Junagadh Agriculture University vice Chancellor Interview about Crops Life with Rains

Rains give new lease of life to crops in Saurashtra region
As monsoons made their presence felt in Saurashtra this week, the farmers of the region were one happy lot as this rain has saved their crops.

Though bit delayed, the recent rainfall in the region has given a new lease of life to the groundnut and cotton crop.

During the last two days, Rajkot, Porbandar and Amreli districts of Saurashtra region witnessed rainfall and the meteorology department has predicted heavy rainfall in the coming two days across the region as well.

As per Latest Junagadh Agriculture University vice Chancellor N C Patel Interviews, he said that, "Rainfall is crucial for both the groundnut and cotton crop. If the rains had delayed further, it would have hit these two crops severely."

"The rains that were witnessed in the last two days have saved the early sowing of crops. But we need substantial rainfall for further sowing."

The sowing process will take some more time as these rains are not enough for new sowing.
As per the data provided by the district agriculture department, the sowing area is still below expectation. The total area of groundnut covered is 4, 64,860 hectares this year in and SaurashtraKutch, which is only 30 percent of the last year's total of 1, 5, 75, 819 hectares.

Similarly in cotton so far 3,20089 hectares sowing has been done which was 17,60,238 hectares last year and just 18 percent area has been covered in cotton in Saurashtra region.

Former President of Solvent extractors association of India (SEA) said that, "More Govindbhai Patelrainfall will definitely prove conducive for the sowing process. As the weather changes and the possibility of rain increases, sowing activity will increase in many parts of Saurashtra."

BT Cotton Seeds Amreli Bhavnagar Junagadh Rajkot District News Gujarat India

Monsanto study says crop in four Gujarat districts showed susceptibility to pest.

The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) is learnt to have received a report confirming pink bollworm developing resistance to BT cotton in four districts in Gujarat. The apex regulator of genetically modified (GM) crops is likely to consider these findings by Monsanto and Mahyco scientists in its next meeting.

Monsanto has revealed that in 2009 it had found BT cotton crop in four districts — Amreli District, Bhavnagar District, Junagadh District and Rajkot District — demonstrate unusual susceptibility to pink bollworm.

“During field monitoring of the 2009 cotton crop in Gujarat, Monsanto and Mahyco scientists detected unusual survival of pink bollworm in first-generation single-protein Bollgard cotton. Testing was conducted to assess for resistance to Cry1Ac, the BT protein in Bollgard cotton, and pink bollworm resistance to Cry1Ac was confirmed in the four districts,” Monsanto stated in a press statement issued in Mumbai on Friday.

“Gujarat is one of nine states in India where cotton is grown. Till date, no insect resistance to Cry1Ac has been confirmed outside the four districts,” he stated.

Single-protein Cry1Ac products continue to control bollworm pests other than pink bollworm in the four districts in Gujarat. In addition, no instance of insect resistance in any of India’s cotton growing states, including the four districts in Gujarat, has been observed in case of Bollgard II.

“Pests developing resistance is an expected event for a dynamic system. However, scientists now need to look into the spread of this and get behind the reasons and the nature of resistance,” Dr K C Bansal of National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, IARI, Delhi, said.

With the debate on allowing commercial cultivation of BT-brinjal raging, this development has created a challenge for scientists working in the field of agricultural bio-technology. BT corn and BT soya crops have not yet demonstrated such resistance anywhere in the world.

Incidentally, this pest resistance has been observed in Gujarat, where spurious Bt cotton was reported to have got into the fields much before the GEAC approved the first such GM crop in the country.

“Resistance is natural and expected, so measures to delay resistance are important. Among the factors that may have contributed to pink bollworm resistance to the Cry1Ac protein in Gujarat are limited refuge planting and early use of unapproved Bt cotton seeds, planted prior to GEAC approval of Cry1Ac cotton, which may have had lower protein expression levels,” Monsanto expressed its apprehensions and left the matter to be examined by GEAC-approved panel for the same.

Amreli Junagadh City District News Gujarat India

Amreli farmer develops wilt resistant groundnut variety which matures early.

A bout of stem rot infestation that damaged his standing groundnut cultivation did not deter this 38-year-old farmer from Amreli City.

Progressive and innovative in his thoughts, Dhiraj Thummar used this failure to turnaround and fights back the infestations.

Thummar, thus, developed Dhiraj 101 a groundnut variety selected from the GG 20 variety which is not only resistant to wilt due to stem rot but goes a step further and matures faster.

For his innovation, Thummar also bagged a National Award by National Innovation Foundation (NIF) at 5th national biennial grassroots technological innovation and traditional knowledge awards 2009 at Delhi.

Dhiraj 101', once sown, flowers in 28 to 30 days and matures within 95-105 days. A 30-45 cm high and semi-spreading type of crop, it bears 35-40 pods per plant with a seed rate of 90-100 kg per hectare. "If sown at rate of 3,200-3,500 kg per hectare, the yield is higher than the locally cultivated varieties and so is the oil content once milled. It also performs well in an average monsoon and less irrigation conditions," says Thummar, a resident of Pipalag village in Amreli district, proudly.

Farmers of the region are known to have switched over from groundnut to BT cotton due to the decreasing yield in groundnut. Another major cause of switch is the disease of wilt, locally known as Sukado' which reduces yield substantially.

"In 2004, I had sown GG-20 groundnut variety. The whole crop got infested with stem rot disease resulting in wilting and almost complete crop failure. However, I identified a few plants that were not affected and realized that these may have some inherent property that makes them stem rot resistant, I harvested and kept the seeds of these plants separately and sew them in the following season. I continued this research by continuous screening for three consecutive years and finally got a produce which was stem rot and wilt resistant," explains Thummar.

NIF facilitated field trial of Dhiraj101' at the Oil Seed Research Station in Junagadh. The report from there confirms Thummar's claims.

"Soil conservation and crops that requires less irrigation is an urgent need for farmers to keep agriculture sustainable in changing climate condition,'' says Thummar. "The innovation is an important aspect for sustainable agriculture. Groundnut sowing also helps for better soil conservation. It is also considered good for animals."

Professor at Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) and executive vice-chairperson of NIF Anil Gupta says, "Many technical innovations have been centered on groundnut crop in Saurashtra region. It's an urgent need to invent and popularize the crop varieties, which requires less water and more productivity in present perspective.''

Thummar has also distributed seeds to some farmers in Amreli District, Rajkot District and Bhavnagar districts and received positive feedback.

Junagadh Rajkot Porbandar Amreli Kandala Port Kutch Winter News Samachar Saurashtra Gujarat India

Cold wave grips Saurashtra, Kutch Districts.

Cold wave swept Saurashtra and Kutch on Friday, and Naliya in Kutch recorded the lowest temperature of 9 degrees Celsius. Bhuj recorded the minimum temperature at 15.4 degrees Celsius.

According to the state meteorological department, the cold wave precipitated by heavy snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir is affecting several parts of Saurashtra region including Jamnagar City, Junagadh City, Rajkot City and Amreli City.

Jamnagar was the second coldest city with the minimum temperature recorded at 12.6 degrees Celsius. In Junagadh, the maximum temperature was 33.5 degrees Celsius, while the minimum was 13.2 degrees Celsius.

Woolens were taken out in Rajkot City with the mercury dipping at 15.2 degrees Celsius. Also, shivering with cold were people of Bhavnagar City (17.2 degrees Celsius), Kandala Port (17.6 degrees Celsius), Veraval City (18.4 degrees Celsius) and Porbandar City (19 degrees Celsius).