Agriculture - Current Affairs for November, 2015

Free online course on agriculture and diseases of horticultural crops and their management has been launched in collaboration with ICRISAT Hyderabad and IIT-Bombay. 2 month course will commence on November 30 and finish on January 29, 2016. It is an initiative by a team of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in agriculture and educators from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and its partners together with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.

Agro-chemicals sector in the nation will touch USD 7.5 billion by 2018-2019 with majority (60%) of the contribution coming from exports, according to a TATA Strategic Management Group report. Indian crop protection industry is estimated at USD 4.25 billion in 2014 and grow at CAGR of 12% to reach USD 7.5 billion by FY19. Report also indicates that use of original crop protection chemicals can increase crop productivity by as much as 25 to 50 percent.

India is the largest cotton producer in the world in the present financial year, according to USDA reports (United States Department of Agriculture). Cotton output in all major producing countries in the year except India was earlier expected to be lower than previous season. According to Southern India Mills Association, China will be vacating the position as the world’s largest cotton producer to India. Cotton production in China and the US has been estimated to have fallen by 13.3 and 17.7 percent as compared to the previous year. USDA reports India has estimated production of 370 lakh bales making it the largest cotton producing nation in the world.