OTHER INFORMATION
- The Agricultural Produce (Grading & Marketing) Act, 1937 provides for grading and marking of agricultural and other produce.
- Standards notified as per provisions of the Act are popularly called Agmark Standards.
- The Cooperatives play an important role in the national economy. There are about 6 lakhs cooperative societies in the country. About 100% villages and 71% rural households are attempted to be covered by these cooperative societies.
- Around 16% agricultural credit & 35% fertilizer is distributed by cooperatives and 5% fertilizer is produced by the cooperatives.
- Further, 45% of total sugar production in the country comes from cooperative sugar mills.
- Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC) is mandated to coordinate relief measures necessitated by drought, hailstorm, pest attack and frost/cold wave.
- South—West Monsoon accounts for more than 70% of annual rainfall.
- The Department has reviewed and updated the Crisis Management Plan (CMP) for 2014 defining the roles and responsibilities of various agencies involved in crisis management.
- State Governments initiate necessary relief measures in the wake of natural calamities including drought from State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) which is readily available with them.
- Contribution to SDRF is made by Central and State Governments in the ratio of 3:1 for general category States (17 out of 28 namely, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) and in the ratio of 9:1 for special category States (11 out of 28 i.e. 8 North East States namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim and 3 hilly States of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand).
- Additional financial assistance, over and above SDRF, is also provided from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for natural calamities of severe nature as per established procedure and extant norms.
- Allocation under SDRF has been made on the basis of recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission for a period of 5 years, from 2010-11 to 2014-15.
- Government is promoting Organic farming through various schemes like:
- National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF),
- National Horticulture Mission (NHM),
- Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States (HMNEH),
- National Project on Management of Soil Health and Fertility (NPMSHF) since 2008-09
- Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).
- Under National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF), financial assistance is provided as back ended subsidy through NABARD for setting up / strengthening of existing bio-fertilizer and/or bio-pesticide production units and for setting up of Fruit and Vegetables Wastes/Agro-Wastes Compost Production Units.
- Indian Institute of Soil Science (IISS), Bhopal has been sanctioned a project for preparation of Geo-Referenced Soil Fertility maps including interlinking of soil fertility status with Soil Test Crop Response (STCR) data to generate site specific recommendations for use of chemical fertilizers in 19 major states.
- The tractor density in India is about 16 tractors for 1,000 hectares, while the world average is 19 tractors and that of developed countries is very high.
- Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, has proposed the Sub Mission on Agriculture Mechanization during the 12th Plan that will provide a suitable platform for converging all activities related to agricultural mechanization.
