Category: Agriculture
A U.N. agency says 11 million people in Africas Sahel region still face severe food insecurity. At the same time, an emergency appeal for 113 million dollars has gone largely unmet.
De Capua report on Sahel food insecurity
The Food and Agriculture Organization says the Sahel has faced food insecurity crises in 2005, 2008 and again in 2012. Those crises, it says, have eroded the capacity of the poor to maintain or restore their livelihoods.
In Dakar, Patrick David, FAOs deputy coordinator for food security analysis for West Africa and the Sahel, said, There is still a lot of people in food insecurity. The people more and more find some difficulty to recover from the past crisis even if there is a good harvest because there have been pretty good harvests in 2012.
David said many people in the Sahel depend on a few cattle and a small piece of land for survival. So, its hard for them to stock up any reserve food or agricultural supplies in the event of drought, conflict or bad harvest.
While before it would take one or two years to recover, now its longer for those people to recover. Its difficult to restock cattle, for example. Its difficult for them to access agricultural credit to have good input[s] and to have fertilizer. And in some places in the Sahel, like in Burkina Faso and Niger, there [are] some dense populated area[s] where there is degradation of land and the loss of soil fertility. That means their agricultural
yield[s] are decreasing year by year, he said.
That compounds the problems they already face as the price for grains, such as sorghum, millet and maize, continues to rise.
David said, The poor and the very poor households, as soon as theyve exhausted their little harvest, totally depend [on] the market. So they have to buy the grain at higher and higher prices. So their purchasing power is decreasing every year.
Insecurity, such as the recent conflict in northern Mali, can also boost prices because agricultural products cannot get to market.
The FAO has appealed for $113 million for its programs in the Sahel. However, its only received less that $19.5 million so far.
The intervention of FAO strengthens the resilience of the affected households. But when the affected households cannot receive the good seeds and the good fertilizer or cannot recapitalize their livestock, they stay very vulnerable and its a problem for the next year. So we definitely need additional support for the farmers and agriculture in order to decrease the impact of the forthcoming crisis, he said.
Building resilience includes improving the storage, processing and transportation of goods as well as livestock food supplements, animal health campaigns and herd restocking. The Food and Agriculture Organization programs also include fixing irrigation systems.
The FAO said it would like these programs to be in place and making a difference during the next growing season which runs from October through April
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The concept of destiny has fascinated humans since time immemorial. Is our success predestined? Or is it in our hands? Most modern thought has deemed that our endeavor alone determines our success. But with competition intensifying, changes accelerating and many unpredictable and uncontrollable factors determining results in today’s complex world, many people are re-examining this belief.
For example, a brilliant student, despite diligent studies, gets average marks, whereas a mediocre student, with last-minute cramming, gets high grades. Why? Are we just unwitting players in a cosmic lottery, with chance as the supreme arbiter? Or are results handed down by destiny, under the sanction of a just God? Some people recoil at the very mention of destiny. They fear that lazy people may opportunistically argue, “As the result is predestined, why work hard?” and so become irresponsible and fatalistic.
However knowledge of destiny does not justify fatalism because the Mahabharata clarifies, “Destiny determines the results of our actions, not our actions themselves.”
The Vedic texts explain that these two ideologies, karmavada (endeavor, karma, alone determines success) and daivavada (destiny, daiva, alone determines success) are the two extremes of the pendulum of human imagination.
In reality, success requires both endeavor and destiny. For example, in agriculture, a good harvest requires both diligent ploughing and timely rains. Ploughing represents endeavor and rains signify destiny. Despite ploughing, no harvest can result, if there are no rains. Similarly sometimes, despite our best efforts, we may fail, due to adverse destiny. When people are uninformed about the role of destiny in determining results, failures make them feel hopeless, “I am worthless and cannot do anything well”, even when they have the potential to perform in the future.
Consequently today many of our brothers and sisters are unfortunately and needlessly suffering from mental problems like inferiority complex, low self-esteem, depression and self-pity.
Lord Krishna gives us hope in the Bhagavad-gita by pointing out that though we don’t determine the result, we do play a significant role. Going back to the farmer analogy, the farmer must plough the field for favorable rainfall to produce crops. Similarly we must endeavor for destiny to produce results. Hence the Gita urges us to perform our God-given duty without attachment.
We need detachment because our material happiness and distress in this life are predestined by our own karma from past lives. We cannot change them no matter how hard we work. But by doing our present duties industriously and honestly, we can get our destined happiness. Also we can make for ourselves a bright future destiny, even if our present is bleak.
Moreover, even at present, destiny limits only our material happiness, not our spiritual happiness. All of us have equal and complete opportunity to awaken our dormant love for God and experience oceanic happiness thereof. This supreme fulfillment is available at our tongue tips, just by the chanting of the Holy Names of God, Krishna.
In the spiritual world the Absolute is always absolute; the name, form, quality and pastimes of the Absolute are all as good as the Absolute Himself. As such, one is understood to be an eternal servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead if he considers himself an eternal servant of the holy name and in this spirit distributes the holy name to the world. One who chants in that spirit, without offenses, is certainly elevated to the platform of understanding that the holy name and the Personality of Godhead are identical.
To associate with the holy name and chant the holy name is to associate with the Personality of Godhead directly. Whatever instruments we need to chant names of God are already provided, no one has to purchase a tongue. We also have ears with which to hear the sound that the tongue vibrates.
Therefore we have all the instruments we need with us — a tongue and ears. We only have to chant Hare Krsna and use our ears to hear this vibration, and all perfection will be there for us. No inimical destiny can obstruct us in achieving divine bliss; rather when we take one step towards God, He takes a thousand steps towards us. Even a little spiritual dynamism brings enormous returns. And as we are intrinsically spiritual beings and as our lasting satisfaction comes from spiritual devotion, we can rejoice in knowing that our real happiness is not destined, but is in our own hands.
Hence intelligent people are cautious to not let over-endeavor for flickering material aggrandizement deprive them of the time and energy to strive for lasting spiritual enlightenment.
Let us therefore do our best (materially and spiritually) and leave the rest (to God faithfully).
Wolfberry is the name given to the Chinese and European variety of the Goji berry. It actually goes by many other names and has more than 100 species. The Lyceum Barbarum Wolfberry is the most popular species of this plant. It is the best tasting one and is used for making Goji juice and for medicinal uses in Asia and India.
The Wolfberry is a shrub that can grow up to 10 feet with trailing vines spreading to up to 20 feet. In China it is cultivated in large plantations for commercial use. These commercial farms use conventional chemical methods to grow the Wolfberry and protect it from insect damage. The largest growing area is the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, in Northern China. This is where they grow the Lyceum Barbarum Wolfberry. This species was originally taken from Tibet and the Himalayan region.
Other varieties of this plant can be found growing wild in various parts of the world including the UK. It is known as the Wolfberry and also has other names, like The Box Thorn Fruit and The Matrimony Vine Fruit. This plant grows wild in the cooler parts of Europe and Asia.
In Tibet and Inner Mongolia the Wolfberry is known as the Goji Berry. It is one of the protected medicinal plants in this area. Because of its use as a medicine plant the Wolfberry is grown organically there with no additional chemicals. The areas it grows in are labeled as “wild places” and are relatively untouched by urban development. An organization Co-op for the Goji farmers that ensures they get fair prices and help continue growing Wolfberry plants, was created in 1975. The Tanaduk Institute has also helped to protect the medicinal plants grown in this region. Several monasteries in India also grow medicinal plants including the Wolfberry. They are grown organically here and are sold on a limited basis.
The plants are quite easy to grow and can be started from seed. The seeds take around 7 days to germinate. The Wolfberry can also be cultivated from roots. It is resistant to drought and can withstand temperatures of -15 degrees Fahrenheit in winter and up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit in summer. The Wolfberry prefers light soil for optimum growth but will grow in any soil. Ideally the plant prefers full sunlight but will also grow in partial shade.
You can cultivate The Wolfberry in containers. If you do this, you need to hand pollinate the Wolfberry flowers, to get the fruit. The fruits are quite vulnerable to insect damage so you should take steps to protect the plants when they are producing fruit. The Wolfberry plants begin to bear fruit from the age of 1 year and will produce heavy crops when they are between 4 and 5 years old. They start to bloom in early summer and develop fruit in late summer. The Wolfberry will continue to bear fruit until the first severe frost. The best way to get the maximum health benefits from this plant is to try to grow it naturally without chemicals, herbicides or insecticides.
This article hopes to give you the knowledge you need regarding India Agriculture, to feel that you have a firm grasp on the subject.
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International businesses are providing various assistances to any or all these kinds of agricultural inventions and studies. Various researches and studies are increasing the worthiness of this in an excellent manner. Jobs in agricultural some ideas are completely coming now in a variety of job web sites.
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No matter which way you look at it, having a firm understanding of this topic area regarding India Agriculture will benefit you, even if it is just slightly.