Pgdmabpm 20-74 Pacfm Mid Assg PDF

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INDIAN INSTITUTE OF PLANATATION MANAGEMENT BANGALORE

(An Autonomous Organization of the ministry of commerce and industry Govt. of India) Jnana Bharathi campus, Malathalli post, Bengaluru -560 056

MID ASSIGNMENT OF PLANTATION & AGRICOMMODITY: FIELD MANAGEMENT (PACFM)

Submitted by PITTALWAR BALOON J. (ABPM20-74)

Submitted to Dr. K. Narendran Ph.D., M.Sc., (Agriculture)

2020-2021

1

Que: Good Agriculture Practices in Tea and Coffee Plantation. 1. Good agricultural practices of Tea

 Climate and Soil  Tea is exacting in its climatic requirements.  The temperature may vary from 16 to 320C and annual rainfall should be 125 to 150 cm, which is well distributed over 8-9 months in a year.  The atmospheric humidity should be always around 80% during most of the time.  Very dry atmosphere is not congenial for tea. It is grown in plains in North Eastern States but in South India, it is grown in hill ranges from 600 to 2200 m above M.S.L.  Tea is a calcifuge crop requiring comparatively low amounts of calcium but high quantities of potassium and silicon.  Propagation  Seeds collected from the fruits of seed berries are soaked in water and only heavy seeds, which sink, are alone used for sowing in beds.  Germination occurs in 20 to 30 days. At that stage they are carefully lifted and transplanted in polythene sleeves. They will be ready for planting in 9 months.  Planting Sr. No.

Type

Spacing

Population/ha.

1.

Up and down

1.2 x 1.2m

6,800

2.

Contour planting single hedge

1.2 x 0.75m

10,800

3.

Contour planting double hedge

1.35 x 0.75 x 0.75m

13,200

After care  Immediately after planting, the soil surface around the plants should be mulched, usually cutgrasses of Guatemala are employed for this purpose.  About 25 tonnes of grass is required to mulch one hectare. Care must be taken to keep the mulch materials away from the collar region last, they may cause collar diseases.  If there is a dry weather, mud tubes or tubes may be buried 15cm deep near the plant in a slanting position and one liter of water per plant may be poured or injected at weekly intervals.  This subsoil irrigation helps to minimize the causality besides encourages developing deeper roots. 2

Shade management The desirable characters of a good shade tree like  It must be an evergreen tree, easy to propagate having quick growing and deep-rooted characters.  It provides filtered shade and withstands frequent lopping.  It tolerates wind and frost.  It does not have allopathic effect.  It has commercial timber value also. Training and Pruning Sr. No. 1.

Types of pruning

Pruning height (cm) 20- China Jat, 30Assam Jat

Season

Remarks

April-May

Hard pruning

30-45

April-May

3.

Medium pruning

45-60

4.

Light pruning

60-65

5.

Skiffing

65

AugustSeptember AugustSeptember AugustSeptember

Done is old bushes affected with canker and wood rot to invigorate the new healthy branches. Not done regularly. First formative pruning done to a young tea. Normal pruning wherever frames are healthy. Normal pruning wherever frames are healthy. Mainly to postpone pruning and to encourage better frame development.

2.

Rejuvenation pruning

2. Good Agriculture Practices in Coffee  Nursery  Procure seeds only from authorized sources.  Do not procure seeds from coffee berry borer infected areas.  Sow the seeds soon after procurement as they have short viability. 

Soil & Water Conservation Conservation of soil and moisture is very crucial in coffee plantations. Problems related to soil conservation  Monsoon season: Soil erosion due to sloping terrain  Post-monsoon season: Lack of moisture (i.e., drought) can adversely affect the normal growth of coffee.

3

Prevention of soil erosion  Contour planting in moderate to steep slopes.  Planting of soil binding grasses like Vetiver, Paspalum etc. across the slope at suitable intervals. Soil enrichment  Growing of leguminous green manure crops like Crotalaria, Tephrosia, cowpea, horse gram etc. in the initial years of planting may be adopted.  Green manure crops should be sown during May-June and incorporated into soil before flowering. Suppressing weed growth  Cover digging during the first year of planting (Oct.-Nov.). However, in sloppy terrain avoid digging and adopt only manual weeding.  Scuffling during post-monsoon (Oct.-Nov.) from 2nd to 4th year of planting helps in for conservation of soil moisture. Avoid scuffling in sloppy terrain. Shade Management  Avoid indiscriminate timber extraction for short term gains.  Maintain a two-tier shade canopy consisting of temporary and permanent shade trees like Ficus, Albizzia, Jackfruit etc.  At higher altitudes, temporary shade trees may be phased out once the coffee is well established.  Regulate shade every year instead of once in 3-4 years to minimize damage to coffee bushes.

Bush Management  Proper bush management is essential to minimize year-to-year yield fluctuations and also facilitating effective management of pests and diseases.  Light pruning every year after harvest is essential to maintain the framework of the plants.  Handling, centering and suckering during June-July and if necessary during Sept.-Oct. help in maintaining adequate cropping wood.  Rejuvenation of disease susceptible/ off type plants by top working would ensure uniformity and increased productivity. 4

Que: Importance of certified farms and feasibility of organic certification in India Ans- Organic certification: It is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products of farm. It includes  Avoidance of synthetic chemical inputs (e.g., fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics, food additives, etc.) and genetically modified organisms  Use of farmland that has been free from chemicals for a number of years (often, three or more);  Keeping detailed written production and sales records (audit trail)  Maintaining strict physical separation of organic products from non-certified products  Undergoing periodic on-site inspections. Importance of certification for farms: Organic certification addresses a growing worldwide demand for organic food. It is intended to assure quality and prevent fraud. For organic producers, certification identifies suppliers of products approved for use in certified operations. Certified organic producers are also subject to the same agricultural, food safety and other government regulations that apply to non-certified producers. Traditional low input farmers may expect productivity gains in the long term when implementing organic methods, but these are frequently accompanied by higher production costs, mainly in the form of higher labor demand. In these cases, access to premium markets through certification usually results in increased net profits. Combining lower input costs after initial stages and favorable price can offset reduce yields and make organic farms more profitable than conventional farms. For consumers, "certified organic" serves as a product assurance, similar to "low fat", "100% whole wheat", or "no artificial preservatives". Organic foods are proved to have superiority in terms of health and safety. Certification is essentially aimed at regulating and facilitating the sale of organic products to consumers. Individual certification bodies have their own service marks, which can act as branding to consumers. A certifier may promote the high consumer recognition value of its certification as a marketing advantage to farmers India has great potential to grow crops organically and can be a major supplier of organic products in the world. The task force on organic farming appointed by government of India observed that vast area in the country is exploited with chemicals which give low yield. These areas can be targeted to give high production through organic farming. India has great scope to become world’s no.1 organic exporter in the world. The National Programme for Organic Production proposes to provide an institutional mechanism for the implementation of National Standards for Organic Production, through a National Accreditation Policy and Programme. 5

The aims of the National Programme for organic production, inter alia, include the following:  To provide the means of evaluation of certification programs for organic agriculture and products as per the approved criteria.  To accredit certification programs.  To facilitate certification of organic products in conformity to the National Standards for Organic Products.  To encourage the development of organic farming and organic processing  Organic certification leads to general quality improvements, which in themselves are also valuable in conventional markets. Organic certification enhances farmers standard of living. Feasibility of Organic Certification: It is difficult to assess the likelihood of success in organic agriculture. Organic farming is not feasible as an alternative to conventional farming under all circumstances in the Indian context. The shortfall in inorganic nutrient supply, uneconomic returns to inorganic inputs under dry land and rain fed farming systems, inherent better response to organic farming in crops like vegetables, legumes and millets under traditional farming systems paves way for integration of conventional farming with organic farming. Several concerns need to be born in mind when evaluating the feasibility of organic agriculture in a given environment. These factors include:  Parameters reflecting greater "sustainability" do not necessarily imply organic practices.  A transition period of 3-4 years is generally required to convert a conventional farm into an organic farm. In this period, the produce is not considered as organically produced. The reduced yields and lack of benefits of premium for the produce is a double blow for farmers, leading to financial losses, which are substantial for smallto medium-farmers.  In practice, it will often be difficult to differentiate between the effect of different factors on a farming system, as the introduction of organic management could be not the only change at the time, For example, a number of years with very unfavorable weather conditions.  Benchmark figures, which indicate the conditions before a change occurs in a system, are not always available. In such cases, they must be obtained before organic management is adopted but this is not always possible especially when resources are scarce.  Because organic agriculture is such an under-researched area, conditions which initially seem difficult may be easy to cope with after some experience has been gained, and vice versa.

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