India Maize SummitDelhi. 09th – 10th Apr 2015.

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Producer’s View: Preparedness and Farm Practices

Corn Field: Bihar

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Bihar - Highlights

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• Important rabbi Maize grower.• Declining trend 13-14.• Tremendous potential to increase per unit

yield with out increasing acreage. • Spring maize gaining in acreage.• Hardy plant when compared to wheat, pulses

and mustard.• Short duration and lower input cost when

compared to sugarcane.

Micronutrient Spray

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Cost of production for Rabbi

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Ploughing, Sowing, seed, Fertilizer, Irrigation, Weedicides, Pesticide, Micronutrient sprays, Cutting, Threshing, Drying and Packing.

Own Impliments: Rs 17966.00Rent Hire Basis: Rs 21662.00

Hoeing Manually

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Government and Industry Intervention

Current practices: Areas which need intervention:

1. Ploughing: No longer systemic. Cost cutting done.2. Sowing: Manual/Labour Shortage/Seed Drill.3. Seeds: Quality seeds, seed treatment.4. Labour: Avaibility.5. Irrigation: Flood/Drip6. Micro nutrient management: For higher yields. 7. Weed Control: For higher yields8. Harvesting: Manual, Corn plucker, combined harvester.9. Storage: Moisture, Packing, Warehouse/Godowns.10.Marketing: Producer Companies, Co operatives.

Incorporating Maize Trash Into The Soil

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Seeds: A special mention

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1.Availability.2.Quality.3.Has been a game changer and can

further be.4.Are farmers worried about buying

seeds every year.5.Cost of seeds.

Manual Planting

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Pneumatic Precision Seed Drill

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Seed Drill At Work

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Sowing: Manual/Seed Drill

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1.Manual: Inherent problems.2.Labour shortage.3.Seed Drills: Advantages, disadvantages.4.Availability.5.Prohibitive Cost: Import duties, tax .6.Tax exemption if a farmer needs to buy

it.7.Government subsidy.

Combined Harvester: Mini

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Harvesting

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1.Manual: Labour problem.2.Weather: Quality, Moisture.3.Combined harvester: Efficient, fast. 4.Small farmers: Issues with combined

harvester, cob.5.Corn Pluckers: Cob issue solved.6.Cost effectiveness: Manual-machine

Sun Drying Maize

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Storage/Marketing

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1.Moisture Control: Aflatoxins.2.Distress Selling: 3.Godowns and warehouses: Mission

mode, absolute low rate of interest.4. Industry: can step in here.5.Producer companies.6.Uniformity of crops

Corn Plucker

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Challenges faced by the Farmers

1. Selling Price: Can’t be controlled – then

2. MSP: Is it sustainable.

3. International Prices: Who can control.

4. Production: Can be controlled.

5. Input cost: Can be controlled.

6. Effective Extension Support: Crop Agronomics, Market Intel, Post Harvest Mgt.

7. Panchayati Raj: Common facility – Rent and resources like Drying, Cleaning and storage.

8. Solving the cob problem of farmers.

9. Subsidy on pneumatic seed drill/corn cutting head.

10.Availability of Fertilizers.

11.Processing facility: locally farmers participate n creating land banks.

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Higher Per Unit yield

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Thank You

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