GRASSROOT | Newsletter Oct - 2019 Agriculture News Sep - 2019 U. P’s first Agri export Policy • Uttar Pradesh Government notified • Pesticide residue, heavy metal and it’s first ever Agriculture Export Policy biological contamination testing labs 2019 on September in aim to become Na- accredited to National Accreditation tion’s first trillion dollar state economy. Board for Testing and Calibration Labo- • Government will also set up a state ratories will be setup at all levels. level agriculture export promotion cell • PPP mode is also adopted in the ar- at the existing directorate of agriculture eas of plan to set up pack houses, collec- marketing and agriculture foreign trade, tion centers, ripening chambers, reefer at Lucknow. and non-refer vans besides warehouses • Food processing industries with and cold storage facilities. 40% incentives will be set up near these clusters. Rise of Onion prices • The excess of monsoon in key onion • Centre has 56,000 tonnes of onion has producing states like Karnataka, Ma- been kept as a buffer stock. harashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, • Onion prices will come to normal Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar af- in November as summer production fected the harvest the crop in time. This enters into the market - Government leads to an acute shortage of onion sup- said. ply in the market. • Government is taking measures to arrest the price hike. Various measures like discouraged the export, offloading buffer stock through cooperative, cen- ter has asked states to boost supply by lifting central buffer stock. States like Delhi, Tripura and Andhra Pradesh have accepted. NEWS www.agademy.in 07 GRASSROOT | Newsletter Oct - 2019 CMFRI - ISRO to collect data on wetlands • Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute and ISRO inked MoU to collect data on wetlands and an app has been developed by Space Applications Cen- tre of ISRO. • Attempt has been to protect coastal wetlands in climate crisis and data has been collected on smaller wetlands construction and other bio diversity across the coastal region of the country. specialties. •Mobile app is aimed to generate a cen- • Health status of wetlands of the tralized digital database of the smaller country is available on common digital wetlands with 2.2 ha. platform to know the vulnerability of • The app will collect five level data regions. of wetlands including geo spatial • This initiative is carried out by the Na- profile, size, water and soil quality, tional Innovations in Climate Resilient farmed species, pollution status, illegal Agriculture project wing of the CMFRI. Krishi Kisan App in New Delhi to provide farmers the information of best demonstration of high-yielding crops and seeds in their nearby area. • Any farmer with high quality of crops can utilize this platform to demonstrate best practices of cultivation to other farmers so that this will help other farmers also to adopt these methods. The App will also help in geo-tagging • Union Minister for Agriculture and geo-fencing of crop and give weath- and Farmers Welfare launched ‘Kri- er forecast message to farmers. shi Kisan App for Geo Tagging’ First food Park of Telangana • First food park in Telangana has been inaugurated in Lakkampally village in Nandipet of Nizamabad district. • It has been set up under Centre’s Food park scheme and promoted by Smart Agro Food Park. • Food park is been setup on 78 acre of • 22 food processing units are aimed to land and aimed to generate investment be developed in the park by generating NEWS of 250 cr. a turnover of 14000 crore. www.agademy.in 08 GRASSROOT | Newsletter Oct - 2019 WWF India to plant 27,333 trees for new campaign. • September 13 marked 1,500 days of OnePlus’ operating system Oxygen OS. The Shanghai-based smartphone manu- facturer partnered with WWF India and their ‘Adopt a Tree’ campaign. • Our community tweeted 27,322 times for #OxygenOS & as promised we’re going to plant 27,333 trees together with WWF India.” • The announcement was praised by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei. • Health status of wetlands of the • (World Wide Fund for Nature) net- country is available on common digital work operating in over 100 countries platform to know the vulnerability of globally, the organization has been regions. working on nature conservation and the • This initiative is carried out by the Na- reduction of human impact on the envi- tional Innovations in Climate Resilient ronment for the past 50 years. Agriculture project wing of the CMFRI. Reducing Food Loss and Waste • A new report “Reducing Food Loss and Waste” by the World Resources Institute (WRI) with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation has quantified global food wastage. Key findings of the report are • Nearly one-third of the food that is produced globally each year goes un- eaten, costing the global economy over $940 billion. • Most of the food loss happens “near vegetables make up the largest share of the farm” predominantly in lower-in- total annual food loss and waste. come countries and most of the food • The uneaten food is responsible for waste happens “near the plate” pre- emitting about 8 % of greenhouse gases dominantly in higher-income countries. into the atmosphere. • Roots and tubers are the food group • It put forward a Global Action Agen- that face the maximum wastage, at over da that calls for developing national 62% for 2007. Fruits and vegetables fol- strategies for food loss and waste re- low, with over 41%. duction, creating national public-pri- • When viewed as a proportion, by vate partnerships, launch supply chain weight, of all the food estimated to be initiatives, reducing small-holder losses lost and wasted globally, fruits and and shifting consumer social norms. NEWS www.agademy.in 09 GRASSROOT | Newsletter Oct - 2019 Climate change can reduce banana yield in India, study finds • Global warming in the last 60 years • Over 29% of the world’s banana pro- had helped increase banana yield at duction is in India. The average yield of annual rate of 0.024 t/ha translating to banana in India is around 60 t/ha, ac- an average increase of 1.37 t/ha in 27 cording to the FAO. countries since the 1960s. • During the same period (2010 and • But with continued warming, the 2017), China, which is the second larg- yield gains could slow down or even est producer globally, produced about reverse in some countries leading to a one-third of India — 11 million tonnes drop in yields- 0.59-0.19t/ha by 2050, per year. a study published in Nature Climate • The decline in production due to cli- Change. mate change in the case of India may be • According to the Food and Agricul- mitigated by strong, technology-driven ture Organization (FAO) with 29 mil- measures to increase the yield. lion tonnes produced per year between 2010 and 2017, India is the world’s num- ber one producer of banana. NEWS www.agademy.in 10.