Weather information, just an SMS away
The new service launched through the farmers’ portal
The Agriculture Department has launched SMS service to give instant information to farmers about weather forecasts and agriculture activities such as plant protection measures, fertiliser application and crop insurance.
The service has been launched through the farmers’ portal, using the Farm Crop Management System (FCMS), developed by the State Government, Joint Director of Agriculture N.V.Krishnamoorthi said.
The SMS service in Tamil, which was launched on an experimental basis last week, has received good response.
The farmers were sent 58 types of messages. Mobile phone numbers of 1.78 lakh farmers with the size of land holdings and pattern of crop cultivation have been stored in the FCMS, developed in partnership with IIT-Madras’ Rural Technology and Business Incubator (RTBI).
Plan to export 10,000 tonnes of banana to Gulf countries
Measures taken to expand area under tissue-cultured banana cultivation
Massive plans are on to export 10,000 tonnes of banana to the Gulf countries from the district, according to Agricultural Production Commissioner Sandeep Saxena.
Inspecting hybrid banana farms in Chinnamanur near here on Thursday, he said that the quality of banana being grown in the district was very good and the fruits were uniform in colour. Moreover, their shelf life was also long and the fruits met all requirements for export.
While taking steps to tap export markets, measures were being taken to expand the area under tissue-cultured banana cultivation to 10,000 hectares from the present 6,000 hectares to meet the growing demand, he added.
The State government had allotted Rs.1.2 lakh crore for agriculture development under its Vision 2023 Plan, according special importance to 10 crops including banana. All required technologies and advanced crop management techniques would be offered to farmers to boost production and scale down production costs.
With effective propagation of drip irrigation system among banana growers, almost all of them in the district had switched over to drip irrigation. Such facility had scaled down use of fertilizers, reduced maintenance costs and cut down weed growth in farms. Moreover, the use of water too reduced substantially. All required inputs reached the root directly and it protected soil fertility.
Form clusters
The Commissioner also advised farmers to form banana clusters to produce banana on a large scale and to enable buyers to procure banana from one spot. Moreover, clusters could handle bulk orders easily and ensure instant supply of large quantities of banana in uniform quality and size. Cluster members would get more assistance under the National Horticulture Mission. Ultimately, profit margin would go up if they sold their produces through clusters, he advised.
Horticulture Commissioner Satyapradha Sahu said that Theni district topped in the State in banana production and stood in the seventh place as far as total area under banana cultivation was concerned.
Collector K.S. Palanisamy said that the government had constructed a banana processing and ripening chamber to process banana at source.
Besides, seven private processing centres too have been functioning to meet the growing demand.
Earlier, banana growers had sent the raw banana to Bangalore for ripening. Some progressive farmers had been exporting hybrid banana to Singapore and Central Asian countries, he added.
The Commissioners also visited farms at Vadapudhupatti, Madhurapuri, Unjampatti villages.
‘ICT, the way forward for farm extension’
The contribution of agricultural extension — the mechanism of transferring scientific knowledge to farmers — to production ranges from around 17 per cent in paddy to 40 per cent in commercial crops, said S. Ayyappan, Director-General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), on Sunday.
With only 30 to 60 per cent of farm technologies reaching farmers, the role of farm extension had never been more important to the agricultural sector, Dr. Ayyappan said. He was delivering the valedictory address at the international conference on ‘Extension educational strategies for sustainable agricultural development’ at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore.
‘Greatest challenge’
While scientific and technological innovations had been significant in the area of agriculture, communicating these to farmers had been the greatest challenge to farm extension workers, he said. “There are 60 crore farmers to be reached, and countless languages involved.”
Information and communication technology (ICT) could prove an important tool in agricultural extension, he said. For instance, the Kisan Call Centre, had proved hugely popular and had received around 30 crore messages from farmers in a year and a half. “It is a different matter that farmers complain that the [call centre] number is busy all the time,” he said. “Without ICT, the recent cyclones could have proved disastrous,” he added.
Whether they are major innovations or basic information about the use of products, one cannot underestimate the importance of communication, he said. He cited the example of pesticides, where manufacturers often fail to inform farmers in clear terms, precise information about usage. “As a result, farmers overuse pesticide and we have issues of chemical residue on crops.”
However, ICT apart, India needs to improve the “density” of village-level workers, in whom farmers place implicit trust, Dr. Ayyappan said.
Recommendations
Vice-Chancellor of the UAS-B K. Narayana Gowda said the recommendations made at the conference, including a proposed all-India coordinated research project, which has been on the anvil for a while, should be implemented to strengthen the extension programme in the country.
Chiranjeev Singh, former Additional Chief Secretary to the State government, and A.G. Sawant, president of the International Society of Extension Education, spoke.
Disease hits standing Bt cotton crop
The Bt cotton crop standing on 13,000 hectares of land at several villages of Perambalur district has been affected by three distinct diseases, causing anxiety among farmers.
A team of scientists from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tiruchi, along with officials of the Agriculture Department inspected the cotton fields in various villages on Monday and evolved a strategy for saving the standing crop.
Perambalur is the leading cotton-producing district in the State and cotton crop had been raised on over 31,000 hectares of land during this Aadi pattam, coinciding with August. Sudden withering of the crop was caused by fungal disease, leaf hopper, and micro nutrient deficiency, particularly deficiency in magnesium, and the expert team noticed during Monday’s visit. The yield is likely to be affected between 10 and 50 per cent. Timely intervention could save the crop to a great extent, they told farmers. Sudden rainfall, a prolonged lull in the rainfall, and uneven distribution of showers, have all contributed to current crisis. To the experts surprise, the crop raised in September was free from any attack, as flowing was yet to commence in these fields. Although Bt cotton was expected to prevent any disease, scientists say that leaf hopper and magnesium deficiency were inevitable.
The team suggested application of 200 ml of either Hexa cona zole or Proti cona zone per acre.
To tackle leaf hopper, it recommended application of 50 ml of Imidacloprid per acre or Fipronil 80 per cent water disposable granule 20 gram per acre. To tide over magnesium deficiency, the team suggested application of a mixture of five grams of magnesium sulphate and 10 grams of urea per litre.
The team was led by Kanagasabai, Joint Director of Agriculture in-charge, and comprised G. Gajendran, professor and head, Department of Plant Protection, D. Dinakaran, professor, Plant Pathology, T. Anandan, assistant professor, Plant Pathology, all from ADAC and RI, and R. Kavimani, professor and head of Cotton Research Station, Veppanthattai.
The issue cropped up at the farmers’ grievances day meeting held on Thursday, when Raja Chidambaram, state secretary of the Tamizhaga Vivasayigal Sangam, drew the attention of the district administration to the plight of cotton farmers.
He said that the farmers had incurred a huge expenditure of about Rs. 40,000 an acre and the phenomenon of the diseases was peculiar to them. He demanded adequate compensation to the affected farmers.
Creating a transparent market for cotton growers
Appachi eco-logic cotton project is a unique organic cotton contract farm model in the Western Ghats region of Kabini Reservoir.
The project covers nearly 1,200 farmers spread over 1,875 acres. Over 17 per cent of the area comes under reserve forests of both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and exposing the cultivation fields to wild animal attacks is forcing farmers to start cotton cultivation on a mono cropping basis instead of food crops.
Past story
For growing cotton the farmers for a long time were using only chemical fertilizers and pesticides extensively, thus destroying the soil fertility and the ecology besides paying a huge amount to buy the inputs.
“To begin with, the process, right from procuring seeds to selling the harvested produce, proved a nightmare for them since seeds would not be available on time and local moneylenders and middlemen used to fleece them since most of the farmers were either small, marginal or tribal growers,” says Mr. Arun Balamatti, Programme Coordinator, JSS Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Suttur, Nanjanagud Taluk, Mysore.
These inherent problems opened up a tremendous opportunity for Appachi cotton to try to bridge this gap, and carry the farmers through a value chain that would ultimately improve their lifestyle.
The firm entered into a contract with the growers and registered it with the Agriculture Marketing Department, Govt. of Karnataka. It tied up with selected seed companies for exclusively supplying non Bt cotton seeds, as very few companies provide non Bt seeds separately for organic farming purpose.
Advance payment
“For this, we had to pay 100 per cent advance money to the companies to secure non Bt cotton seeds. Each farmer was supplied one packet of seeds on an interest free credit. Many farmers do not own cattle, hence they needed support in sourcing organic inputs such as FYM, neem oil, bio pesticides etc.
We sourced all the critical inputs and distributed them on credit basis to the participating farmers,” says Mr. Mani Chinnaswamy, Managing Director, Appachi Eco-Logic Cotton Pvt. Ltd.
Apart from providing timely inputs, the firm regularly conducted training and hands-on workshops for capacity building among the farmers.
Selected farmers’ representatives were taken on exposure visit to Pollachi, Tamil Nadu to show them the ginning, spinning and weaving process and to make them understand the value of production and supply of clean cotton which ultimately decides the quality of the end product (the fabric).
Appachi sources its purchases from the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC), five days a week. This is the only APMC in India where organic cotton is traded.
A price fixing committee is formed with farmer representatives who decide on the weekly prices every Saturday. This is a first initiative of its kind in India, where farmers have a say in deciding the price for their own commodity.
Fixed price
The price fixed by the committee is valid for the ensuing week; the price so fixed is communicated through voice SMS and bulk SMS to all the registered farmers. Best quality Bt cotton has been sold for Rs.5,500 a quintal.
“We have tried to bring in transparency at all levels; an exclusive cotton bag is designed to avoid contamination and to enable easy transportation; weighing is done with an electronic scale An organic premium of five per cent is offered for in-conversion fields for the first and second year farmers and a 10 per cent premium for third year growers. We ensure cash and carry system for all purchases,” explains Mr. Mani.
520 tons
As many as 52 truck loads (about 520 tons) of pure organic cotton has been supplied by farmers this season in the last two months, despite heavy rains affecting the crop at harvesting season.
“Appachi is aware that organic cotton alone would not be enough to ensure livelihood improvement of the small and marginal farmers. organic cotton apart, it encourages farmers to grow other organic crops such as ragi, maize, pulses and vegetables, which will be bought after the end of cotton season. We are lending technical assistance to the project,” says Mr. Arun.
For more details interested readers can contact Mr. Mani Chinnaswamy, Managing Director, Appachi Eco-Logic Cotton Pvt. Ltd.,46, Meenkarai Road, Zamin Uthukuli, Pollachi, Tamil Nadu - 642 004, phone: 4259 234666 and mobile: 096880 44000.
