Global News Post: Agriculture

Ghana Introduces Drought-Tolerant Maize to Improve Food Security

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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">An NNN-GNA Feature by Audrey Dekalu<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">ACCRA</span></st1:city></st1:place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (NNN-GNA) -- To Aba Antobam, a
subsistence Farmer, maize is her life blood. The crop is her main source of
income to cater for every need of her family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">However, buying improved maize seeds such as
hybrid varieties is a huge gamble for <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Aba</st1:place></st1:city>
since the rainy season could be erratic, leading to unforeseen loss of income
and capital.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In response to these challenges, in March
2010, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ghana</st1:place></st1:country-region>
introduced a drought-tolerant maize which is high yielding and affordable to
manage food security.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The varieties were collaboratively developed
by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ghana</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s Council
for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Crops Research Institute and the
Savanna Agricultural Research Institute.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Manfred Ewool, the lead scientist and a
maize breeder at CSIR, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that the
farmers have welcomed the new varieties and have given them local names to
denote their characteristics and importance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">They are CSIR-Omankwa (giver of life), CSIR
Aburohemaa, (Queen mother of maize), CSIR-Abontem (extra early maize) and
CSIR-Enii Pibi (father’s child).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Ewool explained that it has taken an average
of more than 10 years, to reach millions of Ghanaians with improved
drought-tolerant maize varieties.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">He said events such as the severe floods and
drought of 2007, coupled with unpredicted rainfall patterns and harsh weather
conditions caused by climate change and a rise in global food and fuel prices
have cumulatively heightened the already existing vulnerabilities among people
and communities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Food security exists when all people, at all
times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and
nutritious food, which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an
active and healthy life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Household food security is the application
of the concept to the family level, with individuals within households as the
focus of concern.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Statistics show that a total of 1.2 million
Ghanaians have limited access to sufficient and nutritious food throughout the
year, while another two million are at risk or becoming food insecure during
the lean season or at the onset of a natural or man-made disaster.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">These figures constitute between five to 10
per cent of the total population, but the majority of people at risk of food
insecurity are concentrated in Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions
(Provinces).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Ghana</span></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> ranked 68th out of 105 countries
and third in sub-Saharan Africa after <st1:country-region w:st="on">South
 Africa</st1:country-region> (40th) and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Botswana</st1:place></st1:country-region> (47th) with an overall
score of 43.1 out of a possible score of 100. This called for something urgent
to be done to stem the tide.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">With the development of new techniques, all
existing tools to improve agricultural productivity such as biotechnology
deserve careful consideration and should be made available for farmers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Professor Eric Danquah, Director of the West
Africa Centre for Crop Improvement at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Ghana</st1:placename></st1:place>,
said sub-Saharan African governments had paid only lip service to funding
scientific research.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">He called on the government of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ghana</st1:place></st1:country-region> to invest
in the training of a critical mass of scientists in addition to providing the
necessary infrastructure for agricultural development in research institutions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Since maize will remain a crucial part of
the food security equation even while the agricultural economies of the region
diversify, continued investments in both maize research and market institutions
are essential.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">It is therefore important for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ghana</st1:place></st1:country-region> to adapt
local food production in order to manage food security and to address the
uncertainties and threats facing farming communities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The country must also explore ways of
combating food insecurity posed by climate change. -- NNN-GNA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ghana Introduces Drought-Tolerant Maize to Improve Food Security

An NNN-GNA Feature by Audrey Dekalu ACCRA (NNN-GNA) -- To Aba Antobam, a subsistence Farmer, maize is her life blood. The crop is he...

India's Farmers Suicide Epicenter Reports over 600 Suicides in 2012

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<st1:city w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">NEW DELHI</span></st1:city><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">, <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region>
(NNN-Xinhua) -- <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region>'s farmer
suicide epicenter of Vidarbha district in the western state of <st1:place w:st="on">Maharashtra</st1:place> reported three more suicides on Sunday,
adding the total number of suicides of farmers in the region to over 600,
according to local media reports.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Three
more farmers committed suicide in Vidarbha district on the eve of Diwali or
lights festival, taking the toll of farmers' suicide this year to 624, the
Hindu newspaper said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
newspaper quoted Vidarbha Jana Andolan Samiti (VJAS), a social group working
among farmers of Vidarbha, as saying the cultivation cost has almost doubled
this year due to unusual rise in the prices of seeds, fertilizers and labor
rate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
market prices of cash crops like cotton and soyabean are being traded much
lower than that of last year at the same time, said the report.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">There
is no intervention from the government for procurement of these crops as the
Minimum Support Prices, forcing farmers to offload their crops at throw away
prices resulting in heavy financial losses, according to the report.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">This
took place after 60 farmers killed themselves in the Vidarbha in September
after a massive pest attack ruined their crops. --NNN-XINHUA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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India's Farmers Suicide Epicenter Reports over 600 Suicides in 2012

NEW DELHI , India (NNN-Xinhua) -- India 's farmer suicide epicenter of Vidarbha district in the western state of Maharashtra repo...

Rain Deficit Hits India's Leading Rice Producing State

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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">HYDERABAD  (NNN-Bernama) -- Deficient rainfall and severe drought have adversely affected agricultural activities across south Indian state Andhra Pradesh, one of India's leading rice cultivation zones.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rice cultivation has been taken up in only 940,000 hectares this season, known as Kharif cultivation in Indian parlance, compared to the usual 2,648,000 hectares.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This has resulted in fears of a fall in rice output from the state, Press Trust of India reported.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rain deficit has ranged between 3 to 31 per cent in 13 out of 23 districts in the state since the start of the Kharif season on June 1, official sources said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The perennially drought-hit Anantapur district recorded a 31 per cent deficit rainfall followed by Nizamabad at 24 per cent and Nalgonda and Visakhapatnam with 21 per cent each.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Kurnool district received three per cent less than usual rain this season.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On Wednesday, State Revenue Minister N Raghuveera Reddy, Agriculture Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana and Municipal Administration Minister M Maheedhar Reddy reviewed the situation with district collectors via a video conference from Hyderabad.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They had asked the agriculture department to prepare farmers to take up irrigated dry crops as an alternative. --NNN- BERNAMA<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Rain Deficit Hits India's Leading Rice Producing State

HYDERABAD (NNN-Bernama) -- Deficient rainfall and severe drought have adversely affected agricultural activities across south Indian sta...

INDIA: Agriculture Minister to Visit Drought-Affected States

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjwwPUg77kYXPsoF633NewELkBTp3BVNtl4_iimSfGE7Q7TWwF_-vvE7ISXCV244AbbyGkH9t2LJ9ZX5Np5MoDobh1yFMGJOUdSA9_EIS_dlOA7bMyDHiHmlj2Xeq8MZB0wCfXYLjUL5s/s1600/l2012073141564.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjwwPUg77kYXPsoF633NewELkBTp3BVNtl4_iimSfGE7Q7TWwF_-vvE7ISXCV244AbbyGkH9t2LJ9ZX5Np5MoDobh1yFMGJOUdSA9_EIS_dlOA7bMyDHiHmlj2Xeq8MZB0wCfXYLjUL5s/s640/l2012073141564.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The Union Minister for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Sharad Pawar briefing the press on actions being taken by the Government in view of deficient rainfall, in New Delhi on July 31, 2012. Photo © PIB<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">NEW DELHI, India (NNN-Bernama) -- Indian Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar will lead a team to drought-affected areas in four states from Aug 1 to 3 to assess the rain deficit and water scarcity situation there. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sharad will meet with chief ministers of the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan to review the impact of rainfall deficiency on kharif crops, water and fodder availability. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Press Trust of India reported the team comprises between 10 to 12 members including the agriculture secretary, animal husbandry secretary and rural development secretary. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">While India's average of rainfall deficiency is 21 per cent, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan are the hardest hit states. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Different regions in Karnataka have seen rain deficiency between 21 to 44 per cent with the maximum impact felt in the south interior parts of the state. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Western Rajasthan has received 64 per cent less rainfall in the season, while Saurashtra and Kutch regions in Gujarat are short by 78 per cent rainfall, according to weather office data. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Karnataka government has declared drought in 142 taluks (administrative division) and announced Rs 3,500 crore (US$630 million) package to mitigate farmers' suffering. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sowing of pulses and coarse cereals (maize, jowar and bajra) has been affected the most, with paddy cultivation area reduced by 1.8 million hectares. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The government has conceded that agricultural production in 2012-13 will be lower than last year's output. -- NNN-BERNAMA <o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

INDIA: Agriculture Minister to Visit Drought-Affected States

The Union Minister for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Sharad Pawar briefing the press on actions being taken by the Governmen...

Midwest Farmers Battling Worst US Drought in Generation

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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">BLOOMINGTON, Illinois — Record high temperatures and a lack of rainfall are creating the worst drought conditions for U.S. farmers in a generation.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared more than 1,000 counties in 26 states natural disaster areas as crops there deteriorate.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In this year's record setting heat under the hot summer sun, McLean County Illinois farmer Matt Hughes' crops are wilting.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Each day without rainclouds brings new disappointment and worry for Hughes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">"The crop I planted right now - I have more invested in this crop than any other crop in my life," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Hughes says that's because with commodity prices at all-time highs, so is the cost of seed and fertilizer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Now, he's watching his potential profits evaporate.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">"This is the one year that can make or break a lot of farmers," added Hughes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Farmers in Illinois, one of the top corn and soybean producing states in the country, are facing the worst drought conditions in decades.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Part of the corn crop in southern Illinois is already beyond salvage, and the problem is spreading, says Illinois Farm Bureau president Philip Nelson.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">"I will tell you from north to south and east to west, this corn crop is in severe trouble and in dire need of a healthy amount of rainfall," Nelson noted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">June was one of the driest months on record in many parts of the country, depriving corn stalks of much needed water during pollination.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">"We've got over 50 percent of the corn crop in Illinois that's in poor or very poor condition. There are only two states worse than that by the statistics service and that's Missouri and Kentucky," Nelson added.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Nelson says the poor crop has a ripple effect on other farmers throughout the country.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">"The pork is the biggest user of soybean products.  Corn, its biggest user is beef cattle.  So with all due respect, everybody keeps an eye on what type of crop you are raising because it really affects the bottom line of livestock producers in this state," said Nelson.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Whatever the bottom line is for Matt Hughes is now beyond his control.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">"This is the most productive ground in the world, it's not like I'm going to make a choice to not produce it because I think we're going to have a drought.  We produce it, and we take what we can get," said Hughes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What Hughes is not getting is help from meteorologists.  They only predict a few scattered showers in the coming weeks. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Midwest Farmers Battling Worst US Drought in Generation

By Kane Farabaugh BLOOMINGTON, Illinois — Record high temperatures and a lack of rainfall are creating the worst drought conditions for...

Need to Make Indian Fisheries Globally Competitive: Pawar

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</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sector will need 30,000 Graduates by 2020<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK_nuKL-oQV-TLd13opFahKspH67tD3iFgZ8QFCa5nf-apP4aXVFiaRtSTZtcLvilLy_fO1SYORvEo0PzH1n3cgnPEvAtwGgK6GJTGrvyz2C_61KQGjiWKquNjATnkpF-p0yHbNFNnDTo/s1600/l2012070641272.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK_nuKL-oQV-TLd13opFahKspH67tD3iFgZ8QFCa5nf-apP4aXVFiaRtSTZtcLvilLy_fO1SYORvEo0PzH1n3cgnPEvAtwGgK6GJTGrvyz2C_61KQGjiWKquNjATnkpF-p0yHbNFNnDTo/s640/l2012070641272.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Union Minister for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Sharad Pawar addressing at the inauguration of the new facilities (Main Academic Block, Boy’s Hostel, International Guest House and Residence) of Central Institute of Fisheries Education, in Mumbai on July 06, 2012. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Photo © PIB<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">MUMBAI (PIB) --- Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar today called for making Indian fisheries globally competitive by moving towards greater commercialization and value-addition. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Minister was speaking at the Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE) at Mumbai after inaugurating new infrastructure facilities in the Institute. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Minister stated that India is the second largest producer of fish in the world after China, and also second in aquaculture production. The fisheries sector has grown at an average rate of about 6% over the last five years, is a major foreign exchange earner, and a source of livelihood for over 14 million people. India has still got vast aquaculture and fisheries – both inland and marine - resources which need to be further explored and harnessed. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For this to happen, the fisheries sector needs professionally educated and trained manpower. In this context, the Minister informed that as against about 5,000 graduates available presently, this sector would need about 30,000 graduates by 2020, as estimated by a recent study. “Therefore, the need of the hour is to raise competent and skilled human resources for growth of fisheries sector,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div>

Need to Make Indian Fisheries Globally Competitive: Pawar

Sector will need 30,000 Graduates by 2020 The Union Minister for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Sharad Pawar addressing at...

INDIA: Coconut Cultivation Facing Threat from Other Crops

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">NEW DELHI (NNN-Bernama): Coconut cultivation is facing an intense competition from other remunerative crops, the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community's (APCC) Executive Director, Romulo N Arancon said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"In Malaysia, the cultivation of oil palm is on the rise and in Thailand; there has been a shift to fruit crops. In India, farmers are attracted to rubber. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"As a result, there is a general decline in coconut productivity," he told The Economic Times here. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He said over 50 per cent of the coconut palms in APCC member countries need replanting as they are old. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Malaysia is a member of the APCC.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Arancon said producing more value-added products from coconut to increase the income of farmers, is one way of tackling the situation. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"The Philippines and Sri Lanka have been quite successful in this, while coir products in India are a good example. Thailand has had success with sugar from coconut sap.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Encouraging inter-crops in coconut groves is another way of raising the income of the farmer," he added. -NNN- BERNAMA<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

INDIA: Coconut Cultivation Facing Threat from Other Crops

NEW DELHI (NNN-Bernama): Coconut cultivation is facing an intense competition from other remunerative crops, the Asian and Pacific Coconu...

Farmers Benefit from Insect-killing Cotton

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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">By Steve Baragona<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4QpVzlWg21q7GPMECaqvclKDu-MnInDelh3eAGcxeQS6ygllEsSm3vahcqLgOddS1rd1KQSV4LuwSZaBvUr0i5WgpXRzd-Fk62m-31ymdZSTJAk21BEG4wM7o-XzdSh25CNJ3cLc7nM0/s1600/C3BFF9A8-5FF4-48D2-B6C8-8C1A960B92BC_w640_r1_s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4QpVzlWg21q7GPMECaqvclKDu-MnInDelh3eAGcxeQS6ygllEsSm3vahcqLgOddS1rd1KQSV4LuwSZaBvUr0i5WgpXRzd-Fk62m-31ymdZSTJAk21BEG4wM7o-XzdSh25CNJ3cLc7nM0/s400/C3BFF9A8-5FF4-48D2-B6C8-8C1A960B92BC_w640_r1_s.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">A Bt cotton field in the state of Maharashtra in<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">India. (Matin Qaim) Photo © VOA News</span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Growing cotton that is genetically modified to kill insects improves the livelihoods of small-scale farmers more than conventional varieties, according to a new study.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Researchers found farmers raising “Bt” cotton, which is modified to produce an insect-killing protein, had 24 percent higher yields, and 50 percent higher profits, than farmers growing conventional cotton.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Critics say the benefits may not last long, as other insects become bigger problems in farmers’ fields.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The debate has global implications for small-scale farmers in the developing world.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Millions of Indian farmers raise cotton on a hectare or two of land and subsist in poverty on $1 or $2 a day.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Fighting the cotton bollworm<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Before Bt cotton arrived in India in 2002, farmers relied on chemical insecticides to control an insect pest called the bollworm.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A smallholder farmer in his Bt cotton field in southern India. A new study shows Bt technology contributes to higher crop yields and profits. (Matin Qaim)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“The types of chemical insecticides that farmers use against the bollworm are among the most toxic ones,” says agricultural economist and study co-author Matin Qaim at Germany’s University of Goettingen. “And they spray quite a bit.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Bollworms also threaten U.S. cotton crops. So biotech and seed company Monsanto genetically modified cotton plants to produce their own insecticide, a bacterial protein called Bt.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">While organic farmers have sprayed Bt on crops for decades, many cotton growers worldwide are now using the genetically-modified, insect-resistant Bt cotton variety of the plant.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Three-quarters of U.S. cotton and 90 percent of Indian cotton are now Bt.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Less control, higher price<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But biotechnology critics say farmers are giving up too much control over their seed supply to multinational corporations and becoming increasingly dependent on corporate-controlled technologies.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Bt seeds are more expensive than conventional seeds. Opponents say farmers buying them are going deeper and deeper into debt, driving some to suicide.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But Qaim says his new study shows the opposite.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Improved standard of living<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The study examines 533 cotton-growing families between 2002 and 2008.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Compared with conventional farmers, Bt cotton growers are “increasing their effective yields because of lower crop damage,” Qaim says. “And that leads to higher family incomes and that leads to higher living standards, [which] leads to escape from poverty.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Bt farmers had 18 percent higher family expenditures, suggesting an increase in their standard of living.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Most of the public believes that GM crops developed by big companies…would worsen the situation of small farms and poor households,” he says. “And I think it is time to reconsider those types of prejudices.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Limited benefit?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Research by Washington University anthropologist Glenn Stone has also found increased yields among farmers raising Bt cotton.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However, he says, “It’s frequently the case that new agricultural technologies have positive impacts at first. But, what we really have to be concerned about is how sustainable impacts are going to be.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Stone says other pests besides the bollworm are now becoming bigger threats, requiring more insecticides.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That may undermine the advantages of Bt cotton - and continue the debate over the risks and benefits of genetically modified crops.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Farmers Benefit from Insect-killing Cotton

By Steve Baragona A Bt cotton field in the state of Maharashtra in India. (Matin Qaim) Photo © VOA News Growing cotton that is genetic...

India's Foodgrain Output for 2011-12 Upped to a Record 252.56 Mn Tonnes

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<div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt;">  </span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">NEW DELHI, India (NNN-Bernama) -- India's foodgrains production estimate has been revised upwards by over two million tonnes to an all-time high of 252.56 million tonnes in the 2011-12 crop year helped by bumper outputs in wheat and rice, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><br />
</span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">In February, foodgrains production had been pegged at 250.42 million tones for the 2011-12 crop year (July-June). </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><br />
</span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">The country produced 244.78 million tonnes of foodgrains during 2010-11. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><br />
</span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">According to the third advance estimates for 2011-12, released on Monday by India's Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, rice production has been revised to a record 103.41 million tonnes from 102.75 million tonnes in the previous estimate. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><br />
</span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">Wheat output, too, has now been estimated at 90.23 million tonnes, from 88.31 million tonnes in the second advance estimates. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><br />
</span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">However, the production figures of coarse cereals and pulses have been revised downwards to 41.91 million tonnes and 17.02 million tonnes, respectively, compared to 42.08 million tonnes and 17.28 million tonnes in the earlier estimates. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><br />
</span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">"I am extremely happy to see this figure. I would like to congratulate the farming community. Overall stock position is good. The problem will be storage. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><br />
</span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">I hope the concerned department will take appropriate steps," Pawar told reporters after inaugurating the National Crop Forecast Centre here. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><br />
</span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">In the 2010-11 crop year, rice production was 95.98 million tonnes, wheat 86.87 million tonnes, coarse cereals 43.68 million tonnes and pulses 18.24 million tonnes. -- NNN-BERNAMA </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

India's Foodgrain Output for 2011-12 Upped to a Record 252.56 Mn Tonnes

NEW DELHI, India (NNN-Bernama) -- India's foodgrains production estimate has been revised upwards by over two million tonnes to an a...

India Emerges as a Top Rice Exporter

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">By Anjana Pasricha from New Delhi<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Five months after lifting a ban on exports of cheaper varieties of rice, India has emerged as one of the world's top rice exporters. That has helped stabilize prices around the world, even as the cost goes up in traditional exporting nations like Thailand. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Scores of Indian rice traders have returned from a recent Grains Conference in Dubai after discussing lucrative deals.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Brisk business expected</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The head of the All India Rice Exporters Association, Vijay Setia, says business will be brisk in the coming months. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"Feeling was bullish. Demand from Iran, Iraq and the entire Middle East was big. African customers were there because of good quality and the lower price," said Setia.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The reason: India is providing customers with a cheaper alternative to rice from top exporters like Thailand. Rice became more expensive in Thailand after floods damaged last year's crop and the government introduced a scheme to guarantee how much farmers are paid. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Effect of lifting on exports<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The situation in India is dramatically different. There are huge stockpiles after a series of bumper rice crops, leading to a nearly 25 percent fall in paddy prices in local markets.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The government responded in September by lifting a four-year-old ban on exports of lower-priced varieties of rice. India has always exported its expensive "basmati rice," but exports of other varieties were suspended in 2008 after global food prices climbed steeply.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Samarendu Mohanty, chief economist at the International Rice Research Institute in Philippines, says India’s return to the global rice market in September prevented a spike in international prices.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"India came as a savior. The timing was so perfect because Thailand was implementing in the same month their rice mortgage program where they increased their domestic price by nearly 50 percent. It pretty much boiled down to if Thai increased their rice by 50 percent, then global rice price also goes up accordingly. But that did not happen because of India," said Mohanty. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Price advantage<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mohanty estimates that a ton of Indian rice is currently about $100 cheaper than comparable varieties from other countries. From October to January, India shipped out 2.3 million tons of rice - even more than Thailand - as the Indian rice was sought by customers in several countries.   <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Those customers include neighboring Pakistan, which is itself a rice producer and exporter. The price advantage has prompted Pakistani traders to buy rice from Indian traders for the first time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">R.S. Seshadri, director at a leading rice exporting company, Tilda Riceland, says more rice is also going to price-conscious markets in Africa.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"Today you are able to participate in the entire price spectrum of rice trades in the world. Otherwise, previously you were restricted only to the premium $900 [per ton] plus rices. Today you are able to participate in the $350 till a $1,000 (per ton) rice export," said Seshadri. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Upbeat assessment for future<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">According to industry estimates, India’s share in the global rice trade could triple this year and rise to about six million tons. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Setia of the Rice Exporters Association points out that India’s granaries are overflowing.     <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"India is overloaded with rice. In four years, we have accumulated our buffer stock 30 million tons, which is very large. Similarly, the private traders are also loaded with rice," said Setia. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That spells good news for global consumers, says Mohanty at the International Research Rice Institute.   <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"If India stays in the market, and we don’t have any big weather crisis in Asia, I would expect prices to go down little bit," said Mohanty.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Exports from India are expected to continue this year as there is virtually no space in Indian granaries to store more rice. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Future exports hinge on harvest<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However, Seshadri of Tilda Riceland says much will depend on the size of India's rice harvest this year.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"The window of review will be in May when the first estimates of monsoons are put out. India will determine whether it needs to tighten or loosen its export policy. There will never be a situation where India cannot take its eye off the ball because internal consumption is so large that one cannot but keep a very close eye on it," said Seshadri.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">India is the world’s second largest rice producer. But with 1.2 billion people to feed, rice exports are only permitted after the government stores sufficient surplus to meet emergency needs such as a crop failure due to drought. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

India Emerges as a Top Rice Exporter

By Anjana Pasricha from New Delhi Five months after lifting a ban on exports of cheaper varieties of rice, India has emerged as one of the...

Scientists Clone World's First Pashmina Kid

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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">NNN- Noori, the world’s first cloned pashmina kid, stands beside her surrogate mother, inside a sheep breeding centre at <st1:placename w:st="on">Sher-e-Kashmir</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> of Agricultural Sciences and Technology in Alastang, 25 km from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Srinagar</st1:city></st1:place>. Born March 9, 2012, the kid, weighing 1.3kg at birth, was successfully cloned by scientists at the university under a World Bank-funded project.Pashmina goat, prized for their fine wool; survive minus 40 degree Celsius temperature at an altitude of 14,000 feet. In spring, they shed their fibre, called soft pashm, six times finer than human hair. The fibre is used to spin famous Kashmiri shawls, scarves, and stoles. According to <st1:place w:st="on">Kashmir</st1:place> animal husbandry director Farooq Ahmad Shah, the clone has come at a time when there has been a sharp fall in the number of pashmina goats, forcing many residents in upper reaches of Ladakh to turn to other jobs. Photo courtesy SKUAST-K---NNN<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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Scientists Clone World's First Pashmina Kid

NNN- Noori, the world’s first cloned pashmina kid, stands beside her surrogate mother, inside a sheep breeding centre at Sher-e-Kashmir ...

INDIA: Demand for Organic Food Items Rising

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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">NEW DELHI</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (PIB) --- Harish Rawat, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries informed the Lok Sabha today that, demand for organic food items is on the rise during the last few years. According to Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), production of certified organic agri-products for the last 3 years is as under:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr>   <td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 118.5pt;" valign="top" width="158">   <div align="center" class="msonospacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 15.0pt;"><b>2008-09<u1:p></u1:p></b><o:p></o:p></div><div align="center" class="msonospacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 15.0pt;"><b>(Million   tonnes)<u1:p></u1:p></b><o:p></o:p></div></td>   <td .5pt;="" .5pt;mso-border-alt:solid="" 0in="" 1.0pt;="" 5.4pt="" 5.4pt`="" black="" border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid="" padding:0in="" style="border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left: none; border-width: initial; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 159.75pt;" valign="top" width="213">   <div align="center" class="msonospacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 15.0pt;"><b>2009-10<u1:p></u1:p></b><o:p></o:p></div><div align="center" class="msonospacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 15.0pt;"><b>(Million   tonnes)<u1:p></u1:p></b><o:p></o:p></div></td>   <td .5pt;="" .5pt;mso-border-alt:solid="" 0in="" 1.0pt;="" 5.4pt="" 5.4pt`="" black="" border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid="" padding:0in="" style="border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left: none; border-width: initial; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 97.5pt;" valign="top" width="130">   <div align="center" class="msonospacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 15.0pt;"><b>2010-11<u1:p></u1:p></b><o:p></o:p></div><div align="center" class="msonospacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 15.0pt;"><b>(Million   tonnes)<u1:p></u1:p></b><o:p></o:p></div></td>  </tr>
<tr>   <td .5pt;="" .5pt;mso-border-alt:solid="" 0in="" 1.0pt;="" 5.4pt="" 5.4pt`="" black="" border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid="" padding:0in="" style="border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-top: none; border-width: initial; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 118.5pt;" valign="top" width="158">   <div align="center" auto;text-align:center`="" class="style" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 15.0pt;">1.62<o:p></o:p></div></td>   <td .5pt;="" .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid="" .5pt;padding:0in="" 0in="" 1.0pt;="" 1.0pt;border-right:solid="" 5.4pt="" 5.4pt`="" black="" mso-border-alt:solid="" mso-border-top-alt:solid="" none;border-bottom:solid="" style="border-bottom: inset 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: inset 1.0pt; border-top-color: initial; border-top-width: initial; border-top: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: inset windowtext .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: inset windowtext .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: inset windowtext .75pt; mso-border-right-alt: inset windowtext .75pt; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 159.75pt;" valign="top" width="213">   <div align="center" auto;text-align:center`="" class="style" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 15.0pt;">1.70<o:p></o:p></div></td>   <td .5pt;="" .5pt;mso-border-left-alt:solid="" .5pt;padding:0in="" 0in="" 1.0pt;="" 1.0pt;border-right:solid="" 5.4pt="" 5.4pt`="" black="" mso-border-alt:solid="" mso-border-top-alt:solid="" none;border-bottom:solid="" style="border-bottom: inset 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: inset 1.0pt; border-top-color: initial; border-top-width: initial; border-top: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: inset windowtext .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: inset windowtext .75pt; mso-border-left-alt: inset windowtext .75pt; mso-border-right-alt: inset windowtext .75pt; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in; width: 97.5pt;" valign="top" width="130">   <div align="center" auto;text-align:center`="" class="style" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 15.0pt;">3.88<o:p></o:p></div></td>  </tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">             <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">He said that Government is providing incentives to cultivators of organic food products under the "National Horticulture Mission" (NHM) @ Rs 10,000/- per ha for maximum area of 4 ha per beneficiary, setting up of vermi-compost units, @50% of the cost, subject to a maximum of Rs 30,000/- per beneficiary and organic farming certification @ Rs. 5.00 lakh for a group of farmers covering an area of 50 ha.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

INDIA: Demand for Organic Food Items Rising

NEW DELHI (PIB) --- Harish Rawat, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries informed the Lok Sabha today that, dem...

India: PM Calls for Asia-Africa Cooperation for Agriculture and Rural Development

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh addressing at the<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Inauguration of Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Afro-Asian<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Rural Development Organization, in New Delhi on<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">March 05, 2012.</span><i> PIB Photo<o:p></o:p></i></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">NEW DELHI (NNN-UNI) --Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today called for joint efforts by Asia and Africa for a global regime to access funds and green technologies for rural socio-economic growth and for best outcomes at climate change negotiations and the upcoming Rio 20 conference in Brazil. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span dir="LTR"></span>"We have to work together to build a favourable international regime that enables us to access funds and green technologies for rural economic and social growth. We should put our heads together to work for the best outcomes at the climate change negotiations and the forthcoming Rio 20 conference in Brazil," he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">In his address at the inaugural session of the golden jubilee celebrations of Afro-Asian Rural Development Organisation, the Prime Minister said there was also need to tackle short-term and long-term environmental challenges faced by the two economies. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">He called upon scientists and experts to reflect on technologies and processes that are most suitable for rural conditions and circumstances, both in Africa and Asia. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Calling for encouraging more investment and trade in agriculture between Asia and Africa and the role of private sector in this, Dr Singh said Indian investment was flowing into Africa in agro-processing, agricultural machinery and floriculture. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">He stressed on encouraging investment flows and Indian farm technologies and practices relevant for African conditions. -- NNN-UNI<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

India: PM Calls for Asia-Africa Cooperation for Agriculture and Rural Development

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh addressing at the Inauguration of Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Afro-Asian Rural Development Org...

Baseline Survey to Assess the Supply Chain for Vegetables Completed in 29 Cities

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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Cultivation begins under Vegetable Initiative for Urban Clusters<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Parliamentary Consultative Committee of Agriculture Ministry Meets<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">NEW DELHI</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (PIB) --- Baseline survey to assess the supply chain for vegetables has been completed in 29 identified cities under vegetable initiative for urban clusters and cultivation of vegetable has commenced in almost all the States. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Addressing the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry here today Pawar, Minister of Agriculture and Food Processing Industries said, vegetable cultivation has commenced in about 10,000 hectares under the scheme in the country. This includes 9950 hectares area under open pollinated and hybrid vegetables and 16 hectares under green house and shadnet house, Pawar said. He said that the process of creating post harvest management and market infrastructure facilities is on. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> Sharad Pawar said, the survey work has yielded valuable information on the quantum of vegetables being sold, the existing and projected demand and intermediaries involved in the supply chain in each city. He said, the outcome of survey will form the basis for planning developmental measures under the scheme for addressing the gaps in the supply chain. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The Minister informed the MPs that the scheme has been successful in mobilizing farmers into Farmer Interest Groups (FIG) and Farmer Producer Organizations alongwith their tie-up with market aggregators and financial institutions. About 3000 FIGs have been formed by mobilizing 62000 farmers, Pawar added. Against total allocation of Rs. 300 crore, Rs. 208 crore has been released, he further said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Harish Rawat, Minister of State for Agriculture was also present in the meeting. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">MPs who participated in the meeting are:  A Ganeshamurthi, Sharief-ud-din Sharif, Dhruva Narayana Rangaswamy, K Sugumar, K.P. Dhanpalan, Sardar Sher Singh Ghubaya Govind Chander Naskar, Kunvarjibhai Bavalia and Smt. Santosh Chowdhary of Lok Sabha and Ms. Mabel Rebello, Vikram Verma, Smt. Renubala Pradhan, Dr. K.P. Ramalingam, T.M. Selvaganapathi of Rajaya Sabha.</span></div>

Baseline Survey to Assess the Supply Chain for Vegetables Completed in 29 Cities

Cultivation begins under Vegetable Initiative for Urban Clusters Parliamentary Consultative Committee of Agriculture Ministry Meets NEW D...

Analysis: Agriculture in a Changing Environment

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo: <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/photo.aspx"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">Jaspreet Kindra/IRIN</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Cows release huge amounts of warming methane every year<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">JOHANNESBURG, (IRIN) - Agriculture has been seen either as a cause or victim of global warming at the UN climate change talks over the past few years - something that has thwarted efforts to attract the investment it needs, say scientists. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Some at the talks see a more dominant role for agriculture - an emitter of major greenhouses gases such as nitrous oxide and methane - in reducing global warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates agricultural emissions account for 13.5 percent of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">At the same time, poor countries want more money and better technology to help farmers adapt to the impact of climate change such as frequent droughts, flooding and increased salinity. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“It is really a bad split for agriculture,” said John Beddington, the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s chief scientific adviser, and one of the authors of a paper calling for a more integrated approach, combining mitigation and adaptation efforts. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The paper, published in the current edition of Science with contributions from several scientists, calls for a better understanding of agricultural practices with the aim of delivering multiple benefits - reducing emissions, helping agriculture to adapt, and using limited resources (like water) efficiently. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">One model to emulate could be Denmark, where one of the world’s strictest agriculture control systems is in place - including, for example, the use of environmentally friendly practices such as substituting pig slurry (pig waste and water) for artificial fertilizers. The country has managed not only to reduce emissions from agriculture by 28 percent but also increase productivity. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">This kind of win-win agriculture would attract more funding from a wider range of sources, said Beddington. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Know the difference<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Climate change’s impact is likely to be greatest in low and middle-income </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">tropical regions,</span></div><table align="right" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1pt; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-top: -0.75pt; width: 200px;"><tbody>
<tr>   <td colspan="2" style="border: none; padding: 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt;">   <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 8.25pt; mso-element-frame-vspace: 1.5pt; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: #006699; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Know the difference<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></td>  </tr>
<tr>   <td style="border: none; padding: 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt;" valign="top">   <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 8.25pt; mso-element-frame-vspace: 1.5pt; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><img align="absMiddle" height="10" src="file:///C:\Users\wisdom\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.gif" style="text-align: -webkit-center;" v:shapes="_x0000_i1025" width="12" /><o:p></o:p></span></div></td>   <td style="border: none; padding: 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt; width: 132.0pt;" width="176">   <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 8.25pt; mso-element-frame-vspace: 1.5pt; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: #006699; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Adaptation</span></strong><span style="color: #006699; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">:   Adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected   climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits   beneficial opportunities<o:p></o:p></span></div></td>  </tr>
<tr>   <td style="border: none; padding: 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt;" valign="top">   <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 8.25pt; mso-element-frame-vspace: 1.5pt; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><img align="absMiddle" height="10" src="file:///C:\Users\wisdom\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_i1026" width="12" /><o:p></o:p></span></div></td>   <td style="border: none; padding: 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt; width: 132.0pt;" width="176">   <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 8.25pt; mso-element-frame-vspace: 1.5pt; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: #006699; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Mitigation</span></strong><span style="color: #006699; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">:   A human intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse   gases<o:p></o:p></span></div></td>  </tr>
<tr>   <td colspan="2" style="border: none; padding: 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt;">   <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 8.25pt; mso-element-frame-vspace: 1.5pt; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #006699; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Source: IPCC<o:p></o:p></span></div></td>  </tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"> where pressure will mount to produce more food because of population and income growth, says agricultural economist Christopher Barrett, who teaches at </span><st1:place style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';" w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Cornell</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">. The global focus, therefore, has to be on helping agriculture in those regions adapt, and not just produce more or reduce emissions. “And that agenda needs to encompass post-harvest storage, distribution and transformation.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Despite growing support for an integrated approach to agriculture encompassing adaptation and mitigation efforts, policy actions have been slow to materialize in most countries and at the UN climate change talks, the paper says. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">A first step, say the scientists, is to get commonly agreed definitions of concepts like “climate-smart agriculture” and “sustainable intensification”, which integrate the two approaches. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The authors of the paper include ecologist Bob Scholes of South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research; Mohammad Asaduzzaman, research director of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies; and Judi Wakhungu, executive director of the African Centre for Technology Studies in Kenya. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Climate-smart” <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The “climate-smart” concept as developed by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) advocates practices which generate both adaptation and mitigation benefits such as the efficient use of organic fertilizers; the development of efficient seed systems which produce crops naturally resilient to climatic shifts; the harvesting of water for irrigation; the production of biogas from livestock manure; and greater reliance on forage from maize crops to feed animals. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Such initiatives would not only improve food production but also reduce harmful gas emissions, says FAO. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">About 70 percent of agriculture-related emissions are associated with the manufacture and use of nitrogen-based fertilizers -in large part through the emission of nitrous oxide - according to a 2011 review by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The livestock sector generates 65 percent of human-related nitrous oxide, which has 296 times the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of carbon dioxide. Most of this comes from manure. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Belching cows, goats and sheep emit 80 million tons of methane into the atmosphere every year. Though methane remains in the atmosphere for a short time (9-15 years), it has 23 times the GWP of carbon dioxide. Irrigated rice farming is another major source of methane emissions. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Soil carbon sequestration <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But the “climate-smart” concept was given another interpretation at the <st1:city w:st="on">Durban</st1:city> climate change talks in December: The World Bank announced it had launched a “climate-smart agriculture” pilot project in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>. The project (which is still running) aims to get small farmers to adopt agricultural practices such as low-tillage, which trap carbon in the soil in such a way that it is not re-emitted into the atmosphere (soil carbon sequestration). The carbon is then sold as credits in carbon markets. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Think-tanks like the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), and scientists at BBSRC, point out that sustainable agriculture can increase the sequestration of carbon in the soil but it is difficult and costly to measure. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">IATP’s senior policy analyst, Steve Suppan, said the very high transaction costs of converting Kenyan farmers’ work into carbon credits would be better spent on more rapidly adapting <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s agriculture to climate change. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Because the project's transaction costs are nearly half of the project budget, the main project co-benefit is not for the farmers but for the carbon accounting methodology that the Bank wishes to sell globally.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu, <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place>’s chief negotiator at the climate talks, who had been lobbying for a stronger presence for agriculture in the adaptation track, said they wanted predictable funds for agriculture, and not from shaky carbon markets, which in this case - for credits based on soil carbon sequestration - did not exist. “Our farmers will also be told to grow certain crops which sequester more carbon rather than what the farmers need, compromising their security.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">NGOs like ActionAid warn of the possibility of “soil grabs” in developing countries by big business to offset their emissions. Mitigation cannot be the predominant objective of any project aimed at benefiting agriculture, said ActionAid’s Harjeet Singh. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Mitigation projects in agriculture need to begin in industrialized agriculture and land-clearing for agribusiness. The agro-ecological techniques of climate-smart agriculture should be deployed for adaptation, not in the service of carbon derivatives markets,” said Suppan. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Beddington said linking “climate smart agricultural practices” with carbon markets was “unfortunate”. The Science paper he co-authored calls for unpacking the term in such a way that addresses concerns that it might be giving more weight to agriculture’s role in reducing emissions, rather than focusing on improving production and ways to adapt. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Leslie Lipper, a senior environmental economist with FAO, said soil carbon sequestration is one example of an integrated approach but she was not against sourcing finance from carbon markets. “Identifying, crediting and financing mitigation co-benefits that can be generated from improving agricultural systems offers the potential to open a new and additional source of finance to help meet the investment gap” in agriculture. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Sustainable intensification” <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In agriculture, the term “sustainable intensification” as defined by FAO, refers to an increase in production either by using more inputs such as labour, land, time, fertilizer, feed or cash; or the maintenance of production at a certain level with the effective use of smaller amounts of fertilizer, or mixed cropping in smaller fields. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Sustainable intensification”, said Scholes, focused more on increasing production not by physical expansion but the efficient use of inputs. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has called for views on agriculture within the climate change context to be submitted to its Subsidiary Body for Science and Technological Advice by 5 March 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Analysis: Agriculture in a Changing Environment

Photo: Jaspreet Kindra/IRIN Cows release huge amounts of warming methane every year JOHANNESBURG, (IRIN) - Agriculture has been se...