Volume No.
Promising Technologies
 A Farmer Participatory Approach to
Manage RPW in Arecanut
 Cage culture in Umiam reservoir,
Meghalaya
 Post Amphan supports fishers of
Chamardaha wetland, West Bengal
under SCSP
 New coating technology for preserving
nectarines
 Anthocyanin rich papaya candy (Tutti
fruity): An innovative fusion product
 Honey bee pollination under
polyhouse conditions
New Initiatives
 Field Monitoring System – Effective
Tool for Remote Monitoring of
AICRPs Trials
 Engineered b-cyclodextrinylated Micro- 11
Electromechanical System (MEMS)
devices as sensors for Insect pheromones
Natural Resource Management
 Designing and evaluation of
concentrating solar thermal
desalination device for hot arid regions
 Multi-dimensional impact of
CAZRI developed watersheds
 Agroforestry Mapping in India using
Geospatial Technologies: CAFRI’s
Methodologies
Profile
 ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries
Technology, Cochin – An Institution
Par Excellence
Spectrum
 Invasion and Establishment of Woolly
Whitefly Aleurothrixus floccosus
(Maskell) in India
 Arka-High yielding varieties
 Textiles Products from Banana and
Jute Fibres
Way Forward
1 A Farmer Participatory Approach
3 to Manage RPW in Arecanut
4
Uttara Kannada region with two agro-climatic zones namely, coastal
plain and Malenadu with an annual average rainfall of 2700 mm is
5 situated at an elevation of 1860 feet above MSL is considered as
Gateway of Western Ghats. Arecanut, coconut, black pepper,
7 banana, cardamom and vanilla are widely cultivated in this region.
Arecanut accounts for 31124.15 ha with a production of 77699
9 Metric tonnes and a productivity of 2500 Kg per Ha. Coconut
gardens in this region are spaced between the arecanut
gardens. Pests like Arecanut root grub, spindle bug and mites were
10 serious problem in arecanut. Recently, red palm weevil,
Rhynchophorous ferrugineus (RPW) a destructive pest on coconut
and date palms infest arecanut is posing serious threat to arecanut
plantations in Tigani, Sirsi region of Uttara Kannada district, where
arecanut cultivation accounts for 14 % of the state production.
Arecanut farmer Mr Channappagouda Thammanagouda from Sirsi,
12 Uttara Kannada visited ICAR-KVK Uttara Kannada located at Sirsi
and informed that of the 1500 palms in his garden 100 palms
12
14
17
25
Red palm weevil damage in arecanut palm is Sirsi in Uttara Kannada.
Oozing of the fluid from trunk with gummy exudates
26
27
28
showed drooping dried leaves and the trunk was
dislodged by gentle push. He also informed that root
grubs attack was suspected based on the canopy drying
appearance and applied granular insecticides Phorate @
50. Unable to stop damage to palms, the farmer
contacted entomologist at KVK Sirsi who identified the
pest as RPW. On examination of his arecanut garden,
the Entomologist from KVK Sirsi, observed the symptoms
Feeding damage by RPW in arecanut trunk causes death of
the palms
such as oozing
of the fluid
from trunk with
g u m m y
exudates,
tunnels in the
trunk with
chewed fibers
and holes in
the trunk were
observed in
addition to the
symptoms told
by farmers. Farmer installing controlled release RPW pheromone in arecanut gardens and trapping weevils
With farmers participation, entomologist of KVK-
Uttara Kannada, Sirsi demonstrated the sustained
release of RPW pheromone technology jointly
developed by ICAR – National Bureau of Agricultural
Insect Resources (NBAIR), ICAR – Central Plantation
Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) and Jawaharlal Nehru
Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru.
It is a cutting edge technology involving controlled
release of red palm weevil aggregation pheromone
developed jointly by was used in the farmers garden
@ rate of 1 trap per ha on 21.04.2020. As the
damaged palms in farmers garden accounted for seven
% of total palms, it was decided to go in mass trapping
of the weevils with aggregation pheromone to trap
both male and females so as to bring down the
population. It was a pandemic situation addressed
ICAR NEWS 2
collectively by KVK- Uttara Kannada, Sirsi and ICAR-
NBAIR. The implementation of the technology was
coordinated by KVK, Sirsi under ATARI, Bengaluru. The
farmers’ participation was ensured in servicing the
traps and he devised the bucket trap based on the
guidelines provided by ICAR-NBAIR.
The weevils that were trapped was collected by farmer
on daily basis. A total of 177 weevils were trapped from
five traps placed in his garden. The trap were periodically
serviced. Due to continuous trapping, the farmer
reported that there was no new incidence palm damage
by weevils in his arecanut garden during May 2020. He
was convinced with application of controlled release of
RPW aggregation pheromone. The lure was 50 %
cheaper than the commercial lure loaded in polymer
membrane or polypropylene tubes lure and was effective
in the field for trapping the red palm weevil adults for
over six months compared three months in lures made
of polymer membrane or polypropylene tube. As the red
palm weevil has been reported to infest arecanut in North
Eastern region, potential of the technology could be
replicated in other regions too.
Kesavan Subaharan1, Roopa Patil2,
M. Eswaramoorthy5, N. Bakthavatsalam1,
Anitha Karun3, V. Venkatasubramaniam4
and M. J. Chandre Gowda4
1
ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources,
Bengaluru
2
KVK, Sirsi, University of Agricultural Sciences,
Dharwad,
3
ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute,
Kasaragod
4
ATARI, Bengaluru
5
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific
Research, Bengaluru
email: Kesavan.Subaharan@icar.gov.in
 Cage culture in Umiam reservoir, Meghalaya
The Umiam reservoir located in Ri-Bhoi District of
Meghalaya (25°39’30'’ N and 91°43’51'’E) at an altitude
of 900 m above mean sea level is a small reservoir (largest
among the three reservoirs of the district) with water-
spread area 500 ha at FSL). It was formed by damming
River Umiam as stage I of the Umtru-Umiam Hydro-
electric project (for hydro-electric power generation) and
was commissioned in 1965. There is no organized fishery
in this reservoir and it has remained an open-access
capture fishery. Subsistence fishing and limited
commercial fishing (using gill nets) by some local people
(belonging to Khasi tribe) in an unorganized manner is
being carried out in the reservoir. The common carp
(Cyrprinus carpio) has established in the reservoir and
dominates fish catches from the reservoir with indigenous
chocolate mahseer (Neolissocheilus hexagonolepis)
occurring in low numbers. Dr JK Jena, DDG (Fy. Sc.), ICAR,
New Delhi mooted the idea of initiating cage culture in
the reservoir as an option for providing livelihood support
to the tribal fishers. Dr BK Das, Director, ICAR-CIFRI,
Barrackpore took the initiative to conduct cage culture
in the reservoir for the first time under the TSP
programme of ICAR-CIFRI in collaboration with the ICAR
Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam and 50 local
fishers belonging to Ri-Bhoi Farmers’ Union (under the
leadership of Mr D Mazzao, President of the Union and
Mr Brightstar K, Secretary).
A battery of six CIFRI-GI Cage® with an area of 100 m3
per cage (6x4x4 m3 per cage) was installed in the reservoir
with total cage water volume of 540m3 (90m3/ cage). A
stakeholder consultation-cum-training programme on
‘Cage culture in Umiam reservoir, Meghalaya’ was jointly
organized by ICAR-CIFRI and ICAR RC for NEH Region at
Umniuh Khwan village on 24.09.19. Fingerlings of minor
carp, kuhri/ Labeo gonius (average length 12.01 cm and
Cages in Umiam reservoir
average weight 18.31g), Amur common carp (11.09 cm,
20.4g) and Koi carp (10.88cm, 19.8g) were stocked in
the cages on September 24, 2019 through a fish seed
stocking programme. Fish fingerlings were provided by
the Fisheries Division of ICAR RC for NEH Region. Fishes
were fed twice daily with CIFRI-
CAGEGROW® floating feed @ 3-5%
of their body weight. Growth and
water quality were monitored
regularly by ICAR-CIFRI Regional
Centre, Guwahati and ICAR-RC-
NEHR, Umiam whereas daily
feeding was done by local cage
farmers.
After five months of rearing, the
maximum individual weight of L.
gonius, Amur carp and Koi carp
were recorded as 217 g, 660 g and
665 g, respectively (average weight 93.1 g, 339.5 g and
258.4 g). Highest survival was observed in Amur carp
(80%) followed by Koi carp and L. gonius and no disease
incidence was observed. Amur carp was found to be the
most suitable candidate for cage culture in the reservoir
in terms of survival and growth. The final harvests of the
cages directly benefited the participating cage farmers
(50 No.). Encouraged by the success of maiden cage
culture trial, the participating cage farmers deposited a
part of the income from cage culture in the bank account
of the society (Umniuh Khwan welfare fund) at State
Bank of India, ICAR Complex branch, Umiam for
continuing the cage culture activity.
Ganesh Chandra,
Scientist (SG), In-Chrge, ITMU
ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute,
Barrackpore, Kolkata 700 120, West Bengal
email: ganeshicar@gmail.com
3 October-December 2020
 Post Amphan supports fishers of Chamardaha wetland,
West Bengal under SCSP
ICAR-CIFRI adopted fishers of Chamardaha wetland,
North 24 Parganas, West Bengal under Schedule Caste
Sub Plan (SCSP) for livelihood improvement of fishers
through fish production enhancement in wetland under
the guidance of Dr BK Das, Director, ICAR-CIFRI. The
wetland of Chamardaha was undertaken by Chamardaha
Fishermens’ Cooperative Society Ltd. All the 150
members in the cooperative society are belonging to
Schedule Caste (SC). The wetland is a floodplain wetland
having an area of 35 ha. ICAR-CIFRI supported the fishers
of Chamardaha by providing technical support and
distributing HDPE pen, fish seed, fish feed, coracles,
fishing boat and other fisheries implements. Fishers were
given capacity building for five days on inland fisheries
management for better management and sustainable Smapling of fish growth in the wetland
enhancement of fish production from the wetland.
installed in the wetland. After 90 days of stocking 10,625
ICAR-CIFRI demonstrated low cost quality insitu seed nos of IMC having 40-50gm and 17,000 SC of 30gm were
production through pen culture. A total of 12,500 IMC stocked in the wetland taking from the pen. The
of 4g size and 20,000 silver carp of 2.5g size from the survivability in the pen was around 85% and there was
nursery pond were stocked in 0.2 ha CIFRI pen HDPE no transportation mortality as there were raised in the
same environment and already acclimatized to the
wetland environment. The technology was appreciated
by local fisers. Also a total of 3000 kg of 10g size were
stocked in Chomordaha wetland for culture based
fisheries from the nursery pond.

This year the fishers have already harvested 5.0 ton of

fish from the wetland during January and February
month. However, the rest fish could not harvested after
February due to covid pendamic situation and again due
to rain the water level has increased presently. So, the
fishers have decided to harvest during the coming winter.

Fish seed collection Fish feed distribution

ICAR NEWS 4
It is anticipated that the fish production will increase
additional 15 ton from this wetland with ICAR-CIFRI
intervention. However for this year stocking, they want
to raise their seed in the pen and also in the existing
nurseries adjacent to wetland.
distributed 3.5 tons of fish feed for seed raising in pen to
Chamardaha Fishermen’s Cooperative Society Ltd. on 15th
July 2020 under SCSP programme which will help in
livelihood improvement of the fishers through seed
raising.

The pen structure provided by ICAR-CIFRI were destroyed Ganesh Chandra

and over-flooded due to the Amphan cyclone on 20th Scientist (SG), In-Charge, ITMU
May, 2020. The local fishers repaired the pens and ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute,
installed them in the wetland. The fishers’ will stock Barrackpore, Kolkata 700 120,
around 1.0 lakh fish seed in the reinstalled pen in the West Bengal
wetland. As a part of post Amphan support, ICAR-CIFRI email: ganeshicar@gmail.com

New coating technology for preserving

nectarines
Nectarine (Prunus persica var. nucipersica) is an
important, highly perishable stone fruit of Rosaceae
family. Nectarines arose as a fuzzless natural mutant of
peach. Owing to its high juice content, Chinese described
this native fruit as the ‘Nectar of God’. Fresh nectarines
possess the beneficial secondary metabolites and
antioxidants and provide excellent levels of vitamin A,
vitamin C, and much more potassium and fiber than
peaches and possess strong flavour and aroma.
Nectarines are typical climacteric fruits with physiological
ripening pattern and therefore the postharvest storage
life is limited to 3-4 days at ambient conditions and about

5 October-December 2020
3 weeks under cold storage conditions (0-20C, 85-90 %
RH). Deterioration in postharvest quality of nectarine
is mainly due to the changes in metabolic activity,
mechanical damage, decreased pulp firmness,
physiological disorders, and susceptibility to fungal decay,
caused by Rhizopus stolonifer, Monilinia fructicola,
Penicillium expansum and Botrytis cinerea. Thus, there
is a demand to increase shelf life, nutritional quality and
to lower the decay incidence during the storage.
Although several approaches are used in fruits but the
recent trend is to use eco-friendly and farmer-friendly
approaches rather than use of chemical fungicides, the
residue of which causes several health problems to the
consumers. Hence, we attempted the use of hydrocolloid-
based coatings such as carboxy methylcellulose (CMC,
1.5%) and chitosan (CH, 1%) alone and in combination
with mixed plant extract (MPE) of moringa, marigold,
and eucalyptus to observe their effects on fruit decay,
postharvest life and quality of nectarine fruits stored at
supermarket conditions.
ICAR NEWS 6
Technology
The Snow Queen nectarine fruits were harvested at full
maturity from a private orchard, located in Bajaura, Kullu
(Himachal Pradesh), sorted, graded, packed in five kg
capacity CFB Boxes and transported to IARI, New Delhi.
In the laboratory, the following treatments were
attempted: MPE alone (Mixed plant extract of moringa,
eucalyptus and marigold), chitosan (CH 1%) alone,
carboxy methylcellulose (CMC 1.5%) alone, layer-by-layer
coating of CH-MPE, layer-by-layer coating of CMC- MPE,
layer-by-layer coating of CMC–CH, layer-by-layer coating
of CMC-CH-MPE and control (Water dip only). Layer-by-
layer coating of fruits were carried out by dipping the
fruits in one coating for 10 min, air-drying for 15-20 min,
then dipping in another coating, air-drying for 15-20 min
and were finally stored at supermarket conditions (18 ±
2º C, 85-90% RH) for 16 days. Observations on different
attributes were recorded at 4 day’s interval. The
Influence of plant extract and edible coatings on
respiration rate of ‘Snow Queen’ nectarine tored
at 18±2o C and 85-90% RH

Synergistic effect of mixed plant extract and edible coatings
on sensory attributes of ‘Snow Queen’ nectarine during
storage at super market condition
(18 ± 2o C and RH 85-90%)
experiments were laid out in factorial CRD design with
each treatment consisting of 60 fruits with 3 replications.
We observed that all the coatings have significant in
maintaining the quality and freshness of nectarine fruits
over non-coated fruits. However, layer-by-layer coating
of nectarine fruits by CMC-CH-MPE proved to be the best
coating as the fruits maintained lowest physiological loss
in weight (PLW), highest fruit firmness, and least decay
percentage compared to other treatments (Table). This
coating also sustained higher levels of quality and
Anthocyanin rich papaya candy:
Innovative fusion
Candies available in market are
coloured by using artificial/synthetic
dyes and many of these colourants are
not approved by regulatory body,
Food Safety Standards Authority of
India (FSSAI). These colourants are
associated with chronic health
hazards such as hyperactivity in
children, kidney damage and allergy.
Fruit candy, an Intermediate Moisture
Food (IMF), is consumed by all age
groups therefore, immediate
attention is required to make them
safe with the incorporation of natural
colourants. Consumers and processors
are always keen to get safe and
biochemical attributes such as ascorbic acid, total
phenolics, and over all acceptability for up to 16th day of
storage at supermarket storage conditions. This
treatment also maintained lower rates of respiration and
higher acceptability score at the end of storage. Hence,
layer-by-layer coating of CMC-CH-MPE can be used as
substitute for the chemical fungicides and waxes to
enhance the shelf life, control the decay and extend the
marketability of nectarine fruits. It could therefore
potentially be commercialized as a new edible coating
for future application.
Advantages
• It is a user- and farmer-friendly technology.
• It is a very cheap technology.
• It is a consumer and environment-friendly technology.
• It is very easy to apply; even an illiterate person can
use this technology.
• The fruits remain fresh for longer time and hence
shelf life is increased significantly.
• The quality and functional attributes of fruits are
maintained at higher level during the storage.
• The produce appears attractive which fetches higher
price in the market.
• Decay rot is reduced significantly; hence, postharvest
losses are reduced to the minimum.
Sowmyashree A., R. R. Sharma, Shalini.
G. Rudra and Minakshi Grover
ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute,
New Delhi 110 012.
email: rrs_fht@rediffmail.com
convenient food products with no
added synthetic preservatives and
colourants. Demand of synthetic
coloured foods has decreased in
favour of naturally coloured ones
among health conscious consumers.
Moreover, use of natural food
colourants has dual benefit; first it
provides exotic colour and secondly it
enhances nutritional/functional status
of the foods.
The developed tutti fruity (Fig 1) is one
of the merely processed products
from raw papaya and black carrot
available in the market. Both the
7 October-December 2020
crops are low value horticultural crops, suffering from
the problem of glut. This approach can also address the
sensory limitations of raw papaya and black carrots such
as firm texture and earthy flavour, fibrous nature, of the
respective produce.
Chief characteristics of Tutti Fruity
• Tutti fruity enriched with bioactive anthocyanins
pigments is an innovative and non-transgenic product
with exceptionally high antioxidant activity.
• Its colourant (anthocyanins) is known for its
pharmacological properties and has GRAS (Generally
Recognized As Safe) status for incorporation as a
natural colourant in the food products. infusion process at atmospheric pressure which is mainly
• The developed product can be used in both the ways, influenced by blanching time, infusion period and
(a) value added ready-to-eat functional product and anthocyanins concentration. Green fully mature papaya
(b) functional food ingredient was selected for this purpose which was peeled and cut
• The developed tutty fruity can be well utilized not into dices (1cm x 1cm x 1cm) by a fruit cutter. Blanching
only for frozen dairy products preparation but also of papaya dices (at 85oC for 7-8 min) transforms opaque
for bakery products because of its thermal stable papaya dices to translucent dices in which 0.5% stabilized
colourants and osmo-dried firm textural profile. anthocyanins extracts followed by the inverted sugars
• The developed product has 160% higher total (~55 degree Brix) can completely infused with subsequent
antioxidant activity than control (474.78 v/s 181.93
overnight soakings. The anthocyanins infused papaya
µmol Trolox/g).
dices were further dried in a tray drier to convert them
• The developed product can be stored well for 6
into shelf stable intermediate moisture foods (~30%
months at room temperature in PET jars and
moisture level). In this way, the use of black carrot
polyethylene packaging material.
colorants can replace synthetic colour and enhance
Process for making Tutti Fruity antioxidant potential of tutti fruity (Table 1). Additionally,
The process of development of papaya candy is an the developedoduct has no synthetic preservative.

Process Flow Chart for Anthocyanins rich Papaya Candy development

ICAR NEWS 8
The detailed nutritional analysis of the product is as
follows:
Advantages
• The developed technology can address the sensory
limitation of black carrot and papaya.
• Natural colour has been used instead of synthetic
colours used in the commercial products available in
the market.
• The natural colourant can provide aesthetic appeal
as well as antioxidant potential to the product.
• The developed technology can deliver the benefits of
physiological active compounds present in black carrot
(anthocyanins) and papaya (ascorbates and fibers) to
Honey bee pollination under polyhouse conditions
Pollination is a major limitation of vegetable cultivation
under protected conditions as plants are excluded from
insect visitation. Generally hand pollination is followed to
achieve fruit set which is laborious. Hence there is a need
for native pollinator species amenable for use in
polyhouses for pollination. ICAR-Indian Institute of
Hive of stingless bee Stingless bee foraging on
inside polyhouse muskmelon flower
Muskmelon grown under polyhouse with honey bee pollination
Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bengaluru has standardized under polyhouse could be solved.
a protocol for using Indian honey bee, Apis cerana and
stingless bee, Tetragonula iridipennis for pollination of
cucurbit vegetables viz., cucumber and muskmelon (cv.
Arka Siri) grown under an insect proof polyhouse. Studies
the consumers.
• Similar technology can be used for development of
papaya candy from other water soluble biopigments
too such as betalains and flavanoids etc.
• The technology can be well adopted by small scale
agri-preneures particularly due to less machinery and
space requirement.
• The developed product costs very low even at small
scale production level (120 /Kg).
Alka Joshi, Charanjit Kaur and Jai Prakash
ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute,
New Delhi
email: alka@iari.res.in
Indian honey bee foraging on cucumber and muskmelon
were conducted consecutively for three crop cycles during
2019-20. Both the species foraged efficiently on flowers
of muskmelon and cucumber and the worker bees visited
both male and female flowers thus effecting pollen
transfer to stigma. The technology involves placing a
honey bee hive (of eight frames strength) with two exits
at front and back of the hive. The bee hives have to be
introduced when the crops are about to flower. In case
of stingless bee, two hives of T. iridipennis have
to be hung from top at crop canopy level.
Fruit set, fruit yield and quality in plants exposed
to bees were compared with those excluded from
insects and hand pollinated. The mean fruit set,
number of fruits per plant and fruit weight of
cucumber due to bee pollination were 88.6%,
21.4 and 375.5 g respectively. In case of
muskmelon, these values were 92.5%, 1.85 and
1.60 kg respectively and were on par with hand
pollination. By using these native species, the
pollination problem of cross pollinated vegetables
ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research
Hessaraghatta Lake P.O, Bengaluru 560 089
email: director.iihr@icar.gov.in
9 October-December 2020
 Field Monitoring System – Effective Tool for Remote
Monitoring of AICRPs Trials
All India Coordinated Research Projects (AICRPs)
coordinates multidisciplinary and multi -locational testing
of varietal, newly developed improved genotypes, crop
management and crop protection technologies across the
diverse ecosystems for increasing and stabilizing the
production of various crops. AICRPs trial monitoring is
an important regular activity for keeping track of field
trials conditions during cropping season. Present AICRPS
trial monitoring system is completely manual. The
Login Page of the system
monitoring team visit each centre for monitoring the trial
and personally record the data for preparation of
monitoring report. The physical monitoring of all the
centres is sometimes not practically feasible, moreover,
it is not possible for monitoring teams to visit the trial
location at all the critical stages of crop due to resource
constraints. More importantly the monitoring report
prepared is available to stakeholders only after the end
of cropping season. There is no scope of gathering
additional information during the crop period.
Information retrieval page
A web-based Field Monitoring System (FMS) has been
developed by ICAR-IISR, Indore which will strengthen the
current manual system of field monitoring using the
potential of Information Technology.

This system is a user-friendly tool for continuous

monitoring of AICRPs trials at every crop stage. The
monitoring is made more effective by getting the field
and plant information in the form of pictures, videos,
text information on different aspects of field conditions
and other related information. The system facilitates the
retrieval of crop information - trial-wise, discipline-wise, Data entry form for uploading photos, videos and text
location-wise, date-wise, variety-wise etc. The AICRPS information
in-charges at different locations can take Geo-tagged
photos and videos of their fields and plants of different
trials from their smart phones and can upload it into the
FMS along with other related information about their
trials.

The preliminary version of FMS is available on institute

website http://iisrindore.icar.gov.in. The system provides
access to only authorized users. The system provides
authorization at four levels-i) admin ii) in-charge, iii)
manager and iv) scientist. The admin has full rights, in-
charge and scientist have data-entry and retrieval rights,
managers have data retrieval rights. The authorised user
can check the photo and data anytime and ask for
additional information from any of the trials in-charges. Screen showing online monitoring of soybean trials

ICAR NEWS 10
Presently the system is being used for monitoring of
soybean trials. The system can be used for monitoring of
Front Line Demonstrations and AICRP trials of any crop.
The system will also help Varietal Identification
Committee (VIC) to see the varietal performance in the
fields over the years for taking decision on identification
of an entry for release.VIC can check the performance of
the entry in breeding trials, agronomy trials and
pathology and entomology trials in single go by simply
clicking on the name of entry. The FMS developed is
Engineered -cyclodextrinylated Micro-Electromechanical System
(MEMS) devices as sensors for Insect pheromones
A new Artificial Intelligence (AI) envisioned research was
initiated by ICAR-NBAIR in collaboration with IISc,
Bangalore to help the farmers in managing the pests. As
a model insect we developed sensor for Bactrocera oleae
(Rossi). Olive oil is preferred worldwide over other
vegetable oils because of its health benefits. The major
hindrance in achieving large-scale production of olive oil
Device Fabrication: Inter-digitated Circuits a) SiO 2 1 m; ZnO 100 nm; Au circuit 50 attractive for viable commercial
nm b) Wire Bonded and Soldered
is due to fruit pests which cause serious damage to olive
orchards. Their control requires careful monitoring and
the timely application of suitable remedies before
substantial pest infestation. Herein we demonstrate the
efficacious utilization of covalently functionalized -
cyclodextrinylated Micro-Electromechanical System
(MEMS) devices for the selective and sensitive detection
of the female sex pheromone of the olive fruit
fly, Bactrocera oleae. Two of the MEMS devices, silicon
dioxide surface-micro machined cantilever arrays and zinc
oxide surface-micro fabricated interdigitated circuits,
selectively capture the major pheromone component,
1,7-dioxaspiro[5,5]undecane. The non-covalent capture
extremely useful in the current pandemic situation due
to Covid-19, monitoring can be done with ease and
effectively leading to a transparent system and making
information available to all.
Dr Savita Kolhe*, Dr Anita Rani and
Dr Nita Khandekar
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soybean Research, Indore
*
email: savitasoham@gmail.com,
savita.kolhe@icar.gov.in
of olive pheromones inside the -cyclodextrin cavity leads
to the reduction of resonant frequency of the cantilevers,
whereas an increase in resistance has been found in case
of zinc oxide derived MEMS devices. Sensitivity of the
MEMS devices towards the olive pheromone was found
to be directly correlated with the increasing availability
of -cyclodextrin moieties over the surface of the devices
and thus the detection limit of the
devices has been achieved to a value
as low as 0.297 ppq of the olive
pheromone when the devices were
functionalized with one of the
standardized protocols. Overall, the
reversible usability and potential
capability of the suitably functionalized
MEMS devices to selectively detect the
presence of female sex pheromone of
olive fruit fly
Before the onset of substantial pest
infestation in an orchard makes it quite
application. This technology can be
considered a step forward in artificial intelligence (AI)
because AI is dependent on sensors and feedback loops
as originally described by Norbert Weiner who foresaw
many future developments in this general field. The
theoretical implication of our work fits into a revolution
into agritechnology that will revolutionize food
production worldwide.
Dr N Bakthavatsalam,
Director,
ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources,
Bellary Road, H.A. Farm Post, Hebbal,
Bengaluru, Karnataka 560024
email: Bakthavatsalam.N@icar.gov.in
11 October-December 2020
 Designing and evaluation of concentrating solar thermal
desalination device for hot arid regions
A parabolic concentrating solar thermal
desalination device was designed, developed and
fabricated. The system comprises a parabolic dish
concentrator, evaporating vessel, condensing unit
with glass tube, stand and distillate jar. The
parabolic dish concentrator uses a parabolic mirror
that focuses incoming solar radiation on a receiver
mounted above the dish at its focal point. The
surface area of parabolic concentrator made of
steel is 6.67 m 2 and projected area of disc is 2.54
m 2.The performance evaluation of the device during
winter and summer month of the year 2019 was
carried out by measuring distillate output per day.
Distillate productivity was measured along with
evaluation of the effects of environmental and
operational parameters that includes: solar
insolation, ambient temperature and water Parabolic concentrating solar thermal desalination device
temperature under the climatic conditions of
Jodhpur, India. The maximum productivity of 6.5 lit (1.45 Years) make the unit very cost efficient. The
day -1 within 9 h in a day was measured with the economic attributes of the system revealed its
maximum average solar insolation of 745 W.m -2 economic viability. Therefore this solar desalination
during May 2019 and 5.5 lit day -1 in winter month device can be successfully used for desalination of
December 2019. The maximum daily average saline water in rural arid areas for meeting
efficiency of 28.7% was calculated with a maximum requirement of potable water. The quality of lab-
hourly output of 1.25lit h -1. The distillate output of prepared salt water samples was analyzed before
solar desalination device is to be mixed with the and after desalination and the results comply with
available saline water in appropriate proportion to the WHO guidelines for drinking water quality.
make it drinkable. In fact as much as 20 litres/day
of potable water (150 ppm TDS) can be made Surendra Poonia, A.K. Singh and Dilip Jain
available in a day from raw water containing 300 Division of Agricultural Engineering and
ppm TDS by a solar desalination device. The Renewable Energy
economic evaluation of the parabolic concentrating ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute,
solar thermal desalination device revealed that high Jodhpur 342003, India,
value of IRR (74.6%) and low value of payback period email: Surendra.Poonia@icar.gov.in

Multi-dimensional impact of CAZRI

developed watersheds
Impact assessment of Baorli – Bambore watershed
implemented by ICAR-CAZRI was carried out during 2016
– 2018. The project was aimed at finding out the various
impacts namely, bio-physical, socio-economic and
environmental on its members. All the beneficiaries
(n=80) coming under the jurisdiction of the selected
watershed were selected and non-beneficiaries (n=40)
were randomly selected from a village having similar agro-
climatic conditions and soil type with no watershed
development activities. Impact was studied at pre and
post as well as between beneficiaries and non-
beneficiaries. The investigation was based on analysis of
secondary data available with CAZRI and in the district.
The primary data were collected through personal

ICAR NEWS 12
interview of sample farmers using structured pre-tested
schedule, direct observation and key informant
discussion. Whereas in case of non-beneficiaries, 40
farmers were randomly selected from a village having
similar agro-climatic conditions and soil type with no
watershed development activities.

It was found that the majority of the beneficiaries

belonged to the senior age group (above 50 years) and
had nuclear family with medium family size. Most of the
respondents did not go to school in project area (48.8%).
More than 95% of the beneficiaries practiced agriculture
and animal husbandry as their primary occupation. As
far as land holding is concerned, 40% of the beneficiaries
had land less than one acre. In case of annual family
income, 30% of the beneficiaries earned 1 lakh – 2.0
lakhs per year. It was also found that 85% of beneficiaries
were medium risk takers. A large number of farmers from
beneficiaries had medium level of herd size (2 – 6 animals).
A significant percent of the respondents of project area
(65%) had medium level of extension contact. In case of
the socio-economic status, majority of the beneficiaries
(63.75%) belong to medium level whereas majority of
the non-beneficiaries (57.5%) belonged to the lower
level. While co-relating socio-economic profiles with the
adoption of watershed technologies, the data indicated
that the variables namely, land holding, income, family
size, extension contact, material possession and socio-
economic status had a highly positive significant
association with the level of adoption at 1% level, while
education showed positive and significant relationship
with adoption at 5% level of significance.
Bio-physical impact of watershed
Bio-physical impact of institute developed watershed in
terms of changes in land use was evident from the
changes in cropping pattern. Better availability of
conserved moisture and the knowledge of improved
production practices during kharif shifted the cropping
pattern from low value coarse cereal to high value
commercial pulse during rabi. Land Levelling Index (LLI)
which reflects the leveling, terracing and bunding
activities adopted by the farmers reduced from 3.0% to
0.5%.
improvements in the watershed also enhanced the
Cultivated Land Utilization Index (CLUI).
Data indicated changes in cropping pattern due to project
interventions. The result reflects that during pre and post
project periods, cropping pattern was dominated by
coarse cereals (bajra). There was a significant rise in area
of bajra during the post project period (170 ha.) indicated
that bajra was the most preferred coarse cereal among
the watershed farmers. In pulses, there is an inverse
proportional change in their cropped areas of moong and
moth during pre and post period. However during post
project period, a significant increase in area under gram
(21 ha.) and decrease in area in guar and other crops
was found.
Crop Yield Index (CYI) was calculated indicating the extent
of aggregate increase in crop productivity over control
villages. The estimated indices were found to be
considerably higher than zero in the watersheds. The
index was also found to be highest in developed
watershed.
Impact of Watershed on the Socio-economic
status within the beneficiaries (Pre project Vs Post
Project)
Paired t- test was applied to the data and it is found that

Changes in Cropped area and cropping pattern

During post project period a considerable rise was
observed in gram (chick pea) cropped area i.e. from 2.9
ha. to 21.2 ha. during rabi 2017 – 18 was observed. In
addition to this, substantial increase in gram (chickpea)
area also resulted in improvement in Crop Diversification
Index (CDI) from 0.345 to 0.426. A cumulative effect of
the land based interventions and agriculture

13 October-December 2020
effect of watershed development on various indicators
namely social participation, extension agency contact,
material possession, herd size, income and socio-
economic status of beneficiaries during pre and post
project period had a significant increase in above
mentioned variables for beneficiaries as being the
member of watershed and the t- paired value is also
found highly significant.
Impact of Watershed on the Socio-economic
status between beneficiaries and non-
beneficiaries
Since study was carried out between two different
groups for recording similar parameters viz., social
participation, extension agency contact, material
possession, herd size, income, socio-economic status and
adoption test for two independent samples was
performed and analysis revealed that the t test value
was much increased and significantly higher in case of
beneficiaries.
Environmental Impact of Watershed between
beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries
The chi square (2) test applied for the environmental
impact variables namely, soil erosion status (2 – 74.89),
crop bio diversity (2 – 34.53), animal biodiversity (2 –
55.37) and bio mass production from common land(2 –
62.07) and found highly significant, which supports the
hypothesis that watershed has profound impact on
overall development of rainfed farmers in arid Rajasthan.
Vijay Avinashilingam, N.A., R.K. Goyal,
Bhagwan Singh and Pratibha Tewari
Division of Transfer of Technology and Training
ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute,
Jodhpur 342 003

Agroforestry Mapping in India using Geospatial Technologies:

CAFRI’s Methodologies

Introduction One methodology is developed for medium resolution

Geo-spatial technologies are now being widely used in remote sensing data (eg. LISS-III) and other for high
agriculture, forestry, watershed, natural resource resolution remote sensing data (eg. LISS-IV).
management. The integrated use of geo-spatial
technologies like, Geographical Information System (GIS),
Remote Sensing (RS) and Global Positioning System (GPS)
have the potential to map the area for desired feature
e.g. agroforestry. In agroforestry, however, these
technologies have yet to be used extensively. In India
the diagnostic survey and appraisal of agroforestry
practices in the country revealed that there are
enumerable practices in different agro-ecological zones.
These systems/ practices occupy sizeable areas, but this
area is yet to be accurately estimated. Though some
estimates are available for agroforestry area in the
country, all these estimates are not the accurate
estimates as they are not based on secondary data.
Agroforestry plays a significant role in climate change
mitigation through carbon sequestration. To know the
carbon sequestration potential, an accurate estimate of
area under agroforestry systems in the country is
essential. A major problem in estimating area under
agroforestry is lack of procedures for delineating the area
influenced by trees in a mixed stand of trees and crops.
Methodologies have been developed and standardised
ICAR- Central Agroforestry Research Institute (CARI), Methodology for mapping agroforestry area through sub-
Jhansi (U.P.) for different types of remote sensing data. pixel classifier

ICAR NEWS 14
CAFRI’s Methodologies for Agroforestry Mapping
in India
I. Methodology for Medium Resolution RS Data
For mapping area under agroforestry, the following
approach has been adopted:
1. From each agro-climatic zone, 20 per cent districts
representing that zone are randomly selected and
remote sensing data (LISS III, 23.5 m resolution) are
procured.
2. Multispectral remote sensing images for each sample
district are processed for land uses and land covers
(LULC) using supervised classification method
(Maximum Likelihood Classifier).
3. From this LULC, agricultural area (cropland + fallow
land) is masked because agroforestry exists on
agricultural land only.
4. Then sub-pixel classifier method will be applied on
this agricultural area, which gives output in the form Object based image analysis (OBIA) based methodology for
of percentage tree cover (20-30, 30-40, .………, 90- agroforestry mapping
100%) within a pixel.
5. Area of such pixels where minimum 20 percent to
maximum 100% tree canopy cover is found will give spatial resolution- 5.8m), pixel or sub-pixel based methods
an estimate of area under agroforestry in that do not give much accurate results. So another
district. methodology based on object oriented classification
6. Accuracy of agroforestry area will be assessed with technique has been developed by CAFRI, Jhansi for
the help of ground check points (GCPs) collected from mapping trees outside forest as well as agroforestry at
agroforestry systems existing in the sample district. district level. Different steps involved in this methodology
7. Agroforestry area obtained for such 20% sample are described below:
districts in a particular agro-climatic zone will be 1. High resolution remote sensing data (LISS-IV, spatial
extrapolated for entire zone. resolution- 5.8 m) are procured from NRSC,
8. Cumulative sum of area under agroforestry for all Hyderabad for sample districts.
agro-climatic zones will give an estimate of area 2. Pre-processing of scenes includes layer stacking,
under agroforestry for whole country. mosaicking and sub-setting of LISS-IV bands (Green,
Red & NIR) with district boundary shape file.
II. Methodology for High Resolution RS Data 3. Unsupervised classification method (k-means/
In case of high resolution remote sensing data (LISS-4, ISODATA) was applied for getting different land uses

15 October-December 2020
 and land covers (LULC) including forest
cover. Then forest cover area is
extracted from the FCC image with the
help of LULC of the district.
4. OBIA Module: Applying Single Feature
Probability (SFP) with the help of training
samples, background pixels (crop, bare
soil, etc.) on FCC image. Thereafter,
threshold and pixel probability are fixed
for target feature (trees), output consists
of trees outside forest (TOF) in the form
of polygons.
5. Post classification correction is applied
on TOF to remove trees along roads,
canals, within urban areas, etc. to get
agroforestry area.
6. Accuracy of agroforestry area so
obtained is determined with the help of
ground check points (GCPs) collected
from fields in the sample district.
7. Agroforestry area obtained for such 20
per cent sample districts in a particular
agro-climatic zone will be extrapolated
for entire zone.
8. Cumulative sum of area under
agroforestry for all agro-climatic zones
will give an estimate of area under
agroforestry for whole country.

By applying this methodology, very good and

more accurate results were obtained as
compared to pixel based maximum likelihood
classifier. Results of mapping trees outside
forest and agroforestry in Sundargarh district Agroforestry mapping by OBIA and supervised classification methods
of Odisha using this methodology is shown in
figure.
Present Status of Agroforestry Area in India
Under the ICAR-NICRA Project, area under agroforestry
in different agro-climatic zones is being estimated using
developed methodologies discussed above. So far 13
agro-climatic regions have been completed and area
under agroforestry come out to be 24.37 million ha in
these zones. This estimated agroforestry area is about
8.24% of their geographical area. After completion of all
the 15 agro-climatic zones, final figure of agroforestry
area in the country will be arrived, which would be useful
for agro foresters and policy makers.
Way Forward
Besides mapping agroforestry in general, extent of area
under a particular agroforestry species/ system can also
be assessed using high resolution remote sensing data.
This would help in assessment of biomass production and
carbon sequestration potential under these species/
systems. With the help of geospatial technologies,
temporal changes in agroforestry area as well as tree
counts/ inventory of different age plantations can be
done.
RH Rizvi1*, S Bhaskar2, Badre Alam1, AK Handa1,
Rajendra Prasad1 and Shefali Srivastava3
1
Principal Scientists,
ICAR-Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Jhansi
(U.P.), INDIA
2
Asst. Director General (Agronomy & Agroforestry),
NRM Division, ICAR, N. Delhi
3
Young Professional,
ICAR-Central Agroforestry Research Institute,
Jhansi (U.P.)
ICAR-Central Agroforestry Research Institute,
Gwalior Road, Jhansi- 284003 (U.P.)
email: Raza.Rizvi@icar.gov.in

ICAR NEWS 16
 ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Cochin
– An Institution Par Excellence
ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (ICAR-
CIFT), a pioneer research institute under the aegis of
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), today
stands as the epitome of fisheries technology
development centre in India. Since its inception during
29th April, 1957, this institute is playing a pivotal role in
pursuing its research and extension activities on all major
dimensions of harvest- and post-harvest aspects of
fisheries thus bringing the fish industry to what it is today.
The major activities of the institute revolves around
evolving innovative and cost effective technologies in
harvest and post-harvest aspects of fisheries,
standardization of different post-harvest practices,
techniques for extraction of biomedical, pharmaceutical
and industrial product from aquatic organisms;
biotechnological approaches for disease diagnostic tools;
quality management and maintaining food safety
standards; design and development of tools for harvesting
and post harvesting along with vibrant technologies
dissemination mechanism, impact assessment, capacity
development and policy interactions. The distinguishing
feature of this institute is establishment of strong
backward and forward linkage with multifarious
stakeholders in the long value chain- from tide to table.
To cater the regional needs and address the location
specific problems, the institute has three regional
research centers located at Visakhapatnam in Andhra
Pradesh, Veraval in Gujarat and Mumbai in Maharashtra.
Genesis
ICAR-CIFT came into existence in 1957 based on the
recommendation in 1954 by a high power committee
appointed by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture,
headed by Dr B N Chopra. The key recommendation of
the committee reads:
“Technological research, to be of real value, should be
planned on a broad all India basis and carried in an
intensive manner. It should include Craft and Gear
Technology and by products. We further recommend that
the fisheries division of the Food and Agricultural
Organization be approached for their Chief Technologist
in planning the station and the initial programme of
work.”
Regional Research Centers
Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh): Established in 1962
with a view to introduce commercial trawling from small
and medium size boats for exploitation of fishery
resources in the East Coast of India and to evolve
17 October-December 2020

“Delighted to visit CIFT (Cochin), important institution, can
promote the causes of Fishermen Community.” APJ Abdul
Kalam ‘s remark
standard designs of fishing gear accessories and methods
for their exploitation and to develop responsible trawl
systems for mechanized sector.
Mumbai (Maharashtra): This centre is decisive to
undertake post-harvest research as well as to promote
export of seafood in western regions, advocating suitable
post-harvest handling, processing and recent
technological developments.
Veraval (Gujarat): Established in Gujarat during 1962 to
cater to the research needs of western coast of India in
the area of fishing and fish processing.
Appreciating the role of ICAR-CIFT for the fishery sector
development in the country, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, the
renowned space scientist of international repute & the
former President of India during his visit to the institute
on 6th June, 2010 remarked that
To facilitate sustainable harvesting and total utilization
of fishery resources through innovations in harvest and
post-harvest technology.
ICAR NEWS 18
Ensure responsible harvesting of fishery resources
through ecofriendly, energy efficient and economical
means; ensure total utilization of the harvested fish
through appropriate processing, value addition,
packaging and waste utilization; ensure food safety and
nutritional security to the consumers and minimize
carbon and water footprint per unit volume; and to
ensure equitable benefits to the stakeholders, across
the value chain.
• Basic and strategic research in fishing and processing;
• Design and develop energy efficient fishing systems
for responsible fishing and sustainable
management;
• Development of implements and machinery for fishing
and fish processing; and
• Human resource Development through training,
education and extension.
Quality Policy
CIFT is committed to continually improve its processes to
fulfill stakeholder expectations, with a view to promote
responsible and sustainable harvest and post-harvest
technologies in fisheries sector by conducting basic,
strategic and applied research, and undertaking
consultancy, training, testing and technology transfer.
Thrust Areas
• Development of climate change responsive and
resilient fishing systems capture and culture fisheries
• Provide technology solutions for total utilization of
harvested fishery resources, including unconventional
resources
• Exploiting the opportunities of bio-prospecting and
genomics of aquatic and other resources for manifold
uses.
• Facilitate introduction of green, renewable and
recyclable energy and technologies in fishing and fish
processing sectors
• Development of quality systems using conventional
and frontier technologies to ensure safe fish
production, processing and consumption
• Development of appropriate biosecurity measures to
tackle the issues of animal health
• Tap new technologies to develop innovative
technology transfer and commercialization models
• Enhance efforts in appropriate capacity building at
all levels in the system
Recognitions
• Honoured with the Sardar Patel Outstanding ICAR
Institution Award three times during 2018, 2006 and
2000.
• Received NABL Accreditation (ISO 17025) in 2005,
and ISO 9001:2008 certification in 2013.
• Recognized as a National Referral and Reference
Laboratory for fish and fishery products by FSSAI
under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,
Government of India.
• Recognized as Lead Institution for Food Testing Group
under the NETSCOFAN (Network for Scientific
Cooperation for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition)
by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GoI.
• Accreditation under ISO 17025:2015 for testing and
more than 300 parameters have been included in
the scope.
• WHO recognition for ICAR-CIFT research article
published in Current Science entitled ‘Can sulphated
polysaccharides from seaweed provide prophylactic
and/or therapeutic solution to Covid-19 pandemic’
suggesting seaweed as an immunotherapy to fight
Covid-19 pandemic.
• FAO recognition for international acknowledgement
of Covid-19 advisories released by ICAR-CIFT in 12
different Indian languages as part of voluntary
guidelines issued by the UN body FAO across the
globe.
ICAR-CIFT has played a pivotal role in the technological
development and modernization of both harvest and
post-harvest sectors in fisheries from its nascent stage,
by actively engaging in need-based technology
development as well as transfer. The Institute has always
been responsive to the dynamic changes that takes place
in the fisheries sector and has endeavoured to reframe
the strategies and fine-tune the research framework in
order to address the emerging challenges.
During the recent past, the institute has excelled in the
field of research and extension through some path
breaking technological developments like ‘CIFTest Kit’ for
rapid detection of fish contamination due to spurious
chemicals like formaldehyde and ammonia in the fish
market and its national level tremendous impact in
controlling the adulteration in fish preservation;
development of nutraceutical products like seaweed
cookies, seaweed yogurt; designing energy efficient deep
sea fishing trawlers. In addition, ICAR-CIFT has been well
recognised for its R&D contributions like “National
Reference and Reference Laboratory” for fish and fish
products by FSSAI, under Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare, Government of India; technical collaboration
with Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) for deep sea vessel
building, global accreditation as a major research partner
of FAO on Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) mitigation
linking more than 20 institutions across the country,
building industry-ready human capital through Skill
development programmes, active participation in
formulation of KMFRA guidelines for the state of Kerala,
major role in preparation of national policy document on
blue economy as assigned by NFDB, active involvement
in flood relief work during the massive flood havoc in
Kerala and also leading the fishery SMD for impact
evaluation of promising fisheries technologies as per the
directives of ICAR.
Major activities of the institute are carried out through
seven different research divisions viz., Fishing Technology,
Fish Processing, Quality Assurance and Management,
Microbiology Fermentation and Biotechnology,
Engineering and Extension, Information and Statistics
Division.
Harvest technologies for responsible fishing
ICAR-CIFT has been in the forefront of developing
resilient technologies for responsible fishing and resource
conservation in fisheries like Square mesh codends, V form
otter boards, Turtle Excluder device (TED), Large mesh
purse seine and CIFT off bottom trawl system.
• Square mesh codends and V form otter boards were
popularized as eco-friendly and conservational fishing
methods. Square mesh cod ends were seen to
function better than diamond mesh in conservation
by ensuring escapement juveniles.
• Use of optimum mesh size for target species and size
class is imperative in order to prevent capture of non-
target species, sub-
adults and juveniles.
With this in mind, a
simple device for easy
measurement of mesh
size was developed.
Selection of right size
of mesh will help in
popularizing
responsible fishing.
• Turtle Excluder device
(TED) developed at
the Institute was
tested at Cochin,
Visakhapatnam and
Paradeep and found
to be working Turtle Excluder Device (TED)
19 October-December 2020
 satisfactorily. Turtle escape was 100% with minimum and FRP sheathed untreated rubber wood canoe,
loss of valuable catch. The device is being popularized were found to be in sound condition even after 26
in maritime states where fishing induced turtle and 16 month field operation respectively. Fishermen
mortality is reported to be high. have shown interest in the new technologies.
• The purse fishery of Kerala was facing hard times • High tenacity nylon monofilament of mesh size 30
and as the number of vessels was reduced to 17 from mm bar were found to be superior to nets with other
100 when CIFT came up with suggestions for change mesh sizes and was found best for fabrication of
in the mesh size. The purse seine nets and ring seines gillnets for obtaining good catches.
of Kerala are criticized for its very small mesh size • The institute has developed a solar powered boat
(10-18 mm) destroying the fish wealth, as very small with length of 3.6 m is twin hulled and is solely
fish and juveniles cannot escape the net. The newly propelled by solar power. It can be put to use in aqua
introduced purse-seine net has 45 mm mesh which farms for aquacultural purposes and for gillnetting,
has improved the catches. With increased mesh size, line fishing, transportation and aqua tourism. It’s main
the target species were large sized mackerels, advantages are that it does not burn fuel, there is no
skipjack tunas, pomfrets, large sized carangid species
etc. This net has found wide acceptance among
fisherman. The new version of purse seine is a step
towards conservation of fishery resources and assures
good income to fishermen, as the catches are of good
marketable size.
• CIFT SPTS-1 was developed as an alternative to shrimp
trawling in the small-scale mechanized trawler sector,
after extensive field –testing. It is capable of
attaining catch rates beyond 200kg.h-1 in moderately
productive grounds and selectively harvest fast
swimming demersal and semi–pelagic fin fishes and
cephalopods, which are generally beyond the reach
of conventional bottom trawls, currently used in
commercial trawl fisheries in India. CIFT Sun boat

Harvest technologies for traditional sector

atmospheric or sound pollution, has more deck space
• An improved design of FRP boat for backwater fishing
with clean FRP surface for fish handling and is suitable
was developed and canoes constructed for use in
for shallow waters.
place of wooden canoes, which are very costly. Light
weight, strength and durability are the main
Harvest technologies for mechanized sector
advantage of this material. They also have longer
• A prototype of a 5.22m LOA aluminum alloy boat was
life as compared to traditional wooden canoes. The
designed and constructed for fishing and related
boat can be used for coastal fishing also.
activates in reservoirs and rivers. This is the latest in
• Fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) sheathed,
a series of materials being evaluated by the Institute
untreated rubber wood canoes were constructed and
for construction of fishing vessels for the artisanal as
given for experimental fishing to artisanal fishermen.
well as mechanized sectors. Light weight, corrosion
Both, the preservative treated rubber wood canoe
resistance, toughness and resilience make aluminum
alloy a good material for construction of marine craft.
This new material avoids expenditure on paints etc.
and gives good re-sale value.
• A sail system for use on-board medium class fishing
vessels was developed for reducing fuel consumption
during free running mode.
• Experimental fishing carried out with nylon gillnets
and hand lines at Agatti islands, Lakshadweep have
revealed scope for use of these gears on the island.
The islanders are now taking to such fishing methods
in addition to the traditional pole and line fishing for
FRP sheathed canoe tuna.

ICAR NEWS 20
• Standardized parameters to exploit semi-pelagic
fishery resources.
• Separator trawl studies confirmed the differential
behavior and sorting of catch to the lower and upper
cod ends. The Internationally recognized Juvenile Fish
Excluder cum Shrimp Sorting Device (JFE-SSD) was
the resulting invention.
Deep sea long liner cum gillnetter: A way forward
to Blue Revolution
Since long, deep sea fishing was under stress due to lack
of improved fishing boats integrated with various facilities
like high fuel efficiency, on-board refrigeration, high wave
resistance, reduced maintenance etc., which badly
affected the harvesting potential of Indian fisheries
sector. In order to address these concerns and to provide
much required fillip to the fisheries sector, the Cochin
based ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology
(ICAR-CIFT) designed and developed a new generation
energy efficient combination fishing vessel of 19.75 m
length under ICAR-NASF funded research project “Green
Fishing Systems For Tropical Seas (GFSTS)” with an aim
to catapult it as a standard model for replication in the
tropical waters. This combination fishing vessel,
christened as ‘FV Sagar Harita’ built at Goa Shipyard
Limited, was officially launched by General of ICAR, Dr
Trilochan Mohapatra on 18th April, 2016 at a function
held at Cochin.
With the successful launching of the research and
commercial deep-sea vessels designed by ICAR-CIFT,
Cochin; now the institute holds the responsibility of design
supervision for the construction of nearly 100 vessels all
over the country, thus taking the lead to drive the GOI
initiative for blue revolution. ICAR-CIFT provided technical
consultancy to M/s Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), the
largest shipbuilder in the country, for the design of 22.5
Sagart harita
m long liner cum gillnetter and CSL constructed 16 vessels
for Tamil Nadu. The first vessel was launched at CSL in
2019.
Post-harvest technologies for preparation of
products and by-products
Chitin – chitosan derivatives
ICAR-CIFT has standardized the methodology for
production of chitin, glucosamine hydrochloride, chitosan
and carboxymethyl chitosan. Similarly, collagen-chitosan
film from fish waste, developed by the Institute has wide
applications in wound dressing and dental surgery.
Chitosan gauze
Value added fish product development
• Dehydrated surimi of high nutritional value was
prepared from the dark meat of tuna (E. affinis) by a
simple technique of water leaching followed by
gelling and spray drying.
• Methods were standardized for preparation of value
added products like fish croquet, analogue fish fillet
and fish ’pakora’ as well as products utilizing small
prawns of Acetes sp.
• Method was standardized for preparation of battered
and breaded products from cuttlefish fillets.
• Method was developed for converting seasonal surplus
fish catch consisting of small bony fished into ready-
Battered and breaded products
21 October-December 2020
 acid-grafted chitosan micro spheres, sardine oil loaded
vanillic acid grafted chitosan micro particles,
microencapsulated squalene powder, vanillic acid and
coumaric acid grafted chitosan derivatives, thiamine
and pyridoxine loaded ferulic acid-grafted chitosan;
which were proved to have health beneficial and
immune modulatory response in animal models.

Pilot scale production of fish calcium capsules were

carried out and test marketing of the same was
conducted by M/s Perma Health Care, New Delhi.

RTF, RTE products

to-fry and ready-to-serve products under controlled

thermal conditions.

Microencapsulated fish product

Iron-Calcium-Fortified-Fish Soup Powder (FSP) has been Calcium capsules and hand sanitizer
developed to address the malnutrition with special
reference to improving iron levels in vulnerable Technology was evolved for isolation and purification
population. This has been found to be promising with its of squalene with 99.5% purity from shark liver. The
intervention among adolescent girls of West Jaintia Hills product has now been successfully commercialized.
District, Meghalaya with remarkable growth trends in
haemoglobin levels within a month.

Packaging technologies
Technology for production of tuna in oil by pouch
packaging was perfected for Lakshadweep Fisheries
Development Corporation, Minicoy. Retortable pouch
packaging technology was given to interested dairy,
meat, mushroom and coconut processors also.

Development of aqua-nutraceuticals
ICAR-CIFT has developed some nutraceuticals
products, like thiamine and pyridoxine-loaded vanillic

Commercial squalene capsules

Environmental protection and eco-friendly

Retort pouch product
technologies for waste utilization
ICAR-CIFT has standardized methodology for
preparation of Fish ensilage, fish feed etc. from fish
waste and it provides technical expertise/ consultancy
in scientific waste management practices. The method
for the preparation of good quality cattle/piggery/
poultry feed supplement by ensiling fishery waste was

ICAR NEWS 22
 Silage from cuttlefish waste

CIFT Solar fish dryers

popularized, which has solved the environmental
problem caused by the decaying waste by converting gargle are some of the promising seaweed based
it into a useful product of high nutritive value and an products developed by ICAR-CIFT have created
agreeable smell. tremendous impact in the sector.

Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) Rapid Detection Kit

ICAR-CIFT has designed Energy efficient low cost effluent ICAR-CIFT received wide recognition in the national and
treatment plant (ETP) to meet the standards of the international forum with the timely introduction of rapid
Pollution Control Board, which emphasizes to reduce, detection kits for formaldehyde and ammonia (CIFTest)
recover and reuse process water and solid effluents from to check rampant adulteration of fresh fish. The kit was
the plant. This system have been installed in many leading released by Honourable Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
exporter’s factory on a consultancy basis. For an industry Minister Shri Radha Mohan Singh. The technology for
consuming enormous quantity of water this innovative commercial production has been transferred to HiMedia
design, ensuring disinfection and clarification of the Laboratories and now widely adopted by regulatory
effluent is going to be a big boon. It will avoid waste of agencies across India.
precious water also.
Fish vending kiosk
Solar drying of fishes ICAR-CIFT has developed a refrigeration enabled mobile
ICAR-CIFT has developed different models and capacities fish vending kiosk to improve the unhygienic handling and
of solar dryers for hygienic drying of fish. CIFT-Hybrid
model solar dryers are having LPG, biomass or electricity
as alternate back up heating source for continuous
hygienic drying of fish even under unfavourable weather
conditions. This technology is very much popular among
the start-ups for production of hygienic dry fish. In the
post-covid situation the technology has high demand
among the entrepreneurs, which has been
commercialized in large scale.

Seaweed utilization
ICAR-CIFT has developed and commercialized many
nutraceuticals and food products developed from
seaweeds which are in line with the regulatory
compliances to address the felt demand of the consumers
and thus established its prominence in the nutraceuticals
research domain in India. The nutraceuticals like
FucoidanExt, FucoTeaExt, Seaweed NutriDrink, Seaweed
Cookies, Seaweed Yoghurt, Seaweed Sanitizer, Seaweed Seaweed products

23 October-December 2020
marketing practices of fish. The special feature of kiosk
is its fish storage cum display facility and a well-insulated
refrigeration system. Under ideal operating conditions,
the unit can extend the shelf life of fish for 4 to 5 days
and increases marginal benefit to fish vendors.
Capacity building programmes and linkages
The institute also collaborates with several
international agencies like USAID, ASEAN, AIRTF,
SAARC and ITEC and conducts demand driven
customized training programmes for international
participants. Besides, it caters to a wide array of
stakeholders through capacity building programmes
and establishing both forward-backward linkage with
prospective entrepreneurs, industry and line
departments.
CIF Test Kit
Fish Vending Kiosk
ICAR NEWS 24
Agri-Business Incubation Centre
The Agri-Business Incubation (ABI) Centre at ICAR-CIFT,
Cochin supports operations on business projects as a
measure of enhancing the foundation for new technology
based industries and establishing a knowledge-based
economy. It helps primarily to the small scale prospective
entrepreneurs and innovators by handholding them through
pro-active and value-added business support in terms of
technical consultancy, infrastructure facility, expert guidance
and training to venture into technology based sustainable
business enterprises through IPR enabled promising
technologies. It acts as a platform for speedy
commercialization of ICAR technologies, through an
interfacing and networking mechanism between research
institutions, industries and financial institutions. Till today
146 entrepreneurs were registered of which 30 were
graduated. This has led to 61 technologies, 40 new products,
and generating 877.24 lakh revenue for the institute
through technology transfer / professional service functions.
Synergising research and extension in fisheries
through linkage development
Harnessing the synergy of research and extension is
important to overcome the technological fatigue and
thereby achieving the policy goals to reach the unreached,
ICAR-CIFT is continuously working with state departments,
State Agriculture Universities, KVKs, NGOs, entrepreneurs
and other allied agencies in the sector for popularising
innovations and technologies in the realm of harvest and
post-harvest fisheries to address the issues and concerns of
various stakeholders. In addition, CIFT is used to take up
large number of training cum demonstration programmes
under various schemes of Govt. of India for scheduled caste
fishers under SCSP, for scheduled tribe fishers under STC, for
fishers in north eastern hill regions under NEH component
and other beneficiaries across the country under MGMG.
Institute also provide customised consultancy services and
solutions for various firms and emerging entrepreneurs to
make fishery as a potential business venture. Business
incubation facility at the institute hand holds the potential
entrepreneurs/start-ups to realise their innovative business
ventures in fisheries. Of late, ICAR-CIFT is collaborating with
KVKs to enhance the outreach of CIFT technologies to large
section of the society through establishment of ‘Custom
Hiring Centres’ at KVK level thus facilitating easy access to
technologies by the stakeholders. ICAR-CIFT follows
innovative fisheries extension systems integrating various
actors in the arena to promote a synergism in popularisation
of its technologies among various stake holders.
Director
ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology
Willingdon Island, Matsayapuri, Cochin 682 029 Kerala
 Invasion and Establishment of Woolly Whitefly Aleurothrixus
floccosus (Maskell) in India
Invasion of the highly polyphagous woolly whitefly,
Aleurothrixus floccosus (Maskell) (Hemiptera:
Aleyrodidae) on guava (Psidium guajava L.) was recorded
in Kozhikode district in Kerala, India during November
2019. Identification of A. floccosus was done through
taxonomic studies on morphological characters of
puparium and reconfirmed through DNA barcoding of
adult whitefly using partial (658 bp) mitochondrial
cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) gene. Recent surveys
revealed further expansion of its geographical ecosystem by inter-specific competition.
distribution to Ramanagara, Mysore, Mandya and
Bangalore districts in Karnataka and Coimbatore district Adults lay pale white stalked eggs in a circular pattern
in Tamil Nadu on guava. Beside mainland distribution, it on newly emerged leaves and eggs turn to brown before
was also noticed in three islands viz., Kavaratti, Keltan hatching. The first nymphal instar is light green with
and Amini in Lakshadweep on guava. It is believed that functional legs and subsequent stages turn brown in with
woolly whitefly might be moved to Lakshadweep from slight to heavy wool like wax filaments cover. The adult
mainland through transportation of infested seedlings. is approximately 1.5 mm in length, with a yellow-white
The pest spread rapidly in India mainly through body and wings that are covered with a white waxy
transportation of infested seedlings. powder and they prefer to feed on the undersides of
young leaves that grow during the active period of the
This is also called as citrus whitefly and believed to be of growth.
Neotropical origin but is now found throughout the
warmer parts of the world, wherever citrus is grown. It No natural parasitism either by any indigenous parasitoid
is reported to be feeding on more than 20 plant families or its known potential parasitoid, Cales noacki
and exhibits a strong
preference for citrus
species.

Within a span of four

years, four exotic
whiteflies invaded the
guava crop. A. floccosus
is co-existence with
rugose spiralling
whitefly; Aleurodicus
rugioperculatus,
Bondar’s nesting
whitefly, Paraleyrodes
bondari, nesting
whitefly, Paraleyrodes
minei and spiralling
whitefly, Aleurodicus
dispersus. A. floccosus
is found to be dominant
species which may
replace the existing
invasives and native
species in the guava

25 October-December 2020
(Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) is observed so far in India.
Few predators such as Acletoxenus sp. (Diptera:
Drosophilidae, Scymnus nr. utilis Hoang (Coleoptera:
Coccinellidae) and Pseudomallada astur (Neuroptera:
Chrysopidae) were found associated with A. floccosus
colony under field conditions. The polyphagous nature of
the non-native A. floccosus warrants immediate stringent
quarantine protocols to prevent its further spread to
other guava and citrus growing areas in India.
Arka – High yielding varieties
Arka Supreme – a new avocado variety: Arka Supreme -
an avocado high yielding variety was identified at institute
level. It is a regular bearing and high yielding seedling
selection from the local collection with spreading type
growth habit. A fully grown tree gives a fruit yield about
370-400 kg/plant with average fruit weight of 367-428
g. The fruits are oblong with 7.8°Brix TSS. Total fat
content is 20.0%. The flowering behavior of this variety
falls under the Type “A” category.
Arka Shyama – watermelon variety: An icebox segment
ICAR NEWS 26
Selvaraj K, Sumalatha, B V Sundararaj, R and
N Bakthavatsalam
Division of Germplasm Conservation and Utilization,
ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources,
Bengaluru 560 024;
1
Forest Entomology Division,
ICFRE-Institute of Wood Science and Technology,
Malleswaram, Bengaluru 560 024,
Karnataka;
e-mail: rsundariwst@gmail.com
watermelon variety, Sel-25 named ”Arka Shyama”, was
identified at the Institute level. This variety has a dark
greenish black rind, oblong fruit shape of 3-4 kg weight,
early (65-70 days to harvest) with dark red coloured,
crispy, sweet (TSS-12%) flesh.
Arka Bharath – A promising teasel gourd high
yielding variety: It is a high yielding selection from
the germplasm collection identified at institute level.
Plants are vigorous; the vine grows up to 6 m height.
Fruits are dark green, long oval with soft seed at edible
maturity. Individual fruit weight is around 100 gm. On
an average fruit yield is 10
t ha -1 and suitable for
cultivation in high altitude
areas of Kodagu District
(1200 m above MSL) in
Karnataka. Nearly 45000
cuttings of this variety
have been supplied to
farmers of Karnataka,
Tamil Nadu, Kerala,
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Gujarat
and it presently covers an area of about 45 acres
under cultivation. This fetches a market price of 80-
200/- kg and is highly remunerative. Depending upon
the market price the benefit-cost ratio varies from
4.0-8.0 making it as a highly remunerative crop for
farmers.
Arka Herbiwash: This is a herbal wash powder
developed for washing fruits and vegetables. It
removes 80-90% of surface residues of pesticides. Two
gm of Arka Herbiwash powder is sufficient to wash
one kg of fruits or vegetables.
ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research
Hessaraghatta Lake P.O,
Bengaluru 560 089
e-mail: director.iihr@icar.gov.in
 Textiles products from banana and jute fibres
Our country is blessed with a variety of plant-origin strength of banana/jute blended yarn produced from
natural fibres; some of them are commercially exploited chemical treated fibres is much higher than that of
for making various textile and non-textile products. A produced from grey fibres, irrespective of the blend ratio.
large number of other important fibres viz., banana, Fire resistance property of banana/jute blended fabric
pineapple leaf, sunnhemp, okra and nettle have not been improves with increasing in proportion of banana fibre
prudently explored for commercial application. These (limiting oxygen index: 20-24) in blend. Ultraviolet
fibres are sufficiently strong like jute and suitable for protection factor (UPF) of banana/jute blended fabric is
making home and technical textile appliances. However, also very good (>35 UPF rating). The yarns were dyed
some of those fibres being coarser and stiffer require with eco-friendly reactive as well as natural dyes to
special processing technologies to make fine and soft improve the aesthetic value of fabric. Union fabrics were
yarns intended for making value added home textiles, developed in handloom using cotton yarn as warp and
namely bed covers, curtains and sofa covers. Fibre the banana/jute blended binary yarns (bleached or dyed)
extracted from banana pseudo-stem is found to be as weft to produce attractive designs. Such fabrics were
coarse, white, bright with fire and UV resistant properties then utilised for making value added home and apparel
and contain low amount of lignin as compared to jute textile products viz., window curtains, designed bags,
fibre, thus making them suitable for producing coarse upholstery, life-style products, etc.
yarns. The above natural fibres have ample opportunities
to produce important home textiles. Suitable pre- S N Chattopadhyay, N C Pan, A N Roy,
treatment and surface modification of such fibres can K K Samanta and A Khan
make them softer and finer to make amenable for (Developed under CRP on Natural Fibre Project:
blended yarn production with jute in different CRP-NIRJAFT3)
proportions. ICAR-National Institute of Natural Fibre Engineering &
Technology, 12 Regent Pak, Kolkata-700 040
Blending of banana fibre can be done in grey stage or e-mail: sambhu_in@yahoo.com
after requisite chemical pre-treatment. The fibres were
EDITORIAL BOARD
bleached and blended in different proportion to make
yarn and subsequently fabric. Jute and banana fibres were Chairman
treated with eco-friendly biocatalysts followed by Dr T Mohapatra
bleaching with hydrogen peroxide for fibre surface Secretary, DARE and DG, ICAR
modification. The control as well as chemical modified
Members
fibres were blended in three different proportions namely, Dr K Alagusundaram, DDG
banana to jute ratio of 75:25, 50:50 and 25:75 to (Agric. Engg.)
produce 8 pound jute count binary blended yarns. Tensile
Dr SK Choudhary, DDG
(Animal Science)
Dr JK Jena, DDG
(Fisheries Science)
Dr BN Tripathi, DDG
(Animal Science)
Dr RC Agrawal, Acting DDG
(Agric Edu) & ND (NAHEP)
Dr AK Singh, DDG
(Agric. Ext)
Dr AK Singh, DDG
(Horticultural Science)
Dr TR Sharma, DDG
(Crop Science)
Member-Secretary
Value-added home textile products developed from banana
Dr Satendra Kumar Singh, Project Director (DKMA)
and jute fibres

Published by Dr Satendra Kumar Singh, Project Director, Directorate of Knowledge Management in Agriculture, Indian Council of Agricultural
Research, New Delhi 110 012. Phone: 011-25842787; Fax: 011-25843285; e-mail: director.dkma@icar.gov.in. 27Lasertypeset
October-December 2020
by M/s Print-O-World,
Shadipur, New Delhi 110 008, and printed in India at M/s Royal Offset Printers, A-89/1, Naraina Industrial Area, Phase I, New Delhi 110 028.
Editing : Seema Burman Design & Production : Punit Bhasin
A GRO-ECOSYSTEM based research and extension aims
to improve upon the livelihood of agri-inhabitants in
varying agro-ecosystems through adoption of strategically
linked technologies and undertaking research on package
of practices to support different pertinent production
systems.
A - Irrigated ecosystem: Irrigated ecosystem account for
nearly 68.10 million ha, i.e., 48% of the total net cultivated
area with a mean productivity of 2.8 t/ha against 1.1 t/ha
from the rainfed areas. It comprised of areas where
irrigation water is available from canal (40%) or
groundwater (60%). However, these areas are associated
with poor irrigation efficiencies as only 38% efficiency is
reported for most of the major and medium irrigation ecologic balances, carbon sequestration, and other
projects in the country. parameters influencing environment.
• Identification and investigation for technological gaps
B - Rainfed ecosystem: Rainfed agriculture in India
in potential and actual production of different
contributes 40% of food grains from 51% of total net sown
agricultural commodities with a view to integration
area and supports 2/3rd of livestock population and covers
with other production systems ensuring synergy
4/5th of horticulture area. Rainfed agriculture is
achievement.
predominant in all parts of the country in the absence of
• Enabling extension line from research to field/market
assured irrigation facility. The evergreen revolution in
for better management of technologies,
rainfed agriculture calls for high priority in allocations of
implementation in field, and motivation to have best
resources as these regions are hotspots of poverty,
option available under given scenarios through
malnutrition and highly vulnerable to climate change/
capacity building at different levels.
variability.
• Strengthening education system in graduation and post
C - Arid ecosystem: About 31.7 million ha area of India graduation level for impactful skill enhancement to
comes under hot arid zone and ~7 million ha area is under provide appropriate services and employment.
cold arid zone. The Indian arid zone is one of the most • Economic analysis of the overall production system
populated arid regions of the world and the fragile and suggestions for institutional arrangements for
ecosystem is burdened with the high human and livestock better livelihood management of agri-inhabitants of
pressure. different socio-economic levels.
D - Hill ecosystem: Agriculture in the Himalayan region The scheme will be implemented at different ICAR
has always been a challenge as well as an opportunity institutions and SAU with active support from KVKs and
given the fact that the geologically young soils and involving state/central Government agencies. The overall
traditional way of cultivation practices manifested low planning, execution and monitoring and coordination will
productive systems, although noted globally for its rich be undertaken by Director, ICAR-Central Soil Salinity
biodiversity. Hill farming is carried out in 15.8% of the Research Institute, Karnal. The Nodal Officers for each
geographical area of the country. However, mono-cropping, ecosystem have been identified and detailed below:
small and fragmented land holdings, steep slopes, high 1. Irrigated Ecosystem - Director, ICAR-CSSRI, Karnal
rate of soil erosion, soil acidity, water scarcity and lack 2. Rainfed Ecosystem - Director, ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
of mechanization are some of the factors limiting the
3. Arid Ecosystem - Director, ICAR-CAZRI, Jodhpur
agricultural growth in Himalayan region and, therefore,
migration of rural youth to plains for employment is 4. Hill Ecosystem - Director, ICAR-IISWC, Dehradun
widespread. 5. Coastal Ecosystem - Director ICAR-CCARI, Goa

E - Coastal ecosystem: Coastal agroecosystem is spread over

This scheme will lead to important outcomes on:
29.8-million-hectare area, inhabiting 171 million human
• Providing risk resilience to agriculture in different
population. Rice, sugarcane, groundnut, vegetables,
ecologies.
pulses, mango, coconut, areca nut, cashew nut, spices,
• Providing integrated solutions including agri-horti
medicinal and aromatic plants, etc. are the major
crops, livestock, fisheries, poultry and allied activities
commodities of the region. Likewise, major livestock
for livelihood improvement in holistic manner.
includes dairy cattle, buffalo, pigs, poultry, goats, etc.
• Avenues and means of secondary agriculture to support
ICAR has earmarked 99706.06 lakhs for implementation quality livelihood to the farming community.
of this new scheme covering following objectives: • Opportunities for skill-oriented entrepreneurship
• Ecosystem wise database generation on different among youth and women.
agricultural production systems, recommendations • Opportunities of gender mainstreaming to meet the
made for different interventions in production to challenges in agriculture of various agro-ecologies.
consumption chain, resources available and their
utilisation pattern and other information related.
• Developing risk resilient integrated package of
technologies amenable to maximise remuneration in
different ecosystems of the country considering (T Mohapatra)
ICAR NEWS
restoration 28 services, climate change,
of ecosystem e-mail: dg.icar@nic.in