Agriculture world march 2015

AGRICULTURE WORLDAGRICULTURE WORLD

Editorial

In a country like India food security will always be a simmering

problem. In that situaon the role of milk producon in

migang food insecurity is important. It is in the context that

Venkatram Vasantvada highlights the hidden part of the food

security banking on high quality forages which is already decient

around onethird of the requirement in most of the states. Second

deciency is in the protein supplements amounng to 1920 mts.

The intervenon of UPL/ADVANTA LTD in the eld of developing

high quality fodder and the new variety of canola for leveling up the protein deciency in the

cale feed is highlighted by the author in his arcle on The hidden part of food security

Forages and Healthy oils.

Various forms of composng were pracced by the farmers from ancient Chinese

civilizaon onwards. But all the methods, rst of all, are labour intensive and are yielding

quanes much less than the actual requirement in the eld: that is 30,000 kgs per hectare.

Secondly large quanes are composted aerobically which results in the greater loss of the

most important nutrient namely nitrogen. Thirdly large farm area is required for composng all

the crop and animal wastes normally generated in a farm and to a small farmer to set apart

large land area for composng alone is an unthinkable proposion. In this context the Silo

Method of Anaerobic Recycling of Biowastes (SMARB) invented and promoted by Dr. K. T.

Chandy is a soluon to all the above menoned drawbacks.

Observing the quick results in the crop yield the farmers were indiscriminate in the use of

chemical ferlizers ll they realized the irreparable damages brought upon the soils of their

farmland. Enumerang a number of permanent soil damages due to the connuous and

excessive use of chemical ferlizers, Mr. Dinesh Patel, MD, Narmada Biochem Pvt Ltd., would

impress upon the readers the need for the use of organic manures in agriculture. However he is

also prompt in poinng out a number of constraints in the use of organic manures and the need

for maintenance of opmum level of organic carbon and nitrogen (CN rao) in the soil which

promotes the microbial acvies in the soil. Taking all these aspects of soil ferlity into

consideraon he promotes a host of organic products under the brand name biogold for the

benet of farming communies in India.

Agriculture like any other producon, processing and markeng occupaon is regulated

by a numerous acts, rules, regulaons, orders and commissions which though iniated with

good intenons turn out to be bolenecks for its smooth funconing and development. A

number of them are either lapsed in the Lok Sabha or pending in the Rajya Sabha. In terms of

administraon and governance many dierent departments and ministries are involved.

Giving an overview of the problems in the formulaon and implementaon of the acts, rules,

regulaons, orders and commissions Dr. S. R. Rao rightly highlights the problems aecng the

farmers and agricultural producon. To substanate his exposure of the problems arising due

to mulples of governmental rules and regulaons Dr. Rao presents a list of agricultural

legislaons in table 1, status of several bills on agriculture and rural development in table 2 and

commissions related to agriculture in table 3. To iron out the problems arising from the present

rules and regulaons the author proposes Naonal Environment Management Authority

(NEMA) at the centre, State Environment Management Authority (SEMA) at the state and

Environment Laws Management Act (ELMA) covering the centre and states.

Dr. Mahesh Chander, Head, Division of Extension Educaon, Indian Veterinary Research

Instute, Izetnagar, gives an overview of the organic animal husbandry in Asia which has one of

the fastest developing livestock sector in the world which factor he corroborates with the latest

data on the rich plant and animals genec diversity in the Asian countries. The author rightly

points out the need for the Asian farmers to develop capacity in terms of knowledge, skill,

infrastructure, animal feeding, hygiene, sanitaon, disease control and assured cered

supply of organic livestock producon.

The importance of oilseed sector which at present is in a stagnant situaon due to

various reasons, can never be overemphasized though India is one of the largest producer and

consumer of vegetable oil in the world. The arcle by Surendra Prajapa on Challenges and

Scope of Indian Oilseed Sector is an eyeopenerwarning to the Indian edible oil sector. Against

the consumpon requirement of 17 million tones the producon swings around 8 million tones

only causing a negave balance in trade causing a decit of 10.3 billion USD. Giving the

projecon edible oil requirement in table 1 the author proposes a viable soluon to the

seemingly unsurmountable deciency problem in the oil seed sector cing the leading role

and success of Bayer CropScience in rapeseed and mustard as they can be culvated

successfully under subopmal soil and water management condions in the vast farming

tracts India.

Agriculture is the biggest and foremost culture of the people from ancient mes and all

the sounds and lights of any culture in the world have roots in the local agriculture of people.

The women in Norway, making a song and dance about farming is a soothing revival of the

culture in agriculture, is highly appreciated. That makes agriculture not only organic but also

human.

M C Dominic

EditorinChief

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The Hidden Part of Food Security Forages and Healthy Oils...................4

Silo Method of Anaerobic Recycling of Biowastes (SMARB).................6

Organic Manure: Role in Modern Farming Systems..............................11

Retrospecon and Reforms Needed.....................................................14

Canadian Organic Aquaculture.............................................................19

Organic Animal Husbandry in Asia: an Overview .................................20

Challenges and Scope Indian Oilseed Sector.........................................22

The women making a song and dance about farming.........................24

Agricultural News..................................................................................25

MARCH 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-3 04

The Hidden Part of Food Security Forages and Healthy Oils

In world, we stand number 1 in terms of total milk

producon but very low in terms of producvity (ltr./day) even

much below the world average of 5.8 ltr/day. A major part to

th th

10 & 11 Five Year Plan Document

Requirement and Availability of CP/TDN

Year Requirement Availability Decit (%)

Million tons Million tons

CP TDN CP TDN CP TDN

2010 47.76 344.93 34.18 262.02 28.44 24.04

2015 49.39 356.73 35.98 273.24 27.15 23.41

2020 51.04 368.61 37.50 281.23 26.52 23.70

2025 52.68 380.49 39.31 292.45 25.38 23.14

answer this concern is our requirement of green and dry

fodder and its decit from the current requirement which also is

States 200910 (M MT) Fodder

Dry Fodder Green Fodder Total Fodder Decit

Maharashtra 42 98 140 21%

Rajasthan 17 117 134 34%

Uar Pradesh 81 36 117 63%

Gujarat 15 58 73 25%

Madhya Pradesh 27 33 60 48%

Punjab 29 26 55 20%

Andhra Pradesh 26 14 40 37%

Haryana 19 19 38 26%

Karnataka 28 7 36 22%

Tamil Nadu 21 11 32 36%

StateWise Quality Fodder Seed Availability

Low nutrional and low digesble crops

Requires water and more ferlizers

More lignin/ nondigesble bers

Low palatability and less of sweet and juicyness

UPL/Advanta has taken an iniave to help farmers with

improved forage crops which are an answer to address not

only above concerns but also will help farmers to adopt new

cross breed with more and quality milk producon.

Introducon of Nutrifeed, Sugargraze, Makkhangrass and

pipeline products BMR 6 & Delight are:

- High yielding, longer duraon crops than normal

tradional crops

- High in protein content

- Suitable for green fodder, silage and hey making

- Palatability is high & juicy

- Low lignin& high metaboliseable energy

- Requires less water and wider adaptability

Protein Deciency :

The protein requirement for livestock at an esmated

150160 Million mts of milk would be around 1920 million

Tonnes, ( 67 Million Tonnes for body maintenance and 1213

Million Tonnes for milk producon). Apart from these

increasing consumpon of meat, eggs and sh will fuel the

protein requirement content. There will be a serious

compeon between man and animal and both will suer

due to the shortage. Time for us to look at edible oils as a

source of protein. The protein content of soyabean and canola

is at 46% and 36% respecvely.

Hyola PAC 401, the rst canola quality hybrid introduced

in India by UPL/ Advanta which has tremendous health

benet oil, for daily consumpon in our food besides the

benets from the cake, which is a best substute to high

protein cakes for feed industry:

As a company, we are driving hard the technology

transfer and extension iniaves to make quality fodder and

protein available to the farmers. However, a much more

integrated approach and encouragement is required from the

policy makers to private sector iniaves and large scale PPP

projects need to be formulated.

Compound Family % of total Benets

Oleic acid 9 61% This fay acid plays a role in prevenng heart disease by lowering cholesterol levels. Other benets of omega 9

are that it reduces hardening of the arteries and improves immune funcon.

Linoleic acid 6 21% Omega6 fay acid (Linoleic Acid) combined with omega3 fay acid produces many of the health benets, but

the trickiest part about playing the fay acid game is that it is the best to eat them in the right amounts.

Eang about twice as much omega6 as omega3, so that omega6 to omega3 rao is 2:1.

Alphalinolenic acid 3 10% Research on the health benets of omega3 fay acid have shown that it may be useful for supporng the

following condions: Asthma, Diabetes, Arthris, Osteoporosis, Some Cancers, Skin Disorders, High Cholesterol,

High Blood Pressure, Aenon Disorders, Depressive Disorders, Macular Degeneraon, Digesve Dicules

Health Benets of Fay Acids in Canola Oil

Punjab but sll it is 20% decit.

Other concerns with available fodder crops are:

Low yielding age old tradional long duraon variees


www.krishijagran.com

2. Lack of proper knowledge on fodders

3. Protein deciency

4. Highest local cale strength

5. Breed quality

6. Tradional dairy farms

Year Supply Demand Decit

Million tons Million tons (% of demand)

Green Dry Green Dry Green Dry

2010 395.2 451 1,061 589 62.76 23.46

2015 400.6 466 1,097 609 63.50 23.56

2020 405.9 473 1,134 630 64.21 24.81

2025 411.3 488 1,170 650 64.87 24.92

th th


Requirement of Green and Dry Fodder

Food Security, Food SelfSuciency and Food Insecurity are terms which we oen hear and rightly so, given the fact that food demand is likely to double from the current 440

million mt to 850 million mt and food inaon is outstripping

inaon of all commodies. Increasing income levels and

consumerism is changing the structure of food basket with

diversicaon from cereals to fruits, vegetables, milk and milk

products, meat, sh and eggs. In this arcle the focus is on

certain aspects of food security which are not geng the

required thrust and aenon and it is high me we acvely

engage all the key stakeholders in developing appropriate

acon plans.

Livestock and Fodder

Milk producon in India is esmated at 110 million Mt

and we are the world number 1, however our producvity

(lt/day) is one of the lowest in the world at 1.2 ltrs/day inspite

of a cale populaon esmated at 1850 million. Esmated

milk demand by 2030 is anywhere between 150160 million

mts which is a big task. The reasons for low producvity can be

aributed to the following and we will deep dive on points

1,2,3 and 4 and UPLADVANTA intervenons and contri

buons to improve the situaon.

1. Fodder Availability

app65% Decit in Green Fodder

app25% Decit in Dry Fodder

27%/23% Decit in CP/ TDN

Venkatram Vasantavada

Chief Operang Ocer Asia & Africa

Advanta Ltd (A UPL Group Company)

FAO/IFCN (Internaonal Farm Comparison Network)/Internal source

World Top 10 Milk Producing Countries

Countries Milk producon Cost of Milk Milk Producvity

in million mt (2013) ProduconRs/lt lt/day

India 124 11.25 1.2

USA 88 19.35 8.8

China 38 16.95 3.5

Russian Federaon 35 14 4.7

Brazil 32 25.2 6.8

Germany 28 21 5.5

France 25 23 7

New Zealand 18 12.25 9.5

UK 17 24 6.9

Poland 15 15 7.3

World 693 18 5.8




th th


Requirement and Availability of CP/TDN

Year Requirement Availability Decit (%)

Million tons Million tons

CP TDN CP TDN CP TDN

2010 47.76 344.93 34.18 262.02 28.44 24.04

2015 49.39 356.73 35.98 273.24 27.15 23.41

2020 51.04 368.61 37.50 281.23 26.52 23.70

2025 52.68 380.49 39.31 292.45 25.38 23.14

States 200910 (M MT) Fodder

Dry Fodder Green Fodder Total Fodder Decit

Maharashtra 42 98 140 21%

Rajasthan 17 117 134 34%

Uar Pradesh 81 36 117 63%

Gujarat 15 58 73 25%

Madhya Pradesh 27 33 60 48%

Punjab 29 26 55 20%

Andhra Pradesh 26 14 40 37%

Haryana 19 19 38 26%

Karnataka 28 7 36 22%

Tamil Nadu 21 11 32 36%

StateWise Quality Fodder Seed Availability

Compound Family % of total Benets

Oleic acid 9 61% This fay acid plays a role in prevenng heart disease by lowering cholesterol levels. Other benets of omega 9

are that it reduces hardening of the arteries and improves immune funcon.

Linoleic acid 6 21% Omega6 fay acid (Linoleic Acid) combined with omega3 fay acid produces many of the health benets, but

the trickiest part about playing the fay acid game is that it is the best to eat them in the right amounts.

Eang about twice as much omega6 as omega3, so that omega6 to omega3 rao is 2:1.

Alphalinolenic acid 3 10% Research on the health benets of omega3 fay acid have shown that it may be useful for supporng the

following condions: Asthma, Diabetes, Arthris, Osteoporosis, Some Cancers, Skin Disorders, High Cholesterol,

High Blood Pressure, Aenon Disorders, Depressive Disorders, Macular Degeneraon, Digesve Dicules

Health Benets of Fay Acids in Canola Oil



Year Supply Demand Decit

Million tons Million tons (% of demand)

Green Dry Green Dry Green Dry

2010 395.2 451 1,061 589 62.76 23.46

2015 400.6 466 1,097 609 63.50 23.56

2020 405.9 473 1,134 630 64.21 24.81

2025 411.3 488 1,170 650 64.87 24.92

th th


Requirement of Green and Dry Fodder

Venkatram Vasantavada

Chief Operang Ocer Asia & Africa

Advanta Ltd (A UPL Group Company)

FAO/IFCN (Internaonal Farm Comparison Network)/Internal source

World Top 10 Milk Producing Countries

Countries Milk producon Cost of Milk Milk Producvity

in million mt (2013) ProduconRs/lt lt/day

India 124 11.25 1.2

USA 88 19.35 8.8

China 38 16.95 3.5

Russian Federaon 35 14 4.7

Brazil 32 25.2 6.8

Germany 28 21 5.5

France 25 23 7

New Zealand 18 12.25 9.5

UK 17 24 6.9

Poland 15 15 7.3

World 693 18 5.8


SMARB has inbuilt ability to increase

the volume just by increasing the

height.

Structural details

1. construct the silos in single or in

pairs with openings at the boom

facing in the same or in the

opposite direcon; both have

advantages and disadvantages or

conveniences and inconveniences,

2. construct them in adjacent rows

with any number of pairs of silos:

ve, ten, twenty, forty, sixty,

hundred etc.,

3. construct silos in round, square or

rectangular shape,

4. u s e S T R O N G A N D N O N

CORRODING material for constru

con,

5. have the inner lining smooth and

the corners rounded,

6. as already menoned have the

height at least three mes the

diameter or side of a square or the

width of a rectangle,

7. biowaste is dumped from the top

aer chopping into a minimum of

one inch size,

8. use ladder, stair case, automac or

semiautomac liing devices for

dumping the biowastes,

9. have a passage linking tope of all

the silos to facilitate movement of

persons and machines during the

d u m p i n g , w e n g m e a n d

inspecon me,

10. if needed have a roof over the

passage linking all the silos to save

Silo is an upward built storage

structure for storing anything safe for

short or long term. It has a facility to

deposit the materials from the top into

the silo and a suitable opening at the

boom for taking out the deposited

material. In SMARB we deposit all types

of biomass at the top and take out the

organic manure at the boom. Hence

the holding or decomposion me is

b et we e n t h e d u m p i n g a n d t h e

retrieving me which may last an year

normally.

In the exisng methods organic

manure is available only aer the

decomposion of last dumping of bio

wastes. In order to ensure these two

aspects of connuous everyday

dumping, composng and regular

retrieval of decomposed organic

manure it is important that suitable

structures are erected. At the same

me there should be least energy

ulizaon. The best structure available

seems to be half of a UTube. (Figure

1). Imagine you cut a Utube of one

metre diameter or more; you get two

halves of a Utube; take one of them

and hold it vercally and drop a basket

of chopped straw or dry leaves from the

top; the whole thing will come out

easily to one side of tube and not just

below it. Now if you close the opening at

the boom and then dump the same

material it will be held and it will decay

and decompose if sucient moisture is

available. Weng or socking of the

material if needed can be done before

dumping into the tube or aer. If you

hold the material for six months to one

year the content of the tube will be

completely decomposed into organic

manure. Open the closure at the

b o o m ; t h e m a t e r i a l w i l l b e

automacally pushed out by it's own

weight and you have the organic

manure; break the clods, powder the

content and sieve it to get a uniform

sized granules of organic manure. This is

the basic principle and pracce of

SMARB or OmniComposng. The key

principle is that the height of the silo

should be at least twice the diameter

or the side of a square or the width of

the rectangular base of the silo. More

the height greater will be volume of the

silo. The greatest advantage of the



follow the same process of degener

aon and regeneraon consciously and

fully. When we burn crop and other

plant residues we are actually going

against this natural process and thereby

the quanty of organic manure

incorporated into the soil becomes nil.

Therefore we must stop burning crops

and other plant residues and follow a

strategy of composng all the plant and

animal wastes generated in a farm land

and incorporate back into the soil of the

same farm land. Let us call this method

as OmniComposng. Omni means all

or everything and OmniComposng

means Composng All or Everything.

It is also termed SMARB (Silo Method of

Anaerobic Recycling of Biowastes). In

this arcle we consider every form of

organic maer including the human

faeces as the manageable type of

organic material and they should be

properly managed and recycled back

into the soil. Only glass, metal, stone,

plasc and hard wood cannot be

composted. This arcle deals with

some basic structures for SMARB.

Organic maer is the 'Soul of the Soil'. Soil without organic maer will not be ferle and producve. Even

for the proper ulizaon of chemical

ferlizers added to the soil will depend

on the opmum amount of organic

maer present in the soil. To maintain

this opmum level of organic maer in

the soil, the recommended dose of

organic manure to be incorporated into

the soil is 10 to 30 tonnes of per hectare

per crop. It is indeed a huge amount.

One way to obtain this amount is to

recycle all the biomass generated in an

area back into the same area aer

proper composng. The recyclables will

include the straws, stems, leaves,

inorescence, shells, covers and husks

of grains and crop waste, weeds, animal

byproducts like dung and urine, cale

shed waste, household and kitchen

waste etc. Everything of any biomass

generated in an area should be

composted and recycled back into the

soil. Above all nothing should be

burned; by burning the biowastes the

soil losses all the organic maer. The ash

is not an organic maer, but rather it

acts like chemical ferlizers containing

mostly potassium and calcium out the

seventeen essenal elements required

for the plant growth. Hence stop

burning any of the biowastes but

compost them and incorporate them

into the soil.

The presently employed methods

of composng inc luding vermi

composng in terms of volume have

only limited capacity to compost mainly

due to the small size of the composng

structures compared to the volume of

biomass generated in the eld.

Secondly recycling of organic maer in

nature takes place in a connuous

process of degeneraon and regene

raon. By degeneraon all the biomass

produced in one generaon of plants

and animals in a unit area of land is

converted into organic manure by death

and decomposion; by regeneraon a

successive generaon of plants and

animals come up in the same area

absorbing the organic maer from the

soil. The key to organic farming is to


Silo Method of Anaerobic

Recycling of Bio-wastes (SMARB)

Silo Method of Anaerobic Recycling of Bio-wastes

Dr. K. T. Chandy He is recipient of naonal & internaonal

award for the outstanding work in above

menoned eld. He is on the

Editorial Board of Krishi Jagran Media Group.)




Silo Method of Anaerobic

Recycling of Bio-wastes (SMARB)

Silo Method of Anaerobic Recycling of Bio-wastes

Dr. K. T. Chandy He is recipient of naonal & internaonal

award for the outstanding work in above

menoned eld. He is on the

Editorial Board of Krishi Jagran Media Group.)

Year Rs. US$

1 700 100

2 1300 200

3 1800 300

SUBSCRIPTION

www.krishijagran.comSilo Method of Anaerobic Recycling of Bio-wastes

MARCH 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-3 09MARCH 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-3 08

Fig. 2: Double Silo

heap of

soil

Cross Secon View of 8X8X24 Silo

pipe line

and

water tap

16

Concrete beam

over window

Shuers

heap of

soil8

Outlet

Receiving area

8

24

Silo area

8

dire

c

on

of th

e m

ov

em

en

t

of waste

24

Fig. 1: Single Silo

RCC Beam

cover

sh

u

ers

16

8

16

8Mo

ve

me

nt o

f de

co

mp

osin

g

materials

mate

rials

Drainage16

8

Fig. 3 : MulSilo

Heap of soil

Outlets

88 (LxH)

Ladder

20

t

o 1

00

Passage for Loader

Heap of Soil

Fig. 4 : Aerobic Composng

Fig. 5: vermicomposng

Mr Dinesh Patel, MD,

Narmada BioChem Pvt Ltd

Organic Manure: Role in Modern Farming System

Organic ManureRole in Modern Farming Systems

fact, India is we are one of the largest

rice exporters in the world. But despite

these advances our yields across all

major crops are half of what could be

possible if only farmers followed the

right agricultural pracces. It is true that

chemical ferlizers have been one of

t h e m a i n d r i ve rs o f g ro w t h i n

producon so far. But farmers have

shown a tendency to overuse chemical

ferlizers parcularly urea prevailing d

low prices. This has led to a decline in

soil richness and producvity which call

for immediate course correcon.

Nutrient consumpon in India is also

prey low compared to many other

countries leading to connuous mining

of nutrients from the soil without

replenishment. The highly chemically

ferlized soil, possessing low water and

nutrient retenon capacity due to low

carbon content and acidicaon, leads

to a buildsup up of high levels of

phosphorus and deciencies of calcium,

magnesium and boron.

The degradaon in soil health,

parcularly in intensively culvated

areas manifests its elf a loss in term of

organic maer and depleon of nave

ferlity. In this context, use of organic

manure/ferlizers can help improve

ferlizer use eciency and crop

producvity. While we need to focus on

soil nutrient management pracces,

there are a host of other management

pracces that are equally important for

overall soil ferlity, including soil

conservaon and llage techniques,

weed management pracceds and

cropping strategies. Inially, organic

resources were seen merely as sources

of nutrients, mainly nitrogen (N). A

substanal amount of research was

done to quanfy the availability of N

from organic resources. More recently,

other contribuons of organic inputs

extending beyond ferlizer subst

ituon have been emphasized such as

the provision of macro and micro

nutrients, reducon of phosphorus

absorpon capacity, increase in

Ag r i c u l t u ra l d e ve l o p m e nt

strategy in developing count

ries needs to be geared towards

increasing the producvity of land

under culvaon, with appropriate

costs and proper ulizaon of inputs,

so that the environment stays

protected. This is all the more vital

because farming now a days is

becoming nonviable with respect to

cost and producvity as evidenced by

t h e d e c l i n i n g t r e n d s i n c r o p

producvity, increasing chemical ferli

zers used and the consequent damage

to the environment. All these factors

are forcing the agriculture fraternity to

do a rethink and consider new pracces

by modifying exisng systems, so that

environmental damage is minimized,

the eciency of inputs is enhanced and

higher producvity ensured.

Prospect of organic manure in our

present farming system:

From a food decit and foodgrain

imporng country, we are today one of

the major exporters of foodgrains. In


fraternies.

Impact of chief chemical ferlizer and

role organic manure:

S u i t a b l e s o i l m a n a g e m e n t

pracces help in imparng resilience to

degraded soi ls and make these

responsive to ferlizers and others

inputs for sustainable crop producon.

Cropping with appropriate pracces not

only helps in maintaining soil quality,

but also imparts resilience to the

system. So, good land care pracces are

the key to maintaining soil health for

posterity. Maintenance of soil carbon at

a reasonable level is essenal for good

soil health and this imparts resilience to

the ecosystem. The organic carbon

status of Indian soils is very low and this

is mainly due to the tropical and sub

tropical climate of the country. The

declining availability of tradional

source of plant nutrients like farmyard

manure (FYM), compost, crop residue

and green manure, coupled with

inadequate and imbalanced ferlizer

use, has aggravated the problem of low

soil organic carbon. Rich in organic

maer, these sources greatly improves

the physio chemical properes of the

soil and the microbial acvity in it. Use

of these resources results not only

higher yields, beer product quality,

poor adopon of ferl izer best

management pracces (FBMPs) have

made the task of increasing producvity

more dicult. It is high me that more

aenon was paid to balanced plant

nutrion to improve soil health and

crop producvity. The present scenario

of stagnaon and decline in produc

vity of most agricultural, horcultural

and plantaon crops in India, despite

the genec improvements in crop

variees and heavy external inputs of

chemical ferlizers and pescides, has

forced the Government to embark on a

programme to improve organic

ferlizer/manure use, with a provision

of Rs. 3000 crores being made in the

current budget, for this.

T h e p r i m e r e q u i s i t e i s t h e

promoon of a healthy soilplant

environment system to reduce land

degradaon and abuse of chemical

inputs. There is a need for a new of

agricultural strategy through promong

balanced and ecofriendly farming by

tweaking the present system through

the use of beer soil nutrients and

organic manure. However, a major

drawback in the way of adopon and

use of organic manure, In our country

there is the poor awareness and non

availability of good quality organic

manure. There is also a lack of proper

supplies due to the bulky nature of

organic manure/composed and the

high transportaon cost involved.

These are issues which need focus both

from the government and the research


carbon/organic maer, reducon in

soilborne pests and diseases and

improvement in soil moisture status.

There are some key dierences in the

way that organic systems contribute to

soil ferlity. These systems using

nitrogenxing species, add large

amounts of nitrogen without withdra

wing it from the soil. Organic sources

also dier in terms of nutrient content,

mineralizaon processes (in which the

nutrients in the organic compounds can

become available to the crop) and the

provision of other soil ferlity benets.

The potenal for producon growth

around organic nutrient inputs and

secondly, the potenal organic

nutrients to catalyze tradional inputs

Constraints

The main constraints in the

promoon and adopon of organic

resources are lack of government

iniaves and incenves as also a lack

of an overall policy to promote organic

inputs. Most of the organic resources

ava i lab le at the farm leve l are

consumed for fuel purposes or as

animal feed, so availability remains a

major constraint. Its also a fact that the

majority of our farmers do not know

that organic manure is the most

important source for culvable soil. So

awareness and knowledge about the

usefulness of organic manure need to

be spread. In addion, there is a need

for supplementary nutrients to enrich

the soil by reviving acidic soil to increase

producvity. Declining soil ferlity and

www.krishijagran.comOrganic Manure: Role in Modern Farming Systems


www.krishijagran.comOrganic Manure: Role in Modern Farming Systems


Table 1. Agricultural Legislaons

Act 1. Land Acquision Act, 1894 2. Right To Fair Compensaon And Transparency In Land Acquision,

Rehabilitaon And Reselement Act, 2013 3. The Registraon Act, 1908

Rules 1. Land Acquision (Companies) Rules, 1963 2. Right To Fair Compensaon And Transparency In Land

Acquision, Rehabilitaon And Reselement (Social Impact Assessment And Consent) Rules, 2014

Other 1. Naonal Rehabilitaon & Reselement Policy, 2007 2. Registraon (Amendment) Bill, 2013

Seed

Act 1. The Seed Act, 1966 2. The Seeds (Amendments) Act, 1972 3. The Essenal Commodies Act 1955 4. The

Essenal Commodies Act 1955(Amendment upto 1986) 5. The essenal Commodies (Amendment) Act,

2006 6. Protecon of Plant Variees & Farmers' Right Act,2001Rules and Regulaon

Rules 1. The Seed Rules,1968 2. The Seeds (Amendments) Rules, 1973,1974,1981

Other 1. The Seed (Control)Order,1983 2. The Seed (Control)Order,1983 3. Amendment in seeds (Control) Order,

1983 4. New Policy on seed Development 5. Amendment of New Policy on Seed Development

Water

Act 1. The Water (Prevenon and Control of Polluon) Cess Act, 1977, amended 1992 2. The Water (Prevenon

and Control of Polluon) Cess (Amendment) Act, 2003 3. The water (Prevenon and Control of Polluon) Act,

1974, amended 1988 4. Betwa River Board Act, 1976 amended 1977 5. NW1 Allahabad to Haldia stretch of

GangaBhagirathiHooghly river Act 1982 6. NW2 Sadiya Dhubri stretch of river Brahmaputra Act 1988 7. NW

4 KakinadaPuducherry stretch of canals and Kaluyelly tank, BhadrachalamRajahumundry stretch of river

Godavari and WazirabadVijaywada stretch of river Krishna Act 2008 8. NW5 TalcherDhamra stretch of rivers

Geonkhalicharbaa stretch of east coast canal charbaadharma stretch of matai river and mahanadi delta

river Act 2008

Rules 1. The Central Poluon Control Board (Amendment) Rules, 2012 2. The water (Prevenon and Control of

Polluon) Amendment Rules, 2011 3. The water (Prevenon and Control of Polluon)Cess Rules, 1978 4. The

water (Prevenon and Control of Polluon) Rules, 1975 5. Betwa River Board Rules, 1977 amended 1979

Other 1. Betwa River Board Regulaons 1978, amended 1982 2. Naonal Water Policy 2002 3. Naonal Water Policy

2012

Ferlizer

Act 1. Essenal Commodies Act, 1955

Other 1. Ferlizer (Control) Order, 1957/1985 (FCO.) 2. Schedule I3. Schedule III4. Schedule IV 5. Schedule V 6.

Ferlizer (Movement Control) Order, 1960/1973/2001 (FMCO) 7. New Investment Policy, 2012 8. Ferlizer

Amendments 2013 9. Guidelines for manufacture and sale of Customized Ferlizer under Clause 20'B' of FCO.

1985 10. Guidelines for inclusion of Ferlizers in Schedule & Clause 20'A' of FCO 11. ECA Allocaon Orders

(issued biannually).

Pescide & Plant Quaranne

Act 1. Destrucve Insect and Pests Act,1914 (2 of 1914) and Amendments 2. Inseccides Act, 1968 amended,

2000

Rules 1. Inseccides Rules,1971

Other 1. The PQ Order, 2003Consolidated Version 2. Nocaon for Banning the Use of Monocrotophons on

Vegetable (06.06.2005) 3. Order dated 13122011 passed in Writ peon Civil) No. 213 of 2011 lled by

Democrac Youth Federaon of India Vs Union of India and Others in the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India 4.

Cancellaon of Cercate of Registraon Order, 2010 issues under the inseccides Act, 1968 5. Plant

Quaranne Order, 2004 6. Plant Quaranne Order Amendments, 2009

Genecally Modied Organisms (GMOs)

Act 1. Environment Protecon Act, 1986 2. Protecon of Plant Variees and Farmers' Rights Act (PPVFRA), 2001

3. Naonal Biodiversity Act, 2002 4. Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006

Other 1. Naonal Seed Policy, 2002 2. Plant Quaranne (Regulaon of Import into India) Order, 2003 3. Foreign

Trade Policy, 2006 4. Recombinant DNA Safety Guidelines, 1990 5. Revised Recombinant DNA Safety

Guidelines, 1994 6. Revised Guidelines for Research in Transgenic Plants & Guidelines for Toxicity and

Allergenicity Evaluaon of Transgenic Seeds, Plants and Plant Parts, 1998

Equipment

Act 1. Dangerous Machine Act 1983

Rules 1. Dangerous Machines (Regulaon ) Rules, 2007

Transport

Act 1. Motor Vehicles Act 1988 2. Carriage by Road Act Rules 3. Central Road Fund Act and Rules 4. Control of

Naonal Highways (Land and Tari) Act 2002 5. Naonal Highways Authority of India Act 1998 6. Road

Transport Corporaons Act 1950

Rules 1. Central Motor Vehicle Rules 1989 2. Naonal Highways Fee (Determinaon of Rates and Collecon) Rules

3. Naonal Highways Rules 1957 4. Naonal Highways Tribunal Rules

Dr. S. R. Rao

Adviser, Department of Biotechnology

(DBT), Ministry of Science & Technology,

Government of India

The value chain in agriculture

starts with seed and ends with

spoon. The European Union has

termed it as "farm to fork". The main

components of this value chain include

land, seeds (including genecally

modied seed), water, ferlizers,

pescides, farm equipment, transport,

markeng, livestock, credit, nance, co

operaves, panchayats, etc. Timely

access, availability, aordability, safety

and quality of inputs along with,

facilitaon and services by markets,

banks, panchayats and cooperaves

inuence the farmer's eciency and

farm producvity.

All these components are highly

regulated through various Acts, rules,

orders and nocaons both Central

and State governments. A search in the

data base of ''India.gov.in'' or India

Code Informaon System (INCODIS),

reveals about 150 Act /rules regulang

agriculture, the states accounng for

133 and the remaining 17 being Acts

Retrospection and Reforms Needed to Free Farm from Multiple Ministries

passed by the Indian Parliament since

1834. A closer look at the date reveals

t h a t d i e r e n t m i n i s t r i e s a n d

departments administer one or more of

these Acts/ rules (table1). In addion,

several other Bills are relang to

agriculture/rural development have

either lapsed in the Lok Sabha or

pending in the Rajya Sabha (table 2).

Over and above this, various commissi

ons have been set up from me to me

address issues relang to farming (table

3). In terms of administraon and

governance, several ministries/ depart

ments are involved. For example, at the

Central government level these exist

the Department of Agriculture and

Cooperaon and Department of

Agricultural Research and Educaon

covering research and extension. Indian

Council of Agricultural Research and its

various instuons, Krishi Vigyan

Kendras, etc); Department of Food and

Civil Supplies (covering procurement of

cereals and pulses); Department of

Health and Family Welfare, (covering

Food Safety and Standards Authority for

Processed Food); Department of

Chemicals and Ferlizers; Ministry of

Environment, Forests and Climate

Change (covering issues relang GM

crops seeds, climate change and

biodiversity); Ministry of Earth

Sciences (covering the Indian Mete

orological Department for forecasng

weather); Department of Biotech

nology, Ministry of Science and

Technology (covering risk assessment of

GM crops and technology development

in agr i cu l ture) ; Department o f

Commerce (dealing with commercial

crops like coee, tea, rubber, coon and

s i lk )and Department of Animal

Husbandry (covering livestock health

and producvity schemes); and

Department of Rural Development and

Panchayat. The state governments are

equally vigorous with at least six

departments/ministries regulang and

controlling agriculture directly or

indirectly.

Retrospection and Reforms Needed

to Free Farm from Multiple Ministries, Acts,

Rules, Regulations, Orders and Commissions

Regulating Agriculture



Table 2 . Status of Several Bills on Agriculture/ Rural development

Table 3. Commissions directly or indirectly related to Agriculture

Name of Commission Set Up by

Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices Ministry of Agriculture

Naonal Commission on Agriculture, 1976 Ministry of Agriculture

Naonal Commission on Cale, 2001 Government of India

Naonal Commission on Farmers,2004 Ministry of Agriculture

Finance Commission of India, 1951 Government of India

Forward Markets Commission, 2014 Ministry of Finance

Investment commission of India, 2004 Ministry of Finance

Gadgil Commission, 2011 Ministry of Environment and Forests

Naonal Stascal Commission,2005 Government of India

Central Water Commission Ministry of Water Resources

Agricultural legislaon in Indian country is a the legacy of the

Brish. Aer independence, the number of agencies involved as well

as the , rules and regulaons have, in fact, increased, contribung to

the remarkable progress in the farm sector. The country is now not

only selfsucient on the farm front but also a net exporter, although

sizable amounts of oil and pulses are imported. But despite all the

Other 1. Nocaon under Motor Vehicle Legislaon 2. Nocaon on Naonal Highways 3. Nocaon regarding

Automave Industry Standards

Agricultural Markeng

Act 1. Model APMC Act 2. Agriculture Produce (Grading &Marking)Act,1937 (Act No1 of 1937)as Amended Up to

1986

Rules 1. Model APMC Rules 2. General Grading &Markeng Rules 1988 3. Organic Agricultural Produce Grading and

Marking (Amendment) Rules ,2011 4. Organic Agricultural Produce Grading and Marking Rules, 2009

Livestock

Act 1. The maritime zones of India (Regulation of shing by Foreign Vessels Act), 1981 2. Indian Veterinary

Council Act, 1984 (No.52 of 1984) 3. Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in

Animals Act, 2009 (Uttar Pradesh)

Rules 1. The Prevention & Control of Infectious & Contagious diseases in Animal Rules, 2009 2. The Prevention &

Control of Infectious & Contagious diseases in Animal Rules, 2010 3. Indian Veterinary Council Rules, 1985

Other 1. Milk and Milk Product Order, 1992 2. Removal/Continuance of Restrictions on various items already under

restricted list in Exim policy 3. Veterinary Council of India (Inspectors and Visitors) Regulaon, 1991 4.

Veterinary Council of India (Genaral) Regulaon, 1991 5. Veterinary Council of India (Registraon) Regulaon,

1991 6. Veterinary Council of India (Standard of Professional ) Regulaon, 1991 7. Veterinary Council of India

(Standard of professional conduct, Equee and code of ethics, for veterinary Praconer)Regulaon, 1992

8. Veterinary Council of India (Fees and allowances) Regulaon, 1992 9. Veterinary Council of India (Minimum

Standard of Veterinary Educaon Degree CourseB.V.SC & AH) Regulaon, 1993 10. Veterinary Council of

India (Elecon of President & VicePresident) Regulaon, 1995 11. Veterinary Council of India (Terms and

Condion of Services of Ocers and other Employees) Regulaon, 2001

Food Processing

Act 1. Essenal Commodies Act, 1955 2. Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006

Other 1. Fruit Product Order (FPO),1955 2. Meat Food Product Order (MFPO), 1973

Credit and Finance

Act 1. Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act, 1879 2. Northern India Act,1879 3. Land Development Act,1871 4.

Agriculturalist Loans Act, 1884 5. The Banking Regulaon Act, 1949

Other 1. Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) 2. Land Development Bank 3. Cooperaves Banks 4. Commercial Banks 5.

Regional Rural Banks 6. Credit Sociees 7. Self Help Group (SHGs) 8. NABARD

Cooperaves sector

Act 1. MulState Cooperave Sociees Act,2002 2. Model Byelaws for Registraon of Sociees under MSCS

Act,2002

Rules 1. NCDC Rules, 1975 2. NCDC Rules, 1975 (As amended up to 16 June 2008) 3. MulState Cooperave

Sociees Rules 2002

Other 1. NCDC General Regulaons, 1975 2. NCDC General Regulaons, 1975(As amended up to 7 March 2008) 3.

NCDC Services Regulaons 4. NCDC Services Regulaons(amendment published in Gazee of India upto

31.12.2011)

Panchayat

rd

Other 1. The 93 amendment To the constuon (Eleventh Schedule, Arcle 243G) accorded constuonal status to

the Panchayats

Other

Act 1. Biological Diversity Act, 2002 2. The Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005 3. Trademarks (Amendment) Act,

2007 (replaced the Trademarks Act of 1958 and 1999) 4. Geographical indicaons of Goods (Registraon and

Protecon) Act 1999 5. The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1999 (in place of earlier Copyright Act of 1957) 6.

The Customs Act, 1962

Rules 1. Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2006 2. Geographical indicaons of Goods (Registraon and Protecon) Rules,

2002


Year Bill Status

2014 The Right to Fair Compensaon and Transparency in Land Acquision, Rehabilitaon and In force

Reselement (Amendment) Ordinance

2013 The Registraon (Amendment) Bill Pending

2013 The Naonal Food Security Bill Pending

2013 The Naonal Food Security Ordinance Lapsed

2013 The Agricultural Biosecurity Bill Lapsed

2012 The Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University Bill Passed

2012 The Naonal Cooperave Development Corporaon (Amendment) Bill Lapsed

2011 The Naonal Food Security Bil Withdrawn

2010 The Forward Contracts (Regulaon) Amendment Bill Lapsed

2004 The Seeds Bill Pending

2008 The Pescide Management Bill Pending

2010 The Dam Safety Bill Lapsed

2009 The Naonal Rural Employment Guarantee (Amendment) Bill Passed

2008 The Legal Metrology Bill Passed

2009 The Essenal Commodies (Amendment and Validaon) Bill Passed

2008 The Forward Contracts (Regulaon) Amendment Bill Lapsed

2007 The Rehabilitaon and Reselement Bill Lapsed

2007 The Land Acquision (Amendment) Bill Lapsed

2005 The Prevenon and Control of Infecous & Contagious Diseases in Animals (Amendment) Bill Passed

2008 The Sugar Development Fund (Amendment) Bill Passed

2005 The Warehousing (Development and Regulaon) Bill Passed

2007 The Naonal Rural Employment Guarantee (Extension To Jammu and Kashmir) Bill Passed

2005 The Food Safety and Standards Bill Passed

2005 The Standards of Weights and Measures (Enforcement) Amendment Bill Withdrawn

2006 The Forward Contracts (Regulaon) Amendment Bill Replaced by a new Bill

2013 The Right to Fair Compensaon and Transparency in Land Acquision, Rehabilitaon and Reselement Bill Passed

Fig. 1: BiotechLab

Retrospection and Reforms Needed to Free Farm from Multiple Ministries

MARCH 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-3 18 MARCH 2015 | AGRICULTURE WORLD | Issue-3 19

progress, the expected levels of shi in

agriculture from subsistence to semi

commercial or commercial farming

and/or the tradional systems to

improved producon or technology

Driven systems have not kept pace with

the growing demands and challenges .

Enlightened legislaon, however, holds

out the prospect of addressing several

of the shortcomings and achieving the

desired progress since. Since indepe

ndence, a series of amendments have

been made to various laws, and as the

science and art of agriculture advances,

new regulaons will surely be brought

in, keeping in touch with internaonal

developments and treaes, India has

also revised some of the older laws and

come up with fresh legislaon that has

a bearing on agriculture.

Some agricultural reform experts

however argue that while laws and

regulaons are essenal for any

naonal agricultural system, over

regulaon involving mulple agencies,

acts, rules and policy making comm

issions with lile or no coherence,

synergy and relevance to the current

context is not desirable. On the other

hand, underregulaon with no welfare

and quality control measures is also not

desirable. The dynamic nature of

scienc and technological breakth

roughs, increasing awareness of

farmers and their role in polics and

policy making, the market economy and

ongoing economic reforms as well as

the revoluon in telecommunicaons

and informaon technology point to

the vital need to simplify, consolidate

and remove redundancy in the

legislaon related to this sector. For

example, the roles of government

regulaons on the one hands and

agricultural research and extensions, on

the other, have oen been dicult to

understand. Seeds, pescides, and

ferl i zers are now increas ing ly

distributed by poorly regulated trade

and merchants, rather than by state

government input enterprises that

dominated the scene unl recently. As

the involvement of the public sector in

input provision diminishes, and with

increasing recognion of the farmer's

capacity to select appropriate quality

inputs, the future role of the Govern

ment needs to be reconsidered.

Decisions regarding input ecacy will

increasingly be le to markets and

farmers in the future while research

and extension services by the public

sector provides informaon and

recommendaons.

Conducng a comprehensive

analysis of various aspects of agricu

ltural legislaon in any country is

potenally a huge task and it is not

possible to full jusce to its legal

framework. Therefore, a few key

indicators should be evolved through

stakeholder consultaons, parcularly

involving farming communies. In

theory, it would be necessary to

e x a m i n e e v e r y r e l e v a n t l e g a l

framework and how it is perceived by

the people subject to it and the eects it

has on the farming ecosystem.

An aempt was made in the

d i recon recent ly by the new

Government farming legislaon on

environment The Ministry of Envir

onment, Forests and Climate Change

(MOEF&CC) vide its order No. 22

15/2014IA. III dated 29th August,

2014, constuted a commiee to

examine the funconing of the forest,

wildlife and environment related

statutes to improve the legal framework

.To improve the legal framework of

environment the expert commiee was

asked to assess the status of implem

entaon of each of the exisng Act vis

vis its objecves, examine various

court orders and judicial pronoun

cements relang to these Acts,

recommend specic amendments to

these Acts in l ine with current

requirements and to dra proposed

amendments in each of the aforesaid

Acts to give eecveness to the

proposed recommendaons to future

requirements in mind. Through a

dialogue and discussion with various

stake holders and to bring in a single

window system for environmental

clearances the commiee decided to

recommend the following course of

acon:

(i) Parliament to enact a law that

would constute 'Naonal Environ

ment Management Authority' (NEMA)

at the Centre and 'State Environment

Management Authority' (SEMA) in

states. Both comprising of experts in

dierent elds and will deal with

appl icaons for c learances and

permissions under Environment

Related laws at the Central and State

level respecvely, thus leading to the

creaon of a single window system.

(ii) The new, Environmental Laws

(Management) Act (ELMA), would

obl ige an appl icant to d isc lose

everything about his proposed project,

especially its possible potenal to

pollute and the proposed soluon

thereto in short, all that would be

relevant to taking a decision on granng

or refusing the clearance applied for.

The proponent and the experts who

support a party's case will be required

by law to cerfy that 'The facts stated

are true and that no informaon that

would be relevant to the clearance has

been concealed or suppressed.'

The Canadian General Standards Board published Canada's Organic Aquaculture Standard in May 2012. The

standard is based on the same

principles as organic agriculture. It

prohibits anbiocs, limits the stocking

density of aquac species, GE aquac

animals and plants chemical an

foulants. Pescide treatments are

carefully restricted and feed including

GE feed is ghtly controlled, including

prohibions on growthpromong

hormones, arcial colouring and other

synthecs. Fishmeal and sh oil must be

organic when commercially available,

or sourced from trimmings of sh

caught for human consumpon from

sustainable sheries.

Across Canada, more than 20

companies have been cered to the

v o l u n t a r y C a n a d i a n O r g a n i c

Aquaculture Standard. These include

producers of salmon, mussels, trout,

sablesh, sturgeon and caviar, as well as

sh feed manufacturers and sh

processing facilies. Several companies

are seeking cercaon for processing

organic sh waste to produce cered

livestock feed and soil amendments.

The standard is voluntary because

it is not yet referenced in government

regulaon, so organic aquaculture

products may not carry the ocial

'Canada Organic' logo, nor are they

included in Canada's equivalency

arrangements with the U.S. and EU.

However, as part of the new Safe Food

for Canad ians Regu laons , the

Government plans to bring organic Fig.2 & 3: Target Marine Hatcheries

Fig.1: Creave Salmon in Brish Columbia

aquaculture products into the scope of the Canada Organic Regime. This is likely to

be published in the 2015 Parliamentary Gazee and become fully implemented

within the next couple of years. The Canada Organic Trade Associaon has

recommended a minimum twoyear stream of commerce policy for organic

aquaculture products in the marketplace, to allow all stakeholders me to come

into full compliance with the law. For more informaon on Canada's Organic

Aquaculture Standard, please see: www.aquaculture.ca

Agriculture world march 2015

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