COTTON SUPREMACY-A NEW PHENOMENON

In recent times no other crop has shown spectacular progress as like cotton in India.Thanks to BT technology,cotton now is the third highest sown acerage wise after Rice & Wheat. Of course this has something to do with spiking of international cotton prices.According to a rough estimate Indias cotton crop is worth $ 14 billion .Infact this year the farmers across India have roughly earned 54000 - 85000 per hectare which is substantial as compared to other cultivated crops.But the problem with this is that every added cotton acerage would lead to reduction in sowing areas of important oilseeds & pulses crops. This is where the policy planners have to be very much aware of the flight of acerage .Of course nothing can be done about this because ultimately commerce prevails,but still adminstrative measures can be initiated to stem this flight.With this regard the important focus could be high yeilding varieties of seeds which can do a revolution in oilseeds & pulses as BT did to cotton. Already there is a talk of higher acerage area for cotton this year seeing the profitability of the crop . With virtually no additional scope of bringing more area into Agriculture it has to come at the expanse of other crops. So the much needed food security might be at peril.It would be interesting to note the future progression of cotton as contrasted to other crops.

SMILING TRIBE- THE JUANGS.

The Agri activities carried out by my organisation have sometimes brought forth important observations which form the basis of some new understanding of peoples life and culture,moreso if they belong to important ,endangered tribe like The Juangs. My brief interaction with some of them back in 2008 increased my quest for knowing about them albeit helped by our continuous agri activities in the areas of Banspal,Telkoi & Harichandanpur of Keonjhar district . Their simple lifestyle tempered with relegious colouring,smiling faces despite rigours of jungle life are deeply etched in my mind. The Juangs are an important tribe among 46 tribes in the district of Keonjhar. They trace their birth to the Hills of Gonasika,from where river baitarani originates The word Juang means 'Man'.Infact they are also known as Patra-Savaras(leaf) As we are all aware from the history of ancient times the Savaras used to dress themselves up in Leaves.Their own dialect is known as Kolarian,but constant integration and mingling have made them speak a distinct oriya. Their habitat is constantly on move because they find it inauspicious to settle permanently anywhere.The Juangs are primarily patrilineal and monogamy is commonly prevalent and more importantly Levirate &soroate type of marriages are in existence The Juang life is always in consonance with the nature and they pray The Sun God and Earth Goddess.The Gramshree is the presiding deity of the village All their joyous and relegious activities are marked by dancing and singing with the Drum (changu) being the main attraction The Juangs are divided into two distinct groups known as Bandhu & kutumba and marriage within the same clan is considered incestuous What I found very interesting is the division of labor among male & female While adult males undertook strenuous activities like ploughing and hoeing and even watching the crops at night (incidentally couple of persons died when wild bear attacked them in our maize area) ,the cleaning of seeds for sowing,weeding,and harvesting are done by the ladies Their celebratory approach to life standout and their societal norms are as formalized as ours. One can only marvel at the fact that our ancient tribes are as developed as ours with a heightened life quotient satisfaction level than us. As I conclude memories pleasant are deeply etched in my mind and longing to be with the smiling faces once again.

SAFFLOWER- A NEW AGE OIL SEED CROP

In recent times there has been much talk regarding a minor oil seed crop called Safflower.It basically belongs to the same family as Sunflower.The crop was originally grown in the Mediterranean,north eastern Africa & south western Asia & India for the flowers that are used in making red & yellow dyes for clothing and food preparation But nowadays its use has been broadbased to include oil,meal,birdseed,&raw materials for various industrial products.Infact it is increasingly used in cosmetics & cooking oil thesedays. Safflower seed contains 30-40% oil and nutritionally similar to sunflower.India is ranked number one in global safflower production & acerage with almost 3lakh hectre but due to poor productivity it constitutes only 29% of the global production The current productivity is only 630kg/hect as compared to the global productivity of 893kg/hect and it constitutes seventh place in the area dedicated to oilseeds in India Maharashtra,karnataka,Gujurat&Andhrapradesh are the major safflower producing states Safflower as a source for pigment ,medicinal & nutritional use can be encouraged More importantly Indian safflower has a special demand as bird feed in international market due to special appearance. The time has come to concentrate on these minor oil produce as it has increased value added component.With established oil seed crops taking precedence,a slight deviation from the cropping pattern can work wonders where the former fails to deliver I presume it would be a good alternative to the established oil crops.

DANGEROUS SIGNALS

The rapid decline of Agricultural growth in Orissa has worried the planning commission. According to the latest estimate of planning commission the agri growth has deaccelerated to -0.86% as compared to 2008-09 (0.14%) & 2007-08 (4.71%) As a result of which the 11th 5 yr plan of achieving a 3% agri growth rate seems far fetched .The food grain production has also shown a declining trend from 81,44,000 MT in 2007-08 to 73,93,000MT in 2008-09 Out of this foodgrain production almost 90% is contributed by paddy where the per hectre yeild is just 15.29 quintal as compared to the national yeild of 21.86 quintal per hectre Apart from the problems associated with Nature,the poor irrigation facilities have accentuated the problems further.In this scenario the State Government desire to diversify the cropping pattern from purely paddy based to other crops is desirable .The recent thrust on Maize,Mustard,pulses & oil seeds like groundnut,sunflower& sesamum would bring about the much needed flexibility.In addition to this the seed replacement ratio & marketibility are also the crucial aspects of the Agri production systems which should be taken care of at the earliest . The time has also come to review & analyse the irrigation programmes & increase the public investment in this crucial sector. Similarly concerted action need to be taken in the Animal husbandry & fishries sector which is somehow not getting the desired attention which it ought to. Given the seriousness of the situation a white paper strategising the objectives,goals & time frame wont be a bad idea either.

SESAME MAGIC

Sesame is grown in many parts of the world and the major being India,Myanmar,Sudan,Ethiopia,Uganda & Nigeria In general the paler varieties of Sesame are preferred in West&Middle-east the Black varieties in Far-East Sesame seeds are basically used for breads including burger,salad dressings & sweets More importantly sesame oil is one of the oldest edible oil to be used by the human beings Asia produces 64% of worlds supply of seeds and Africa contributing the balance 31% There is a growing demand for sesame primarily because of its nutritional and medicinal value which has seen a rise in imports to the extent of 88% in the last 15 years worldwide Much of it has been due to China turning from a net exporter to one of the largest importer in addition to USA,Europe ,Korea,Japan & Middle-East. My cooperative GVCL for the first time entered into cultivation of white sesamum in 2006 in Puri district in collaboration with NABARD,has continuously enlarged the cultivation of this minor oilseed. The recent decision to go for cultivation in 3200 acres in Puri &Malkangiri district in PPP mode with Government of Odisha is a move towards a much needed diversification.More importantly this cultivation is being taken up as a third crop,when the lands are generally idle.The good thing about sesame cultivation is very low per acre expenses as compared to other crops,which results in adequate return for the farmers .On an average a farmer can earn upto minimum Rs10000/ per acre and marketability of the produce is good The oil content of sesame is generally high so local crushers can help the farmers get good return on the invested capital The current arrangement with Government of Odisha is free input distribution,training the farmers & more importantly buying the produce from the farmers at MSP . This would at a later point of time lead to commercialization with banks already showing interest for this crop Given the present circumstances this can be another attractive option for the poor farmers of the state.

ONION TEARS

The spiraling prices of onion has once again questioned the rationality of decision makers at Krushibhawan. The union Agricultural minister and the NAFED chairman are talking at cross purpose,with the former blaming it on the unseasonal rains and the latter denying it The fact of the matter is that onion has a very minimal share in our overall Agricultural production scenario.With just 10 million tonnes of production it is not considered as a major crop But the political overtones of this crop is immense. It is a fact that unseasonal rains and eratic weather conditions have created adverse situations for various crops including onion. But the Government never took people into confidence and gave a sense of misplaced optimism that everything is right. Infact the appreciatory trend has been visible since last two months But it allowed the situation to drift which gave ample time to the hoarders to have a field day The decision to ban export could have been taken a month back instead of now afterall onion export is notone of the priority area. But this sudden knee jerck reactions so very late in the day is further aggravating the already worsening situation.More importantly due to Global warming situation this indifferent pattern of behavior would be more regular in future times and our agri planners have to sit and find an effective solution not only to increase production and diversify agro products mix but also faster real time weather data,field situations and effective policy decisions accordingly.

FOOD INFLATION- A PERPETUAL WORRY

There is often the talk of Good Monsoon bringing down the prices and people expectation soar accordingly. But these kind of predictions given by the Governmental agencies & economists are finding few takers in recent times. People continue to struggle with high prices . But there is a fear that this trend would continue even in future times This can be attributed to the structural problems associated with Indian Agriculture and unavailibility of labor in the rural sector .Our production strategies have all along been skewed in favour of staples Production of diary products,meat,fruit & vegetable have lagged behind This has been further aggravated by lack of better facilities to store and transport perishable items Even in case of cereals the economic cost of procurement of Rice & Wheat has gone up by 40.2% and 35.96% respectively (TOI) In this context mention must be made of Government of Indias MSP policy By hiking the MSP regularly the Government has allowed the farmers to cultivate the MSP crops with other crops are given less importance In this context it has become a Zero sum game- one acre addition in one crop has led to the simultaneous reduction in which MSP is low So this has thwarted the much needed diversification . Apart from these structural problems,the input costs have gone up considerably in the last few years. Labour shortage for farming and low mechanization process in Indian Agriculture has further aggravated the problem The continuos hike of social net programmes like MNERAGA and state goverments scheme of cheap rice have already created a difficult situations in rural labor markets So we are witnessing a situation where investment by farmer is just not matching up with returns So falling production & the resultant spikes in the prices So the time has come to attend to these structural problems and expediate the mechanization process so that the much needed growth can be achieved It is easier said but the problems that we are in, there is no scope for soft peddling . Urgent & timely actions are the order of the day.