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Briefing
Synthetic cotton is more viable: Study
Indian farmers can fetch a higher yield of 36 per cent in cultivation of organic cotton, than the conventional cotton farming. This was revealed by a five-year comparative study undertaken by a swiss firm in the villages of Madhya Pradesh, near Indore. According to Mr Patrick Hohmann, chairman, of the Zurich Basedremei AG, Indian farmers are quick to absorb the technologies and practices such as choosing and sowing appropriate seeds, compost making, soil conditioning, irrigation, water management, cotton picking and processing in development of good quality organic cotton. Mr Patrick's firm in association with the Maikal group of mills have persuaded 1,100 farming families in villages near Indore, to switch over to organic cotton cultivation on several hundreds hectares of lands over the last eight years. Besides reducing the cost of inputs by over 70 per cent, these farming families have achieved an economic scale with the yields of 36 per cent more than the conventional cotton cultivation. The organiccotton grower uses compost made of cow dung and farm wastes at negligible cost as against the conventional imputs like pesticides and chemical fertilisers.Centre okays two fuel projects
The Union government has approved the setting up of two more pilot projects for undertaking doping of ethanol, produced from sugarcane molasses, with motor spirit (MS). An official release said these pilot projects will be set up at Bareilly-Anola in Uttar Pradesh and Manmad and Panewadi in Maharashtra. With this the locations of all three pilot projects has been finalised. A pilot project is also being implemented at Miraj and Hazarwadi in Sangli district of Maharashtra.The decision is part of the initiative launched by Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Ram Naik for establishing pilot projects at selected locations, in the major sugar producing states of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. These projects have been conceived to delve thoroughly into all issues and obtain consumer feedback on the feasibility of using ethanol with petrol and focus on the environmental, operational and financial aspects of the doping of ethanol in motor spirit. Ethanol will be mixed with petrol up to an extent of five per cent, asenvisaged in the specifications laid down by the bureau of Indian standards (BIS).In Brazil and USA, blending of ethanol with MS has been in use for a number of years, in a proportion greater than five per cent, the release added Sikkim to seek land for plantation
The Sikkim government will request the Centre to let them make use of 1,000 acres of defence land in the state ``on lease'' to facilitate tea plantation. Chief Minister, Pawan Chamling said that the decision to petition the defence ministry was taken at a ruling of Sikkim Democratic Front legislature party's meeting and ratified by the central working committee. Mr Chamling, who chaired both the meetings, said that the army possessed about 2500 acres of ``unused'' land in Bhusuk area, at the outskirts of Gangtok, which the state government wanted to use for tea cultivation He claimed the tea quality of Sikkim has been the ``best'' in the country and its plantation was ``environment-friendly', so negotiations with the Centre will start soon, Chamling added.Sikkim at present has only one state-owned tea garden. Although, the revenue of the estate is on the rise, but its profits are declining due to escalating cost of production necessitating expansion. Mr Chamling also said his government would purchase two15-seater helicopters in the next two years for use within the state as construction of seven helipads in different parts of Sikkim was in progress. But the feasibility work for constructing an airstrip at Pakyong would be going on as usual, and the purchase of copters would not hinder its progress, he added. Punjab mandis overflow
Punjab's Food and Supplies Minister Madanmohan Mittal said on Sunday, that more than one crore nine lakh tonne of paddy had arrived in different mandis of the state till yesterday evening. He said that he expected more than 1.25 crore tonne of paddy by the end of this year. Mr Mittal said that the state government will soon arrange ''training camps'' at village level to educate farmers about different crops. Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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