Farmer protest, American fears

1. Fight between farmers and the industry: This time it is for the use of dam water. More details here.

2. US is concerned about the aggressive cotton procurement by CCI and the chinese counterpart. It says "In order to protect their farmers' income, China and India have dramatically increased government purchases to drive-up domestic farm prices. Although there have been no official statement... regarding how these stocks will be managed, their disposition will certainly affect the US exports and prices". Detailed report in The Hindu.

Commodity Future, Prahalad and water infrastructure

1. Do farmers really benefit from commodity future market. They may not do so directly but indirectly they get affected as brought forward by this article. The author also gives example of Mondragon Cooperatives of Spain to put emphasis on his point.

2. C.K. Prahalad discusses on opportunities in agriculture - "Till now the focus has been on pre-harvest elements like fertilisers and pesticides. But India has serious post-harvest issues of wastage, poor preservation of perishable products and inadequate access to markets. Companies like ITC, Amul, Reliance and Bharti are investing to address these issues. And it is benefiting farmers. Amul does not waste anything. You can do something similar in products as varied as shrimp, arecanut, coconut. But you can't simply replicate the Amul model, you will need to build separate structures."

3. Something that we need to do in India as well - implementation of integrated water, agriculture and energy programmes to enhance sustainable development.

Wireless sensors, Equitool for organics

1. A scientist of Indian origin, along with his team, is developing wireless transceivers and sensors that would collect and send data about soil moisture within a field. The sensors could help researchers understand precisely how water moves through a field, develop better models to predict crop growth and yield and understand the carbon and nitrogen cycles within soils, as well as help farmers manage their nutrient and water resources, which could maximize yields and profits, and minimize environmental impacts.

2. Equitool is a tool to help decision-makers assess whether an organic production and processing standard applicable in one region of the world is equivalent, ie not identical but equally valid, to another organic standard. It will help streamline acceptance of products that are traded internationally according to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Conservation agriculture, FDI in agriculture and Agri-entrpreneurs

1. Business standard covers this interesting story on new farming techniques to improve land productivity as well as to reverse the climate change. Suggestions include rice-wheat cropping sequence, zero tillage agriculture, raised bed planting, laser land-lavelling and drip irrigation.

2. It is surprising to hear the suggestion coming from a minister to get foreign investment in agriculture. The food processing minister says that it is the "next sunrise sector".

3. Interesting story covered by ET on Agri-entrepreneurs. It covers various ventures like Satnam Agri Products by Mandip Singh producing premium potato chips, Minchy brand on wines by Girish Minocha and Pawas Canning by Hemant Desai exporting mango pulp to Japan. It also covers Nisarg Nirman Agro Products growing and selling exotic fruits to five start hotels, Jalbindu Agri Tech by Rahul Gala growing and selling dates using high echnology and "Best Roses" by Kumar Patel.

Water scarcity, Onion storage and Integrated Farming

1. The Economist carries an interesting story about shortage of water. We consumer more that 3000 litres of water per day. That is because today's agricultural practices wastes lot of water in irrigation.

2. The Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB) has proposed an onion storage scheme. "This will prevent the usual trend between June and September, when the price per quintal goes up to Rs 1,000 from Rs 200-Rs 300", said project manager DM Sable of MSAMB.

3. Integrated farming is needed to achieve a sustainable high growth rate, said noted agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan at an agriculture leadership summit.

Integrated farming refers to agricultural systems that integrate livestock and crop production.
It also denotes sustainable development by balancing food production, profitability, safety, animal welfare, social responsibility and environmental care.

Updates: Netafim, Bihar floods, Trade pacts and Pusa1121

1. Netafim, the world’s largest provider of smart water solutions for agriculture, inaugurates its second plant in Chennai, India. "Netafim™, an Israel based Agri-Business pioneer and the world’s largest provider of smart water solutions for agriculture, has been delivering innovative solutions that increase crop yields and preserve water resources. Netafim™ is active in over 110 countries across 5 continents, employing over 2600 employees, has more than 35 subsidiaries and 13 manufacturing facilities in 11 countries."

2. Bihar floods have led to losses worth more that 150 crores. Business-standard carried this story. Worst affected are the crops like paddy and maize and also pulses, vegetables and banana.

3. India is pushing on talks involving free trade of goods, services and investments with Japan and South Korea. Parallel talks are also going on with Thailand in similar lines.

4. Conflicts surrounding Pusa rise continues. Limited exports of Pusa rice has been allowed. Although it has not been provided the new definition of basmati rice in spite of meeting the necessary requirements.

Today's Links

India may outpace Brazil in sugar production
Commodity Online - Kochi,Kerala,India
The Union Agriculture Ministry sources said, the sugar production has been fairly good. Even in 2007, the country produced 275 lakh tonnes of sugar while ...

Wastewater often used in urban agriculture: study
AFP -
The practice was being used on 20 million hectares (almost 50 million acres) of land, especially in Asian countries like China, India and Vietnam, ...

Leaving WTO would leave India without support: Pawar
MorungExpress - Dimapur,Assam,India
New Delhi, August 15 (Agencies): Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has rejected a suggestion that India should step out of the World Trade Organisation ...

Indian Agriculture business or service????
By mkalyan6484
India is 2nd largest agriculture producer but still we don't have sufficient amount to feed our people. Why??? Because everything is exported, without giving a thought for people of our country. Is profit is only important goal for all ...

India oilseeds rise tracking weak rupee, CBOT
Reuters India - Mumbai,India
India is import-dependent for edible oils and imports palm oil and soyoil derived from soybean. A weak rupee makes imports expensive. ...


`Farmers worse off than lowest-paid babus`
Reuters India - Mumbai,India