It will be impossible to satisfy the steadily expanding demand for food if soil health is poor. Legumes, manures, compost, and certain planting techniques can all be used naturally to improve soil quality. By incorporating chemical fertilizers, it can also be increased in an inorganic way. However, this has led to a rise in output rate. Additionally, using chemical fertilizer doesn’t ultimately increase soil value. It simply helps plant growth by increasing soil nutrients.
To uphold this criterion, they must be repeatedly added. Soil health improvement through the use of organic matter is currently an increasing trend in agriculture.
If agriculturists wish to increase yields, they must understand how to improve soil health naturally. This article delves further into the concepts of soil health, soil fertility, structure, pH, and soil type.
What is soil health?
All living things require soil to grow. Plants rely directly on soil for growth, whereas animals rely on soil indirectly through the food they ingest.
As a result, the ability of soil to operate effectively, or “soil health,” is a major concern for all living things. Soil can serve as a pillar for the advancement of living creatures.
As a result, the ability of soil to operate effectively, or “soil health,” is of enormous concern to all living things. Soil can serve as a pillar for the advancement of living creatures.
What does organic matter mean?
The term organic matter describes the remains of dead plants and animals, as well as any waste products that they left behind after they had decomposed and created a complex mixture of carbon-based chemicals. As it offers nutrients and aids in moisture retention, organic matter is an essential part of healthy soil.
It contributes significantly to carbon sequestration and the decrease of greenhouse gas emissions, making it an essential component of the carbon cycle. Organic materials include things like leaves, grass clippings, leftover food, manure, and other parts of decaying plants and animals.
Various Methods for Effective Soil Fertility Management
Increasing the health of the soil is a practical strategy for managing its fertility. Organic techniques have made inroads in recent years.
Soil fertility simply refers to the soil’s ability to provide a suitable environment for plants and support them. This approach aims to improve soil nutrients by boosting yield and maximising agronomic operations.
Planting crops (specifically legumes), manures, cover crops, and other natural farming methods are all part of an organic approach. Inorganic approaches include the use of chemical fertilisers.
Legumes are nitrogen-rich plants that are required by plants to improve the soil’s health. When legumes are planted, “Nitrogen fixation” occurs.
Nitrogen fixation is the process of turning atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia. However, not all legumes fulfill this function. Nitrogen-fixing legumes are legumes that extract nitrogen from the atmosphere and release ammonia.
Manures are animal waste, such as feces and urine, that can be utilized to naturally improve soil. Humans, cows, poultry, and other animals excrete this substance. Spreading cover crops or intercropping can also help the soil.
Planting cover crops helps the soil’s organic content. Additionally, regulating soil health has also been effectively accomplished by avoiding the loss of nutrients. Leaching and erosion losses ought to be avoided or prevented.
Incorporating organic matter into the soil helps in resorting the degraded land and boosting agriculture productivity. Pay attention to the soil health and your farm will reap the rewards for many seasons. Organic matter creates the soil structure retains moisture and nutrients and prevents soil erosion.
India needs to usher in Green Revolution 2.0 with a view to promote farming of less water-intensive crops such as pulses and oil seeds and discourage free power for the agri sector, economic think tank GTRI said on Thursday. There is a need to “promote less water-intensive crops like pulses, oil seeds, and vegetables like pulses, oil seeds, and vegetables that can significantly reduce water demand and the government can guarantee MSP (minimum support price) on these crops,” the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) report said.
It said that awareness among farmers should be increased about adopting water-saving technologies such as drip irrigation, laser land levelling, training on water-efficient techniques and precision agriculture to improve water use efficiency.
It also suggested ending free electricity for agriculture and introducing water pricing mechanisms that can discourage overuse and encourage conservation, besides educating farmers about the long-term consequences of unsustainable practices.
These recommendations assume significance as farmers in some states are protesting over their demands, which include a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for crops and farm debt waiver.
The MSP on rice and wheat and free electricity has made growing water-intensive paddy artificially cheaper, it said, adding this unfairly disadvantage eco-friendly, naturally grown paddy that relies on rain or canal water.
We need to usher in Green revolution 2.0 which would essentially be restoring crop mix that existed Pre Green revolution 1.0. We do not have any other option,” GTRI Founder Ajay Srivastava said.
It said that awareness among farmers should be increased about adopting water-saving technologies such as drip irrigation, laser land levelling, training on water-efficient techniques and precision agriculture to improve water use efficiency.
It also suggested ending free electricity for agriculture and introducing water pricing mechanisms that can discourage overuse and encourage conservation, besides educating farmers about the long-term consequences of unsustainable practices.
These recommendations assume significance as farmers in some states are protesting over their demands, which include a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for crops and farm debt waiver.
The MSP on rice and wheat and free electricity has made growing water-intensive paddy artificially cheaper, it said, adding this unfairly disadvantage eco-friendly, naturally grown paddy that relies on rain or canal water.
We need to usher in Green revolution 2.0 which would essentially be restoring crop mix that existed Pre Green revolution 1.0. We do not have any other option,” GTRI Founder Ajay Srivastava said.
Just two crops, paddy and wheat, account for around 90-95 per cent value of total MSP purchases and the maximum procurement of paddy is done in states like Punjab and Haryana.
Paddy, a water-intensive crop, consumes 2-3 times more water than alternative crops like maize or pulses. Every kilogram of paddy produced in Punjab consumes about 800-1,200 litres of water. Normally Punjab should not grow water-intensive paddy,” he said.
Paddy cultivation accounts for over 70 per cent of groundwater withdrawal and over 90 per cent of Punjab’s agricultural water comes from tube wells, and the number of active wells has increased exponentially in recent decades.
He said that as a result, the water table in Punjab is declining at an alarming rate of 0.4 metres per year, with some areas experiencing drops of up to 1 metre annually.
Farmers, incentivised by free electricity for tube wells, often lack the motivation to conserve water, further exacerbating the crisis.
“The MSP and free electricity schemes disadvantages environmentally sustainable, naturally grown paddy using rain or canal water by making water-intensive paddy artificially competitive,” the report said.
India has successfully defended its position at the WTO, keeping its local MSP programme unaffected and maintaining high tariffs on import of agricultural produce,” it said.
The US and other countries argue that India’s MSP support for wheat and rice exceeds the maximum 10 per cent price support permissible under the agreement. In 2020-21, India has reported its price support at about 15 per cent, but the US claims the support was 93.4 per cent.
This discrepancy arises from the AoA’s outdated method of calculating subsidies. It calculates subsidy by comparing the MSP not with the current market price but with the export price from 1986-89, known as the reference period.
Additionally, AOA considers the total production for calculation, not just the quantity bought under MSP.
Srivastava said that all this is a built-in design defect of the AOA that goes against India.
India got a reprieve from pressure during
from pressure during the WTO’s 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference, which adopted a ‘peace clause’ that allows India to continue with the MSP programme under strict conditions.
Although the Bali decision offered some relief, it is limited and has strict transparency requirements.
India and other developing nations are advocating for a permanent solution.
This will remain the most critical issue for India at the WTO’s 13th ministerial conference meeting in Abu Dhabi, which starts from February 26.
The Indian Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Food Processing recently investigated farm mechanization and equipment spanning 2020-23. While representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare provided a thorough briefing on the status of modernization in farming, it did raise concern about the lack of foreign direct investment (FDI) flow in the sector. The parliamentary committee meticulously reviewed and sanctioned the report during their meeting on July 14, 2023.
ndia’s farming and allied sectors play a pivotal role, supporting 17 percent of the global population and contributing 20 percent to the nation’s GDP. With an average growth rate of 2.8 percent, nearly half of the population relies on agriculture.
According to a 2022 report, 47 percent of agricultural operations in India are mechanized, which is lower compared to developing counterparts like China, with 60 percent, and Brazil, with 75 percent farm mechanization. Further, the mechanization levels range between 40-45 percent in states like Punjab and Haryana while it is negligible in other areas like the north-eastern states of India. The country’s agriculture landscape is dominated by small and marginal holdings, constituting less than 2 hectares, which cover approximately 86 percent of the total operational holdings. The small size of landholdings is one of the main causes of the decreased use of modern farming machinery.
In 2023, it was predicted that achieving 75–80 percent mechanization in the country would take approximately 25 years. While existing initiatives like the Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) are promoting the adoption of modern equipment in farming, India must focus on prioritizing mechanization efforts specifically targeting small farms. Prospects exist for private sector-led innovation but that will require clear policies and incentives.
Farm mechanization as a catalyst for growth
The Indian agricultural machinery market is estimated at US$16.73 billion in 2024 and projected to reach US$25.15 billion by 2029. Major growth drivers include favorable government policies, rising farm incomes, and the imperative role of mechanization.
Farm mechanization proves instrumental in reducing cultivation costs and enhancing productivity through efficient resource utilization. As per India’s National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), powered machines contribute 40-45 percent to various farm activities.
Approximately 50 percent of India’s population is employed in agriculture, which provides the majority of the country’s income and raw materials for numerous industries. The need for modern farm equipment arose from the increased production of grains, cereals, and oil seeds, which necessitates intensive harvesting procedures to maximize yield and minimize waste. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (India) estimated that at the end of the fiscal year 2022, India had produced more than 288 million MT of cereals (such as rice, wheat, barley, millet, ragi, etc.). India is the second-biggest producer of wheat and rice worldwide. Therefore, farmers are pushed toward agricultural mechanization as a result of the increasing farming operations needed to maintain the output.
India’s farm equipment landscape
Agriculture, as a major industry, demands continuous modernization. The diversity in farming, whether large-scale or small-scale, necessitates a spectrum of agricultural equipment. From basic tractors to sophisticated combine harvesters, the sector requires a nuanced understanding of the equipment’s specific applications. Livestock farming, too, has its specific requirements, spanning feeding equipment, poultry tools, corral systems, and more.
Categorizing agriculture equipment manufacturing companies in India, the classifications include (i) tractors (less than 50 HP, 50 to 75 HP, 76 to 100 HP, 101 to 150 HP, greater than 150 HP); (ii) equipment (plows, harrows, rotovators and cultivators, seed and fertilizer drills, and other equipment); (iii) irrigation machinery (sprinkler, drip irrigation, and other irrigation machinery); (iv) harvesting machinery (combine harvesters, forage harvesters, and other harvesting machinery); (v) and haying and forage machinery (mowers and conditioners, balers, and other haying and forage machinery).
Challenges and opportunities for farm mechanization in India:
While India has made progress in increasing power availability per hectare, with an increase from 0.3 kw in 1970 to 2.54 kw, the target of 4 kw per hectare by 2030 remains.
There’s a direct correlation between farm power availability and yield, emphasizing the need to increase farm power availability.
The proportion of budgetary allocation for the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) compared to the total budget of the Government of India has consistently decreased.
Budget allocations for the Research and Development (R&D) to Farm Mechanization Scheme have seen a steady decline over the past four years, with a significant decrease of approximately 30 percent from 2019–20 to 2022–23.
Rapid urbanization in India is leading to a shrinking agricultural workforce, with data showing a decline in the percentage of people employed in agriculture from 44 percent in 2017 to 41.4 percent in 2020. Shifting worker preferences from farm-oriented to allied industries contribute to labor deficits in agricultural operations. Manpower scarcity is expected to increase demand for farm equipment in the coming years, even as market demand will continue to accelerate.
Tax and duty incentives to support manufacturing units in low mechanization areas are essential for sustainable growth.
India’s farmtech startup sector raised US$1.1 billion in 2022, a slight drop from US$1.3 billion in 2021. In the coming years, funding attention is likely to get increasingly directed towards upstream agriculture technology or the production side of the agri-supply chain, as well as climate related agritech solutions and innovation.
Market outlook
The global agriculture and farm equipment/machinery market is witnessing robust growth, reaching US$174.12 billion in 2023, with projections to reach USD 184.69 billion in 2024, reflecting a 6.1 percent CAGR. This growth is attributed to factors such as education, research, infrastructure development, industrialization of agriculture, advancements in crop science, and rural labor scarcity.
Anticipated trends include rising global food demand, increased mechanization and automation, adoption of smart farming solutions, sustainable agriculture initiatives, and precision agriculture, making the sector more investment-friendly. Key trends in the forecast period involve collaboration, labor scarcity and efficiency, customization, climate change adaptation, and IoT sensor adoption.
In India, the growth of agriculture and farm equipment markets is influenced by a rapidly expanding global population. The United Nations predicts India’s population to increase by two billion people in the next 30 years, reaching 9.7 billion by 2050. Mechanization of farms is essential to meet the growing food demand. The correlation between population growth and increased food demand highlights the importance of agricultural machinery in enhancing productivity and addressing food demand.
Moreover, a surge in demand for organic food is expected to propel the growth of agriculture and farm equipment markets. Organic food, produced without synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, GMOs, antibiotics, or other artificial additives, benefits from agricultural machinery for increased efficiency, precision farming, weed and pest management, and soil health promotion.
The Indian government is mulling over the following proposed measures to increase quality farm mechanization:
1. Standardizing the design of equipment, attachments, and parts at the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) level, with the implementation of these standards at the manufacturer’s level.
2. Conducting testing on equipment, attachments, and parts manufactured by different companies to ensure adherence to BIS standards and specifications.
3. Promoting the use of standard parts available on the market in the manufacturing processes of various companies. The availability of standard parts simplifies production and enhances the interchangeability of components and attachments.
4. Providing training to manufacturers in manufacturing technology, specifically focusing on the use of jigs, fixtures, die-punches, templates, and other tooling aids. This training aims to improve the quality of manufacturing processes and enhance the compatibility and matching of components.
Soil fertility is essential for plant development and determines production. Farmers benefit greatly from fertile fields. However, poor agricultural management can result in land depletion. It is vital to remember the value of fertilisers and environmentally friendly farming methods in enhancing field fertility. With proper soil fertility management practises, high yields can be obtained from poor fields. As a result, growers who understand how to protect soil fertility may maximise and sustain farmland productivity.
What Is Soil Fertility?
Soil fertility refers to a soil’s ability to establish favourable chemical, physical, and biological conditions while also providing all of the necessary nutrients for plant growth. Mineral nutrients are not food for plants (since plants make food on their own via photosynthesis), but rather a supplement that gives more energy for plant development.
Nutrients can accelerate plant development, fortify their immune systems against pests and diseases, and boost fertility. Fertile soil is ideal for crop cultivation because it keeps a high level of important micro- and macroelements, ensuring plant strength and health throughout the development cycle. It is impossible to overestimate the value of fertile soil. Fertility is thus one of the first factors agricultural producers examine when planning fieldwork.
Causes and Effects of Reduced Soil Fertility
When the amount of nutrients lost from the ground exceeds the amount provided, soil fertility declines. Plants will then draw nutrients from the ground. Reserves are exhausted until there are no more resources for plant development.
The following are the main reasons of soil fertility loss:
The application of fertilisers without considering field conditions;
Inappropriate cropping system
Crop cultivation that is ongoing
Extensive tillage
Monoculture farming
Full crop residue removal
Soil erosion and land deterioration
Unfavourable weather and climate.
Soil fertility loss has a severe detrimental influence not just on agricultural production but also on the surrounding ecosystems. Desertification, biodiversity loss, water pollution, and possibly harmful alterations in waterways are all consequences of land depletion.
How to Boost Soil Fertility?
Even fertile land begins to deteriorate over time, so fertility needs to be improved as well as protected. Field fertility can be increased through crop rotation, fertilisation, mixed planting, sowing green manure, mulching and fallowing. Earthworms, helpful fungi, bacteria, and protozoan unicellular creatures are all very useful to the soil, and their influence on soil fertility cannot be overstated. They enhance its structure and ability to store water by breaking down organic waste or parasitizing bacteria. Indirectly, natural pest adversaries like birds who consume bug larvae or weed seeds can help improve soil fertility.
Rotation of crops
Season after season, the same crops are grown in the same field, reducing field fertility by extracting the same chemical constituents from the ground. Crop rotation is a feasible solution to this problem because it both reduces land depletion and helps improve soil fertility. Crop rotation increases microflora diversity since each plant has different microbiological preferences. Hay plants and legumes are examples of crops that increase soil fertility.
No-Till Farming
Rejecting tillage enables soil structure to be strengthened and erosive processes to be slowed down. The existence of helpful microbes and worms is sustained at the same time as the amount of organic matter in the soil rises, carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere fall, and these effects. Additionally, farm employees can use the time they would have spent tillage on other, more beneficial tasks. Because it increases soil fertility, saves farmers time and money, and has a favourable effect on the environment, no-till farming is advantageous to everyone.
Fertilization
Although legumes typically make up for the plant’s shortage of nitrogen, sometimes this is insufficient. Additionally, the availability of additional essential nutrients affects the field’s fertility. Consequently, fertilisers are needed.
For farmers, maintaining the fertility of the land is crucial. Despite the fact that there are many productive fields in the world, farmers should continually maintain soil fertility through wise cultivation. Agricultural producers must also select cultivation techniques that maximise production while taking into account their effects on current and future field productivity as well as the environment in general.
An “out-of-the-box” solution has come up in the fourth round of talks between the Central government and the leaders of protesting farmers. For a week, farmers from Punjab have been gathering on the borders with Haryana to reach Delhi to press for their demands. The third round of talks on February 15, just like the two earlier rounds of discussions on February 12 and February 8, was inconclusive.
Farmers demand a legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) of crops as per Swaminathan panel formula along with complete farm loan waiver, a monthly pension of Rs 10,000 for all farmers above 60 years, and India’s exit from WTO and free-trade agreements.
Union minister Piyush Goyal, one of the three ministers negotiating with the farmers, has said that both sides deliberated on solutions that would benefit farmers, consumers, and the economy. Under this solution, the government has proposed to purchase entire quantities of masoor, urad, arhar, maize and cotton over the next five years at MSP all over the country.
The purchases would be made only from those farmers who diversify away from paddy and wheat. Government-backed cooperative societies NCCF (National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India) and NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India) will enter a five-year contract with farmers opting for crop diversification by growing pulses and maize, guaranteeing to purchase produce at MSP. Similarly, for cotton, the Cotton Corporation of India will enter into five-year contracts with farmers to purchase their produce. There will be no limit on the quantity procured.
While this broad proposal will take a final shape if the farmers, who are considering it, accept it, it appears it could be favourable for both the parties, the government and the farmers. The proposal to purchase especially the entire quantities of masoor, urad and arhar can not only be an effective way to break the vicious cycle of wheat-paddy cultivation while also ensuring price support to the farmers who diversify away from these crops, it will also take a big burden off the government which prices of these pulses have became a constant source of trouble.
India’s pulse problem
Pulses are a dinner staple in most parts of India. Despite being the world’s largest producer and consumer of pulses, India imports certain pulses to meet domestic shortages. In chana and moong, the country is self-sufficient but in other pulses like tur and masoor, it still imports to meet the shortages.
India’s annual pulse consumption is estimated at around 23 lakh tonnes of which 15-16 lakh tonnes is produced domestically and the rest is imported from other countries. In the last financial year, India imported 4.85 lakh tonnes of lentils from Canada alone. India imports pulses from Myanmar, Mozambique, Australia and Russia too.
Prices of tur (arhar), urad and masoor, the pulses included in the solution offered to farmers, see heavy price fluctuations, and these fluctuations have a ripple effect on the prices of all other pulses as well, which in turn feeds food inflation.
The country’s pulses problem can be seen in the popularity of the chana pulse the government has started selling. According to Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh, the government-procured chana dal sold under the ‘Bharat’ label has quickly gained popularity among consumers, capturing a quarter of the market share within four months of its launch.
Chana dal becomes the substitute for many consumers when other pulses get expensive. Wholesale prices of tur dal have increased 5% in January despite the arrival of new crops and continuing imports from Myanmar as reduced acreage and decreased production for a second consecutive year impact supply, industry representatives had told ET. India has been meeting its domestic requirement of tur dal with imports from Myanmar and Africa. However, supplies from Africa have been facing hurdles from the local government there and those from Myanmar are lower than excepted , industry insider said .
The solution offered to farmers by the government is part of its ongoing efforts to gain self-sufficiency in pulses. In early January, the government launched a new portal to enable Nafed and NCCF to purchase tur dal directly from registered farmers. The portal was launched by Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah. It aims to facilitate the registration, purchase, and direct payment to farmers producing tur dal. Shah said that by January 2028, India will no longer need to import any pulses .
How the proposal can benefit farmers
While the farmers demand a legal guarantee for MSP and the Swaminathan formula to calculate it, there are concerns that these will not only be unviable as the government can’t purchase all the crops on MSP or force the private sector to do so. In the longer term, these benefits will perpetuate the status quo in Punjab, the wheat-paddy cultivation which is leading to excessive use of water and reducing the soil fertility. Punjab has been unable to break out of the wheat-paddy cycle due to heavy subsidies that encourage cultivation of these crops. The state stares at a waterless future as the water table is going down rapidly due to heavy pumping out of water.
For close to two decades, Punjab has struggled with the issue of diversification away from wheat and paddy. Piecemeal measures such as contract farming have failed to scale up. Farmers are not willing to come out of the cycle of wheat and paddy because the government buys most of these crops from them at MSP because it needs the grains for its public distribution system. But now with buffer stocks overflowing, the government no longer needs to keep buying these two crops in large quantities at MSP, also since Madhya Pradesh too has grown its wheat production.
The proposed solution offers farmers not only a guaranteed purchase of the five crops at MSP, but it also has no cap on procurement which means the entire crop will be procured. This means ample safety for farmers who are not willing to diversify without price support. If this solution is accepted, in future more crops could be included.
On the face of it, it’s a win-win situation for both farmers and the government while consumers, the other less-talked about stakeholders, also stand to benefit. Further negotiations between farmers and the government can give a final shape to the proposal which is now in a rudimentary form.
The ongoing farmers’ protest march demanding legalising the minimum support price (MSP) regime paused for a few days. The farmer unions would hold another round of negotiations with the representatives of the Centre on Sunday.Information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur told reporters on Friday that talks with the agitating farmers were on and a solution would be found soon.
Meanwhile, commuters in Punjab faced inconvenience on Friday as buses stayed off the roads in response to a call given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha for a ‘Bharat Bandh’. The All India Kisan Sabha, in a statement, claimed that the bandh evoked strong response.Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda, who met farmers’ representatives late on Thursday along with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Misiter of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, told reporters the talks were “positive”, adding:
“We believe we will all find a solution together peacefully.” Meanwhile, markets and commercial establishments in Punjab and Haryana remained shut due to the bandh call, while farmers held demonstrations and blocked national highways in Pathankot, Tarn Taran, Bathinda and Jalandhar.
In Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait participated in a protest in support of the farmers’ demands.8 crops procured at MSP will need Rs 6 trillion: CrisilAn analysis done by Crisil Market Intelligence and Analytics of the 16 out of the 23 crops for which MSP is declared showed that prices of eight of them were below the MSP while the remaining was above the same. The analysis was undertaken between July 2022 and June 2023 for kharif crops and Jan 2023 and December 2023 for rabi crops.
The eight crops taken by CRISIL for the analysis represented over 90 per cent production of the field crops in the period. The analysis showed that if all the eight crops are procured at MSP, then it would require an upfront capital of Rs 6trillion while if just the difference between the MSP and average market price is paid, then an expenditure of Rs 21,000 crore would have to be spent.
An increase in the export of soyabean meal helped India register 1 per cent growth in total oilmeal exports during January. Data compiled by the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) showed that India exported 4.77 lakh tonnes (lt) of oilmeals in January 2024, against 4.72 lt in January 2023.
However, overall export of oilmeals was at 39.74 lt during April-January of 2023-24, against 32.88 lt in the corresponding period of 2022-23, registering 21 per cent growth.
B.V. Mehta, Executive Director of SEA, said India’s price competitiveness and shortage in Argentine export supplies in recent months were behind the international demand for Indian soyabean. Crushing is expected to stay below potential in Argentina during the current quarter, limiting the export of Argentine soyabean meal, he said.
Soyabean meal exports from India increased to 15.86 lt during April-January 2023-24, against 5.57 lt in the year-ago period. India exported 3.75 lt of soyabean meal in January 2024, against 1.10 lt in January 2023.
South-East Asia and the West Asian countries are the major consumers of Indian soyabean meal. India has a logistic advantage in these destinations, and it can supply in small lots, he said.
Iran imported 2.56 lt of soyabean meal during April-January 2023-24, against 1,284 tonnes in April-January of 2022-23.
Rapeseed meal exports down
However, export of rapeseed meal from India has reduced by 70 per cent during January. India exported 71,472 tonnes of rapeseed meal during January 2024 (2.38 lt in January 2023).
Mehta attributed the decline in export of rapeseed meal to the lean crushing season and high local prices. These factors made Indian rapeseed meal expensive for export, he said.
India exported 18.95 lt of rapeseed meal during the first 10 months of 2023-24 ( 19.07 lt a year ago).
Top importers
South Korea imported 7.66 lt of oilmeals from India during April-January 2023-24 (8.06 lt in April-January 2022-23). This included 5.19 lt of rapeseed meal, 2.07 lt of castorseed meal and 39,688 tonnes of soyabean meal.
India exported 3.78 lt of oilmeals to Vietnam during April-January 2023-24 (7.52 lt). This included 90,540 tonnes of ricebran extraction, 2.36 lt of rapeseed meal, 50,760 tonnes of soyabean meal, and 905 tonnes of groundnut meal.
During April-January 2023-24, Thailand imported 5.25 lt of oilmeals from India (6.26 lt). This included 5.11 lt of rapeseed meal, 8,759 tonnes of soyabean meal, 4,666 tonnes of ricebran extraction, and 701 tonnes of castorseed meal.
Bangladesh imported 7.08 lt of oilmeals from India during the first 10 months of 2023-24 (3.64 lt). This included 27,771 tonnes of ricebran extractions, 3.19 lt of rapeseed meal, and 3.60 lt of soyabean meal.
The wholesale mandi price of guar fell in the benchmark markets across India, due to high supply and subdued demand for the crop, according to experts. The average wholesale prices of guar plummeted month-on-month to Rs 2,536.17 per quintal in February from Rs 5,074.64 in January, according to the Agmarknet portal, run by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
Guar is mainly a kharif crop, which is grown in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Odisha, and Punjab. Among these states, prices of guar saw a high month-on-month fall in Maharashtra by Rs 321 per quintal to Rs 6,455 in February.
Rajasthan, which is the largest guar producer, saw a fall of Rs 179 per quintal to Rs 4,656. Similarly, in Haryana, the prices fell by Rs 106 per quintal to Rs 4,824. The falling prices in these states predominantly affected the wholesale average price of the agri-commodity.
Guar is not just a vegetable. It is used in the making of guar gum, which is mixed in food items as a thickener and is highly demanded by the food industry. It is also used in fracking, a process through which, shale gas is extracted.
However, in several states, the prices of guar have increased. States such as Chhattisgarh and Gujarat saw a month-month rise in guar prices in February, with its prices in Chhattisgarh rising by Rs 263 per quintal to Rs 6,175 and in Gujarat by Rs 251 per quintal to Rs 5,954.
For those interested in exploring the prices of various crops in their respective state markets, the official website [agmarknet.gov.in](https://agmarknet.gov.in/) provides a comprehensive list. Understanding the price dynamics of different crops and their quality assessment remains pivotal in navigating market fluctuations for farmers and traders alike.
Farmers are headed to Delhi again after a gap of two years with the demand for a guaranteed and higher minimum support price (MSP), in addition to other demands such as loan waivers, Rs 10,000 monthly pension for all farmers above 60 years, and India’s exit from WTO and free-trade agreements.
MSP has become the most prominent feature of the farmer protest. A farmer has to face risks on several counts such as weather, yield, price, government procurement system, etc. The government compensates the farmer, especially the farmer in Punjab which has been the food bowl of India, with subsidies on fertilisers, power, loans, etc. as well as providing an MSP mechanism.
MSP is the price at which the government purchases crops from the farmers, providing them with assured income for their produce. This price acts as a safety net for farmers, ensuring they receive a fair price for their crops, particularly during times of market fluctuations or when market prices fall below the MSP.
The shrill demand for more and guaranteed MSP will make anyone believe that all the agriculture in Punjab and its farmers need is higher and guaranteed prices from the government for crops for prosperity. But agriculture in Punjab is struggling with several structural issues for which guaranteed MSP can’t even be a temporary fix let alone a solution. On the contrary, it will keep worsening the situation. The crises that besiege agriculture in Punjab rarely get so much play from farmer unions as MSP. That’s short-sightedness which can turn out to be dangerous for farmers in the long term.
The mega crisis that remains hidden
The biggest problem Punjab agriculture faces today is desertification. Plunging water tables are turning fertile land into desert. According to a Punjab government report published in 2018, groundwater in about 79% of the state’s area is over-exploited, and groundwater resources are likely to be used up completely by 2039, following which only annual replenishable resources will be available for consumption.
In 2020, the Central Ground Water Board conducted a block-wise assessment of groundwater resources in Punjab. As per the report, out of 150 blocks assessed, only 17 blocks were found to have groundwater levels in the “safe” zone. As many as 133 blocks had “over-exploited” groundwater resources, of which at least six were in the “critical” zone.
As per the parameters of the Central Ground Water Board, “safe” means less than 70% of the groundwater resources have been extracted and “critical” means more than 90% has been extracted.
Punjab’s groundwater in the first 100 metres – which is often called the “good quality” mark – is likely to get exhausted by 2029. And by 2039, it shall drop below 300 metres – a level at which the quality of water is too contaminated to be used for anything.
Punjab fast turning into a desert is the elephant in the room while the discourse on agriculture is dominated by higher MSP and more subsidies, the factors that led to the depletion of groundwater in the first place.
For decades, experts as well as the government have emphasised the need to break out of the wheat-paddy cycle, a vicious cycle for Punjab agriculture. Paddy is a water-guzzling crop that thrives on subsidised power needed to pump out ground water with tubewells.
The wheat-paddy cycle and subsidies are remnants from the days of the Green Revolution when Punjab became the food bowl of the country. But when India is no longer grain-defficient and other states such as Madhya Pradesh vie with Punjab in wheat production, Punjab is still stuck in the wheat-paddy cycle. If the status quo persists, a large area in Punjab will turn into a desert unsuitable for most crops. Since subsidies, higher MSP, loan waivers, etc. are seen as easy fixes for Punjab’s agriculture
crisis marked by suicides by thousands of indebted small farmers, farmer bodies as well as governments focus on these instead of fixing the structural problems with a long-term impact. This status quo is dangerous for Punjab as well as its farmers.
Unruly farmers heading towards Delhi might appear unreasonable and politically motivated, but what lies behind constant unrest among Punjab farmers is not just politics but sustained policy failure. What worked during the Green Revolution, when India sought to create self-sufficiency in agricultural production and incentivised farmers to produce more and more of wheat and paddy, no longer works now when India is food surplus. But governments or farmer leaders have no will or courage to take the bull by the horns. That’s why public discourse on Punjab agriculture always centres on easier and instantly addressable issues such as higher procurement prices and freebies.
What is the solution?
From time to time, experts suggest crop diversification so as Punjab breaks out of the wheat-paddy cycle which is bringing its water table down and prevents farmers from getting remunerative prices for their produce. But there is little consensus on how it can be done. Farmer-dominant Punjab politics makes it difficult for any political party to introduce any radical structural change. The very mention of doing away with power subsidies sends a shiver down the spine of the politician .
Diversification via MSP and subsidies is impossible due to lack of institutional capacity. The government cannot buy all kinds of crops and store them. Over decades, Food Corporation of India has gained notoriety for grains rotting in its storage.
Only heavy investment in storage and processing of agricultural produce can support any substantial and meaningful diversification of crops. This investment can come only from the private sector which can build factories, cold chains and storages at large scale. That brings us back to the three farm laws which had brought angry farmers to Delhi two years ago. While the Central government tried to push ambitious restructuring of farming in Punjab, farmers did not believe the government. They have got to used to
subsidies and selling to the government, they doubted if the private scetor will give them a fair deal. They also feared the government support mechanism will suddenly vanish, leaving them to the mercy of corporates who will then be there only option. Despite strong assurances by the government and many sane voices from experts such as Punjab’s star agro-economist Dr. SS Johl, farmers rejected the reforms.
Farmers have come to believe that they are best protected by freebies and state support which are also the route to higher incomes. The need now is not to perpetuate the status quo by doling out more subsidies or guaranteed prices but to forge a consensus on the long-term solutions for Punjab’s agriculture which stares at a waterless future. The biggest victims of this crisis are going to be Punjab farmers themselves. But after the Central government burnt its hands with the farm laws it was for forced to repeal, politicians are not likely to step up.
This blog will discuss organic fertilisers used in organic farming. But first, let’s define fertilisers in general.
The increasing awareness about the negative impacts of chemical fertilizers on human health and the environment has led to a shift towards organic farming practices. One essential aspect of organic agriculture is the use of organic fertilizers, which are derived from natural sources such as plant and animal materials, minerals, and microbes. These fertilizers provide nutrients necessary for crop growth while promoting soil health, reducing environmental pollution, and ensuring sustainable agricultural production. This article will discuss the importance and types of organic fertilizers used in agriculture.
Importance of Organic Fertilizers in Agriculture
Organic fertilizers offer several benefits over synthetic fertilizers, including improved soil structure, reduced water runoff, increased biodiversity, and enhanced disease suppression. Here are some reasons why organic fertilizers are crucial in modern agriculture:
1. Soil Health: Organic fertilizers improve soil health by enhancing its physical, biological, and chemical properties. They increase the soil’s ability to retain moisture, promote beneficial soil organisms, reduce erosion, and enhance overall soil fertility.
2. Nutrient Availability: Unlike synthetic fertilizers that release nutrients quickly, leading to rapid uptake and potential leaching, organic fertilizers slowly release nutrients into the soil, making them available for plants over an extended period. This slow-release feature ensures a continuous nutrition supply, reduces nutrient loss and promotes long-term soil productivity.
3. Environmental Sustainability: Organic fertilizers help maintain ecological balance by minimizing the risk of groundwater contamination, air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions associated with synthetic fertilizer manufacturing and application. Additionally, they support biodiversity by providing habitats for various soil organisms.
4. Food Safety: Using organic fertilizers helps ensure food safety since they do not contain harmful chemicals or heavy metals often found in synthetic fertilizers. As a result, consumers can enjoy fresh produce free from toxic residues.
5. Economic Viability: Adopting organic fertilization practices can save farmers money since many organic fertilizers can be made from locally available resources, thus eliminating the need for expensive imported products. Moreover, organic farms tend to have higher yields compared to conventional ones due to better soil health, ultimately resulting in greater economic returns.
Types of Organic Fertilizers
Various organic fertilizers are commonly used in agriculture, each having unique characteristics and applications. Some common examples include:
1. Manures: Animal manures, such as cow, poultry, horse, and sheep manure, are rich in nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and other micronutrients. When properly composted, these wastes become stable, pathogen-free fertilizers that can improve soil structure, water retention capacity, and aeration.
2. Compost: Composting involves decomposing organic matter like leaves, grass clippings, vegetable scraps, and farm waste under controlled conditions. The final product, known as compost, contains NPK along with numerous trace elements, hormones, and enzymes that stimulate plant growth and boost soil fertility.
3. Bone Meal: Obtained from crushed bones, bone meal is high in phosphorous and calcium, making it ideal for root development and flower formation. It also provides a slow-release source of nitrogen and traces amounts of magnesium, zinc, and copper.
4. Fish Emulsion: Derived from fish processing waste, fish emulsion is an excellent liquid fertilizer containing NPK plus amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. Due to its quick absorption rate, it serves as an effective foliar feed and seed treatment.
5. Seaweed Extract: Rich in auxins, cytokinins, gibberellins, and abscisic acid, seaweed extract improves plant vigour, stress tolerance, and yield. It can be applied directly to soil or sprayed onto leaves as a foliar spray.
6. Rock Phosphate: A naturally occurring mineral mined from rock deposits, rock phosphate is an excellent source of phosphorus for crops. Although its solubility is low, it gradually releases P upon weathering, ensuring long-term availability.
7. Green Manure Crops: Planting cover crops such as clover, buckwheat, alfalfa, or rye between main cash crops can significantly benefit soil health. Once incorporated back into the soil through tillage, these green manure crops add organic matter, improve tilth, and release nutrients locked up in their tissues.
8. Vermicompost: Also referred to as worm casting, vermicompost results from earthworms digesting organic waste. Packed with beneficial bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and protozoa, this superb fertilizer enhances soil structure, increases water-holding capacity, and promotes robust plant growth.
9. Biofertilizers: Microorganisms such as rhizobia, cyanobacteria, acetobacter, and mycorrhiza form symbiotic relationships with plants, fixing atmospheric nitrogen or solubilizing unavailable forms of P and K. Inoculating seeds or soils with biofertilizers can substantially augment crop nutrient uptake and yield.
conclusion
In conclusion, using organic fertilizers offers multiple advantages over synthetic alternatives in terms of soil health improvement, nutrient availability, environmental sustainability, food safety, and economic viability. By incorporating different types of organic fertilizers based on specific cropping systems and local resource availability, farmers can contribute to building resilient agroecosystems capable of producing healthy foods without compromising future generations’ well-being.