Food processing in Andhra Pradesh: Opportunities and challenges

There has been diversification of Indian diets away from foodgrains to high value products like milk, meat products, vegetables and fruits. Food-processing industry has been registering good growth since the past few decades and particularly after nineties. The conditions are now ideal for the growth of this industry. The central government has taken some steps to deregulate and encourage the sector after 1991. However, the role of states is vital. The government of Andhra Pradesh released a policy in November 2003. There are no major initiatives in the policy and still can be called a good beginning. As against the robust growth at the All-India level, the growth rate in net value - added in the nineties was almost the same as that in the eighties in the state.

Food Processing in Andhra Pradesh Opportunities and Challenges

There has been diversification of Indian diets away from foodgrains to high value products like milk, meat products, vegetables and fruits. Food-processing industry has been registering good growth since the past few decades and particularly after nineties. The conditions are now ideal for the growth of this industry. The central government has taken some steps to deregulate and encourage the sector after 1991. However, the role of states is vital. The government of Andhra Pradesh released a policy in November 2003. There are no major initiatives in the policy and still can be called a good beginning. As against the robust growth at the All-India level, the growth rate in net value - added in the nineties was almost the same as that in the eighties in the state. Against this background, the study is taken up in the state of Andhra Pradesh with the following objectives 1. To study the opportunities and challenges in processing of rice, fruits and vegetables, oilseeds and livestock products 2. To study the working of contracts between processors and farmers 3. To identify the future areas 4. To recommend suitable policy options The contracts are working, on the whole, well in both oil palm in West Godavari and gherkin in Chittoor district of the state. The firms try to attract with favourable conditions initially, but later tighten them as a part of agribusiness normalization. Therefore caution is needed before a final conclusion can be drawn on the usefulness of contract farming in the state for the farming community. The contracts in oil palm 3 are widespread, covering many farmers and stabilized. The total extent under gherkin is very low. The contracts work through facilitator in gherkin. There are some signs of some mistrust between the facilitator-company and local farmers. The contracts are also evolving gradually to accommodate both parties. The participation of small farmers in oil palm cultivation is almost negligible. On the other hand, in gherkin, participation of small farmers was considerable. The contracts are oral and price is not assured in oil palm. In oil palm gardens, the depletion of ground water level is faster compared to other crops. In the case of gherkin, the processing industry is totally dependent on exports for sustenance, which may not be ideal. The establishment of an independent ministry of food processing and department, enacting of contract farming laws and providing for an efficient arbitration in cases of contract violation, encouraging NGOs participation in food processing sector, formation of product-wise farmers' associations, changing the animal slaughter laws and formation of some more agri-export zones for livestock products are some of the recommendations under institutional aspects. In the case of taxes and subsidies, the recommendations are - exemption from sales tax and market cess and relaxation of duties and taxes on packing material industry. Under research and training, large scale publicity to promote processed foods, undertaking demand driven research by developing processable varieties and required equipment, establishing food processing training centers, developing technology for the tiny food processing units, evolving marketing plan covering the recently emerging super markets, DWCRA bazaars, international markets etc., are some of the suggestions. In case of infrastructure, encouraging some large aseptic packaging units, establishment of a radiation technology plant, encouraging private sector in cold storages, precooling units, pack houses etc., establishment of training courses for service and repair of food processing machinery, formation of expert consultant committee and provision of one incubator are the major suggestions. Other major recommendations are provision of insurance facilities to all horticultural crops and livestock products, taking steps to ensure participation of small farmers in the contract farming, launching of a common brand of mango juice and enactment to regulate the feed industry and nurseries in the state.food processing, Andhra Pradesh, India

Socio-economic Impact of Transgenic Cotton

Agricultural and Food Policy,

Quality of Work Life (QWL) Motivates Library Professionals Highly to Learn Further and Develop Skills

The study was carried out to investigate the Quality of Work Life (QWL) motivates library professionals highly to learn further and develop skills in the 20 engineering colleges of Jaipur region and 65 library professionals covering the categories such as Librarians, Assistant Librarians, and Library Assistants was selected from the total population of library professionals. The data for the present study has been collected using a structured questionnaire. This paper aims to measure the Quality of Work Life (QWL) motivates library professionals highly to learn further and develop skills. For this purpose library professionals working in Engineering Institutes of Jaipur region have been surveyed Likert’s 5-point scale has been used. A questionnaire was used for data collection which has been analyzed using statistical techniques such as Likert Five Point Scale, Rank order, and rank order Correlation T-test

Musings on genome medicine: is there hope for ethical and safe stem cell therapeutics?

Although most stem cell therapy has been non-controversial, therapy based on pluripotent stem cells has raised both ethical and safety concerns. Despite these concerns, the use of cells derived from pluripotent stem cells has recently been approved for clinical trials. We suggest that recent advances in the field have provided avenues to develop pluripotent cells that raise far fewer ethical concerns. Moreover, advances in cell sorting, gene modification and screening have allowed the development of safer therapeutic approaches. Continued advances in this rapidly evolving field are likely to allow therapy to be delivered in a safe and effective manner without socially divisive ethical controversy in the not-so-distant future

Synthesis, characterization, antibacterial, antifungal and anthelmintic activities of a new 5-​nitroisatin Schiff base and its metal complexes

The copper (II)​, cobalt (II)​, nickel (II) and zinc (II) complexes of 5 - nitroisatin Schiff base (L) (L = Schiff base derived from 5-​nitroisatin and 2-​methyl-​4-​nitroaniline) were synthesized and characterized. The authenticity of the ligand and its metal complexes has been established by micro anal., IR, NMR, LC​/MS, UV-​VIS and elec. conductance measurements. The ligand acts as a bidentate agent in which the carbonyl oxygen and the azomethine nitrogen of 5-​nitroisatin are involved in co-​ordination. Square planar geometry was proposed for the Cu (II) and Ni (II) complexes and tetrahedral geometry was proposed for the Co (II) and Zn (II) complexes. The ligand and its metal complexes have been screened for antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, etc. and for antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavous, etc. The Schiff base and its complexes were also screened for anthelmintic activity on earthworms. Both samples displayed significant activitie

Synthesis, Characterization and Biological Activities of a New 5-Chloroisatin Schiff Base and its Metal Complexes

Copper(II), cobalt(II), nickel(II) and zinc(II) complexes of 5-chloroisatin Schiff base (L) (L= Schiff base derived from 5-chloroisatin and 2-methyl-4- nitro aniline) were synthesized and characterized. The authenticity of the ligand and its metal complexes had been established by micro analysis, IR, NMR, LC/MS, UV-Vis and electrical conductance measurements. The ligand acts as a bidentate in which the carbonyl oxygen and the azomethine nitrogen of 5-chloroisatin are involved in co-ordination. Square planar geometry was proposed for Cu(II) and Ni(II) complexes and tetrahedral geometry was proposed for Co(II) and Zn(II) complexes. The ligand and its metal complexes have been screened for their antibacterial activity against bacterias viz. Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli etc. and antifungal activity against fungi Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavous etc. The activities of both the samples have shown significant and noticeable changes on complexations

Synthesis, characterization and biological activities of a new Isatin Schiff base and its metal complexes

The complexes of Copper(II)​, Cobalt(II)​, Nickel(II) and Zinc(II) of Isatin Schiff base (L) (L = Schiff base derived from Isatin and 2-​methyl-​4-​nitroaniline) were synthesized and characterized. The authenticity of the ligand and its metal complexes had been established by micro anal., IR, NMR, LC​/MS, UV-​VIS and elec. conductance measurements. The ligand acts as a bidentate in which the carbonyl oxygen and the azomethine nitrogen of isatin are involved in co-​ordination. Square planar geometry was proposed for Cu(II) and Ni(II) complexes and tetrahedral geometry was proposed for Co(II) and Zn(II) complexes. The ligand and its metal complexes have been screened for their antibacterial, antifungal and anthelmintic activity. The activities of the samples have shown significant and noticeable changes on complexation

Local repeat sequence organization of an intergenic spacer in the chloroplast genome of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii leads to DNA expansion and sequence scrambling: a complex mode of "copychoice replication"?

Parent-specific, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were obtained from total genomic DNA ofChlamydomonas reinhardtii. Such parent-specific RAPD bands (genomic fingerprints) segregated uniparentally (through mt+) in a cross between a pair of polymorphic interfertile strains ofChlamydomonas (C. reinhardtii andC. minnesotti), suggesting that they originated from the chloroplast genome. Southern analysis mapped the RAPD-markers to the chloroplast genome. One of the RAPD-markers, "P2" (1.6 kb) was cloned, sequenced and was fine mapped to the 3 kb region encompassing 3′ end of 23S, full 5S and intergenic region between 5S and psbA. This region seems divergent enough between the two parents, such that a specific PCR designed for a parental specific chloroplast sequence within this region, amplified a marker in that parent only and not in the other, indicating the utility of RAPD-scan for locating the genomic regions of sequence divergence. Remarkably, the RAPD-product, "P2" seems to have originated from a PCR-amplification of a much smaller (about 600 bp), but highly repeat-rich (direct and inverted) domain of the 3 kb region in a manner that yielded no linear sequence alignment with its own template sequence. The amplification yielded the same uniquely "sequence-scrambled" product, whether the template used for PCR was total cellular DNA, chloroplast DNA or a plasmid clone DNA corresponding to that region. The PCR product, a "unique" new sequence, had lost the repetitive organization of the template genome where it had originated from and perhaps represented a "complex path" of copy-choice replication