KVK in service of farmers
By Satish Seth
CHAUDHARY Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University set up the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kaithal, in 1991-92. Such krishi vigyan kendras have been started as an ICAR project under the aegis of the university. The KVKs serve as a medium to transfer technology of the university to the farmers.

Plan to make HP a dry fruit bowl
By Rakesh Lohumi
ENCOURAGED by the initial success of pistachio and hazelnut plantations raised on trial basis, the Dr Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry has decided to propagate the nut crops on a commercial scale.

Corporates may focus on farm sector
By S.C. Dhall
INDIA is one of the least efficient agricultural producers in the world vis-a-vis farm productivity, post-harvest losses, utilisation of water resources, fertiliser, labour and other inputs. It is the need of the hour to incorporate corporate and managerial practices for efficient use of available resources and improved linkage from farm to consumer in a bid to increase agricultural productivity.

Problem of plenty hits rice trade
Even as the Food Corporation of India (FCI) is reviewing its old policy on the purchase of paddy and storage of rice in Punjab, the problem of plenty poses a crisis for the state government and has adversely affected trade.

Farm operations for August

Canal irrigation management needs relook
By Suraj Bhan Dahiya

THE current drought conditions in some parts of the country testify that life in India even now is much dependent on the monsoon. If monsoon fail there is lockout in the agricultural industry; a disaster which calls forth the virtues of patience, fortitude and charitableness. Irrigation, therefore, forms the datum line for sustained successful agriculture in the country. In fact, as pointed out rightly by Sir Charles Trevelyan, “irrigation is everything in India: water is more valuable than land, because when water is applied to land it increases its productivity at least six-fold and renders great extent of land productive which otherwise would produce nothing or next to nothing”.

India has the largest canal system in the world. Indian canals — the biggest irrigation source — cover an area of over one lakh kilometre and irrigate about 30 per cent of the total net area irrigated. About half of India’s net canal irrigated area lies in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh and another half falls in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, Maharashtra, Orissa, Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat. In the vast irrigation complex of the country, the irrigation canals of northern India rank amongst the greatest and most beneficient triumphs of modern engineering in the world.

In spite of the fact that India blessed with one of the largest water supplies of any country, water famine continues to loom over the nation. Cities, towns and large rural tracts complain of dry taps, dry wells and dry hopes. Aqua experts predict tougher days ahead.

Suggestions for a national water grid envisaging inter-linking of rivers with a view to transferring surplus water available in some regions to the water-deficit areas have been made from time to time. The Government of India prepared a national perspective for water resources development in August, 1980, envisaging inter-linking between various peninsular rivers and Himalayan rivers for transfer of water from water surplus basins to water-deficit basins for optimum utilisation of water resources. The government established the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) in 1982 to firm up these proposals. A total of 36 water transfer links; 17 under peninsular components and 19 under Himalayan components have been identified by the NWDA.

Water management is regarded as a “must” in agricultural technology. It is necessary to see that our water supplies are put to utmost efficient use. In surface irrigation, using the distribution system consisting of main canals, branch canals, field channels, etc., it has been estimated that 40 to 45 per cent of the water entering the distribution system is being lost into earth by percolation before reaching the field, and half of the water given to fields is lost before it gets to the roots of the plants. Therefore, canal irrigation in the country requires considerable improvement.

Irrigation is not only a science but also an art in itself. While agricultural land forms the body, water is a vital fluid that sustains our agrarian economy. Timely supply of this vital fluid is getting precious day by day.

Through conservation of surface water parched lands of some areas of the country are being watered round the year. But it is very surprising to note that four-fifth of India’s water resources come from the systems flowing into the Bay of Bengal, while the waterless region of Rajasthan is provided, with nothing at all. Irrigation works have nevertheless been constructed to bring more and more area under irrigation and to guard against possible failure of rains. Expansions of irrigation facilities along with consolidation of the existing systems has been the main strategy for increasing production of foodgrains. With the sustained and systematic development of irrigation, irrigation potential has increased from 22.6 million hectares in 1951 to about 89.56 million hectares at the end of the Eighth Plan (1992-97).

Some inter-state water disputes have, however, come into the way to accelerate the irrigation facilities. Efforts are made to resolve disputes by negotiations amongst states concerned with the assistance of the Centre. Adjudication through tribunals is also resorted to when warranted.

So far the following Tribunals have been appointed to resolve inter-state water disputes: Godavari water disputes tribunal, Krishna water disputes tribunal, Narmada water disputes tribunal, Cauvery water disputes tribunal, and Ravi-Beas water disputes tribunal. The first three tribunals have given their final reports. The Ravi-Beas water tribunal gave a part report on January 30, 1987. The dispute is still under adjudication by the tribunal.

To avoid inter-state water disputes, the Government of India now is seriously considering to move water resources from the State List to the Concurrent list. Another important issue getting Central Government’s immediate attention is how to generate funds for the water projects.

The Government of India is of the opinion that water used for irrigation is presently priced very cheap and the prices vary from region to region. The view is that if water is priced reasonably it would not only raise revenue to supplement the cost of irrigation projects, but would also discourage farmers to draw excess water. The important fact to be noted is that wherever canal water is available to the cultivator for irrigation be invariably resorts to over irrigation. It has caused waterlogging and salt effervescence. Virtually one-third of India is now floating under water. On the other hand, 62 per cent of the net area sown in the country comes under dry land farming.

The national water policy, 1987, states that the water rate should be such as to convey its scarcity value to the users and motivate them in favour of its efficient use, besides, at the same time, being adequate to cover annual maintenance and operation charges and a part of the fixed cost. Most of the states have not revised water rates for the past two or three decades.

In the context of development planning with a preponderant accent on food production, water rates should not be determined on the basis of investment made on irrigation projects. An incentive to ensure increased production can be given by not imposing high rates and with provision of free water in areas of low productivity. It is suggested that regional water rate boards should be set up to fix irrigation water rates according to the productive capacity of the area and to act as tribunals to settle disputes on irrigation rates.

KVK in service of farmers
By Satish Seth

CHAUDHARY Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University set up the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kaithal, in 1991-92. Such krishi vigyan kendras have been started as an ICAR project under the aegis of the university. The KVKs serve as a medium to transfer technology of the university to the farmers.

The KVK, Kaithal, spreads over 50 acres donated by the Devigarh Panchayat on the Peoda road. Dr S.S. Dahiya, Chief Scientist-cum-Head, KVK, Kaithal, says that research and demonstrations on improved technology of different field crops are done on this farm. This kendra has been producing breeder, foundation and certified seeds of important crops. During the past three years, 443 quintals of breeder seed of wheat (WH-542 and PBW-343), 36 quintals of breeder seed of oat (OS6 and Kent), 111 quintals of foundation and certified seed of paddy (HKR-126, Gobind, HBC-19) and 160 quintals of foundation and certified seed of wheat (HD-2687, PBW-373). This farm has now become a self-sustained unit, and the revolving fund generated from this farm is the maximum among the KVKs in Haryana.

The KVK, Kaithal, has started various extension education programmes, in which organising vocational trainings for self-employment of the youth in agro-based vocations is an important one. In this context, training is given in mushroom production, bee-keeping, dairy, piggery, poultry, nursery raising for horticultural/forestry plants, commercial use of agricultural implements, seed production of field crops, etc. according to Dr S.S. Dahiya, Chief Scientist.

The second mandate of the kendra is organising on-farm research and demonstrations on farmers’ field and its own farm so that the available technology may be refined and fine-tuned as per the local conditions. In this context, on-farm research has been conducted on paddy, toria, gram, lentil, sunflower, etc. A few important examples of on-farm research include an experiment-cum-demonstration on the zero-tillage technology in wheat, evaluation of new herbicides for control of resistant phalaris minor, experiments on integrated nutrient management, trials on self-propelled paddy transplanter, etc.. It is worth mentioning that the trials on zero-tillage in wheat were conducted for the first time in Kaithal district by the KVK in collaboration with university scientists in 1997-98. As a result of the successful trials on zero-tillage during the previous years, the zero-tillage drill has been popularised among the farmers of the district and its area has been increasing. As a result of on-farm trials on different crops, various new high-yielding varieties have been popularised among farmers. These include WH-542 and PBW-343 of wheat, HKR-126, IR-64 and HBC-19 of paddy, TL-15 and Th-68 of toria, MSFH-8 and Jawalamukhi of sunflower, Haryana Chana-1 and C-235 of gram, Garima and Sapna of lentil, etc..

The Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kaithal, has adopted five villages of the district where its activities are more concentrated. Kisan meetings, on-farm trials, demonstrations and field days are organised from time to time. The state-level “Dhan Mela” is organised at the Rice Research Station, Kaul, in October every year in which a large number of farmers, scientists and extension officers of the state participate.

The kendra, also publishes technical literature prepared by its scientists keeping in view the local conditions, and is made available to farmers. The quarterly Krishi Vigyan Patrika published by the KVK provides information about temporal activities to be undertaken in agriculture, which is made available to farmers free of cost.

In addition, the farmer advisory service provided by the KVK is an important part of its activities. The farmers visit the KVK with their problems which are solved by experts of the kendra. The facility of soil and water testing is made available to the farmers by way of analysing the samples in the laboratory of the university at Hisar.

Due to the activities and programmes undertaken by the kendra, the use of gypsum, farmyard manure and dhaincha as green manure for soil reclamation has increased. Farmers have adopted seed treatment. The zero-tillage technology in wheat has been popularised among farmers and during 1999-2000 rabi, about 1,000 acres had been sown using this technology.

Plan to make HP a dry fruit bowl
By Rakesh Lohumi

ENCOURAGED by the initial success of pistachio and hazelnut plantations raised on trial basis, the Dr Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry has decided to propagate the nut crops on a commercial scale.

To begin with, the university is setting up ‘‘mother’’ orchards of pistachio, pickle nut, hazelnut and walnut for which plant material is being imported from the USA, France, Italy and Spain. The National Horticulture Board has sanctioned Rs 10 lakh for the purpose.

The mother orchard for propagation of pistachio will be established at Sharbo in the tribal Kinnaur where the dry and cold agro-climatic conditions are ideal for the crop. The trial plantation raised by the university at the place has come into bearing. As the plants were raised from imported seed material, the size of the nut has been small. However, with the standard grafted planting material the result would be much better, says Dr R.P. Awasthy, Vice-Chancellor of the university, who is keen on developing the apple state into a dry fruit bowl of the country. The main pistachio varieties being imported from the USA are Kermal, Peter and Arizona.

The mother orchard for hazelnut is being set up at the Seobagh Research Station in the Kulu valley. The plants raised under the Indo-Italian project eight years ago have also come into bearing. The quality of nuts has been good even though the plants were raised from non-standard seed material. Now well established high yielding and early maturing varieties like Fertile de Coutard, Ennis and Pautdet are being imported from the USA for large-scale propagation.

Besides these two exotic nuts, the university has also decided to introduce improved varieties walnut and pickle nut, some scattered plantations of which already exist in mid-hill areas. However, these important nuts have not been propagated in a systematic manner and no standard commercial varieties were introduced all these years.

The university is now importing about half a dozen varieties of walnut including Chandler, Howard, Mayelte, Sisco Serr and Vina, from France and the USA for the proposed mother orchard on the university campus at Nanni (Solan). The pickle nut mother plantation will be raised at Kandaghat and the varieties to be propagated include Choctaw, Chiksaw, Cheynne and Kiowaw from Spain and the USA.

As the plant material is quite expensive with each plant costing about $ 20, the university is importing about 100 plants and 300 scion sticks of each nut. In the next three to five years it will be in a position to supply 10,000 to 20,000 plants to growers.

Scientists feel that the propagation of nut crops on a commercial scale will enable the growers to diversify from apple, cultivation which is no longer an attractive proposition. While the cost of production has increased manifold, the returns have been declining. The outbreak of multiple fungal diseases and erratic weather conditions have also caused a significant decline in productivity.

The main advantage of the nut crops is that unlike apple these are not perishable and could be transported easily. These low volume high-value crops could revive the fortunes of fruit growers who are facing an uncertain future due to recurring failures of the apple crop.

Corporates may focus on farm sector
By S.C. Dhall

INDIA is one of the least efficient agricultural producers in the world vis-a-vis farm productivity, post-harvest losses, utilisation of water resources, fertiliser, labour and other inputs. It is the need of the hour to incorporate corporate and managerial practices for efficient use of available resources and improved linkage from farm to consumer in a bid to increase agricultural productivity.

After information technology and pharmaceuticals, agriculture and food are the other two most important segments some of the corporates seem to be moving towards, especially those which are currently riding a relatively flat growth curve.

Experts have stressed the need for the corporatisation of the agriculture sector with a focus on cost control, increase in efficiency and productivity. The weakness in post-harvest management affects the life of agriculture and horticulture produce, resulting in high levels of wastages. The domestic agriculture sector lacks in mechanism, whereby the farmers can do proper crop planning to avoid the excess production of certain yields without the availability of sufficient market for it. Experts have stressed the need for proper marketing and packaging systems as these areas are not taken care of at present. This was pointed out in the “Agri-crop India-2000” held in Mumbai recently.

The Managing Director of TATA Industries, while drawing comparison between India and China, said the per hectare rice production here is 3,000 kg against China’s 6,000 kg. While wheat production is 2,500 kg per hectare against China’s 3,700 kg. Though India’s cultivable land is 107 million hectares against China’s 96 million hectares. The agriculture produce in China is 165 billion tonnes compared to India’s 96 billion tonnes. The fertiliser use is 90 kg per hectare in India against 170 kg per hectare in China. The Managing Director added that the process of corporatisation of agriculture will ultimately lead to greater efficiency in domestic agribusiness.

If India has to achieve the overall GDP growth of 7 per cent, India will have to attain around 5 per cent growth in agriculture.

For this purpose both the government and the industry will have to come together for active collaboration. Gains arising from this joint effort will, however, have to percolate to the poor segments of the country. The agricultural sector at present is highly unorganised, complexities and competition are increasing by the day and there is a lot of profiteering on the way before the product reaches the consumer.

Farmers get the lower price for high quality produce, while the consumer pays high price for uncategorised product. There are administrative and professional blocks missing in the agricultural sector.

A number of big companies are thinking on how they can get in the output game by linking some of the blocks and make available the product at a relatively cheaper price to the consumer.

In order to tap untapped potential of the vibrant sector and help the country take on the emerging challenges in the global market, faced with WTO rules and regulations, a comprehensive policy structure needs to be in place.

Problem of plenty hits rice trade

Even as the Food Corporation of India (FCI) is reviewing its old policy on the purchase of paddy and storage of rice in Punjab, the problem of plenty poses a crisis for the state government and has adversely affected trade.

The state agencies procured over 95 lakh tonnes of wheat during this rabi season in Punjab, but the wheat stocks have been stored in the open fields instead of godowns due to lack of storage capacity.

As the rice growers of the Malwa belt have developed a fancy for the early varieties of rice, despite being discouraged by experts of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, and the state government, the new paddy crop is almost ready to be brought to the market. But storage again poses a problem.

The Federation of Arhtias Association, Punjab, has alleged that the state government has not prepared a rational and long-term food policy to properly store wheat and rice in the state and dispose of the huge stocks of rice and wheat, causing huge losses to traders and the government.

Federation President Bal Kishan Singla has urged the government to formulate on effective food policy so that the stocks of rice and wheat are stored in godowns and the stocks sold on time to avoid losses.

He expressed disappointment over the delay in making payments to the arhtias for the purchase of wheat stocks during the current rabi season and sought the intervention of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to save the trading community.

Regarding the disposal of the huge grain stocks, Mr Singla has said the government and the trade must start searching foreign markets because the other states in the country are also becoming self-sufficient in food. — UNI

Farm operations for August

Paddy:

— Irrigation to rice crop may be applied two days after the ponded water has infiltrated into the soil but the rice fields should not be allowed to develop cracks. The last dose of nitrogen through 35 kg of urea may be applied, if already not given.

— Deficiency of zinc can be expected on kallar reclaimed soils or on those fields where zinc has not been applied to the previous crop. The same can be corrected by applying 25 kg of zinc sulphate per acre mixed with equal quantity of dry soil.

— Iron deficiency can be expected on sandy soils. The deficient plants show yellowing on younger leaves which ultimately turn white. To correct this malady, 1 per cent ferrous sulphate solution (one kg ferrous sulphate in 100 litres of water) per acre may be sprayed three to four times at weekly intervals. Do not apply ferrous sulphate to soil.

— In the early transplanted crop, drying of leaves due to bacterial leaf blight disease may be noticed. Spray with any chemical will not be helpful to control this disease. Do not pond water in the field. Addition of nitrogen will further increase the disease.

— Sheath blight may be noticed by the last week of August. The disease can be checked by spraying Bavistin 50 WP @ 200 g in 200 litres of water at the boot stage. Keep the bundhs clean by removing grass.

Rice stem borer: The larvae of stem borer get into the stems of young plants and produce dead hearts. When the borer attacks old plant of paddy, empty and erect white ears make their appearance. The fields showing more than 5 per cent dead hearts should be sprayed with 250 ml of Dimecron/Cildon/Phami-

don / Phosdon/Bilcron / Kinadon 85 SL or 560 ml of Nuvacron/Monocil 36 SL or one litre of Coroban/Dursban/Lethal/Durmet/ Classic 20 EC in 100 litres of water per acre. These insecticides may be repeated as and when damage reaches the economic threshold level. The pest can also be controlled by using 7.5 kg Sevidol 4.4 G (carbary 1-gamma BHC) per acre thrice in standing water.

Leaf folder: The larvae of this insect-pest fold the leaves, eat out the green tissues and produce white streaks. Control this pest by spraying 250 ml of Folithion/Sumithion/Accothion 50 EC or 150 ml of Lebaycid 1000 EC or one litre of Coroban/Durmet 20 EC or 560 ml of Nuvacron/Monocil 36 SL in 100 litres of water per acre. Application of Padan 4 G or Caldan 4 G @ 10 kg/acre recommended for control of stem borer also control leaf folder.

Leaf hopper and plant hopper: These can be controlled by spraying the crop with 250 ml of Lebaycid 1000 EC (Fenthion) or 800 ml of Ekalux/Quinguard 25 EC or one litre of Coroban/Dursban 20 EC (Chlorpyriphos) or 560 ml of Thiodan/Endocel 35 EC/Monocrotophos 36 SL in 100 litres of water.

Maize:

— Adequate supply of water is essential for the proper growth of the crop. However, maize is very sensitive to standing, so excessive water can be minimised by spraying 3 per cent urea or by applying additional nitrogen fertiliser.

— Apply the last dose of nitrogen through 35 kg of urea per acre to early-sown hybrid maize or high-yielding varieties of maize at the appearance of tassels. Apply 25 kg of urea per acre to the local maize/Pearl Popcorn/Parkash varieties.

— To control leaf blight, spray the crop with Indofil M 45 @ 200 g in 100 litres of water.

— The attack of maize borer can be checked by spraying 40 ml of Sumicidin 20 EC/Ripcord 10 EC (Ripcord) or 80 ml of Decis 2.8 EC (Deltamethrin) or 100 ml Thiodan 35 EC/110 ml Nuvacron 36 SL in 50 litres of water per acre.

—Progressive Farming, PAU