15 research outputs found
Weed management perspectives for India in the changing agriculture scenario in the country
India is the fourth largest economy in the world. Agriculture
continues to be the most important sector of Indian economy providing
employment and livelihood to nearly 70% of the total population. It has
done well all through to feed the growing population. About 2.5 mt of
additional food grains are required annually in the next 10 years to meet
the demand of the growing population. This is a huge challenge as it has
to come from shrinking (both in quality and quantity) land and water
resources, adverse climatic and market forces, poor infrastructure, etc.
The government is putting lot of thrust on agriculture in its 11th five year
plan (2007-12), recognizing that agriculture growth is key to achieve the
target of 9.0% growth in total GDP. The government is responding to
these challenges by increasing the investment, launching several
developmental schemes and providing policy support. Many of the
schemes are pro-poor and pro-small holders aimed at achieving inclusive
growth. One such scheme, the National Rural Employment Guarantee
scheme which guarantees employment/wages to one adult in a
household for 100 days in a year, has benefited millions of rural
workforce. However, this has also made the labor expensive and
unavailable for agricultural operations including weeding. The paper
discusses the challenges and opportunities of weed management in the
light of changing agricultural scenario in the country
Implications of Weeds and Weed Management on Food Security and Safety In The Asia-Pacific Region
The food price crisis of 2007 and 2008 caused widespread food shortages and
food and nutrition insecurity the world over. Home to the largest number of poor and
undernourished people in the world, the Asia and Pacific region (APR) was at the epicenter of
the crisis and was hit extremely hard. Although food prices have eased since then, recent
studies indicate that food prices will remain high and volatile in the future. Reducing the
existing large crops yield gaps is one of the appropriate approaches to meet the growing
regional food security demands. Crop yield gap reduction is possible by optimizing crop
productivity through identification and alleviation of major impediments such as weeds,
which are more adapted to wide range of environments. Weeds continue to cause yield losses
ranging from 10 to 60% depending on the crop and associated environment. Appropriate
weed management has the potential to ensure food security by enhancing productivity and
increasing profitability of farmers by cutting costs. Judicious selection, integration and proper
application of herbicides will guarantee consumers the safety of foods they consume.
However, impact of globalization, climate change, genetically modified crops and other
recent trends, also have an impact on weeds and weed management. Severe labour scarcity,
shortage of water for agriculture, emphasis on organic and conservation agriculture, are
redefining the way we address weed problem. The solutions adopted by the developed
countries may not suit the vast majority of the countries in the APR. It is time to evolve
APR’s own strategies and approaches. Besides these technological challenges, APR countries
have to grapple with the problems of different sort such as the ignorance of vast majority of
farmers about the weed problem, the inadequate capacity of the extension personnel and the
insensitive administrators and policy makers. The weed scientists in APR countries have a
daunting job at their hands to deal with this multitude of problems. Optimal weed
management solutions, to meet the food security and safety needs, could be evolved from
networking and collaboration with weed scientists from the developed countries in the region
as well as from the other parts of the world
Management of weeds in food legumes
Weeds are one of the major constraints in sustainable production of all crops including food
legumes. The food legumes are mostly grown under rafufedJdry land conditions and hence
do not receive the best management practices that are required for maximization of crop
productivity. Crops, particularly grown during rainy season or under irrigated conditions
are more heavily infested with weeds and hence experience heavy losses in crop yields if
weed management is not adequately done. The crops are infested with such diverse weed
flora that integration of diffdrent methods of weed management is needed for realizing the I
full potential of the crop. The major weeds associated with food legumes are Trianthema
portulacastrum and Echinochloa colona during rainy season, Pluchea lanceolata,
Convolvulus arvensis, Carthamus oxycantha, Vida sativa and Asphodelus tenuifolius (in
dry lands), Cichorium intybus, Medicago hispida, Chenopodium album, Phalaris minor
and Avena ludoviciana (in irrigated lands) during winter season. Parasitic weed Cuscuta
spp. is a serious problem in lentil, greengram and blackgram especially in rice-fallows.
Broornrape (Orobanche spp.) is a great menace in several food legumes and is particularly
very serious in faba bean and lentil in the Mediterranean region. Cultural, mechanical and
manual methods are the principal methods used in the management of weeds in food legumes
in many regions. However, perennial weeds viz., Cyperus rotundus, Sorghum halepense
and Cynodon dactylon are not controlled due to their re-emergence. The effectiveness of
manual or mechanical methods of weed removal could be enhanced by their timel
Density-effect and economic threshold of purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus) in soybean
Purple nutsedge (~nutsedge) is an important perennial weed, which infests soybean in India and causes high yield losses. Selective pre-emergence herbicides hardly control nutsedge. Post-emergent application of imazethapyr is effective against nutsedge with almost 70 % efficiency. Information on the interference effect of nutsedge across densities on soybean and its economic threshold (ET) is hardly available, but would be useful for its management, and saving herbicide treatments with lower densities. An experiment was designed to evaluate the interference of nutsedge in pure stands, and that of natural weed infestations on soybean. Moreover, it was aimed to determine ET of nutsedge in soybean. The dry weights of weeds in the treatments ‘natural weeds including nutsedge’ and the one of nutsedges in the pure stand density of nutsedge 200 plants/m2 were similar and higher than weed biomass in other nutsedge densities. The ‘natural weed infestation both including and excluding nutsedge’ and the treatment of 200 nutsedge plants/m2 caused greater reductions in soybean yields and were the most competitive. The ET of nutsedge in soybean was 19–22 (~mean 21) plants/m2, considering 70 % efficiency of the herbicide imazethapyr. It predicts that a density of 21 nutsedge plants/m2 can cause 9.1–11.5 % yield losses, which are an economic loss under this situation. This ET would help in making decisions for nutsedge management and fitting models and could be used for other similar sites with nutsedge dominance. This ET, considering several production factors, is more precise and reliable than the ET determined with only yield losses
Risk Analysis - A Biosecurity Tool to Assess Weed Potential of a Plant
Seeds and planting materials of different plant species are being imported into India. Many of these have the potential to become agricultural or environmental weeds and this risk needs to be assessed before allowing their entry. Weed risk assessment method was judged on its ability to correctly reject weeds and accept non-weeds. Out of 170 plants tested, a total of 40% plants were classified as serious weeds, 30% as common weeds and remaining 30% were non weeds. The system is designed to be operated by plant quarantine officers. The weed risk assessment system with explicit scoring of biological, ecological and geographical attributes is a useful tool for detecting potentially invasive weeds in other areas of the world
Contemporary Information and Knowledge Management: Impact on Farming in India
Farming is an important part of Indian economy and it involves a wide range of stakeholders, of whom the small holder farmers are the largest group. Information sharing on new production processes with farmers was prominent in the ‘sixties which was key to the success of the Green Revolution. Agricultural extension, the process of enabling farmers and experts to exchange information with each other, has since been institutionalized to a high degree and is assessed to be not as effective as it had been a generation back. The advent of digital, technology-mediated information and knowledge management was thought to offer significant new opportunities for knowledge exchange in Indian farming as a whole. These hopes led to the launching of a number of initiatives in different parts of India, which has emerged as the host of the largest number of rural development projects where contemporary information and communication technology (ICT) play a pivotal role. While analyzing the outputs of such initiatives, many studies have pointed out that farming is not a priority concern of most of them. On the other hand, we can notice a non-complimentary strand of ICT in agriculture projects operated by a number of institutions with ICT resources playing a key role in some of them. These efforts, generally speaking, do not promote user participation in information flows quite unlike the contemporary trends
Seeding Success through Innovation & Technology: Role of Innovations in Transforming Indian Agriculture
Agriculture remains the most important sector for India, vital for ensuring its food and nutritional
security. From an economic perspective, the sector provides livelihood means to over 58 percent
of the nation’s population, while contributing 14 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
by providing bulk of the wage goods required by non-agriculture sectors, and most of the raw
materials for the industries. The Green Revolution and the transformation it brought about to this
sector helped in easing poverty, and proved that agricultural development has a direct role in
improving the livelihood of the people and the society.
However, despite its importance, various indicators from the sector show that all is not well.
Across the world, the challenges facing the sector are immense: declining natural resources,
smaller landholdings and lesser area for cultivation, erratic monsoons, climate change crisis,
energy crisis, loss of biodiversity, weak extension machinery, rising input costs, inadequate
storage infrastructure, high post-harvest losses, and lack of access to markets. There is also an
urgent need to promote the competitiveness of this sector and gearing up our agricultural systems
including technological aspects so as to meet the pressures of consumer demand and
international markets
Second Green Revolution: Growth Engine for Transformation. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India
The Indian agricultural sector needs to be revitalised to meet the demand of food and
nutritional security of a growing population amidst challenging situations. While the first
Green Revolution helped in meeting the production demands in the 1960s, the next revolution
needs to focus on holistic development of the sector and sustainable in the long run.
The next revolution has to help the small and marginal farmers in sustaining their livelihood. It
will need to provide end-to-end services to the farmer, linking him to the market and facilitating
access to better technology and other resources. The dairy revolution in the country is a prime
example of such an approach. An inclusive market oriented approach can revolutionise the
agricultural sector and attract the youth to take up to agriculture as another business venture.
An agribusiness development path involving greater productivity growth throughout the entire
agribusiness value chain provides for a solid foundation for rapid, inclusive economic growth
and poverty reduction. Improving the skill levels of the farmers can help in diversifying and
minimising the risk from the sector. This will also foster an ecosystem for innovations from
within the community
Weed Science For Sustainable Agriculture, Environment and Biodiversity, Volume 1
The Asia Pacific Region (APR) holds 40 percent of the world's agricultural land and 25 percent of its population. APR generates about one-third of the world's GDP and is the world's biggest producer of cereals, vegetables, fruit, meat and fish, with strong growth in all areas..
Weeds in Indian Agriculture: Problems and prospects to become self sufficient
Weeds are one of the major biological constraints that compete with crops for natural resources as well as added inputs and are limiting production and productivity in arable crops, fruits, vegetables, grass lands, forestry and aquatic environment. Despite continuous research and extension efforts made in of weed science, weeds continue to cause considerable losses to farming in India. As per the available estimates, weeds cause up to one-third of the total losses in yield, besides impairing produce quality, nutrient depletion, serving as alternate hosts to insect pests and diseases, loss of biodiversity and various kinds of health and environmental hazards. The dynamic nature of weeds necessitates the continuous monitoring and refining weed management strategies foe alleviating adverse effects of weeds in India. This paper presents a summary of information on weeds and weed management in India with a brief account on future strategies in the context of changing climate