Agriculture Importance: Dimensions

A. Importance

Agriculture Is :

1. Vital – Critical To Life And Living
2. Can Create Jobs, Income And Wealth
3. A Renewable Resource
4. Critical Raw Material Base For Industries
5. Can Have Multiplier Effects

B. Dimensions :

Agriculture Has Many Dimensions – Can Spell Prosperit

C. Subject Matter Of Today: An Important Dimension Of Agriculture

“Agro Residues / Biomass / Waste”

Harnessing Residues / Agro Waste and Biomass

A. Agriculturally India Has Notable Distinctions :

1. Significantly Growing Diverse Crops – Diversity
2. Highest Producer Of Cotton Globally
3. Second Highest Producer – Fruits and Vegetables
4. Rich Plantation Crops – Tea, Rubber, Coffee, Spices, medicinal Plant, etc.
5. Utilizable – Trees and Barks of Trees

B. Need to research, investigate and harness the value chain of each crop. having huge Biomass from various crops which we are not utilizing.

Dismal Utilization of Our Agro Wealth

1. Its Is Realised That Our Utilization And Value Accretion To Our Agriculture Is Dismal.
2. Estimated Other Countries Utilize Their Total Agro Produced Items To The Extent Of 75-85%, We Are Utilizing About 60-65%
3. Estimated Biomass That India Generates Is Quantitatively 565-686MT
4. Out Of Which 234mt (34%) Are As Surplus For Bioenergy Generation.
5. Biomass Today Instead Of Asset To Be Utilized Has Become A Liability For Disposal.
6. Owing To Burning Of Biomass Can Lead To Air Pollution.

With Special Reference To Cotton Stalks

Introduction

1. India Is Highest Producer Of Cotton Globally. Present Production Is 377lakh Bales
2. The Cotton Is Produced As KAPAS And Is A Bio Component Crop, Lint + Seeds.
3. Seed is multi layered and multi component of KAPAS and has elongated value chain, which has not been scientifically and fully utilized.
4. The most important and neglected Biomass that is produce is by cotton plant itself which is known as COTTON STALKS

Cotton Stalks

1. Availability of cotton stalks is around 28.5 Million Tons annually.
2. CIRCOT (Central Institute and Research in Cotton) has done tremendous work on all cotton stalks.
3. CIRCOT has also done remarkable work on utilization of By products from Cotton Seeds such as Linters into extra ordinary application of Nano-Cellulosic product Remarkable achievement globally.

Cotton Stalk – Utilization and Products

1. Renewable Energy Cotton Stalks Are Used As Fuel.
2. Even CIRCOT Has Develop Theory For Utilizing Cotton Stalk For Crementation.
3. Particle Boards From Cotton Stalks, Confirming Highest Standard Of 3087/985 Can Be Referred.
4. Furniture, Panels, Acoustic Boards, Partitions, False Ceilings Can Be Prepared Out Of This.
5. On Farm Utilization Of Cotton Stalk Compost And For Mushroom Production. Compost Is Enriched With Nut Oyster Mushroom (Edible) Can Be Grown For Cotton Stalks.

Banana And Its Residues

1. Banana Production In 2015-16 Was In 8.4 Lakh Hectares.
2. Its Multi Component Crop
3. Biggest Residue Is In Banana ‘Pseudostem”, Which Is The Plant Residue
   Like Cotton Stalk.
4. Pseudostem Is Produced 64million Tons Annually And Renewably
5. 0.64million Tones Of Textile Fibres Including Non Woven Fabric At
   Industrial Scale Can Be Produced I.E. Around 7 Lakh Bales Of Cotton
6. SAP – 14 Million Tones (14BN Ltrs), SCAP Is The Liquid Which Is Usable As Preservative For Food Products & Has Becterio Static Properties.
7. Scutcher Waste – 21million Tones, Used For Making Pulp And Quality
   Papers.
8. Central Core 7Million Tones, Utilizable for many number of applications
   like Handicraft Items, etc.

Pineapple

1. Pineapple Biomass Has Been Well Exploited By Philippines By Converting It Into An Organic Fibre
2. Kalibo – Akland In The Philippines Is The Main And The Oldest Manufacturer / Weaver Of Pineapple Fibre Knows As PINA.
3. This Is An Emerging Fabric In The Appeal Industry, As The Philippines Has 59,000 Hectares Of Pineapple Plantation, Yielding 483tones Of Pineapple Fibres Adding That This Agricultural Waste Can Be An Alternate Material For Appeals, Home Textiles, Upholsteries And Non Woven Industrial Fabrics.
4. Eco Friendly, Livelihood Creator With Beneficial Properties And Multiple Uses.