The Agro Climatic zone strategy is meant for adequate economic and agricultural development. Not only agriculture but allied activities such as poultry, animal husbandry, the practice of crop diversification, rotation are to be given adequate priority. Similarly, area-specific agro-processing clusters and Agro-based industries must be promoted to augment the farmer’s income and socio-economic development.

Agro-climatic classification is based on various scientific principles taking into consideration several constituent variables. Therefore, it is necessary that agriculture and farming should be tuned to the needs and available resources. Integrated farming, agroforestry, sustainable agriculture, hydroponics are the emerging revolutionary practices that must be prompted along with policy directives.

Concerted efforts are required to overcome these challenges and mainstreaming millets by diversifying production technologies, building forward and backward linkages, nurturing the start-up eco-system and bringing millets to the food plates of all.

The Planning Commission, as a result of the mid-term appraisal of the planning targets of the Seventh Plan, has divided the country into fifteen broad agro-climatic zones based on physiography, soils, geological formation, Climate, cropping patterns, and development of irrigation and mineral resources for broad agricultural planning and developing future strategies. These are further divided into more homogeneous 72 sub-zones. Fourteen regions were in the main land and the remaining one in the islands of Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.

The main objective was to integrate plans of the agro-climatic regions with the state and national plans to enable policy development based on techno-agro-climatic considerations. In the agro-climatic regional planning, further sub-regionalization was possible based on agro-ecological parameters.

The geographical area of India is divided into 15 agro-climatic regions. These are further divided into more homogeneous 72 sub-zones. The 15 agro-climatic zones are:

Today people refer Chilli as a spice that adds flavour and aroma to the dish but do you know that in early civilizations, chillies were actually used as a currency and considered more valuable than gold.

There are many such interesting facts about Chilli and here are 5 amazing ones for our readers.

• India is the largest Producer, Consumers and Exporter of Chilli in the world. In the Financial Year 2016-17, India exported 4,00,250 tonnes of Chilli amounting to Rs. 5,070 Crores, registering an increase of 15 per cent in volume and 27 per cent in value.
• There is abundant misperception in the spelling of the chilli. In USA, it is referred to chile or chile pepper; in UK, it is called as chilli or chili; and in India, it is known as chilli or mirchi (Hindi).
• Chilli have nearly double the amount of Vitamin C as compared to Orange.
• ‘Naga Jolokia’ is the hottest Chilli in the world and is found in Tezpur, India.

1. Mr Prasad grows 500 native chickens organically every year.
2. He sells every year 750 kgs of chicken from his farm @ Rs 200/- per Kg.
3. In addition to sales of rose apples, the poultry farming is giving an average net returns about Rs 1.5-2.0 lakhs per annum.

The success story of Rohan Prakash first appeared in ‘The Better India’.Speaking to The Better India, “Having grown up seeing both my grandfather and father taking up farming alongside their professions, I was definitely inclined towards taking up agriculture. After observing farmland and produce quality for a while, I began to think about organic farming seriously. The idea sprouted in my head somewhere during my second year in college, and together with my father, we decided to replace all chemical fertilisers and pesticides with an extract of neem oil.”
Now, Rohan is the sole certified organic mango producer in UP and earning in lakhs. What started as a passion – has today become full time occupation for this young farmer. He has branded his organic produce as ‘Sure Organics’ and aspires to take it to an international level. Overall productivity increased by 40 percent and after receiving organic certification, he managed to earn Rs 4 lakhs in a matter of two months. Apart from growing different varieties of mango, he also grows lychee, turmeric, paddy,guava and peach. Both son and father duo have also started producing bio-pesticides and bio-fertilizers. They have also provided employment to 15- 20 people from poor families of their village.
In a time when the younger generation in the country is visibly navigating away from the agricultural sector, hope this story inspires the youth and especially the educated ones, to take up organic farming.