Category: Nature / Environment

** International conference on innovation in agriculture organised

Indian Institute of Plantation Management (IIPM) Bengaluru, in association with Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, UK, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia and Faculty of Management Sciences, Suratthani Rajabhat University, Thailand, had organised a one-day International Conference on Challenges, Opportunities and Innovations in Agriculture, Plantations and Allied domanis posed by the Pandemic on Thursday

According to a IIPM release, delivering the inaugural address, Prof. V.G. Dhanakumar, director, IIPMB, emphasised on the ned to develop a research culture to address issues posed by the pandemic. He also encouraged delegates to strive for publishing in peer-reviewed and internationally indexed journals of ABDC, ABS and FT 50 series.

David Bozward, Professor and Dean, School of Entrepreneurship, Royal Agricultural University, presented a paper on ‘A Strategic Model for Opportunity Recognition and Entrepreneurship within Rural and Agricultural Regions’. He discussed different entrepreneurship models, applications and their impact on rural development.

** Bengaluru banker makes a buzz with beekeeping mission

Alongside his job as a home loan counsellor at SBI, Swamy has been training urbanites and farmers

At a time when health-conscious citizens are looking far and wide for pure honey, Mahadeva Swamy, a banker in Bengaluru, is on a mission to revive the concept of neighbourhood apiary and help people harvest the syrup on their own by setting up beehive boxes on vacant plots and terraces

** Progressive Karnataka farmer generates power from pond

Suresh Balnad, a resident of Bayar in Balnad village of Puttur taluk, uses water from a pond that is above 60 feet to generate power. He has fixed a wind turbine with a pipe to generate electricity. For the last 17 years, Suresh has been producing 2 kilowatt (KV) of power as water flows via canal.

** Seismometer installed at tremor-hit Gadikeshwar village

Taking note of the frequent tremors striking a few villages in Kalaburagi district in the past couple of weeks, a team of scientists from the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) visited the area and took stock of the situation.

The team comprised seismologists Suresh and Shashidhar from NGRI and Ramesh and Abhinaya from Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority. Associate scientist Anaveerappa Biradar from Sharan Sirasagi Seismic Centre in Kalaburagi was also present.

** A gecko named Jackie Chan in the Western Ghats

A new revision of Cnemaspis gecko in the Western Ghats has described 12 new species

A new revision of Cnemaspis geckos (day gecko) in the Western Ghats has described 12 new species, including ones named, among others, after Jackie Chan and dragons from Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings. Of the 12 species, 10 were found in southern Western Ghats.

The paper, ‘Diversifying on the Ark: multiple new endemic lineages of dwarf geckos from the Western Ghats provide insights into the systematics and biogeography of South Asian Cnemaspis (Reptilia: Squamata)’, authored by Saunak Pal, from the Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, Princia D’Souza and Kartik Shanker from the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc.), Bengaluru; and Zeeshan A. Mirza from the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, was published in Zoological Research recently.

** Mangaluru: Ullal municipality bags award for solid waste management

From the last two years, Ullal municipality has been encouraging people to sort out solid waste at source, and use wet waste for growing vegetables etc after preparing manure at homes. As reward for its successful use of solid waste by creating awareness, the municipality has bagged the state government award.

** Mangaluru: Assistant professor raises beautiful lotus terrace garden

  • Sneha Bhat, resident of Ullal in the city outskirts, is an assistant professor in a private college here. During spare time, she also serves as an announcer in Mangaluru Akashvani. She also has lot of interest in agriculture.

Because of shortage of space and also as she lives in city, she undertook terrace farming initially. She grew vegetables needed for household use on her terrace. The idea of growing lotuses struck her and she thought of raising a lotus garden at her home. Now, this thought has blossomed into a deep interest in raising variety of lotus plants.

** Commercial cultivation of bamboo begins in Karnataka’s coastal region

Bharatiya Kisan Sangh has distributed 10,000 tissue cultured plants of bamboo in the last one year in the coastal region

With the threat of Yellow Leaf Disease spreading to vast tracts of arecanut plantations looming large, farmers in the State’s coastal belt have now begun commercial cultivation of bamboo in a small way.

The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, which has taken the lead, has distributed 10,000 tissue cultured plants of bamboo from Bhatkal to Kasaragod (Kerala) in the last one year, according to sangh director and convener M.G. Sathyanarayana. Except a farmer who has cultivated them as an orchard, a majority of them have taken it up as border cultivation.