National Agricultural Scenario | |

India’s economic security continues to be predicated upon the agriculture sector, and the situation is not likely to change in the foreseeable future. Even now, agriculture supports 58% of the population, as against about 75% at the time of independence. In the same period, the contribution of agriculture and allied sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has fallen from 61 to 19%. As of today, India supports 16.8% of world’s population on 4.2% of world�s water resources and 2.3% of global land. And per caput availability of resources is about 4 to 6 times less as compared to world average. This will decrease further due to increasing demographic pressure and consequent diversion of the land for non-agricultural uses.
Around 51% of India’s geographical area is already under cultivation as compared to 11% of the world average. The present cropping intensity of 136% has registered an increase of only 25% since independence. Further, rain fed dry lands constitute 65% of the total net sown area. There is also an unprecedented degradation of land (107 million ha) and groundwater resource, and also fall in the rate of growth of total factor productivity. This deceleration needs to be arrested and agricultural productivity has to be doubled to meet growing demands of the population by 2050. Efficiency-mediated improvement in productivity is the most viable option to raise production.
The country recorded impressive achievements in agriculture during three decades since the onset of green revolution in late sixties. This enabled the country to overcome widespread hunger and starvation; achieve self-sufficiency in food; reduce poverty and bring economic transformation in millions of rural families. The situation, however, started turning adverse for the sector around mid-nineties, with slowdown in growth rate of output, which then resulted in stagnation or even decline in farmers� income leading to agrarian distress, which is spreading and turning more and more serious.
Natural resource base of agriculture, which provides for sustainable production, is shrinking and degrading, and is adversely affecting production capacity of the ecosystem. However, demand for agriculture is rising rapidly with increase in population and per caput income and growing demand from industry sector. There is, thus, an urgent need to identify severity of problem confronting agriculture sector to restore its vitality and put it back on higher growth trajectory. The problems, however, are surmountable, particularly when new tools of science and technology have started offering tremendous opportunities for application in agriculture.
The projected production requirements of various agricultural commodities by 2011�12 and growth rates needed to meet those requirements are as follows:
National Agricultural Scenario STATE-SPECIFIC INTERVENTIONS FOR HIGHER AGRICULTURAL GROWTH | Commodity | Required production (million tonnes) | Required growth rates(%) | Rice | 105.0 | 2.06 | Wheat | 79.0 | 0.95 | Total cereals | 232.0 | 2.21 | Coarse cereals | 48.0 | 5.15 | Pulses | 20.0 | 2.35 | Total foodgrains | 252.0 | 2.21 | Milk and milk products | 113.0 | 3.18 | Egg | 62.0 | 6.09 | Meat | 8.6 | 5. | Fish | 8.6 | 4.39 | Edible oilseeds 40% imports dependence | 31.8 | 2.87 | Vegetables | 109.0 | 2.51 | Fresh fruits | 67.0 | 3.46 | Sugar and gur | 35.5 | 3.87 |
These projections include exports in the same ratio as in the base year (2004�05). India is required to raise foodgrains production by more than 2% per year to keep pace with the growth in demand. Growth rate required in milk and milk products towards the end of 11th Five Year Plan is 3.18%. Even with 40% dependence on imports, oilseeds production needs to be increased by 2.87%.
Achieving 4% growth in agriculture in 11th Plan vis-�-vis the present level of about 2% has become critical to avert any crisis in agrarian sector and to fulfil needs of growing economy. The higher growth can very well be realized through adoption of available technologies that minimize yield gaps between experimental farms and farmers� fields. The Government is keen on devising ways and means to facilitate states in adopting these technologies that promise tangible yield gains of 40�100%.
Sustainable management of natural resources
Continued degradation of natural resources under intensive agriculture to attain goals of food sufficiency is one of the reasons for the declining factor productivity and stagnation in foodgrains production in the country. The health of our soils has been impaired due to emergence of multinutrient deficiencies and falling of organic carbon levels. The soils are, generally, not replenished adequately with nutrients removed by crops, particularly micro and secondary nutrients. The wider fertilizer consumption ratios for many states corroborate nutrient imbalance in soils. The soils are, presently, operating on a negative nutrient balance of about 10 million tonnes per annum. Limiting nutrients, not allowing full expression of other nutrients, obviously, lower overall fertilizer-use efficiency and crop productivity. Farmers are resorting to addition of more and more fertilizers to obtain yields similar to previous years, especially in rice-wheat belt of Indo-Gangetic plains and the increased inputs are thus adding to the production cost; marginalizing net returns to farmers.
Site-specific integrated nutrient management, envisaging precise use of chemical fertilizers including secondary- and micro-nutrients, organic manures, composts/vermicomposts, biofertilizers and green manures, is ideal. This will maintain soil health, enhance nutrient-use efficiency, and provide sustained yields, ensuring better economic returns to farmers. The system is also benign environmentally in containing the emissions of greenhouse gases and pollution of surface and groundwater resources. The ICAR has generated site-specific nutrient management packages that would enable additional yield of 50�60 million tonnes of foodgrains.
The agricultural sector is going to face grim competition for supplies of fresh water, with its share dropping to 75% from the present 83% in the near future, in the wake of growing industrial and domestic sectors. The judicious management of water resources is, therefore, going to be crucial to sustain agricultural growth in the country. Presently, the groundwater is being overdrawn in Central Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, forcing sharp fall in water table in these areas. The excess use of canal water in south-western Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan is leading to waterlogging and development of secondary salinity. The conjunctive use of water and diversification of rice-wheat is required for solving the emerging problem. Large volumes of waste water (18.4 million m3/day) need to be utilized for irrigation after their proper treatment, especially in peri-urban areas. The micro-irrigation and resource conservation technologies (RCTs), economizing on water and nutrients require to be promoted in a big way.
About 25 million ha of acidic soils in the country have low productivity of less than 1 tonne/ha due to deficiencies as well as toxicities of certain nutrients. Liming and adequate fertilizer use have the potential to double productivity of these lands. Adoption of cost-effective technology to ameliorate the soils on over 25 million ha could contribute additional 25 million tonnes of foodgrains to the national food basket per annum. Cheap-and-effective liming materials are basic slag and lime sludges that are available with steel industries and paper mills respectively.
Nearly 8.5 million ha of soils affected by alkalinity/salinity in the country have very low productivity and could be reclaimed with gypsum application. Over 1 million ha of such lands have been reclaimed in Haryana and Punjab, raising their productivity by about 6 tonnes/ha. The technology has to be extended to other salt-affected areas of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. The availability of gypsum has to be ensured with fertilizer dealers at a reasonable price. The spread of technology on 5 million ha would provide additional 10 million tonnes of foodgrains.
Vermicomposting is an environment-friendly and useful method of conversion of rural and urban organic wastes into good quality manure. It requires less time for decomposition of wastes as material passing through gut of earthworms undergoes quick enzymatic breakdown. Further, its nutritional quality is better than that of ordinary compost � with higher contents of essential plant nutrients and several growth promoters from secretions of worms and associated microbes. Vermicompost improves physical, chemical and biological environment of soils, and also overall crop productivity. Besides economic returns, the avocation provides employment to rural households, especially women and hence, fits well in the Common Minimum Programme of the Government. And it is required to be promotedin a big way in rural India.
Large quantities of biodegradable waste are available from crop residues (350 million tonnes), vegetable and fruit wastes (5 million tonnes), press mud (5 million tonnes), poultry litter (1 million tonne) and city waste (57 million tonness). Besides these, 5-6 million tonnes of low-grade rock phosphate are also available for production of enriched vermicompost.
Farming systems combining crops, horticulture, livestock and fisheries provide ample opportunities of productivity enhancement (3�4 times compared to monoculture), employment, income generation and nutritional security. The systems are based on recycling of residues of one component for the production of the others. These enterprises providing returns of around Rs 70,000/ha/annum need to be promoted particularly in the States of Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal, eastern Uttar Pradesh and the North-Eastern Hill States having over 12 million ha of waterlogged lands with very low productivity.
The rain fed farming practised in over 87 million ha area of the country contributes 40% of food and supports 40% of human and 60% of livestock population. The rain fed areas are characterized by deficient and erratic rainfall, rampant land degradation and small and marginal poor farmers. In the absence of conducive environment, the rain fed areas were bypassed by the green revolution in the country. These areas still have low productivity and marketable surpluses. Enabling policy initiatives and absorption of the improved technologies could very well raise the productivity of these areas by half-a-tonne/ha. The technological interventions required are: water harvesting and ground water recharging for supplemental irrigation (117 million ha-m of rainwater going waste as runoff), micro-irrigation, adequate and integrated fertilizer use (including secondary and micro-nutrients), development and introduction of suitable crops (especially hybrids of maize, pulses and oilseeds), integrated pest management, organic farming, increased credits, low premium crop insurance suiting to rain fed farmers and regular trainings to upscale skills and knowledge of farmers on various aspects of agriculture. All these interventions need to be viewed within the perspective of participatory Watershed Plus approach for greater transparency, equity, social security and sustainability. The KVKs and SAUs may be involved in providing vocational training to farmers in micro-enterprises and refining their skills in rain fed agriculture.
Crop diversification is becoming essential for maintaining soil health, water balance and overall productivity in many parts of the country, especially in the Indo-Gangetic plain. This has to be achieved in synchronization with soil, climate, availability of water and market potential, etc. Rice-wheat system and monocultures require to be replaced with legumes, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits, medicinal and aromatic crops and other cash crops, for which the ICAR has evolved a number of viable and productive options. There is also a need to have assured market outlet for the produce for achieving required diversification in different agro-ecological zones of the country.
Varieites/hybrids and crop production/protection technologies
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research is engaged in harnessing modern scientific knowledge to develop high-yielding, open-pollinated varieties and hybrids that are resistant/ tolerant to major biotic and abiotic stress factors, efficient in input use, and adapted to different agroclimates, suited for irrigated and rain fed areas. Varieties and hybrids have alsobeen tailored with ideal maturity and plant architecture for intensification and diversification of cropping systems. More than 3,300 high-yielding varieties and hybrids (including about 638 in last five years) have been developed in different crops for their commercial cultivation.
Appropriate crop-production technologies have also been developed and recommended for realizing yield potential of these varieties/hybrids. It is essential that farmers use only recommended high-yielding varieties/hybrids to realize high production in different crops. The appropriate time of sowing / planting must be adopted, as any deviation may lead to reduction in productivity as well as quality of produce in many crops. The suggested measures for seed treatment also need to be adopted to protect resultant crop from seed-borne diseases, and in some cases, to augment nitrogen fixation and solublization of soil phosphorus. The use of recommended doses of fertilizers based on soil tests along with their correct time of application is very crucial for higher use efficiency. In addition to major nutrients (NP and K), use of secondary- and micro-nutrients based on their available status in the soil is critical for realizing production potential. Integrated nutrient management practices will help in maintaining soil health and sustaining long-term production. In endemic areas, only resistant / tolerant varieties/ hybrids recommended, must be grown. In this context, the ICAR is providing regular agro-advisory services. Further, need-based plant protection measures must be adopted to manage pests in an integrated pest management mode.
Important state-specific constraints of major crops, suggested interventions to overcome those constraints for enhancing production and productivity, and also the scope of diversification are detailed in the subsequent pages of this publication.
Enhancing Quality Seed Availability
�Seed�, comprising all forms of propagules, acts as a catalyst and a starting point for realising potential of all other inputs in agriculture. All forms of propagules are used as seed specially in case of vegetables, ornamentals and horticultural plants. The use of virus-free mini-tubers and micro-tubers of potato has started, and is increasing day-by-day including export of these. In view of the rapid growth in fisheries sector, quality fish seed production is also being emphasized. Improved varieties/hybrids of major field and horticultural crops, breeds of livestock and fish have been developed by the ICAR and SAUs. Technology at the molecular level is also available to detect and certify true-to-type seeds of major crops in 2�3 days, instead of a full-season in grow-out tests method used earlier. Methodologies to maintain seed quality and viability are in place for adoption by seed agencies. Harnessing benefit of these technologies can assist in considerable increase in food production in a relatively shorter time-frame as well in enhancing rural incomes. This requires a well-developed system for production, evaluation of quality, sales and distribution of seeds and planting material of different crops.
Seed supply system in India is a complex mix of formal and informal components. Informal sector plays a predominant role in high-volume self-pollinated crops such as pulses, oilseeds, wheat and rice. The spread is mainly through farm-saved seed, i.e. seed saved directly on farm and obtained through local trading and exchange. Seeds need frequent replacement but seed replacement rates (SRRs) in several crops are very low in the country
SRRs can be improved by increasing (i) breeder seed availability, (ii) conversion of breeder seed into foundation and certified seeds, and (iii) effective outlets from where farmers can easily get seed in time and at affordable cost. For hybrid seed, however, private sector plays a prominent role in multiplying and scaling up production of public sector produced hybrids. The potential exists to double magnitude of hybrid seeds through public-private partnership. Further, training imparted to the progressive farmers could enable them to produce hybrid seed in crops like maize.
ICAR and agricultural universities (AUs) have sufficient basic and breeder seed that can be multiplied by various agencies including state and central agencies to produce foundation and certified seed for further multiplication and distribution to farmers. Methodologies to maintain seed quality and viability are in place for adoption by seed agencies.
The framework for technology development and delivery system should have a well understood and distributed responsibilities. Basic and strategic research would be the responsibility of ICAR-AU system while the applied and adoptive phase along with commercialization would be with the AUs, line departments and private sector. Technology assessment, refinement and demonstration at farm level may be carried out by KVKs and ATMAs [Agricultural Technology Management Agency(ies)], Farmers� Seed Cooperatives (that are increasing in number and strength), NGOs and other functionaries at district, �panchayat� and village level. A part of the quality seed has also to be given by research institutions directly to the farmers for rapid adoption and spread of new varieties.
Conversion of breeder seed into foundation and certified seed has to be efficient. States need to be geared up to produce targeted quantities of certified seed through effective seed conversion and follow up of seed chain along with adherence to high quality seed standards. There is also a need for strengthenng Seed Testing Laboratories and ensuring effective seed quality law enforcement.
Farmers need to be trained in seed-production technology. This approach has already given rich dividends in several Asia-Pacific countries like China, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, etc. Developing a mechanism and system for ensuring test-stock seed production and supply of all newly identified/released varieties to each village panchayat in shortest possible time is needed. In developing an integrated seed-supply system, the new varieties developed through the NARS, may be multiplied by the farmers. For this basic/breeder seeds and technical guidance may be provided by the ICAR institutes/AUs.
Seed-hubs for specific crops need to be created in different zones with a seed-village model. Seed multiplication of one variety/hybrid/parental line(s) may be taken-up in one village and its produce lifted, processed, quality tested and marketed in that region. This will help reduce cost and time of seed supply, and will generate rural supply. Many progressive and large farmers are already serving as contract seed growers for state seed corporations, private companies and co-operatives.
At community or village level, facilities for seed processing and mobile graders should be available for farmers on reasonable payment. Creation of effective seed banks and controlled storage facilities at selected/designated places in the country for seed buffer stocking is needed. The seed thus produced by trained farmers can be maintained in the Village Seed Banks under the custody of the panchayat, and can be made available to farmers as per their needs.
Increase in seed production will generate employment at rural level directly and indirectly. To meet ever-growing demands of quality seeds for domestic and export markets, self-employed technologists may provide services to seed sector in storage facilities, cleaning and grading facilities, seed testing, specific quality testing, seed transportation, training in seed production for employment, certification and regulatory support, etc. Credit on easy terms should be made available to licensed, self-employed seed technologists/seed analysts for setting up facilities for seed cleaning, grading and packaging, seed testing and seed storage at village (or a cluster) level. Tissue culture facilities and in particular, low-cost micro-propagation facilities have to be created. Panchayats and E-chaupals can be used for marketing and spreading information regarding availability of seeds.
A strong public-private partnership, based on mutual trust and gaining from each others� strength is the key to develop a sound seed supply system. Plant Variety Protection would make parental lines/hybrids and their production a proprietary endeavour more than ever before. This is expected to bring about a change in seed production modes. Some high volume-low value crops have already been transformed into high volume-high value crops due to advent of hybrid technology in them. The diffusion would be through both public and private sectors through licensing, sub-licensing, contracts and MoUs.
Public sector supplies the basic/breeder seed of parental lines of hybrids to private seed companies through Seed Associations. Further, it is mostly through enterprising farmers and Seed Cooperatives that several private companies manage their seed production. Farmers� Seed Cooperatives need support, recognized status for breeder seed indent, credit availability, technical backstopping etc., so that these could be used as effective bridges between formal and informal systems of seed supply.
Feed and Fodder
Global trend in animal production indicates a rapid and massive increase in consumption of livestock products. In developing countries like India, it is predicted that meat and milk consumption will grow at 5.03 and 3.18 % per annum. Our rural economy has revolved around livestock production. Livestock sector is the backbone of Indian agriculture, contributing 7% to national GDP, and is a source of employment and ultimate livelihood for 70% population in rural areas. Urbanization and financial empowerment have brought a marked shift in food habits of people towards milk products, meat and eggs with resultant increase in demand of total livestock products. Periurban livestock farming and emerging fodder markets are indicators of fast changing economic scenario in livestock sector.
Fodder based economic feeding strategies are required to reduce cost of livestock products. Sizeable amount of fodder demand is fulfilled through remaining grasslands and rangelands. Technology is available for revegetating small degraded forest lands. For improving performance of livestock following technologies need to be adopted�use of dual type food crop varieties, stay green QPM maize varieties, improved varieties tolerant to abiotic and biotic stresses; enhancing forage productivity in berseem, lucerne, oat, forage sorghum, range grasses, legumes and fodder trees; establishment of fodder banks; processing and nutrient enrichment of low quality roughage, leaf meal composite low volume feed blocks-based post harvest technologies; and designing economic feeding systems for different categories of livestock under different rearing systems.
High-yielding varieties suitable for fodder purposes have been developed in sorghum, pearlmillet, maize, berseem, lucerne, oat, cowpea, range grasses and legumes for different states across the country. The availability of improved seeds of fodder crops to farmers is one of the constraints, which needs to be removed.
The sustainability of dairy industry in India depends largely on the quality of herbage based animal feed and fodder. Green fodder is the essential feed ingredient of feeding high-yielding milch animals for achieving desired level of milk production. Technologies have been developed for high yielding fodder crop sequences to harness year round green fodder production�berseem can be grown with recommended inputs in October, and planting of high yielding perennial grasses like hybrid napier or guinea grass in February/March in rows 100 cm apart. When the berseem crop is harvested in April/May, the row space available may be sown and cultivated with cowpea. The added advantage of the system is that cowpea is raised on residual soil fertility. In the second year, berseem is sown in the beginning of November after thinning of grass tussocks and the same operational cycle is repeated for three years. The space between the grass rows can be adjusted to facilitate use of appropriate farm machinery.
Environment-friendly silvipastoral system technology has been developed for revegetating degraded land transforming them into fodder and fuel producing land. Planting of multipurpose trees with grasses and legumes in an integrated system and their utilization through cut-and-carry of forage in early years followed by in-situ grazing is known as silvipastoral system. This system aims at optimizing land productivity, conserving plants, soils and nutrients and producing forage, timber and firewood on a sustainable basis. It involves replantation, substitution or intervention in the existing vegetation by desirable species. The tree selection is based on its easy regeneration capacity, coppicing ability, fast growth, nitrogen fixing ability, palatable leaves (fodder) high nutritive value and less toxic substances, short rotation and high fuel value. The selected grasses and legumes have easy colonizing ability, high production efficiency and high nutritive value.
For conserving surplus green fodder for use during the lean period either as hay or silage, manually operated hay baler with a baling capacity of 2.5 tonnes ha/day has been developed. The weight of the bale is about 25 kg and density is 150�165 kg/m3. The forage densifying machine produces high density (350�400 kg/m3) bales of wheat bhusa, chaffed stovers, grasses and tree leaves for economic storage, handing and transport. This will also facilitate for establishment of fodder banks.
Enhancing crop productivity through efficient crop health
Major crops in the various states of the country suffer from biotic stresses due to damage from many types of pests. These organisms could be insects, mites, nematodes, rodents or microbials such as fungi, bacteria, viruses or mycoplasma, which invade field and horticultural crops. Seasonal incidence and damage in crop fields, limit crop production and economic sustenance.
In view of integrated pest management (IPM) becoming increasingly popular, the different facets of holistic implementation of IPM components such as cultural control, using resistant varieties, biological control, legal control and chemical control need to be given the required importance and role to mitigate biotic stresses in agriculture.
The policies and statutory options to implement phytosanitary and domestic quarantine aspects of seeds and planting materials need urgent attention so as to ensure that farmers receive only disease-free seeds and planting materials. The insurance of the healthy plant population per unit area in all crops could be enabled due to strong support from states for implementation of domestic quarantine rules. The purity and potency of synthetic chemicals and biological pesticides is to be maintained through various statutory provisions, so to save high yielding crop varieties from depredation by pest, and enable full benefit of their genetic potential.
A paradigm shift is needed in regard to blanket and injudicious application of agro-chemicals. Their application should be rather based on economic thresholds levels of the pest, the regular and periodic pest scouting and integrated recommendations with other parallel best management measures. As the IPM strategies are developed on the basis of knowledge as well as real time field situations, farmers� decisions shall be based on rational monitoring of pest population on the crop at critical crop stages. Preventive, ecologically safe interventions have to dominate over-curative steps. Farmers need to be trained to recognize the pestilence level and decision-making for taking up suitable action. Models such as farmers� field schools, online decision-making for pest management and IT based information exchange system would provide precision in crop protection to enable full potential of high yielding varieties.
The crop monitoring mechanism would need strengthening to enable the forecast of crop prospects. Efforts will also be needed to ensure timely availability of quality seed and planting material to farmers.
Mushrooms
Mushroom cultivation utilizes farm wastes, does not require arable land, provides ample opportunities to produce nutritious food with medicinal properties and plays a significant role in bioremediation of soils along with addressing the issue of employment. Being an indoor crop, its cultivation can be promoted vertically and has capacity to provide very high protein/area of the land. During the last few decades, the mushroom industry has shown a sharp boost and the world�s production has increased from 6 million tonnes in 1997 to 12 million tonnes in 2002. Similarly, there has been an increase in production across the country with the fact that production has reached to 100,000 tonnes, from a meagre 5,000 tonnes during 1990. However, the potentials which exist in the country considering the availability of agro-wastes (600 million tonnes/annum), diversified agroclimate, major population with vegetarian food habits and young population with purchasing power have not been harnessed properly. It is estimated that just 1% of the available (600 million tonnes) biomass in the country can produce three million tonnes of mushrooms and about 15 million tonnes of spent mushroom substrate (SMS), which can be utilized as organic manure for flowers, vegetables, fruits, saplings, ornamental shrubs and other field crops.
Cultivation technologies have been developed for all commercially important varieties and efforts are on to collect, isolate and domesticate promising edible wild mushrooms. Button mushroom is produced on wheat, paddy straw and sugarcane bagasse based substrate. Of the 35 species of oyster mushroom available Pleurotus sajor caju and P. florida are popular for commercial production. A simple method of chemical pasteurization has been standardized for better yield and low cost production. Milky mushroom has become popular in different parts of the country, particularly in southern India. Paddy straw mushroom, another tropical mushroom, is mainly grown in coastal states like Orissa. It has good export potential and can be cultivated on paddy straw and cotton waste. Reishi Mushroom, a popular medicinal mushroom, can be grown on sawdust mixed with rice/ wheat bran.
Under Speciality mushrooms, technologies for Shiitake, Wood ear, Winter mushroom and Agrocybe are available. Cultivation of Shiitake has already started in Manipur and can be cultivated in hilly regions of the country. Several products of mushrooms, viz. pickle, papad, soup powder and nuggets can be produced. Keeping in view the potential of mushrooms as a livelihood generator, prospects for developing protein-rich food, pharmaceuticals and agrowaste management, there is a need to adopt a mission-mode approach for cultivation and marketing of mushrooms.
Honeybee
Honeybees as pollinators are well-known to enhance crop productivity of cross-pollinated crops. Natural pollination through wild honeybees is normally occurring in crop fields. However, pollination activity through apiculture enhance both quality and productivity of various crops. India introduced Apis mellifera in the north Indian states in the early seventies to enhance crop production in apple, kinnow, orange, and vegetables such as cucurbits, etc. In eastern India, this species is extensively used in enhancing litchi production. Standardization of colony requirement for these crops has enabled commercial beekeeping with custom hiring in various states. In other parts of the country, the dominant commercial exploitation is by using Apis cerana indica. The pollination induced through pollinators through honeybees help in early setting of seeds, resulting in early and more uniform crop yield. It is estimated that about 5�25% increase in yields of various crops is due to pollination by honeybees, and in crops like apple in absence of bees, no yield is expected. The most important crops where substantial increases in yields can be obtained are litchi, almond, citrus, grape, cucurbits, plum, pear, cashew, papaya and cardamom.
Honeybee could also be used as an effective tool for increasing production and income of farmers. Apis cerana was used in past, but Apis mellifera introduced and domesticated, provides pollination and gives yields up to 40�50 kg honey per box. Various products, viz. bee wax, bee venom, royal jelly etc. could also be prepared. At present ,there are about one million colonies of honeybees in India and the National Commission on Agriculture has estimated that given the existing vegetational wealth, 150 million bee colonies can be sustained which would be capable of producing 1.5 lakh tonnes of honey. At the same time, it generates employment for 15 million rural and tribal families besides phenomenal improvement in crop productivity and higher returns from unit area.
Honeybees present an uncommon opportunity for diversification in agriculture.
Livestock and Poultry
India has a large livestock and poultry wealth comprising about 485 million livestock that includes 185 million cattle, 98 million buffaloes, 62 million sheep, 124 million goats, 14 million pigs and 489 million poultry. Among cattle and buffalo population, 8.2 million crossbred cows, 2.8 million non-descript cows and 33 million buffaloes are in milk, with an average daily milk yield of 6.4 kg, 1.97 kg and 4.3 kg per animal, respectively. The average annual production from improved fowl is 258 eggs and from desi fowl 112 eggs. The per caput availability of milk is 241 g per day, meat about 5 kg per annum and 42 eggs per annum. These however, are below the recommended standards.
The major constraints limiting the livestock and poultry sector are� insufficient elite germplasm, low reproductive efficiency, shortage of quality feed and fodder, inadequate disease management and value addition of animal products in small quantity. There is necessity for a shift from population-driven to technology-driven livestock sector in the country, and several technological options are available to address the above issues.
Use of progeny-tested Frieswal bull semen and graded Murrah buffalo semen, coupled with good management practices (GMP), would lead to an increase in milk production to the extent of 5% and 10% in cattle and buffaloes respectively. Improved germplasm for pig (75% and 87.5% exotic inheritance), goat (milk and mutton), sheep (carpet and fine wool), mithun, yak, and poultry (Vanaraja and Gramapriya for backyard poultry and improved strains for meat and egg production) together with their production packages are also available.
Artificial Insemination (AI) failure affects farmers� income. The use of Crystoscope in AI will improve conception rate in cattle and buffaloes by 20 to 25%, leading to increase in farmers� income by around Rs 600 to Rs 900 per animal.
Feeding alone accounts for 70% of the total cost of animal production and considerable gap exists between the availability and requirement. There is about 15% deficit of dry roughage, 35% of green fodder, and 45% of concentrates.
Macro- and micro-nutrients deficiency in soil is also affecting the productivity of livestock. A detailed mapping of the mineral status for different agro-climatic zones of the country has been done. Supplementing the deficient minerals in the diet would improve productivity by 10 to 15%. The quality of roughages fed to livestock is generally of poor quality arresting desired output. Proper use of urea ammoniation technology, shall improve nutritive value of the roughages and thus production by 5 to 8%.
Malnutrition affects livestock as it does to human. Technology is available in the form of complete feed blocks, in which by using both locally available and unconventional feed stuffs this issue is addressed. Feeding of these blocks shall sustain the production. These blocks can be transported to places of acute feed shortage during disaster period.
Development of cost effective detoxification methods for oil cakes like castor and cotton seed has improved the limited availability of oil cakes for livestock feeding. These could now be used to support productivity increase in the areas where they are grown. Further, feeding of bypass nutrients to high yielding dairy animals shall facilitate effective utilization of nutrients leading to production enhancement by around 5%.
Diagnostic kits and vaccines for major diseases and parasites in livestock and poultry such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR), peste des petitis ruminants (PPR), bovine viral diarrohaea (BVD), bluetongue and avian influenza have been developed. Their use in livestock health management programme in the states, would save around Rs 25,000 to 30,000 crore per annum.
Adoption of technologies in value addition of livestock products and improvement of shelf-life would enhance the profitability of the enterprise. Processes are available for preparation of value added milk products like low cholesterol ghee, mango lassi, pizza cheese, basundi, gasa gase payasam, whey-based sports beverage, kesar kulfi and flavoured milk.
Among the poultry products, technologies for preparation of chicken chunkalona from spent hen, chicken meat idli, nuggets, patties, pickle, kababs and chicken meat spread are available. The other products are mutton nuggets, kababs, patties and sausages, smoked ham and pickle.
Technology for production of value added products from mithun hide (bag, shoe upper and garments), meat (nuggets, patties, meat blocks and dried meat powder), milk (rasagolla), and products from yak hair (carpet, brooming brush) and milk have been developed. Similarly, technologies are avilable for production of carpets, namdas, blankets and apparels from sheep wool.
Region/Zone-wise dissemination of the above technologies in a partnership mode would facilitate increase in productivity and overall growth in agriculture sector besides providing an alternative insurance cover in case of crop failure.
Fisheries
Being an important fish producer, India stands third in the world with regard to total fish production (6.57 million metric tonnes), with the marine and the inland sectors contributing 2.81 and 3.76 million tonnes respectively. The country is the second largest producer of fish through aquaculture in the world, next to China. The annual per caput fish availability in the country is 9 kg, sustaining the domestic market price of fish over the years. The annual export earnings from fish and shellfish are about Rs 7,100 crore, accounting for 18% of the agricultural exports. Over 14 million people are associated with different fisheries and aquaculture activities in the country. The projected production level of fish by 2012 is 9 million metric tonnes to meet the domestic and export needs of the country.
The marine fisheries resources of the country are�8,129 km long coast line, 0.5 million sq. km of continental shelf and 2.02 million sq. km of exclusive economic zone (EEZ). With the segment being of open access with multi-species and multi-gear one, there has been stagnation of the catches with overfishing in coastal waters. The strategies proposed for sustaining the same and further realising additional 1 million tonnes from the deeper waters are�diversified and multi-day fishing, targeting the under-exploited and non-conventional resources of the EEZ, identification of potential fishing zones, stock enhancement through sea ranching, installation of fish aggregating devices and artificial reefs, community based resource management, responsible fishing including closed seasons and mesh regulations, assessment and exploitation of resources available around Islands and infrastructural support in terms of deep sea vessels, on-board and on-shore facilities.
Mariculture, though an option for supplementing the marine fish production, with good potentials in terms of edible mussels and oysters, is yet to attain commercial scale due to lack of access to suitable sites and post-harvest infrastructure. Further, coastal aquaculture produces around 115,000 tonnes of shrimp annually and culture of crab and other finfishes like sea bass also have high potentials. At present, over 200 shrimp hatcheries (about 90% in private sector) are operational with a total production capacity of 12 billion post larvae-20/year. Semi-intensive culture practices mainly with black tiger shrimp have production potentials of over 2.5 tonnes/ha/year in two crops, ensuring profits of over Rs 1.5 lakh/ha/year. To tackle the problems of diseases causing losses in shrimp farming, protocols for good management practices (GMPs) and diagnostic kits for viral diseases in shrimp have been developed.
The inland fisheries resources comprise 29,000 km of rivers, 0.3 million ha of estuaries, 0.19 million ha of backwaters and lagoons, 3.15 million ha of reservoirs, 0.2 million ha of floodplain wetlands, 0.72 million ha of upland lakes and 2.34 million ha of ponds and tanks. While the ponds and tanks are being reclaimed for other purposes, new resources in the form of water harvest structures and canals are emerging. Freshwater aquaculture contributes about 2.8 million metric tonnes annually, of which the three Indian major carps, viz. catla (Catla catla), rohu (Labeo rohita) and mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigala) constitute 87%. Along with two important technologies of induced fish breeding and composite carp culture, the improved rohu, CIFA IR-1 (Jayanti) with enhanced growth of 68% over the base population, developed through a selection programme, opens up new possibilities in freshwater aquaculture. Multiple breeding and off-season breeding of some of the fish species have enabled seed availability at different times of the year. The private enterprise in carp seed production in over 700 hatcheries is of a high order, producing over 21 billion fry annually. With an investment of about Rs 70,000, the newly devised portable carp hatchery can produce over 2 crore of seed in 20 batches in a season during July�September. Further, the net profit in raising carp fry in two crops of 15�20 days, is about Rs 90,000 per ha. In view of the concerns on availability of quality seed, both with regard to size in carps and disease incidence in shrimp, the ICAR has launched a major effort on seed production of selected finfish, shrimp, prawn, ornamental fish at the national level, setting up models.
Different culture systems with carps have been standardized to suit varied ecosystems and input levels, as also integrated with other farming practices, with net profit levels of Rs 50,000�90,000 per ha annually. Several variations of carp culture such as wastewater-recycled culture, short-term culture, etc. are also available. With the adoption of technology of composite carp culture, the mean production level has gone up to over 2.4 tonnes/ha/year in FFDA (Fish Farmers� Development Agency) ponds across the country, while several farmers are able to achieve much higher production levels of 8�10 tonnes/ha/year. However, only about 40% of the potential area has been utilised so far. Other aspects to be consdiered for realising the full potentials are proper leasing of public waterbodies, availability of quality inputs including seed and feed and also proper cold chains to have ready access to local markets. There also exists much scope for diversification in terms of culture of giant freshwater prawn, catfishes and ornamental fishes. Besides, hill states like Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh provide for coldwater fisheries and aquaculture, with high valued species like trouts and mahseers.
Reservoirs form the largest inland fisheries resource, which presently produce only about 20 kg/ha/year. Management protocols comprising stocking of fingerlings, pen culture and cage culture for seed rearing, for production levels of 100�150 kg/ha/year are available. Floodplain wetlands or beels are other potential fisheries resources in West Bengal and Bihar, which offer tremendous scope for both culture and capture fisheries, with present production levels of only 100�150 kg/ha/year. Riverine fisheries, apart from contributing to the fish basket, are also the source of prime germplasm and need to be protected and conserved. Setting up sanctuaries and protected habitats for the purpose could also support recreation and aqua-tourism.
Improved designs of boats and fishing nets are now available for deployment in marine and inland waters for the benefit of the fishers. Along with better management practices andHACCP concepts, specific technologies of IQF and accelerated freeze-dried products, ready-to-eat fish and extruded products, pickles, fish maws and isinglass, etc. and high value material like chitin, chitosan and squalene could be profitably utilised by the industry. Indian exports are over 5 lakh tonnes every year, comprising shrimp, lobster, crabs, mussels, oysters and other finfishes. The industry is also well equipped to address the emerging issues of residues in processed products, Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures and other standards being applied from the importing countries, with active public-private participation in the process.
Farm Tools and Equipment
Farm Tools and Equipment are needed for timely completion of various agricultural operations and precise application of inputs, to have higher productivity and profitability and also to reduce the drudgery of farm workers including women. Eighty per cent of farm holdings in India are less than 1 ha and, source-wise, current power use is 65% mechanical, 21% electrical, 8% animal and 6% human. Appropriate and selective mechanization is needed for production agriculture, post-harvest management and value-addition using a proper blend of conventional and renewable energy sources to achieve higher income. While mechanization would augment the agricultural production by 10�15%, post-harvest management could add 5�10% more by reducing losses. The potential for value-addition to agro-produce including byproducts is immense, 25�400%, depending on the commodity and the level of processing. For example, value-addition is 25% for wheat to flour; 30% for chickpea to besan; 35% for paddy to rice; 25, 150 and 400% for soybean to flour, milk and tofu (soypaneer); 400% for wheat to biscuit; and 400% for potato to potato chips.
The prominent resource/inputs (seed, fertilizer, agro-chemicals, water, fuel and labour) conserving machines are laser land leveler, sub-soiler, rotavator, zero-till drill, happy seeder, raised bed former, precision planters, sugarcane cutter planter, rotary power weeder, aero-blast sprayer, wheat straw combine and balers, etc. It is estimated that application of laser land leveler in 2 million ha under rice-wheat system could save 1.5 million ha-m of water, 0.2 million tonnes of diesel and reduce GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions equivalent to 0.5 million tonnes of carbon. Use of zero-till drill results in a saving of Rs 2,000�3,000/ha consisting of 70 litres diesel, time and labour. Today, zero till drills are being used over an area of about 2 million ha resulting into a saving of about Rs. 500 crore annually. The need is to expand the area under resource/ inputs conserving technologies and machines to make farming more profitable.
The farm produce and the remaining biomass/ crop residues are processed to convert them into edible/ usable products. Appropriate post-harvest technologies and equipment, that are commodity and region specific, are available to minimize losses and add value. For example, soybean which is rich in protein (40%), oil (20%), and other health-promoting nutrients and phytochemicals, if processed appropriately into different food products such as dairy analogs, bakery products, snacks, etc, could fulfill much needed protein and calorie deficiency at an affordable price (Rs 50/kg protein compared to about Rs 200/kg protein from pulses) to combat protein-calorie malnutrition.
About 4 million tonnes of soymeal, containing 50% protein is exported at Rs 11,000/ tonne, and at the same time the country is importing 1.8 million tonnes of pulses worth