Connect with:
Sunday / December 22. 2024

logo
mobile-logo
HomePosts Tagged "strawberry"
Acts & Schemes – Centre, AgroPolicy, Foodgrains, India, People, Vegetables

If FPOs are successful in making farmers wealthy and debt-free, a single farmer will not commit suicide in Vidarbha.

At a recent workshop organised for FPOs in Vidarbha at the 13th Agrovision exhibition, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways said, “Farmer’s Producer Companies (FPC) should work to make farmers prosperous, wealthy, debt-free, and happy. If FPOs are successful in making farmers wealthy and debt-free. In that case, a single farmer will not commit suicide in Vidarbha”.

Gadkari advised farmers to form companies to market and export their products.  Sharad Gadakh, Vice Chancellor of Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Agriculture University, Ravi Boratkar, Organising Secretary of Agrovision and Publisher of AgroSpectrum magazine, C D Mayee, Chairman, Advisory committee Agrovision, Ajay Kadu, General Manager, Agricultural Market Committee, Nagpur and other delegates were present at the conference. 

Gadkari said, “FPO is a power of Farmers; with the help of FPOs, farmers can sell their products, without depending on the government. FPO is the social economic transformation of farmers. Farmers should get training in the formation of FPO and market their products. Farmers should find their own market. Five thousand FPOs should be formed in Vidarbha for the development of farmers”.

Ajay Kadu advised farmers on forming FPOs. Till now 27 agro products in Maharashtra have received GI tags. 11 crops in Maharashtra including four from Vidarbha are part of the Maharashtra Agri-Business Network (MAGNET) Project. MAGNET-focused crops are Banana, Guava, Pomegranate, Sapota, Custard Apple, Strawberry, Orange, Sweet lime, Okra, Chilly (Green and Red), and floriculture crops. The state government collaborates with the Asian Development Bank for MAGNET. The Rs 1,000-crore project, which is aimed mainly at fruit and vegetable producers, aims to improve processing and minimise the losses in the perishables sector. Successful FPO owners were honoured by Gadkari.    

If FPOs are successful in making farmers

Agro chems – Pesticides, Agrotech

Natutec Drive has proved to be a cost-effective and accurate way of controlling pests

Koppert’s new applicator for predatory beneficial in protected strawberry crops, Natutec Drive, has produced some excellent results in its first commercial season in the UK.

Feedback from growers shows the Natutec Drive has proved to be a cost-effective and accurate way of controlling pests, taking the use of beneficial and their efficacy to a new level.

Drive’s hi-tech dispersal system, usually mounted on a tractor-drawn trailer, employs a central 60-litre rotating drum that feeds via a hopper into boom-mounted distribution tubes, transporting product via a positive airflow onto the crop.

The operator can select products and dose accurately and quickly using touch screen controls mounted on the tractor. “Our trials have repeatedly shown that predator delivery rates are consistently accurate,” says Koppert technical consultant Jasper Hubert. “And costs have also been dramatically reduced.”

A grower survey showed it took eight to nine workers an average of 47 minutes to treat 1 ha by hand, but with the Natutec Drive one person could treat the same area in 55 minutes, seven to eight times faster. “This produced an average saving of just over £40/ha per application,” says Hubert. “For a 28ha farm carrying out 11-12 applications per season, the average in the survey, this would save a total of around £9600 per year, so the machine more than pays for itself.”

The design also ensures simple filling even when mixing large quantities, keeping refills to a minimum and speeding up the application process. “We had a few electrical glitches and carried out some minor modifications to individual machines,” says Hubert.

All Natutec Drives are custom built and available on lease hire from Agrovista, Koppert’s partner on fruit crops in the UK.

Natutec Drive has proved to be a