Knowledge in Bsc. Agriculture
Intellectual Property Rights
A topic on the introduction of intellectual rights and its different forms. No of pages :23
Yimpangakum Imsong
World Intellectual Property Orginization (WIPO)
An introduction on World Intellectual Property Orginization (WIPO) . Its history and its functions. It provides complete information on WIPO.
Agricultural Marketing
A well versed book on agricultural marketing: its meaning, concept and importance in indian economy.
A Farmer's Handbook On Basic Agriculture
A holistic perspective of scientific agriculture. A joint initiative to impart farmers with technical knowledge on basic agriculture.
Drought and its Types in Agriculture
Droughts and Drought ManagementDrought is a climatic anomaly, characterized by deficient supply of moisture resulting either from sub-normal rainfall, its erratic distribution, higher water requirement or a combination of all these factors. Understanding mechanisms of plant adaptation under severe water stress is very essential. Adaptation of rainfed crops to the changing environment is assessed on the basis of stability in yield over years. The factors contributing to the yield stability of any crop are root system, morphological characteristics, stomatal mechanisms, metabolic adaptation, canopy architecture and drymatter partitioning (Gangadhar Rao et al., 1999). The National Commission on Agriculture (Anon., 1976) categorized droughts into three types, viz., 1.meteorological, 2.hydrological and3.agricultural drought. Meteorological drought is the negative departures of kharif rainfall in different parts of the country. Hydrological drought is the extended dry period leading to marked depletion of surface water and consequent drying up of reservoirs, lakes, streams, rivers, cessation of spring flows, and depletion of ground water levels. Agricultural drought refers to extended dry period in which the lack of rainfall results in insufficient moisture in the root zone, causing adverse effects on arable crops. The spatial and temporal variations in such droughts are of paramount importance particularly when it occurs at any critical phenological stage of a crop.Agricultural drought is said to occur when the actual evaporation (AE)/ potential evaporation (PE) is <0.25 at the critical phenological stage of the crop. The critical stages in case of pearlmillet are tillering, flowering and grain formation stages.The studies on probabilities of meteorological droughts in different regions of the country were reviewed by Singh and Ramana Rao (1988) based on their occurrence from 1875 to 1987. They observed that about 70% of the geographical area was affected during the disastrous drought years, 1918 and 1899. Though the worst drought of 1987 had affected over 83% of area till the end of July, the good rainfall received in the following month (August) had saved the crops. Thus the impact of droughts on our food production could be minimized through later rains together with improved kharif and rabi crop management strategies.Drought managementThe risk involved in successful cultivation of crops depends on the nature of drought (chronic and contingent), its probable duration, and periodicity of occurrence within the season. In the arid region where mean annual rainfall is less than 500 mm, drought is almost an inevitable phenomenon in most of the years (Ramakrishna, 1997). In semi-arid region (mean annual rainfall 500-750 mm), droughts occur in 40 to 60% of the years due to deficit seasonal rainfall or inadequate soil moisture availability between two successive rainfall events. Even in dry sub-humid regions (annual rainfall 750-1200 mm), contingent drought situations occur due to break in monsoon conditions. Therefore, drought management strategies need to be identified separately for each climatic region and for each major crop. Types of agricultural droughtsCrop production in rainfed areas is generally affected by five distinct categories of drought, viz., early season, mid-season, late season, chronic and apparent drought (Rao, et al., 1999).• Early season drought generally occurs either due to delayed onset of monsoon or due to prolonged dry spell soon after the onset, resulting in seedling mortality, need for re- sowing or poor crop stand and seedling growth. The early withdrawal of monsoon results in reduced water availability period for crop growth. Thus, the crops suffer from acute shortage of water during reproductive stage.• Mid-season drought occurs due to inadequate soil moisture availability between two successive rainfall events during crop growth. Its impact depends on crop growth stage, duration and intensity of the drought spell.• Late season or terminal drought occurs as a result of early cessation of monsoon, mainly during the years with late commencement or weak monsoon activity. Terminal droughts are more critical as the crop yield is strongly related to water availability during the reproductive stage. Rainfed rice in dry sub-humid regions is often subjected to terminal droughts due to failure of September rains with 40 to 50% of dry spells of over 5 days during that month.• Chronic drought is common in arid areas where rainfall and stored soil moisture are inadequate to meet crop water requirement during most of the years. Here, the assured growing period is hardly 6 to 7 weeks. These are characterized as chronic drought or highly drought prone areas.• Apparent drought conditions are observed in low to medium rainfall regions due to mis-matching of the cropping pattern in relation to rainfall / moisture availability.
Sorghum and pearlmillet
A topic on sorghum and pearlmillet and the different technique and ways to cultivate it.
Introduction to Agriculture Finance
AGRICULTURAL FINANCE: NATURE AND SCOPEIntroductionFarm finance has become an important input due to the advent of capital intensive agricu1tural technologies. Farmers require capital in order to enhance the productivities of various farm resources. Indian agriculture, in general, is characterized by low and uncertain returns. In order to break the vicious cycle of low returns → low savings → low investment → low returns, provision of external finance to farmers becomes inevitable.Organized and unorganized credit agencies in rural area provide credit for both development and consumption purposes. Provision of credit by these agencies involved many obstacles to both bankers and borrowers due to differences in banking system followed by bankers, socio-economic conditions of borrowers and infra - structural facilities and institutional support offered to the borrowers. Besides, the government also frequently changes its agricultural credit policies regarding institutional credit set-up, credit rationing, rates of interest, subsidy and the functioning of markets and other developmental agencies which would influence the extent of credit available to farmer-borrower. All these factors, therefore, ultimately have a bearing on farm returns. Hence, problems regarding capital could be well understoood, if one could realise the theoretical basis of agricultural credit system in India, bottlenecks faced by bankers and borrowers, and the governments' efforts in solving the problems involved in the agricultural credit system in India.Importance of Agricultural FinanceCredit is essential for agricultural development and also for the development of the economy as a whole. The agricultural finance is required for the following reasons:i) The scope for extensive agriculture in India is limited. Therefore, increase in agricultural production is possible only by intensification and diversification of farming. Intensive agriculture needs huge capita1.ii) Extreme inequalities exist in the distribution of operational holdings and operational area. 74.5 per cent of the total number of farm households which own less than 2 hectares operate only 26.2 per cent of the total operated area whereas only 2.4 per cent of total number of farm households which own more than 10 hectares each operate 23 percent of the total operated area in 1980-81 (In India, there were 88.883 million farm households which operated 163.797 million hectares in 1980-81). The purchasing power of these small and marginal farmers is limited to their subsistence farming. Hence, they have to depend on the external financial assistance to use the costlier (modern) inputs.iii) Farmers economic condition is subject to frequent onslaught of flood, drought, famine etc. Therefore, either the continuance of cultivation of crops or making improvements on the farms depends on the nature and availability of finance. iv) In recent years, more area is brought under irrigation which in turn would increase the use of inputs like fertilizer and plant protection chemicals. In order to accomplish this, external finance is needed. v) In order to sustain the development of agro-based industries, there should be a substantial increase in the supply of raw materials needed for such industries. Therefore, for the development of farm sector, a constant flow of credit is essential and it would enhance over all growth of the economy. vi) In agriculture, fixed capital is locked up in permanent investments like land, well, buildings, etc. Moreover, it takes a long time to get returns from farm. Hence, farmers need finance to continue their farm operations.vii) The weaker sections of the farming community should be motivated to participate in development programmes by giving financial assistance to acquire productive assets.viii) Small and marginal farmer’s are trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty i.e., low returns → low saving → low investment → low return. To break this cycle, credit has to be injected in agricultural sector.
ABSORPTION, TRANSPORT AND WATER LOSS IN PLANTS
A topic on ABSORPTION, TRANSPORT AND WATER LOSS IN PLANTS and how these factors affects plants.
Introduction to Agricultural Extension Education
Introduction to Agricultural Extension Education talks about the history, concept and importance of extension education.
Introduction to Livestock
Introductio to livestock gives an overview on managing different livestock animals in a farm.
Puddling and its Effects on Rice
This topic is about how puddling has its effect on rice and if it is beneficial to a farmer.
Introduction to Plant Physiology
Introduction to Plant Physiology gives a glance on plant physiology and its concept