Tissue culture

Tissue culture- Plant tissue culture is a sub discipline of plant biotechnology. In plant tissue culture with the help of some biotechnological techniques the plants yield is increased or any desirable characteristics are developed in any plantss

Here a particular plant cell is cultured in an artificial conditions within a laboratory with the help of a particular nutrient media, with the help of this nutrient media the whole plant is developed with in a laboratory and the desired characteristics are developed in the plants. The artificial conditions should be free from any microorganism.

Two major properties of plant tissue culture technique

The plant tissue culture is basically based upon two techniques, these two techniques are base of this plant tissue culture-
1) Totipotency
2) Plasticity

Totipotency- This is the ability of a plant cell to grow completely in a nutrient media or to grow during plant tissue culture technique. The whole process of this plant tissue culture technique is majorly based on this property of cell, which determines that weather the plant cell will grief into a new complete plant or not.

Plasticity- This is another important property of a plant cell which decides the basics of plant tissue culture technique. This is also known as the property of adaptation, as we discussed that the plant cell is culture in the artificial environment so it is a major property of plant cell which decides weather the plant cell is capable of adapting the new artificial environment or not, of but it will be difficult for the cell to develop into a new plant.

We discussed the two major properties of plant tissue culture technique, now we will discuss the advantages of plant tissue culture technique , from which you will came to know that why the scientists are involved in this technique , what is the profit and andante of this plant tissue culture technique-

Advantages of plant tissue culture technique

1- Disease free plants- The plant tissue culture techniques ensure the development of disease free plants. As we see that the plants developed outside in natural environment affected by a number of diseases, this the main advantage of plant tissue culture technique that the plants developed from this technique are absolutely disease free, hence plant tissue culture technique helps in development of disease free plants.

2- Biosynthesis of chemical compounds- Synthesis of primary and secondary metabolites is a great advantage of tissue culture, these primarily and secondary metabolites along work pretty compounds helps in the adaptability of plants in the artificial environment and developing the disease free plants.

3- Increase in yield of plants- Plant tissue culture techniques helps in the development of such plants which youth higher thang the normal plants which are grown in natural environment. Thus provides continues supply of raw materials obtained through the plants. This increasing yield is the demand of increasing population.

4-Overall improvement of plants- Plant tissue culture techniques is helpful in the development of overall crop characteristics such as highest yield, disease free, good adaptability, etc. This is believed as one of the best advantage of plant tissue culture techniques. So as to improve the overall agricultural system of the nation and to ensure there food security and sustainability for all.

5- Healthy diet- If we get a disease free crop for food purpose, if will be definitely a healthy Dieu for all the human population storm the world. This disease free nutrition comes from plants developed with the help of plant tissue culture techniques, and we all know how important is a healthy diet for all. Thus a great advantage of plant tissue culture technique.

These were the main advantage of plant tissue culture technique, which tells us the importance of this technique of tissue culture in today's agriculture, this is beneficial for agriculture all around the world to develop the plant from plant tissue culture techniques so as to develop disease free plants as much as possible.

Food production

Food production includes all the processes involved in preparing the food from the raw materials, for human consumption. Food production includes various steps such as cleaning the raw material, packing the product, ingredients addition, etc. This is a great challenge in today's world to fulfils the requirement of  safe and healthier food without harming the environment, in today's world when the population is increasing dramatically. So, food production is considered an important branch of agriculture which ultimately provides the ready made food to the consumers from raw materials.

Food production and education

There is a very important role of education in food production, food is the basic requirement of human as well as of animals, and it is very important to ensure that what we eat should be healthy for us, thus food processing industries required educated professionals. Food production is not only just about distributing the food it includes a number of stages within it from checking the correct proportion of ingredients to making the food ready for marketing or make the food marketable.

Food industries are growing rapidly as per seeing the requirement of food production there are several programes also running by the government of various countries around the world. The food is not went directly from farm to kitchen, it has to be passed from certain guidelines before serving finally, passing from these guidelines makes these food eligible for human consumption. In some countries for e g. India(FSSAI) there is a separate body formed by government which ensures the processing of food and ensure that only the right food material reaches the market which suites the human health.

Process of food production

As we already discussed food production is not a one step process it includes a number of stages from testing the food to making it eligible for market. These processes are described below separately:-

1-Preservation- Presevation  is the basic step in which the producers ensures the preservative quality of food. It can be done by various techniques such as by ,modern methods- this method includes the process like refrigeration., traditional methods- it includes the methods like drying and salting.

2-Enriching protein quantity- Protein is one of the most important constituent of food , as the food is directly ingested by humans an animals so it must fullfils the content of protein for human body.

3-Additives addition- Along with the protein implementation there are other additives too which must be present in a healthy food such as nutritional value, fat, vitamin and other additives too so this is another important step under food production.

These were major steps included under the food processing and its production. These steps must be fuctioned properly so that people should enjoy a healthy diet and and people should get proper dietery requirement with this food. That's why food production is such a complicated and important process.

What is biogas and biomass

What is biogas?

Biogas is defined as a biofuel that is produced naturally by the decomposition of various organic matte and biomass. Biogas is an environment friendly gas, and used by human beings for various purpose, this gas is known for his environment friendly behaviour because it helps to resolve few major environmental problems. There are several other reasons also which make this gas environment friendly for eg. biogas is formed in biogas plant  by utilizing  old organic wastes and degraded biomass, this also helps in keeping the environment clean along with the production of an efficient biofuel. Because these organic wastes otherwise cause pollution in earth.

Benefits of biogas production

As we discussed above biofuel is produced by utilizing the organic waste,which prevent the organic waste from creating pollution, this point itself is a major benefit of biogas production, which prevents the earth from pollution.

Biogas reduces the content of harmful gases in environment , for eg. methane a harmful gas released in the atmosphere from the organic wastes is converted to Carbon dioxide during the production of biogas,in this way biogas helps in decreasing the content of harmful gases in environment.

Biogas is helpful as during biogas production some digesters works in treating the municipal, industrial waste and even agricultural  waste. Thus these biogas digesters find a proper place for the decomposition of municipal wastes.

As biogas is a well known biofuel hence useful in several power operations such as used in electricity production, through the excreta of animals and along with this it is also helps in agricultural  operations, thus biogas is helpful in every aspect either it is environmental or economic.

Uses of biogas

There are several use of biogas we will discuss about these uses seperately in this part :-

• Used for cooking purpose- Biogas is commonly known for cooking purpose from ancient times, there was a time when it was a household gas, and most of the manure produced in countries like India was biogas production and this biogas was later on used for cooking purpose.

• Used as a fuel for vehicles- In some countries people are using biogas for running vehicles on road. This is very different and significant use of biogas which makes it so different from any other gas or any other biofuel.

• Used for electricity production- Biogas through some special techniques( by heating stirling motor)  is also used for production of electricity. Although the formation of this electricity is not much efficient but still it is a plus point of biogas that it can be used for the formation of electricity.

All these points described that how beneficial is biogas and biomass for our environment and for the demands of human need for eg. in cooking purpose or in electricity production. so, not only it is beneficial for environment but also fullfills the demands of human beings.

Soil profile and horizons

What is soil profile?

Generally soil  is found in layers, these layers are arranged in a definite pattern during soil formation, this sequence of the soil layers is called soil profile.
These particular layers of soil profile are called horizons. The main layers are top  soil, sub soil and parental rock.

Horizons

Horizons are those layers in which the soil is arranged  and form soil profile during its formation. There are basically five such horizons named as  O horizon, A horizon, B horizon, C horizon and R horizon.  These horizons are seperately described here :- 

•  Horizon O-  This is an organic horizon , so named O horizon . It is mainly composed of partially decomposed organic matter.

This horizon is again composed of two regions O1 region and O2 region.

O1 region- This region is uppermost layer and mainle consists freshly fallen dead leaves and animals. Prior to they undergoes decomposition.

O2  region- This is the second region under the O1 region and consists of newly dcomposed dead remains of plants and animals. In O2 region decomposition has just begun.

• Horizon A -  This is the ZONE OF ELUVIATION. It is also known as top soil, this is the mineral horizon rich in silica and contains rich amount of organic matter. A horizon is generally having dark colour this dark colour is due to the presence of humus which  mixes with weathered minerals, Which also helps to identify this horizon characterstically.

• Hoirzon B-   B horizon is commonly known as  Sub soil. Sequencely this horizon is present below the O and A horizon and chiefly consists large amount of  clay , silicate and aluminium. I is also known as the ZONE OF ILLUVIATION because the minerals accumulates in this region. The roots of big trees ends up in this region. It is lighter in colour i.e., reddish brown , as compare to the above layer. This layer is located below the A horizon and above the C layer thus intermediate between these two layers, i.e., Horizon A and horizon C.

• Horizon C - It does not contains any organic material and is an inorganic layer. I helps in locking all the properties of the above layer that we studied above.. It contains weathered rock and sediments that is formed during the soil formation. The C horizon is located below the C horizon. The depth of this layer is very deep this can be noticed by the fact that only one layer is present below this layer that is Horizon R. Roots of trees are reached till this layer.

• Horizon R - It is the  lowermost layer that is found below the C horizon and consists mainly unweathered parent material. It is a bed rock, as only parental materials are present in this layer no soil is present here in this layer. Many few roots are present in this layer as it is not very easily possible to reach in this region. This is the last layer out of the all five layers, roots of many plants cannot reach to this layer, there is hardly any plants or trees whose roots reach to this layer, because this is the last layer of soil and it is difficult to dug up to this layer.

So these were the major description of horizons which makes up the soil profile and all this process of arrangement of soil horizons is known as soil formation, during which the soil horizons or layers are arranged in the correct sequence to make up the soil profile.

Importance of aquaculture

Definition:- Aquaculture is the farming of fish, crustaceans, molluscs, aquatic plants and other aquatic organisms. It is also known as aquafarming. Although many people think the aquaculture is only related to the culturing of fishes, but this is not true, all aquaculture is more than the cultivation of fishes, aquaculture includes cultivation of all the aquatic species, i.e, aquatic plants and other aquatic organisms.

Fisheries department (ICAR)

Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing segment  of agriculture. Aquaculture industries are growing very fast and producing and culturing all type of species i.e., either marine species or fresh water species. The progress of these industries in modern era shows the fast rapid growth of aquaculture. In agricultural dominated country like Indian subcontinents along with other agriculture segments aquaculture is mostly focused, which is very important branch of agriculture and can not be left untouched if you want to develop the agriculture of the particular area. Here we will discuss about types of aquaculture, types of aquaculture and the importance of aquaculture along with disadvantage of aquaculture. After reading this article you will have complete knowledge about aquaculture.

Types of aquaculture

On the basis of aquatic species cultured the aquaculture is of following types:-

1.  Marine aquaculture - Marine aquaculture is also known ad mericulture.In marine aquaculture marine species are cultured. Th production of this aquaculture is basically in open oceans, sea water, and the water body which is having marine water. As the oceans and sea water is marine in nature that's why this type of aqaculture is known as marine aquaculture. Generally aquatic organisms like fishes are cultured in marine aquaculture which is responsible for such a growth of aquaculture in today's world.

2.- Freshwater aquaculture-  Fresh water aquacultire is the culturing of freshwater species. Fresh water species are generally those species which are found in fresh water bodies such as lake or pond. Some species of fishes such as mahasheer is a common example of fresh water aquaculture.

Importance of aquaculture

There are several importance of aqaculture for human beings which lead to a huge growth of aquaculture because aquaculture is  now one of the important aspect of agriculture. Some of the major importance of aquaculture are explained below:-

1. Fulfils human demands-  Aquaculture fullfils the human demand of aquatic species. It ensures the continuity of aquatic species especially for human consumption. Selling the aquatic species such as fihes is the only source of income for some part of the population . Hence fulfilling human demands is an important aspect of aquaculture and it also determines the survival for some people like fisherman.

2.  Increases food production- Aquaculture increases the food production. As we know the increasing population is huge threat of todays generation. Increasing population may lead to food shortage here it is important that the food production should maintained adequately, here comes the importance of aquaculture which increases the food production, some species of aquaculture are consumed by human beings such as fishes which  ultimately lead to increased food production.

3.  More buisness oppurtunities- Aquaculture brings mire buissness ideas for those people who are interested in farm culturing or farm buissness. Culturing fishes and selling them in market after breeding is a great example of buisness oppurtunty from aquaculture.

4. National export increased-  Large amont of fishes and other species cultured inside the nation by farees are furter exported to foreign nations which helps in increasing the GDP of the nation therefore we say that agriculture is backbone of India's economy as aquaculture is fastest growing segment of agriculture and conteibute a lot in increasing the economy of the nation.

5. Promoting employment- Aquaculture provides employment to millions of people who are involved in aquaculture. People like fisherman and other workers involved agriculture industries are employed through aquaculture. Fisheries department of government provides employment to a number of government workers.

Disadvantage of aquaculture

1- Pollution - Aquaculture is also responsible for increasing water pollution. People use irrelevant techniques to catch the species, such as use of bleaching powder in water to kill the fishes pollutes the water and  throwing the killed organism in open atmosphere also a source of pollution So aquaculture sometimes lead to pollution.

2- Habitat destruction- When fisherman kills the fishes and  other aquatic species either fresh water or marine, this lead to destruction of natural habitat of the aquatic species. This destruction also affect the ecosystem and life cycle.

3. Disease transfer- Consuming unhealthy or disease fishes may spread the disease to consumers either humans or  animals. This sometimes caused a huge disease in population which lead to a great threat in population and keep spreading even from person to person.

4. Workers safety- Workers safety should be foremost during culturing aquaculture . There are risks involved during some activities which may affect workers, so workers should be secure during aquaculture and they should not let to go their life in risk.

These were the importance of aquaculture along with their demerits. Although it is beneficial to some extents but sometimes it is hazardous too.  Some example of aquaculture is raising cat fish in fresh water pond and fish farming is another example of aquaculture.

Sustainable agriculture and development

Sustainable agriculture is a basic element of sustainable development. Sustainable agriculture is a way of producing  food that is healthy for consumers i.e., either humans or animals. The most basic feature of the sustainable agriculture is that it does not harm the environment and is beneficial for environment.Sustainable agriculture ensures the respect of animals and the food produced should be healthier for animals too.

sustainable agriculture

Sustainable agriculture is not only beneficial for health and environment friendly but also provides fair wages to farmers and the chemical free farming avoids the costly inputs for farmers thus sustainable agriculture is economic friendly and provides fair wages to farmers.
Sustainable agriculture is humane for workers and supports the rural community in various aspects and enhances the farming of rural community. As we know in agriculyural country like India most of the rural community is engaged in farming thus sustainable agriculture helps in the overall development of rural community.

Why do we need sustainable agriculture?

Today due to long term agriculture practices the land is over- manipulated due to over manipulation the fertility of soil is loosing. Erosion, desertification and wrongusage of land is also responsible for loosing soil fertility.  These reasons are promoting soil erosion and over application of chemical fertilizees and pesticides are exploiting soil and affecting farming. Other than these population is inreasing, forests are destroying Flood, erosion and desertification cannot be avoided easily. There is no more agricultural land that is available for coming generation, but increasing population demands a lot of agricultural land, food , water and other resources.

The use of chemicals in tbe agri fields increased to a huge extent afte world war 2, and today it is increased to a huge extent, that are causing te waste of resources and causing the environmental pollution which treatens the life of coming generationss.

Objectives of sustainble agriculture

To control the above issues, to live a healthier life and to provide a safe environment to upcoming generation we should accept the sustainable agriculture. There are certain objectives of sustainable agriculture these objective are described here :-

• Preserves biodiversity- As we know due to various chemicals used in farming today the soil biodiversity is declining and the microorganisms in soil such as earth worms are killed by these chemicals. But the sustainable agriculture is free from any of these chemicals thus it plays a major role in preserving the biodiversity and we an say that sustainable agriculture preserves biodiversity. Not only soil microrganisms but also other organisms are indirectly affected by sustainable agriculture by the healthier food produced by sustainable agriculture.

• Avoids deforstation- Deforstation is another faulty practice by today's genertion, sustainable agriculture helps to reduce this faulty purpose, cutring of trees lead to a great threat to environment as due to deforstation the number of trees arecreducing so the amount of water is also reducing which affects the survival of coming generation.So, deforstation should be stopped as much as possible which is possible by performing sustainable agriculture.

• Protects the economy of farmer-  This is one of the main objective of sustainable agriculture i.e., to increase the income and protects the economy of farmers. As sustainable agriculture do not include any costier chemicals as inputs , thus save the investment of farmers and in result higher productivity due to natural fertilizers is another advantage of sustainable agriculture. Thus it is helpful in ovrall economic development of farmers.

• Provides good health to society- We already discussed above that sustainable agricultre is a production offood that healther to consumers as well as fr animals. As it provides heathier food therefore it prvides a good health to society which is another great advantage of sustainable agriculture and attracts a lot of people towards it.

• Maintain quality of water- The dribking water is very less in amountin aome areas of country like India. We saw a lot water crisis in some area inspite of high level of wate we cannot rhe wawe dr deinking, this is because of bad water quality. Sustainable agricultur provide a good water quality which matters a lot for health of human beings.

• Soil conservation- Soil conservation is very much needed in todays era, because soil erosion is on peak due to faulty human practices. The loss of soil due to erosion can be controlled by sustainable agriculture, so that the soil remain fertile not only for toays generarion but also for upcoming generations, so the ere should not be any scarcityif food and other resources for coming generations and they should live properly.

• Safety of community- Safety is foremost for any community , the improper practices of people such as use of chemicals in agriculture affectng the safety of community, but sustainable agriculture assures this safety to the farmers and population either in name of economy or in health purpse, it provides overall safety to the community.

Thus, it is not only important but necessary to accept the sustainable agriculture in our life it is beneficial for both farmers as well as for consumers. This helps the farmers in getting the actual price of their goods thus protects the economy of the farmers and provides healthy life to the consumers.

Agriculture extension

The exension education which helps in extending the scientific knowledge of agriculture to the    farming community for the enhancement of agricultural production is called agriculture extension.  It also helps in value addition of the products as well as proper marketing of the commodities along with the application of latest technologies for increasing income of the farming community.

Properly cultivated land

Agriculture extension and agriculture development

Agriculture plays an important role in the development of agriculture. It awares the farmers to felt their needs and provides te way to their felt needs. Some of the major roles of agriculture extension in the devlopment of agriculture are explained below :-

• Extension helps to change the attitude of the farmer towards positive direction, increases their knowledge, and enhance their skills such that their skills meet modern requirements. Attitude, knowledge and skills of the farmers an be changed with the help of extension education and the behaviour of the farmer can be directed towards desired direction.

• The extension teaching methods are very effective teaching method to transfer the knowledge from extension worker to learner. It involves most of the practical work and farmers observe the benefits by themselves.  The extemsion education works with the pinciples of learning by doing and seeing is believing approach.

• Traning and visit system of agriculture extenion is found to be effective and agriculture extension contribute a lot in promoting green revolution. Training and visit system was helpful in promoting green revolution and and spread the green revolution in South Asia.

•  Agriculture extension had played a major role developing the leadership quality among farmers and helps in organizing farmers into groups such as farmers interest groups and other farmers oranisation for the development of agriculture an to raise the voice of farmers for their demands. It helps in increasing the income of the farmers and develop their agro buisness.

Principles of agriculture extension

There are several objectives of agriculture extension. Some of these objectives are described here:-

• Principle of Cultural difference- There are cultural difference between the farmers and the extension agent. Difference maybe in their habit and any other cultural factors. So provide success to the extension work it should be in hormony with the cultures of the farmers and the extension workers.

• Gross root Principle-  Extension work should be fit in the local situation and should start with the local people keeping in mind the availability of natural resources of that region. It should start with the existing situation and purely based on what the local people have initially.  

• Indegeneous knowlede principle- Extension worker should not avoid the Indigeneous knowledge system,  it should not be ignored by them and indegenous knowledge  should be involved in their project. Instead of ignoring the indegenous knowledge system it should be implemented in the life of the farmers.

The above principle shows the importance of extension education in the development of agriculture and role of extension education in changing the attitude, knowledge and skills of the farmers towards positive direction, which directly influence the agriculture production and thus develop the agriculture conditions overall.  Seeing is beleiving and learning by doing is a great approach of the extension worker to train the farmers and to enhance their skills.

Rainwater harvesting techniques

Rainwater harvesting is need of the day. We all are aware about water scarcity around the world including India. So, every raindrop matters a lot. Rainwater harvesting is an ultimate source here which helps in collecting rainwater and works against water crisis.

Rainwater harvesting:-

Collecting rainwater and storing it for later use is known as  rainwater harvesting. The water from rain is collected at various places such as on top of the roofs or on containers. A particular system which is established for harvesting rainwater is called rainwater harvesting system.

The basic idea behind rainwater harvesting is not to let the rainwater go waste.

A lot of effort goes to bring the rainwater back from the rivers and lakes where the rainwater gets stored, so the perfect solution is to harvest the rainwater. We should accept these techniques in our home so not a single drop of rainwater goes waste because every single drop of water matters, it will be possible only when we all will become punctual and implement the water harvesting system  at our home. We all have to take one step forward towards water harvesting.

Techniques of rainwater harvesting

Water harvesting can be done by various techniques, some of these major methods which are commonly used by people in their home are described below:-

1- Roof top harvesting-  This is the most popular technique among all the rainwater harvesting techniques which are used by people at home to collect the rainwater. Rainwater is collected at the roof  top of the houses which is then sent to the storage tank via slope pipes. The pipes run down the slope from roof into an underground tank. At the mouth of the tank a sieve is attached which filters the dust particles before the water gets into the tank, this is to ensure that the dust particles do not go inside the tank along with water. This technique is most efficient and popular in collecting pure rainwater at home.

2- Collecting rainwater in landscape holding area-  In this rainwater harvesting technique The soil dugged out from an area to be used for plants. This dugged out soil is used to make the banks or imbankment for a particular space to hold the water for plants. When the rainwater comes plants use the rainwater immediately before the water gets absorbed. It is also a very good technique which a suitable for plants growth. The main advanage of this technique is that it is not very expensive and do not requires much investment.

3-  Storing water in barrels or Containers -  In this technique the rainwater is collected and stored in various containers , which is later can be used for watering plants, lawns, washing vehicles and even for flushing toilets, although the water stored through this technique cannot be used for drinking but still it is a good technique because it prevents the wastage of water and each and every single drop of water is important. So all of us should store rainwater and this water can be used for any of the above purpose.

Therefore, it is important to store the rainwater from now onwards by using rainwater harvesting techniques, because if water is there then only we can live a life. Water crisis is increasing day by day before the water scarcity  reach the peak we should avoid the wastage of water and accepts the rainwater harvesting system. We must use water on sustainable basis so that our upcoming generation do not face water scarcity otherwise it will create problem for the coming generation.

Advantages and limitations of Organic farming

Organic farming is that type of farming in which there is no use of chemicals and everything that is used to enhance the farmimg is natural for eg. use of cow urine and cow dung, in spite of synthetic pesticides there is a use  of neem as a pesticide. In general faming there is a huge use of chemical pesticides which kills the pests but they also harm the soil and decline the nutritional value of soil, thats why we use organic farming in organic farming we use natural fertilizers and natural pesticides which not only kills the pests but also increase the fetiliity of soil.
The demand of organic farming is increasing drastically, because now everyone knows the harmful effects of chemicals to crops and domestic animals.
In India Sikkim is the first orgnic state, because use of organic farming is huge in Sikkim. Here we will discuss the advantages and limitations of organic farming.

Advantages of organic farming

Out of advantages and limitations of organic farming we will discuss its advantages.Organic farming provides a lots of benefits to the farmers, which not only helps them in growing healthier crops but also rise the income of the farmer compartively. Some of these advantages are described here :-

• Profitable- Organic farming is much profiable as compared to other forms of farming, either n terms of money or other sources. Organic faming provides overall profit to the farmers this is the main readon why farmers arettracting towards organic farming as it is not only healthier for them but also economically beneficial for them.

• Soil conservation- 
  As we discussed earlier organic farming is not only helpful in controlling pest population but is also helpful in increasing nutrient value of soil and ptomoting soil fertility. For eg. Neem which is used as a substitute of pesticide not only kills the pest but also helps in increasing soil fertility. In thii way organic farming helps in soil conservation and promote the fertility of soil.

• Substitute costier  inputs- Organic farming do not include any synthetic chemicals which are very costly in market but organic farming do not include any of these costly chemicals instead of thee there is a use natural material wjich are generally free or very cheap, thus the costier inputs are replaced by cheaper substances.

• Higher income-
   The demands of organic farming is increasing day by day nit only in India but all over the world, so most of the products which are obtained from organic farming  are exported to foreign thus increase the income of farmers individiually and the economy of the country as well. This shows the benefits of the organic agriculture for increasing the economy of the nation and for overall development of nation.

• Higher labour requirement-  Labour intensity in India is very high,employment to these labourers is a very big challenge. Organic farming helps in this aspect, as organic farming requires manual work which requires labours, so this helps in providing employment to labourers. Noticing intensity of labourers in India it is a great benefit which is obtained from organic farming.

• Healthy food- The chemicals which are used in todays agriculture is very harmful for the health of the people as well for the domestic animals, soit is very important to control the use of these chemicals and organic farming is free from these cemicals and consists of natural inputs only so, the outputs produces from organic farming are healthier for us as well as for the domestic animals. Getting these healthier oitputs is a geat advantage of organic farming which makes the people healthier and also increases the income of the farmers.

Limtations of organic farming

• Lesser yield in initial years- The yield what the farmes got is less in initial few years as compared to those that they gotbthrough inorganic farming but this production increases after few years. This problem is limited to initial years only when the farmers adopt organic farming initially. 

• Shorter shelf life- Shorter shelf life is another disadvanage of organic farming , the commodities which are grown in organic farming is of shorter life the as preservatives are not used during farming of these commodities so certainly they are of shorter span.But they still they are healthier for people.

• Limited choice for production- The choice of production is not too vast hence there is little choice of production for farmers. Although the variety of crop that can be grown is very less or off season crop cannot be grown but still these limited crop can be grown with great efficiency. Hence we can say that in spite of few disadvantages it is still beneficial to accept organic farming.

 These were the advantages and limitations of organic farming. Therefore organic farming is very important for todays generation where the harmful effects of chemicals is on peak and affecting the lifestyle of people , in between all these factors organic farming not only remove all these chemicals from. our life but also helps the farmers economically. Either it is providing employment to the labourers or increase the income of farmers organic farming is beneficial in every aspect. So,it is important for today's generation to quit the use chemicals and move towards organic farming.

Types of Agricultural marketing

Agricultural marketing is a process which includes all the steps from assembly of agricultural goods to the distribution of agricultural commodities by the farmers.
A good agricultural marketing system should ensure proper transportation, good storage facilities for agricultural goods, and provide actual cost to farmers for their commodities.
So, if we need a good agricultural conditions in the country firstly what we have to organize is an efficient agriculture marketing system so that the farmers get the actual value of their produce and proper maintanance of their commodities during transportation and get perfect storage facilities. Here we will discuss about types of agricultural marketing

TYPES OF AGRICULTURAL MARKETING

Agricultural marketing is composed of two processes namely Input marketing and Product marketing.

1. Input Marketing:- Input marketing deals with the marketing of farm inputs to the farmers for eg.- diesel, fertilizers, pesticides, farm machinery, electricity, etc.

2. Product marketing:-  Product marketing is the marketing of goods after cultivation i.e., the movement flows from farmers> primary traders> wholesalers> importers > exporters > retailers. 

In this way product marketing is the marketing of agriculture outcomes from farm to consumers.

Sometimes due to imperfect agricultural marketing farmers  face a lot of problems such as not getting actual cost of their commodity. Especially in country like India where middlemen are so much involved in farm marketing is the main cause of the suffering farmers. So, it is important to develop a good agricultural marketing system.

Measures to improve agriculture marketing

Following are the major steps to improve to improve the agricultural marketing in a community.

• Market regulation 
  There  shoud be proper regulation of market, a large number of rural markets are required. Freely transported marketing conditions are needed and faulty methods of weighing should be avoided so, that the frmers do not loose due to faulty weight.

• Improved physical infrastructure  - 
   Improved physical infrastructure such as roads, railways, storage godowns, warehosuses, agriculture machinery, cold storage facilities, etc. provides the external benefits to the farmers. Accirdingbto a suvey approx. 10% of the total agricultue outcome is wastes due to improper warehousing facilities.

• Cooperative marketing- 
   Marketing should be done on cooperative basis, all the farmers should come together to form a cooeration so as to realise the actual cost of outcome and sell them in a cooperative way. For.eg.- Milk cooperative companies such as amul and motherdairy are great example of cooperative marketing.

• Supportive Policies- 
   There are various policies started by the government to support the government , some of these policies are Minimum Supprt Price (MSP) - when the price of the crop goes down so government decides a minimum price below which noone can buy the cropfrom farmers , this price is called Minimum Support Price.  For eg. If price of wheat and rice gets too low so government buys te crops from farmees in MSP and store them as bufferstock and distribute them later under Public Distribution Service (PDS).

• Alternative Marketing Channels-  Under these marketing channels the farmers directly sell their agriculture outcome to consumers, it means no middlemen is involved in these channels, as middlemen is not involved so price the farmers get is very high comparetively but the consumer pay the normal price so, both farmer and consumer avail the benefit. Some of these channels are Apni Mandi, eNAM(online tading portal), Direct buy- Fastfood centres, Rythu Bazars( for fruits and vegetable selling at Andhra Pradesh), Hadaspar Mandi (Pune).

These were the major measures that have to be taken for an efficient agricultural marketing system, and we discussed types of agricultural marketing so the farmers  do not suffer any more and get the actual cost of their commodities and no proportion of their goods should waste during transportation and other process during marketing.

Ministry of Agriculture and farmers welfare

Ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare was earlier known with the name ministry of agriculture. It is a branch of Indian government which generally focus on the development of agriculture in the country and works for the welfare of farmers.

HISTORY

Before independence in late nineteenth century Department of Revenue and Agriculture as setup by the existing government,  but later on at the time of independence in the year 1947 department of agriculture was modified to Ministry of Agriculture. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was the first Agriculture Minister of India.

Later on after 69 years of independence on 15 August 2015 Prime Minister of India - Mr. Narendra Modi addresses the nation and announced that Ministry of Agriculture will renamed with Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers welfare.

DEPARTMENTS

Ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare consists of 3 department , these departments are:-

1) Department of Agriculture Research and Education-  This department  focuses on the agricultural education across the country and various research works performing by various states and central agricultural universities. This department of ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare also work for arranging an interlinked network between various state and central universities across the country.

2) Department of Agricultural Cooperation and Farmers welfare-This department generally helps the farmers in promoting coopertive movements and thus helps te farmers in identifying the felt needs and make way for them to fulfil these needs. 

3) Department of Animl Husbandary, Dairy and Fisheries-  This department ensure a good livestock production in the country and a good system of aquaculturei the country.

These departments works in theirrespective field and work with a common goal of devolping a good agricultural system in the country, and for the welfare of the society. Each departmentia headed by the secretory of the respective department.

                     LAYOUT 

Cabinet minister-  Narendra Singh Tomar

State minister- Parsottambhai Rupala

State Minister- Kailash Chaudhary. 

Head quarter- New Delhi

Official Website- http://agriculture.gov.in/
This was the layout of ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare.

Major Schemes by Ministry of agriculture and Farmers welfare

Various schemes are launched by the ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare since it was established for the benefits of the farmers. Some of the major schemes are listed here:-

1- Soil Health Card -  This scheme was launched by the collaboraton of sate government and central government ( equal share), the investment was equal from state and central government.  This schemewas firsy launched in Rajasthan and main focus was on the nutrient status of the soil. A card was provided to the farmers which renews on every 3 year duration.

2- Pradha Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana- 

This scheme  was started on 13 January 2016. It is to provide farmers he insurance of tjeir crops which sometimes het destry due to natural problems such as drought, flood , etc. Rhis scheme was compulsary for loanable farmers and not compulsary for nonloanable farmers. India insurance company AIC runs this scheme.

3-  Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna-  This scheme is a subcomponent of Soil Health Management (SHM). This scheme aims to promote the Organic Farming. Governmet provide funding for the production from far to market but it is a collective area approach and minimum 50 acres of land is required to fulfill the criterion.

4-  eNAM-   National agricultural marketing is an online portalfor themillions offarmers across the country for online trading. The ultimate aimis to increase the trading and approach of the farmers from the rual area across the country. This online portal make it easier fo farmers to reach the buyers directly and reduces the involveent of middlemen so the farmers get the actual cost of their production.

5 - NationalFood Security Mission-   The utimate aim of this scheme is to enhance th production of food crops as well as cash crops cross the country.  The prduction of food crops such as rice, pule, cereals, etc and commercial crops such as cotton,  juye, sugarcabe, etc. was the main target of this scheme. This scheme as also initiated with the collaboration of the central as well as state gvernments. Government provides ideal disease free seeds to farmers and armers also get help of Integreted Pest Management, for the healthy production of crops.

6- Padhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojna-   

The main objective of this yojna was to increase the irrigation coverage of the agricultural yojna across the country. More Crop Per Drop was the main objective of this scheme means using minimum water more irrigation should be provided.

7- Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna- 
Rashtriya krishi vikas yojna aims  the development of whole agriculture condition of the country including food security , crop production, crop management, etc. So the agriculture in India go upto a good height achieve sucess in future and strenghen our economy.

8-  Rashtriya Gokul Mission- 

Rashtriya gokul mission was started for the conservation and developmety of indegenous breeds i.e., indegenous breeds of cattle. Establishment of indgenous cattle development centre i.e.,  Gokul Grams is anotjer achievment of this proramme so that i field of livestock and dairy India can chieve success.

9- National initiative on climate resilient agriculture-    This scheme was started with an objective that farmer can overcome the adverse condition and maintain their production even in harsh and unfavourable condition by the use of climate resilient agricultural practices and by sustainable use of available manmade and natural resources keeping upcoming adverse climatic conditions in mind. This is one of the major schemes of ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare.

10-  Krishi Vigyan Kendra- 

Krishi vigyan kendra is a great advantage for farmers provided by Indian government , in these centres farmers get practical training and learning by training  is the mehodology of these centres.
There are approx. 706 KVKs in India right now which provides professional training to the farmers, but only professional and working farmers are trained in these centres and learns professional skills by training method.

These were the major schemes launched by ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare that worked for the benefit of the agriculture in India. Apart from these there are several other schemes also initiated by ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare. 

As India is an agrarian economy so our administration should ensure that these schemes must get proper implementation at ground level. So each and every farmer of the country should get the benefit and overall economy of our country should rise.

Types of SOIL EROSION AND SOIL CONSERVATION

SOIL EROSION

Soil erosion is defined as the detachment, transportation and deposition of soil particle. The soil is transported from one place to another with the help of wind or water and get deposited at a new place, this integrated process is known as soil erosion. Here we will discuss about types of soil erosion and soil conservation.

Why soil conservation is required

Soil conservation is the only known way to protect the soil erosion in a predominantly agricultural country like India where chronic food scarcity is so common due to various famine, flood and drought. Soil conservation works in dual manner it not only increase the crop yield but also prevent the soil from further declination. During this types of soil erosion and soil conservation we must discuss why we need soil conservation.

Types Of Soil Erosion

Broadly soil erosion is classified as -

1- Water Erosion

2- Wind Erosion

Water erosion:-In water erosion  the soil is detached and transported with the help of water. Water erosion is further classified into 4 types :-

1. Splash Erosion- It is the first stage of water erosion, splash erosion is also known as raindrop erosion. It occurs when raindrop hits bare soil. The explosive impact of breaks the soil aggregate. The splashed particle moves upto 60 cm above the ground and 1.5 m away from the point of impact. The particle block the spaces between the soil aggregate thus reduces infilteration and increases runoff.
2. Sheet Erosion- Removal of soil in a thin layer by raindrop impact and shallow surface flow. It results in the removal of finest soil particles that contains most of the available nutrients. Sheet erosion can be identified by several signs such as- bare agricultural land and visible grass roots.
3. Rill EROSION-  Rills are shallowed drainage line not more than 30 cm( if more than 30 cm it will be gully erosion) . Rill erosion is common in bared in overgrazed area or bared agricultural land, where there is less vegetation. It destroy the soil structure and results into loose soil structure.
4. Gully Erosion- As we discussed earlier gully erosion is advanced form of rill erosion. It is the removal of soil by running water with the formation of a channel.Gully erosion cannot be controlled by normal agricultural practices but requires higher level technology.

Water Erosion Control Measure

water erosion control measures are broadly grouped as-Agronomic measure and Mechanical measure.

A. Agronomic measure

1.Contour Cultivation- 

Contour cultivation includes contour planning , contour sowing and agricultural operations by ploughing and sowing across the slope. As the ploughing is done across the slope so ridges are formed  and each furrow acts as an obstruction to run off or prevent run off. Ultimately it reduces the soil loss. This is common among types of soil erosion and soil conservation.

2- Tillage-

Tillage is mechanical manipulation of land before.... sowing. Tillage alters the physical characterstics of soil i.e., porosity  and  bulk density. There are different types of tillage implements used seperately in primary and secondary tillage . On the  basis of prevention of soil erosion tillage is classified as conventional tillage and conservational tillage. Conventional tillage includes the manipulation of the whole field but in conservational tillage soil is disturb to minimum extent and some crop residue is remained on the field.  Conservational tillage reduces  50% more soil loss than the conventional tillage you can study more about tillagebin my previous article about agriculture problem in India https://agritalks031.blogspot.com/2019/07/agriculture-problems-in-India.html?m=1

3 - MULCHING-- -- Mulching is also a great factor which reduces the soil loss and an agronomic measure for soil conservation About 30% ground cover is required to conserve the soil through mulching and to keep the soil loss under control.

4- Strip cropping--  Strip cropping is a system of crop production in which narrow strip of erosion pemitting crop is alternated with erosion resisting crops.

       Erosion permitting crop- eg maize and sorghum

       Erosion resisting crop- eg.  Groundnut and moth bean.

 B. Mechanical measure

1- BUNDING-

It is a mechanical method to preven the soil erosion. Land surface is modified in such a way that the water retention increasesin low rainfall area , this type of bunding is called contour bund and dispose the excess water in high rainfall area this type of bundins called graded bunding.

2- Terracing-

Terracing is done in hilly areas to prevent the soil erosion .  As farm land of hilly area is very difficult for farming because of uneven surface, so terracing is an ultimate method of farming in hilly areas. Terraces reduces the slope steepness hence obstructs the runoff water, in turn reduces the soil erosion.

These were the measures and their sub divsions which can control the water erosion very effectively . Now we will discuss about wind erosion and their control measure in detail.

WIND EROSION.

In wind erosion wind picks up the lighter soil particles from the surface of the earth and transports them long distance. As wind plays a major role in erosion of the soil so called soil erosion.

Wind erosion control

 Wind erosiom control measures aims at reducing wind velocity or altering soil characterstics

Reducing wind velocity

- Wind velocity can be reduced by three methods these measures  are vegetative measure, tillage measure and mechanical measure.

 These measures are seperately described below in detail:-

1. Vegetative measure- 

 Shelterbelts play an important role as a vegetative measure in reducing the soil erosion. A series of long trees actsas an obstruction for steepy wind and reduces the velocity of the wind.  Large shelter belts are more effective than short ones. Vegetation density should be high and containing about 3 - 10 rows of trees which collectively prevents wind erosion

2.Tillage measure--   A Rough and clody surface resist the force of wind from causing erosion.A stubble mulching helps in reducing the soil erosion.

3. Mechanical measure--  Wind velocity is also reduced by mechanical measures which includes physical obstruction such as terraces, etc. these all physical obstructions which helps in reducing the soil erosion are collectively known as wind breaks.

 These were the important measures along with the types of soil erosion and soil conservation which definitely helps the farmers in preventing the soil erosion and develop the good soil structure and in turn results in higher crop yield.

Major Problems of Indian agriculture.

Agriculture is a way of life for 50% Indian population, but unfortunately everything is not right with Indian agriculture. We read daily in newspaper that farmers are protesting against government and committing suicide.

Inspite of various efforts and plans implemented by government very few of them able to tackle the challenges of farmers.
We are discussing about these major problems of Indian agriculture and there solutions to an extent.

Major problems of Indian agriculture:-

1. Lack of  extension education- In India there is no focus on agriculture extension. The extension education which helps in extending the scientific knowledge of agriculture to the farming community for enhancing production, marketing, including value addition to the agricultural produces with the application of latest technologies for higher income of farming community is called agriculture extension. But unfortunately there is not much focus on agriculture extension in India which left the farmers underskilled..
2.  Improper Agriculture marketing-
     Marketing skills of Indian farmers are really poor,  is one of the important field in which the government should focus to increase the economic conditions of farmers, many farmers even do not know the the actual price of their crop and sell their crop in very low wages to middlemen , these middlmen make their own profit by selling these crops in high prices in the market. These middlemen disturb the whole economy of the farmers.  So, government should make effortto remove these middlemen from the farming community.
3. Faulty method of Irrigation-Proper methods of irrigation is important part of agriculture, there are various methos of irrigation which are used withg respect to various crops and particular region for eg.- trees and vine crops requires drip irrigation. As little amount of water is required in these plants hence driip irrigation system is used. In this way keeping the water req]uirement in mind various methods of irrigation are used.
4.  Connectivity between rural an urban area- As I discussed in my earlier blog   https://agritalks031.blogspot.com/2019/06/scope-of-agriculture.html?m=1 that 75% people of Indian population living in rural area is engaged in farming. So, there should be proper connectivity between rural and urban area such as proper road to minimize the cost of transportation, because major proportion of their market is in urban area. Middlemen also take advantage of this problem and buy agriproduce in very low price from farmers and sell them in very high prices in urban market, and farmers donot get their actual cost.
5. Manure and fertilizers- In India a large amount of organic manure is produced, but a cery litle amount of that manure is used by farmers in the field and chemical fertilizers are used in place of organic manure. Organic manure is very important for fertiity of the field but major part of that manure is used as a source of biofuel production in rural kitchens so very little amount is left for field. Thus givernment shoud focua on this topic and provide must subsides on LPG to rural farmers so that most of the organic manure through cow dung should used in field as organic manure.
6. Fragmentation of land-
    Increasing population is a huge threat in India. Increase in population leads to fragmentation of land which in turn result in small land holding. Agriculural land availability per family is decreasing day by day because the population is increasing and the use of joint family system is declining in the country, hence land get fragmentated.
7.     Soil erosion- A major problem of Indian agriculture soil erosion is defined as detachment, transportation and deposition of soil particles. Due to various factor such as water and wind soil is transported  place to another and get deposited at another place, this results in the loss of soil. In India soil erosion is a major problem government should impose some more steps and plans to prevent this. Soil conservation  is the only way to protect the productive land in a predominantly agriculture country like India where flood, drought, and famine caused chronic food scarcity. Soil conservation not only increase the crop yield but also prevents further declination of land.
   
   
8.   Outdated technology-
   Modern technology is not very much included in Indian agriculture till now, most of the technology which are used in Indian agriculture are outdated and and do not match modern requirement.So, what farmers need actually is the support of government in getting modern technology implements and modern agriculture quipments.
9.  Cropping pattern- There are various cropping pattern used for different crops and to fully utilize the land, So that maximum production can be achieved in minimum area. For.eg.- Strip cropping in which a strip of erosion resisting crop is alternated with erosion permitting crop. Not using proper cropping pattern and improper agriculture practices such as not sowing seed in proper depth is a serious threat in Indian agriculture.  
10.   Lacking unity of farmers -

Indian farmers lacks unity but development of unity among farmers is very important aspect of agriculture. It is very important for oraganizing  farmers into groups for eg.- kisan union and developing leadership quality among the farmers.So that the farmers can identify the felt needs and can raise their voice for their rights and to fulfil their requirements, and can utilize the resources that they have and can demand for those they do not have.

These were the major problems of Indian agriculture along with their solutions. To develop the economic condition of India first we have to strengthen the backbone of Indian economy i.e., agriculture., and administration should also ensure that plans and policies implemented by government are implemented at ground level so, the policies planned by government should not limited to newspaper but also implemented at ground level and benefits should reach to each and every farmer.