Agriculture

INTRODUCTION #

Agriculture is one of the important economic activities. It provides food to the population, sup- plies raw materials to industry and more over around 58% of the total population of India still depend on agriculture for sustenance. Different types of crops like Plantation crops, Horticulture crops, Commer- cial crops, Food Grains etc are grown. In India crops are grown or harvested in two important seasons namely, Rabi and Kharif seasons. The Kharif season is during south-west monsoon (July-Oct.), during this season, agricultural activities take place both in rain-fed areas and irrigated areas. Kharif crops are sown during April – July and harvested by October. The Rabi season is during winter months and agri- cultural activities take place only on irrigated areas. Rabi crops are generally sown between Octobers to February and harvested by June.

Genetically Modified (GM) Crops: GM is the term used for the process of manipulating genes, usually outside the organism’s natural reproductive process. GM crops contain genetic constructs from any source to gain numerous benefits.

Genetic modification allows movement of genes across species barriers. GM crops are also called as transgenic crops. The benefits of using GM crops include pest and disease resistance, improved product quality; an improved ability to face environ- mental stresses. They can also play specialized roles in industrial and pharmaceutical sector. The major concern in using these crops is the risks of pests developing resistance and the effect of transgenic organisms on the natural population.

Being predominantly an agricultural country, India has always tried to be self sufficient in food

grains production. That is, the agricultural produc- tion has to increase substantially to meet the growing needs of population. For agricultural production to increase there should be improvements in agricul- tural productivity other than expansion of land under cultivation. The productivity can be improved by the use of better quality seeds, HY seeds, and employing improved methods of cultivation and irrigation. In India, Green revolution (of late 1960s) mainly aimed at improving productivity through use of HY (high yielding variety) seeds and provision of irrigational facilities.

IRRIGATION #

Agriculture is a gamble of Monsoons in many parts of India. If there is not enough and timely rainfall, farmers suffer due to reduced/no output. To reduce dependence of agriculturists on Monsoons, irrigational facilities have to be provided. The dif- ferent methods of irrigating agricultural fields are: Wells and Tube Wells which are owned privately also, Tanks, generally owned by State; and Canals of three types namely: Perennial Canals which have assured water supply throughout the year; Inunda- tion Canals which get water only during floods; and Storage Work Canals, constructed by building a dam across a valley to store rain water. Other types of irrigation facilities in the country are, Sprinkler Irrigation and Drip Irrigation which increase the efficiency of irrigation and minimize water wastage.

The government takes up different activities to provide Irrigational facilities. They are usually referred as irrigational works and are classified as; Minor Irrigation works or schemes with Cultivated Command Area (CCA) of up to 2000 hectares; Medium Irrigation works with CCA above 2000 and

up to 10,000 hectares; and Major Irrigation works with CCA of more than 10,000 hectares.

LAND HOLDINGS #

The size of operational holdings has a great bearing on agricultural production and productivity. Small and fragmented holdings result in inefficient cultivation, productivity and poverty of agricultural masses. Operational Holdings are the size of land holdings of individual agriculturists used for agricul- tural activities especially agricultural production or cultivation if the size of land holding is less than one hectare it is considered as marginal holding, if it is between 1-4 hectares small holding, if it is between 4-10 hectares medium holding and anything above 10 hectares is considered as a large holding.

Co-operative farming can reduce the problem of small holdings. There are three types of co-opera- tive farming: Co-operative Joint Farming where the owners pool their land for purpose of cultivation on a joint basis (The right of individual ownership of land is preserved). The title and value of the land contributed is one of the factors which determine the income share of individuals. Thus, there is Individ- ual Ownership and Joint Cultivation. The Co-oper- ative Collective Farming Societies apart from land pooling, all other resources of the members are also pooled together and individual ownership of land disappears. The farm income is divided among members according to the work done by each of them. Service Co- operatives are various co-oper- atives for different operations in agriculture like weeding, harvesting, threshing, manuring, irrigation, processing, marketing etc. Such co-operatives are called as ‘Service Co-operatives’.

For improving the quality and quantity of agricultural production Contract Farming, Forward Market trading and Forward contracting is being practiced. These methods also help farmers to reap greater profits and cover the risks associated with falling prices. Under Contract Farming the purchaser enters into ‘a formal agreement’ with the -grower to buy farm output before production. The contract reduces transaction costs for farmers of accessing new markets, borrowing, managing risk, acquiring information or increasing employment opportunities. Forward Market Trading is an informal trading of commodities to be delivered at a future date. In

Forward Contracting the buyer and the seller agree upon delivering of specified quality and quantity of goods at a specified future date.

The amount of profit that a farmer is capable of getting depends on surplus quantity of his produce, which is the marketable and marketed surplus. Mar- ketable surplus is the difference between the total quantity of agricultural produce and the part that has to be retained for family requirements and other payments. And Marketed surplus means only that portion of marketable surplus which is actually sold in the market. The farmer may not dispose entire marketable surplus. If he anticipates price rise or expects shortage or famine conditions, he may hold back part of marketable surplus.

Improvements in agricultural production are traced with the help of agricultural productivity. Agricultural Productivity expresses the varying relationship between agricultural output and one of the major inputs like land, labour or capital (money). Usually land productivity in terms of yield per acre or yield per hectare is considered. For crops like Rice, Wheat, Jowar, Maize, Oil seeds etc Kg/hectare is considered. Whereas for cotton, bales per hectare (l bale= 170kg), for sugarcane tonnes/hectare and for Jute bales per hectare (1 bale=180kg) are taken into account.

Small and marginal farmers (who cultivate less than one hectare of land) in particular and the agri- culturists in general face lot of hardships and get into financial problems which lead to drastic conse- quences like farmer’s suicide. The government tries to support agriculture through provision of finance to agriculture activities, crop insurance, subsides, Irrigational facilities, price policies etc. All these are envisaged in Agricultural policy of the government. The agricultural policy indicates the developmental objectives and the activities taken up or supported, by government in realizing those objectives. It gives information on incentives, insurance and risk cover- age, crops to be grown etc.

Subsidy is the monetary assistance provided by a government to a person or group. In other words it is the governmental support – monetary in nature

– to the private sector generally serving a public purpose. Government provides subsidies to farmers on farm inputs like irrigation charges, pesticides,

electricity charges ete. These are called as farm subsidies. Farmers get these inputs at reduced prices and the amount equivalent to subsidy will be borne by government. Subsidies provided by government on fertilizers are fertilizer subsidies. A subsidy might take the form of a grant, price cut, tax break or trade barrier, in order to encourage the production or purchase of a good. Minimum Price Policy is a form of production subsidy.

Minimum Support Price is the price fixed by the government for agricultural commodities. It is used as a procurement price by the government to procure the commodity to build up the buffer stock. It also serves as an instrument to assure reasonable return to the farmers, so that they are out of distress and inspired to produce more. Thereby the government protects the interest of producers or farmers through a guarantee of minimum price. If the market price declines below the floor price, the government pur- chases the goods at the support price.

Dual Pricing Policy seeks to achieve judicious distribution of scarce and essential goods like food grains, and edible oils through dual prices namely, Controlled prices at which essential commodities are made available in fixed quantities through fair price shops and Open market price which same commod- ities are available at market prices determined by market forces viz., demand and supply.

Buffer stock is the stock of food grains held by the Government. The Buffer stock operations by government help to maintain the supply to meet the demand during difficult years like drought years. It also helps in stabilizing prices. The Food Corpora- tion of India, on behalf of government, undertakes the Procurement and storage of food grain’s to build up the buffer stocks.

State government Food and Civil Supplies Corporation Limited supplies food grains and other essential commodities and services to the consumer in a transparent manner under the Public Distribution System and other Government schemes.

Crop insurance is purchased by agricultural producers, including farmers, ranchers, and others to protect themselves against either the loss of their crops due to natural disasters, such as hail, drought, and floods, or the loss of revenue due to decline in the prices of agricultural commodities. With the

passing of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Act 1999, Indian insurance sector opened to a healthy competition with the entry of new private insurers into insurance business hitherto the area of public sector. India’s modified crop insurance program is called as National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS). NAIS is transferred to Agricultural Insurance Corporation of India (AIC) set up with financial contribution from General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) and four public sector general insurance companies viz. 1. National Insurance Co Ltd., 2. New India Assurance Co. Ltd.,

3. Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd and 4. United Insur- ance Co. Ltd. and NABARD. The private companies selling crop insurance are ICICI-Lombard and Iffco Tokio but the government-controlled AIC covers a much larger part of the country with their insurance schemes.

The agriculture insurers have created a weather index to arrive at a threshold figure of these parameters and require the payment of a premium per acre from the farmer. Based on variations from the threshold figure the farmer is paid a sum of money-the greater the variation (and hence greater the damage) the larger the amount paid.

The government also provides Agricultural Marketing facilities to farmers, so that they can have access to better markets and reap higher prof- its. There are various organizations set up by the government to facilitate marketing of agri-products.

The National Agricultural Co-operative Market- ing Federation (NAFED) is the nodal agency for implementing price support scheme for oil seeds and coarse grains.

National Co-operative Development Corporation (NCDC) – The Corporation has played an important role in the development of cooperative marketing and processing. It has supported the development of cooperative dairy, poultry, fisheries etc., mainly for weaker sections of the society.

National Cooperative Development and Ware- housing Board – It seeks to promote programmes for the agriculture production, processing marketing and warehousing through cooperative societies. Central warehousing corporation was set up under its aegis, so also warehousing companies in states.

Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMC) frees the farmer from state control on movement, storage, and marketing of agricultural commodities. In most states the APMC Act prohibits transactions outside the mandis (markets). Even in states that allow transactions outside the mandi, the Act states that while procurement may be direct, companies need to pay a mandi tax. The APMC Acts of different states had become a stumbling block for hypermarkets seeking to scale up operations. Hyper- markets seeking to source bulk quantities of food and grocery had to work through an intermediary in APMC markets, and could not deal with the farmer directly. The Centre has advised States to amend the existing APMC Act to allow direct marketing and contract farming and permit setting up of com- petitive market in private and cooperatives sectors.

Online Trading System is online business market place that features both buyers and sellers of agricul- tural services. The producers/farmers can know the prevailing price of the commodity in the market and sell it to the willing buyer at the market price. The farmer need not go through middlemen and inter- mediaries and suffer losses. Eg: Agriwatch provides information and analysis on agricultural commodi- ties, and includes an online auction and e-commerce features for Indian producers and suppliers; Media Lab Asia is developing Digital Mandi, an electronic trading: platform for agro commodities; Raita Mitra Yojaue of Government of EID parry in Tamil Nadu has set lip a net work of ‘Parry’s Corners’ through which farmers can access its Indi Agrlline Portal. Agri exporter ITC limited through its e-chou pal provides valuable information to farmers and also allows them to sell their produce directly to ITC, eliminating middlemen and bringing higher profits to both ITC and farmers.

WHITE REVOLUTION OR OPERATION FLOOD #

Most of the development in the dairy field took place under “Operation Flood” in India. It is an Indian program which fostered or developed a farmer controlled cooperative dairy industry, capable of paying attractive remuneration for very small deliveries of milk like 1 to 2 liters. The wonderful success of AMUL, (Anand Milk Union Limited), a co-operative in Anand, Gujarat was given an all

India dimension through Operation Flood of guar- anteed remunerative market to rural milk producers and also supply of hygienic milk and milk products to urban consumers. Today, India is one of the largest producers of milk in the world.

SECOND GREEN REVOLUTION #

Introduction #

As we all know current state of agriculture in India is result of green revolution which is in place since late 1960’s, which was heavily backed by government. It has delivered India food security and sufficiency which was critical at that time. This progress and security had its own costs in terms of environment and economic viability. Green revolu- tion rampantly used fertilizers and other chemicals, which made food and water, toxic to some extent. It supported indiscriminate use of water as rice was main target of revolution. India’s 80% of fresh water is consumed by agriculture, more particularly by rice farming.

Further, in past GR constantly increased yields per hectare of various food crops. Originally yield per hectare for rice was merely 1 ton and now it stands over 3 tons. In case of wheat it’s around

2.4 tons. This increase was incremental over all these years, as more and more cultivated area kept coming under irrigation, high yield varieties and fertilizers. But in recent past, these measures are showing fatigue and yield growths are flattening up. We have seen in last articles that increasing costs of fertilizers are pushing agro costs upwards and turning food unaffordable for masses. Also, due to indiscriminate use of fertilizers, nutrients in the soil are depleting rapidly.

In short, it is being realized that original means adopted by green revolution are to some extent exhausted. As yields on Indian lands are still far below world average, our policy makers will have to look somewhere else, to bring it at par with world average. Current state of agriculture is not sustain- able at all. Consequently, new agriculture policy of India aims at sustainable agriculture, which is popu- larly called ‘second green revolution’ or ‘Evergreen Revolution’.

Almost every current policy can be covered under category of second green revolution. It aims

at information technology revolution, bio technology revolution, R&D and targeting of specific crops etc. Information Technology will create awareness in farmers, introduce them with more cost efficient technologies and enable them to choose among different alternatives. It is, in fact a support service like customer care, where information deficit on part of farmer will be addressed. We tried to cover this at length in previous article.

Bio technology revolution aims at improving genetic traits of crops, by making them draught, pest, weed, climate resistant. This is to be done by genetically engineered crops, by continuously improving them. However use of GMO crops and its benefits are controversial and this issue was also covered in previous article. Another aspect of bio tech revolution is use of bio pesticides and bio fertilizers. This is actually part of bigger strategy targeted towards organic farming.

Organic Farming in India #

Organic farming system in India is not new and is being followed from ancient time. It is a method of farming which is primarily aimed at cultivating the land and raising crops in such a way, as to keep the soil alive and in good health by use of organic wastes (crop, animal and farm wastes, aquatic wastes) and other biological materials along with beneficial microbes (bio fertilizers) to release nutri- ents to crops for increased sustainable production in an ecofriendly pollution free environment.

To promote organic farming a central scheme named ‘National Project on Organic Farming’ is in place. Apart from general things (creating aware- ness, promoting organic fertilizers, training, capacity building etc.) scheme provides financial assistance through Capital Investment Subsidy Scheme for agro-waste compost production units, bio-fertilizers/ bio-pesticides production units, development and implementation of quality control regime, human resource development, etc.

It is worth mentioning that, north eastern India has highest potential for organic farming. It has distinct agro- climatic zone and its soil is immensely rich in organic matter. Further, it was aloof of any green revolution and consequently farmers there still use traditional methods. All this obviously is

perfect opportunity for promoting organic farming rigorously in the north east. There is ‘Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States’ under which financial assistance is provided for adopting organic farming and setting up of vermin compost unit. Note that scheme is also available in other Himalayan states.

Also, there is ‘Indo Israel Agricultural coopera- tion action plan’ in which Israel shares its expertise (mainly in organic farming & related technologies) with India. This cooperation includes structured interactions between governments, experts and most important – farmers. This comprises of bilateral shar- ing of knowledge and technologies, establishment of Centers of Excellence in various agriculture sectors across India, exchange visits of experts and farmers and Post-doctoral scholarships for Indian agriculture researchers in Israel.

Two Centers of Excellence have already been made fully operational – one for vegetables in Gharaunda (Karnal) and the other for fruits in Mangiana (Sirsa) — in Haryana while work is in progress to establish three such centers in Maharash- tra- a citrus centre in Nagpur, a pomegranate centre in Rahuri and a Kaisar mango centre in Aurangabad.

GOVERNMENT    SCHEMES    AND MISSIONS #

Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) #

It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for the holistic growth of the horticulture sector covering fruits, vegetables, root & tuber crops, mushrooms, spices, flowers, aromatic plants, coconut, cashew, cocoa and bamboo. Scheme took off in 2014. While Government of India (GOI) contributes 85% of total outlay for developmental programs in all the states except the states in North East and Himalayas, 15% share is contributed by State Governments. In the case of North Eastern States and Himalayan States, GOI contribution is 100%. National Horticulture and Bamboo mission are integrated under this mission. These both come under National Horticulture Board.

National Horticulture Mission #

National Horticulture Mission, a centrally sponsored scheme is in place since 2005-06. The

objective of this scheme is to provide holistic growth of horticulture sector in India and to enhance horti- culture production.

All the States and Union Territories are covered under the Mission except the eight North Eastern States including Sikkim and the States of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand, which are covered under previously mentioned separate mission. The assistance from Government of India will be 85% with 15% contribution by the State Government. All crops except coconut and medici- nal plants are covered under NHM.

National Bamboo Mission #

Mission envisages promoting holistic growth of bamboo sector by adopting area based, regionally differentiated strategy and to increase the area under bamboo cultivation and marketing. Steps have been taken to increase availability of quality planting material by supporting setting up of new nurseries and strengthening of existing ones. It addresses for- ward integration by taking steps toward marketing of bamboo products, particularly of handicraft items. Here also biggest potential lies in north eastern India.

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna #

Introduced in 2007 as a new ‘Additional Central Assistance scheme’ to incentivize States to draw up plans for their agriculture sector more compre- hensively, taking agro-climatic conditions, natural resource issues and technology into account, and integrating livestock, poultry and fisheries more fully. This involves new schemes for Additional Central Assistance to State Plans, administered by the Union Ministry of Agriculture over and above its existing Centrally Sponsored schemes, to supple- ment the State-specific strategies including special schemes for beneficiaries of land reforms. There are no. of sub schemes under RKVY, some of them are–

Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India #

It specifically targets improvement in rice productivity in 7 eastern states viz. Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh as original green revolution brought a little impact here. It includes some components of green revolution, such as irrigation and also focuses on water harvesting/conservation etc.

National Saffron Mission: Kashmir valley’s Karewa soils are perfect for growth of saffron which is considered as one of the most expensive cash crop. However area under saffron cultivation and yield per hectare are on constant decline. To arrest this decline National Saffron Mission was initiated in 2010.

The objective (as in other missions) of the Saffron National Mission is to improve the overall production of saffron, enhancing quality of saffron, enhancement of research and extension capability and develop appropriate system for organized mar- keting for the growers.

Nutri-cereals #

To promote production of millets viz. Jowar, Bajra, Ragi etc. through better technologies and creating awareness about their health benefits. These crops are more nutrient and protein rich then rice and wheat, but less remunerative to farmers.

Accelerated Fodder Development Program – Targets fodder development through technologies. It is quite important for Animal Rearing sector as it is getting short of fodder.

Promotion of oil palm #

National Mission for protein supplements: To promote animal based protein production through livestock development, dairy farming, piggery, goat rearing etc.

Rainfed Area Development program #

Improve quality of life of small and marginal farmers in rainfed areas. Crop diversification in Original green revolution states- States of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are involved in ‘Inten- sive farming’ of rice and wheat which is causing depletion of soil nutrients. To stop this it is very important to diversify cultivation towards horticul- ture, which is precisely aimed by the scheme.

National      Mission      for      Sustainable Agriculture #

It is one of the eight Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change and seeks to address issues regarding ‘Sustainable Agriculture’ in the context of risks associated with climate change

by devising appropriate adaptation and mitigation strategies for:

• ensuring food security,
• equitable access to food resources,
• enhancing livelihood opportunities and
• Contributing to economic stability at the national level.

It seeks to transform Indian agriculture into a climate resilient production system in the domain of crops and animal husbandry. These interventions would be embedded in research and development activities, absorption of improved technology and best practices, creation of physical and financial infrastructure and institutional framework, facilitating access to information and promoting capacity building.

Promotion of dryland agriculture would receive prime importance by way of developing suitable drought and pest resistant crop varieties.

The Mission would also expand its coverage to rainfed areas for integrating farming systems with management of livestock and fisheries, so that agricultural production continues to grow in a sus- tainable manner. Under integrated farming system, agriculture, horticulture or animal husbandry is inte- grated, to develop a system which derives synergies from each other. An example, Poultry waste can be fed to fishes hence saving costs and it can also be used as effective manure for horticulture.

National Food Security Mission #

Food Security Mission was launched in 2007, which comprised rice, wheat and pulses to increase the production of rice by 10 million tons, wheat by 8 million tons and pulses by 2 million tons by the end of the Eleventh Plan. (Targets were duly achieved). The Mission is continued during 12th Five Year Plan with new targets of additional production of food grains of 25 million tons of food grains comprising of 10 million tons rice, 8 million tons of wheat, 4 million tons of pulses and 3 million tons of coarse cereals by the end of 12th Five Year Plan. Mission also aims at improving soil fertility and improving employment opportunities.

(Note that in 12th FYP, it includes coarse cereals and commercial crops too.)

Mission    during   12th    FYP   has    five components

• NFSM- Rice
• NFSM-Wheat
• NFSM-Pulses: This mission is further sup- plemented by Accelerated Pulses Production Program (A3P). India is biggest producer of pulses at 25% of world’s production and still it has to import pulses. This is mainly because of low yields. A3P aims at Integrated Nutrient Management and Plant protection to enhance yields and productivity.
• NFSM-Coarse cereals
• NFSM-Commercial Crops
• Integrated Pest Management

The term IPM refers to – “the careful consid- eration of all available pest control techniques and subsequent integration of appropriate measures that discourage the development of pest populations and keep pesticides and other interventions to levels that are economically justified and reduce or minimize risks to human health and the environment. IPM emphasizes the growth of a healthy crop with the least possible disruption to agro-ecosystems and encourages natural pest control mechanisms”

Integrated Scheme for Oilseed, Pulses, Oil Palm and Maize (ISOPOM) #

Four erstwhile schemes of Oilseeds Production Program, Oil palm Development Program, National Pulses Development Program and Accelerated Maize Development Program – have been merged into one Centrally Sponsored ‘Integrated Scheme of Oilseeds, Pulses, Oil palm and Maize’ (ISOPOM) being implemented from 1.4.2004.

Different components (i.e. pulses, oil palm etc.) of scheme are in force in different states as per dom- inant cropping pattern of the state. For e.g. for oil palm it is applicable in 9 major oil palm producing states. It aims to promote crop diversification and provides focused approach by giving financial assis- tance in purchase of various agriculture inputs such as seeds, agro chemicals, technology, expertise, infra etc.

Note: Pulses component of ISOPOM was merged with National Food Security Mission #

Subsidy is funded by Central and state govern- ment in 75:25 ratio.

Technology Mission on Cotton #

The Govt. of India launched Technology Mis- sion on Cotton in February 2000. The objective of TMC was as under:

• To improve the yield and quality of cot- ton, particularly in respect of staple length, micronnaire, strength, etc. through develop- ment of better cotton varieties as well as through improved seeds, and integrated water, nutrient and pest management technologies.
• To increase the income of the cotton growers by reducing the cost of cultivation as well as by increasing the yield per hectare through proper transfer of technology to the growers.
• To improve the quality of processing of cotton, particularly in respect of trash, contamination, etc. by improving the infrastructure in the market yards for cotton and by modernizing the existing ginning & pressing factories and setting up new units.

Right now India is at second position behind china in cotton production and it is expected to overtake china this year. After this mission there has been constant increase in cotton production on back of high yield variety and GMO seeds.

Price Stabilization Fund #

A Rs. 500 crore fund was announced to compen- sate farmers when there is fall in agricultural prices.

The Price Stabilization Fund Scheme for the Plantation crops (Tea, Coffee and Rubber) was already there since 2003 with the objective of pro- viding financial relief to growers on account of fall in the prices of commodities below a specified level.

A Price Stabilization Fund for agricultural com- modities has been announced in the Union Budget 2014-15 with a view to mitigate volatility in the prices of agricultural produce.

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana #

The Government has proposed to initiate the

scheme “Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana”. It is proposed to meet the need to provide assured irrigation to mitigate risk to the farmer since bulk of the farm lands are rainfed and depend on monsoon. This scheme would facilitate access to irrigation. A sum of Rs.1000 crores is being set aside for this scheme.

Kisan Vikas Patra Re-Introduced #

Kisan Vikas Patra is being re-introduced to encourage people, who may have banked and unbanked savings to invest in this instrument. Kisan Vikas Patra is a saving scheme that doubles the money invested in eight years and seven months. The Directorate of Small Savings Government of India sells these saving bonds through all Post Offices in the country so that the scheme can be accessed by citizens from all over the country. A KVP can be encashed after two and a half years from the date of issue at the value it has been bought and the interest accrued for the period.

Kisan in this doesn’t mean that only farmers are eligible to invest. Anybody except a business entity, HUFs and NRIs can invest. Proceeds of the scheme will be utilized for benefit of farmers.

Soil Health Card #

One of the most serious problems of Indian agriculture is bad targeting of inputs, be it water, fertilizer or choice of crops to be grown. Soil of dif- ferent farmlands differ in their nutrient composition and can support (or not) different specific suppose. If farmer is aware which crop to grow and how much and which nutrient to supply, then he will save enormous costs and at same time get better yields. For this Scheme of Soil health card is initiated on pilot basis. Under this mobile soil testing laborato- ries will be set up which will do soil certification and farmers will be issued a soil health card.

State Governments have adopted innovative practices like involvement of agricultural students, NGOs and private sector in soil testing, determining average soil health of villages, etc., to issue Soil Health Cards. This is prerequisite for effective ‘integrated nutrient management’