Month: January 2013

Ganno Tayeng
Kh. Rojesh
3rd Yr Students
College of Veterinary Sciences & A.H.
Central Agricultural University, Aizawl, Mizoram
It is one of the most popular intensive systems of poultry rearing. In this system, poultry birds are kept confined in a large pen with the floor covered with rice husk, paddy straw (chopped), saw dust or even wood shavings etc. after being mixed with the droppings. Out of these,rice husk and paddy straws are the most common material used in the North-East India.
The litter is spread to a depth of 5cm on the floor before introducing the chicks and is built up to a depth of 15cm by adding litter material, at the rate of about 2 cm per week. This would require approximately 10kg of litter material/m2 floor area. The thickness can be increased by a few centimeters in winter. An area of 700 cm2/chick is provided till about 8 weeks of age. In a hover with 1m diameter, 250 chicks can be brooded efficiently. The hover can be placed at appropriate height from the floor either by hanging it from the roof or by placing it over bricks or stones so that chicks can go in and out easily. Five bulbs of 60 watts are sufficient. To avoid damp litter, 1kg hydrated lime per 15 feet2 floor area is spread. To reduce the irritation caused to the chicks from ammonia, 500g superphosphate per 15 feet2 is spread properly. Litter should be raked thoroughly at frequent intervals, say at least twice a week and the day after deworming. The whole litter should be changed at least twice a year or after each batch of the birds is sold off. Mixing the feed with Amproleum or Bifuran in the appropriate dose is advised to check coccidiosis.
This system offers many advantages. Ectoparasite infection is greatly reduced by the heat generated by bacterial action on the deep litter.
Built up litter supplies vitamin B12 and B2 to the birds and fulfills the natural instinct of the birds to have litter bath.
The Cage Layer Fatigue Syndrome, which is common to caged birds, is also prevented. Vices like feather-picking, vent-picking, cannibalism etc. are tremendously reduced. Moreover, there is no need for large open area and also labour input is reduced.
Also, the litter materials obtained is good manure for the crops too. So keeping these in mind, our poultry farmers are encouraged to adopt this system.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/deep-litter-system-of-poultry-rearing/

 
Dr. S. Ayyappan
Secretary, DARE and Director General, ICAR, Ministry of Agriculture.
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is the apex scientific organization with robust agricultural research system for planning, promotion, execution and coordination of agricultural research and education in the country. ICAR with 99 institutes, 65 Agricultural Universities and 631 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) spread across the country constitutes one of the largest national agricultural research systems in the world. ICAR provided the critical technological inputs for various processes of agriculture that culminated the highest ever food production of all components of cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables, meat, milk, fish and eggs during 2011-12.
The year that went by posed challenges – an erratic monsoon, drought-like situation in some parts of the country as also cyclones impacting agriculture. The technological responses were quick and visible in terms of contingency plans for over 374 districts; stress-resilient crop varieties; holistic technological solutions under NICRA; disaster management in agriculture; innovative attempts at farm mechanization and secondary agricultural enterprises. India’s first ovum-pick up IVF cattle calf and the first mithun calf through embryo transfer technology; and complete suppression of papaya mealy bug through classical biological control by deploying three exotic insect parasitoids in cassava, papaya and mulberry crops were research highlights. Over a dozen patents were granted signalling internalization of IPR culture in the Council. We surged ahead in developing farmer-friendly technologies, their assessment and refinement. Consultations with all stakeholders marked the Year in our review and planning process.
Under a specific country wide National Initiative for Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA), climate resilient agricultural practices are being demonstrated on farmers’ fields in 100 most vulnerable districts. During 2011-12 more than 15000 germplasm of wheat and 2000 germplasm lines of other crops like rice, maize, pulses were screened for drought, heat and submergence tolerance which are the major climatic stresses and more than 50 promising lines were identified in different crops which will be used for breeding purposes during next year. Drought and flood coping technologies were demonstrated on farmers’ fields for adoption in large number of villages for up-scaling. During drought like conditions this year, ICAR coordinated generation and delivery of agro-advisories on contingent crop strategies in different states through the extension system of ICAR and the State Agricultural Universities in regional languages.
A national level programme on ‘Technology Demonstration for Harnessing Pulses Productivity’ was coordinated with participation of Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, Zonal Project Directorate and 137 KVKs in 11 states to conduct 6000 demonstrations in 2010-11 and 2011-12. The demonstrations were laid out on five major crops viz. pigeonpea, chickpea, urdbean, mungbean and lentil. A model was developed in which various technological and extension related factors were integrated that led to yield increase of about 40% in demonstrations over farmers’ practices.
Nearly 95,000 frontline demonstrations on cereals, millets, oilseeds, pulses, cotton and other important crops; 7,000 on improved tools and farm implements; 8,000 on livestock species; 800 on related enterprises; and 4,000 on gender-specific technologies were conducted during the year 2011-12. A single window delivery mechanism has been developed for technology products, diagnostic services and knowledge through Agricultural Technology Information Centers located in ICAR institutes and Agricultural Universities. Riding on the strength of Information and Communication Technologies, more than 300 KVKs are providing Kisan Mobile Advisories to farmers on their registered mobile phones. During the year, about 1.10 lakh short text messages (SMSs) were delivered to 13.40 lakh farmers for timely actions.
Rinderpest, also known as cattle plague, has been eradicated from the planet in which ICAR played a central role yielding major economic benefit to the country in respect of owners of livestock sector. The Council in consultation with the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries celebrated the national ceremony on the declaration of Global Freedom from Rinderpest. Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations which has been instrumental for declaring Global Freedom from Rinderpest adopted a resolution in Rome during the 37th FAO conference, in the presence of 192 member countries making it the first animal disease being eliminated from the planet.
Captive breeding and larval production of silver pompano, a high-value marine tropical finfish, was accomplished successfully. Improved strains of Hungarian scale carp, Ropsa scaly and Felsosomogy mirror carp were bred for improving economics of carp culture in the mid-hill region. Early breeding of grass carp achieved in April would ensure off-season seed availability. The culture of pacific shrimp (L.vannamei) in inland saline soils using ground saline water at Rohtak, Haryana with a salinity of 13-15 ppt is the first attempt in the country towards, utilizing degraded lands for aquaculture.
In the field of bio-technology and genomics, ICAR has played a central role in decoding of rice, potato and tomato genomes as partner of international consortium. Recently, India contributed sequencing of the gene-rich region of the tomato chromosome 5 (tomato has total 12 chromosomes) and provided further support to generate 5-fold sequence coverage of the entire tomato genome by Next Generation Sequence (NGS) technology. The genomes of the cultivated tomato and its closest wild relative have been decoded by the Tomato Genome Consortium (TGC), a group of over 300 scientists from 14 countries. A group of Indian scientists from ICAR, State Agricultural Universities
and Banaras Hindu University, have decoded the genome of pigeon pea (Arhar), the second most important pulse crop of India. This is the first plant genome sequenced entirely through a network of Indian institutions and it will provide highly valuable resource for further improvements in pigeon pea. A total of 47,004 protein-coding genes were identified in the genome, of which 1,213 are for disease resistance and 152 are for tolerance to drought, heat and salinity.
DARE was conferred prestigious Indira Gandhi Rajbhasha Puraskar (2010-11) for excellent work and commendable achievements for implementation of the Official Language Policy of the Union. The comprehensive and effective use of Rajbhasha Hindi has resulted in outreach of benefits of agricultural research to the large community of Hindi speaking farmers and other stakeholders. Krishika, first Hindi Research Journal of the Council was launched which is a half-yearly peer reviewed journal covering research in agriculture and allied subjects.
Under the knowledge management efforts, over 350 courses have been developed under the ‘e-Learn Agriculture’ initiative covering undergraduate programmes in agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, veterinary science, dairy technology, sericulture and agricultural engineering. AgriDaksh, a Knowledge Management tool for building online expert system for crops was developed comprising knowledge model creation, knowledge acquisition, problem identification, knowledge retrieval, ask questions-to-experts and administration. The Knowledge Information Repository in Agriculture for North-East (KIRAN) and Rice Knowledge Management Portal were launched. The National Agricultural Bioinformatics Grid in the ICAR will be a national facility to provide computational framework to support biotechnological research in the country.
The ICAR now has a corporate platform, ‘Agri-Innovate India Limited’ for technology commercialization and consultancy at home and abroad. Forty-three patent applications were filed and two international and nine national patents were granted during 2011-12. Over 200 extant varieties were registered and granted protection and 436 applications were brought out in the Plant Variety Journal. Six Copyrights were registered by the ICAR institutes to protect developed softwares. ‘Weather Cock’ software package, capable of agro-meteorological analysis to understand possible impacts of climate change on crop performance, was developed and registered. Trademark ‘IISR’ was granted to the Indian Institute for Spices Research, Kozhikode. Unforeseen challenges of Indian agriculture are presenting uncommon opportunities that also seek unconventional approaches to harness the potentials. Agriculture-Food-Nutrition-Health Environment- Employment and Gender Perspective have to be addressed in all our efforts through an innovative and integrated approach. The year ahead is the time for focusing on programmes, partnerships and projects that should further bring cheer to the Indian farmer. ‘Family NARES’ and ‘Team ICAR’ are committed for greater synergy as a winning strategy, and together, we can make a change in Indian agriculture, to become a sought-after career and occupation for men, women and youth alike.
(PIB Feature.)

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/endeavors-to-feed-nation-with-pride/

Saurabh Chandra
Secretary, DIPP, Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
The Global economic turmoil has impacted the overall economy in general and industry in particular. This is quite evident from the deceleration witnessed in the performance of industrial sector in the recent past.
During 2011-12 industrial growth in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), showed a low growth of 2.9% compared to 8.2% growth registered in 2010-11. The moderation in the industrial growth, however had started in 2008-09. The IIP growth rate was 2.5% in 2008-09 which improved slightly to 5.3% in 2009-10 compared to the peak growth rate of 15.5% achieved in the year 2007-08.
Manufacturing Growth
During 2011-12, a low growth in manufacturing (3.0%) was a main reason for moderation in IIP growth. The cumulative growth of manufacturing sector was 1.0 per cent during April-October, 2012-13 compared to its 3.8 per cent growth during corresponding period of the previous year. Similar to the overall industrial growth, the reasons for moderation in the growth of manufacturing include global slowdown, moderation in domestic demand, hardening of interest rates etc.
Amongst the manufacturing goods the moderation in its growth rate is largely accounted by the performance of capital goods and intermediate goods which has been in the negative trajectory for most part of the year. Capital goods witnessed a sharp decline in growth during 2012-13 (April-October) with growth rate of –11.4%. Items such as Boilers; Grinding Wheels; Cement Machinery; Sugar Machinery; Textile Machinery; Plastic Machinery Incl. Moulding Machinery; Transformers (Small); Earth Moving Machinery; Computers has shown a consistent negative growth.
Measures to Boost Manufacturing
The future trajectory of the index of industrial production (IIP) depends largely on the revival of investment. Low economic activity due to weak investment sentiments and global slowdown is well reflected in National Accounts Statistics. Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) as a measure of addition in productive capacity of the economy grew at 5.5 per cent in 2011-12 compared to 7.5 per cent in 2010-11. The GFCF as a percent of GDP at 2004-05 prices moderated to 32.0 % in 2011-12 compared to 32.5 % in previous year. Gross Fixed Capital Formation grew at 4.1 percent in the second quarter of 2012-13 against 0.7 percent in the first quarter.
The Government has been taking confidence building measures for improving the industrial climate and manufacturing in the country. Three important initiatives taken in this regard are announcement of National Manufacturing Policy (NMP), implementation of Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) Project and policy reforms to promote Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
National Manufacturing Policy (NMP)
The National Manufacturing Policy (NMP) was approved by the Government in October, 2011. The major objectives of the policy are for enhancing the share of manufacturing in GDP to 25% and creating additional 100 million over a decade or so. Other quantitative and qualitative changes that are envisaged by the policy include creation of appropriate skill sets among the rural migrant and urban poor to make growth inclusive; increasing domestic value addition and technological depth in manufacturing; enhancing global competitiveness of Indian manufacturing through appropriate policy support; ensuring sustainability of growth, particularly with regard to the environment including energy efficiency, optimal utilization of natural resources and restoration of damaged/ degraded eco-systems etc.
The Policy also provides special focus to the industries that are employment intensive, those producing capital goods, those having strategic significance, small and medium enterprises, public sector enterprises besides industries where India enjoys a competitive advantage etc.
In addition, specific instruments have been conceptualized under NMP to achieve its stated objectives. Accordingly the policy envisages among others – rationalization and simplification of business regulations; simple and expeditious exit mechanism for closure of sick units while protecting labour interests; financial and institutional mechanisms for technology development, including green technologies; industrial training and skill up gradation measures; incentives for SMEs, clustering and aggregation support through National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs), trade policy etc.
Promoting clustering and aggregation, especially through creation of NIMZs is a major policy instrument of NMP. NIMZs as key instruments to catalyze the growth of manufacturing are envisaged to be developed in the nature of green field industrial townships, benchmarked with the best manufacturing hubs in the world. The Zones are expected to help in meeting the increasing demand for creating world class urban centres in India, while absorbing surplus labour by providing them gainful employment opportunities. These NIMZs will seek to address the infrastructural bottleneck which has been cited as a constraining factor for the growth of manufacturing.Ten NIMZs have been announced, eight of which are along the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC).
Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) Project
The Delhi – Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) Project is being implemented on both sides of the 1483 km long Western Dedicated Rail Freight Corridor between Dadri (UP) and JNPT (Navi Mumbai). The project seeks to create a strong economic base with a globally competitive environment and state-of-the-art infrastructure to activate local commerce, enhance investments and attain sustainable development. The DMIC Project covers the six States of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The DMIC Development Corporation (DMICDC) was incorporated in January 2008 for project development, coordination and implementation of the numerous projects.
Looking at the magnitude and diversity of the project, it is planned to be implemented in phases. Initially, eight industrial cities have been taken up for development.
So far the overall perspective plan for the entire DMIC Region has been completed. The Master Planning for the Investment Regions and Industrial Areas taken up initially to be developed as New Cities in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Maharashtra have been completed and Master Planning in Uttar Pradesh has started. The State Governments have initiated the process of obtaining land for the new industrial regions/areas as well as for the Early Bird Projects. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Studies have been initiated for five industrial cities. DMICDC had initiated development of Smart Communities or Eco-Cities that can contribute to improving the sustainability of the DMIC region. Japanese technology and expertise is being made available under collaboration with METI, Government of Japan for the Smart Community projects. Significant progress has been reported by DMICDC in the development of Smart Communities or Eco-Cities. Along with the planning of each city, preparation of feasibility studies for Early Bird Projects has been taken up on the recommendation of the State Governments. These projects are in the sectors of water supply, transport connectivity, logistic hubs, mega industrial parks, knowledge cities etc.
As the Master Plans progressed, it was felt necessary and essential that new industrial cities must be created on the back of world class trunk infrastructure i.e. drainage, sewage, solid waste, water supply, internal roads. Without the trunk infrastructure the development of PPP projects in greenfield cities was not feasible and it was felt that this may lead to real estate development without trunk infrastructure and a developed backbone.Accordingly the project was restructured in September, 2011 with an Implementation Fund of Rs.17,500 crore to be utilized over a period of five years and an additional project development Fund of Rs.1000 crore for project development. The land for the new industrial cities will be the contribution of the State Government. The ‘DMIC Project Implementation Fund’, is a revolving fund, and has been set up as a Trust. It will be a repository of Government of India financial assistance. The funds will flow from the Trust to the SPVs and the Trust will receive upside from bidding and monetization of land values. The Trust will also provide resources to DMICDC for project development activities.
The Japanese Government has also announced their financial support for DMIC project to an extent of US $ 4.5 billion in the first phase for the projects with Japanese participation.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Policy
Domestic savings in India have not been adequate to meet the investment requirement of the country. The ratio of domestic savings to GDP has generally been lower than the ratio of GCF to GDP. During 2008-11 share of Gross Domestic Capital Formation in the GDP was 35.3% whereas share of domestic saving during the period was only 32.7%. Capital inflow from other countries, particularly of an investment nature, therefore adds to the domestic investment. It also brings in new management practices and technologies, besides subsequently contributing to enhancement of the export potential/earning of the country.India’s attractiveness as an investment destination has to be seen in the context of major economic reforms embarked upon by the Government of India since mid-1990s, the objective being the achievement of a greater level of integration with the world economy and the emergence of India as a significant player in the globalization process. The larger and ultimate goal however is to step up the scale of development of the economy. As a part of this process, the FDI policy is being liberalized progressively on an ongoing basis in order to allow FDI in more industries under the automatic route.
Some recent changes in the FDI policy, besides consolidation of the policy into a single document include FDI in Multi-Brand Retail Trading up to 51% subject to specified conditions; increasing FDI limit to 100% in Single-Brand Retail Trading; FDI up to 49 percent in Civil Aviation and Power Exchanges; FDI up to 49 percent in Broadcasting sector under the automatic route and FDI beyond 49 percent and up to 74 percent under the Government route both for Teleports and Mobile TV.
The advantages of India as an investment destination rest upon strong fundamentals, which include a large and growing market; world-class scientific, technical and managerial manpower; cost effective and highly skilled labour; abundant natural resources; a large English speaking population; independent judiciary, etc. This is now recognized by a number of global investors. Ongoing initiatives, such as further simplification of rules and regulations, improvements in infrastructure are expected to provide the necessary impetus to increase FDI inflows in future.The Government continues to make efforts to increase economic cooperation with the developing as well as developed countries through different fora such as Joint Commissions/Joint Committees, other bilateral channels like interaction with the delegations visiting the country and organizing visits abroad for discussions on issues of mutual interest and business/ investment meets between Indian and foreign entrepreneurs to stimulate foreign investment into India. It has announced the setting up of ‘Invest India’, a joint venture company between the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion and FICCI, as a not-for-profit, single window facilitator, for prospective overseas investors and to act as a structured mechanism to attract investment. In addition, the Government has initiated implementation of the e-Biz Project, a Mission Mode Project under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) for promoting an online single window at the national level for business users. The objectives of setting up of the e-Biz Portal are to provide a number of services to business users, covering the entire life cycle on their operation. The project aims at enhancing India’s business competitiveness through a service oriented, event-driven G2B interaction.
(PIB Feature.)

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/boost-manufacturing-growth/