Out of about 3,000 towns where Municipalities and Notified Area Committees are functioning, composting is in progress in 1684 towns only, yielding annually about 17 lakh tons of compost. Provision has been made in the Plan for extension of composting to the remaining towns. At the end of the period of the Plan about 30 lakh tons of compost would be available.

26. The utilisation of urine, whether human or animal, for manure is of even greater importance than the utilisation of nightsoil or dung, as the former provides a much larger proportion of nitrogen. We have not yet developed any efficient and popular system or appli- ances for utilising urine as manure. Its collection is easier in towns with underground sewerage which have a scheme of sewage- utilisation. In other towns only the nightsoil is collected by municipal authorities. Urine collection is not practicable, unless community urinals have proper appliances for soaking and utilising the urine, and a suitable urinal is devised for family use where the urine can be collected and absorbed.

27. Preliminary work has been done on this subject at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute and the `Agri-San' urinal is being evolved. In the Punjab, the `utility' urina is being recommended for collection and utilisation of urine. The installation of these urinals would help to conserve urine in areas without underground drainage. In order to introduce these urinals into the daily life of the people a beginning should be made with institutions like jails, hospitals, schools, boarding houses, cinema houses and other public places.

28. In the rural areas the nightsoil and urine are not generally being utilised as manure. Here it is necessary to distinguish between a mere return of urine or nightsoil to the soil and its utilisation as manure. When a field is utilised for defecation, as frequently happens in a village, there is a return to the soil but the manurial value of it is small as most of the valuable constituents are lost by exposure to the air and sun. It is necessary to devise a suitable latrine, which villagers can use and which will be sanitary, convenient, and fly-proof and can be shifted. The trench-type holds the field at present. It may be mentioned that the cost of construction and maintenance of these latrines with local materials, can be covered by the sale of the manure that will be made available. Public urinals should also be located at suitable places in the village area.

29. It has been recently found that cattle and human wastes yield fuel gas by appropriate fermentation without much loss of organic matter and of nitrogen compared to the ordinary composting process. If this process, which has successfully passed through laboratory and pilot plant stages, is developed, it will check the burning of dung as fuel and thus augment materially the supplies of organic manures.

30. The growing of leguminous crops and burying them under the soil is a well known method of soil building. The nodule bacteria fix the atomospheric nitrogen in the soil in a form readily available to plants and the turning under of the crop adds organic matter which is essential for keeping the soil in good heart. The value of green manuring has been recognised, but it has not become a common practice even in the area where adequate rainfall or ample irrigation facilities are available. The pressure of population in such areas is generally so great that the cultivator cannot afford to bury a crop which does not directly bring him any return

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On the other hand, larger land holders have been observed to practice green manuring on a reasonable scale. In the case of small cultivators, the introduction of leguminous catch crops, expecially pulses, in the ordinary rotations preferably with phosphate manuring would do much to help increase the nitrogen contents of the soil. They will not only add to the food reserve of the country but would also be valuable as a rich source of proteins. They are important also from the point of view of animal nutrition to which they contribute indirectly in the form of hulls and straw. Where conditions are favourable the State should take steps to encourage growing of such crops by providing necessary facilities and inducements such as supply of seed and irrigation at the time of sowing, and by offering concessions such as remission of water rate or land revenue.

31. The principal oilcakes available in the country are ground- nut, sesamum, rape, linseed, cotton seed, castor, mahua and neem. They contain about 3 to 6 per cent nitrogen and 1 to 2 per cent phosphoric acid. Used as manure, they serve as carriers of available nitrogen and have shown consistently good results on a variety of crops. Most of the edible oilcakes are valued as cattle-feed, but lately some of them particularly ground-nut, are also being extensively used as manure. We consider this practice undesirable especially as there is a shortage of cattle-feed in the country. Non- edible oilcakes alone should be used directly as manure. Better results are obtained if chemical fertilizers are used in combination with these oilcakes.

32. Blood meals, horns, hoofs, and meat meal are the by-products of the slaughter houses which can be used for fertilizing the soil. Fresh blood in its natural state contains 2.5 to 5 per cent of nitrogen while in the dried form it contains from 8 to 14 per cent of nitrogen depending largely upon the method of manufacture. Dried blood in the form of cakes grinds easily and can be used alone or mixed with other manures. It is estimated that about 10,000 tons of dried blood could be produced from the slaughter houses in the country.

Other material available from the slaughter houses consists of pieces of skin and rejected meat etc., which, mixed together, are generally known under the trade name of `tankage'. Tankage varies greatly in its chemical composition depending upon the various constituents forming it. It may contain from 3 to 10 per cent of nitrogen and from 7 to 20 per cent of phosphoric acid. These products can be a source of income to the Municipalities, if proper methods of conserving blood and tankage are adopted. The material prepared will soon find a market as a good fertilizer for fruits and vegetables.

The hoofs and horns of dead animals are collected in this country along with the bones. At the assembling centres they fetch higher prices than the raw bones and are, therefore, crushed separately. A considerable quantity is at present exported. The horn meal contains about 15 per cent nitrogen and can be utilised as a fertilizer with advantage.

33. Bonemeal is a good form of phosphatic manure which contains organic matter and some nitrogen also. It is suitable as a manure for all types of soils, more particularly acidic soils, where superphosphates cannot be used. Apart from its phosphatic value, bonemeal helps to increase the phosphorous content of grain and thus enhances its nutritive value. Sterilised bonerneal is also a valuable cattle feed, and its use in this form has great scope.

258 THE FIRST FIVE YEAR PLAN

34. The average annual collection of bones amounts to about 1,50,000 tons. This is only one-fourth of the estimated quantity available judging from the number of cattle that die in a year. It is possible to crush bones completely as bonemeal, but crushing factories, interested in the more lucrative export trade of grist, do not produce the maximum amount of bonemeal. The demand for bonemeal has also to be built up. At present 25 per cent of the bones is converted into bonemeal and the remaining 75 per cent is exported as grist for which there is a considerable demand in foreign countries as it is a source of glue and gelatine. The export of bonemeal is prohibited and the whole of it is used internally as manure. The high price fetched by the export of grist enables the crushers to make bonemeal available at comparatively low prices.

35. The export of bones from India has been going on for a long time. The earliest record is for the year 1884-85, when 18,000 tons were exported. Since then exports have steadily increased and between 1884 and 1951, a total of about 4 million tons of bones have been exported. This export has been criticised on the ground that it deprives the Indian soil of a valuable manurial constituent which should return to it. Indian soils are known to be deficient in phosphates. While grist, which could be converted into bonemeal, is exported, the phosphatic deficiency is sought to be met by importing rock phosphate and converting it into superphosphates. Grist certainly does fetch high prices and there is some saving to the country in the export of grist and its substitution by superphosphates as a source of phosphatic fertilisers. On the other hand, the supply of organic matter and nitrogen is a feature of bonemeal which is not present in superphosphates.

36. In order that the export of bones should cease, steps must be taken to manufacture by-products, like glue and gelatine, in India. Increased crushing capacity should also be provided, particularly in areas far away from railheads, so as to stimulate better collection of bones. Our attention has been drawn to a bone digester which has been lately imported from Japan. Bones are steamed under pressure, and fats and glue are extracted ; thereafter the bones become so brittle that they can be crushed in any pounding machine. The bonemeal thus obtained can be used as manure, as well as cattle-feed. The collection of bones will increase only if crushing units or plants like the bones digester are located in areas where collection is not paying because of the long distances from railheads. If any State considers it necessary to impose a provincial ban to enable it to increase the crushing capacity in the rural areas, such a request from it should be favourably considered by the Centre.

37. Coming now to inorganic or synthetic fertilisers, the most important nitrogenous ones are ammonium sulphate, ammonium nitrate, calcium nitrate, ammonium phosphate and urea. The important phosphatic fertilizers are superphosphate, rock phosphate, and ammo- nium phosphate. In the past 50 years several types of nitrogenous and phosphatic fertilisers were introduced into this country and experimented with at the different experimental stations. Of these, ammonium sulphate and superphosphate are most in use today, and these are at present being manufactured in the country. Ammonium sulphate requires for its manufacture gypsum which has to be transported over long distances. Superphosphate is manufactured mostly from imported rock phosphate and sulphur or sulphuric acid. In

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the Indian Union there are no rich deposits of sulphur and the supply position of sulphur in the world is difficult. It is, therefore, desirable that the possibilities of manufacturing ammonium phosphate, which supplies both nitrogen and phosphorous to the soil should be investigated. Deposits of rock phosphate are reported to exist in India and the fertilising value of ammonium phosphate has already been established by field experiments in different parts of the country.

38. There has been some criticism of the introduction of chemical fertilisers without full steps being taken to mobilise all the manurial resources of the organic type. This criticism, in so far as it stresses the necessity of mobilising these resources, is just, but the process is bound to take some time as it necessitates the disturbance of age-old habits. We do not consider that it is necessary to wait for such full mobilisation before introducing chemical fertilisers. The two processes should and can go on simultaneously. Both these types of manure are necessary for maintaining and increasing soil fertility. It is well known that a continuous application of chemical fertilisers only, without the support of any bulky organic manure, leads in course of years to soil deterioration and progressively lower yields. It has, therefore, been a practice to recommend the use of chemical fertilisers; more particularly ammonium sulphate in conjunction with bulky organic manures.

Phosphate is best applied to leguminous crops for this not only helps the growth of that crop but also thereby augments the quantity of nitrogen added to the soil which increases with the yield of the leguminous crop. This is, therefore, a useful method of supplying the soil with the nitrogen and phosphorous so much needed for cereal crops.

39. The fact that fertilisers are in demand today shows that their use is profitable to the cultivators. But their high prices in recent years have resulted in larger quantities being utilised for commercial crops in preference to food crops. Unless, therefore, the prices of fertilisers are substantially reduced so as to be within the reach of the grower of foodgrains, any expansion of the use of fertilisers for food crops will be difficult.

40. The problems relating to the conservation, production, distribution and utilisation of manures and fertilisers are sufficiently large and important to warrant their being kept under review by a competent body of experts. We recommend the appointment of a Committee of the ICAR charged with the following functions :-

(a) to review annually and to obtain accurate information on the potential supply of manurial resources and the quantities actually developed and utilised ;

(b) to estimate the country's manurial and fertiliser requirements, the potentialities for production in different parts of the country and the optimum conditions for their utilisation ;

(d) to report on the development of the utilisation of manures, human and cattle wastes, green manures and fuel gas.

260 THE FIRST FIVE YEAR PLAN

AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS AND MACHINERY

41. Though State and Central Governments have paid considerable attention during the last 20 years to agricultural research, comparatively little has been done to improve indigenous implements. The Governments of Madras, U. P., and the Punjab have achieved something in this direction and so have educational institutions and manufacturers, but no definite schemes were drawn up nor was the work systematically followed up until the Agricultural Engineering Section was added to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in 1945.

42. Agricultural implements may be classified broadly into the following categories implements (a) for preparing the seed bed ; (b) for cultivation operations ; (c) for harvesting and threshing work; (d) for processing and utilisation of agricultural produce ; and (e) for lifting water. Attention has been hitherto devoted mostly to improvement of the implements used for processing the produce and lifting water. Improved sugarcane crushers, the Persian Wheel, and the Revolving Drum illustrate this tendency. There exists considerable scope for improving the efficiency of implements used for seed bed preparation, planting cultivation and harvesting operations.

43. While Dr. Stewart considered that as long as the land is kept free from weeds it makes little difference to crop yields whether `desi' implements or improved implements are used, it is generally accepted that by using improved implements a larger area can be covered in the same time, and the timely performance of agricultural operations results in reduction of costs as well as better yields. For certain agricultural operations, e.g. turning under of green manure improved implements are essential. The need for encouraging research in this field is thus obvious. For this purpose we recommend that every State should have in its agricultural engineering section a whole-time officer for conducting research on indigenous tools and implements. Many of the existing agricultural engineering sections deal mainly with power drawn machinery, and a special officer is required to devote exclusive attention to the important subject of indigeonus implements. The engineering section at the Indian Agricul- tural Research Institute will have to be similarly strengthened with a special officer. The section so established in the States and Centre should have adequate facilities for research and trials. Besides conducting research on indigenous implements the special officer at the Centre will try out imported implements. He will also co-ordinate the work done in various parts of the country and pass on the information regarding improved implements to executive agencies. It will be his responsibility to furnish the results of research to manufacture for commercial development.

44. As implements have to be adjusted to crop, soil and climatic conditions, the research problems have to be examined on a regional basis, i. e. for a group of States. Regional Committees consisting of technical experts, enlightened farmers, representatives of the State Governments, manufacturers and dealers should therefore be set up by the I.C.A.R. The Committees should indicate the lines on which research and development work should proceed. They would also approve the schemes drawn up by the States and review their progress regularly. The special implement officers at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute

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should act as a convener of the regional committees. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research might also convene an annual conference on implements and machinery to which nominees of the regional committees, prominent research workers, and manufacturers should be invited. The programmes of research drawn up by the State and accepted by the regional committees should be accorded a high priority by the Council which should provide necessary financial assistance. It should also offer technical advice and follow a policy of sponsoring research on implements in all the important States.

45. Along with research, the difficult task of popularising improved implements and arranging their supply has to be tackled. This would also be the responsibility of the special officer to be appointed in every State. He will have to do this work with the assistance of the extension staff. As research gets organised in the States and at the Centre, new designs will be evolved. These designs and models will be supplied to the fabricators for manufacturing the implements on a commercial scale. It may be desirable to encourage the establishment of small fabricating units which will provide employment to rural artisans. These could be further developed into workshop where the manufacture of steel trunks, buckets and other utilities could also be undertaken. It would be advantageous to organise local fabricators and blacksmiths into co-operatives for undertaking production of implements. The implements manufactured should be recommended to cultivators only after careful trial and test by the implements officer of the State, who should be provided with the necessary equipment for carrying out tests.

46. As regards arrangements for distribution the implements can be supplied direct by the dealer or from the government depots or through the cooperative societies. Taccavi loans or loan from cooperative societies may be provided to popularise new implements if their cost is high.