Agriculture and Rural Technology

Agriculture & Rural Technology:

Reference Books / journals:

1) Rural 21: the International Journal for Rural Development www.rural21.com, www.fao.org,

2) Gandhi Today: NCRI Publication, pages 392, Rs. 495/,

3) Selected Essays on Strengthening Rural Institutes using Technology for Social Advancement

(Rural Resources Informatics Centre NCRI) Pages 89, Rs. 95/

Serial publications, email: serialspublication@vsnl.net, info@ncri.in

Climate Change, Agriculture and World Hunger are closely interlinked. Investment in sustainable agriculture has to be promoted to speed climate protection, incentives has to be provided e.g. through payments for ecosystem services. System Agro a multi-peril insurance scheme that takes account of the risks farmers & should be preferably be organized in the form of a PPP under the central control of the Governments. The idea to establish e-chaupal, which farmers can use to check market prices, order fertilizer & sell their products through Agri Business Division of ITC has to be promoted.

Water & Soil Resources is a matter of global security-climate change and growing world population mean that these resources are becoming in shorter supply. Investments in more efficient use of water, in water recycling & storage are just as necessary as efforts to maintain the fertility of the soil and use of underground facilities for disposing of unwanted carbon. A peaceful world will not be possible unless the currently developed countries can undergo a process of development.

In International Meet on Climate Change: All the participating countries gave an undertaking to help the reduce greenhouse gas emissions & to adapt agriculture to the changing climate. A global network should be created to which each country can contribute its knowledge and experience in combating the climate change. By combining innovative ideas from individuals, with investments from public, private & civil society organizations, social entrepreneurs can create social change that guides rural institutions towards their goals.

Three Roles for Social Entrepreneurs: Innovations to benefit the poor: Policy, Programs and Business Entrepreneurs are required. 73^rd Constitutional Amendment supporting rule of administrative bodies at the community level, or Panchayat Raj has induced Rangaswamy Elango (IIT M product chemical engineer as panchayat activist at Kunthambakkam near Chennai) and has developed it to model panchayat utilizing the information and communication technology (ICT).

Farmer Field Schools (FFS) are a successful approach of participatory learning in the field. They are effective and comparatively cheap tool to encourage communities to validate and adapt improved technology to local conditions, improve rural food security and income generation & empower farmers to find solutions to their problems. Typically, a farmer field school involves 25-30 farmers that form a group. This group stays together for duration of the crop cycle with classes taking place once a week.

Biotechnology: Solution to Sustainable Agriculture Development

Agriculture provides income & employment for majority of the poor, so it has to be one of the key sectors in any of the poverty alleviation / reduction strategy. But there are also other major challenges that global organization is confronted with, including climate change, increasing natural resource scarcities, and rapidly using food, fiber and fuel demand. These challenges can only be addressed through taping modern science, especially in the area of crop improvement. Combined with conventional breeding, use of biotechnology & genetically modified (GM) crops can i) raise yields, ii) reduce environmental externalities associated with agrochemicals & greenhouse gas emissions, iii) increase crop tolerance to heat, drought & other stress factors and iv) also enhance nutritional value of food product.