Agriculture Booster

Re-imaging agriculture through the lens of food processing industry The COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated the criticality of food security and food surplus management in the current policy space. To this end, policy steps in the agriculture sector in recent years have shifted their orientation from sustenance to marketing. However, the sector is still exposed to … Read more

Central coordinating system vital to handle paddy stubble: Study   Main Issue India needs a central coordinating mechanism for paddy stubble management and crop diversification with adequate resources, clear assignment of responsibilities between national and sub-national agencies to counter the ill-effects of crop stubble burning during Covid-19 pandemic. This has been recommended by a study conducted by … Read more

Agriculture Economy : New investment needs incentives, not only ease of doing business     The Union Acts on agricultural markets (a state domain until now) are aimed to create one nation-one market and provide choice to farmers for selling their produce for better price besides attracting private investment in the agricultural markets.   The … Read more

Commercialization of Agriculture   Commercialization of agriculture  means production of agricultural crops for sale in the market, rather than for family consumption. For marketization of agricultural products thus ‘surplus’ of production over consumption is required. But agriculture at that time was merely of the subsistence type. It had not been a consequence of conscious response … Read more

 Fertilizers All plants need certain mineral nutrients to survive. These minerals occur naturally in the soil and are taken up from the soil by the roots of the plants. Most soils usually have enough of these minerals to keep plants healthy. However, some nutrients are gradually used up by the plants, or are … Read more

 Alternative policy initiatives in agricultural marketing More than three-fifths of India’s population draws their livelihood from agriculture that adds just one-fifth to its GDP. There should be obvious serious concerns about efficient functioning of this sector both in terms of its output / productivity and its marketing. While output and productivity are supply … Read more

 Cost benefit and investment analysis of agricultural enterprises Water Resource Development A capital intensive project. To reap the benefit of irrigation the farmer should not ignore the supporting services as extension, marketing, credit and transportation both for handling crop produced and supply of inputs needed. The economic analysis must take full account of … Read more

 Agricultural Strategy and Agricultural Policy Main Issues In national priority setting, the following recurring and emerging issues for sustainable agricultural development and poverty alleviation must be considered: Population pressure and demographic transition; Resource base degradation and water scarcity; Investment in agriculture, structural adjustment and impact on the poor;  Globalization and implication on the … Read more

 Control of Pests and crop Disease Agriculture is the single largest sector of India that provides the principal means of livelihood for over 58.4% of country’s population. It contributes approximately one-fifth of the total gross domestic product (GDP). Agriculture accounts for about 10% of the total export earnings and provides raw material to … Read more

 Food safety and Microbial standards, Food quality standards Food safety-Indicators of food microbial Quality and safety-Coliforms, Enterococci, Bifidobacteria, Coliphages/Enteroviruses, predictive Microbiology/ Microbial modeling Microbial Standards of Processed and preserved Foods The Center for disease control (CDC) investigates each documented outbreak of food borne disease and attempts to determine not only the specific microorganisms … Read more