The following are the
categories of news and views to be sent to us :
Categories
|
Agriculture
Dr. Priya Ranjan Trivedi staying at A 15, Paryavaran Complex,
New Delhi 110030 (INDIA), Mobile: +91-9818097247 has designed a Masterplan Paradigm for the overall development of
Agriculture in the
following manner :
6.1 Principles
Our policy for land management and agriculture is based on:
a) recognising the need for flexibility and diversity in
agriculture for environmental and economic reasons;
b) recognising the central role of ecologically sustainable
agricultural production to regional economies and the nation;
c) preventing significant or lasting negative impacts on soil
and water quality and biodiversity;
d) recognising India’s national and international moral
responsibilities as a food producer;
e) supporting trading patterns and local controls which enable
environmental and food quality standards to be maintained and
improved; and
f) concern for the welfare of animals used in agriculture.
6.2 Goals
We aim to:
a) build on participatory processes which improve land and water
catchment management;
b) ensure that economic viability does not force exploitation of
labour;
c) ensure that agriculture takes full account of the need for
water management as an input to farming and as a resource vital
to others;
d) encourage forms of primary production and rural land-use that
conserve soil and water, maintain biodiversity, and use minimal
amounts of non-renewable energy, agrochemicals and water;
e) encourage the development of value-adding and quality
agricultural products;
f) encourage agricultural systems, enterprises and processes
which are resilient and diverse;
g) introduce policies to reverse land degradation (erosion,
salinity, acidification, nutrient loss, soil structural decline,
loss of native vegetation) and ensure that land management
practices are compatible with programmes to restore degraded
ecosystems and habitat;
h) reduce the dependence of agriculture on chemicals, and
provide accurate information about them to farmers and
consumers;
i) ensure that the use of genetic engineering is strictly
controlled, particularly the transfer of genetic material
between species, with the onus of proof on the proponent;
j) require food that has been produced as a result of genetical
engineering to be labelled accordingly;
k) improve the welfare of animals used in agriculture;
l) ensure that responsibility for sustainable land management is
shared by businesses which process and sell produce, or supply
inputs, and by consumers, as well as by landholders and all
levels of government;
m) encourage systems which maintain socially and economically
diverse and vibrant rural communities;
n) encourage the revitalisation of rural companies and ensure
adequate services for physical and social needs;
o) provide for participation in planning and implementing
strategies for ecologically sustainable agricultural production;
p) facilitate dialogue between conventional and modern farmers
to assist the exchange of land management skills;
q) move towards regional levels of planning and organisation for
the management of natural resources;
6.3 Short Term Targets
We are working to establish a clear regulatory environment for
agricultural businesses, through national legislation,
complemented by state and/or local provisions. Areas to be
regulated include:
• clearing, management and restoration of native vegetation;
• importation, propagation and movement of exotic plants and
animals; and
• mandatory notification, assessment and monitoring of all
genetic engineering proposals, including environmental impact
assessment.
We will work to:
a) introduce enforceable national standards for the licensing
and use of agricultural chemicals. Such standards shall be
compatible with or better than the most rigorous standards for
specific chemicals with related use-paths elsewhere in the
world;
b) ensure the adoption of national, legally enforceable codes of
practice to ensure that animals used in agriculture have the
ability to satisfy their natural physical and behavioural needs;
c) target direct funding and other forms of economic assistance
to enhance achievement of ecologically sustainable land
management;
d) propose changes in the taxation structure for chemical
fertilisers and pesticides with the aim of supporting a change
to ecologically sustainable farming methods. Levies on these
products will be redistributed to the farming community through
education, information and other appropriate programmes on
integrated and non-chemical pest management and sustainable
farming practices;
e) systematically and regularly review the efficacy of existing
agricultural assistance and rural land management programme;
f) significantly enhance funding for research and programmes
which provide control of environmental weeds and environmentally
sound and humane methods for control of feral animals;
g) monitor land degradation and biodiversity on rural private
land at a national level;
h) initiate a comprehensive, uniform national mapping of land
systems and biota, and their condition, as a base for preparing
regional plans for sustainable land management;
i) ensure comprehensive review and restructuring of the arid
lands pastoral industry;
j) propose research, promotion and training in farm practices
including effective forms of biological pest control that reduce
the use and impact of chemicals;
k) immediately transfer responsibility for land protection to
the environment portfolio; and
l) implement an action plan for the retirement and/or
conservation covenanting of land deemed ecologically unsuited to
continuing agricultural use, or of significant ecological value.
|
