100 years of establishment of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-National Institute of Secondary Agriculture (NISA)

Posted 21 Sep 2024

2 min read

ICAR-NISA was established in 1924 as Indian Institute of Natural Resins and Gums, in Ranchi, Jharkhand. It was renamed in 2022 as ICAR-NISA and comes under Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.

Secondary Agriculture

Secondary agriculture includes the value addition of primary agricultural products as well as other agriculture-related activities like beekeeping, poultry farming, agricultural tourism etc.
- It refers to all practices/processes that convert agricultural produce, residues and by-products into high value commodities for pharmaceutical, industrial, medicinal and specified food uses.
- Secondary agriculture is a broad term including both food and non-food processing.
Examples: Extraction of vitamins from grains and oil from rice bran, production of jaggery from sugarcane, cottage scale unit for making jams, pickles etc.
Growth Potential:
- Consumer demand for value-added products like ready-to-eat and functional foods.
- Requirement for use of unconventional renewable agro-bio resources.
- Large quantities of agricultural byproducts.

Significance of Secondary Agriculture

Environmentally sustainable: Crop residues and agricultural waste can be utilized properly instead of being burnt or dumped.
Farmer’s Income: Better economic returns from activities like beekeeping, lac culture, etc.
Value Addition: Enhances shelf life and increases total productivity.
Cottage Industry: Promotes agriculture/rural and cottage industries and usage of technology.

Challenges of Secondary Agriculture

Industries producing high value products from agriculture residues/by-products like Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, etc. are in nascent stage.
Small size land holdings in India making collection of crop residue difficult.
Lack of research in appropriate technology.
Lack of awareness on the processing of agricultural waste by farmers.