Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD)

related Current Affairs for the month of Dec 2017

for NABARD Grade A 2018 Phase 1 and 2

www.edutap.co.in Call us at 8146207241- Write to us at deepak@edutap.co.in

Contents
1 22nd Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium held in New Delhi:.................................................... 3
2 5 December: World Soil Day: ............................................................................................................. 4
3 India, Israel open centre for floriculture in Tamil Nadu: ................................................................... 5
4 7th International Ground Water Conference held in New Delhi: ................................................... 6
5 The Parliament passes Indian Forest (Amendment) Bill, 2017: ......................................................... 7
6 Government launches Ganga Gram project at Ganga Gram Swachata Sammelan:............... 8
7 Government launches Livestock Disease Forewarning–Mobile Application: ................................ 8

www.edutap.co.in Call us at 8146207241- Write to us at deepak@edutap.co.in

1 22nd Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium held in New Delhi:

The 22nd meeting of the Board of Management (BoM) of Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC)
was held in New Delhi and was chaired by the Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister.

What is SFAC?

 SFAC is an exclusive Society promoted by Union Ministry of Agriculture Co-operation and

Farmers’ Welfare focused on increasing incomes of small and marginal farmers through
aggregation and development of agribusiness.
 It was established in 1994 and is registered under Societies Registration Act 1860.
 It is also registered as Non-Banking Financial Institution (NBFC) by Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
 SFAC has pioneered the formation and growth of Farmer Producer Organizations/Farmer
Producer Companies, which is now being implemented across the length and breadth of the
country. SFAC is progressing towards establishing an eco-system for FPOs/FPCs to make them
sustainable and viable in the long run.
 SFAC offers Schemes like Equity Grant and Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme to FPCs to improve
availability of working capital and development of business activities.
 SFAC promotes development of small agribusiness through its VCA (Venture Capital Assistance)
Scheme for value added processing and marketing linkages.
 SFAC is also implementing the National Agriculture Market Electronic Trading (e-Nam)
platform. The purpose is to provide for a single unified market for agricultural products with
much higher price discovery for farmers.

Key Takeaway from the meeting:

 FPO (Farmer Producers Organization) is being introduced in the fisheries sector and a pilot
project involving formation of 21 Fish Farmers Producer Organizations (FFPOs) in the major fish
producing States has been submitted.

Farmer Producer Organization:

 The concept behind Farmer Producer Organizations is that farmers, who are the producers of
agricultural products, can form groups and register themselves under the Indian Companies
Act.
 To facilitate this process, the Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) was mandated by
Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India, to support
the State Governments in the formation of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs).

www.edutap.co.in Call us at 8146207241- Write to us at deepak@edutap.co.in

  The aim is to enhance farmers’ competitiveness and increase their advantage in emerging
market opportunities.
 This concept is immediate recourse for the marginal and small farmers to tide over the state of
vulnerability and deprivation, is to scale up their operations, and provide access to
technologies, credit and market.
 The year 2014 was observed as the “Year of Farmer Producer Organizations”, and slowly but
surely, the concept is catching on.
 The FPO’s major operations will include supply of seed, fertilizer and machinery, market
linkages, training and networking and financial and technical advice.

2 5 December: World Soil Day:

 World Soil Day is celebrated annually on the 5th of December at the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO) headquarters in Rome, the regional offices and
through national and local events.
 In December 2013, 68th UNGA declared 5th of December as the World Soil Day.
 The theme for the year 2017 is ‘Caring for the Planet starts from the Ground’.
 World Soil Day 2017 activities aim to communicate messages on the importance of soil quality
for food security, healthy ecosystems and human well-being.
 The theme seeks to highlight importance of soil in human livelihoods and increase in
degradation of soil resources worldwide due to inappropriate management practices, population
pressure driving unsustainable intensification and inadequate governance over this essential
resource.

Importance of Soil:

 Soil is the upper layer of earth, a mixture of organic and inorganic matter, in which plants grow.
 It is a finite natural resource.
 On a human time-scale it is non-renewable.
 However, despite the essential role that soil plays in human livelihoods, there is a worldwide
increase in degradation of soil resources due to inappropriate management practices, population
pressure driving unsustainable intensification and inadequate governance over this essential
resource.

www.edutap.co.in Call us at 8146207241- Write to us at deepak@edutap.co.in

3 India, Israel open centre for floriculture in Tamil Nadu:

 India and Israel are coming together to set up a centre for excellence in floriculture at Thally in
Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu.
 The centre would be the first agro-technology development centre to be set up with Israel’s
assistance in the State.
 A similar centre is planned for vegetables to be established in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu.
 The Dindigul centre, specialises in vegetables such as cucumber, capsicum and tomatoes, is
expected to be launched in January 2018.
 These centres form part of a three-year Indo-Israel agricultural partnership signed between
Mashav, Israel’s agency for international development cooperation and mission for integrated
development of horticulture of Union Agriculture Ministry.

What is the purpose of these centres?

 Purpose of these centres is to develop agricultural practices suitable for selected geographical
regions and also transfer the best practices to farmers in and around.
 Currently, there are 20 such centres in nine States. By end of this project, 30 such Indo-Israel
centres of excellence in agriculture will come up in India.
 More such centres of excellence are planned in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in near future.

www.edutap.co.in Call us at 8146207241- Write to us at deepak@edutap.co.in

  Centres in Karnataka would come up in Dharwar, Kolar and Bagalkot and would focus on
vegetables, mangoes and pomegranate, respectively. The centre in Andhra Pradesh would come
up in Kuppam and would work on both floriculture and vegetable research.

4 7th International Ground Water Conference held in New Delhi:

 An International conference (7th) was organized on the Ground water issues in the country with
a theme of “Ground water Vision 2030- Water Security, Challenges and Climate Change
Adaptation” from December 11 to 13, 2017.
 The conference was organized by the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee and Central
Ground Water Board (CGWB) under the aegis of Ministry of Water Resources, River
Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India.

Key facts regarding the conference:

 The delegates from 15 countries participated in the conference and 250 research papers were
presented, including 32 Keynote papers.
 The conference took stock of present status and challenges of Groundwater management in
the country under the changing water use and climatic scenarios.

Groundwater situation in India:

 The Conference took place at a time when water scenario in the country, especially the ground
water scenario, is getting worse day by day.
 During the past decades, groundwater usage in the country has grown many folds and today
80% of the rural domestic needs and 65% of the irrigation water requirement and 50% of
industrial and urban water needs are sourced from our ground water resources.
 Over exploitation of ground water has started threatening the sustenance of agricultural
activities in many key regions in the country including Punjab, Bundelkhand and Rajasthan
posing a grave threat to the food security in future.
 Moreover, climate change is expected to alter the ground water recharge regimes across the
country due to increase in extreme rainfall events.
 Over exploitation of ground water has also started affecting the ground water quality in many
areas from the geogenic source of contaminants such as arsenic.

www.edutap.co.in Call us at 8146207241- Write to us at deepak@edutap.co.in

5 The Parliament passes Indian Forest (Amendment) Bill, 2017:

 The Parliament has passed The Indian Forest (Amendment) Bill, 2017 to exclude bamboo from
the definition of a tree under the Indian Forest Act 1927.
 The Amendment Bill exempts bamboo grown in non-forest areas from the definition of tree,
thereby dispensing with the requirement of felling and transit permit for its economic use.
 Bamboo, though, taxonomically a grass, was legally defined as a tree besides palms, stumps,
brush-wood and canes under the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
 Before this amendment, the felling and transit of bamboo grown on forest as well as non-forest
land attracted the provisions of the Indian Forest Act 1927 and was a major impediment for
bamboo cultivation by farmers on non-forest land.
 Bamboo grown in the forest areas shall continue to be governed by the provisions of Indian
Forest Act.
 The measure will go a long way in enhancing the agricultural income of farmers and tribal,
especially in North-East and Central India.

Significance of the amendment:

 It will usher in much needed and far-reaching reforms in bamboo sector. It will remove legal and
regulatory hardships being faced by farmers and private individuals.
 It will create viable option for cultivation in 12.6 million hectares of cultivable waste land and
in creation of job opportunities in the country.
 It will help in enhancing agricultural income of farmers and tribals, especially in north-east and
central India.
 It will encourage farmers to take up plantation or block plantation of suitable bamboo species on
degraded land, in addition to plantation on agricultural land and other private lands under
agroforestry mission.
 It will also enhance supply of raw material to traditional craftsmen of rural India, bamboo-based
paper and pulp industries, furniture making units, cottage industries, fabric making units, incense
stick making units.
 It will also help to promote major bamboo applications such as wood substitutes and
composites like panels, flooring, furniture and bamboo blind.
 It will also help industries such as those dealing with food products (bamboo shoots),
constructions and housing, bamboo charcoal etc
 It will greatly aid success of National Bamboo Mission.

Ecological benefits of Bamboo:

www.edutap.co.in Call us at 8146207241- Write to us at deepak@edutap.co.in

Bamboo also has several ecological benefits such as soil-moisture conservation, conserving wildlife
habitat, landslide prevention and rehabilitation, enhancing source of bio-mass, besides serving as a
substitute for timber.

6 Government launches Ganga Gram project at Ganga Gram Swachata

Sammelan:
 The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) has launched ‘Ganga Gram’ – a project
for sanitation based integrated development of all 4470 villages along the River Ganga, at a
multi-stakeholder sammelan held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
 The Ganga Gram Swachhta Sammelan was attended by more than 1400 delegates including 500
village sarpanches from all five Ganga States (Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and
West Bengal), State and District government officials, NMCG Members and Ganga Swachhta
Manch volunteers.

More about the project:

 Ganga Gram vision is an integrated approach for holistic development of villages situated on
the banks of River Ganga with active participation of the villagers.
 After achieving ODF target in Ganga Villages, implementation of solid and liquid waste
management and other integrated activities are remaining tasks.
 Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation is the nodal agency for implementation of the Ganga
Gram Project.
 Since the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission in October 2014, the Ministry has constructed 5.72
crore toilets and has made 2.96 lakh villages, 262 districts, 6 States and 2 Union Territories, open
defecation free.

7 Government launches Livestock Disease Forewarning–Mobile Application:

 Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh has launched
Livestock Disease Forewarning – Mobile Application (LDF-Mobile App), developed by ICAR-
National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (ICAR-NIVEDI),
Bengaluru, in New Delhi.
 Apart from early warning, the app will also provide information about clinical samples for
diagnosis in the case of an epidemic.
 ICAR-NIVEDI has identified 13 priority diseases with a strong database and provides monthly
livestock disease alerts to the state and Central animal husbandry departments.

www.edutap.co.in Call us at 8146207241- Write to us at deepak@edutap.co.in

www.edutap.co.in Call us at 8146207241- Write to us at deepak@edutap.co.in