Current Affairs (2023): Agriculture At a Glance

‘‘National Turmeric Board- The Centre has notified the constitution ‘‘An estimated $3.8 Trillion worth of crops and livestock
of the National Turmeric Board (NTB). It will focus on the production has been lost due to Natural Disasters over the
Development and Growth of turmeric and turmeric products in the last 30 years.
country. ‘‘The loss corresponded to an average of $123 Billion Per Year,
‘‘Bharat Atta- The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public or 5 % of annual global agricultural Gross Domestic product
Distribution recently flagged off 100 mobile vans for sale of wheat (GDP).
flour (Atta) under the ‘Bharat Brand’. This initiative aims to
‘‘Adopting The Digital Crop Survey System- Highlighting that the
provide affordable atta to consumers, with a MRP of Rs 27.50 present system of estimation of crop area and production
per kilogram. is completely manual, the Centre has asked states and UTs
‘‘Krishi 24/7- The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare to digitize the process by adopting the Digital Crop Survey
(DA&FW) in collaboration with Wadhwani Institute for Artificial System from July next year.
Intelligence (Wadhwani AI) has developed Krishi 24/7. It is ‘‘On February 23, 2023, the Government announced that it
the first-ever AI-powered solution for automated agricultural news has set up a panel to assess the impact of rising temperatures on
monitoring and analysis, with support from Google.org.
the wheat crop, as the India Meteorological Department (IMD)
‘‘Fisheries Status in India- With 8% share in global fish production, warned that above normal temperatures would prevail in key
India is the 3rd Largest Fish Producer, 2nd Largest Aquaculture Producer, producing states.
Largest Shrimp Producer and 4th Largest Seafood Exporter in the World.
‘‘The Government of India has launched the National Mission on
‘‘The International Sugar Organization (ISO), announced India to be Natural Farming (NMNF) as a separate and independent scheme
the Chair of the organization for the year 2024. ISO is the apex to promote chemical-free and climate-smart agriculture.
International body on sugar and related products with about ‘‘India is the world’s second-largest tea producer after China. However,
90 countries as members. With about 15% share in global sugar the tea industry in India has been facing a major setback due to
consumption and about 20% production of sugar, Indian sugar trends
the infestation of tea mosquito bugs.
affects the global markets significantly.
‘‘Bio Prime Agri Solutions, an Agritech startup that is revolutionizing
‘‘India is now the 3rd largest country in the world in Ethanol production
the world of agriculture with cutting-edge biological solutions
after USA & Brazil. has appointed deQollab, a new age creative communications
‘‘According to recent Department of Commerce data, Exports of agency as its strategic communications partner.
farm commodities, at USD 23.6 billion in April-September 2023,
‘‘On July 24, 2023, FAO Launches Action Plan for Ambitious
were below the USD 26.7 billion for April-September 2022. Climate Strategy to tackle Global Agri Challenges.
‘‘PM Modi, during his visit to Rajasthan, launched a new type of
‘‘The “One Nation, One Fertilizer” scheme was launched by Prime
Urea called “Urea Gold,” which is coated with Sulphur and can Minister Narendra Modi on September 26, 2023.
improve the soil quality and reduce the farmers’ expenses.
‘‘On October 10, 2023, the Indian Government designated
‘‘State of Food and Agriculture 2023-
National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) as the implementing
‘‘About 29.6 % of the global population — 2.4 billion people — agency for setting up fodder-centric FPOs.
were moderately or severely food insecure in 2022, of which ‘‘Chokuwa Rice
about 900 million (11.3 % of people in the world) were severely
food insecure. ‘‘Recently, Chokuwa rice from Assam was given the Geographical
Indication (GI) tag.
‘‘It is estimated that between 691 and 783 million people in the
‘‘Also known as Magic rice, Chokuwa rice is a part of Assam
World faced hunger in 2022.
culinary heritage and has been a staple of the troops of the
‘‘Almost 600 million people will be chronically undernourished mighty Ahom dynasty.
in 2030. ‘‘This unique and healthy rice is cultivated around the
‘‘Among the Nine South Asian countries, India had the 3rd highest Brahmaputra area and is cultivated in several parts of Assam
prevalence of undernourishment (233.9 million) in the total like Tinsukia, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur, Sivasagar,
population, after Afghanistan and Pakistan. Jorhat, Golaghat, Nagaon, Morigaon.
‘‘It is basically a semi-glutinous winter rice, known as Sali rice.
‘‘Ban on PUSA-44 cultivation- The Punjab Government recently
The sticky and glutinous variety is categorized as Bora and
announced that the state will ban the cultivation of the PUSA- Chokuwa based on their amylose concentration. The low
44 paddy variety from next year onwards. PUSA-44 is a Long- amylose Chokuwa rice variants are used to make soft rice,
duration variety, taking around 160 days to mature. This is which is known as Komal Chaul or soft rice.
around 35 to 40 days more than other varieties, requiring 5-6
‘‘Lentil Production India- As per the Ministry of Consumer Affairs,
extra cycles of irrigation.
India is set to become the world’s largest producer of lentils
‘‘Impact of Disasters on Agriculture Report (masoor) (1.6 million tons) during the 2023-24 crop year on
account of higher acreage in rabi season on higher acreage.
‘‘Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has released the report The
Impact of Disasters on Agriculture and Food Security. ‘‘Decline of Saffron Production in Kashmir- Despite ranking as
the second-largest saffron producer globally, with an average
‘‘Disaster events have increased from 100 per year in the 1970s annual production of 11-12 tons, after Iran, the region’s saffron
to around 400 events per year worldwide in the past 20 years. industry is weakening, presenting Economic challenges for
local farmers.