eChapters

Abstract

Women play a critical and potentially transformative role in agricultural growth in developing countries but they face persistent obstacles and economic constraints limiting their potential inclusion in agriculture. The feminization of agriculture is determined by two major factors, first compared to men, women have much poorer access to and control over productive resources and they have inadequate access to public services, such as training, extension and credit. Women farmers often lack the know-how and the confidence to use the improved technology and most of the new technologies. The reason being most of these advancements are aimed at male specific end users. Giving support to rural women is a way of breaking the vicious cycle that leads to rural poverty so there is need to cut the drudgery of women farmers and make their efforts worthwhile and economical. Development strategies should consider rural women as the epicenter, paying special attention to their social skills both within and without agriculture sector. In terms of equity, women overall have lower awareness of AAS than men do, indicating the importance of targeting women in communications efforts. More trainings are required to generate interest and motivate farm women to learn about the AAS and use it. Closing the gender productivity gap could increase agricultural output in by a significant amount. Increased production would also imply increased food availability and reductions in undernourishment. Integrating Gender and Agriculture within Agricultural Extension System empowers families, helps women to contribute to household incomes, increases productivity & reduces gender gaps in agriculture.

Abstract

Cattle are reared for milk and dry periods are considered loss to the exchequer of livestock farmers. To avoid it, farmers mostly abandon the cattle to become stray animals. Latest research supports that cow dung and urine are endowed with versatile medicinal, biofertilizer and bio-pesticide properties of socioeconomic importance. This has given the concept of dry cattle farming where focus is utilities of cow dung and urine and their value added products. Cow urine is useful for numerous human ailments like, cancer, osteoarthritis, allergies, kidney failures, skin diseases, healing of wounds etc. Cow dung is main source for vermicompost, FYM and biogas. Many products containing cow dung and urine i.e. soap (23% cow dung content and 7% urine), toothpaste (10% cow dung content and 10% urine, 2% Ghee), floor cleaners (Gaunyle: 11% cow urine), hair oil, incense shaving cream, face wash, talcum powders and dark circle removers are available in the market. The term cowpathy has been coined for diverse uses of cow dung and urine and is now focal area of research and innovative products development. Further, the dry cattle farming offers solution to problems of stray animals and helps in empowering the women farming community to exploit dry farming for more profit, product development and economic strengthening.

Abstract

Mushroom cultivation is a women friendly entreprise. High benefit cost ratio, easy and cheap availability of agro-wastes and congenial weather conditions make adoption of mushroom cultivation a lucrative source of rural women empowerment. The rural and tribal farm women can adopt agriculture based agribusiness on individual or group level and raise their income and employment opportunities which make them economically and socially empowered. Mushroom production, Bee-keeping, Dairy, Goatery, Seed production, cultivation of fruits, flower and vegetables can increase the income of rural and tribal farmers up to 70-80%. Mushroom production can be adopted even by landless rural women. Further value-added mushroom products provide good potential for entrepreneurs in view of the growing demand. The focus of Indian mushroom industry is predominantly on trade of the fresh produce rather than the real value-addition. Almost entire domestic trade is in the fresh form while most of the export is in the preserved form (canned or steeped). Current era is characterized by greater awareness about quality and, above all, with the demand for the readymade or ready-to-make food products. Technologies for production of some other products like mushroom based biscuits, nuggets, noodles, papad, candies, pickle and readymade mushroom curry have been developed and trainings need to be imparted to the stakeholders. Attractive packaging of the value-added products is yet another area called the secondary value-addition which can add to profit of the entrepreneurs.

Abstract

Livestock sector has gained momentum world over with consistently increasing market demand for live stock products. India with annual 171 million tons of liquid milk production, 74 billion egg production, 3.8 million tons of poultry meat and 11.50 million ton of fish production offers enormous opportunities for women agri-preneurs to venture into this area. Micro-enterprise development related to livestock rearing activities like dairy farming, sheep husbandry, goatry, poultry, livestock feed production, vermin-composting and value added product development and production are the important enterprises in which women can utilize their technical skills. Finance for infrastructure and small scale agro-processing units are requisites to success of rural women entrepreneurs as these will help them to enhance their competency to use raw materials from the farm and livestock to earn substantial income. Rural women entrepreneurs are facing tough competition from the large scale organizations and urban entrepreneurs where governmental interventions are essential. The women producers are not collective in their approach for marketing their products because they are scattered and mostly uneducated. The women entrepreneurs are heavily dependent on middlemen for marketing of their products who pocket large amount of profit. Hence, government should take steps to provide market information of different products and finance to the rural entrepreneurs at concessional rates.

Abstract

Most of the vegetables available in the market contain large quantity of pesticide residue. This has created serious health problems among the people. Self-sufficiency in safe to eat vegetable production can be achieved either by commercial production or better farming by family in kitchen garden. As quality control mechanism is not strong and well established, the produce from commercial farming can’t be assured as safe to eat product. The continuous effort taken by our centre and other existing systems in the state for the last six years have made the people aware about the quality of vegetables. In Kerala, most of the families, especially in town and nearby areas are having only 3 to 10 percent of land. The space they can spare for vegetable production either on the ground or on roof top is hardly 10 to 40m². Pest and disease attack is another issue in Kerala. Hence our centre gave importance for the design and development of 10m² /20m² /30m² poly-kitchen garden which could accommodate 160 to 350 plants (almost all pest susceptible crops required for a family can be accommodated inside these structures.) suitable for a family by utilizing multi-tier grow bags (one multi-tier grow bag can accommodate 35 to 50 plants), grow bags and troughs. In these structures, cultivation practices can be done even during night without the fear of snake and mosquitoes by fitting a fluorescent lamp. This technology was approved by Government of Kerala and declared 75% subsidy for establishing this full facility for a family. In order to popularize this technology among the public, we had conducted many training programmes and empowered the women (house wife/employed woman) in vegetable production and to make their mindset to ensure a kitchen garden (either a conventional type grow bag kitchen garden or poly-kitchen garden) in their house plot. When we started working with this goal (in 2013, when project was started), < 20% of required vegetables for the state was produced in the state. On account of our continuous effort, by the year 2016, state managed to pick up its vegetable production by 64.5%

Abstract

Indiscriminate and intuitive applications of the synthetic pesticides have adversely affected the ecological balance, resulting in pest resurgence, development of resistance in the pest species and environmental pollution. Biocontrol agents are now available to contain effectively diverse diseases and pests of various major field, fruit and vegetable crops with the result their demand in market has enhanced several folds but low production and scarce availability is a major constraint in their large scale adoption by farmers. While as now protocols for mass production of a number of biocontrol agents have been standardised and simplified, these can now be adopted by the unemployed educated youths to start entrepreneurship for self employment. In order to empower and improve the women farmers’ productivity, they need to have proper farm training and capacity building programs to compete various challenges in their rural livelihood and mass production of bio-control agents is an emerging enterprise with commercial potential. The Indian bio-pesticide market stands at over US$127 million (7-8% of the global market) and is expected to triple by FY20. The research efforts at the ICAR institutes and SAUs have been targeted to relieve women of the drudgery by providing technologies, time and labour saving tools with good market linkage. Women self help group with proper training can start their own bio-pesticides units for which finance with subsidy is available.

Abstract

Livestock sector plays an important role in rural livelihood, employment and income generation and is a preferred entrepreneurial area for women and unemployed youths. There are enormous enterprises to venture in livestock sector such dairy, poultry, sheep rearing, goatry, piggery, fisheries, hatcheries, processing, organic dairy, organic poultry, value added products, feed and fodder products, pet-vet consultancy and clinic etc. Women constitute about 69% of workforce engaged in livestock sector right from rearing of animals to production and product development activities. Market oriented milk & milk product production as well as poultry production will be key livestock activities to generate income on a steady daily basis for resource poor households. Livestock-based enterprises are pathways out of poverty for many people in developing countries like India, for whom animals are source of nourishing foods and regular incomes. With demands for milk, meat and eggs rising fast in many developing countries, the raising marketing of animals and animal products also allows many people to take advantage of the new growth opportunities in this sector. The projection of human population in India shows an increasing trend with alarming rate which in turn increases the demand for food especially of animal origin.

Abstract

Rural women play a vital role in farming system operations and contribute substantially in the physical aspect of farming, livestock management, postharvest and allied activities. Around 43% of the agricultural labour force of developing countries is composed of women dependency. India has achieved self sufficiency in agricultural production, but a considerable amount of production gets spoiled in every year due to inadequate post-harvest management, processing, infrastructure and skill. To uplift the livelihood and economic conditions of the rural women there is an urgent need to impart trainings for skill development regarding the value addition of horticultural crops. This offers tremendous opportunities for women occupation but also inculcate entrepreneurial characteristics in them. Trainings and skill development are useful for rural women as they can add more value to the seasonal fruits and vegetables and generate varieties of products namely Pickle, Murabbaa, Chutney, Jam, Sharbat etc. These efforts enhance their family income by around 30-40 thousands per annum as they fetch more prices of raw produce after processing. Moreover during peak production times glut only promote produce and profit loss. Instead of direct marketing of their produce they can do value addition of their produce and then sell them in market, it not only increases the value of their products but the prices also enhance by many folds. After giving training to rural women, they are motivated to go for self marketing of their produce at domestic and village level. Similar way these trainings can transform the life style and income level of farming families comprehensively.

Abstract

India is an agriculture based country and livestock production is an integral component of farming system and it is generally considered a key asset for rural livelihoods. It offers advantages over other agricultural sectors and it plays a crucial role in the rural economies of developing countries like India. Livestock provide high quality food, cash income and employment. Livestock production is largely in the hands of women. Most of the animal farming activities such as fodder collection, feeding, watering, and health care, management, milking and household-level processing, value addition and marketing are performed by women. Besides, considerable involvement and contribution of women, gender inequalities also exist in Indian villages. Therefore, there is a need to correct gender bias in livestock sector. Efforts are needed to increase the capacity of women to negotiate with confidence and meet their strategic needs.

1. Introduction

This information is collected and complied by the authors from various websites for the motivation of readers particularly women. In no way it is exclusive and we do not claim accuracy of facts described here. Mere purpose is to disclose the fact that miracles do not happen but they are conditioned to manifest when determinations are reinforced by confidence. Live not to spend the time but to use it to spread your manifestations the world over.

Abstract

February 14, 2019 marks the third anniversary of the One Billion Rising campaign, a new escalation in violence against women that calls for a radical shift to end the global epidemic of abuse that women face worldwide. Violence against women continues to be on rise. This ill-omened barrier to achieving equality, development, peace as well as to the fulfillment of women and girls’ human rights has gone viral. The National Coalition against Domestic Violence reports that 1.3 million women are victims of domestic abuse each year. Violence against women is a serious problem in India, too. Overall, one-third of women age 15-49 have experienced physical violence and about 1 in 10 has experienced sexual violence. It is very disturbing as well as discouraging to think that a country that praises womanhood through epics and their devotion to goddesses can be so demeaning and indifferent when it comes to the common women living in the country. Amid environment of bleak hope, yog with multiple benefits of physical, psychological and mental stresses offers a ray of hope for women. Yog means connectivity with oneself that ignites power to understand strength of one’s own innerself, builds confidence to think of innovative attainments, endure the atrocities of external world and stay moralized. Yog classes run throughout the world providing relief to billions. Yog therapies are in operation to cure social stress, mental fatigue and physiological disorders etc. More research on yog, yog therapy and yogic interventions aided by political and social will are needed to have its effective implications on the women empowerment and sustainability of human world.

Abstract

Women Technology Park is a technology modulation and a training centre to show case livelihood technologies for women. The aim of Women Technology Park is to create awareness among rural farming community and give trainings of proven technology to reap maximum benefits from their existing resources. Its objective is to make them aware about “processing” that can enhance their income in multiple times. In this direction, the first ever Women Technology Park (WTP) of Jammu and Kashmir was sponsored by SEED division of Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and endorsed by Livestock Products Division FVSc, SKUAST-Jammu. It was inaugurated by Vice chancellor of SKUAST- Jammu at Deoli Village of Bishnah Block, Jammu and Kashmir. 12 groups of women were screened out and trainings were imparted to them for a week. More than 75 training cum awareness programs have been organized with more than 1500 beneficiaries. There are more than 50 beneficiaries who received start up grant in the form of goods essential for preparing livestock products and started up their own micro-enterprises and became self-reliant and set an example for other women to come up and take up processing of livestock products as profession to earn their livelihood.

A forest is a large area dominated by trees. Many definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing and ecological function. Although a forest is usually defined by the presence of trees, under many definitions an area completely lacking trees may still be considered a forest if it grew trees in the past, will grow trees in the future, or was legally designated as a forest regardless of vegetation type. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, forests covered 4 billion hectares or approximately 30% of the world’s land area in 2006. Forests are the dominant terrestrial ecosystem of earth, and are distributed around the globe. Forests account for 75% of the gross primary production of the earth’s biosphere, and contain 80% of the earth’s plant biomass.

DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN FORESTRY

Systematic management of forests for a sustainable yield of timber began in Portugal in the 13th century when Afonso III, the king of Portugal planted the trees to prevent coastal erosion and soil degradation, and as a sustainable source for timber used in naval construction. His successor Dom Dinis continued the practice and the forest exists still today. Forest management also started in German in the 14th century and in Japan in the 16th century. The practice of establishing tree plantations in the British Isles was promoted by John Evelyn during second half of the 17th century.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, forest preservation programmes were established in British India, the United States, and Europe. Sir Dietrich Brandis is considered the father of tropical forestry. He brought European concepts and practices to the tropical and semi arid climate zones. The enactment and evolution of forest laws and binding regulations occurred in most Western nations in the 20th century in response to growing conservation concerns. Tropical forestry is a separate branch of forestry which deals mainly with equatorial forests that yield woods such as teak and mahogany. One of the applications of modern forestry is reforestation, in which trees are planted and tended in a given area.

The Indian ancient texts have some mention of the forest and the activities that were performed in the forests. Forests were revered by the people and a large number of religious ceremonies centred on trees and plants. Ancient Hindu culture is said to have evolved in the forest. The epics Ramayana and Mahabharata give an attractive description of forests. The Agni Purana, written about 4000 years ago, stated that man should protect trees to have material gains and religious blessings. Around 2500 years ago, Gautama Buddha preached to his followers to plant trees. There is enough evidence to show that dense forests once covered India. But the growing population and man’s dependence on the forest for infrastructural developments caused the depletion of forests.

HISTORY OF INDIAN FORESTS

The earliest indication of forestry administration in India is found in 300 BC. It was during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya. He realized the importance of the forests and appointed a Superintendent of Forests who looked after forests and wildlife. Later Ashoka continued the process. He launched programmes to plant trees on a large scale. Much importance was also given for planting trees along roadsides and temple premises. These rules continued even during the Gupta period.

The process of replacing the existing mature forest with a new generation of the forest trees is called forest regeneration. It can also be defined as process by which new tree seedlings become established after forest trees have been harvested or have died from fire, insects, or diseases. Forest regeneration is one of the basic tasks of foresters. Regeneration plays such a prominent role in silviculture that most silvicultural systems are named for their method of regeneration.

Silviculture is the branch of forestry dealing with the establishment, development, care and reproduction of trees. Forestry is anything done in the forest and silviculture is anything done to forests. ‘Silva’ is the Latin word for forest and ‘culture’ for cultivation. Silviculture is narrower than forestry, being concerned only with forest plants, but is often used synonymously with forestry.

The Society of American Foresters defines silviculture as theory and practice of establishment, composition, constitution and growth of forests. Thus, silviculture refers to art and science of raising forest crops, methods of raising tree crops, their growth and aftercare up to the time of final harvesting. In simple words, silviculture is the growing and tending stands of trees. Silviculture is also used to manage forests for wildlife, water, recreation, aesthetics, or any combination of these or other forest uses.

Tending is the term applied to pre-harvest silvicultural treatment of forest tree crops at any stage after initial planting or seeding. In other words, tending is the intermediate treatments that forest vegetation receives after establishment of regeneration and prior to final harvest of the stand. These tending operations can occur throughout the life of the forest stand, but do not include efforts directed at establishing regeneration. Tending operations play a fundamental role in the improvement of quality and stability of forest stands. Tending the trees after planting creates favourable conditions for both the plants’ survival and to stimulate a healthy, vigorous growth. Tending operations keep the plants from being suppressed by natural vegetation. It essentially covers operation on the crop itself and competing vegetation. Weeding, cleaning and thinning are important tending operations. Even improvement felling comes under tending operations but regeneration felling is not a tending operation. The major objectives of tending are to maintain sanitation, provide sufficient growing space, and more light, water, nutrients, etc. to the tree crops.

Mensuration is derived from Latin word mensura which means measure. It means measurement of length, mass, time, etc. It is an art and science of locating, measuring and calculating the length of lines, areas of planes, and volumes of solids.

Forest mensuration is one of the most fundamental disciplines within forest and related sciences. It concentrates on trees and forests or potentially forested locations and deals with the measurement of trees and stands and the analysis of the resultant information. Forest mensuration also includes measuring or calculating growth and change in trees and forests. Forest mensuration thus may be defined as the art and science of providing the quantitative information about trees and forest stands necessary for forest management, planning and research. Chaturvedi and Khanna (1986) defined forest mensuration as a branch of forestry which deals with the determination of dimensions (diameter, height, volume, etc.), form, age and increment of single trees, stands or whole woods, either standing or after felling. According to the Society of American Foresters, forest mensuration is the determination of dimensions, form, weight, growth, and age of trees individually or collectively, and of the dimensions of their products (Helms, 1998). It is a tool that provides facts about the forest crops or individual trees to sellers, buyers, planners, managers and researchers.

Forest mensuration provides quantitative information regarding forest resources that will allow making reasonable decisions on its density, use and management. Forest mensuration serves the following objects

Agroforestry is a new name for a set of old practices. The farmers have been practicing agroforestry since ancient times. The general concept of agroforestry is to integrate trees and agriculture so as to create a more diversified landscape, while providing the producers with new environmental and economic benefits. In other words, agroforestry is a method of farming that allows trees and shrubs to grow along with crops and/or livestock, therefore blending agriculture and forestry in the same production system. This relatively young science was brought from the realm of indigenous knowledge into the forefront of agricultural research four decades ago and was promoted widely as a sustainability-enhancing practice that combines the best attributes of both forestry and agriculture.

Multipurpose trees and shrubs are defined as all woody perennials that are purposefully grown to provide more than one significant contribution to the production and/or service functions of a land-use system that they occupy. In agroforestry systems, different species of trees and shrubs can be planted with many types of crops in a variety of patterns. Thus, it is required to know about the methods of propagation and nursery raising, planting and other silvicultural management practices along with the diverse uses of multipurpose trees and shrubs of tropical and subtropical areas before their selection for forestry and agroforestry activities. It is important to select the most suitable tree species since it is not easy to replace them once they have been planted.

MANGIUM (Acacia mangium)

Acacia mangium is a single-stemmed evergreen tree that grows to 25-35 m in height and up to 60 cm in diameter. The bole is usually straight, often fluted near the base, free of branches for up to half its height. Mangium is native to Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. However, it tolerates varied site conditions and has adaptability to different planting objectives. Mangium shows most vigorous growth on well-drained, fertile soils in high rainfall areas in the humid tropics. It is valued for its rapid growth and has been planted throughout the humid tropics and is a major plantation species in the Asia-Pacific. Provenances from Papua New Guinea consistently show better growth in height and diameter.

A series of efforts have been made to initiate the work on post-harvest grain technology in India. H.M. Lefroy, the 1^st Imperial Entomologist appointed by the British Government in India in 1905 had given a tentative list of storage insects in 1906. This list of storage insects was further supplemented by T.B. Fletcher in 1914. The problems of grain storage were discussed at Pusa, Bihar at the Entomological meetings held during the years 1917, 1919 and 1923.

The Department of Food was established in 1942 by the Government of India. The executive wing of the Food Department was responsible for the purchase, movement, transport and distribution of food grains. Central Food Technology Research Institute (CFTRI) at Mysore was established in 1950 with a mandate to train personnel and evolve technology relating to food processing and preservation. The Central Warehousing Corporation was set up on 2^nd March, 1957 under Agricultural Produce (Warehousing and Development) Act 1956. On 1^st January, 1965 Food Corporation of India was established.

In 1958, the Department of Food started a centre at Hapur known as Grain Storage Research and Training Centre with the main objective to train the personnel of State Government engaged in food procurement, storage and distribution. This centre was upgraded during 1968-1973 with the technical and financial assistance of UNDP and this centre was redesignated as Indian Grain Storage Institute (IGSI). Two field stations at Ludhiana and Bapatla (later shifted to Hyderabad in March 1979) were established in 1968-69. Subsequently, three stations of IGSI at Jabalpur (October, 1980), Udaipur (February, 1981) and Jorhat (May, 1981) were also established. The overall objective was to minimize losses of food grains by development of modernized grain storage practices for the farmers, traders, cooperatives and large storage of food grains in the country and also to evolve the methodology to be adopted by the Save Grain Compaign which has its headquarters in the Department of Food.

Insect infestation occurs in stored grains and grain products to variable extent depending upon the storage conditions in developing countries. The losses of nutritional compounds are proportional to the extent of insect infestation, nature of insect feeding and distribution of nutritional chemicals in different seed components.

1. Sources of Insect Infestation

There are many sources that leads to infestation in storage, viz., left over seed from bins or stores or spilled seeds under the stacks, cleanings, sweepings of storage structure, processing plants, old infested stores, old gunny bags, insect infested transport vehicles, storing insect infested seeds with fresh stock or vice-versa, entry of insects from neighbouring stores and carry over of field infestation

The damage to food grains in the storage may be caused due to insect attack, mould, fungi, bacteria, rodents, heat and moisture. The value of grain for milling purposes and human food is directly correlated with the amount of insect contamination present. The immature stages of rice and granary weevils, lesser grain borer, Angoumois grain moth and occasionally the flat grain beetle, cadelle, rust red flour beetle and saw toothed grain beetle live inside the kernels where they are hidden from view until they emerge.

Grain from casual inspection appears to be in good condition but may contain enough internal infestation which render it unfit for human food or unfit for purchase for future sale as milling stock. In general, millers have found that wheat with more than 0.5 per cent of infested kernels is unfit for milling. The need for a rapid and accurate method of estimating insect contamination in grain offered for sale has become more and more important to both grain dealers and millers.

Methods for Estimation of Damage

In order to assess the damage caused to food grains due to any one or combination of various factors; physical, chemical and micro-analytical methods are employed according to the necessity and information required. Various methods have been employed by field workers as well as by laboratory technicians in estimating damaged grains in food grains with particular reference to detection of insect infestation which alone cause maximum damage. These methods have been described below.

A number of insects infest seeds in storage. These insects infest seeds to fulfill their feed and shelter requirements, which result into qualitative as well as quantitative loss of seeds. Indian climate is very favourable for their multiplication and growth throughout the year. Storage pests move along with commercial products from one area to another and even to different countries in the world. Some adult insects are strong fliers and may spread from one to another place of storage or from source of infestation. Generally, all insects infesting seeds in storage belongs to insect order Coleoptera and Lepidoptera (Table 4.1). Some minor species belong to Pscoptera. These pests cause losses to man by destroying large quantities of grain, corn, legumes (beans, lentils and peas), milled cereal products, flour, bran, macaroni and other paste products, dried fruits, dried vegetables, cheese, nuts, candy and other food materials. They contaminate and thus eliminate for human consumption, far more food than they eat and either cause direct loss or transmit diseases to man and his domestic animals. These insects can be categorized as major or minor pests according to the loss of seeds caused by them. Similarly, on the basis of their feeding behavior, they can be grouped as follows:

There are several species in this cosmopolitan family that are of importance chiefly as pests of stored foods, flour, grain, seeds and bulbs, feeding on these products or the fungi that develop on them. These mites are mostly very minute, almost colourless, with the body bearing a few long setae, and with the legs terminating in one claw and usually a sucker. When very abundant the mites and their cast skins form a buff-colored dust and give rise to a characteristic odour. The living mites move slowly away from a source of light. An interesting characteristic of these mites is a nymphal resting stage (hypopus) during which they take no food but attach themselves to other mites, insects and humans by means of suckers and are thereby transported to other suitable places for development, where they drop off, moult, feed, and develop into adult stage. The hypopus may be resistant to fumigants. However, the cheese mites, Tyrophagus casei do not have a hypopial stage. Prolonged storage of products subject to infestation without cleaning of pantries and shelves where such materials are placed. These mites can subsist on organic debris in cracks, crevices and corners and are readily spread to other areas.

It is interesting to note that only 25 of about 1200 species of birds found in India have been reported to inflict damage to crops, vegetables and fruits. The exact ecological causes for population increase of individual species have yet to be studied. It would appear that, in general, the granivorous birds became abundant with the increase in area under grain crops and the subsequent storage of grain in godowns and bulk storage. The details of important bird pests are given below:

Economic Importance of Rodent Pests

• They consume and damage foods in the fields and in stores. In addition, they spoil it in store by urine and droppings reducing the sale values.
• Due to their gnawing and burrowing habit they destroy many articles (packing, clothes and furniture) and structures (floors, buildings, bridges, etc). By gnawing the electrical cables they can cause fires.
• They are responsible for transmitting diseases dangerous to human and domestic animals.

Among many pests of agricultural crops and stored grain products, rodents are the major pests which do the great damage. Rodents including rats, mice and squirrels are gnawing animals having chisel like teeth. They have highly developed sense of smell, taste and hearing. They are omnivorous and feed on grains, vegetables, fruits, meat and other products in the houses or in the fields. Rats daily consume food equal to about 10 per cent of their body weight and the figure may go up to 30 per cent in case of mice. Rats are among the most destructive pests of paddy in the field causing about 5-10 percent damage. It is estimated that these animals destroy 30 per cent of the total world’s cereal production. In India, 10 million tonnes of food grains are lost every year. It is often said that if rodent ravages could be controlled, a huge amount of food grains can be saved.

Of the 84 species of order Rodentia in India, 50 belong to family Muridae. The important ones belong to two sub-families, viz., Murinae and Gerbillinae. Murinae has 18 species of genus Rattus, 2 of Bandicota, 7 of Mus, 2 of Apodemus and a few each under eight other genera. The sub-family Gerbillinae has 2 species of Gerbillus, one each of Tatera and Meriones. Family Sciuridae has 10 species of flying squirrels and 13 species of tree squirrels in India.

As the name indicates, micro-organisms are very minute, cellular, living organisms which cannot be seen with the naked eyes (however, large colonies of fungi can be seen). Micro-organisms affecting stored grain can be divided into the following groups in order of their significance:

1. Fungi
2. Actinomycetes
3. Yeast
4. Bacteria
5. Protozoa (not found in sound food grains)

Fungi, bacteria and actinomycetes are grouped under the Thallophyta of the plant kingdom. The most important factors for their normal development are: (i) Nature of Food, (ii) Moisture, (iii) Oxygen and (iv) Temperature.

In the past several insect pests had entered India and are causing economically perceptible damage to native crops. The Government of India, in line with the International Standards on Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM), notified ‘Plant Quarantine Order, 2003’ to reduce the risk of introduction of exotic insect pests in India. The storage insect pests of quarantine concern for India have been listed in Table 9.1.

Since commencement of the settlement of world, the search for food had been uppermost, thereby, practising the conservation of food is a basic need for ensuring its ample supply to human being. The problem of food storage is growing fast day by day with the increase in the population. The existing shortage of protein and caloric requirements will not only be solved by growing more food and resorting to family planning measures but also by saving the produce from deterioration and wastage, and its efficient allocation to meet the growing requirement of population. In countries with varied climatic conditions, it is a steady struggle of man with insects, mites, rodents and microbes in getting the food stuff.

Need and Objectives of Storage

Since times immemorial, man adopted a particular system of storage and certain produce storage standards. Some of the storage methods are still in use in several regions, in the capacity varying from one kg to several hundred quintals, like hollowed gourds, skin bags, mud bins, excavated stones, woven baskets, underground pits etc., particularly in the tropics. The problems of storage in developing countries are more acute than that in well developed countries and a considerable disparity seems to be there in food availability. All need a food supply that should be nutritious, clean; free from insects, rodents, birds, other animal filth and harmful chemical residues. There are two types of needs, one immediately after harvest and the other in off season. There is no need of storing the produce for immediate requirement but for the latter case, the need to conserve produce properly is inevitable. Further, the need for storage has always arisen for one reason to distribute commodity in deficit production areas and the other based on improved quality standards. In all the way, therefore; growers, processors, transporters and warehouse owner must assist to comply with these requirements.

A series of efforts have been made to initiate the work on post harvest grain technology in India. The history of post harvest grain technology in India goes back as early as 1888 when COATS published several papers from Calcutta related to biology of stored grain pests. The first professional was appointed in the year 1905, known as Imperial Entomologist, Harold Maxwell Lefroy adorned with this post. Lefroy (1906) for the first time gave a tentative list of storage insects, which was further supplemented by Fletcher (1914). The problems of grain storage were discussed at the entomological meetings held at Pusa, Bihar in the years 1917, 1919 and 1923. The first step towards establishing an Institute in India was in the year 1950 when Central Food Technology Research Institute (CFTRI) was established at Mysore (Karnataka) with a mandate to train personnel and evolve technology related to food processing and preservation. The Central Warehousing Corporation was set up on 2^nd March 1957 under the Agricultural Produce (Warehousing and Development) Act 1956. The Food Corporation of India was established on 1^st January 1965.

In India, the farmers in traditional bulk and bag storage for food, feed and seed stored about 65-70 per cent of the total food grains and seed purposes till next harvest. Rest 30-35 per cent are procured and stored by food grain organizations, like Food Corporation of India (FCI), Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), State Warehousing Corporations (SWCs), cooperatives, rural godowns and other state government agencies. In 1958, the Department of Food established a centre at Hapur known as Grain Storage Research and Training Centre (GSRTC) with the main objective to train the personnel of state government engaged in food procurement, storage and distribution. This centre was upgraded during 1968-1973 with the technical and financial assistance of UNDP and GSRTC and redesigned as Indian Grain Storage Institute (IGSI). The field stations at Ludhiana and Bapatla (later shifted to Hyderabad in March, 1979) were established in 1968-69. Subsequently, three stations were also established at Jabalpur (1980), Udaipur (1981) and Jorhat (1981).

Introduction

The increase in agricultural production, particularly food grain is one of the major problems of national planners to achieve the target in the food production. Our farmers have been utilized more and more the modern methods of agriculture including the use of chemicals for protection of crop and stored products against the pests. A successful farmer knows that what pests to expect on his crops and stored products, when and under what conditions their attack will be possible. But due to insufficient knowledge of chemicals and their application, our farmers use them without care and injudicious manner, therefore, these chemicals not only give poor kill of insects but also cause the hazards to man and domestic animals. Success in pest control operations depends on many factors such as correct identification of pest, proper timing of insecticidal application, right choice of chemicals and their formulations, doses and method of application.

Fumigants are still widely used for the control of insects and other pest organisms. Because of their unique characteristics and the great adaptability of fumigation technique, fumigants can often provide effective and economical control where other forms of pest control are not feasible. The development of light weight plastic sheets to enclose spaces or materials requiring fumigation has extended its use and made control procedures easier and much more adaptable. Among the fumigants, aluminum phosphide, ethylene dibromide (EDB), Ethylene dibromide- carbon tetrachloride (EDCT) etc. are most common in tropical and sub-tropical while methyl bromide is prevalent in temperate regions. Modern technology and research have also brought to notice certain problems with fumigants that are previously unknown. Among these, adverse effects on seed quality are most important. Thus, fumigants used in seed stores should not affect the viability of the seeds, should not be persistent, non-corrosive and highly diffusible.

All due precautions have to be exercised in handling pesticides because many of these leave toxic residues on treated food materials and plants which accumulate in higher concentrations in animals which consume these.

General Precautions

Read the precautions given by the manufacturer of the pesticides carefully. Store the pesticides under lock and key; prevent access of children to these; empty containers must be disposed off safely.

Blood and skin contaminations must be avoided.

The godown for fumigation must be made airtight by closing the doors, windows, ventilators, crevices etc.

In case of fumigation, the operator must use a suitable gas mask. It is a face-piece connected to a canister containing an absorbent material for the vapours of the fumigants by means of a flexible non-kinking breathing tube and provided with valves so that all air inhaled by the user passes through the canister and the exhausted air passes directly to the outside atmosphere through a non-return valve. The absorbent canister carries instructions indicating the number of hours for which it is effective in an atmosphere charged with the fumigant.

After the required exposure period, aerate the godown thoroughly. First open the entrance door, keep it open for 6-7 hours, then only enter and open other doors or windows.

Insecticide resistance to both fumigants and contact insecticides is an increasing problem in controlling stored grain and grain product insects throughout the world (Table 14.1). Hence, persons engaged in food commodity storage and preservation world over are concerned about the resistance of stored product insects to contact insecticides and fumigants. It is, therefore, necessary to work out strategies to delay or minimize the probability of resistance evolution. Resistance to pesticides is the ability of a strain of insects to tolerate doses of toxicants which would prove lethal to a normal population of insects of the same species. Resistance results when occasional resistant individuals arise in a population and survive the pesticidal treatment. These survivors then reproduce and confer the resistance to their offspring in succeeding generations. Resistance is the ability of a population (of insects) to survive a dose (of insecticide) that would normally kill 100 per cent of a susceptible population. Insecticide resistance is a dynamic phenomenon dependent on biochemical, physiological, genetic and ecological factors.

The chances of development of insecticide resistance in stored grain insect pest are more because of their life style, i.e., to remain confined in limited area. This results in more common inbreeding of the homozygous resistant strain resulting into homozygous resistant progeny. At the same time their management, once detected, can be easily achieved with the application of sufficiently acceptable sufficiently higher dose of the most appropriate insecticide to eliminate all the resistant survivors

The insect pest of stored grains can be conveniently divided into two groups, i.e., coleopterous and lepidopterous, therefore, the subject on these two groups has been pooled accordingly.

The produced food grains have to be stored either for short or long duration for utilization in the coming times for food, feed and seed. In storage, these undergo 9.33 per cent losses due to various agencies such as rodents, insects and mites, microorganism and moisture in India, whereas, in other developing countries, the losses are as high as 30 to 50 per cent. Therefore, with an urge to produce more, there is still urgent need to protect the produce in the storage to meet the challenge. As a result of improved storage technology, the losses in Government Warehouses could be reduced to minimum but at farmers’ level, where 60-70 per cent of the produce is retained, the losses are still too high.

The management of insects in stored products is in transition from a dependence on regular applications of chemical insecticides to the use of integrated pest management (IPM). IPM involves understanding interactions between stored product environment and insects associated with stored products, and replacing all or most of the chemical applications with cost effective non chemical alternatives. The increased emphasis in adopting IPM strategies for stored product insects is primarily due to consumers’ demand for food free from pesticide residues. The transition from a heavy reliance on chemicals to little or no chemical input and increased use of non chemical approaches requires a thorough understanding of stored product insects, their identification, monitoring, biology, ecology and response to chemical and non chemical management options. The current scenario of stored grain protection in India depends totally and judicious use of IPM strategies. For safe storage of food grains, both the preventive and curative measures are required: