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| AGRICULTURE TRIBUNE | Monday, April 15, 2002, Chandigarh, India |
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Asia’s useful trees and plants — Rudraksh The Bt
cotton story
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Asia’s useful trees and plants — Rudraksh RUDRAKSH
is a large evergreen broad-leaved tree. Its scientific name being Elaeocarpus ganitrus, the family is tiliaceae. Altitude-wise, its habitat starts from sea-coast and goes up to 1,000 metres. Geographically it is found growing naturally and abundantly in tropical and subtropical areas. Thus, starting from Manila, passing through Myanmar, plains as well as low hills, its habitat extends to Bengal, Assam and adjoining north-eastern states, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and eastern and western ghats of the Indian peninsula. Its vernacular names are rudrak, rudraksh, rudai, etc. Elaeocarpus is a large genius of evergreen trees. It has nearly 36 sister species, including rudraksh. All are handsome trees bearing white flowers with fringed petals developing into drupaceous fruit resembling olive. Other associates of rudraksh in its natural habitat are pterocarpus, chukrasia, gurjan, grewias, artocarpus, kydia, terminalias, pongamia, etc. The main trunk of rudraksh tree is cylindrical. Its section is circular. Bark is greyish white and rough in texture with small vertical lenticel and narrow horizontal furrows. The branches of rudraksh spread in all directions is such a way that when growing in a dense canopied forest in its natural habitat, the crown takes the shape of a pyramid. However, when growing in a forest having open gaps in the canopy, the species tends to rise to less of height and put up a comparatively a wider umbrella-like and spreading hemispherical crown. The leaves of rudraksh are shining green above and dull coriaceous below. These are 10 to 15 cm long and 2 to 5 cm broad, and serulate in shape. The flowers are ovoid, conical, elongate, nearly 1 to 2 cm in diameter. These appear in April-May. The fruit is globose and drupaceous having a fleshy exterior. The nut inside is hard and tubercled. Its diameter is 1.5 to 2 cm. The fruit starts appearing in June-July and ripens by March-April of the following year. Rudraksh is a fairly fast growing species. It matures in about 50 years time, by when it attains a height of about 10 to 15 metres and trunk of diameter about 1 to 1½ metres. The wood, weighing about 18 kg per cubic foot, is soft, even grained, and greyish white in colour. Because of the religious importance the tree is seldom felled for its wood. Only dead and dry ones are removed and their wood utilised for making packing cases, cheap furniture, etc. Further, more than wood, Rudraksh tree is valued for its nuts. These are polished to make good beads for a rosary and are as such of considerable religious importance to Shaivite Hindus. Lord Shiva is believed to have been particularly so fond of rudraksh. A rosary made thereof adorn his bust at all times, in all poses, postures and pictures. Similarly, nearly all Shaivite saints, sanyasis and Brahmins generally wear rudraksh rosaries round the neck or wrist. It is believed that rudraksh rosary induces wisdom in the wearer’s mind, regulates blood pressure and smoothen the heartbeat. Its mere touch is believed to saves the human system from excess heat, cough, cold, headache and all kinds of ailments, ills and evils — real or imaginary. Continuous use of the rosary is supposed to add to a believer’s longevity, especially when one invokes the blessings of Lord Shiva by reciting “Mahamrityunjaya mantra” with its help. Rudraksh nuts are generally multi-faceted. The number of facets on them have reportedly been counted from one to 21. Possessing a rudraksh bead having a uni-faceted rudraksh (a nut with one single furrow) is supposed to make one most lucky. But these happen to be very rare. It is said that one particular tree growing in the compound of the palace of the king of Nepal alone yields uni-faceted rudraksh nuts. And, whenever any such nut is sighted, it is compulsorily deposited with the king. Rudraksh nuts having 3 to 5 or more facets are quite common. Wearing them, especially the five-faceted one, is supposed to make the wearer healthy, wealthy and wise. Six-faceted rosary subdues the opponents of the wearer. The possession of 11-faceted rosary, which Lord Shiva is supposed to have specially blessed, makes the believing mortal virtually a godly soul and an immortal being. It is, therefore, no surprise that places of Hindu pilgrimage like Benaras, Hardwar, Allahabad, etc. are flourishing markets of rudraksh beads and rosaries. Rudraksh species regenerates itself easily and profusely in its natural habitat from the seed reaching the ground around the mother trees. Elsewhere, within the habitat, new plants can be raised by sowing the seed after soaking these in lukewarm water for nearly 24 hours. The seedlings can also be obtained by a special process called “layering” on one-year old branches of a mature tree. Northern India does not fall in natural habitat of rudraksh. The species is, however, being raised on a limited scale on experimental basis by the Horticulture Department of Himachal Pradesh in their nursery at Parwanoo. The first tree introduced therein is nearly 20 years old. It is about 10 metres high. One more rudraksh plant is growing in the compound of Santosh Sharma in Kohla village, near Nadaun in Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh. Similarly, Dr R.C. Sharma, a fruit technologist, based at Nagrota Bagwan in Kangra district is also raising some rudraksh plants. The nursery at Parwanoo is using their first rudraksh plant as a mother tree for multiplying the species by “layering” on a limited experimental scale. Interested and knowledgeable people can obtain one-year-old seedlings of the species from there. The appropriate season for planting is July-August. |
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The Bt cotton story THREE hybrid varieties of transgenic Bt cotton using Monsanto’s Bt cotton technology were given official approval for commercial release in India. The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has laid down certain conditions for the cultivation and monitoring of these Bt varieties. The first is that Bt cotton will have to be grown with an insect refuge of 20 per cent non-Bt cotton. But in what must rank as a first in the world, the GEAC has appointed Mahyco-Monsanto, the company that has developed the varieties, to monitor its own performance! The company has been asked to “monitor annually the susceptibility of bollworms to Bt gene vis-a-vis baseline susceptibility data and submit data relating to resistance development, if any, to the GEAC”. In addition, the GEAC has appointed the company “to continue to undertake studies on possible impacts on non-target insects and crops, and report back to the GEAC annually”. Activists and scientists concerned are aghast that not even a pretence of objectivity has been maintained. As countries across the world are making efforts to increase transparency in their monitoring systems, Mahyco-Monsanto will be monitoring the performance of Mahyco-Monsanto in India! Is it realistic to expect that the company will be reporting negative data about itself? Is it likely that Mahyco-Monsanto will inform the government that pollen flow can be detected over large distances and that there is a real chance of foreign genes getting transferred with the pollen? Will the company be reporting that the insects have developed resistance and that their variety has failed? Bt Cotton is based on a technology that will work with reasonable success in many countries but it will not work in India. Its irrelevance to our small farmers is the crux of the resistance to its introduction here. Another reason why many have opposed Bt cotton (not GM technology) is the fact that it belongs to Monsanto. Monsanto has a record of prosecuting farmers for technology infringement and harassing them with lawsuits. Using their technology will have implications in the field of Intellectual Property Rights because their policies are in conflict with Indian law. Bt cotton was developed for cold temperate countries like the USA where pests are limited — chiefly the bollworm, against which the Bt toxin works and pest load in fields is not high. There land holdings are large, and subsidies are so huge that the risk-taking capacity of farmers is substantial. Bt cotton is unlikely to work for more than a few years in India because it is fundamentally at odds with the agricultural and climatic conditions here. Insects are likely to develop resistance quite fast, making the variety useless in a few years. For the Bt technology to be successful, Monsanto stipulates that the farmer has to set aside about 20 per cent of his acreage for non-Bt cotton. This is essential so that the bollworm can feed partly on non-poisonous, normal cotton and remains susceptible to the Bt toxin. Otherwise, like the mosquitoes developed resistance to the DDT, the bollworm will quickly become resistant to Bt toxin and the crop will fail. In the USA with 10,000 to 30,000-acre holdings, wasting 20 per cent of the acreage, even more if needed, is not an issue. Pesticide sprayings are reduced because there is only one main pest, the bollworm, and that is targeted by Bt toxin. Should even then everything go wrong, the 1 billion dollar a day agriculture subsidy of the OECD countries is more than adequate to bail out the American farmer so that he is not in any danger of contemplating any extreme steps like his abandoned Indian brethren. In India, with its small land holdings, the economics of Bt cotton cannot work after setting aside 20 per cent as an insect refuge. There are many kinds of cotton pests in Indian apart from the bollworm. The use of pesticides will have to continue because spraying will be needed to kill these other pests. Pesticide use will also continue because as in all tropical countries, a pest attack is far more intense and the number of insects per acre will be far higher than in colder countries. It is unlikely the Bt strategy alone will be effective in controlling the intense pest attacks common in the tropics. Monsanto fully aware of this, recommends that farmers should count the number of insects in their fields and if these exceed a certain number, pesticide sprayings should be done. So what is the Bt cotton story? As the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) stated in its approval ‘with conditions’, Bt cotton is not recommended for small farmers. But wasn’t the rhetoric of the scientific-administrative establishment these past few years replete with arguments that Bt cotton was crucially needed to provide a good cotton variety to small farmers to stop the tragedy of cotton suicides. When critics asked why we should not use Indian technology rather than Monsanto’s, the powers replied that the small farmers were in urgent need of help and we could not wait for the Indian technology. Now that the GEAC has had to admit what everyone knew from the start, that this Bt technology will not help the small farmers, the public needs to know who is responsible for pushing Monsanto’s technology in this way. Which lobby is railroading India’s GM policy? There are many other questions. Given the record of pesticide abuse because of the failure to educate farmers, is it realistic to expect that the complex system of refuges will be implemented even by larger farmers? The cotton problem in India has several causes. Mixtures of varieties are being sold to farmers in the name of standardised seed, resulting in uneven crops and low yields. Spurious and adulterated pesticides that failed to control the pests landed the farmer in deepening debt. There are problems with grading and pricing and ad hoc government policy when sudden imports can reduce the value of cotton crops. The problems facing cotton farmers have to be dealt at various levels if there is a genuine desire to solve them. With the introduction of Bt cotton, the government has sought to make Monsanto happy, not the cotton farmers in trouble. |
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Farm operations for April Tomato Irrigate the tomato crop once a week to encourage the maximum fruit setting and development of fruits. Varieties Punjab Kesri, Punjab Chhuhara, PNR-7, S-12, Punjab Upma and Castle rock as well as hybrid TH-2312 and TH-802 start ripening during this month. Pluck the turning and red ripe fruits regularly to catch distant and local market, respectively. While plucking the fruits, every precaution should be taken to minimise injury and disturbance to the natural canopy of the plants. Onion Apply 500 g of CAN/marla to the onion nursery sown in March and irrigate regularly after 5 to 7 days. Seed production Harvest seed crops of pea, radish and turnip. In order to avoid shattering of seeds of turnip, pea and radish in the field start harvesting even when a few topmost pods per branch are yellowish green. Shift immediately to the thrashing floor. After complete drying, thrash, grade and pack the seeds. Chilli Transport seedlings of chilli in the afternoon keeping lines at 60 cm and plants at 30 cm distance and apply light irrigation immediately. Apply 50 kg of muriate of potash, 155 kg of superphosphate and 40 kg of CAN per acre. After a week, replant into the gaps and irrigate immediately. Garlic Irrigate and uproot the crop in the last week. Cure in the field for 5 to 7 days. Tie the produce in bundles of a kg each, shift to a cool, ventilated place. Stack these bundles in 8 to 10 layers early in the morning keeping root end on the outer periphery. Vegetable pests Onion thip should be checked by spraying 250 ml of Malathion 50 EC in 80 litres of water per acre. Red pumpkin beetle attack on curcurbits can be reduced by spraying 75-150 g of Sevin/Hexavin 50 WP in 50-100 litres of water per acre. Spray the muskmelon crop with Indofil M-45@ 300 g in 100 litres of water per acre depending upon the growth stage. Start first spray in second week of April before the appearance of the disease followed by six more sprays at weekly interval. Give sprays promptly after rains. Under heavy disease situation give 3rd and 4th spray of Ridomil MZ @ 500 g/acre in 200 litres of water or Aliette 80 WP @ 600 g/acre at 10 days interval followed by one more spray of Indofil M-45 @ 600g/acre in 200 litres of water. Fruit borer attack in tomato crop can be checked by spraying 100 ml of Sumicidin 20 EC or 40 ml of Ambush 50 EC or 200 ml of Ripcord 10EC or 160 ml of Decis 2.8 EC in 100 litres of water for one acre. Repeat at 10 days interval. — Progressive Farming, PAU |
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