n DevinDra Sharma

At a time when agriculture is passing through a terrible distress, with an unprec-edented spurt in farmer suicides witnessed particu-

larly in 2015, I had expected the NDA government to rescue the beleaguered farming community with an economic package. After all, if the industry can get economic bailout package at the drop of a hat, and get tax exemptions to the tune of Rs 42-lakh-crore in ten years, between 2005 and 2015, I thought it was a payback time to help farmers minimize their economic hardship. But nothing like this happened. Once again, 60-crore farmers have been given the boot.

Instead, beginning New Year, 47-lakh Cen-tral government em-ployees and another 52-lakh pensioner will get a bonanza. The 7th Pay Commission report, which has been ac-cepted by the government, will entail an additional annual financial burden of Rs 1.02- lakh- crore. In reality, it will be several times more, not less than Rs 3-lakh core by a conservative estimate, when similar pay hikes have to be also given to State government employees, autonomous bodies, universities and public sector units. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley says the additional bur-den on the country’s fiscal situation is ‘manageable’. He has no problems with

the hike in salaries.But the government has all kinds of

problems when farmers have to be giv-en a legitimate rise in the farm prices. Only a few months back, in an affida-vit filed before the Supreme Court, the additional solicitor general Maninder Singh had expressed government’s in-ability to provide 50 per cent profit over the cost of production to the farmers as recommended by the Swaminathan Committee. He had said that “prescrib-

ing an increase of at least 50 per cent on cost may distort the market. A me-chanical linkage between Minimum Support Price (MSP) and cost of produc-tion may be counter-pro-ductive in some cases.”

This was an electoral promise Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made. But soon after coming to power, Modi government had refused to give a re-munerative price in the form of enhanced MSP for paddy and wheat. At a time when DA for employ-

ees is raised by 13 per cent in a year, price of wheat and paddy is raised by a paltry Rs 50 per quintal, which trans-lates into an increase of 3.6 per cent, not enough to even offset the additional burden of inflation at that time.

Look at the blatant discrimination. The minimum wage of a chaprasi under the 7th Pay Commission has been raised from Rs 7,000 to Rs 18,000 – an increase of a whopping 260 per cent. Compare this to what an average farmer in India earns. You will be shocked to know that

in the last 45 years, between 1970 and 2015, the basic salary plus DA of a gov-ernment employee has been raised by an average of 120 to 150 times, that of professors/lecturers by 150 to 170 times whereas the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat has been raised by only 19 times in the same period.

Given this huge income disparity, which is deliberate, it is futile to expect younger generation to take to farming.

The income disparity is glaring. While the minimum wage for an employee has now been enhanced to Rs 18,000 per month, what an average farmer family earns in a month as per the NSSO 2014 report is a paltry Rs 6,000, of which Rs 3,078 comes from farming. Nearly 58 per cent farmers have to rely on non-farming activities like MNREGA to sup-plement their monthly incomes. The farm incomes is low because successive governments have deliberately kept farming starved of resources and de-nied economic price to farmers. If only farmers were to get a rise in income (in the form of MSP) in parity with other sections of the society, the wheat price,

n ISSN-2395-2954 jANUARY 2016 n ISSUe-IV n INVItAtIoN PRIce `25

Vodafone partners on digitising agriculture

No oNe givesa damN forfarmers

national biotechnology programme launched04 06 global agricultural

machinery market09

A M O N T H LY M AGAZ I N E O N AGR I C U LT U R E A N d FO O d P R O C E S S I N G

teach agriculture in school: icar chief11 page 02

IndIa negotIated hard at Wto: n. SItharaman

page 12tata planS to WIden agrI-buSIneSS In afrIca

Nearly 58 per cent farmers have to rely on non-farming activities like mNrega to supplement their monthly incomes. The farm incomes is low because successive governments have deliberately kept farming starved of resources and denied economic price to farmers

The farm incomes is low because successive governments have

deliberately kept farming starved of resources and denied

economic price to farmers

CoNTiNued oN Page 024

January 201602 DiD you knowPigs are considered the 4th most intelligent animal (after chimpanzees, dolphins, and elephants).

which was Rs 76 per quintal in 1970, should now have been Rs 7,600 per quintal.

Procurement price (or the market price) is the only mechanism through which a farmer is able to earn. His net return depends on the mar-ket price that he is able to fetch for his produce. There is no other source of income, including DA and emoluments that he can count on. Compare this with the government employees. Every six months they get DA, which is increasingly being merged with the basic salary. At the same time, if the 7th Pay Commission is to be believed, of the 198 total allowances they used to get, 108 allowances have been retained and enhanced. This includes an allowance for hair cutting for CRPF employees, and also an allowance for family planning which basically means an al-lowance for buying condoms. Employees will receive an increase of 63 per cent in allowances. If farmers were to given at least four monthly allowances that the employees get – housing allowance, travel allowance, education allow-ance for children, and medical allowance – I am sure lakhs of farmer suicides could have been averted. Several studies have shown that health

expenses alone costs a farming family 40 per cent of its monthly budget. Such is the plight, that I have often heard farmers saying say they can’t even afford to fall sick.

I am not against the giving a higher salary to the gov-ernment employees. What is being missed is that one section of the society is being pampered at the cost

of the masses. My suggestion therefore has al-ways been to constitute a National Farmers In-come Commission that is mandated to ensure parity in incomes between the farming sector and the organized sector. Knowing that an eco-nomic security to the farming population is the crying need of the times, the Farmers Income Commission should be able to indicate an as-sured monthly package that a farming fam-ily should receive every month. Till then, the recommendation of the 7th Pay Commission should be held in abeyance.

CoNTiNued from Page 014‘india negotiated hard at WTo’

India negotiated a ministe-rial declaration that recog-nises that developing coun-tries will have the right to

have recourse to a Special Safe-guard Mechanism (SSM). A large number of developing countries demanded for a SSM for agricul-tural products The SSM allows developing countries to resort to higher customs duties on some farm produce to protect the in-terests of its farmers.

India negotiated hard at the WTO’s recent Nairobi ministe-rial meeting to ensure that the interests of de-veloping countries remain at the centre of the multi-lat-eral trade body’s agenda, parlia-ment was informed by Commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

“India negotiated hard to en-sure that the WTO continues to place the interest of developing countries and LDCs (least devel-oped countries) at the centre of its agenda,” she told.

Some developed countries, in-cluding the US, are opposed to the

continuation of the Doha Develop-ment Round negotiations launched in 2001, she said in a statement to the House, following her return from Nairobi meeting that con-cluded on Saturday. Even as rich nations conceded to the demands of emerging economies on issues such as finding a permanent solu-

tion to disputes over government stockpiling of food for security, India protested the non-inclusion of the development agenda at the latest trade talks.

The Nairobi Ministerial Decla-ration acknowledged that mem-bers have different views on how to address the future of the Doha

Round, but also noted the strong commitment of all members to ad-vance negotiations on the remain-ing Doha issues, Sitharaman said.

“India not only made a state-ment to this effect at the closing ceremony on December 19 but also made a written submission to the Director General, WTO and the Chair of the 10th Ministerial Con-ference,” the minister said. As the

future of WTO’s Doha Devel-opment Agenda (DDA)

appeared in doubt, India succeeded in

obtaining a re-affirmative min-

isterial decision on public stock holding

for food security purpos-es, Sitharaman said.India’s statement issued at

the end of the Nairobi talks said: “Notwithstanding the difficulty in the negotiations, the draft declaration reflects India’s demand for a reaffirma-tion from all members to work towards a permanent solution on public stock-holding.”

India doubles ethanol use to help sugar millsIndia has doubled its target of

blending ethanol with gasoline to 10 percent, as the government

tries to promote the cleaner-burning fuel to check pollution and help mon-ey-losing sugar companies. Oil com-panies have never met the current 5 percent blending target as ethanol de-rived from molasses—the thick syrup produced by boiling down sugarcane juice in sugar refining—costs more than gasoline without including taxes. India does not allow ethanol imports.

Food minister Ram Vilas Paswan acknowledged the issue but told law-makers that to improve supplies and keep prices down, the government has extended soft loans of up to 40 per-cent to encourage sugar mills to set up ethanol plants, fixed “remunerative ex-depot price of ethanol” and waived some taxes on its supplies to oil mar-keting companies. He did not say by

when the new target would be appli-cable and what action would be taken for non-compliance. “(The) production of ethanol and its supplies under the ethanol blending program at remu-nerative prices are likely to improve the liquidity position of sugar mills,

enabling them to clear cane price dues of farmers,” Paswan said.

Debt-laden mills that owe billions of cane dues to farmers have been trying to generate revenue outside their core business as the price of the sweetener has dropped. The Indian Sugar Mills Association expects to double ethanol

supply to as much as 1.3 billion litres in 2015-16. India’s government is also planning to soon allow automakers to manufacture vehicles that can run entirely on ethanol, though experts are sceptical it would work. A tender issued by refiners Bharat Petroleum,

Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum in August seeking 2.7 billion litres of ethanol managed to secure only 1.03 billion litters. One main reason oil companies find it hard to source etha-nol cheaply is the high state duty it at-tracts because of its use in the heavily taxed liquor industry.

No one gives a damn for farmers

“India not only made a statement to this effect at the closing ceremony on december 19 but also made a written submission to the director General, WTO and the Chair of the 10th Ministerial Conference”—Nirmala SitharamaN, Commerce Minister

“The production of ethanol and its sup-plies under the ethanol blending program at remunerative prices are likely to improve the liquidity position of sugar mills, enabling them to clear cane price dues of farmers”—ram VilaS PaSwaN, Food Minister

sevenral studies have shown that health expenses alone costs a farming family 40 per cent of its monthly budget. such is the plight, that i have often heard farmers saying say they can’t even afford to fall sick

January 201603

In this post, Peter Gubbels re-emphasizes how agroecology can simultaneously im-prove the food and farming system, nour-ish the world, and significantly reduce carbon emissions. He outlines some of

the steps that policy makers and leaders should take to realize this transition. There is growing interest in how agroecology can feed the world, transform the currently unsustainable food and farming system, and make a huge contribution to reducing the emissions that are causing cli-mate change. As I have stressed in the previous posts in this series, for this to succeed, the fo-cus must be on the small-scale farmers who are already feeding more than 70% of the world’s

population, and who are best placed to intensify agroecological farming in their countries.

There are already successful examples of farmers using agroecology. From the grassroots, these practitioners are promoting change. In addition to their efforts, though, broad political support for agroecology is needed.

Political leaders must ask the following ques-tions in order to achieve a successful transition to agroecology:l How can the major impediments to the

progress of agroecology be overcome?l What are the radical changes needed in

agricultural policies, the new priorities for re-search and innovation, and the strategies for bringing consumers closer to producers?l How can the use of agroecological produc-

tion systems be scaled up in ways that are spe-cific to each major context and include the par-ticipation of farmers?

Entrenched interests, including agribusi-nesses, commercial seed and fertilizer compa-nies, philanthropic organizations, and the World Bank, among others, are promoting a misleading narrative that large scale industrial agriculture will be necessary for “feeding the world” when the global population reaches 9 billion in 2050. This is not the case. The world already produces enough to feed 9 billion people. Hunger is a result of a globally dysfunctional agro-food sys-tem, not a lack of overall sup-ply of food. Much of today’s ag-ricultural production is either used for feeding animals, or for biofuels, or is wasted. Coun-tries like India have huge sur-pluses of grain that are rotting in warehouses, while there are still a large number of citizens suffering from hunger and malnutrition.

It is essential that political energy be focused in the right direction–not simply on producing more food, but in adapting the entire food system to be more effective in the ways that count–nourish-ing people and the planet.

A new book by IFOAM (The International Foundation for Organic Agriculture) addresses this idea and provides recommendations for the transformation to agroecology. The book discuss-

es, among other things, significant investment in research and develop of new economic paradigms that penalize environmental degradation and reward practices that protect and promote biodi-versity and ecological wellbeing. The authors also call for a flagship research program on agroecolo-gy and agroecological transition. This is essential to overcoming the disadvantaged position – even exclusion – of agroecological research from major funding mechanisms, including climate finance. Groundswell International fully endorses the suggestions from IFOAM, which are presented below with a link to the full publication.

The following is an excerpt from IFOAM’s new book Feeding the People: Agroecology for Nourishing the World and Transforming the Agri-Food System: Just as the industrial, mechanized systems of monoculture that trans-formed post-war global agriculture could only be installed with massive public investments and the concerted efforts of all the relevant seg-ments of society, so too will the next transforma-tion of agriculture in a world beset by climate change and persistent hunger require a similar concerted effort for its success – an effort that

involves science, research and technology combined with adequate policies and economic incentives.

The Way Forward for Agroecology and the Trans-formation of the Global In-dustrial Agro-Food Systeml Funds must be pro-

vided and opportunities created for scaling up the best agroecological sys-tems and integrating them into a coherent supply and value chain.l National and inter-

national trade agreements must support the develop-ment of regional food sys-tems.l Training and exten-

sion work for agroecological production and fair trade must be integrated into academic and vo-cational education programmes.l Significant investment is now needed to

research and develop new economic paradigms that penalize business models contributing to environmental degradation, and reward those that protect and promote biodiversity, and elim-inate environmental pollution and other harm-ful practices. While research into agroecology in its broadest sense has delivered results, that research has been largely decoupled from the study of economics.l Final product prices must reflect the true

costs of production by internalizing all the ex-ternalities, particularly pollution, and carbon emissions of industrial farming systems.l A detailed review is needed of the exist-

ing WTO rules, including its trade and agricul-tural policy measures, in order to strengthen food security, food sovereignty and sustainable rural development. Other relevant agreements should also be examined, such as those on anti-dumping, public procurement and the agree-ment on services.l The disadvantaged position—even exclu-

sion—of agroecological research from major funding mechanisms must be overcome. Agr-oecology is an innovative form of food production that offers huge potential, not only to provide better food but also to remedy the environmental destruction that now threatens human societies.l It is imperative that we break free of our

collective dependency on the industrial agro-food systems that is under-serving the people and destroying the environment – it is also achievable, because the necessary agroecologi-cal systems do exist and are ready for deploy-ment as soon as we have a conducive institu-tional and political environment.

Courtesy: groundswellinternational.org

editoria

l

entrenched interests, including agribusinesses,

commercial seed and fertilizer companies,

philanthropic organizations, and the World Bank, among

others, are promoting a misleading narrative that

large scale industrial agriculture will be

necessary for “feeding the world” when the global

population reaches 9 billion in 2050

DiD you knowgoats and sheep don’t have teeth on their upper jaw. They have a hard palate that helps them grind their food.

PuTTiNg agroeCoLogY iNTo PraCTiCe

January 201604 DiD you knowThe term “biotechnology” is thought to have been first used in 1919 by Karoly ereky.

National biotechnology programme launched

In a significant decision, the gov-ernment launched a national programme which aims to turn India into a biotechnology hub

and the sector into a US$ 100 billion industry with focus in areas of health-care, food and nutrition, clean energy and education.

The National Biotechnology De-velopment Strategy 2015-2020 pro-gramme which was launched by the Department of Biotechnology under the Ministry of Science and Technol-ogy is aimed at ensuring strategic and focused investment in building human capital by setting up a Life Science and Biotechnology Education Council which will spearhead the initiative.

Under the programme, which was unveiled by Minister of Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan, research

will be intensified in the field of vac-cines, humane genome, infectious and chronic diseases, crop science, animal agriculture and aqua culture, food and

nutrition, environmental management and technologies for clean energy.

The mission is also backed with sig-nificant investments to boost creation

of new biotech products, creating a strong infrastructure for research and development, commercialization, and empowering human resources scientifi-cally and technologically.

“Before formulating the strategy, we asked for response from people, which included stakeholders only after which we came to a conclusion,” Dr Harsh Vardhan said.

A major component of the pro-gramme will be training of work force and this includes dual degree pro-grammes which will cover both the as-pect of core science and business appli-cability. It will also focus on enhancing research opportunities in basic, disci-

plinary and inter-disciplinary sciences, foster global and national alliances.

“The exchange programme will also be thrown open for teachers at the un-dergraduate and post-graduate level. We are also opening 20 bio-connect centres in universities across the coun-tries, which can help in interface be-tween academia and industry,” Renu Swarup, a senior scientist and an advi-sor to DBT said.

Swarup added that through the pro-gramme, the DBT also wants to create a technology development and transla-tion network across India with global partnership, including five new clus-ters, 40 biotech incubators.

Vijay Raghvan, Secretary of DBT said the progress of the project will be reviewed and proper mechanism will be put in place to do so.

The skilled resource on this front will be absorbed in the proposed mega food parks that will not

only drastically curtail the wastage of food products but enable farmers get their due”, said the Minister of State for Food Processing Industries.

A total of 138 food processing projects have been approved in the country which will transform the sector in the next few years, Union Minister Sadhvi

Niranjan Jyoti said.With the execution of the approved

projects, the sector is likely to transform in the next few years, Jyoti said at a conference on food processing organised by industry body PHD Chamber. Skill-ing is being scaled up in 11 states and gradually it will be expanded to rest of the country, she said. “The skilled re-source on this front will be absorbed in the proposed mega food parks that will not only drastically curtail the wastage of food products but enable farmers get their due”, said the Minister of State for Food Processing Industries.

PHD Chamber President Mahesh Gupta emphasised that to realise the maximum potential in food processing sector, skill development is vital. “The government should focus on skill de-velopment in various sectors. In a vast country like India, swift growth in the economy can only be achieved through sufficient skilled manpower which should match the requirement of the in-dustry”, Gupta added.

“The exchange programme will also be thrown open for teachers at the undergraduate and post-graduate level. We are also opening 20 bio-connect centres in universities across the countries, which can help in interface between academia and industry”—reNu SwaruP, a seniorscientist and an advisor to dBT

“The skilled resource on this front will be absorbed in the proposed mega food parks that will not only drastically curtail the wastage of food products but enable farmers get their due”—SadhVi NiraNjaN jyoti Minister of State for Food Processing Industries

138 food processing projects approved

January 201605

Capital Finance International (CFI.co)—a print journal and digital resource platform re-

porting on business, economics and fi-nance—has honoured Asia Plantation Capital as the ‘Best Sustainable Asset Forestry Management Team—Global’, in its Asset Management Awards for 2014. The judges recognised Asia Plan-tation Capital’s contribution to the en-vironment, and acknowledged the com-pany’s effective and dedicated focus on sustainability, while simultaneously de-livering excellent results as a business.

In announcing the award, Capi-tal Finance International said, “Our winner, Asia Plantation Capital, has projects across four continents and as-sets owned or under management that are expected to exceed US$1 billion in the not too distant future. Asia Planta-tion Capital works sensitively with lo-cal communities to provide much need-ed investment, as well as social and cultural support, in order to discourage deforestation and illegal logging activi-ties. We are happy to note that locals employed by Asia Plantation Capital are very well treated and provided with meaningful opportunities to improve their economic prospects in ways that protect and nourish the environments in which they live.”

Established officially in 2008 (al-though operating privately since 2002) the group now has plantation and agri-cultural projects on four continents, with operational projects at various stages in Thailand, Malaysia, China, Laos, India, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Viet-nam, North America and Europe.

indian Poultry exporters eye Hong Kong market

Hong Kong has announced the opening of its market for Indian chicken and eggs two months after Ku-

wait lifted a ban on import of poultry products from the country.

This opens up a big opportunity for Indian exporters. The Hong Kong market for poultry products is worth $2 billion. Even if Indian exporters capture 10 per cent this in 2016-17, India’s export of poultry products will triple to $300 million from $106 mil-lion in 2014-15.

Many countries had banned im-ports of poultry products from India following the outbreak of avian in-fluenza in a number of epicentres in 2012. While Saudi Arabia opened its market in 2014, Kuwait and Hong

Kong opened theirs this year follow-ing quality assurances from the gov-ernment.

“Opening up of the Hong Kong mar-ket is a good development for India as large players with compartmental-ised risk mitigation facilities, espe-

cially for avian influenza, can initiate shipments of poultry,” said UK Vats, deputy general manager in charge of poultry products at the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda).

The directorate of food of Hong Kong, has, however, allowed import of eggs, egg powder, liquid and yolk from India with strict quality condi-tions. Consignments of eggs must be produced and packed in avian influen-za-free areas and transported in new or sanitised material. Consignments must also be accompanied by health certificates. Exporters are advised to follow the guidelines when exporting egg products to Hong Kong, failing which they face a fine of HK $50,000 or prosecution.

An integrated farming model, developed by the All India Co-ordinated Research Project on

Integrated Farming at the Assam Ag-ricultural University, has been able to earn a net return of upto Rs 1.60 lakh per hectare under rainfed situation.

Trials to develop an organic farm-ing package on a system basis have also been conducted under the project. Two systems have already been de-veloped while scientists are working on the third. At present, a farmers participatory on-farm programme is being implemented in Kamrup (ru-ral) district under which three sets of trials on nutrient management under rainfed situation with pre-flood and post-flood rice are under way. A pres-entation of this model and other ex-periments was made by Ajit Baishya, chief agronomist, farming system, of AICRP at a meet held recently and was attended by more than 90 scien-tists from across the country.

Baishya said they conducted trials

in holdings of 36 farmers, 24 marginal and 12 small, belonging to three vil-lages each in Boko and Samaria ar-eas of Kamrup (rural) district. “In the farmers’ fields, we took into account soil fertility, including micro-nutrients or their deficiencies, and showed the farmers how waste could be utilised to make fodder, fertilizer and gobar gas,” he said. Since Assam is mostly rainfed,

the technology incorporates rain har-vesting in low-lying basins, where fish of different varieties can also be har-vested, he added.

“We put in fingerlings in March-April and harvest them before Bhoga-li Bihu in January. The pond water is then used to water the fields for rabi, the winter crop, when rainfall is mini-mum. The sediment at the bottom is

used up after two years and is very fertile,” he said. Under the project, pigs and hens were provided to the farmers free of cost. “We showed the farmers how three to four crops could be sown annually and which soil and climate was suitable for which crop,” he said.

Baishya said high-yielding and fast-growing varieties of rice and pulses had been introduced and had become very popular among farm-ers. He said the whole system allows minimal waste, thus reducing farm-ing costs tremendously and increas-ing profits.

Trial on drought-bedded furrow system is under way. Under this, extra water received during kharif season is used for planting crops like sesame and corn. “The rule is that a farming system should yield at least Rs 1.20 lakh per hectare but we have shown that Rs 1.60 returns can be had from our model,” Baishya said.

—The Telegraph

Asia Plantation Capital wins

“Opening up of the Hong Kong market is a good develop-ment for India as large players with compartmentalised risk mitigation facilities, especially for avian influenza, can initiate shipments of poultry”—uK VatS, deputy generalmanager, Apeda Food Products Export development Authority

DiD you knowsome breeds of chickens can lay colored eggs. The ameraucana and araucana can lay eggs of green or blue.

High-return farming model

January 201606 DiD you knoweating about 20 tart cherries a day could reduce inflammatory pain and headache pain.

vodafone partners on digitising agriculture

Vodafone Australia has an-nounced a partnership that will see the telecommunica-tions provider help develop an

online platform for Australian farmers as part of an effort to “digitally trans-form” the agriculture industry.

The three initiatives, led by the Na-tional Farmers’ Federation (NFF), will see the establishment of an online plat-form to be used by farmers; the forma-tion of an agricultural startup incuba-tor named Sprout; and the founding of the Digital Agriculture Service (DAS).The online platform, developed between the NFF and Vodafone and slated to go live in May 2016, will provide farmers, agribusiness services, and consumers with a source for news, market infor-mation, weather updates, blogs, com-mentary, a platform for campaigns and policy development, and information on best management practice. Accord-ing to Vodafone chief strategy officer and director of Corporate Affairs Dan Lloyd, Vodafone’s participation in the online platform builds on the telco’s

commitment to strengthening commu-nications services in regional areas.

“There are 6 million Australians liv-ing and working in regional areas, in-cluding over 100,000 farmers, and for too long they have been disadvantaged by a lack of mobile competition and choice of provider,” Lloyd said.

“We know the cost to Australian telco consumers of lack of competition is AU$3.1 billion each year. That’s AU$3.1 billion which could be driving growth, but instead is holding back the country, especially in regional areas.

“Vodafone is proud to be the champi-on for improved regional telecommuni-cations services and increased competi-tion to address the digital divide. This agreement supports our advocacy of a better deal for regional Australians, and builds on our commitment which includes rolling out 70 new regional mobile sites under the federal govern-ment’s mobile blackspots program.”

Vodafone head of Machine to Ma-chine (M2M) for APAC, Justin Nelson, said the telco would also be able to pro-

vide insights to Australian farmers on using M2M technology.

“This agreement will enable us to work even more closely with farmers, agribusinesses, and consumers to cap-ture the opportunities for mobile tech-nology to drive agricultural productiv-ity,” Nelson said.

“There are enormous benefits for Australian farmers and agribusinesses through ‘precision agriculture’, includ-ing solutions which can measure soil moisture, monitor water levels, and de-liver live updates from the field.

“M2M can help farmers to work smarter and faster, with more preci-sion and accuracy, and ultimately im-prove their livelihoods.”

Vodafone Australia CEO Inaki Berroeta recently outlined regional expansion plans to bring telco serv-ices competition across all areas of the country in an effort to improve choice and therefore pricing for those living in remote areas. According to the chief executive, Vodafone’s 4G network now reaches 97 percent of the Australian metropolitan population, with plans to have its entire network 4G-enabled by Q1 2016. He warned that without competition in regional areas, Aus-tralia will be left behind by the global digital revolution.

“Mobile technology has a big part to play in building a productive and truly national digital economy. By optimis-ing the use of next-generation mobility, we can leverage Australia’s strengths in industries such as agriculture, edu-cation, transport, healthcare, and tour-ism,” Berroeta said, speaking at an American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (AmCham) event in October.

“It is well understood that telecom-munications is a critical area of the economy. It can drive jobs, innovation, and productivity, but a lack of competi-tion and innovation in the sector will hold the economy back.” Vodafone re-cently signed a AU$900 million, 15-year dark fibre deal with Australia’s number three fixed-line operator, TPG, which will see TPG build out an extra 4,000km of fibre to connect Vodafone’s cell towers across Australia by mid-2018 in an ef-fort to reach more regions.

The Madras high court has asked the Union government to look into a plea for extension of crop

insurance to all individual farmers in Tamil Nadu without any crop or topo-graphical restrictions.

Closing a petition filed by former MLA M Appavu, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kis-han Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathy-anarayana observed, “The issue of ag-riculture crop insurance is important, as agriculture in India is still depend-ent on the vagaries of nature. Food for teaming millions is a necessity and it would be difficult to countenance a position where the agriculturist finds himself in a position where he even seeks to abandon, this important as-pect of use qua the land by the society,

to meet the needs of the people. Thus, the security for the agriculturist in respect of the crops grown by them is certainly a matter of concern”.

Earlier, in its counter, the Union government stated that the experi-mental process was on and it may require some more time. The Union government also said, “Keeping in view the large number of fragmented holdings and lack of yield data/weath-er data of individual farmers and the lack of infrastructure and prepared-ness at State level, it may not be ad-ministratively possible at present, to implement crop insurance scheme at individual level on cost effective basis”.

The bench said, “We are sure that the Central government will look into all these aspects with the technical assistance of experts to endeavour for the individual crop process as may be feasible as early as possible”.

—Deccan Chronicle

“Mobile technology has a big part to play in building a productive and truly national digital economy. By optimis-ing the use of next-generation mobility, we can leverage Australia’s strengths in industries such as agriculture, education, transport, healthcare and tourism”—iNaKi Berroeta, CEO, Vodafone Australia

The agricultural sector has been identified as being the next digital revolution front, with Vodafone partnering up with the National Farmers’ Federation to deliver an online platform

Extend crop insurance to all farmers

January 201607 DiD you knowThere was no grass during the time of the dinosaurs. grass evolved from bamboo-like plants only 24 million years ago.

n Punit Pania

Fashion’ to me has always been something of a luxury. It is almost by definition, something more than the bare basics. This home-

made definition works when it comes to clothes, furniture, vehicles etc. And now even medicine or food. Of course you need to take medicine when the doctor recommends it. But why wait? One can now take various ‘wellness’ products in anticipation. You can buy normal groundnut oil that your family has been safely consuming for genera-tions or consume the newer more ex-pensive variety which includes some much-touted but scarcely documented trademark ingredients. Fashion is also expensive, obscenely and unapologeti-cally not by inherent value, but a policy of exclusion, that all things fashion-able are out of reach for the masses. It makes good business sense and gives the actual buyers peace of mind know-ing they will not run into anyone else wearing a 8k designer cap!

But I had to revisit these very no-tions of mine when it came to food. Often, we come across horrors in the news – ‘bacterial count in 5-star food as high as that in road-side vendors’ food’, ‘melamine in milk’, ‘Chinese food requires ingredients that cause cancer’, ‘Oxytocin being injected into cows and even melons’, ‘popular snack foods con-tain plastic (burn to see the evidence!)’, ‘pesticides in cold drinks and other food items’, ‘wax coatings to make imported fruits look more imported’ and many more. If we were to believe everything e-mail forwards and ‘news-tainment’ channels throw at us, we would start thinking we are lucky to be alive.

So what then can one do and how much we need to worry about? The an-swer may be organic food. Like many new adages, organic food is one of those terms that we are aware of but the meaning is not understood complete-ly. A simple definition is food grown by traditional farming methods. This means no or minimal use of fertilizers, pesticides, preservatives, artificial rip-ening agents and bio-engineered seeds, but taking full advantage of modern knowledge about farming practices and crop science. Advocates of organic farming will tell you that organic goes beyond just avoiding artificial chemi-cal agents. It is a way of life. It means the cattle be allowed to live peacefully with ample space for grazing and work-ers working in safe conditions. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

The only problem is organic farm-ing cannot feed the world. Many peo-ple still die of malnutrition around

the world. The level of food production we have now reached is thanks to the green and white revolutions. These de-pended, in large part, on fertilizers and pesticides.

But why organic?l More nutritious – Higher concen-trations of beneficial substances such as anti-oxidants.l Safer – Also, since no chemical fer-tilizers and pesticides are used, it is safer to be consumed.l Better taste – Because all natural substances are used in cultivation, or-ganic food is bound to taste better.

what doeS reSearch Say?Research into benefits of organic food has remained fashionably uncertain. It seems the stakes involved here are too high for an unbiased report to surface. While some report slightly higher level of nutrients and lesser levels of pesti-cides, other reports simply do not find any difference.

Chemicals, if present, are usually in trace amounts. One would have to consume a whole lot of the tainted pro-duce at one go for it to have deleteri-ous health effects. If a product is im-mediately fatal, it would not make it to the market. Even if it did, the product would not make good business sense. But the very thought of chemicals

meant to kill hardy pests being present in the food you cook for your children can be disconcerting. It would seem that this is a worry which only the af-fluent can afford to have. But the rate at which organic food has grown into a global industry; it is clear to be more than just the very affluent who are buying into this insur-ance against tainted food.

Market trendOrganic is gaining popu-larity in the west. There are set standards for prod-ucts to be deemed organic. In India, it is still in a nascent stage. The concept of organic can be very broad-based: spices that are hand-pounded, bread made from wheat that is grown organi-cally, milk from cows that are fed only grass, ‘feet-crushed’ wine from ‘private vineyards’ and so on. With no regula-tory structure in place, any product can masquerade as organic and charge premium for nothing. Over the coming months and years, you will notice the organic food section in your neighbour-hood mall expanding from a kiosk to an entire aisle. And as this happens, one is bound to wonder if some products just

end up on the organic shelf suo motu. All we can do is read the label carefully and go by ex-perience.

Many products are self-proclaimed ‘cholesterol-free’ gifts-to-mankind. But as any health enthusiast would know, choles-terol is what is formed by the human body from triglycerides. So no plant-based prod-uct like potato chips contains cholesterol per se. Animal based products like cheese

can contain cholesterol. It is that easy to deceive naïve consumers.

I set out to investigate. I have not seen a tomato that is decently shaped in years, i.e. a text-book flowery pattern rather than a pulpy uncertain shape. Sometimes, vegetables emit a distinctly chemical odor. So I visited one of the few dedicated organic food stores that have managed to stay in business. It may not be fair to judge by one purchase or very scientific in design. But it’s bet-ter than being ‘not statistically signifi-cant’. Smell and taste were comparable. All in all, the prices too were more or less comparable to traditional markets and other modern format stores. All the other vegetables too were comparable to regular produce.

We should also be aware of ‘im-ported’ fruits and vegetables. Imagine something with such a short shelf life being transported across oceans. It is only possible due to preservatives. Not only can it prove bad for your health, but also damaging to the environment. Because we are happy to pay more than double the price for NZ and even ‘China apples’, these products make it here burning criminal amounts of fos-sil fuel. This is one more reason to opt for organic food and one which does not need elaborate theories of proof.

Since no preservatives are to be used, most organic products that you come across will be those grown locally. Theoretically, this also means fewer middlemen, hence lesser inflation in price. So our advice is, try it if possible. It will not pinch your pocket too much and it can’t do any harm.

—Courtesy: HealthJockey

gLoBaL marKeT size of orgaNiC fruiTs & vegeTaBLes To reaCH aBouT $62.97 BiLLioN BY 2020

the global market size of organic fruits & vegetables is projected to reach about $ 62.97 Billion by 2020, at a cAGR of 9.4% from 2015, with the increasing consumption of organic fruits and vegetables in various forms. Furthermore, rising opportuni-

ties in emerging markets such as India, china, and Brazil are projected to augment the size of the organic fruits & vegetables market during the forecast period. In 2014, North America was the largest market for organic fruits & vegetables. the market in the Asia-Pacific region is projected to grow at the highest cAGR during the forecast period, followed by europe.

organic fruits & vegetables are those which are produced without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, GMos, antibiotics, and hormones for growth. the cover crops method of farming and compost manure are used to increase the fertility of the soil. the permitted pesticides for organic farming include naturally grown pesticides, which meet organic standards.

organically grown fruits & vegetables have higher nutrition and are safer, which eliminates the hazards caused by synthetic chemicals. organic fruits & vegetables such as strawberries, banana, apple, spinach, broccoli, and kale also have medicinal benefits such as reducing inflammation, enhancing immunity, and prevention of cancer.

the report provides both, qualitative and quantitative analyses of the market for organic fruits and vegetables. It includes the market dynamics, opportunities, trends, competitive strategies preferred by key market players, the driving factors that boost the growth of the market, and restraints of the market.

BeNefiTs of orgaNiC food: faCT or fad?

siNCe No PreservaTives are To Be used, mosT orgaNiC ProduCTs THaT You Come aCross WiLL Be THose groWN LoCaLLY. THeoreTiCaLLY, THis aLso meaNs feWer middLemeN, HeNCe Lesser iNfLaTioN iN PriCe. so our adviCe is, TrY iT if PossiBLe. iT WiLL NoT PiNCH Your PoCKeT Too muCH aNd iT CaN’T do aNY Harm

January 201608 DiD you knowPulse is a derivation from the Latin words puls or pultis meaning “thick soup”.Pulse contains over 1,800 different species.

declare Telangana a ‘millet state’

Millet farmers in Telangana have sought state govern-ment’s support to expand the production of organic

food grains in the state. In order to en-courage more farmers to switch to the profitable millet cultivation, the millet farmers appealed to the state govern-ment to declare Telangana a ‘Millet State’.

During the inauguration of the fourth national convention of the Mil-let Network of India (MINI) here on Wednesday, millet farmers, activists and scientists highlighted the growth of millet farming in state. Telangana has perfect conditions for millet farm-ing. It has the potential to become the

most profitable crop for farmers in Te-langna, owing to the dry weather and limited availability of water resources here, said P V Satheesh, national con-vener of MINI and Director of Deccan Development Society (DDS).

Delivering keynote address, Satheesh also highlighted the impor-tance of sustainable agriculture in stable economies. Policymakers must

focus on production of crops like millet which have both nutrition and com-mercial values. He urged the govern-ment to extend the benefits of existing agricultural policy to millet farming.

C Parthasarathi, Principal Secre-tary (Agriculture), said the importance of millets was increasing by the day. This trend could lead to second Green Revolution through its combination of nature, ecology and local farmers’ wel-fare.

Addressing the farmers, he said the minimum support price and creation of demand for millets are two most im-portant factors. In order to earn profits, farmers should label their products as organic food products and supply them to cities where organic products were in huge demand, he said.

The two-day convention is being held at the Centre for Economic and Social

Studies in the city. The event will fea-ture discussions on food safety, food production, nutrition values and cli-mate change. Millet farmers from vari-ous states, scientists, activists would take part in the discussions. At the end of the sessions, convention would come up with a deceleration on millets as a tool to end hunger and address malnu-trition, the organisers said.

ICAR releases 50 improved vegetables varietiesThe Indian Council of Agricultural

Research (ICAR) has released a total number of 50 improved/

hybrid/resistant varieties of vegetables like tomato, ladies finger, french beans, chillies, brinjal, amaranthus, palak, bot-tle gourd, bitter gourd, cabbage, capsi-cum, carrot, cauliflower, cucumber etc. suitable to hilly regions. The production costs are comparatively lower and they give better returns to the farmers.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India under the scheme Mission for Integrat-ed Development of Horticulture pro-vides financial assistance for adopting modernized methods of production of vegetables. Various components of the scheme are production and distribution of improved varieties of vegetable seeds, area expansion under hybrid varieties of vegetables, protected cultivation of vegetables under controlled conditions, promotion of micro irrigation and fus-tigation, integrated nutrient, pest and disease management, good agricultural practices, human resource development,

organic farming, horticulture mechani-zation etc. This information was given by the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Mohanbhai Kaly-anjibhai Kundaria in Lok Sabha.

ICAR is an autonomous organisa-tion under the Department of Agricul-

tural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. Former-ly known as Imperial Council of Agri-cultural Research, it was established on 16 July 1929 as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 in pursuance of the report of the Royal Commission on Agriculture.

A total number of 50improved/hybrid/resistant varieties of vegetables like tomato, ladies finger, french beans, chillies, brinjal, amaran-thus, palak, bottle gourd etc. suitable to hilly regions

Telangana principal secretary (agriculture) C Parthasarathi releasing ‘Widening Wings: millet network of india 2015’ at the fourth National Convention of millet Network of india at the Centre for economic and social studies(Cess) in Hyderabad, Cess director s galab and others are also seen.

January 201609

Seeds have played a major role in the growth of the Indian agri-culture sector and represent the

basic and most critical input for sus-tainable farming. During the past five years, the seeds market in India has grown at a CAGR of 12%, nearly twice as fast as the global seeds market. In terms of market volumes, rice, wheat and maize currently account for most of this market. Cotton, however, repre-sents the biggest segment in terms of market values.

Traditionally, farmers in India have used seeds that were saved from the previous year harvest. Although, such seeds lose their yield and strength with time, they still account for nearly two thirds of the total seeds market in India. The commercial market for seeds, though comparatively small, is currently experiencing healthy growth rates. The sector consists of both or-ganized and unorganized manufac-turers. The organised sector consists of both public and private companies. Public companies currently have a stronger focus on producing high-vol-ume low-cost seeds. On the contrary, private manufacturers, produce low-volume high-cost seeds.

Seed Industry in India: Market Trends, Structure, Growth, Key Play-ers and Forecast provide an analytical and statistical insight into the Indian seeds market. The research study serves as an exceptional tool to under-stand the drivers, challenges, market size, structure, production, competi-tive landscape and the outlook of the seeds market in India. This report can serve as an excellent guide for inves-tors, researchers, consultants, mar-keting strategists and all those who are planning to foray into the seed in-dustry in India in any form.

The practice of incorporating machinery for farming began in the 19th century in Brit-ain and US, and has evolved

over time. However, over the last cen-tury, farm and agri-equipment has witnessed mostly incremental innova-tion. Agricultural machinery, essen-tially, is any type of machinery used to aid in speed or efficacy in agricultural operations. It includes an array of equipment used for various stages of production: for tilling, planting, trans-planting, spewing fertilizers and pesti-cides, irrigation, and more. Equipment like tractors, cultivators, ploughs and harrows, de-stoners, tillers, sorters, and more, are some of the most com-mon agri-mechanization equipment. Of late, trucks, airplanes and heli-copters are being used for farming in North America due to large fields, in the absence of manual labour.

Agricultural machinery manufac-turers are at the forefront of change and evolution of the agriculture sector giving rise to modern day integrated farm management approach. Popu-lation growth, urbanization, higher productivity demand with a shrink-ing agricultural land base throughout the globe, are only some of the fac-tors which have led to the growth of total agriculture machinery demand. Apart from developed countries, devel-oping countries exhibit strategies to minimize food insecurities in a world

plagued by erratic weather conditions. This has amounted to a slow, but steady adoption of modern agri-ma-chinery and equipment by developing countries as well. Quite clearly, tech-nology advancement for developing more efficient products while keeping in mind the country specific require-ments will provide opportunities for future growth of the sector.

Besides a massive scope for devel-opment, the major constraints the sector is facing are: environmental

constraints, fluctuating prices of farm commodities, erratic weather condi-tions, labour availability, and more. All these factors affect the growth rate of the agricultural sector. That, in turn, affects the agri-machinery industry.

North American, European and Australian markets are some of the more affluent, urbanized markets with between 700-1850 tractors per 1000

farmers. This number dwindles down to 3-5 tractors per thousand farmers in areas in Asia Pacific (countries like India, China), and Africa (especially sub-Saharan Africa). Regionally In-dia and China provide great scope of growth due to continued support from government bodies. Globally, Agri machinery market is expected to grow at 8.00% over 2015-2020.

In terms of types of implements, tractors are the most common equip-ment across the world. These come in large ticket sizes with high horse-power for the more affluent markets, and in smaller sizes to fit the needs of smallholder farmers in the develop-ing world. Combine harvesters are the next most abundantly used farm im-plements. There are other implements like ploughs, harrows, and more which are popular in affluent markets and farms to increase productivity per hectare and to meet strict produce standards specified for imports by a number of countries. The global ag-ricultural machinery and equipment industry is rife with high competition among renowned players like Deere and Company, AGCO Corp., CNH In-dustrial N.V, Iseki & Co. Ltd., Kuhn Group, Kverneland Group, Mahindra, Holland and Escorts Group operating in market place. The companies strive to strengthen their base on product features, pricing, quality, scale of op-eration and technology innovation.

The National Green Tribunal ban on coal mining and transporta-tion of coal in Meghalaya’s Jain-

tia Hills region has resulted in many of those engaged in the activity switching to turmeric farming for their livelihood.

For the past one year, these coal-miners, who previously practised un-scientific mining and transportation of coal, have taken to cultivation of famed curcumin-rich Lakadong turmeric va-rieties at their villages in East Jaintia Hills District.

D Rymbai, a resident, invested in turmeric cultivation in his six-acre barren land at Moolamylliang village. Rymbai owned a few coal mines at the

village and never thought of farming as a viable alternative to coal mining until April last year when the NGT is-sued the blanket ban. “After the NGT ban, I was disillusioned as to what to do for my livelihood. We had become so dependent on coal mining prior to the ban,” Rymbai said.

Like Rymbai, almost 90 per cent of the residents of the village were to-tally dependent on money that came from coal. Rat-hole coal mining took over in the early 90s and in a span of 20 years, one could see holes dug up everywhere in the village land in search of coal and even paddy fields were not spared. The April 2014 order

of the NGT came as a game changer as people started looking for alternative source of income.

District Horticulture officer G Dohling says that the department has come up with a turmeric hub to pro-mote cultivation of the famed Laka-dong variety of turmeric. The hub was built at a cost of Rs 50 lakh, funds from the 13th Finance Commission, and will benefit the local farmers, he said.

Meghalaya produces over 8,000 MT of turmeric in a year and majority of this production is concentrated in Jain-tia Hills and Garo Hills region because of the favourable micro-climatic and soil conditions.

Seed Industry in India: Market Trends and Forecast

The global agriculturalmachinery and equipment industry is rife with high competition among renowned players like deere and Company, AGCO Corp., CNH Industrial N.V, Kuhn Group, Kverneland Group, Mahindra, Holland and Escorts Group operating in market place

Coal miners switch to turmeric farming in Meghalaya

global agricultural machinery marketGeography-Market Shares, Forecasts and Trends (2015-2020)

DiD you knowThe banana plant can grow as high as 20 feet tall. Bananas are about 99.5% fat free.

January 201610 DiD you knowif you grew 100 apple trees from the seeds of one tree, they would all be different.

At the U.N. climate negotia-tions, Conservation Inter-national (CI) announced the launch of the Sustainable Cof-

fee Challenge—a call to action to make coffee the first sustainable agricultural product in the world. The announce-ment comes as ministers gather to write a new climate agreement and as mo-mentum builds for businesses to take direct action to combat climate change.

The Sustainable Coffee Challenge aims to transform coffee production, moving specialty and mainstream pro-ducers toward sustainability. It will convene industry, conservation and agricultural development partners to develop a common framework for sus-tainability in the coffee sector. Over the next 100 days, CI will formalize en-gagement with partners for the Chal-lenge, while developing a plan to drive the industry toward total sustainabil-ity. The initial plan of action will be unveiled to coincide with the 4th World Coffee Conference next March in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Currently, nearly half of the world’s coffee is being produced according to a sustainability standard, a figure that does not yet account for a number of recent significant investments made

by the sector to support farmers in their transition to more sustainable practices. Yet only 12% was sold as sustainable coffee in the market. The Sustainable Coffee Challenge will work to strengthen demand for sustainably produced coffee and better account for progress made within the sector.

“We need a common definition of sus-tainability for the coffee sector,” said Peter Seligmann, Chairman and CEO of Conservation International. “This will require commitments by roasters to support increased demand for sustain-ability. It will also require improved measurement of how far the sector has come in the sustainability journey— and just how far we have to go.”

CI kicks off this challenge with key partners including Starbucks Coffee Company, Specialty Coffee Associa-tion of America (SCAA), IDH The Sus-tainable Trade Initiative, 4C Associa-tion, Allegro Coffee Company, Ceres, Committee on Sustainability Assess-ment (COSA), Counter Culture Cof-fee, ECOM Agroindustrial Corp. Ltd., Fair Trade America, Finance Alliance for Sustainable Trade (FAST), Human-ist Institute for Co-operation with De-veloping Countries (HIVOS), Keurig Green Mountain Inc., Lutheran World

Relief, Pelican Rouge Coffee Roasters B.V., S&D Coffee & Tea, Solidaridad and SustainAbility.

“The longevity of the coffee indus-try is directly linked to the social, eco-nomic and environmental conditions of coffee communities around the world and at Starbucks we are committed to sourcing all of our coffee in the most ethical way possible that is good for the planet,” said Craig Russell, executive vice president, Starbucks Global Cof-fee. “We are proud to be a part of the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, a call to action for the industry focused on cre-ating meaningful and lasting solutions to ensure farmer and family livelihoods for generations to come.”

“The Specialty Coffee Association of America has maintained a commit-ment to the support of sustainable cof-fee production for more than a decade as a core value of its members,” said Ric Rhinehart, Executive Director of the SCAA. “We are pleased to demon-strate that commitment once again, and to drive for coffee to realize its po-tential as a fully sustainable crop. This challenge can be met when we dedicate our efforts in transparent and collabo-rative initiatives like the Sustainable Coffee Challenge.”

“IDH, The Sustainable Trade Ini-tiative and the Sustainable Coffee Program are excited by this partner-

ship in the coffee sector which builds strongly on the broad public private Vision 2020 collaboration agreed ear-lier this year by ICO (International Coffee Organisation), 4C Association Platform and IDH (Program Manage-ment of the Sustainable Coffee Pro-gram SCP),” said Ted van der Put, Member of the Executive Board of IDH. “The Sustainable Coffee Chal-lenge will enable greater coordination of efforts and effective use of resourc-es as more coffee sector stakeholders deepen their commitment to long-term sustainable production. It also has a big potential to accelerate the interest of roasters globally to offtake sustain-ably produced coffee. “

The Sustainable Coffee Challenge comes at a time when nearly every ma-jor coffee-producing region of the world is feeling the impacts of climate change. Even as consumer demand increases -- people drink 600 billion cups of coffee every year, and the coffee industry is a US$ 22 billion business -- warming temperatures, drought and changing weather patterns are affecting coffee production.

Yet the industry has a part to play in reversing climate change. Halting de-forestation globally, including through fostering sustainable farming practices in coffee production, can provide more than 30% of the carbon sequestration and storage needed to limit global tem-perature rise to safe levels.

As its plan goes into effect, the Chal-lenge will stimulate economic develop-ment across the industry and benefit the lives of 25 million coffee producers, the majority of whom are small-scale farmers. It will also provide environ-mental benefits, including the conser-vation of vital forests that help fight climate change by storing carbon diox-ide from the atmosphere and also pro-tect freshwater resources.

—Paris/Arlington, Va. USA (PRWeb.com via Comtext)

The Sustainable CoffeeChallenge aims to transform coffee production, moving specialty and mainstream producers toward sustainability. It will convene industry, conservation and agricultural development partners to develop a common framework for sustainability in the coffee sector

CaN Coffee BeCome THe WorLd’s

firsT susTaiNaBLeagriCuLTuraL ProduCT?

January 201611

As many as 5,650 farmers and 6,750 agricultural labourers com-mitted suicides in 2014, accord-

ing to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, Parliament was in-formed today.

As per the NCRB report for the years 2012 and 2013, the total number of suicides under the profession self em-ployment -farming or agriculture were 13,754 and 11,772, respectively.

For 2014, the NCRB delineated for the first time the number of suicides under two categories—farmers and ag-ricultural labourers.

However, it was not immediately clear whether the data for previous years included suicides committed by agriculture labourers or whether it is comparable with the 2014 data.

According to the NCRB report, the major causes of suicides by farmers are; bankruptcy or indebtedness, farming re-lated issues (failure of crops, distress due to natural calamities, inability to sell produce), poverty, family problems, ill-ness and other causes, Minister of State for Agriculture Mohanbhai Kundaria said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

He also informed that NCRB report for the year 2015 has not been pub-lished. The minister said the Depart-ment of Agriculture has been designing and adopting various schemes and pro-grammes based on National Policy on Farmers 2007. In accordance with the guidelines of these schemes and pro-grammes and the applicable pattern of fund sharing between Centre and the states, he added.

Catch them young appears to be the new mantra of the In-dian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). For, the

council is thinking of recommending to the authorities to introduce agricul-ture in the school syllabus in a bid to attract students towards agricultural education and research right from the tender age.

Speaking at the inauguration of the global alumni meet organised by the University of Agricultural Sciences-Bengaluru Alumni Association here, ICAR Director-General S. Ayyappan said presently most of the talented youth were choosing medical and en-gineering courses, especially IT.

“There is a dire need to attract tal-ent to agricultural education to help the country’s farm sector. To ensure this, we must start creating aware-ness among them about agriculture and agri-education right from school,” he said. Stressing the need to create public awareness that agriculture is actually a “harvest of hope” and “not

despair”, he made an appeal to the retired agricultural scientists to join hands with ICAR in mentoring farm-ers and taking forward the mission of knowledge-based farming.

“Farmers have often expressed a view that there is no substitute to a scientist of standing visiting them to provide first-hand assistance,” he said,

requesting retired scientists to visit fields and district-level Krishi Vigyan Kendras as and when they get time to share their experience and expertise.

Pointing out that UAS-B Alumni Association with 9,600 members was one of the unique ones in the coun-try that had statutory status and was known for the high reputation of its members, he called upon the associa-tion to mentor the agricultural sec-tor of not just the State, but also the country. Expressing concern that the latest survey by ICAR had put the average post-harvest losses of vari-ous crops at Rs. 95,000 crore a year, he called for giving impetus to food processing and value addition to pre-vent such losses.

The unseasonal rains this year has been the pivotal factor for the two major spices. Pepper

production is likely to be down while Cardamom is poised for bumper out-put. As 2015 is drawing to a close, reviewing the outlook of two promi-nent commodities in the spices family would be timely. Pepper and Carda-mom would step into 2016 with en-tirely different fundamentals.

The unseasonal rains this year has been the pivotal factor that de-cided the fate of these two commodi-ties. Pepper production is likely to be down while Cardamom is poised for bumper output.As a result of the

damage caused by the untimely rains in the growing regions, India’s pep-per output will be down by 12,000 MT in 2016, as per data by Inter-national Pepper Community(IPC). IPC projects Indian pepper output at 53,000 MT as compared to the cur-rent year estimate of 65,000 MT.

The import projection for the coun-try during next year is 11,500 MT as compared to 10,000 MT. As for export, the figures are 21,500 MT and 28,000 MT, respectively. Meanwhile, traders expect Cardamom output in 2015 to come around 25,000-30,000 tonnes. This estimate marks one of the high-est in the recent times.

5,650 farmers, 6,750 agri labourers committed suicide in 2014

“There is a dire need to attract talent to agricultural education to help the country’s farm sector. To ensure this, we must start creating awareness among them about agriculture and agri-education right from school”— S. ayyaPPaN director-General, ICAR

How the rains change outlook for India’s Pepper, Cardamom

Teach agriculture in school: iCar chief

DiD you know17,000 years ago, humans gathered the seeds of plants and ate them. after rubbing off the husks, early people chewed the kernels raw, parched or simmered.

January 201612 DiD you knowalpaca wool comes in 22 natural colours, the most of any wool-producing animal.

The prevailing uncertainty of glo-bal output is what forced the In-dian Government to mull an ad-

vanced estimate for pulses import. The year 2015 has been a bad year for pulses in India as short supply and sky rocket-ing prices shook the country. As pulses have a special place in the country’s diet, the government is gearing upto avoid further trouble with pulses in 2016.

National media has reported that the Food Ministry has written to Com-merce Ministry urging them to prepare an advance estimate for pulses import. This helps the private traders to source pulses from different countries.

The decline in domestic output had forced India to boost import of pulses this year. But drought in major produc-ing countries like Myanmar, Canada and Australia led to fall in global output of pulses. This prevailing uncertainty of global output is what forced the Indian Government to mull an advanced esti-mate for pulses import.

As per official data, the government, through MMTC, has imported 5,000 tonne of tur Malawi/Mozambique and allocated it to States with a subsidy of Rs. 10 per kg for retail sale to consum-ers, to improve availability and to help moderate prices.

Export of all pulses is banned except kabuli channa and up to 10,000MTs in organic pulses and lentils. Zero import duty on pulses has been extended till 30.9.2016. Stock limits on pulses has been extended till 30.9.2016.

The government raised MSP (includ-ing bonus) for kharif pulses by Rs.275 per qtl. for Tur and Urad, and and Rs. 250 per qtl. For Moong. MSP has also been raised for rabi pulses by Rs.325 per qtl. for Gram and Masoor.

Tata International, the unlisted trading and distribution arm of Tata Group, is betting big on agriculture business in Africa

and planning to set up cleaning and processing units in that continent. The company, which has presence across 12 countries in the Africa continent, is also looking to expand footprint to two more countries. Nearly 18 months ago, the company through a step-down subsidiary – Tata Africa Holdings (Tanzania) Ltd – began sourcing and

exporting commodities to countries including India, China, Myanmar and certain European countries. “This will be one of the major growth areas for us in Africa and will bring in additional revenues,” said Ajay Mehra, Executive Director of Tata Africa Holdings (Tan-zania), but did not reveal the expected increase in revenues.

Now, the company intends to set up its own establishments such as col-lection points across the African na-tions to source the farm produces, and cleaning and processing units, ahead of the forthcoming harvest season.

“Initially, we were buying from ag-gregators…. Now, we intend to deal directly with farmers,” Mehra, who is also the country head for Tata Inter-national in Tanzania, said.

He, however, did not provide a in-vestments required to set up its own establishment. The company has made a “significant” investment in terms of working capital, personnel and infrastructure, he added.

At present, the company sources commodities such as pulses (from Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi and Mo-zambique), sesame seeds (many of the African countries including Tan-zania, Nigeria, Kenya), cashew nuts (Tanzania) and coffee (Uganda). The company has already exported about 5,000 tonnes of pulses (toor daal, green moong and chick peas) and 1,000 tonnes of cashew. Tata Interna-tional, which also trades in chemicals, healthcare and general trading, had posted revenues of $2.2 billion for the financial year ended March 31, 2015.

angola and ethiopiaThe company is also looking to expand its footprint to two more countries – Angola and Ethiopia—in the con-tinent. At present, the company has presence across 12 countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Af-rica, Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Senegal). The company’s experiment ‘Grow More Pulses’ jointly with anoth-er group company Rallis India and Se-lian Agricultural Research Institute of Tanzania would benefit India, a large consumers of pulses in the world.

Domestic and global prices are down, the tyre industry is wit-nessing a slowdown. Is there

hope for rubber farmers in 2016? Rub-ber farmers in India had a low-key Christmas this year (and last year too), with prices hitting the rock bot-tom. However, as the fundamentals suggest they are unlikely to have a bright year in 2016 also.

2015 has been one of the worst years for the plantations. Prices plunged to unimaginable depths-Rs 100 per kg which is an eight-year-low. What supports a bleak outlook in 2016 is the slowdown in the tyre industry caused by low demand for

India to boost Pulses imports amidst uncertain global output

“This will be one of the major growth areas for us in Africa and will bring in additional revenues. Initially, we were buying from aggregators…. Now, we intend to deal directly with farmers”—ajay mehra, Executivedirector of Tata Africa Holdings (Tanzania)

Will bleak outlook continue for India Natural Rubber in 2016?

Tata international plans to widen agri-business in africa

truck and bus tyres. Unable to man-age the production costs, farmers in Kerala where 90% of the country’s total rubber output comes from, have abandoned tapping. As a result of this, production suffered. Natural Rubber output declined by 15 per cent in Oc-tober and by 17 per cent in November, according to Rubber Board data. The tapping has not shown progress in December too.

To make things worse the global price of rubber is down too. At Rs 79 per kg the international price is less than nearly 23 per cent than in India. Under this situation, the bleak outlook is likely to continue in 2016 also.

January 2016 DiD you knowHoneybees make out faces the same way we do. They take parts—like eyebrows, lips, and ears—and cobble them together to make out the whole face.13

These fluffy wool pillows support sustainable agriculture

The winter after Cecilia Tkaczyk didn’t win re-election to the New York State Senate was a particularly frigid one. In up-

state New York, where she has a small sheep farm, the floors of her old house became so cold that she noticed her dog shivering all the time. Even in his bed, the short-haired coonhound mix had trouble warming up. So, she ripped out the dog bed’s polyester fill and replaced it with wool. “There was a noticeable difference in my dog’s comfort,” Tkaczyk told me, and the idea for a new compa-

ny, Cece’s Wool, was born.The sheep that are raised for meat

and milk have shorter wool than breeds that are prized for producing yarn. But even these short haired breeds still get sheared once a year, usually in the spring, not only to help the sheep stay cool through the summer but also to help lambs find their mother’s ud-der and latch on. This wool is usually just thrown away, because it’s not re-ally suitable for spinning into yarn. But Tkaczyk became fascinated with finding other uses for it. She soon partnered up with the Kyle Farm, in Avon, New York, which has a flock of some 1,000 sheep to source wool, and Greenfleece Fiber Mill, another New York business, to pick and process the wool into batting. Pet beds where Tkaczyk’s original inspira-tion, but soon she was coming up with other uses for this under-used material. “When I saw the quality of the batting, I thought, ‘I’m putting this in pillows!’ ”

She wanted the product to come from local farmers like herself, and to also help support farms that use sustain-able practices. The Kyle Farm is part of the Genesee Valley Conservancy, and is careful to ensure good land-use prac-tices. “When I look at a farm were I get wool from, I want to see how they’re tak-ing care of the animals and how they’re taking care of the land,” she said.

Local production is also part of the business model. The products made for Cece’s Wool are assembled and sewn at Herkimer Industries, a company pro-vides jobs to people with developmental disabilities. “It’s great to see people get-ting involved,” said Tkaczyk. “They also package and store my pillows, and fill my orders.”

Wool fill pillows have many of the same advantages as a wool sweater, particularly when compared to synthet-ic fill. Tkaczyk said that wool not only keeps your head warm as you sleep, but also breaths and controls humidity. “I find I have a longer sleep, because you’re not going to wake up with your face sweating.” These conditions also mean your pillows won’t be attractive to dust mites. Currently the pillows and beds are sold online and at farmer’s markets. Tkaczyk hopes that as the company grows, the farms where the wool is produced could also sell the pil-lows along with their cheese and meat. Each pillow would have a small tag that says the name of the farm where the batting came from. “I think it’s really important to know where the products that we’re using come from.”

Expressing concern over farm-ers’ deaths due to crop failure, caused by natural disasters, in

the last one year, Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot today demanded that the Raje government accord “industry” status to agriculture so that it could avail facilities and benefits on a par with an industry.

Rajasthan should show the way to the entire country by declaring “agri-culture” as an industry and provide benefits and tax concessions to poor farmers of the state, he said.

About 60 farmers have committed suicide after their crop failed owing to adverse climatic changes during Rabi

(early 2015) and Kharif (late 2015) seasons yet the state government has not come up with any contingency plan to help them or compensate their crop losses despite having ‘girdwari’ (crop assessment) report collected from farm areas, Pilot said.

Every year in Kharif or Rabi crop seasons, farmers bore the brunt of natural calamities such as rains, hail-storm or fire incidents, and yet there was no permanent solution or compen-sation provided to them by the state government, and whatever offered was meagre, delayed assistance or crop in-surance benefit, he added.

If industry status is granted to ag-

riculture, farmers would be eligible for easy loans, insurance, access to mar-ket, FDI proposals, diesel, credit and subsidy, Pilot said, adding farmers would be secure.

Attacking the Raje government for its apathy towards peasants, the Ra-jasthan Pradesh Congress Committee President alleged that before coming to power, BJP made a lot of prom-ises during “Swaraj Sankalp Yatra”, but none was fulfilled so far in spirit, and it appeared that the Raje gov-ernment neither had any interest to-wards peasants, nor she had any will to do it.

—The Economic Times

A former New York State Senator is turning an under-appreciated agricultural product into a local business

Accord industry status to agriculture: Sachin Pilot

WooL fiLL PiLLoWsHave maNY of THe same advaNTages as a WooL

sWeaTer, ParTiCuLarLY WHeN ComPared To sYNTHeTiC fiLL. TKaCzYK said THaT WooL NoT

oNLY KeePs Your Head Warm as You sLeeP, BuT aLso BreaTHs aNd

CoNTroLs HumidiTY

January 201614 DiD you knowThe capsicum plant which produces chillies are actually fruits and not vegetables. it comes from the same solanaceae family as tomatoes and potatoes.

A new development form the Department of Primary In-dustries (DPI) could take the guess work out of cattle speci-

fications for good. A team of research scientists are developing a system which uses a three dimensional cam-era, such as an Xbox camera, to assess livestock’s specifications. A demonstra-tion and talk about the 3D imagery and how it could help livestock breeders was given by the research team at the DPI’s Best Beef Field Day, hosted at the Glen Innes Agricultural Research Station on Thursday, November 26. DPI senior research scientist Malcolm McPhee, Armidale, said the camera would be a production tool graziers could use to determine certain beef specifications.

The research has used experts’ sub-jective measurements of cattle speci-fication as the gold standard and has produced a science to deliver an objec-tive reading on factors like muscle, fat and frame. Although subjective specifi-cation measurements could be reliable, Mr McPhee said they could be consid-ered inaccurate, as people’s opinions on specifications could differ.

The point of the camera is to provide farmers with a simple, objective read-

ing of their cattle’s specifications that are judged the same every time. DPI livestock research officer Brad Walms-ley, Armidale, said on average 10 to 20 per cent of cattle sent to abattoirs were penalised for not meeting specifications.

Farmers were losing close to $35 for each beast that didn’t meet speci-fications, which meant if 20,000 cattle were penalised, they would see a loss of $700,000. “It’s a major loss of profitabil-ity for the industry,” Mr Walmsley said.

It was hoped the camera system would spark more understanding among farmers of what was required of them from their end markets and how they could go about further developing these specifications in their herd. Mr Walmsley said it could also be used for making decisions regarding a grazier’s end market, as they would know what they’re delivering to the abattoir before they’re trucked and sold. “It would al-low them to be a bit more flexible with their end markets,” he said.

The 3D imagery is still in the pro-duction phase but the DPI are hop-ing to make it available to farmers as soon as possible. Mr Walmsley said there was plenty of possibility for the 3D imagery, which could include mak-ing assessments on things like animal welfare. They’re also hoping to make the system able to be incorporated into everyday cattle work, so farmers aren’t having to bring their cattle to the yards just to use the system.

Courtesy: The Land

CAARA to launch ‘farm to table’ philosophy

The aim is to surprise, stimulate and satisfy. Both art and food do that flawlessly. When they come

together, they’re a potent concoction of illimitable energy that provides nu-trition to the soul and nourishment to the senses. With the launch of CAARA Café (Culinary Arts and Research Acad-emy) at the British Council in Delhi, its founders Ambika Seth, 29, and Alice Helme, 28, are spending each moment of their working hours inside the sun-kissed environs of their little food haven that serves responsibly sourced, chemi-cal-free food.

What they follow at CAARA is a very simple ‘farm to table’ philosophy, where-in locally sourced produce is transported from their farms directly to the kitchen tables before being incorporated into intelligently designed recipes. “What we do differently is that we give farm-ers their monetary due; sometimes even more. In our practice, the farmers get what they deserve and we get good qual-ity harvest,” says Seth. “Because we feel reducing poverty is the most cru-cial thing in today’s time, we have also introduced the CAARA Cafe Rise-Up initiative under which we train under-

privileged youths through internships that help them gain knowledge and puts them in a better position to secure jobs.”

As you walk through the entrance of the black and white British Council building, an architectural marvel in its own right, your expectations about the new things it has to offer automatically begin to build. You are almost never disappointed. Launching CAARA with-in its premises has been a very smart strategic move as the new café will

benefit from the council’s existing rep-utation of being one of the most cred-ible academic spaces in the city, and the latter will benefit from CAARA’s fresh concept and even fresher food. “This is a very European concept but it has huge scope in India. While you have something to eat and drink, you can also glance through the works that have been put up,” says Helme. The uniqueness of CAARA lies in the fact that its space cannot be defined. Each

time you visit the café, it’s positioning changes a bit, thanks to the movable walls of the gallery space. With a new exhibition, a new format appears. The billing bar-cum-food display counter is perhaps only constant.

Of all the things available at the café, Helme and Seth make a strong case for the cold-pressed juices such as carrot, apple, beetroot, lemon, ginger, turmeric, watermelon and others. “The fact that we use the cold-press technique—where a hydraulic press is used to extract the juice from fruits or vegetables—these can be stored for a month, keeping the freshness intact,” says Helme, sliding a glass of one of her favourite flavours, wa-termelon, in our direction.

The other food items have also been designed in a way to offer generous doses of health and vitality. The menu comprises dairy-free items, wheat-free items, gluten-free items, pure vegetar-ian dishes, eggless dishes, and vegan options. “We try and add at least one ingredient acquired from the farm into each of the dishes served here,” says Seth, telling us about some of the spe-cials from the menu such as the Corona-tion Chicken Sandwich, Super Food Sal-ad (broccoli, pumpkin, beetroot, green beans, pomegranate, feta, almonds, French vinaigrette) and more.

“The point of the camera is to provide farmers with a simple, objective reading of their cattle’s specifications that are judged the same every time. dPI livestock research officer Brad Walmsley, Armidale, said on average 10 to 20 per cent of cattle sent to abattoirs were penalised for not meeting specifications

3d imagery takes the guess work out of cattle specifications

January 201615 DiD you knoweven though certain parts of tulips are toxic, petals have been used as food during the second World War.

ediTor-iN-CHiefS Sharan

maNagiNg ediTorSharat Bhardwaj

exeCuTive ediTor Nirmesh Singh

assoCiaTe ediTorsShipra PandeySumedha

ediToriaL BoardDr Pawan SinghDr Sudhir SahiRaghu Raghvendra RaoAjay Kr SinghSidhartha tiwariAmitabh AshKundan KumarAmit Kr SinghRavi Ranjan GurariyarShiivesh GargNaleen Kumar (jaipur Bureau)

saLes & marKeTiNgMithlesh tiwari

desigNAarjav jain

CoPY rigHT@ fLair BooKsedited, owned & Published byShakti Sharan SinghFlAIR BooKSe/28, Sector-03, Noida, UP-201301, IndiaMobile: +91 9899978110 +91 9718858127email: agrinationindia@gmail.com

PriNTed BY: Arkay Associates, e-03, Sector-03, Noida, UP-201301

ISSUe IV n jANUARY 2016

n 3rd aSSaMinternational agri horti Show 2016

Indian Chamber of Com-merce (ICC) in association

with Directorate of Horticul-ture & Food recessing & the Directorate of Agriculture, Government of Assam is go-ing to organize 3rd Assam In-ternational Agri Horti Show form 6 - 9 January 2016 at College of Veterinary Science Playground, Guwahati, As-sam. The 3rd Assam Interna-tional Agri-Horti Show is the 3rd international Exposition in Assam for Innovation and Inspiration in Horticulture, Floriculture and allied sectors after immensely successful 1st & 2nd Show. The Expo pro-poses to have a Horti and Agri exhibition, seminars, network gatherings, flower shows, farmer meets, and other high profile events. The Show, which went “International” for the first time in 2014 and has seen participation of 15 countries and more than 80 international delegates.

The said Expo is the hor-ticultural and agricultural trade show with the most innovations in the fields of plant breeding, greenhouse and cultivation technique. All of this would make the Expo the main event for the profes-sional producer of fresh veg-etables, flowers and plants in

the State of Assam.

n internationalwater SuMMit 2016Date: 18 to 21-january, 2016location: Abu Dhabi National exhibitions centre / Abu Dhabi / United Arab emirates

Based in Abu Dhabi, a glo-bal hub for water innova-

tion, IWS is at the heart of the water-energy nexus; the only place where the world’s water and energy experts come to-gether. At IWS, policymakers, scientists and business lead-ers tackle the urgent water challenges of the municipal, industrial and real estate sec-

tors. IWS fosters global col-laboration and the sharing of best practice, forges network-ing and partnerships, stimu-lates innovation and enables business opportunities.

n Seed induStryprograM19–22 january 2016Bengaluru, India

Key Focus areas of the program: l A deeper un-

derstanding of the business growth drivers, research man-agement, technology access through licensing, regulatory,

market access factors and business restructuringl Identifying and under-standing the emerging models of seed development and de-livery in a public-private part-nership model Case studies that bring new paradigm thinking among participants on demonstrated models for accelerated inno-vation generation and absorp-tion.l Enhancing product develop-ment process through conven-tional breeding and through biotechnology application.l Discussion on regulatory mechanisms and market ac-

cess factors for genetically modified crops.

n agri BuSineSSShow 2016

Agri-Business Show 2016 is the most comprehen-

sive agriculture Exhibition to be held from 26th to 28th Jan-uary, 2016 at CIAL Exhibi-tion Centre in Cochin, Kerala and will have a special focus to cover all segments of agri-culture, Horticulture & Flori-culture. The main aim of this exposition is to promote and develop these sectors and re-

lated trade by disseminating information and knowledge in organic farming, horticulture, floriculture and marketing to farmers, small farmer groups, processors traders, NG0s, de-velopment organizations and other interested parties. The show will also focus on devel-oping farm entrepreneurship, farm mechanization, nodal organic farm display, process-ing units and technology de-velopment.

n welcoMe togujtech induStrial expo 2016

Gujtech Industrial Expo 2016 is first of its kind

expo, which is going to be held from 5th to 7th February at AES Ground, Helmet Circle, Ahemdabad, Gujarat, India. In this Exhibition various sec-tor industries will participate to get quality product suppli-ers and MSMEs will be able to display their quality and capacity to relevant indus-tries. Gujtech is an exclusive platform for MSMEs of Gu-jarat and all over the world. Gujtech Industrial Expo 2016 is matured fruit of continuous demands from various indus-trial estates of Gujarat. This industrial expo will enable MSMEs to showcase their products/services to large sec-tor industries and MSMEs of national and international.

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January 201616 DiD you knowit takes 100 pounds of rain water to produce a single pound of food from the earth.

THe HumBLe PoTaToThe potato is one of the world’s

most important foods. If you ever get stuck on a desert is-land, make sure you have

some potatoes with you. 2016 is such a significant year for us all in Ireland. It is the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, a huge milestone on Ireland’s journey towards independence. I sus-pect it will be a time to reflect on our identity as a nation, and our place among the nations of the world. As we commemorate this traumatic pe-riod in Ireland’s birth, we will remember the major milestones of the past – two great wars, con-flict both on and off of our island, economic booms and busts and the coming of age of ra-dio, TV and the internet – all of which has helped define who we are now.

But we should also use this time to look at Ireland’s contributions to the rest of the world as we march forward into our second century. We are blessed with our next generation of young people – educated, articulate, adventurous and brave, and with the

national streak of creativity that has so far produced no fewer than nine No-bel Laureates. We have a tremendous record on international aid and human rights and our defense forces are glo-bally respected for their peacekeeping abilities. But perhaps our greatest gift to the world is the least lauded and most unexpected – the humble, and very nutritious, spud.

The potato, as we know, is more Irish than Guinness, The Dubliners and the Mountains of Mourne wrapped up together. It is embedded in our na-tional psyche, a part of our rich and tragic history. Our dependence on the potato as a solitary crop was one rea-

son behind Ireland’s mass starvation in the mid-1800s, when the dreaded pota-to blight got a firm grip, causing fami-lies to be wiped out or forever broken apart by mass emigration. We learnt from our heartbreak, and although still a huge part of our agricultural land-

scape, never again will Ireland be so reliant on just one crop.

The potato is one of the world’s most important foods. If you ever get stuck on a desert island, make sure you have some potatoes with you, as they has all the vitamins and nutrients that you need to survive. Potatoes grow easily in diverse conditions, and require much less water than other staples, such as rice or wheat.

All of these factors make this amaz-ing food source a vital food in the de-veloping world and in particular to the rural farming families of Ethiopia and Eritrea, where its cultivation under the Vita Potato Program is lifting them out of the poverty net by the tens of thou-sands. There are over six million potato farmers in East Africa who can benefit from the program as the coalition is de-signed to scale out into at least six sub-Saharan countries.

It’s an extraordinary thing to see this Irish knowledge flow into these

African countries and trans-form the lives of many

thousands of farm families. As Ire-

land reflects on the last one hun-dred years, we need to recog-nize and respect the potato and the role it has

played in defin-ing us, while en-

suring that Vita and the rest of the Irish Potato

Coalition can deliver this in-credible food source to families that

need it most. Courtesy: Irishcentral

THe PoTaTo is oNe of THe WorLd’s mosT imPorTaNT foods. if You ever geT sTuCK oN a deserT isLaNd, maKe sure You Have some PoTaToes WiTH You, as THeY Has aLL THe viTamiNs aNd NuTrieNTs THaT You Need To survive