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Mumbai, Jun 17 () German drug and agrochemicals major Bayer on Wednesday said it will support four lakh smallholder farmers across 17 states in India through its new global initiative 'Better Farms, Better Lives'. Through this initiative, Bayer will support 20 lakh smallholder farmers in Asia, Africa and Latin America, with free Better Life Farming care packages, the company said in a statement. These packages will be designed for farmers' local needs and will include a combination of Bayer's hybrid seeds, crop protection products, personal protective equipment (PPE) and safety and training materials. In India, the initiative will support 4,00,000 smallholder farmers in 204 districts across 17 states, spanning key crops such as rice, corn, vegetables and millet. Special focus will be given to women smallholder farmers and migrant labourers, who have returned to their villages and plan to take up farming in their small family farms, it said. In addition, Bayer will handhold farmers from sowing to harvest with advisory on crop, disease and pest management and help improve market access for their produce. "Smallholder farmers play a crucial role in ensuring food security for India, but the ongoing COVID-19 situation has impacted their ability to grow sufficient food for their families and communities. "Lockdowns and restrictions on movement have impacted access to seeds, crop protection inputs and labor," Bayer CropScience CEO and Global Lead for Bayer's smallholder farming initiatives D Narain said. This initiative aims to provide immediate additional support to smallholder farmers in the form of agri-inputs and advisory during this Kharif season and beyond, he said. "It will also strengthen the livelihoods of smallholder communities most impacted by COVID-19. In the long-term, we aim to help smallholder farmers achieve higher crop yields and use their farms as a source of sustainable income, rather than just a means to survive," Narain added. Bayer will distribute the care packages to smallholder farmers in India through its local networks of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) and Self-Help Groups (SHGs) focused on agriculture. SM ABM ABM

COVID-19: Bayer to provide seeds, PPE to 4 lakh small farmers in India

New Delhi, Mar 28 () As rabi harvesting likely to pick up in the coming days, the government's agri-research body ICAR on Saturday asked farmers to follow social distancing and safety precaution while handling farm machines and labour in the field.For tackling any emerging issue related to managing crops, livestock and fisheries, farmers should consult and be in touch with agri-scientists in Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), ICAR research institutes and state agricultural universities for timely advisories, it said."The disease crisis has coincided with the harvesting season of rabi food crops such as wheat, millets, pulses and oilseeds and other crops. We need to take precautions as we will be engaged in the harvesting of grains, fruits and vegetables, milk, eggs and fish," Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Director General Trilochan Mohapatra said in a statement.Similarly, proper sanitation is required for using shared or hired machinery for harvesting, he said, adding simple measures on washing of hands with soap, alcohol rub and maintaining isolation distance at personal level and proper cleaning of shared machinery are to be followed.It is the time to religiously follow the appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of maintaining personal hygiene and isolation by everyone for arresting the community transmission of the disease and endangering of millions of lives, he added."My wishes for the well being of all farmers across the country at this critical time as we all face the pandemic of COVID-19," Mohapatra said, adding that the government has taken several steps in order to prevent the spread of infection.The government has exempted farming operations, farm workers, custom hiring centres of farm harvesters and implements as well as mandis and procurement agencies from the lockdown rules.It has allowed fertiliser shops to function and even manufacturing and packaging of fertilisers, pesticides and seeds has been permitted during the lockdown period.Inter and intra movement of farm machinery related to sowing and harvesting are also exempted from the lockdown rules. LUX BALBAL

Farmers should maintain social distancing, take precaution while harvesting crops: ICAR

New Delhi, Mar 31 () Farmers can delay wheat harvesting till April 20 without incurring any major losses as temperature in the growing states is still below the long-term average, government research body ICAR said on Tuesday, while advising farmers to take precautions amid the rapid spread of coronavirus in India. Normally, wheat harvesting begins from March-end. The government has pegged a record wheat output of 106.21 million tonnes in 2019-20 crop year (July-June) on the back of good rains as against 103.60 million tonnes in the previous year. In its latest advisory to farmers, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) sad, "The temperature in most wheat growing areas is still below long-term average and therefore likely to delay wheat harvesting by at least 10-15 days beyond April 10, therefore, farmers can delay wheat harvesting till April 20 without incurring any significant loss." This would give farmers enough time to manage logistics for procurement and announcement of dates, it said. ICAR said the movement of combine harvesters within the state and between states is permitted, and asked farmers to ensure that the workers engaged in repair, maintenance and harvesting operation adopt safety measures for coronavirus. Currently, manual harvesting of mustard -- the second most important rabi crop -- is underway and threshing is due wherever it is already harvested. ICAR said harvesting of lentils, maize and chillies is in progress, while that of grams is fast approaching. Sugarcane harvesting is also at its peak, while it is also time for manual planting in the north. In its advisory, the agri-research body asked farmers to engage only "familiar persons to the extent possible and after reasonable enquiry as to avoid the entry of any suspect or likely carrier (of the coronavirus) during field activity." "Prefer mechanized operations over the manual wherever feasible. Only the essential numbers of persons should be allowed to accompany the machine," it said. In case of manual field operations of harvesting/ picking, accomplish the operation in 4-5 feet spaced strips assigning one strip to one person. This will ensure adequate spacing between the engaged labours, it added. ICAR further asked farmers to stagger field operations wherever possible, and avoid engaging more number of persons on the same day. "All the persons engaged should use masks and ensure hand washing with soap at reasonable intervals. Maintain safe distance of 3-4 feet during rest, taking of meals, transfer of produce at collection point, loading/unloading," it said. With regard to rabi paddy, ICAR said the crop in southern states has been widely affected due to 'neck blast' disease. Therefore, adequate precautions should be taken while spraying of recommended fungicide by contract sprayers/ farmers. In horticultural crops at fruiting stage such as mango, adequate precautions should be taken in handling inputs and mixing while carrying out field operations related to nutrient spray and crop protection. Besides, delivery and washing of equipment should also be undertaken. ICAR said farm machines and implements should be sanitized at entry point and at regular intervals. All transport vehicles, gunny bags or other packaging material should also be sanitized The collection of the produce may be done in small heaps spaced at 3-4 feet and field level processing should be assigned to 1-2 persons/heap to avoid crowding. Proper sanitation and cleanliness of threshers for harvested maize and groundnut is to be maintained, especially when machines are shared and used by farmer groups. Copious washing of machine parts frequently touched with soap is advised, it added. For post-harvest, storage and marketing of farm produce, ICAR asked farmers to take precautions while performing drying, threshing, winnowing, cleaning, grading, sorting and packaging operations at the farm level. "Ensure proper drying prior to storage of harvested grains, millets, pulses at farm/home and do not use reuse previous seasons jute bags to prevent pest infestation. Use treated and dried gunnies after soaking in 5 per cent neem solution," it said. Farmers should take enough personal safety measures while loading and transporting farm produce and participating in sale at market yards/auction platforms, it said. ICAR said seed producing farmers are allowed to transport their produce to seed companies with supporting documents, and asked them to take precautions while receiving payments. Farmers should take precautions while direct marketing/supplying vegetables such as tomato, cauliflower, green leafy vegetables, cucumbers and other cucurbits from farms. "Seed processing/packaging plants and transportation of seed from producing states to growing states (south to north) is essential to make available seed for ensuing kharif crops. SSG seed for green fodder for sowing in April in north comes from southern states," ICAR added. LUX RVK

Farmers can delay wheat harvesting till Apr 20 as temp is below long-term average: ICAR

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COVID-19: Bayer to provide seeds, PPE to 4 lakh small farmers in India

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Farmers should maintain social distancing, take precaution while harvesting crops: ICAR

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Farmers can delay wheat harvesting till Apr 20 as temp is below long-term average: ICAR

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