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HomePosts Tagged "Punjab"
AgroPolicy, Climate, Nature, Sustainability

Inter-Ministerial Meeting on issues of Management of Crop Residue Burning held

A high-level inter-Ministerial meeting was held under the co-chairmanship of Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Bhupender Yadav, Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change to review the preparedness of the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi in preventing paddy stubble burning in the current season.

The high-level meeting was attended by Surya Pratap Shahi Agriculture Minister, Govt. of UP, Gurmeet Singh Khudian, Agriculture Minister of Punjab, Jai Prakash Dalal, Agriculture Minister of Haryana and Gopal Rai, Environment Minister of NCT of Delhi. Senior officers of the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Environment, Govt. of India and from the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, NCT of Delhi and ICAR were also present.

During the meeting, the States presented the action plan and strategies for preventing stubble burning in the current season. The States were advised to utilise the funds provided for crop residue management, make Crop Residue Management (CRM) machinery available well before harvesting season and carry out Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities in collaboration with ICAR and other stakeholders to bring awareness amongst farmers against paddy stubble burning.

Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister for Environment stated that efforts to prevent paddy stubble burning for the last five years are bearing good results. Due to the concerted efforts of agencies like the Commission for Air Quality Management, burning instances in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi have come down.  There is a need to encourage ex-situ management of paddy straw which will provide raw materials to the user industries like Power, biomass etc.

Inter-Ministerial Meeting on issues of Management of

Agrotech, Dairy, Live Stock, R&D

Laxmi is from a high genetic merit IVF embryo having the potential for the production of 35-40 kg milk a day.

NDDB Dairy Services (NDS) announced the birth of the first female calf ‘Laxmi’, under the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), Government of India’s Accelerated Breed Improvement Programme through IVF Embryo Transplant (ABIP-IVF-ET). The programme targets establishing two lakh pregnancies through the transplant of IVF embryos of high genetic merit to enhance the milk yield for dairy farmers.

The results of nine months of hard ground work which started with the transplant of IVF embryos in September 2022, have started coming in. Since the news of more births only seems to pour in, with 13 healthy female births confirmed to date. Laxmi is the first female calf born from the surrogate transplanted with an IVF embryo at Rajarambapu Patil Cooperative Milk Union Ltd., Islampur (Sangli), in Maharashtra. More than 250 births are expected in due course from cows and buffaloes whose pregnancies through IVF embryo transplants have been confirmed.

“Laxmi is from a high genetic merit IVF embryo having a potential for production of 35-40 kg milk a day, which is nearly double the average of the existing cattle owned by dairy farmers in this area,” said an exuberant Sushil Dilip Khot, the dairy farmer beneficiary who has just expanded his herd with the birth of Laxmi.

Meenesh Shah, NDDB & NDS Chairman, shared that the journey has not been easy. “When we initially started, the success rate with IVF embryo transplant was as low as 9 per cent, which today has reached, in some cases, up to 46 per cent. The success depends on the proper selection of the surrogates & its management, and there is still a lot of work required in the area.”

NDDB’s wholly owned subsidiary, NDS is one of the service providers identified by the DAHD, Government of India, for the execution of the programme. NDS last year kicked off the implementation on September 22 from Islampur in Maharashtra, said a Company spokesperson.

The NDS team have been working relentlessly for over a year and has already scaled the programme to 15 milk unions in six states, i.e. Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Punjab, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh. Since September 2022, the team so far has transferred 1,436 embryos, out of which 1,211 have been examined for pregnancies. During the current financial year, embryo transplant activity will be scaled up, and another 3,000 IVF embryo pregnancies are expected to be established.

The choice of breed of the embryo to be transplanted lies with the farmer, and the gender-sorted IVF embryos of about 6 indigenous cattle and 1 buffalo breed have been used to ensure that 90 per cent of calves born are female. As the calves will have none of the characteristics of the surrogate, the potential of producing milk goes up to 15-20 kgs from Gir and Sahiwal breeds of cows and 20 kgs from the Murrah buffalo breed, the NDS spokesperson said.

Laxmi is from a high genetic merit

AgroPolicy, Foodgrains, Supply Chain, Sustainability

The combined Stock position of wheat and rice in the Central Pool stands at over 579 LMT

Wheat procurement during the ongoing Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2023-24 has progressed smoothly. The progressive procurement of wheat in the current season till 30 May is 262 Lakh Metric tons (LMT) which has already surpassed last year’s total procurement of 188 LMT by 74 LMT. About 21.27 Lakh farmers have already benefitted from the ongoing wheat procurement operations with a Minimum Support Price (MSP) outflow of about Rs. 47,000 crores. Major contribution in the procurement has come from three procuring states of Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana with procurement of 121.27 LMT, 70.98 LMT and 63.17 LMT respectively.

The major contributing factors in healthy procurement this year have been the grant of relaxation by the Government of India in quality specifications of wheat affected due to untimely rains; opening of procurement centres at village/ panchayat level; carrying out procurement through Co-operative Societies/ Gram Panchayats/ Arhatias etc. in addition to designated procurement centres for better outreach and permission to engage FPOs for procurement operations.

The rice procurement is also progressing smoothly. A quantity of 385 LMT of rice has been procured till 30 May during the Kharif crop of Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2022-23 with another 110 LMT yet to be procured. Further, a quantity of 106 LMT rice has been estimated to be procured during the Rabi crop of KMS 2022-23.

The combined stock position of wheat and rice in the Central Pool is over 579 LMT (Wheat 312 LMT and Rice 267 LMT) which has placed the country in a comfortable position to meet its requirements of food grains.

The combined Stock position of wheat and

Company News, India, Schemes - NABARD, Sustainability, Water

The project will also focus on water management for crops and human use through soil and moisture conservation measures

Ambuja Foundation has partnered with NABARD to implement the Bari Watershed Development Project in the Ropar district of Punjab. With the success of a pilot capacity-building program in 2020, the partnership continued with a watershed initiative.

Bari in Ropar faces water scarcity being a sub-mountain region that receives about 80 per cent of total rainfall. Other problems include climatic conditions, soil erosion, and land degradation resulting in low income from agriculture and animal husbandry. Under this project, as the implementation partner, Ambuja Foundation will focus on soil conservation and improving soil quality, water management, conserving biodiversity, climate proofing activities, women empowerment, and livelihood along with capacity building in the area.

The project will also focus on water management for crops and human use through soil and moisture conservation measures. With its integrated approach, the Ambuja team will support in building staggered contour trenches, farm ponds, percolation tanks, waste weir, check dams, gabion structures, and gully plug along with driving plantation drives and recharging pits.

Under climate-proofing activities, the foundation will target 85 households and encourage them to install sprinkler and drip irrigation systems, consider crop diversification, kitchen gardening, and fruit cultivation to increase income, manage crop residue, and set up light traps. Ambuja Foundation will also organize training sessions for women to learn better dairy farming practices and livestock rearing to create alternate income.

The project will also focus on water

Agro chems – Chemicals, Agrotech, Company News, Foodgrains, India, Sustainability

Activities to be also undertaken in the states of Andhra and Telangana

India’s leading Agri-drone manufacturer IoTechWorld Avigation and Agro-chemical major Syngenta India have jointly developed a sustainable DaaS business model and will launch the commercial spraying services across 4 major states – Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Haryana In the next season of Kharif & Rabi.

IoTechWorld & Syngenta have already conducted the drone Yatra in 13 states and demonstrated the benefits of agriculture drones to more than 1 lakh farmers in a 17,000 km yatra.

Already, a joint pilot activity using actual agrochemicals has been successfully conducted in Ludhiana, Punjab wherein farmers and agri-entrepreneurs were briefed about the benefits of using drone technology in spraying agrochemicals. 

Providing details about the plan, Co-Founders of IoTechWorld Deepak Bhardwaj & Anoop Upadhyay said, “We have joined hands with Syngenta India to facilitate drone spraying across India. We did a pilot in the state of Punjab and the response has been very encouraging. As a next step, both companies jointly plan to amplify the activities in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh & West Bengal. The idea is to highlight the benefits of spraying using drones to farmers and other stakeholders.”

“Our association is unique in many ways. While our product Agribot is India’s first DGCA-type certified company, Syngenta is the first private company to get approval from the Central Insecticides Board, Government of India to use drones for spraying its Crop Protection products in crops like Paddy, Wheat, Sugarcane, Potato, Hot pepper etc. It is thus natural for consumers including farmers and agri-entrepreneurs to have faith in our joint initiatives,” both co-founders added.  

Providing details on the business model, Saurabh Srivastava, General Manager – Sales of IoTechWorld Avigation, & Mahantesh Chulaki – Lead Operations, Syngenta India, said, the idea of this sustainable cluster-based DaaS business model is liked by many agritech & startups firms as it gives the surety of YOY spray demand from Syngenta which mitigate the risk of capital investment of drone service provider. Even financial institutions like SBI who are providing the capital loan up to 2Cr through the AIF scheme of GOI, are also very confident to disburse the loan as their risk is mitigated through assured business demand offered by Syngenta.

Activities to be also undertaken in the

Agrotech, Climate, Environment, India, R&D, Sustainability

The company’s Biochar Initiative continues to benefit local farmers while improving air and soil quality

PepsiCo India has extended its Biochar Initiative, a pilot crop residue management program, to the Fatehgarh Sahib and Ludhiana districts of Punjab as a potential solution to address the pressing issue of stubble burning in the northern states of India. This initiative will continue to work with more farmers in Punjab to better manage harvest residue by using furnaces known as retort kilns to produce biochar fertiliser through a process called pyrolysis.

According to Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), stubble burning in Punjab released 6.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gases and particulate matter between September 15 and November 2, 2022. Biochar production and usage have the potential to reduce GHG emissions significantly compared to other forms of disposal such as heaping while improving soil health and water retention.

PepsiCo India’s Biochar Initiative aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 2 (Zero Hunger). Through these efforts, the company also aims to improve the per-hectare crop yields for small and marginal farmers while contributing to global efforts to mitigate climate change.

Speaking about the initiative, Anukool Joshi, Director – Agro at PepsiCo India said, “Enhancing soil function and health using biochar can increase agricultural output and reduce expenses related to nutrient and environmental effects. In comparison to other crop residue management options, our preliminary data has shown increased net benefit to the farmers through the adoption of biochar.”

Today, PepsiCo in India works directly and indirectly with over 27,000 farmers across 14 states, sourcing 100 per cent of the potatoes for its Lay’s brand in India from Indian farmers.

Naginder Singh, an owner of the farm where PepsiCo India commissioned the first retort kiln, highlights the benefits he sees from adopting biochar: “PepsiCo India helped us to set up furnaces to produce biochar. After the biochar is prepared, we spread it into the fields that are ready for cultivation. I would recommend biochar to all farmers. Using it helps our soil and saves our environment from further pollution while reducing the use of chemical fertilisers”.

The company’s Biochar Initiative continues to benefit

Agro chems – Chemicals, Company News, India, Inputs

All newly launched products are highly effective and affordable crop solutions and are a boon for agriculture sector.

Expanding its agri-chemical line-up, Best Agrolife Ltd. (BAL), India’s leading agrochemical manufacturer, launched six new formulations – Amito, Promos, Propique, Ghotu, Doddy, and Headshot along with their star products Citigen and Vistara.

More than 200 distributors from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh participated in the event held in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. BAL also utilised the occasion to create awareness about the benefits of its line-up and informed the audience how the company is efficiently transforming India’s agricultural sector. The participants expressed their keen interest in the products.

“It is indeed a milestone for us. Best Agrolife firmly believes in our Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ vision and is actively taking it further to improve agricultural yield and farmers’ economic conditions. We believe we can only grow when we share our advancements with all the people associated with our industry. All our newly launched products are highly effective and affordable crop solutions and are a boon for our agriculture sector. Other than enhancing the productivity in the fields, they will also provide the distributors and dealers with a marketing edge,” said Vimal Alawadhi, Managing Director, Best Agrolife Ltd. 

All newly launched products are highly effective

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Climate, Environment, Foodgrains, India, R&D, Sustainability

The outcomes of the consultation are also expected to suggest the required activities for crop residue management.

The Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has engaged the Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak as a consultant to assess the impact of various initiatives undertaken by the states for paddy residue management in the last five years.

The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare implemented the scheme in the Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and NCR of Delhi during 2018-19.

The scheme, a Central Sector Scheme on Promotion of Agricultural Mechanisation for Management of Crop Residue, is aimed at addressing air pollution in Delhi and NCR due to stubble burning in the adjoining states of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh and subsidising machinery required for in-situ management of crop residue

During the period from 2018-19 to 2022-23, the funds amounting to Rs 3138 crores have been released under this scheme. During the period the states have established more than 38000 Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs) for Crop Residue Management machines and more than 2.42 lakh machines have been supplied to these established CHCs and individual farmers of the four states.

IIM, Rohtak will conduct district-wise mapping of available machinery separately for in-situ and ex-situ management including assessment of the average use of each machine available with different entities such as individual farmers.

IIM will conduct an assessment of Societies and Custom Hiring Centres for paddy straw management and the analysis of usage based on optimum field capacities of these machines, assessment of the quality and cost of in-situ and ex-situ machines supplied under the scheme vis–a–vis quality and cost of machines in the open market.

IIM will suggest the strategic initiatives to be taken by the government including the synergies that may be required at the Central and state level in implementing various initiatives/schemes of different Ministries/Departments and assessment of the farmer’s perception/requirements through exhaustive consultation with farmers and various other stakeholders of this sector.

The outcomes of the consultation are also expected to suggest the required activities for crop residue management by way of putting in place the support infrastructure for implementing the scheme with greater knowledge, better access and expanded opportunities for small and marginal farmers.

The outcomes of the consultation are also

Agri Genomics, AgroPolicy, Agrotech, R&D

NGETC will serve as a national platform to cater to the regional needs to adapt different genome editing methods, including CRISPR-Cas mediated genome modification

Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, inaugurated “National Genome Editing & Training Centre” at National Agri-food Biotechnology Institute (NABI) Mohali, Punjab.

National Genome Editing & Training Centre” (NGETC) is a one-roof state-of-the-art facility that will serve as a national platform to cater to the regional needs to adapt different genome editing methods, including CRISPR-Cas mediated genome modification. It will also empower young researchers by providing them with training and guidance about its know-how and application in crops. In the current climatic scenario, improving crops for better nutrition and tolerance to the changing environmental condition is a significant challenge. Genome editing could be a promising technology that Indian research could adapt to offer the desired tailor-made traits in crops. NABI has shown ability and can expand the genome editing tools to vast arrays of crops, including Banana, Rice, Wheat, Tomato, Maize and Millets.

NABI, under the Department of Biotechnology, is a national institute with a mandate focusing on research activities at the interface of Agriculture, Food and nutritional biotechnology. Genome editing is a crucial tool to cause site-specific gene mutations/changes so that important crop traits can be developed. These mutations have the potential to mimic nature-like mutations and could be target specific in the genome. In the current climatic scenario, improving crops for better nutrition and tolerance to the changing environmental condition is a significant challenge. Genome editing could be a promising technology that Indian research could adapt to offer the desired tailor-made traits in crops. NABI has shown the ability to utilise genome editing tools and can expand the genome editing tools to vast arrays of crops, including Banana, rice, wheat, tomato and millet.

NGETC will serve as a national platform

AgroPolicy, India

The concerned states must effectively utilise Rs 600 Crore made available to them this fiscal to achieve the ‘Zero Stubble Burning’ goal

Narendra Singh Tomar Union Minister, Agriculture & Farmers Welfare hold a high-level review meeting with the officials of State Governments of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi, Officers of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), on the actions taken/proposed to be taken by the State Governments for management of stubble burning during 2022 season.

Tomar told the officials of the States to strengthen and widen the IEC activities to make aware the farmers that stubble burning leads to loss of soil fertility in the long run, like the overuse of urea. He urged the officials to make arrangements to take the farmers to the sites, where the Pusa Decomposer developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is being used for practical demonstrations.

For effective control of paddy stubble burning during the ensuing season,  Tomar directed that the States should  chalk out a comprehensive action plan at micro level, establish a mechanism to ensure effective utilization of machines, promote use of bio-decomposer in a complimentary mode with the CRM machines, promote ex-situ utilization of straw by way of mapping demand from adjoining industries like  biomass based power plants, bioethanol plants etc. and take up IEC activities for mass awareness among farmers through intensive campaigns in the electronic/print medias, social media as well as through Kisan Melas, publications, seminars, advisories with the involvement of all stakeholders in this sector.  If all the actions are taken at the State level in a holistic manner, the stubble burning can be effectively controlled during the coming season.

During the period from 2018-19 to 2021-22, the funds amounting to 2440.07 crores have been released (Haryana – Rs. 693.25 crores, Uttar Pradesh – Rs 533.67 crores, NCT of Delhi – Rs 4.52 Crores, ICAR and other Central Agencies – Rs 61.01 crores, and the major share has gone to the State of Punjab i.e., Rs. 1147.62 Crores).

The concerned states must effectively utilise Rs

Agro Universities

The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya (CSKHPKV), Palampur, Himachal Pradesh in the presence of Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, Vice Chancellor, PAU and Dr Harinder Kumar Chaudhary, Vice Chancellor, CSKHPKV.  

The main objective of this MoU is to promote and enhance scientific and academic interaction between both the universities and to strengthen ties among researchers, farmers and students of these universities.

Dr Ajmer Singh Dhatt, Director of Research, PAU, said that this association leads for joint evaluation and screening of crop varieties under different climatic conditions available in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. 

Synthesis of research proposals based upon emergent needs will also be a part of this MoU, he adds. In addition, joint experimentation to address common agricultural issues of the border districts of both the states, collaboration in research programmes of postgraduate students in different disciplines of agriculture and allied fields, and cooperation for sharing of scientific knowledge, library, laboratories and field facilities will be the focus areas, he informs.

The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana recently

AgroPolicy, Supply Chain

Punjab raises the bar by procuring 1,86,85,532 MT of paddy which in turn benefits 9,24,299 farmers with the MSP value of 36623.64 crore

Govt procures 53,286,457 MT of paddy till Jan 9, 2022

Punjab raises the bar by procuring 1,86,85,532 MT of paddy which in turn benefits 9,24,299 farmers with the MSP value of 36623.64 crore

The paddy procurement has begun in Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2021-22 at MSP from farmers, as was decided in previous years. Near about 532.86 LMT of Paddy has been procured in KMS 2021-22 up to 09.01.2022 in the procuring States/UTs of Chandigarh, Gujarat, Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Rajasthan, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, NEF (Tripura), Bihar, Odisha, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Among states, Punjab raises the bar by procuring 1,86,85,532 MT of paddy which in turn benefits 9,24,299 farmers with the MSP value of 36623.64 crore. Other leading states after Punjab are Chhattisgarh procuring 67,65,986 MTs, Telangana 65,54,739 MTs, Haryana 55,30,596 MTs followed by Uttar Pradesh which has procured 46,50,290 MTs of paddy so far. 

The MSP serves as the floor prices and is therefore fixed by the government of India like a long-term guarantee for investment decisions of producers, with the assurance that prices of their commodities would not be allowed to fall below the level fixed by the government, even in the case of a bumper crop.

Punjab raises the bar by procuring 1,86,85,532

Agro Universities, Live Stock

GADVASU organised a one-week training programme on Scientific Pig Farming for SC farmers of Punjab under the scheme RKVY-12-B.

The Department of Livestock Production Management, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary & Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana has recently organised a one-week training programme on Scientific Pig Farming for SC beneficiaries/farmers of Punjab under the scheme RKVY-12-B.

Dr Kulvinder Singh Sandhu, Dr Daljeet Kaur, and Dr Subhash Chandra coordinated the training under the leadership of Dr Yashpal Singh, course director and head of the department. Ten trainees participated in the training programme and attained knowledge on the various aspects of scientific pig farming like breeds and its selection, feeding, housing, clean meat production, vaccination protocols, disease prevention and economics of pig farming.

Practical exposure on scientific managemental practices like handling, recording of temperature, record keeping and needle teeth cutting was given to the trainees. Dr Parkash Singh Brar, Director Extension Education was the chief guest and distributed the certificates to the trainees. Dr Brar informed that a large population is still involved in unhygienic and low-profit unscientific pig farming, so there is a need to train the farmers to adopt scientific pig farming to increase their profit.

Commodities like 25 kg starter feed and university mineral mixture along with five-year Vigiyanak Pashu Palan subscription were distributed to encourage the trainees to shift to scientific pig farming practices.

GADVASU organised a one-week training programme on

Agro Universities, IT

The app will help in hiring in and hiring out of agricultural machinery and will benefit small and marginal farmers

Sardar Randeep Singh Nabha, Agriculture Minister, Punjab, launched a Farm Machinery App of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) during the Farm Expo organised for the farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh recently. He also released Punjab Agriculture Vision CD for the next five years, compiled by PAU. In his remarks, the minister hailed the remarkable contribution of PAU in making the nation food secure and updating the farmers, farm women and the rural youths about the latest developments in agriculture through ICT tools during COVID-19 times. He said, “The app will help in hiring in and hiring out of agricultural machinery and at the same time, will benefit small and marginal farmers.”

DK Tiwari, Financial Commissioner (Development), Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and Vice-Chancellor, PAU said, “The CD and app are the new achievements of PAU that wish to enrich the knowledge of the farmers through digital technologies.”

Dr JS Mahal, Director of Extension Education, while sharing the benefits and importance of the app, said that more than 65 per cent of farmers in Punjab own less than five acres of land and cannot afford the farm machinery. The app will be bridge the gap between the farmers who want machinery and the farmers who are into custom hiring of farm machinery, he added. It will connect the farmers with the farm machinery owners, who can get good returns through this technology. It is available in Google Play Store, he mentioned.

Present on the occasion were Dr GPS Sodhi, Additional Director of Extension Education; and Dr GS Manes, Additional Director of Research (Farm Mechanization and Bioenergy).

The app will help in hiring in