner with the government to save 67 captive elephants from across the country, starting with 17 in the first phase that started in November, 2014.

This rescue also marks the inaugural trip of the Wildlife SOS’s new elephant ambulance – the first modern elephant ambulance in India with automatic electric hydraulic ramp, showers, dual power supply, dedicated room for the veterinary team with washing and treatment preparation area. This vehicle was designed to make transporting rescued elephants safer and more comfortable for the elephants.

Geeta Seshamani, Co-founder of Wildlife SOS, said, “With the addition of Mia and Sita to the herd, we have now rescued more than 10% of all the elephants that remained in India’s circuses when our circus elephant campaign began about one year ago. We are proud of this progress, but are committed to see this campaign through to the end, when we can say that no more elephants are suffering in India’s circuses.”

Earlier rescue operations required Wildlife SOS to hire trucks that were not specially equipped to deal with elephant rescues which made transport unsafe, challenging and inefficient.

Shreekant Upadhyay, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, UPFD said, “I am very happy that Wildlife SOS’s dedicated team is travelling across India to Tamil Nadu to save these elephants. Our Forest department congratulates Wildlife SOS with the success of this operation. ”

Initiatives to protect the elephant are not recent. In 1992, the ministry of environment and forests launched Project Elephant, designed to help elephants both wild and captive. In 1998, the central ministry banned the use of wild animals like tigers, bears, leopards, lions and monkeys in circuses. The elephant joined that list recently. The Animal Welfare Board of India has issued show-cause notices to circuses found lacking in animal welfare and documented maltreatment of elephants.

Both Mia and Sita, in their 50s will reach to elephant care and conservation centre Mathura on Wednesday. While Mia, the more spirited of the two, is developing a cataract in her eyes. She has significant, painful inflammation in both hind feet, as well as abscesses in her toenails – all of which contribute to making her gait severely abnormal.

Sita, the one who is more mild and mannered is also no less in need of veterinary intervention. Her right front leg never healed properly from an old fracture and is fused so she cannot bend it. Her left front leg is hyper extended, putting pressure on her foot, which has led to nail cracks and abscesses. Because of these problems, she has likely not been able to lie down and rest properly in more than a year.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Environment> Flora & Fauna / by Ishita Mishra, TNN / November 23rd, 2015

NBRI develops cotton plant resistant to whitefly

Agriculture, Records, All, Science & Technology

Lucknow :

Even as Punjab farmers rue the loss of nearly two-thirds of their cotton crop to whitefly, Lucknow-based National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) has developed a cotton variety that is resistant to the pest.

The technology has been tested on cotton plants at the institute’s polyhouse, where a gene derived from a vegetable – which the institute did not disclose – was found effective against whitefly. The ones injected with the ‘gene’ at the polyhouse are healthy and others are stunted and infested with whitefly.

“The ‘gene’ makes whitefly sterile thus controlling the reproduction of the pest,” said Dr PK Singh, principal investigator of the project, ‘Development of Resistance against Whitefly in Cotton’, at the institute. NBRI, a research lab of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has applied for a patent for the technology in eight countries.

Whitefly is a common pest which affects 30 plant varieties, including cotton, brinjal, papaya, tomato, okra and cucurbits, both in open fields and polyhouses. Though cotton is grown in nine states – Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, it’s the northern states where the pest affects the crop more.

Whitefly is a sap-sucking pest which affects plants in two ways: it sucks all the nutrients from leaves and excretes on the leaf’s surface thus causing fungal infection. Worse, the crop infested with whitefly may not wither completely but remains stunted. This gives farmers the hope that an overdose of fertilisers and pesticides would save the plant, but actually the yield from unhealthy plants is too little.

Once there is an outbreak it is difficult to check it. Spraying pesticides may not always help as the canopy formed by grown up plants may not let pesticide act on each and every leaf. Besides, the pest sticks to the base of the leaves and lays eggs there. “Treating each and every leaf can help but that’s a tough task,” said a scientist.

Once the pest spreads, it can destroy the crop in six to eight weeks. It was after testing genes from 250 plants that NBRI found the gene from a vegetable effective on cotton.

The protein formed by the gene was found safe and also easily digestible in the laboratory trials. The technology is now ready for field trials. “We want industrial partners to take the technology forward for field trials and efficacy test,” said director, NBRI, Dr CS Nautiyal.

The institute has done the trial on ‘coker’ variety of cotton which is not cultivable for low yield. “It needs to be crossed with other varieties and after six to eight crossings, we can transfer the gene to varieties which are commonly cultivated,” said Singh. ‘Coker’ is competent to take any gene.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / by Neha Shukla, TNN / October 09th, 2015

Aligarh dairy farm: A Colonial-era legacy lost in time

Agriculture, Green Initiatives / Environment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Nature, Records, All, World Opinion

Aligarh :

In a quaint corner of the nondescript Aligarh village Cherat, time seems to have stopped several decades ago. A pile of rust iron, an old Ambassador, a dust-laden Royal Enfield, a few worn-out offices where locks are still hanging but the doors have given way — are all that is left of the iconic Aligarh Dairy Farm, set up in 1899 by the legendary Swedish dairy expert Edward Keventer.

The once sprawling farm seems like a ghost town now. It has rugged towers watching over a deserted stretch which is being gobbled up slowly by overgrowth of foliage. There are dilapidated quarters with no population and even a railway track which hasn’t seen a train in decades.

Keventer, who was appointed by the British government in 1890 to ensure good health of their soldiers in India, came to India the same year, strengthened his knowledge on dairy products and developed a unique and efficient dairy purification technique that marked the beginning of the Keventer saga. By 1899, he had established a strong network of dairy farms and plants, promoting modern dairy technology. He set the Aligarh Dairy Farm in the same year.

His business flourished and expanded rapidly across Karachi, Rangoon, Calcutta, Lucknow and Delhi, reaching its peak between 1908 and 1920. His dairy products became so popular that British King George V conferred on him a Royal charter for supply of fresh dairy and farm products.

Aligarh farm began to lose sheen soon after Keventer’s death in 1937 and the departure of the British from the country in 1947 further pushed it into oblivion.

In 1948, the Uttar Pradesh government took over this farm and renamed it Central Dairy Farm. It worked well until 1998 when it ran into losses and went out of business. Piling up liabilities as well as a host of court cases made it financially unviable, said officials.

Chief veterinary officer RK Yadav told TOI, “In 1948, the entire farm was given to the UP government. It was well-maintained and functioning. The ghee, butter, cream and pork was supplied to different states as well as the Army till 1998. After that, the farm stopped functioning because it came into losses and many court cases were filed against it. There are about 150 court cases against Central Dairy Farm at present.”

In another corner of the sprawling 1,700-acre Colonial-era farm, the state government runs a pig breeding centre, currently under the animal husbandry department.

As spiders listlessly make life-size cobwebs around the century-old farm’s rusted gate, its fate remains equally uncertain in the government files gathering dust in the faraway state capital.

“There are many court cases, and then there are different departments in the administration vying to get this farm. Some want to convert it into a green belt. Whatever the government decides will shape the future of this farm,” farm in-charge Abhinesh Pal Singh told TOI from Lucknow.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> Cit> Agra / by Eram Agha, TNN / September 09th, 2015

Kukrail gets ‘parijat vatika’

Agriculture, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All, Travel

Lucknow :

Apart from a ‘gulab vatika’ (rose garden) and ‘aushadhi vatika’ (medicinal garden), Kukrail now boasts of a ‘parijat vatika’.

Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav inaugurated the Van Mahotsava on Wednesday and 21 parijat (Adansonia digitata) trees were planted at the spot. All trees were more than eight feet in height and the one planted by the CM was about 17 feet high.

“Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) had planted a parijat tree at Lohia park. Now, I can see a depression in the earth around the tree which shows that people have started paying obeisance to the tree. We are planting it on a large scale so that more people may know of the mythologically significant but long-forgotten tree varieties,” said the CM.

At least 21 parijat trees were also planted in Jhansi on the same day.

The Ramayana and Mahabharata mention around 156 tree varieties and some of the prominent ones have been selected by the forest department for plantation across the state depending on soil and weather conditions.

Parijat is an exotic tree and remains green for almost six months. It is said to be one of the gems from the ‘samudra-manthan’. Believed to have been brought to earth by the Pandavas, it is also called ‘kalp vriksha’ as it helped them win the battle of Mahabharata.

Similarly, Kadamb (Anthocephalus cadamba) is mentioned in the Mahabharata as a tree dear to Lord Krishna who played the flute under a ‘kadamb’ tree on the banks of the Yamuna.

Apart from parijat and kadamb, trees like ‘Sita ashok’, ‘tamaal’, ‘maulshree’, ‘tulsi’, ‘harsingar’, banyan and peepal that are mentioned in folklore will be planted extensively at religious ‘parikramas’ and on government land. The chosen tree varieties have huge environmental and medicinal significance as well.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / July 02nd, 2015

Pruning is prudent: This mango orchard is richer than all others

Agriculture, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All

Lucknow :

It is believed that good things are difficult to get.

Perhaps that’s why every mango grower lives with the fact that his mango orchard will follow the accepted alternate bearing pattern. This pattern, common to mango and several other fruit crops, means that the yield of fruit will not be the same year after year. A heavy yield one year could be followed by a dismal one another year and vice versa.

However, if you pass through Kunwarpur village on Sitapur Road, there will be one mango orchard outshining all others. Here, unlike others, each tree is laden with the king of fruits, waiting to be plucked. This delighting yield is no freak of nature but a result of a well-researched technique and years of hard work.

City-based mango grower Kunwar Raghavendra Singh introduced the canopy management technique in his orchard over a decade ago.

Under this, trees are pruned regularly to turn the upper part of the tree to look like an inverted umbrella, instead of a canopy. Using this technique, Raghavendra has turned his barren land into a 100% productive mango orchard, producing varieties of mangoes including dussehri, langda and chausa.

Even when the weather was playing havoc with all kinds of crops and subsequently with the fate of farmers, Raghavendra was not worried.

His more than 3,500 mango trees were safe from the untimely rain and thunderstorms. “The most harmful factor for any mango tree is the canopy shape. It can have good flowering but not good fruiting. Apart from the fact that it hardly bears any fruit, this form limits the penetration of sunlight in the tree. This affects photosynthesis and the health of the tree,” says Raghavendra. The central shoots are the fastest growing in any tree and draw most of the nutrition and hormones. When the central shoots are removed, the nutrition flows side ways to lateral branches. This results in better size of the fruit, he explains.

Efforts must also be made to see that trees are gradually brought down to a maximum height of 22 feet-a manageable height which makes spraying pesticides easier, he adds.

Ready to extend a helping hand to other mango growers and also to the state horticulture department, Raghavendra claims that unlike a dense mango orchard, an open one reduces the cost of management and results in optimum flowering and fructification even in inclement weather.

The inverted umbrella structure allows free movement of air thus facilitating cross pollination. After untimely rain, the free movement of air helps evaporate moisture, the most devastating factor in the growth and spread of fungal infections.

Dr Mansoor Hasan, a city-based cardiologist, has also implemented this technique in his orchard in Manikpur, near Unchahar since 2011, with the help of his son Aly Hasan.

Happy with his produce, Dr Hasan says, “I have observed that fruits of a well-managed tree are also bigger in size and qualitatively better as compared to a taller tree. Even trees which were not giving any fruit for past many years have gradually started bearing fruit once they were pruned,” he adds.

In the case of mango trees, it seems, bigger is not better.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Uzma Talha, TNN / June 28th, 2015

Kaushambi’s banana may land up in export basket

Agriculture, Business & Economy

Allahabad :

The low-priced Kaushambi banana may find its way into country’s export basket.

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) of the Union government has agreed to set up a ripening centre at Mandi Samiti premises in Kaushambi. As many as 2,132 farmers may get an opportunity to export G-9 variety of banana to foreign countries, including West Asia and Sri Lanka.

A two-member APEDA team arrived in Kaushambi to analyse the prospects of export and held a meeting with district officials.

District horticulture officer (Kaushambi) R S Yadav said: “The district is one the biggest centres of banana production. The crop is cultivated in around 1,785 hectare of land here.” As many as 2,132 farmers are engaged in production. Around 650 quintals of banana per hectare is produced annually. In total, around 1.16 lakh quintals is cultivated.

Kaushambi MP Vinod Sonkar has taken initiative to invite the officials of APEDA and explore the possibilities of export.

Allahabad and Kaushambi regions are known for banana cultivation. Officials claim that there was demand for G-9 variety from many states.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / by Kapil Dixit, TNN / June 07th, 2015

BHU research associate recognized as Super Woman for contributions

Agriculture, Nature, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Varanasi :

To mark the International Women’s Day, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) recognised Chhavi Tiwari, senior research associate at Banaras Hindu University, as Super Woman for her dedication to empowering women farmers by making them aware of the value of micronutrient-rich wheat.

According to BHU spokesperson, she has been working with the Harvest Plus programme with active collaboration and support from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to empower women farmers by making them aware of the value of micronutrient-rich wheat. Her on-farm training programmes increase their understanding of crop and soil management techniques, aiding in the improved production of wheat varieties high in zinc content.

CIMMYT grew out of a pilot programme sponsored by the Mexican government and the Rockefeller Foundation in the 1940s-50s to raise Mexico’s farm productivity. The wheat specialist in this program, Norman Borlaug, worked with Mexican researchers and farmers to develop strong, short-stemmed varieties that resisted the rust diseases and gave much more grain than traditional varieties.

The relationship between India and CIMMYT is one of the longest and most productive in the world of international agricultural research and development. For more than 40 years, scientists from India and CIMMYT have been working together to improve food security and agricultural production systems.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) report, Zinc deficiency is attributed to 800,000 deaths each year and affects about one-third of the world’s population. It can lead to short stature, hypogonadism, impaired immune function, skin disorders, cognitive dysfunction and anorexia. Additionally, it causes approximately 16 per cent of lower respiratory tract infections, 18 per cent cases of malaria and 10 per cent cases of diaorrhea worldwide.

According to CIMMYT, enhancing the micronutrient content in wheat through bio-fortification is increasingly seen as an important tool to help improve the livelihoods of the most vulnerable, poorest and least educated sectors of society. Working closely with women’s self-help groups, Chhavi demonstrated the importance of wheat varieties high in zinc content through a participatory variety-selection approach, increasing the potential agronomic and nutritional benefit of these varieties for fast-track adoption.

Through her inclusive approach, a great deal of interest in high zinc wheat varieties has been generated among women farmers. Her efforts have contributed to the adoption of nutritious wheat varieties the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, leading to the potential for technology dissemination in neighboring states. Engaging with rural women farmers is a core interest of Chhavi’s. She consults women farmers on their views and gives them the opportunity to participate in a decision-making process that increases their investment in agriculture and nutrition. Her activities play a crucial role in uplifting women by alleviating malnutrition and hunger through nutritious wheat.

Chhavi is the recipient of the 2010 CIMMYT- Cereal System Initiative of South Asia (CSISA) research fellowship and the Jeanie Borlaug Laube Women in Triticum Award from the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative in 2014.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Varanasi / by Binay Singh, TNN / March 08th, 2015