Fruits berries and Local Agriculture

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Fruits berries and Local Agriculture 02/18/16 (Thu) 09:00:28 No.469

Eating fruits and beries can help prevent weight gain

Flavonoids are naturally occurring bioactive compounds that represent a constituent of fruits and vegetables, beyond calorie and macronutrient content, that could potentially influence body weight. Flavonoids are also present in various other foods and drinks, like tea, chocolate, and wine.

The findings of the study showed that high levels of flavonoids could help people maintain healthy weight. The research, which covered 1,24,086 women and men in the US who were monitored for up to 24 years, is the first to look at links between intake of various flavonoid subclasses and weight gain. Past studies have suggested that flavonoids may play a role in weight loss but most have focused on a single compound found in green tea and have had small sample sizes.

In the new study, researchers looked at seven flavonoid subclasses: flavanones, anthocyanins, flavan-3-ols, proanthocyanidins, flavonoid polymers, flavonols, and flavones.

Sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise, consumption of junk food and alcohol are rising in the country, making one in every five Indians either obese or overweight. According to latest estimates, India is just behind US and चीन with the third highest number of obese people in the world.

"Intake of fruits and vegetables is much less among Indians compared to those from other countries. Though vegetarians eat more of it as compared to non-vegetarians, it is limited to cooked vegetables where some of the nutrients along with fibres go missing. The intake of salads is very less in Indians," says Dr Anoop Misra, chairman, Fortis CDOC hospital for diabetes and allied specialities.

http://archive.is/i7DnE

As the farming sector is hit by consecutive monsoon shocks, negligible increase in minimum support price (MSPs) and depressed global food prices, here is a look at the measures the Union budget should consider to increase agricultural output.

Graphic:

http://archive.is/9MRFK

02/18/16 (Thu) 09:43:19 No.470

Crucial to Sikkim's transformation was the government's decision to bear the cost of the project, paying Rs 8,400 per hectare to have the land certified organic for the first three years. The government has spent Rs 66 crore on SOM since its inception. The certification of the land has been done by six of twodozen accredited agencies who follow the standards laid down in the National Programme for Organic Production, which has been in place since 2001. Aiding the farmers with the requisite knowhow and paperwork are 14 service providers, including government entities and private companies. Under a state law, anybody found using or storing chemical fertilisers or pesticides can be penalised Rs 1 lakh and/or imprisoned for up to three months.

According to the standards, it takes three years for a piece of farmland to be certified organic; the certifying agency assesses the land once a year during the period.

The farmer will have to let the agency know what she plans to grow in that soil and the inputs she is going to use. The produce from that soil will naturally be organic, unless they are processed, which has a different procedure.

During the three years, the soil will cleanse itself of the chemicals and no particular treatment is required. After the first three years, the land to has be certified every year. In case of serious violations, the land is sanctioned and can be declared organic only after another three years. Sandeep Bhargava, chief executive of Jaipur-based OneCert एशिया Agri Certification, which has certified around 40,000 hectares in Sikkim organic, says it is important that farmers have access to the market. "In Rajasthan, once the government stopped funding the certification, some farmers went back (to conventional farming). Only those farmers who have been provided a link to the market have continued organic farming."

One of the reasons why market linkage is essential is the drop in yield of 20-50% in the initial years of conversion. While the value of the produce may increase, there have to be takers for it. The organic food market in India in 2014 was estimated to be $0.36 billion, which is expected to nearly treble to $1.36 billion. The total area in India where organic farming is practised dropped to 4.72 million hectares in 2013-14, the last year for which data is available, from 5.21 million hectares the previous year. Even the quantity of India's organic produce dropped 7.5% in the same period to 1.24 million tonnes.

Since about three-fourths of India's organic food produce is exported — oilseeds account for 70% of the exports and North अमेरिका and the यूरोपan Union are the biggest importers of Indian organic food — food companies gripe that the supply is not meeting the local demand.

http://archive.is/Y77N2