PADDY CULTIVATION- NECESSITY BRINGS INVENTIONS  In Delta area wet lands , one can grow annually 2 crops of paddy followed by paddy, paddy followed by maize or pulses or single crop of sugarcane. When paddy transplanting, harvesting etc were manual, some farmers were preferring cane cultivation. With change in cultivation practices and increased harvesting problems in cane, in wetlands cane cultivation almost came to an end. In krishna Delta , when the irrigation was not available on time,  farmers out of necessity moved from paddy nursery and transplanting to direct sowing method. Direct Sowing resulted in huge reduction of cost particularly manpower requirements which is scarce in present situation. Due to direct sowing and better drainage facilities, paddy yields increased by 20 to 30% ( 30 bags to 40 bags of 75 kg each). When scientists used to prefer and advocate for direct sowing farmers were not in a mood to listen. With limited options available farmers shifted to...

MY  AGRI JOURNEY CONTINUES-TALES OF SUGARCANE FARMERS . Sugarcane rates are more stable as it is decided based on fair & remunerative price (FRP) fixed by GOI annually coupled with sugar recovery. Hence the minimum guarantee is assured to farmers. Due to prevailing zonal system of cane movement regulation, farmers are automatically tied up with sugar unit located in the respective zone. Factories arrange crop loans from banks based on the cane purchase agreements, due to which the tenant farmers, defective title land holders ,also get easy access to loans, which was not case with regular crop loans. Few factories lure farmers with notional subsidies in the form of seed, fertilisers etc , but finally adjust in the cane pricing. Though Rangarajan committee on sugar industry formed during UPA Govt,came out with sound recommendations in favour of farmers , like free zone, comprehensive pricing formula for cane considering value for baggase, Molasses and other products etc, i...

MY AGRI JOURNEY CONTINUES... CABBAGE TALES As it was shared 20 days back, we sold our 1.5 acres standing cabbage crop for 2.75 lakhs@ Rs. 1.8 lakes/acre. Trader who bought the crop,paid us one lakh as advance and lifted about 30% crop during last week of November and got good rate @ Rs.23/kg average in Vijayawada market. As the prices were more or less range bound for 10 days , in anticipation of same rates for another month or so, he stopped further harvesting thinking that he can take advantage of weight gain. As Vijayawada market cabbage arrivals increased with supplies from Pune and Bangalore and also due to downward trend in onion rates, cabbage crashed to Rs 10/kg suddenly from Rs23/kg. Further price drop is expected. The standing crop which was sold for Rs 1.8 lakhs/ acre is now available for less than Rs 0.4 Lakhs /acre and even further downward trend is expected. Trader came to us with sorrow face and expressed that he is not in a position to pay, as for the contrac...

FARMERS-THE BREAD GROWERS ARE TREATED AS BEGGARS IN MANDIS It is really unfortunate to see that small and marginal farmers are treated very shabbily by commission agents, transport operators, hamali syndicates etc in markets. They have forgotten the fact that the entire supply chain is surviving  due to farmer and his produce. The middle who bring produce from farms are given preferential treatment over real farmers. There is nexus operating to discourage farmers bringing produce directly to markets and its more prevalent in fruit and vegetables markets. For example from 50 kg cabbage bag agents reduce 5 kg as allowance for wastage from direct farmers, whereas it is 3 kg from middlemen. Similarly there are huge variations in hamali, commission other than preferential treatment in auctions and loading. It is very clear that there is coterie operating systematically to ensure farmers not coming to markets directly. If there are credit linkages the situation is even worse....

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT AGRICULTURE  Do you know why cabbage rate gone up from Rs 10 to 30 / Kg in short span of time ?? Guess it and to validate your answer scroll down As the onion rates reached around Rs 60/kg, cabbage is being used in mix with onions in hotels and bulk consumers. Resulting in drastic increase in cabbage price and also stabilization of onion prices as the consumption dropped due to replacement by cabbage. BGR

INDIAN SUGAR INDUSTRY- STAKEHOLDERS ENGAGEMENT                              B Guruva Reddy , BE (Agri. Eng), PGDRM(IRMA)                                 grbonthu@gmail.com -9866889246                                                                                                Introduction: Sugar...