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Anirban Mukherjee ¹, Aniruddha Maity ²

Affiliations
1 Vivekananda Parvatiya Krishi Anusandhan Sansthan, Almora, IN
2 Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi 284 003, IN

Abstract

After Green revolution, Indian agriculture has seen a paradigm shift in technology development and dissemination. There is now an overflowing basket of goods and services ready to be served to the Indian farmers. But the traditional agricultural extension system designed to disseminate information and services to the farming community is not able to deliver as per expectations. This gap in demand and supply has lured private sector players to come in and explore the vast opportunities. The economic policies allow private extension agencies to capture the world's largest farming community and they have been very proactive. They supply quick, timely, efficient and appropriate services, making the traditional way of disseminating the technologies by public system seem even weaker. Though it is guided by profit motive, they serve the purpose of meeting the unmet needs of farmers in India. This situation has raised questions/doubts on the intention, policies, products they are promoting and the people they are targeting. At this juncture, the government has no option but to remain an active partner with private extension system. But it has a role to play in monitoring and controlling the quality of services and goods. Total privatization is not advisable for agriculture. So, for better utilization of scarce resources, there is a need to reduce the redundancy, repetition and to facilitate convergence and better linkage in this Public-Private Partnership. This article will focus on some essential factors that need to be considered.

Keywords

Agriculture, Extension System, Farming Community, Private Sector.

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Arindam Nag ¹, Anirban Mukherjee ², Pragati Pramanik ³, Aniruddha Maity ⁴

Affiliations
1 Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour 855 107, IN
2 ICAR-Vivekananda Parvatiya Krishi Anusandhan Sansthan, Almora 263 601, IN
3 ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, IN
4 ICAR-Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi 284 003, IN

Abstract

Historically soils have been classified according to their appearance and characteristics. The Chinese textbook, Yugond (2500 BC) is probably the first ever on soil classification; indeed, it provided an effective and interpretative classification. Dokuchaev and others used vernacular soils like chernozem, solonetz and gley as central concepts for scientific classification. Vernacular soil names have been used throughout history and helped provide the basis of scientific classification. Folk soil taxonomies were characterized, developed, refined and used generation after generation through time-tested trials and errors. Basically, indigenous wisdom which farmers have acquired and preserved over time has repeatedly been ignored rather than streamlined. Scientific systems and detailed soil mapping have already replaced folk taxonomies, especially in the more developed countries.

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Kumari Shubha ¹, Nongmaithem Raju Singh ¹, Anirban Mukherjee ¹, Aniruddha Maity ², Rachana Dubey ¹

Affiliations
1 Division of Crop Research, ICAR-Research Complex for Eastern Region, Patna 800 014, IN
2 Plant Breeding, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, US

Abstract

Mechanized farming for vegetable production has evolved as an integral part of commercial agriculture during the past few decades. As a first step towards mechanized farming the use of tractors in Indian agriculture has increased by 528% during the period 1990–91 to 2018–19 from 0.15 to 0.8 million/year. Undoubtedly, use of such technologies has made vegetable as well as foodgrain production a profitable venture by easing land preparation, weed management and other intercultural operations, crop harvesting, etc. However, their continuous use in production fields has resulted in the substantial compaction of soil along the wheel lines of tractors and similar heavy machinery. Reports indicate a significant yield loss (13–73%) owing to soil compaction because it restricts ischolar_main penetrance into the soil, limiting nutrient and water uptake by the plants, and also potential water stagnation, which can limit the normal activities of respiring ischolar_mains leading to retarded plant growth and ischolar_main diseases. In this context, control traffic farming (CTF), which aims to reduce the area affected by the operation of heavy machinery that otherwise lead to soil compaction, brings a substantial value to the current global focus of sustainable and precision farming. CTF attempts to restrict the spatial movement of machinery wheels to fewer operation lanes during and across production cycles for a long time and allows specifically the undisturbed areas of soil for crop production. Research confirms a significant improvement in crop yield in different crop production systems worldwide and reduction in methane emission due to soil absorption (372–2100%) compared to random traffic farming. In this article, we discuss the advantages of CTF in terms of ischolar_main growth, nutrient mobilization and energy efficiency of the vegetable production system, and also argue on its scope in the Indian context, given the situation that no or only a few studies have been reported from the country.

Keywords

Controlled Traffic Farming, Environmental Impact, Soil Compaction, Vegetables.

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