The adequate availability of green fodder impacts the general as well as reproductive health of livestock, their milk and the economics of dairy enterprise. The green fodder is being cultivated only on 8.4 million hectares (5.23%) of cropping area in India. Considering the season-wise total crop sown area, the fodder crops occupied only 1.02%, 1.54% and 0.78% in Rabi (3,384 hectares), Kharif (5,113 hectares) and Zaid (2,593 hectares), respectively during the Year - 2013-14 in Bareilly District of Uttar Pradesh, whereas, the total livestock population of the District is 1,125,743, as per the 19th Livestock census in the Year - 2012 that indicates the wide gap between the livestock and availability of green fodder.     Considering the problem of green fodder in Bareilly District, the ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar implemented the intensive promotional activities in Year - 2017 for popularizing the Bajra Napier Hybrid (B-N Hybrid) to make the farmers...

India is the second largest producer of fruits by producing 97.36 Mt fruits which is around 13% of the total fruit production of the world (757.5 Mt) during the Year - 2017-18. In India, Mango, Citrus, Banana, Apple, Sapota and Litchi, etc., are the major fruit crops grown. The Mango is one of the most common climacteric fruit having delicious taste, strong aroma and is rich in vitamins A, C, and D. This makes the fruit to be entitled as the “King of Fruits” in country.    The fruit is cultivated almost in all the states of the country with the production of 21.82 Mt which is around 22.4% of the total fruit production of the country. The total fresh mango exported from the country in the Year - 2017-18 is only 0.05 Mt, which is considered to be very low. This is due to the short shelf life of high yielding variety (hybrid) and non-prevalent practices of proper post-harvest conditions. The Amrapali is one of the leading varieties of “Dasheri” Neelum and is cultivated...

“In the hands of a single smallholder, the right information can lead to a 20% revenue increase for one farm”: Shri Bill Gates   The “Eighth International Conference on Agricultural Statistics (ICAS-Vlll)” was inaugurated 18th November, 2019, at New Delhi in the presence of Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India and Shri Bill Gates, Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The theme of the event is “Statistics for Transformation of Agriculture to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”. The Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare (MoA&FW), Government of India is organizing this conference in New Delhi from 18th to 21st November, 2019. India is hosting this conference for the first time, thus providing an opportunity to highlight and share Indian expertise in the field of statistics and agriculture. The event also provides a...

In the pearl millet - mustard cropping system, stovers of pearl millet are used as fodder for animals and mustard stovers are disposed for firing the brick kilns or used as fuel in the rural households. As a consequence, very little organic matter is returned to the soils for building the soil organic carbon, supporting the biotic activities and for replenishing the nutrients removed by the two crops. As a result, the soil organic carbon is reported to decline that causes the problems of soil erosion and soil health. In order to improve the productivity to make it profitable to farmers, it was considered necessary to diversify through the legume crop based relay cropping system in the mustard crop.                                                ...

Shri Ashutosh Pandey has grown different vegetables in such a way as to ensure their year round production. He produced potato, beans, capsicum, cowpea and coriander with an aim to catch up with the off-season markets. Shri Ashutosh started the cultivation of strawberry in 0.25 ha area and is able to receive good market price and more profitable than the previous crop cultivation. In the Year - 2017, he had grown strawberry in 0.4 area in his own land. Following his path, some neighboring farmers have also started the strawberry cultivation. Shri Ashutosh harvested 5 tonnes/acres strawberry fruits and sold them at a price of Rs. 100 to Rs. 200 per kg on the basis of market and demand. He cultivated potato and beans in broad bed and in each bed, two rows of potato and beans seeds were planted. He obtained the potato yield of 140 q/acre and green beans yield 50-55 q/acre. He also produced coriander. The main intervention of Buxar Krishi Vigyan Kendra was providing of good quality...