AGRICULTURE QUIZ (5 QUESTIONS)

PARAMPARAGAT KRISHI VIKAS YOJANA (PKVY)

PKVY is an elaborate component of Soil Health Management (SHM) of National Mission of Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).

Under PKVY, Organic farming is promoted through adoption of organic village by cluster approach and Participatory Guarantee Scheme certification.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

Promotion of commercial organic production through certified organic farming.

The produce will be pesticide residue free and will contribute to improve the health of consumer.

It will raise farmers income and create potential market for traders.

It will motivate the farmers for natural resource mobilization for farm inputs.

SCHEME IMPLEMENTATION

50 or more farmers will form a cluster having 50 acre land to take up the organic farming under the scheme.

In this way 10,000 clusters have to be formed under organic farming.

There will be no liability on the farmers for expenditure on certification.

Every farmer will be provided ₹20,000 per acre in 3 years for seed to harvesting of crops and to transport produce to the market.

Organic farming will be promoted by using traditional resources and the organic products will be linked with the market.

MISSION FINGERLING

MINISTRY : Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare

AIM OF THE MISSION : To enable holistic development and management of fisheries sector in India.

The mission aims to achieve the target to enhance fisheries production from 10.79 mmt (2014-15) to 15 mmt by 2020-21 under the Blue Revolution.

Fish Fingerling production is the single most important critical input visualised to achieve fisheries production targets under Blue Revolution.

Government has identified 20 States based on their potential and other relevant factors to strengthen fish fingerling production and fish seed infrastructure in the country.

Mission Fingerling with a total expenditure of around ₹52000 lakh will facilitate the establishment of hatcheries and fingerling rearing ponds to ensure the fish production of 426 crore fish fingerlings.

A tube well is a deeper well (generally over 15 m deep) from which water is lifted with the help of a pumping set operated by an electric motor or a diesel engine.

Tubewell irrigation is popular in those areas where sufficient sweet ground water is available.

It is particularly suitable in areas with permeable rock structure which allows accumulation of ground water through percolation.

Therefore wells are seen more in areas with alluvial soil, regur soil, etc. and less seen in rocky terrain or mountainous regions.

These areas include a large part of the great northern plains, the deltaic regions of Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery and parts of Narmada and Tapi valleys and the sedimentary zones of the peninsula.

Large dry tracts of Rajasthan, the adjoining parts of Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat as well as areas having brackish ground water are not fit for tubewell irrigation.

The greater part of peninsular India is not suitable for tubewell irrigation due to rocky structure, uneven surface and shortage of ground water.

At present irrigation from wells and tubewells accounts for more than 60% of the net irrigated area in the country.

MINOR FOREST PRODUCE

Minor Forest Produce (MFP) includes all non-timber and non-wood forest produce of plant/animal origin, which includes :

➡️ Forest produce of plant origin such as– Tamarind, curry leaf, tendu patta, tree moss, fodder, cane and now Bamboo also.

➡️ Plant-derived gums, waxes, dyes and resins.

➡️ Many forms of wild foods of plant origin including nuts, wild fruits, honey etc.

➡️ Forest produce of animal origin such as lac, silk, tusser.

Wood products like timber, fuelwood and wood charcoal are not included in minor forest produce.

Minor Forest Produce provides both subsistence and cash income for tribals who live in or near forests.

In May 2020, Central Government revised MSP for Minor Forest Produce (MFP) and speeded up its procurement to support the tribals and forest-dwellers during lockdown.

Ministry of Tribal Affairs announced inclusion of 23 additional MFP items in MSP list.

They include Van Tulsi seeds, Van Jeera, Mushroom, Black Rice and Johar Rice among others.

MSP for MFPs is revised once every three years by the Pricing Cell constituted under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

There is a strong linkage between the tribal groups and the forests in India.

DO YOU KNOW: India is home to around 700 tribal groups with a population of 10.40 crore (2011 census) out of which approx 50% live in forests.

For this section of tribals, the primary source of income (50-70%) comes from selling the Minor Forest Produce (MFP) like mahua, imli & betel leaves.

This activity also has strong linkage to tribal women’s financial empowerment.

No MSP is fixed for plantation crops such as TEA, COFFEE and RUBBER.

The plantation sector wants the Centre to bring commodities such as tea, coffee and rubber under the ambit of minimum support price.

The MSP is the rate at which the government buys produce from farmers and tribals.

The idea of MSP is to counter price volatility of commodities due to the factors like variation in their supply, lack of market integration and information asymmetry.

No MSP is fixed for plantation crops such as TEA, COFFEE and RUBBER.

The plantation sector wants the Centre to bring commodities such as tea, coffee and rubber under the ambit of minimum support price.

The MSP is the rate at which the government buys produce from farmers and tribals.

The idea of MSP is to counter price volatility of commodities due to the factors like variation in their supply, lack of market integration and information asymmetry.

[VERY IMPORTANT]

Government announces minimum support prices (MSPs) for 22 mandated crops and fair and remunerative price (FRP) for sugarcane.

The mandated crops are 14 crops of the kharif season, 6 rabi crops and two other commercial crops.

In addition, the MSPs of toria and de-husked coconut are fixed on the basis of the MSPs of rapeseed/mustard and copra, respectively.

The list of crops are as follows :

▫️ Cereals (7) – paddy, wheat, barley, jowar, bajra, maize and ragi

▫️ Pulses (5) – gram, arhar/tur, moong, urad and lentil

▫️ Oilseeds (8) – groundnut, rapeseed/mustard, toria, soyabean, sunflower seed, sesamum, safflower seed and nigerseed

▫️ Raw cotton

▫️ Raw jute

▫️ Copra

▫️ De-husked coconut

▫️ Sugarcane (Fair and remunerative price)

▫️ Virginia flu cured (VFC) tobacco

Scientifically speaking, bamboo is not tree but grass.

However, the Indian Forest Act, 1927 considered it as tree. Accordingly, cutting bamboo from outside forests and transporting it was made unlawful.

As a result, farmers in the bamboo-growing states, particularly the North East, had to face harassment quite often because they could neither cut it nor transport it.

Despite India being the second largest grower of bamboo after China, it had to import bamboo from Taiwan.

There was a long-pending demand to amend the obsolete law. Finally, the amendment has come about.

Lok Sabha finally amended the 90-year-old law and categorised bamboo as grass.

Following the amendment in the Indian Forest Act, 1927, bamboo has been removed from the category of tree.

Now there is no prohibition on growing or cutting bamboo even outside the forests.

Bamboo - The Green Gold of India

Northeast India's first Bamboo Industrial Park to come up in Dima Hasao, Assam with an area of 75 hectares.

1) Bamboo is the largest member of the grass family. It grows in Asia, Africa and South America and has about 500 different varieties.

2) Fastest growing rate amongst plants - some species of bamboo grow more than 3 feet each day.

3) Regenerates quickly, bamboo is an easily renewable resource. Grows without pesticides and herbicides.

4) Absorbs 5x carbon dioxide and generates 30% more oxygen than other trees. Tolerates extremes of drought and flooding.

5) Bamboo is stronger than steel. It is used as building material. The tensile strength of bamboo is one of the nature's most intriguing phenomena. Tensile strength of steel is 24000 PSI, tensile strength of bamboo is 28000 PSI.

PSI =>Pounds per square inch

Vermicomposting

When earthworms are used for the production of compost it is called vermicomposting.

Earthworms burrow through the soil and feed on decaying organic matter, excreting worm castings that are rich in nutrients and beneficial micro-organisms, which are about 20 times more in worm castings than in normal soil.

Green Manuring

In agriculture, green manure is created by leaving uprooted or sown crop parts to wither on a field so that they serve as a mulch and soil amendment.

The plants used for green manure are often cover crops grown primarily for this purpose.

In another words, green manuring is the practice of growing lush green plants on the site where organic matter has to be incorporated, then turning into the soil while it is still fresh. The plant material used in this way is called green manure.

Green manuring is usually done in the lean period available between the two main crops.

However it can be practiced in between crop rows eg. in-situ green manuring of Sunnhemp/Sesbania between maize rows.

Lantana camara

Around 269 Protected Areas (PAs) in 18 states of India are in the grip of lantana, an invasive weed that has degraded biodiversity of forests and associated ecosystem services.

Through one of the most extensive sampling efforts, a team of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) scientists found that over 300,000 sq km, that is, 44% of total Indian forests were affected by lantana.

Lantana is native to US and Mexico.

Lantana forms extensive, dense and impenetrable thickets in forestry plantations, orchards, pasture lands and waste lands. The rapid spread of Lantana is associated with human induced disturbance.

Lantana is poisonous to livestock and children have been known to die after eating its unripe berries.

In Pic : Eichhornia crassipes/Water Hyacinth (जल कुम्भी )

Eichhornia crassipes, commonly known as water hyacinth, is an aquatic plant native to the Amazon basin.

It is often a highly problematic invasive species outside its native range.

Water hyacinth is spreads easily and can quickly covers the water body, resulting in poor water transparency.

It affects the photosynthesis of phytoplankton, submerged plants and algae.

Its decay consumes a large amount of dissolved oxygen in the water body, thereby inhibiting the growth of other aquatic and algal organisms.

Irradiation of foods and agro-produce

Food irradiation is a technology in which food products are subjected to a low dosage of radiation to treat them for germs and insects, increasing their longevity and shelf life.

The radiation can be emitted by a radioactive substance or generated electrically. The irradiated food does not become radioactive.

Radioisotopes are used as the source for the gamma rays. Generally cobalt-60 radioisotope is used as a radioactive source for gamma irradiation.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recommends the irradiation doses for Food irradiation.

Irradiation is equivalent to pasteurization for solid foods, but it is not the same as sterilization.

It does not reduce the nutritional value of food products and does not change their organoleptic properties and appearance.

The irradiation treatment of food and foodgrains preserves them for longer time, prevents the spread of invasive pests, delays/eliminates ripening or sprouting and reduces the risk of food borne illness.

(ASKED IN UPSC CIVIL SERVICES PRELIMS EXAM-2018)

Prosopis juliflora (vilayati kikar), an exotic tree, is one of the top invasive plant species in India.

A native of South and Central America, it was introduced in India to meet the fuelwood requirements of the rural poor and to restore degraded lands.

Introduced in India by the British, Vilayati kikar has wiped out other trees wherever it has grown.

The Delhi government has given its nod to clearing the Central Ridge of the non-native tree, which allows no other species to thrive, in the hope that the area’s original flora as well as fauna can be restored.

Vilayati kikar and its weedlike properties — fast growth in arid conditions, killing any competition and water table depletion—have been documented by several scientists and activists in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat as well as Tamil Nadu, where it is called karuvelam and is used as firewood.

The Madras High Court, in 2016, passed an interim order clearing removal of these trees as they were depleting the water table in areas already struggling for water.

MIXED FARMING

Mixed farming is a type of farming which involves cultivation of crops alongside rearing of animals for meat, eggs or milk.

For example, a mixed farm may grow cereal crops such as wheat or rye and also keep cattle, sheep, pigs or poultry. Often the dung from the cattle serves to fertilize the cereal crops.

Benefits : In case of crop failure, farmer can have assured income from poultry farming or livestock rearing.

KNOW ABOUT DRYLAND AGRICULTURE

Dryland Agriculture refers to cultivation of crops depending entirely on natural rainfall without secure irrigation facilities.

It is a form of subsistence farming in the regions where deficit of the soil moisture retards the growth of water consuming crops like rice (Oryza sativa), sugarcane etc.

Dryland areas are characterized by low and erratic rainfall and no assured irrigation facilities.

Dryland agriculture is important for the economy as most of the coarse grain crops, pulses, oilseeds and raw cotton are grown on these lands.

IMPORTANT FACTS

Percentage of crops obtained from Dryland agriculture in India :

Pulses - 95%
Bajra - 90%
Jowar and Maize - 80%
Oilseeds - 75%

In addition to these, 70% of cotton is produced through dryland agriculture.

Dryland areas also contribute significantly to wheat and rice production.

33% of wheat and 66% of rice are still rainfed.