Agricultural legislations and various initiatives

Section 83 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 provides for the establishment of an Appellate Board to be known as the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB). The Intellectual Property Appellate Board has been constituted by a Gazette notification of the Central Government in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in 2003.
It hears appeals against the decisions of the Registrar under the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.
In pursuance of the Finance Act, 2017, all the cases pending before the Copy Right Board under Copy Right Act, 1957 were transferred to Intellectual Property Appellate Board.
The Intellectual Property Appellate Board also exercises the jurisdiction, powers and authority conferred with Plant Varieties Protection Appellate Tribunal to hear the appeals under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Act.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) a statutory bodyunder the Ministry of Commerce and Industry established by Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act 1985.
Statement 2 is correct. The functions of APEDA include:
-Development of industries relating to the scheduled products for export
-Fixing of standards and specifications for the scheduled products for the purpose of exports;
-Improving of packaging of the Scheduled products;
-Improving of marketing of the Scheduled products outside India;
-Promotion of export-oriented production and development of the Scheduled products;
-Training in various aspects of the industries connected with the scheduled products.
# “Scheduled products” means any of the agricultural or processed food products included in the Schedule of the Act, which includes Fruits, Vegetables and their Products, Meat and Meat Products, Poultry and Poultry Products, Dairy Products etc.

Statement 1 is correct. Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 passed by the Parliament recently provides for a farming agreement between a farmer and a buyer prior to the production or rearing of any farm produce.
Statement 2 is correct. The minimum period of an agreement will be one crop season, or one production cycle of livestock. The maximum period is five years, unless the production cycle is more than five years.
The price of farming produce should be mentioned in the agreement. For prices subjected to variation, a guaranteed price for the produce and a clear reference for any additional amount above the guaranteed price must be specified in the agreement. Further, the process of price determination must be mentioned in the agreement.
A farming agreement must provide for a conciliation board as well as a conciliation process for settlement of disputes.

Statement 1 is correct. The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 allows intra-state and inter-state trade of farmers’ produce outside: (i) the physical premises of market yards run by market committees formed under the state APMC Acts and (ii) other markets notified under the state APMC Acts.
Such trade can be conducted in an ‘outside trade area’, i.e., any place of production, collection, and aggregation of farmers’ produce including: (i) farm gates, (ii) factory premises, (iii) warehouses, (iv) silos, and (v) cold storages.
It also permits the electronic trading of scheduled farmers’ produce (agricultural produce regulated under any state APMC Act) in the specified trade area.
Statement 2 is correct. The bill prohibits state governments from levying any market fee, cess or levy on farmers, traders, and electronic trading platforms for trade of farmers’ produce conducted in an ‘outside trade area’.

Essential Commodities listed under the Schedule of the Essential Commodities Act are:
Drugs (meaning assigned to it in clause (b) of section 3 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940);
-fertilizer, whether inorganic, organic or mixed;
-foodstuffs, including edible oilseeds and oils;
-hank yarn made wholly from cotton;
-petroleum and petroleum products;
-raw jute HI jute textiles;
-seeds of food-crops and seeds of fruits and vegetables; seeds of cattle fodder; jute seeds and cotton seed.
# On March 13, the Union consumer affairs ministry had declared face masks and hand sanitisers as essential commodities till June 30 to boost supply and prevent hoarding of these items in its fight to check the spread of coronavirus.

Statement 1 is correct. The objective of the National Agricultural Higher Education Project is to support participating agricultural universities and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in providing more relevant and higher quality education to Agricultural University students. There are three components to the project:
Component 1: Support to Agricultural Universities.
Component 2: Investments in ICAR for leadership in Agricultural Higher Education.
Component 3: Project Implementation Unit: The objective of this component is to administer, supervise, monitor and evaluate overall project implementation. Whole activities of the project would be managed by a central Project Implementation Unit (PIU) which is established at the Education Division of ICAR.
Statement 2 is incorrect. NAHEP has been formulated by ICAR for five years starting from 2017-18. The project is proposed on 50:50 cost sharing basis between the World Bank and the Government of India, implemented at the Education Division, ICAR.

Statement 1 is correct. The Water Resources Information System (WRIS) portal contains information related to Water Resources through dashboards for rainfall, water levels & discharge of rivers, water bodies, ground water levels, reservoir storages, evapotranspiration and soil moisture, as well as modules on water resources projects, water bodies, hydro-met data availability and tools for GIS layer editing.
Statement 2 is incorrect. Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS), under the National Hydrology Project, launched the first version of India Water Resources Information System (India-WRIS) in July, 2019 and has been updated recently with a new version.
India WRIS is, at present, receiving data from many central and state agencies on regular basis. The MoJS has established a dedicated organization, National Water Informatics Centre (NWIC) to maintain and update India WRIS.

Agriculture Minister recently launched Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)’s data recovery center called ‘Krishi Megh’.
It aims to protect the data of the government’s premier research body Indian Council of Agricultural Research. It has been set up at National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) in Hyderabad. It has been built to mitigate the risk, enhance the quality, availability and accessibility of e-governance, research, extension and education in the field of agriculture in India.
NAARM, Hyderabad has been chosen as it lies in a different seismic zone with regard to the Data Centre at ICAR-IASRI in New Delhi.

With a view to integrate farmers with bulk purchasers including exporters,
agro- industries etc. for better price realization through mitigation of market and price risks
to the farmers and ensuring smooth agro raw material supply to the agro industries, Union
Finance Minister in the budget for 2017-18 announced preparation of a “Model Contract
Farming Act” and circulation of the same to the States for its adoption.

Salient features of the Model Contract Farming Act, 2018.
•“Registering and Agreement Recording Committee” or an “Officer” for the purpose at district/block/taluk level for online registration of sponsor and recording of agreement provided.
•Contracted produce is to be covered under crop/livestock insurance in operation.
•Contract framing to be outside the ambit of APMC Act.
•No permanent structure can be developed on farmers’ land/premises
•No right, title of interest of the land shall vest in the sponsor. Promotion of
Farmer Producer Organization (FPOs) / Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) to
mobilize small and marginal farmers has been provided
•FPO/FPC can be a contracting party if so authorized by the farmers.
•No rights, title ownership or possession to be transferred or alienated or vested in
the contract farming sponsor etc.
•Ensuring buying of entire pre-agreed quantity of one or more of agricultural
produce, livestock or its product of contract farming producer as per contract.
•Contract Farming Facilitation Group (CFFG) for promoting contract farming and
services at village / panchayat at level provided.
•Accessible and simple dispute settlement mechanism at the lowest level possible
provided for quick disposal of disputes.
•It is a promotional and facilitative Act and not regulatory in its structure.

New Digital Apps have been developed for making Indian agriculture in line with Digital India theme. The DARE (Department of Agricultural Research & Education) launched the Agricultural Education Portal EKTA (Ekikrit Krishi Shiksha Takniki Ayaam) for integrated online management information system

Agriculture Credit.
Statement 1 is incorrect: Government fixes agriculture credit disbursement targets
for the banking sector every year.
Statement 2 is correct: As per RBI directions, Domestic Scheduled Commercial Banks
are required to lend 18% of the Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC) or Credit Equivalent
to Off-Balance Sheet Exposure (CEOBE), whichever is higher, towards agriculture.
A sub-target of 8% is also prescribed for lending to small and marginal farmers including
landless agricultural labourers, tenant farmers, oral lessees and share croppers.
Statement 3 is correct: Similarly, in the case of Regional Rural Banks 18% of their total
outstanding advances is required to be towards agriculture and a sub-target of 8% has
been set for lending to small and marginal farmers.

The Economic Cost of food-grains consists of three components, namely, pooled cost of grains, procurement incidentals and the cost of distribution. The pooled cost of food grains is the weighted MSP of the stock of food-grains available with FCI at the time of calculating the economic cost

The objectives of the NAFED shall be to organize, promote and develop marketing, processing and storage of agricultural, horticultural and forest produce, distribution of agricultural machinery, implements and other inputs, undertake interstate, import and export trade, wholesale or retail as the case may be and to act and assist for technical advice in agricultural, production for the promotion and the working of its members, partners, associates and cooperative marketing, processing and supply societies in India. In furtherance of these objectives, the NAFED may undertake one or more of the following activities.
•to facilitate, coordinate and promote the marketing and trading activities of the cooperative institutions, partners and associates in agricultural, other commodities, articles and goods;
•to undertake or promote on its own or on behalf of its member Institutions or the Government or Government Organizations, Inter-State and international trade and commerce and undertake, wherever necessary, sale, purchase, import, export and distribution of agricultural commodities, horticultural and forest produce.
•to undertake purchase, sale and supply of agricultural, marketing and processing requisites, such as manure, seeds, fertilizer, agricultural implements and machinery, packing machinery, construction requisites, processing machinery for agricultural commodities, forest produce, dairy, wool and other animal products;
•to act as warehouseman under the Warehousing Act and own and construct its own godowns and cold storages;
•to act as agent of any Government agency or cooperative institution, for the purchase, sale, storage and distribution of agricultural, horticultural, forest and animal husbandry produce, wool, agricultural requisites and other consumer goods;
•to act as insurance agent and to undertake all such work which is incidental to the same;
•to organize consultancy work in various fields for the benefit of the cooperative institutions in general and for its members in particular;

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (Pm-Kisan) is a Central Sector
Scheme. It provides income support to all small and marginal landholding farmer families
having cultivable land.
PM Fasal Bima Yojana is a centrally sponsored scheme and it replaced all other existing
insurance schemes except the Restructured Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme.
Formation and Promotion of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) is a Central Sector
Scheme under Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW).
NOTE: The central welfare schemes at the state level fall into two broad categories. The first
category is centrally sponsored schemes, and the second is the central sector schemes.
While the Union government fully funds the central sector schemes, centrally sponsored
schemes are jointly funded by the Centre and states.

International Conference on Agricultural Statistics (ICAS) is a series of
conferences, sponsored by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO), World Bank (WB), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other
international development agencies.
•ICAS started in 1998 in response to overarching need for better agricultural data
worldwide and is held every three years to address issues of agricultural statistics
(information/data) development.
•United States, Italy, Mexico, China, Uganda and Brazil have been the host countries
for ICAS in the past.
•The 8th International Conference on Agricultural Statistics (ICAS-VIII) was held
from 18th to 21st November 2019 in New Delhi.
•The theme of the conference is Statistics for Transformation of Agriculture to achieve
the Sustainable Development Goals.

According to the National Commission of Farmers 2007, the term “FARMER” will refer to a person actively engaged in the economic and/or livelihood activity of growing crops and producing other primary agricultural commodities and will include all agricultural operational holders, cultivators, agricultural labourers, sharecroppers, tenants, poultry and livestock rearers, fishers, beekeepers, gardeners, pastoralists, non-corporate planters and planting labourers, as well as persons engaged in various farming related occupations such as sericulture, vermin-culture, and agro-forestry. The term will also include tribal families / persons engaged in shifting cultivation and in the collection, use and sale of minor and non-timber forest produce

The Tamil Nadu Government has introduced a Bill in the Legislative Assembly seeking to declare the Cauvery delta region a Protected Special Agriculture Zone (PSAZ).
• The Bill said, since certain non-farming activities were adversely affecting agriculture in the region, threatening the State’s food security, “to protect the agriculture in this region, it is proposed to prohibit certain activities in the region.”
• The Bill also sought to establish a 30-member Tamil Nadu Protected Agricultural Zone Authority headed by the Chief Minister to advise the government on various measures to protect and improve farming activities to increase farm production and farm productivity to serve the interest of farmers.
• The proposed PSAZ would comprise of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts and five blocks each in Cuddalore and Pudukkottai districts.
• These areas have been listed under the First Schedule of the Act, to which the government may add or omit any area in the future.
• The government has identified zinc smelter; iron ore process plants, copper smelter, aluminum smelter, tannery, and ship breaking industries among others as industries that adversely affect agriculture developments in the PSAZ. This list in the Second Schedule of the Act too, is subject to omission and addition subsequently.

The MIEWS Dashboard and Portal is a ‘first-of-its-kind’ platform for ‘real time monitoring’ of prices of tomato, onion and potato (TOP) and for simultaneously generating alerts for intervention under the terms of the Operation Greens (OG) scheme.
• This portal is a novel initiative of MoFPI leveraging IT tools and furthering the goals of Digital India.
• The portal would disseminate all relevant information related to TOP crops such as Prices and Arrivals, Area, Yield and Production, Imports and Exports, Crop Calendars, Crop Agronomy, etc in an easy to use visual format

Popularly known as Package Programme, the Intensive Agricultural Development Programme (IADP) was taken up in 1961 and it paved the way to an Adoption Breakthrough for Green Revolution in India.
• It aimed at diffusing technical know-how, credit and agricultural technology to step up agricultural production in selected districts so that it may have demonstration effect.
• The relevance of IADP experiment (1961-64) arises from the fact that it provided a crucial and much needed ‘adoption breakthrough”-adoption of modem techniques of agricultural growth which, when coupled with the epochmaking ‘biological breakthrough, gave birth to the Green Revolution in India”.
• The pilot project was launched first in 7 districts of 7 different states. Out of these, four were rice producing, two wheat producing and one millets producing.
• The programme was a grand success and it created new dynamism in the stagnant countryside. It was extended to a total of 114 districts in 1964-65.

Statement 1 is correct. Gov Tech-Thon 2020 aims to incubate new ideas,
boost innovation and use technology in agriculture and allied sectors. The virtual
hackathon is open to students, working professionals, startups, freelance technologists,
faculty, and other IT service firms in India.
Statement 2 is incorrect. National Informatics Centre, IEEE and Oracle are organising
this hackathon. During the hackathon, participants will receive mentorship and advice
from technical experts from NIC, IEEE and Oracle, as well as senior domain experts from
the Ministries of Agriculture, Education and Transport Departments, Government of India.
Participating teams will have access to the latest tools from Oracle, Oracle Autonomous
Database, built-in and easy-to-use cloud security, and compute – to help them develop
prototypes that are practical and scalable.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export
Development Authority (APEDA) a statutory body under the Ministry of Commerce and
Industry established by Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development
Authority Act 1985.
Statement 2 is correct. The functions of APEDA include:
-Development of industries relating to the scheduled products for export
-Fixing of standards and specifications for the scheduled products for the purpose of
exports;
-Improving of packaging of the Scheduled products;
-Improving of marketing of the Scheduled products outside India;
-Promotion of export-oriented production and development of the Scheduled products;
-Training in various aspects of the industries connected with the scheduled products.
# “Scheduled products” means any of the agricultural or processed food products included in
the Schedule of the Act, which includes Fruits, Vegetables and their Products, Meat and Meat
Products, Poultry and Poultry Products, Dairy Products etc.

Statement 1 is correct. Farmers (Empowerment and Protection)
Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 passed by the Parliament
recently provides for a farming agreement between a farmer and a buyer prior to the
production or rearing of any farm produce.
Statement 2 is correct. The minimum period of an agreement will be one crop season, or
one production cycle of livestock. The maximum period is five years, unless the production
cycle is more than five years.
The price of farming produce should be mentioned in the agreement. For prices subjected
to variation, a guaranteed price for the produce and a clear reference for any additional
amount above the guaranteed price must be specified in the agreement. Further, the
process of price determination must be mentioned in the agreement.
A farming agreement must provide for a conciliation board as well as a conciliation
process for settlement of disputes.

Statement 1 is correct. The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce
(Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 allows intra-state and inter-state trade of farmers’
produce outside: (i) the physical premises of market yards run by market committees
formed under the state APMC Acts and (ii) other markets notified under the state APMC
Acts.
Such trade can be conducted in an ‘outside trade area’, i.e., any place of production,
collection, and aggregation of farmers’ produce including: (i) farm gates, (ii) factory
premises, (iii) warehouses, (iv) silos, and (v) cold storages.
It also permits the electronic trading of scheduled farmers’ produce (agricultural produce
regulated under any state APMC Act) in the specified trade area.
Statement 2 is correct. The bill prohibits state governments from levying any market fee,
cess or levy on farmers, traders, and electronic trading platforms for trade of farmers’
produce conducted in an ‘outside trade area’.

Statement 1 is incorrect. “KRITAGYA” has been planned by the Indian
Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under National Agricultural Higher Education
Project (NAHEP).
Students, faculties and innovators/entrepreneurs from any university / technical
institution across the country can apply and participate in the event in the form of a group.
Statement 2 is correct. The hackathon is aimed at promoting potential technology solutions
for enhancing farm mechanization with special emphasis on women friendly equipments.

Statement 1 is correct. The objective of the National Agricultural Higher
Education Project is to support participating agricultural universities and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in providing more relevant and higher quality education to
Agricultural University students. There are three components to the project:
Component 1: Support to Agricultural Universities.
Component 2: Investments in ICAR for leadership in Agricultural Higher Education.
Component 3: Project Implementation Unit: The objective of this component is to
administer, supervise, monitor and evaluate overall project implementation. Whole activities
of the project would be managed by a central Project Implementation Unit (PIU) which is
established at the Education Division of ICAR.
Statement 2 is incorrect. NAHEP has been formulated by ICAR for five years starting from
2017-18. The project is proposed on 50:50 cost sharing basis between the World Bank
and the Government of India, implemented at the Education Division, ICAR.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices
(CACP) is not any statutory body set up through an Act of Parliament. It is an attached
office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. It came
into existence in January 1965.
Statement 2 is correct. It is mandated to recommend minimum support prices (MSPs) for
government procurement to incentivize the cultivators to adopt modern technology, and
raise productivity and overall grain production in line with the emerging demand patterns
in the country.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) of the Union government takes a
final decision on the level of MSPs and other recommendations made by CACP.

The Food Corporation of India was setup under the Food Corporation’s
Act 1964, in order to fulfill following objectives of the Food Policy:
-Effective price support operations for safeguarding the interests of the farmers (by
procurement of food grains at MSP)
-Distribution of food grains throughout the country for public distribution system (PDS).
-Maintaining satisfactory level of operational and buffer stocks of food grains to ensure
National Food Security

The Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP) calculates cost of
production at three levels: (i) A2, which includes cost of inputs such as seeds, fertilizer,
labour; (ii) A2+FL, which includes the implied cost of family labour (FL); and (iii) C2, which
includes the implied rent on land and interest on capital assets over and above A2+FL.
CACP reckons only A2+FL cost for return. However, C2 costs are used by CACP primarily
as benchmark reference costs (opportunity costs) to see if the MSPs recommended by
them at least cover these costs in some of the major producing States.

Both statements are correct.
Agricultural markets in India are mainly regulated by state Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) laws. APMCs were set up with the objective of ensuring fair trade between buyers and sellers for effective price discovery of farmers’ produce.
The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020
–Allows intra-state and inter-state trade of farmers’ produce outside: (i) the physical premises of market yards run by market committees formed under the state APMC Acts and (ii) other markets notified under the state APMC Acts.
–Such trade can be conducted in an ‘outside trade area’, i.e., any place of production, collection, and aggregation of farmers’ produce including: (i) farm gates, (ii) factory premises, (iii) warehouses, (iv) silos, and (v) cold storages.
–It permits the electronic trading of scheduled farmers’ produce (agricultural produce regulated under any state APMC Act) in the specified trade area.
–It prohibits state governments from levying any market fee, cess or levy on farmers, traders, and electronic trading platforms for trade of farmers’ produce conducted in an ‘outside trade area’.

CACP considers A2+FL and C2 costs while recommending MSP. CACP reckons only A2+FL cost for return. However, C2 costs are used by CACP primarily as benchmark reference costs (opportunity costs) to see if the MSPs recommended by them at least cover these costs in some of the major producing States.
‘A2’ covers all paid-out costs directly incurred by the farmer — in cash and kind — on seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, hired labour, leased-in land, fuel, irrigation, etc. ‘A2+FL’ includes A2 plus an imputed value of unpaid family labour. ‘C2’ is a more comprehensive cost that factors in rentals and interest forgone on owned land and fixed capital assets, on top of A2+FL.

Statement 1 is correct. The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 provides for a farming agreement between a farmer and a buyer prior to the production or rearing of any farm produce.
The minimum period of an agreement will be one crop season, or one production cycle of livestock. The maximum period is five years, unless the production cycle is more than five years.
Statement 2 is correct. A farming agreement must provide for a conciliation board as well as a conciliation process for settlement of disputes. The Board should have a fair and balanced representation of parties to the agreement.
At first, all disputes must be referred to the board for resolution. If the dispute remains unresolved by the Board after thirty days, parties may approach the Sub-divisional Magistrate for resolution.

Both statements are correct.
Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs) are retail agricultural markets in close proximity of the farm gate that promote and service a more efficient transaction of the farmers’ produce across the agricultural sub-sectors, by enabling both direct sales, between the producer and consumer, and aggregation of small produce-lots for subsequent transaction, both of which can occur either physically or online.
Government of India had announced to develop and upgrade existing 22,000 rural haats into Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs). In these GrAMs, physical infrastructure will be strengthened using MGNREGS and other Government Schemes.
Further, the Government announced to set up of an Agri-Market Infrastructure Fund with a corpus of Rs. 2000 crore for developing and upgrading agricultural marketing infrastructure in the 22000 Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs) and 585 Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs).

The State of Food and Agriculture, one of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)’’s major annual flagship publications, aims at bringing to a wider audience balanced science-based assessments of important issues in the field of food and agriculture. Each edition of the report contains a comprehensive, yet easily accessible, overview of a selected topic of major relevance for rural and agriculture development and for global food security.
The State of Food and Agriculture 2020 presents new estimates on the pervasiveness of water scarcity in irrigated agriculture and of water shortages in rainfed agriculture, as well as on the number of people affected.
–Some 520 million of the 1.2 billion people lived in rural areas while 660 million lived in small urban centres surrounded by agricultural areas.
–Nearly half of the 1.2 billion people lived in south Asia, while 460 million lived in east and Southeast Asia.
–In central Asia, west Asia and North Africa, about one-fifth of the population lived in agricultural areas with very high-water shortages or scarcity.

A Working Group constituted by the Reserve Bank of India to review agricultural credit released its report on September 13, 2019.
• It was asked to examine: (i) reach of institutional credit, (ii) ease of credit and inclusiveness, and (iii) impact of loan waivers on state finances and credit discipline. Key observations and recommendations of the Working Group include:
• The Working Group noted that the central and state governments need to increase their capital expenditure which will stimulate the demand for investment credit in agriculture.
• It also recommended that banks should provide crop loans under the scheme only through Kisan Credit Cards in order to curb the misuse of interest subsidy.
• The Working Group recommended that: (i) loan waivers should be avoided, and (ii) the central and state governments should undertake a holistic review of agricultural policies and input subsidies in order to improve the overall viability and sustainability of agriculture.
• The Working Group recommended that separate lending targets should be set for allied activities and banks should not insist on land records for up to two lakh rupees of such credit.
• It recommended the central government to push states to timely complete the process of digitization and updation of land records.
• States having highly restrictive land leasing frameworks should be encouraged to adopt reforms based on the Model Land Leasing Act and the Andhra Pradesh Land Licensed Cultivators’ Act, 2011.

The Mitigation of Climate Change in Agriculture (MICCA) programme strengthens FAO’s longstanding work to address climate change in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors and supports countries participating in the climate change negotiation processes within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.