Agriculture - Current Affairs for June, 2016

The Union Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh on 28th June launched Crop Manager for Rice-based Systems (CMRS) – a web based App for better crop and Nutrient management released for Bihar farmers in a program organised at ICAR-RCER in Patna.

• Crop Manager for Rice-based Systems (CMRS) is a web-based App which can be used with computer, mobile and tablet and aims to increase farmer's net income and sustain the productivity for rice-based cropping systems in Bihar, India.
• CMRS provides irrigated and rainfed farmers with rice-based cropping systems in Bihar with a crop and nutrient management guideline customised to the needs of an individual farmer.
• CMRS uses a farmer's answers to questions on farming practices to automatically generate a rice, wheat, or rabi maize management guideline.

Vegetables grown on soil in Mars have been found safe for human consumption according to Dutch scientists.

• In the greenhouses at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, scientists have worked on growing crops in Mars and Moon soil simultants since 2013
• The first experiment demonstrated that crops could grow on soil simulants with researchers mixing indelible parts of the 2013 plants into the simulant and succeeded to grow 10 different crops
• Heavy metals such as copper, lead and cadmium present in soils could contaminate the crops
• In case there are too high levels of heavy metals from the soil absorbed in edible plant parts, crops can become poisonous
• Wamelink indicated that radishes, peas, rye and tomatoes grown here can be eaten as no dangerous level of Copper, Zn, Fe or lead were found indicating the crops were safe to eat

Rice farming grew in China over 9000 years ago, as per new evidence found by archeologists. This pushes back earlier estimate of 8200 years made in 2011.

• Discovery was made by archeologists from University of Toronto Mississauga in Canada and China’s Zhenjiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology in China.
• Study sheds new light on origins of rice domestication and history of human agricultural practices
• Researchers found that ancient rice cultivation emerged in the lower Yangtze valley and 30 percent of the rice plant material-primarily bases, husks and leaf epidermis
• Rice plant also had characteristics of Japonica rice which is used in sushi and cultivated in Japan and Korea
• Digging 1.5 metres below the ground, team also unearthed artefacts such as well known pottery and stone tools as well as animal bones, charcoal and other plant seeds

This is a 9 million Euro Indo-EU project on water scarce agricultural sector. A review and planning meet on the project was conducted from 15-17 June in New Delhi marking the completion of 4 years of the project.

• Water4Crops stands for integrated bio-treated wastewater reuse and valorisation with enhanced water efficiency to support the Green Economy in India and EU
• The objective of this project is the development of innovative biotechnological wastewater treatments, even in association with plant systems for bustle of reuse of wastewater in agriculture
• This is one of the largest Indo-Euro project funded by Government of India through Department of Biotechnology under the Ministry of Science and Technology and the EU
• This was formed in 2012 under KBBE and biotechnological waste water treatments and reuse in agronomical systems

India recorded the highest ever tea production at 1233 million kilos during 2015-2016, and exports crossed 230 million kilos during this period. Tea production rose by 3 percent in 2015-2016, from 36 million kilos in 2014-2015, according to a statement from the Tea Board.

• Exports in the last fiscal were highest after 35 years and crossed INR 4493 crore and 17 percent rise in terms of quantity
• Last time exports crossed this percentage was in 1980-1981.
• Exports were mostly in markets of Russia, Germany, Iran, Pakistan, UAE, Poland and Bangladesh.
• Increase in production can be associated with rise in production in N. India, while the south suffered from climatic adversities
• Production by Bought Leaf Factors rose 5.81 percent during this period and contributed 34 percent to production overall. Average price realisation at tea auctions rose by 8.05 percent