Grassed Waterways

Grassed waterways can be used to control runoff within or adjacent to cropped paddocks. Grassed waterways are wide, shallow grassed channels that carry a large volume of water quickly down a steep slope.

Grassed waterways are constructed to spread water evenly over the grassed surface and allow mechanical access for slashing or regular maintenance. They are usually at least 2.5 meters wide, with a minimum depth of 100-200 mm.

Conclusion

Soil erosion has affected land all over the world from small residential landscaped properties to large forests and deserts. Though soil erosion is a natural process it has been increased dramatically by human interference in land use, industrial agriculture, deforestation, and urban sprawl. Nature ensures that erosion is kept at acceptable levels while industrial agriculture causes much higher rate of erosion that results in reduction of vegetation cover on the surface of the soil and does great damage to soil structure and plant roots.

Proper agricultural management practices can only prevent and control the soil erosion. Soil erosion prevention should begin with soil erosion controlling methods. Prevention methods should be determined by the depth and severity of soil erosion which has occurred on property. Soil erosion prevention methods will help keep our soil healthy and willing to offer a place for plants and trees to grow and thrive.

Extracted from AgriGold Swarna Sedyam

Contribution of Women in Farming

In overall farm production, women’s average contribution is estimated at 55% to 66% of the total
labour with percentages much higher in certain regions. The extent of participation of women in different horticultural production system depicts interesting regional differences in India. In North India, women mostly participate in fruits and vegetable processing, flower gardening, ornamental nursery, kitchen gardening and to some extent in vegetable growing. In South India, besides these operations, women also participate in vegetable and flower marketing and nursery technology.

Sixty per cent of women participate in nursery raising, 70% in irrigation of nursery, 60% in lifting of vegetable seedlings from nursery, 50% in planting, 70% in application of manures and fertilizer, 80% in weeding and hoeing, and 80% in post harvest and processing. In addition to their direct participation in food production women’s other contribution to food security includes preservation of biodiversity, ensuring nutritional security of the household, and earning wages for the family. Many researchers remarked that women labour force in India is a reserve pool of helpless labour. The total amount of drudgery undertaken in carrying out rice and wheat cultivation operation by women is significantly higher than that carried out by men.

Women’s share in the division of labour is increasing in many rural areas as men migrate to seek better pay and opportunities (Food and Agriculture Organization, 1998). Farm women’s participation is crucial in various operations such as sowing/transplanting (86%), weeding (84%), storage of grains (78%), land preparation (72%), cleaning seed for sowing (70%), gap filling (68%), manure and fertilizer application (68%), harvesting (64%), and threshing and winnowing (62%). Women also performed the task like breaking the clods during land preparation, carrying manure, sowing seeds, pulling out weeds to hoeing, harvesting crops, and stacking the hay.

As far as efficiency of work is concerned, it is reported that women labourers are more efficient than
men labourers in respect of rice transplanting (16% more), weeding in rice and wheat fields (7-8% more), picking of pearl millet (25% more), and 37% more in picking cotton. They are as efficient as men in use of some potato diggers. Their efficiency in harvesting and processing of tea, coffee, and horticultural crops is well established.

In India women’s role in production, processing and storage of food-grain crop is well known. About 60-70% of labour is provided by women, increasing to 80% in crops such as paddy.

Extracted from AgriGold Swarna Sedyam

India’s Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act

India’s Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act of 2001 is the most far-reaching legislation with regard to establishing rights for farmers to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed.

A unique aspect of the 2001 Act is that it confers three concurrent rights - to breeders, to farmers and to researchers. When it comes to Farmers’ Rights, the Act recognizes the farmer as cultivator, conserver and breeder. The Act establishes nine rights for farmers, of which the most important in this regard is the right to seed and the right to compensation for crop failure (Art. 39).

The provisions on the right to seed specify that farmers are entitled to save, use, sow, re-sow, exchange, share and sell farm produce, including seeds of varieties protected by plant breeders’ rights. They are, however, not allowed to sell seeds of protected varieties as branded packages. All the same, this stands as the most liberal legislation to date in this sphere, allowing farmers all the customary rights they previously enjoyed.

The Act seeks to protect farmers from exaggerated claims by seed companies regarding the performance of their registered varieties. The breeder is obliged to disclose to farmers the performance of the variety under given conditions. If the material fails to perform according to this information, farmers may claim compensation from the breeding company through the Authority set up to administer the Act.

Not only does the 2001 Act protect the rights of farmers to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed, it also seeks to ensure that these seeds are of good quality, or at least that farmers are adequately informed about the quality of seed they buy. In addition, safeguards are provided against innocent infringement by farmers. Farmers who unknowingly violate the rights of a breeder are not to be punished if they can prove that they were not aware of the existence of such a breeder’s right (Art 42).

Ensuring Farmers’ Rights to save, use, exchange and sell seed in this way must be seen as a success with regard to this component of Farmers’ Rights, as these rights are basically fully ensured through the Act. Whether the provision on compensation in case of crop failure can be implemented in practice is another question, as there have been no cases so far. On the whole, India’s Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act is the most advanced in terms of Farmers’ Rights to save use, exchange and sell seed to date. It applies to all farmers in India, and to all crop species. So far, twelve crop species have been brought under the scope of the Act, and more species will follow. The practice of saving, using, exchanging and selling seeds may well exist elsewhere, but India is the only country so far where a law has been passed establishing and securing Farmers’ Rights to this extent.

How can this success be explained? 

First, India has been a central proponent of Farmers’ Rights internationally, ever since the mid-1980s when Prof. M. S. Swaminathan chaired the FAO Conference, the highest body of the FAO. Prof. Swaminathan channelled the idea of Farmers’ Rights into the international negotiations and has advocated these rights warmly ever since. He was also a key person in framing the 2001 Act and ensuring that Farmers’ Rights were properly dealt with in India. When the bill was first proposed as a draft in 1993/1994, primarily in an effort to establish plant breeders’ rights, it provoked massive protests. It contained provisions on Farmers’ Rights, but particularly farmers’ organizations and NGOs found them to be too weak. The massive pressure they exercised over time proved successful, and after about five revisions the final bill with its rather strong protection of Farmers’ Rights was adopted. Most of the major stakeholders who had lobbied for revisions ended up approving the final version.

The most important lesson for others is that it is possible to uphold Farmers’ Rights to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed, also within the framework of legislation on plant variety protection. India is a member of WTO and TRIPS and thus required to ‘provide for the protection of plant varieties’. With its 2001 Act, the country complies with the provisions in the TRIPS Agreement on the protection of plant varieties (India’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion). Other countries in the same position should therefore be able to pass similar laws without neglecting their obligations towards the TRIPS Agreement. It should be mentioned, however, that India has applied for UPOV membership on the basis of its 2001 Act. Although the application was made in 2002 the country has so far not been granted such membership, as its 2001 Act does not comply with the strict requirements of UPOV.

Furthermore; we note that massive and enduring advocacy can be required in order to succeed with demands for Farmers’ Rights in the context of the development of plant variety protection laws. In India, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation has initiated, with the assistance of the government, a programme for capacity-building among farmers, grass root democratic institutions, non-governmental and community organizations in order to enhance the implementation of Farmers’ Rights as provided for in the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act of 2001.

Extracted from AgriGold SwarnaSedyam

TRAP CROP IN RICE-AN ECO-FRIENDLY METHOD FOR YELLOW STEM BORER MANAGEMENT

Yellow stem borer (YSB), Scirpophaga incertulas (Walker) is the most dominant species among stem borers on rice in India. It is a pest which feeds and survives only on the rice plant. Yellow stem borer is a regular pest affecting all the growth stages of the plant from nursery to harvest. In India there may be 4-5 generations in a year. The YSB larvae emerge out from the egg masses laid on the leaf laminae, slide down to the base of the tillers with the help of silky strings, invade the stem by making tiny hole just above the water level and feed on the growing stem primordia. Once the larva gains entry into the tillers, invariably the damage is reflected either as dead heart or white ear head or the grain filling in the panicle is affected depending on the stage of the crop. The yield loss has been estimated to range from 38 to 80 %. In spite of the timely chemical application, the damage can only be minimized, but cannot be totally averted. Sex pheromones were found to be effective in monitoring and mass trapping of the yellow stem borer moths, thus minimizing the damage but non-availability of the pheromone lures is the major constraint in this technology. Therefore a look for alternatives, lead to the concept of adopting an age old practice of planting inter crop as trap crops for yellow stem borer management.

Concept of trap crop

Trap crops have been defined as “plant stands grown to attract insects or other organisms like nematodes to protect target crops from pest attack, preventing pests from reaching the crop or concentrating them in a certain part of the field where they can be economically destroyed”. Therefore, trap crops are plant stands that are; per se or via manipulation, deployed to attract, divert, intercept, and/or retain targeted insects or the pathogens they vector in order to reduce damage to the main crop. This broader definition encompasses the inherent characteristics of the trap crops themselves as well as their deployment. Insects and their host plants interact and become influenced by size, fragmentation and connectivity of host patches.

Enhancing the effectiveness of the trap crop is vital to minimize the land sacrificed to production when using trap cropping as pest management strategy. General guidelines for trap cropping recommend that about 10% of the total crop area be planted with the trap crop, although the percentage of trap crop needed for each particular system has to be determined for each case. Ultimately, the combination of insect and trap crop characteristics and practical considerations determines the success of a trap cropping system.

Based on the basic principles of trap cropping a strategy was developed at Directorate of Rice Research to trap the YSB insects on a susceptible rice variety (Pusa Basmati1) and minimize the damage on the main crop. A proper understanding of the insect biology, behaviour and dynamics is very important in successful adoption of this strategy.

Which crop to use as a trap crop?

As YSB larvae feed only on rice plants we can use only a rice plant as trap crop. It was found that Pusa Basmati 1 attracts more of yellow stem borer as compared to other varieties and can be used as a trap crop. One tenth area of the main field is sufficient to plant a trap crop.

How do you raise the nursery?

To facilitate easy adoption by the farmers the technology was modified to reap the optimum benefits. The duration of Pusa basmati 1 is 135 days. For a trap crop to be effective, the trap crop should reach booting stage 6-7 days before the main crop. The duration of the main crop and the trap crop are considered based on which the date of sowing is adjusted so that the trap crop would come to booting a week earlier than the main crop. Thus date of sowings differ (Table 1) but both the varieties are transplanted at the same time in the field.

This technology was tested in farmer’s fields in RangaReddy and Mahaboobnagar districts of Andhra Pradesh and at few locations in the All India Rice coordinated programme where stem borer is a regular pest. Pusa Basmati 1 was tested with Krishnahamsa, Swarna, MTU1010, BPT 5204, JalPriya (a deep water rice variety), HMT Sona, hybrids (6444) as main crops and was found successful.

How do you plant it?

Planting of main crop and trap crop is done at the same time. For every 2.5- 3m of main crop one row of trap crop (Pusa Basmati-1) should be planted preferably in east – west direction. In brown planthopper endemic areas when alley ways are advocated it was proved that trap crop can be planted along the alley way. This method is more convenient when we are advocating line planting. When planting is given on contract basis, it is advisable to plant rows of Pusa Basmati 1 by employing one or two labourers before the planting of main field by the contractual labourers.

Precautions

• The nursery should be free from any stem borer infestation. We should ensure that there is no carry over from nursery to the main field.
• Once planting is done ensure that the trap crop seedlings are well established in the field.
• In case of use of combines for harvesting, the trap crop rows may be harvested manually a day earlier to the normal harvest.
• This trap crop is useful only for the management of yellow stem borer.

Advantages of using a trap crop in rice cultivation are:

• It is an eco- friendly pest management strategy to control YSB.
• The damage observed in the main crop was half of the damage that was recorded in the trap crop. It can protect the main crop without much economic loss (up to 25% dead heart damage in the trap crop). Hence by adopting this methodology in a stem borer endemic area, one impulsive spraying of chemical pesticides can be avoided at the vegetative stage. This would help in conserving the natural enemies.
• The yield in both the main crops would be almost same or at times higher in the main crop where trap crop is grown, but yield from the trap crop would be of an added advantage. The yield in the main crop depends on the main crop variety grown.
• Pusa Basmati 1 being a premier scented variety, fetches more price in the market. Hence the cost benefit ratio has always been favourable and is e” 1: 1.5 for the combination of varieties tested.

Extracted from AgriGold SwarnaSedyam

MANAGE THE INSECT PESTS POPULATION BY NEEM AND NEEM BASED PRODUCTS

Neem (Azadiracta indica) is an attractive evergreen versatile tree having many good and useful qualities. This genus Azadiracta indica was described by A. Juss in 1830. Neem is an indigenous tree of India from where it has spread to many Asian and African countries, and is well recognized for its ability to grow even under sub-optimum environmental and edaphic conditions.

Neem tree is luxuriant, evergreen with medicinal and pesticidal properties. This has made it a very popular plant with considerable international interest. The earlier authentic record of its medicinal use is available in Arthshastra of Kautilya in 4th century B.C. Various parts of the tree have been held in esteem by Indian folks because of its medicinal and insecticidal properties in last few years. Neem has attracted global attention due to strong and safe insecticidal properties. Intensive search during the past decades has led to identification of neem as one of the most potential alternatives to toxic chemical pesticides and fertilizers. The neem products are most effective, biodegradable, relatively less toxic and easily available.

Neem has emerged as a strong alternative to synthetic insecticides and also as the most important component of IPM programme. Neem has diverse biological effects on insects. No synthetic chemical or plant origin material is known to occur which has such a diverse biological effects on insects as neem. In India, it is called as limba, limo, nimb, nim, nimba, vepa etc.

In general, neem plants are being propagated by using seed as it can be easily collected and sown. The leaves of the tree are medium green, unpaired pinnate. The flowers appear in the month of March-April in India and they are small and fragrant. The fruits are 1.5 to 1.9 cm long and green in the beginning. But when ripe, they become yellowish with yellow sweet pulp and a brown seed kernel enclosed in a white yield about 6 kg oil and 24 kg neem cake which serve as a good fertilizer. 

Seeds are the main source of active ingredient of neem. The taste of neem is bitter and the bitterness is due to the presence of an array of complex components called terpenoids or more specifically limnoids. At present, the ten terpenoids that have been isolated and identified in neem seeds are salamin, salannol, salannol acetate, 3-diacetyle salannin, 14-epoxiazaridion, gedunin, nembenen, deacetylinimbenin, asadiradion, and azadirachtin. Of all these compounds the azadirachtin is the most active compound and is most widely employed in research work.

Extracted from AgriGold SwarnaSedyam

Dyeing Coir

Dyeing of coir fibre/yarn is essential for improving the marketability and aesthetic value of coir products and according to customer taste. A dyestuff is most commonly an organic compound, which can be used to impart colour to a substance. A wide range of dyes capable of yielding bright shades of excellent fastness are available for the dyeing of yarn.

In dyeing, the fibre absorbs the dye from the aqueous solution is more or less uniformly coloured.
The uniformity of dyeing depends upon the absorptive power of coir fibre, the nature of the dye and condition of dyeing. The dyed shade usually must be matched against a sample and the fastness of the dyeing must conform to the specified requirement of the consumer.

Traditional method of dyeing coir

In the conventional method, the dyeing is carried out in copper or aluminium/Indalium or G.I. vat of 1.2 M diameter and 0.75 height place on hearth made out of country bricks, fired from below using country wood. The dye vat is sufficient to process 60 kg. of coir yarn or 30 kg. coir fibre with a material to liquor ratio of 1:12 for coir yarn and 1:20 for coir fibre.

After filling with required quantity of water, it is heated from below till the required temperature is reached. The required quantity of dyestuffs and chemicals are added to the dye bath after making into
a paste. The dye bath is stirred well and the material is entered and turned manually at frequent intervals for level dyeing. At the end of dyeing the material is taken out washed in cold water and dried under shade.

Improved method of dyeing coir

The improved method of dyeing process is carried out by highly skilled professionals in the industry using dye vats made of stainless steel and fitted with drainage valve for proper draining of dye effluents. The vats are fixed on hearths made of firebricks with flue pipes for efficient air draught for maximum utilisation of the heat energy. The dyes are taken as per recipes formulated by the Central Coir Research Institute (CCRI), which is available in the shade cards. The quality of dyeing is improved compared to the traditional method of dyeing.

Mechanised system of dyeing

In the mechanised system of dyeing, coir yarn is dyed, comprising of dye vats with forced circulation of the dye liquor in two-directions on uniformly arranged coir yarn for uniform level dyeing. The temperature is controlled as per the requirement by regulating the flow of heating system. After the dyeing operation, hydroextractors are used to drive out of the major part of the mechanically held up water and finally these materials are dried on the endless conveyor dried, for efficient drying. This system of dyeing helps to improve the penetration, shade consistency, uniform dyeing on coir fibre/yarn by the action of temperature efficient and forced circulation of dye liquor and period of dyeing. This method helps to dye large quantities of material at a time avoiding shade variation compared to the other two processes.

Extracted from AgriGold SwarnaSedyam

Value of Honey - AgriGold Organics

It is in the course of man's history, the use of honey has been a phenomenon, some have a logical basis whether this was not understood or not, some had none. The honey is generally consumed as table honey. Of the estimated annual world consumption of honey, 90% is taken directly as honey. Amongst the Hindus, honey is an important item in Puja and is given as the first food to the newborn. Jews use it in preparing special cakes and Catholics prepare meat.

• It has prophylactic and curative properties.
• Honey improves physical performance and intellectual strength in human beings. It may be recalled that an apiculturist Edmund Hillary was the first person to conquer Mount Everest in 1953 along the Tenzing.
• Due to the higher content of sugars, honey is an energy giving food, par excellence.
• Honey cures or provides relief in intestinal troubles, stomach ulcers, insomnia, throat infections.
• It increases the hemoglobin content in the blood and as well as the muscular strength. Also acts as a blood purifier.
• It activates bone formation and cutting of teeth in children.
• It has a slightly laxative effect
• Honey hastens healing of wound, burns and sores when used externally.
• It is effective against jaundice, urinary troubles and itching through intravenous injections.
• It regularizes the heart rate.Honey's use also extends in bakeries and confectioneries in the preparations of ginger bread, nougats, infant foods etc. The cosmetic uses of honey dates from early times. Nero's wife Poppea used honeyalong with ass's milk as face lotion. Honey is still valued in cosmetics today, particularly for its emollient effect on the skin. Bee keeping is a useful hobby in urban areas and has commercial value for small and marginal farming community. The value and quality of honey depend on the locality of the bee colony. The honey bee colony located near spice crops and medical plant garden provides honey with medicinal value. The colony placed near the tree crops viz., neem, eucalyptus can be harvested honey with good quality and ayurvedic properties.

Importance of honey in Agriculture as per AgriGold India

Apart from the above, honey bees also play a significant role in terms of productivity of various crops. It is an important pollinator for cross-pollinated crop plants. Unknowingly the bees are involved in the pollination of the several cultivated species and without the creatures there will be no seed set and productivity in several crops. Maintaining honey bee colony in the farm lands particularly in hilly regions having diversity of crops such as ornamental flowers, spices, condiments and plantation crops not only yield quality honey but also improves the productivity and yield of the crops.