Marketed Surplus and Price Spread of Vegetables in Kashmir Valley

The paper has reported the growth of vegetable sector in relation with technology mission, extent and determinants of marketed surplus and price spread of vegetables in the Kashmir valley. A substantial increase in the area and production of vegetables has been observed under Mini-Mission-II scheme of Technology Mission. At the farm level, vegetables have been observed to occupy an important place in the cropping pattern. The intensity of cropping in the study area has become more than 250 per cent due to multiple cropping of vegetable crops. On an average, producers’ marketed surplus has been found more than 92 per cent of the total production of selected vegetables. The estimates of regression function have revealed that the production, area under improved varieties, net price received by producers and education level are the significant and positive determinants of marketed surplus, while spoilage at farm level and consumption have shown a negative contribution. The price spread of vegetables with respect to various marketing channels has indicated that the producers’ share has an inverse relationship with the number of intermediaries. The net price received by the producers is relatively higher in the channels in which the produce is directly sold to the consumers or retailers. Across different vegetables, producers could receive higher absolute net returns in tomato, followed by brinjal and cauliflower in all the channels. The study has suggested that the coverage of technology mission should be expanded to other niche areas of vegetable cultivation. The study has also highlighted the needed effective measures to reduce marketing losses at various stages. Study has emphasized on the strengthening of institutions, establishment of processing units and development of market infrastructure in the area.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Land-use Dynamics in Jammu and Kashmir

The dynamics of shift among different land-use classes has been studied in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. A significant decline has been observed in the total reported area, which necessitates a proper land-use survey through remote sensing. A declining trend has also been observed in the area under forests. The unfavourable increasing trends in the area put to non-agricultural uses and barren and unculturable land are likely to have serious implications on ecological balance. Inter-sectoral land budgeting analysis has revealed that shifts in area are occurring from desirable ecological towards undesirable ecological sector. The estimates of regression analysis have revealed that the net irrigated area, literacy and area not available for cultivation have significantly improved the cropping intensity in the state agriculture, whereas agricultural density and area under rice are significant determinants of current fallow lands. The study has emphasized on the evolution of suitable institutional mechanism for scientific management, conservation and development of land resources in the state.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Dynamics and Sustainability of Livestock Sector in Jammu & Kashmir

Agricultural and Food Policy,

Transcription factors and plants response to drought stress: Current understanding and future directions

Increasing vulnerability of plants to a variety of stresses such as drought, salt and extreme temperatures poses a global threat to sustained growth and productivity of major crops. Of these stresses, drought represents a considerable threat to plant growth and development. In view of this, developing staple food cultivars with improved drought tolerance emerges as the most sustainable solution toward improving crop productivity in a scenario of climate change. In parallel, unraveling the genetic architecture and the targeted identification of molecular networks using modern “OMICS” analyses, that can underpin drought tolerance mechanisms, is urgently required. Importantly, integrated studies intending to elucidate complex mechanisms can bridge the gap existing in our current knowledge about drought stress tolerance in plants. It is now well established that drought tolerance is regulated by several genes, including transcription factors (TFs) that enable plants to withstand unfavorable conditions, and these remain potential genomic candidates for their wide application in crop breeding. These TFs represent the key molecular switches orchestrating the regulation of plant developmental processes in response to a variety of stresses. The current review aims to offer a deeper understanding of TFs engaged in regulating plant’s response under drought stress and to devise potential strategies to improve plant tolerance against drought

Effect of Silver Ions on Ethylene Metabolism of Mustard Grown Under Irrigated and Non- irrigated Conditions

A field experiment was conducted during the winter season of 2004-2005 at the Experimental farm of Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India on mustard (Brassica juncea L. Czen and Coss, cultivar Alankar) under irrigated and non -irrigated  conditions to evaluate the application of 0  and 200 µl/L  ethrel (E200) or 1 mM silver thiosulphate (S) at flowering stage along with a basal  uniform application of 80 kg N ha-1 on leaf area, plant dry mass, net photosynthetic rate and seed yield. Silver thoisulphate, which inhibits the physiological action of ethylene was used in the experiment with ethrel. Ethrel is a source of ethylene and its effects are manifested through physiological action of ethylene. Ethrel 200 µl/L (E200) treatment enhanced leaf area, net photosynthetic rate, plant dry mass and seed yield by 10.6, 9.1, 7.7 and 11.6% over S treatment. So silver thiosulphate (S) reduces the physiological action of ethrel (source of ethylene) in this study. This clearly indicates that silver ions used in this experiment in the form of silver thiosulphate inhibits the action of ethylene metabolism in mustard

Breeding more crops in less time: A perspective on speed breeding

Breeding crops in a conventional way demands considerable time, space, inputs for selection, and the subsequent crossing of desirable plants. The duration of the seed-to-seed cycle is one of the crucial bottlenecks in the progress of plant research and breeding. In this context, speed breeding (SB), relying mainly on photoperiod extension, temperature control, and early seed harvest, has the potential to accelerate the rate of plant improvement. Well demonstrated in the case of long-day plants, the SB protocols are being extended to short-day plants to reduce the generation interval time. Flexibility in SB protocols allows them to align and integrate with diverse research purposes including population development, genomic selection, phenotyping, and genomic editing. In this review, we discuss the different SB methodologies and their application to hasten future plant improvement. Though SB has been extensively used in plant phenotyping and the pyramiding of multiple traits for the development of new crop varieties, certain challenges and limitations hamper its widespread application across diverse crops. However, the existing constraints can be resolved by further optimization of the SB protocols for critical food crops and their efficient integration in plant breeding pipelines

Ecosystem Management Approach for Agricultural Growth in Mountains: Farmers Perception of Ecosystem Services and Dis-Services in Kashmir-India

Besides supplier of provisional services, agricultures role as source of ecosystem services to the ecology is being increasingly recognized. The two way relationship between agricultural production and ecosystem services made it imperative to examine farmers perception of importance of and their ability to manage various ecosystem services from and to the agriculture. This study, motivated by limited availability of literature, is an attempt to fill this research gap through focusing on farmers' perceptions of four different attributes towards 17 ecosystem services and 15 dis-services in Kashmir, a mountainous region in India. Results revealed that farmers attributed high rating to the importance of all ecosystem services, professed severity of dis-services to and from agriculture and perceived their inability to fully manage them. The farmers revealed concerns about vulnerability of agriculture to any threat causing deterioration in ecosystem services though their concerns vary across services. The farmers WTP for enriching services and reducing vulnerability of agriculture to ecosystem service deterioration coupled with their views passed a message to policy makers for implementation of some market-based instruments to overcome any potential loss to services. Study highlighted a need of an environmental policy to encourage socially acceptable and ecosystem-oriented approaches towards land-use management. Acknowledgement : Authors gratefully acknowledge the financial assistance granted by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India for generating data for this piece of research

Marketed Surplus and Price Spread of Vegetables in Kashmir Valley

The paper has reported the growth of vegetable sector in relation with technology mission, extent and determinants of marketed surplus and price spread of vegetables in the Kashmir valley. A substantial increase in the area and production of vegetables has been observed under Mini-Mission-II scheme of Technology Mission. At the farm level, vegetables have been observed to occupy an important place in the cropping pattern. The intensity of cropping in the study area has become more than 250 per cent due to multiple cropping of vegetable crops. On an average, producers’ marketed surplus has been found more than 92 per cent of the total production of selected vegetables. The estimates of regression function have revealed that the production, area under improved varieties, net price received by producers and education level are the significant and positive determinants of marketed surplus, while spoilage at farm level and consumption have shown a negative contribution. The price spread of vegetables with respect to various marketing channels has indicated that the producers’ share has an inverse relationship with the number of intermediaries. The net price received by the producers is relatively higher in the channels in which the produce is directly sold to the consumers or retailers. Across different vegetables, producers could receive higher absolute net returns in tomato, followed by brinjal and cauliflower in all the channels. The study has suggested that the coverage of technology mission should be expanded to other niche areas of vegetable cultivation. The study has also highlighted the needed effective measures to reduce marketing losses at various stages. Study has emphasized on the strengthening of institutions, establishment of processing units and development of market infrastructure in the area

STRUCTURAL CHANGES OF LAND-USE, URBANIZATION AND AGRICULTURAL LAND-USE INTENSITY IN MOUNTAINS: EVIDENCES FROM JAMMU & KASHMIR-INDIA

This study investigates dynamics of land-use shifts, agricultural land-use, and its intensity in relation with urbanization and other factors in Jammu & Kashmir, a mountainous state of India. Results revealed an unfavourable increasing trend in the undesirable ecology class (barren) and declining trend in desirable land-use (forests, pastures and miscellaneous trees) which are likely to have serious long-term ecological implications. Inter-sectoral budgeting analysis revealed that shifts in land are occurring from desirable towards undesirable ecological sector. The regression estimates revealed negative role of urbanization and land scarcity in improvement of cropping intensity. Agricultural density and rice area are significant determinants of unproductive land-use. The pressures on the state’s land resources will be high in future and may be seriously felt owing to various mountain specificities characterizing J&K state. The study emphasized on the evolution of suitable institutional mechanism for scientific management, and conservation of land resources in the state