Recent Research/Technologies in Agriculture : Agrilearner

SCUBA RICE

Flooding affects 15–20 million hectares of lowland rice fields in Asia each year, it is a
major contributor to the food insecurity and widespread poverty in these areas.

IRRI scientists incorporated the SUB1 gene into popular local rice varieties collectively
known as “scuba rice.

Scuba rice varieties, which can survive up to 2 weeks of being under water, are now used
by millions of farmers and serve as their first line of defence against flooding.

(Research in Agriculture)

GOLDEN RICE

Golden rice or GM rice is genetically engineered vitamin A rich rice.

It was engineered to save million of children from blindness.

SUPER WHEAT

‘Super varieties’ of wheat resistant to the deadly stem rust fungus Ug99 and with up to 15
per cent better yields than today’s varieties.

(Research in Agriculture)

KISHAN KHAD

It is also known as CAN (Calcium Ammonium Nitrate)
Kishan khad is commercially prepared from ammonium nitrate and ground limestone or
dolomite containing 20% nitrogen.
It contains 26% nitrogen.
One half of the nitrogen is in nitrate form and the remaining half in the ammonical form.
It is almost neutral in nature.

Bt COTTON

Cotton with Bt gene (Bacillus thuringiensis) is resistance against the pest, Helicoverpa.
It is developed by U.S. based seed company ‘Monsanto’ and registered the name
‘Bollgard’.

Bt variety obtained 25-27% more cotton along with reduced the cost of pesticides and
protect environment from pesticidal hazards.

(Research in Agriculture)

KISAN CALL CENTRE

Kisan Call Centre (KCC), started since 21st Jan 2004 (toll free No. 1551).

KISAN CREDIT CARD SCHEME (KCC)

Kisan Credit Card Scheme was introduced in August 1998.

KCC aims at providing adequate and timely support from the banking system to the farmers
for their short-term credit needs for cultivation of crops.

This mainly helps farmer for purchase of inputs etc., during the cropping season. Credit card scheme proposed to introduce flexibility to the system and improve cost efficiency.

(Research in Agriculture)

NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL INSURANCE SCHEME

National Agricultural Insurance Scheme was introduced in 1999-2000.
Crop insurance is purchased by agricultural producers, including farmers, ranchers, and
others to protect themselves against either the loss of their crops due to natural disasters,
such as hail, drought, and floods, or the loss of revenue due to declines in the prices of
agricultural commodities.

The two general categories of crop insurance are called crop-yield insurance and crop-
revenue insurance.

PRECISION FARMING

Precision farming means high tech agriculture, spatial variability management.
It is the technique or method to find out the use of appropriate inputs, appropriate
technology, decreasing cost of cultivation decisions, optimizing outputs for safety and
security of food according to site or soil condition.

(Research in Agriculture)

CONTRACT FARMING

Contract farming is a system for the production and supply of agricultural products under
forward contracts between cultivators and buyers.

Here, the cultivator commits to provide an agricultural product of a specific type at a
specific time and at a specified price that is required by the committed buyers.
The main feature is that the contractor supplies all the material inputs and technical advice
required for cultivation to the cultivator. In turn, the cultivator supplies the required land
and labour.

LEISA

LEISA stands for Low-External-Input Sustainable Agriculture.

LEISA is an agricultural technique which makes optimal use of locally available natural
and human resources (such as soil, water, vegetation, local plants and animals, and human
labour, knowledge and skill) and which is economically feasible, ecologically sound,
culturally adapted and socially just.

(Research in Agriculture)

GLOBAL WARMING

“Global warming is the extraordinary increase of Earth’s surface temperature due to
the increase of greenhouse gases concentration on the atmosphere.”

Greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and CFC) are the heat-
trapping gases in the atmosphere.

They trap the heat that came from the solar energy (sun radiation) which results continually
warming of the earth.

OZONE DEPLETION

Ozone layer is a protective layer in our atmosphere.
It’s about 19 to 30 km in distance from the Earth surface.
It blocks the harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays that come from the sun.
The concentration of the layer is usually under 10 parts ozone per million.
Ozone layer concentration is measured by Ozonometer.
The ozone layer is made up by the action of sunlight to oxygen, and the amount is stabled by
the existence of nitrogen.
If there was no ozone layer ever, cancer would dominate and even no life would be in this
world.

(Research in Agriculture)

ARTIFICIAL RAIN

The clouds are injected with a seeding agent like dry ice, sodium chloride and silver iodide
from an aircraft or using a ground generator for producing artificial rain.

ACID RAIN

Acid rain (CO2+Rain drops) basically have Carbonic acid with pH of less than 5.6.
This is caused by the presence of air pollutants, like sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
They produce acids if combined with water.

(Research in Agriculture)

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