Progen

Manthan Topic : Sowing Prosperity

Boosting Agricultural Productivity New techniques and models to enhance agricultural productivity

Team details :- Members: Doyal Shaji Jal Desai Kartik Singh Siddhesh kokje Sushree Mohanty

College name: Nirma Unviersity

• 60% of the Indian population is employed in

agricultural and allied sectors but contributes only 14% to the GDP

• The per capita availability of food grains in India has declined from about 500 grams per day per person to less than 400 grams per day over the last two decades. Today the prospect of food grain imports is looming large

• With growing population, the demand for land is ever increasing. Even hill slopes have been cut into terraces for cultivation. Therefore it is required to gain greater productivity with lesser amount of land

• Food grains worth Rs 236.32 crore were lost due to storage, pilferage, transportation and damage in the first quarter of 2013-14.

NEED : Innovative Storage Techniques

• Over 60% of India’s net sown land depends on the mercy of monsoon.

• Creation of additional irrigation potential has declined from 3% in 1990s to 1.8% in 2008.

NEED : New Methods Of Irrigation And Proper Utilization Of Water Resources • About 60% of our farmers own only 0.4

hectares of land each

NEED : Proper Employment Of Land Holdings • 1 out of 2 farmer household is indebted

NEED : Equitable Allocation Of Funds

DISTRESSING FACTS ABOUT INDIAN AGRICULTURE

AREAS WHICH NEED URGENT INTERVENTION

Proposed solutions: 1. Proper utilization of land holdings :

Solutions

CO-OPERATIVE FARMING Farmers having less than 1 acre of farming land must combine their land with the adjacent land and practice farming on the integrated land. Profit earned will be divided as per the proportion of land owned and productivity.

DIVISON IN PROFIT LAW Inheritance laws lead to division of agricultural land that leads to small land holdings. The division in profit law prohibits division of land beyond 1 acre. That is if 1 acre land is to be further divided, it must be divided on the basis of profit earned on that land and not the area.

Fertile land that was wasted for making boundaries can also be made productive

As the land cannot be

Divided further, the

Productivity of the land

Remains same

By the law small land

Land holdings problem

Can be eradicated

Merits

2. Irrigation Solution Description Merits

OPEN HYDROPONICS The key adaptation principles is Reducing the size of the root zone by reducing the wetted soil volume , and the continuous application of nutrient solution that is pH buffered to about 6.5 pH

• Improved productivity • Improved tree health and

vigor • Greater control of nutrition

through the ability to manipulate the concentration and uptake of nutrient in the root zone environment

• Controls pH level of water

TRACE IRRIGATION This system uses PV pipes, buried a foot or even deeper in soil. The pipes get narrower, and narrower, until they’re like thin straws, with little white threads coming out of it. These pipes are buried in the soil – and the plant sucks the moisture it needs from these threads

• It saves around 30 – 40% water used in drip irrigation. This is most helpful in the arid regions

IMPROVING CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS

Polyacrylamide (PAM) is a new canal-lining technology that promises to seal canals for as little at Rs 0.28 per square foot. PAM is a polymeric powder that acts as a soil flocculent to form a soil-polymer seal on the canal perimeter

• Reduces seepage of water • Reduces operational &

maintenance cost

WATER HARVESTING

In this technique pipes are fitted over the roof top such that they run deep into the ground. Water flows through these pipes and goes into the ground which recharges the water table

• Replenishes water table • Reduces salinity and

improves quality of water

3. Alternative for Pesticides Use of pesticides leads to poisoning of crops, reducing crop yield and quality Soil as well as ground water is contaminated Nitrogen fixation is hampered Pollinating species are killed due to poisonous pesticides Hence we use an alternative known as sit SIT- sterile insect technique

Description

Advantages

Impact

SIT

SIT is birth control for insects. For suitable pest insects, large number of male

insects are sterilized, who in turn mate with females resulting in infertile eggs.

So insect population declines rapidly

1.It is a one-time investment, plus improves quality and quantity of

crop production

2. Leads to pest control, promotes sustainable resource use through safe pest

control

3.Pollinating creatures are not sacrificed

1.Create new jobs in agricultural related industries

2.Leads to production of healthy and pesticide free food

4. Storage

New storage model:

Every year 25 to 40% of agricultural products is lost during storage because of inadequate Farm and Village level Storage. Methods to improve storage system:

Government should give lease to private companies or corporation on a national basis for storage of food in India These firms will set up their storages across India, that will help in storage of the total food produced in India. Privatizing storage business in India will not only improve the quality of storage but also reduce the destruction of crops that occur every year due to poor conditions of storage. Food grains worth Rs 236.32 crore were wasted in the first quarter of 2013-14 giving a harsh blow to the total Indian productivity. Privatisation can help us improve on this area. Government must provide proper guidelines to the private firm about the rates of the crops and other essential guidelines which the firm must follow. Private firm having monopoly over the storage business in India must provide proper maintenance and storage conditions Any loses occurred due to waste of crops when stored must be borne by the private firm. Every state must have a monitoring body , keeping a record of all the storages across the state.

Small land holdings Irrigation SIT Storage

How to implement?

Setting up State bodies to see proper implementation

Zamindars and gram panchayats must be involved to motivate famers for cooperative farming

Monitoring of dams by state & central government in cooperation

Awareness to be created about trace irrigation by local bodies

volunteer network needed : to make farmers aware

about SIT To train them regarding

the execution of the technique

Privatization must be done by providing lease to a private corporation

The private corporation must establish storage system all over India

Challenges faced

Lack of awareness Use of muscle power in

case of profit division Lack of cooperation

between farmers

Lack of coordination between center and state governments

Lack of awareness among farmers

Corruption in Indian governmental bodies

implementation for each species is separate

Must be long lasting for large areas to avoid repopulation of wild males.

Cost of production of large number of insects is high

Sterilization process should be executed properly before releasing male insects in a farm

Monopoly in the storage system

Private organization might work for personal benefits

Privatization will help us to improve our over all productivity but as private sector is involved, prices might increase

Infrastructure needed and source of money ( If any)

_______________

Completion of existing projects

Laying underground tubes in trace irrigation

Funding: Agricultural budget, investment from private sectors

Factories for the production of sterile insects.

Transportation means . Funding:- government or

corporate bonds, banks on condition of existing collateral

Land is required for storage houses

Governmental bodies must be set up in each state for monitoring

Innovative farming technique : Vertical farming

Concept It is the practice of growing crops in vertical structures rather than on ground It would be self sustaining with solar and wind energy providing power and water

system recycling waste water and collecting rain water It envisages production hydroponically or aeroponically , without using soil or

compost Plant can get required sunlight through glass windows

Need At Present increasing rate of population of India, farming in and around cities is a big problem. Hence we need some technique where minimum amount of land will lead to huge productivity. And also we need to reduce dependency on transportation and storage. To solve these problems we can use Vertical farming

Advantages Use of pesticides is minimized as crops are grown in soil-less condition avoiding

reduction in the yield of crop Crops grown through out the year without concern about bad weather/drought .

Hence crop selection could be altered to cater the needs of local community and also the productivity is not hampered

Transportation cost is reduced and so is the wastage of crops that occurs in transportation.

If a building stood on a 1 hectare plot of land but had 5 floors , it would result in production from 5 hectare of land and also this is one time investment

Approximate cost of this building will be 5-6 crores which can feed 1lakh people/year

Implementation Government will have to provide a land which is carefully placed around a city such that it remains unobtrusive People have to be made aware about this new methodology To set up the sky scraper farms , experts of variety of disciplines will have to come together

Embracing genetically modified seeds :

Genetically Modified crops are grown in 18 countries of the world on 67 million hectares of land, but India has been slow to its adoption. For GM seeds to produce yield to its maximum potential, genetic modification should be done considering the climatic conditions, insects and pests of the particular region. Here are the various problems GM seeds face in India and illustrated alongside are the solutions :

• Awareness among famers that GM seeds need proper irrigation

and suitable climatic conditions

• Controlled use of insecticides

• Creation of buffer zones around the field

• R&D and field trials should be conducted

on a regualr basis

• State and region wise research should be

conducted

• Fixing the cost of GM seeds by state govts. every year considering the previous year's yield

Higher cost of GM seeds

Development of resistance

by insects and pests

Lesser yield than expected

Ineffective against

various other sucking insects

IMPACT : Greater yield i.e. around 200% increase than traditional seeds coupled with lesser use of insecticides (almost half) results in greater profit for agriculturists

In India the productivity of GM seeds has been lesser than the global output because India has been using seeds that have been genetically modified according to the environmental conditions prevalent in US

Research And Development Finance department

2 different departments in the state,1 for operation and another for regular maintenance

•Keeps a check on budget and

costing

District level •Revenue collection department •Resource allocation & department

Operation And Maintenance

Ministry Of Agriculture Government Of India

Committees at district level. PROJECT COMMITTEE: • Heads of distributing committee will be members • Supervises demand and supply of water, operation and maintenance of irrigation system • Resolve issues of sub-ordinate bodies

DISTRIBUTORY COMMITTEE

(Gram Panchayat Level): • Solves day-to-day problems of farmers. •Monitors the Govt. schemes at grass-root level

•Centers at state level •Caters to the problems of farmers and adapts technology accordingly

P Project Committee •Create awareness and trains the farmers about the new technology

State level •Cabinet ministry of state affairs to monitor

FARMER’S ASSOCIATION: • Farmers of the village are members • Main stakeholders of the entire system

Organizational Structure

25,000

50,000

10,000 10,000

1000

10,000 5000

100 200

15000

1000 2,000

10,000

500

Allocation (in crores)

The Econometrics of implementation

The proposed allocation of funds of 1,75,500 crores INR has been done considering the union budget of 2013-14 which has a budget estimate of total expenditure of 16,65,297 crores INR The proposed allocation is in lieu of new and innovative methods of agriculture proposed above

Credit* : Includes the subsidies on interest rates on agricultural loans Mechanization and Technology** : Includes funds for vertical farming in 5 cities Research*** : Includes funds required for setting up state and regional level research institutes and field trials for biotechnology and genetically modified seeds Storage**** : Considering the proposed new model of storage

Appendix

References http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/special-report/how-to-solve-the-problems-of-indias-rain-dependent-agricultural-land/articleshow/8845170.cms?curpg=3 http://agbioforum.org/v7n12/v7n12a16-huesing.htm http://www.biotecharticles.com/Agriculture-Article/Transgenic-Bt-Cotton-Boon-or-Bane-to-the-Indian-Farmers-1873.html http://fieldquestions.com/2013/02/09/bt-cotton-is-failing-blame-the-farmers/ http://www.dallasnews.com/lifestyles/home-and-gardening/headlines/20121107-learn-better-irrigation-methods-without-replacing-system.ece http://www.arapahocitrus.com/files/OHS_Stage_Publications.pdf http://www.irrigationfutures.org.au/projects.asp?ID=25 ftp://ftp.ecn.purdue.edu/vmerwade/class/GDT/Reports_Books/assessment%20of%20irrigation%20in%20India.pdf http://www.theworld.org/2013/07/low-water-lunch-china/ www.agriculture.com www.Indiastats.com Final forest agricultural report by Directorate of Agriculture. Water and Agricultural Sustainability Strategies