GM Rice Contamination + Climate Change & MoP-18 & WMO + Agri Issues

[Guest guest]

In This NEWS Bulletin ************************************ 1. Protect Rice Exports From GM Contamination : Industry 2. New Rice Farming System Promises Wonders - SRI close to ORGANIC FARMING On CLIMATE CHANGE & MoP-18 & WMO MEET ----- 3. Sibal Aks WMO To Work On Climate Change 4. Farmers Don Weather Man's Cap - Dissemination of weather forecast can help farmers manage risks - EL NINO Mystery Unvield 5. Give High Priority To Ozone Layer Protection Says Envionment Minister At MoP-18 Session On OTHER ISSUES --- 6. Prime Minister To Launch Rs 3,750 cr Backward Regions Grant Fund In November 7. Victory For Pawar - Wheat Support Price Hiked To Rs 750/quintal 8. Wheat Futures Rises 1.6-2% -- Protect rice exports from GM contamination: industry http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=145011 ASHOK B SHARMA Posted online: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 at 0000 hours IST NEW DELHI, OCT 30: Leading commodity exporters have urged the government to take lessons from the losses being suffered by the US rice industry and farmers on account of contamination of American long grain rice by the genetically modified (GM) grains. They have said that policy measures should be put in place to see that transgenic versions of long grain rice are not developed so as to peril the Indian exports. Speaking to FE, RS Seshadri of Tilda Riceland said, “India exports good

quantity of long grain basmati and non-basmati rice to Europe, West Asia and Japan at premium prices. Consumers in these regions do not accept GM rice. The US and Chinese exports of rice has taken a heavy beating as their rice is contaminated with GM grains.” He was referring to burning of Mahyco’s Bt rice under contained field trials in Ramapura village in Karnal, Haryana, on October 28. Leading farmers’ organisation Bharatiya Kissan Union (BKU)had led local farmers in destroying Mahyco’s Bt rice under field trials. BKU spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said, “We found that trials of Bt rice were conducted under secrecy on the farm land of Paramjit Singh, who leased his two-acre land to Mahyco for Rs 15,000. He was not informed by Mahyco about what seeds were sown and for what purpose. We found blatant violation of biosafty norms in the field trial which may lead to genetic contamination of other rice fields. Singh

after discovering the truth joined us along with 500 farmers in uprooting and burning of the crop.” Mahyco general manager MK Sharma when contacted said : “This is really unfortunate development. The experimental research crop was meant to evaluate the performance of the new technology which will help farmers use less pesticide, increase yield and benefit environment.” Shesadri further said that All India Rice Exporters Association is of the view that no transgenic version of any long grain rice should be developed, keeping in view country’s export prospects. If the country wants to develop GM rice it should first negotiate with the major importers like European Union, Japan and West Asian countries and see that Indian exports are not hampered. The health ministry should give the final clearance for any GM food crops and vouch its safety and the findings should be put up for public debate, he

said---------- New rice farming system promises wonders - SRI close to ORGANIC FARMING http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=144897 In China, India, Peru and Sri Lanka, the system for rice intensification provided an average yield of around 15 tonne per hectare ASHOK B SHARMA Posted online: Monday, October 30, 2006 at 0000 hours IST NEW DELHI, OCT 29: Several efforts are on for increasing production of world’s major staple crop, rice, in a cost-effective manner. Conservation of natural resources and improvement in soil health are vital for boosting crop production on a sustainable basis. One such model developed is the system for rice intensification

(SRI), developed by Fr Henri de Laulanie in 1980s in Madagascar. “SRI offers unprecedented opportunities for improving rice production in a variety of situations around the world, not just by increments but even by multiples”, says Norman Uphoff of the Cornell International Institute for Food Agriculture and Development. Uphoff was recently in New Delhi to attend the 2nd International Rice Congress. Explaining the success of SRI, Uphoff says than in less than 5 years ago, it was known and practiced only in Madagascar. Today, there are successful results from 18 other countries, including India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Gambia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, The Philippines, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Peru, Benin, Guinea, Laos and Thailand. According to Uphoff, the average yield of rice under SRI reported 7 to 8 tonne per heactare, which is much higher than the average yield under conventional

chemical agriculture. In China, India, Peru and Sri Lanka, the reported average yield was around 15 tonne per hectare. India’s rice productivity is around 2 tonne per hectare. In India, SRI was first introduced in Andhra Pradesh in 2003 by the state agriculture university with 10,000 farmers. The achievements were an increase in 50% to 100% increase in yield, using less water and lowering input costs. SRI was found to be effective in all 22 districts of the state on widely varying soils. SRI is expected to spread to the Cauvery delta in Tamil Nadu and also in Karnataka and Maharashtra in the next season. A number of NGOs have become stakeholders in the process, as the system is close to organic farming. In Andhra Pradesh, the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) which is involved in the non-pesticidal management (NPM) practices in agriculture have offered to support SRI. • The system for rice

intensification (SRI) was developed by Fr Henri de Laulanie in 1980s in Madagascar• There are sucessful results from 18 other countries, including all the major rice nations• In India, SRI was first introduced in Andhra in 2003 by the state agriculture university with 10,000 farmers CSA believes that NPM in agriculture as evolved by the former director of the Central Tobacco Research Institute, MS Chari, can be coupled with SRI to give better results. “This practice elicit more productive phenotypes from existing rice genomes, whether high-yielding varieties, hybrids or traditional landraces. SRI practice promotes greater root growth that is easily verifiable and improve soil biological activity. It does not depend upon external inputs. Instead, it increases the productivity of the land, labour, water and capital devoted to irrigated rice production by capitalising on existing genetic potentials and by better biological

processes, particularly in the soil,” says Uphoff. SRI has three basic concepts —transplantation of seedlings while young (less than 15 days), maintaining wide spacing between plants and keeping the soil both moist and aerated at least during the vegetative growth period. Frequent weeding with a rotating hoe that aerates the soil while it prevents weed growth, should be practiced. Small amount of water should be applied daily, or alternate flooding and drying for 3 to 6 days, should be done and organic manure should be applied. Uphoff lists a number of gains from SRI like greater root growth, increased grain filling, higher grain quality and greater grain weight, water saving, less lodging, fewer pest and disease attacks, seed savings, no need for chemical fertiliserss, lower costs of production, increased factor productivity, increased income for farmers and reduced

risks.------ Sibal asks WMO to work on climate change http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=144996 ASHOK B SHARMA ECONOMY BUREAU Posted online: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 at 0000 hours IST NEW DELHI, OCT 30: Minister for science and technology and earth sciences Kapil Sibal suggested the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) to take up the issue of global climate change and study its impact. Sibal also stressed the need to modernising the AgroMet services for the benefit of farmers and food security. Sibal urged the WMO to take up the challenge to provide farmers the AgroMet

information to meet the needs and dreams of humanity. Addressing the 14th session of WMO Commission for Agricultural Meteorology in Delhi on Monday, Sibal said the AgroMet services could solve the challenges facing the farming sector. “We need to increase agricultural productivity to meet demands of the growing population. We would probably have to produce two times higher in the context of rising population, he said.” Dissemination of information directly to the farmers is a big challenge, and there should be sustained efforts to meet this problem, he said, adding that information should be in local languages and simple. The WMO secretary general M Jarraud said the application of science and technology in providing weather predictions is highly necessary. He said agricultural production is fully dependent on weather conditions. He said

agricultural production is fully depended on the weather conditions. The Indian scientist Joseph Pichamuthu was awarded the 20th "Professor Dr Vilho Vaisala Award" at the function. The award carries $10,000 and a medal. Meanwhile, inaugurating another event on India-Mexico workshop on water management in urban areas, Sibal said there are 16 million people in both Mexico City and Delhi each, in need of better water management. He said technology would be the answer. His Mexican counterpart looked forward for collaboration with India in biotech and information technology Sibal launched the scene-of-crime application developed in partnership with Microsoft for digitising manual investigation process by the police.- Farmers don weather man’s cap Dissemination of weather forecast can help farmers manage risks, feels Ashok B Sharma http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=144940 Posted online: Monday, October 30, 2006 at 0046 hours IST Around the world, farmers are grappling with uncertainty in the weather pattern that is having a direct bearing on their agricultural production. The onus on the scientific community, therefore, is to deploy the right technology tools and processes to safeguard their crops from nature’s fury. Meteorologists from across the world are now brainstorming to find out ways how best they could provide meteorology services to farmers in the remote regions at the Commission for Agricultural Meteorology (CAgM-14). WMO secretary-general M Jarraud says, “The scientists all over the world are now engaged in

working out how best they can agriculture meteorology services to the farmers, using recent technologies for data processing, analysis and dissemination.” First, the forecasts need to aim at near accuracy and then the process of quick dissemination to farmers at the village level. Needless to say, to improve the quality of forecast, real-time data needs to be generated and appropriate forecast models need to be devised to process this data. The meteorologists are at their job. They have been able to resolve the issue of the co-relationship of El Nino with the Indian monsoon. El Nino is the periodic warming of the Pacific waters above the normal level that is responsible for droughts in many parts of the world. The Pacific Ocean is divided into four regions. In India, severe droughts have occurred in some El Nino years and in some years when El Nino has not occurred, droughts have occurred in some parts of the

country. Martin Hoerling of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder in United States and his colleagues say that the El Nino phenomena extending westwards into central Pacific Ocean causes droughts in India. They analysed 23 strong El Nino years and their links to 13 drought years and 10 drought-free years in India. They used satellite observations of sea surface temperatures and historical data of rainfall over central India. To confirm their findings, Hoerling and his team used computer models to mimic the patterns. The Hoerling team suggested that the ‘two flavours of El Nino’ is likely to impact Indian monsoon differently through the tropical Walker circulation, an east-west wind over the Pacific. The team, however, said that there may be over factors causing droughts in India—the sea surface temperatures of the Indian

Ocean, Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal may have a role to play. It now depends upon Indian meteorologists to carry forward the work done by the Hoerling team and investigate the link between Indian monsoon and the sea surface temperatures of the surrounding waters! According to experts, there are 127 agro-climatic zones in India. Each zone has its unique weather pattern. However, due to the ongoing global climate change there is marked variation in the weather pattern in many of these agro-climatic zones. Hence, there is a need to caution farmers about the weather variability through short-term or daily forecasts. At present, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has set up 22 AgroMet Advisory Units across the country. But this is not enough, says the science and technology minister, Kapil Sibal.-------- ‘Give high priority

to ozone layer protection’ http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=144988 ASHOK B SHARMA ECONOMY BUREAU Posted online: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 at 0000 hours IST NEW DELHI, OCT 30: The Union minister for environment and forests A Raja wants the world community to take into consideration the health of people while giving high priority to protect the ozone layer. Referring to the use of Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) in metered dose inhalers, he added some developing countries including India face difficulties in manufacturing these inhalers, which use CFC. He said till date neither economically viable and well adaptable technology nor

suitable guidelines have been evolved to extend financial support to developing countries to help them meet the incremental cost of CFC in MDI sector. Keeping with the spirit of the Montreal Protocol, measures should be taken for safe disposal of unused Ozone Depleting Substances, Raja said. Inaugurating the high-level segment of the 18th meeting of the parties to the Montreal Protocol, he said the protocol is one of the first international environmental agreements which includes trade sanctions to achieve the goals of the treaty. The Protocol, together with control measure, has also mandated to undertake research development, public awareness and exchange of information. A well-structured Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) has been undertaking studies and reviewing the ozone science, alternative technologies and future needs as requested by the concerned parties on all

the contentious issues relating to implementation of the Montreal Protocol, he added. The five-day meeting has been organised by the United Nations Environment Programme. The meeting will address the issues relating to the monitoring the trans-boundary movement of ODS to prevent illegal trade, treatment of stockpile of ODS for both developed and developing countries, identiication of key challenges to be faced by the parties in preparing the ozone layer in future, review of nominations for essential use exemptions, clarify the source of discrepancies between emissions determined from bottom-up methods and atmospheric measures, sources of carbon tetrachloride, emissions and opportunities for reductions, methyl-bromide issues, quarantine and pre-shipment matters besides other issues. ------- PM to launch Rs 3,750cr Backward Regions Grant Fund in November

Transparency in allocation and utilisation of funds will be done through electronic tracking, with local involvement http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=144921 ASHOK B SHARMA Posted online: Monday, October 30, 2006 at 0005 hours IST NEW DELHI: The government’s ambitious Rs 3,750-crore (Rs 37,500 million)programme for backward regions is slated to be launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in the first week of November. Prior to the launch, the Union ministry for panchayati raj institutions has drafted guidelines for implementation of the proposed Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF). In all, 250 districts have been selected in 27 states for implementation of BRGF. However, the PRI ministry is

already implementing a development scheme, the Rashtriya Sama Vikas Yojana (RSVY) in 147 districts, which have also been included as beneficiaries of the BRGF scheme. Since the PRI ministry has proposed that funds be released for completion of RSVY scheme in these districts in the current year, these 147 districts will have to wait to get BRGF grants. Hence, the BRGF scheme will start straightaway in the remaining 103 districts from November 2006. The BRGF has an allocation of Rs 3,750 crore for 2006-07. But as the programme is slated to begin towards the later half of the present fiscal, there are doubts about this fund being utilised fully in the period. However, as per the PRI ministry’s proposal, BRGF is slated to continue for the entire 11th Plan period (2007-12). Out of the total annual corpus, each selected district will get Rs 250 per annum for capacity building. This means each of the 250 districts

will have Rs 1 crore for the purpose. Further, from the balance, each district will be allocated a minimum of Rs 10 per year, totalling to Rs 2,500 crore. The remaining Rs 1,000 crore will be divided among districts on basis of population (50%) and on basis of area (50%). The three-tier village local government, panchayati raj institutions will play a key role in the implementation of BGRF, and all states will be required to set up district planning committees. Transfer of funds to the districts will depend upon finalisation of district development plans. The panchayats (group of villages), blocks at intermediate level and the districts are required to prepare perspective five-year plans and annual plans. These plans would then be approved at the state level and would put together resources channelised to the panchayats concerned from all sources including state and central government schemes. According to the proposal, transparency in allocation and utilisation of all development funds will be done through electronic tracking. For this, the states will be encouraged to create village database, secure outside experts in plan preparation, solicit participation of village councils, gram sabhas.-------------- Victory for Pawar; wheat MSP hiked to Rs 750 http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=144991 ASHOK B SHARMA ECONOMY BUREAU Posted online: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 at 0000 hours IST NEW DELHI, OCT 30: The Cabinet committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Monday finally resolved the tussle between agriculture and

finance ministries by fixing the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat at Rs 750 a quintal Rs 7500 per tonne). The Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP) had recommended MSP for wheat at the effective level of that in the previous year. The finance ministry was in concurrence with the CACP in freezing the MSP at Rs 700 a quintal, while the agriculture ministry wanted it to be hiked to Rs 750 a quintal. Major wheat producing state Punjab wanted it to be raised to Rs 800 a quintal. In the last CCEA meeting, the issue remained unresolved due to the absence of finance minister P Chidambaram. Last year, wheat MSP was fixed at Rs 650 a quintal. The government in the midst of the previous marketing season, decided to give an additional bonus of Rs 50 per quintal to farmers on purchase of wheat by government agencies. Thus translating it into an effective MSP of Rs 700 per quintal. Raising of the purchase price for wheat was necessary as the government agencies could not compete with big food companies in procurement as they offered prices in the range of Rs 800 to 850 per quintal. Even the MSP hike to Rs 700 a quintal did not help much, as the government procurement was low at 9.2 million tonne, despite a good wheat production of over 70 million tonne. Keeping in view the constraints faced in the previous year, the agriculture ministry had suggested hiking the wheat MSP to Rs 750 a quintal, while major wheat producing state Punjab wanted it to be hiked to Rs 800 a quintal. The CCEA also raised the MSP for some other crops. MSPs FOR OTHER CROPS : The CCEA also raised the MSP for mustard to Rs 1715 a quintal as against Rs 1600 in the previous year. The MSP for chickpea was raised to Rs 1,445 a quintal from Rs 1,435 a

quintal in the previous year. The MSP for masoor (lentil) has been raised to Rs 1,545 a quintal from Rs 1,535 a quintal last year. The MSP for barley has been hiked to Rs 565 a quintal from Rs 550 a quintal in the previous year. The MSP for safflower seeds remained unchanged at Rs 1,565 a quintal. ------------ Wheat futures rise 1.6-2.0% http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=144992 COMMODITIES BUREAU Posted online: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 at 0000 hours IST MUMBAI, OCT 30 : Futures prices of wheat flared up between 1.6%-2% after the government announced an increase in the MSP. Wheat for November delivery traded at Rs 1,113.6 a 100 kg, up Rs 22.6 or 2.07% from the previous Rs

1,091. Highest traded December contract with volume of 31,830 million tonne valued at Rs 35.7 crores, closed trading at Rs 1,125.8, up 1.7% to the previous close. January contract closed trading at Rs 1,143.2, up 2.0%. Till January, the contracts are in contango, whereafter further contracts stand in backwardation with February and March contracts trading at Rs 1,111 and Rs 1,017. April contract traded at Rs 933.8. Wheat for immediate delivery traded at Rs 1,103.35 against Rs 1,103.7 on Saturday. Spot wheat has risen Rs 66 or 6.4% in the last 10 trading sessions. -----------

Find out what India is talking about on - Answers India Send FREE SMS to your friend's mobile from Messenger Version 8. Get it NOW