Facts in News

Facts in News

Banana Flour

• Recently, Farmers and homemakers in Karnataka used social media to popularise banana flour in India. 

About Banana flour

• It is a highly nutritious and gluten-free alternative to wheat flour.
• Its health benefits have made it popular outside India too.
• The easy availability of the fruit makes the production commercially viable. 
• It doesn’t require any new investment or skilled labour.
• Process 

• The bananas are peeled and soaked in buttermilk or diluted rice water with salt to prevent darkening. 
• They are then sliced thinly and sun-dried for around three days and dried chips can be turned into flour 

• The flour is called bakahu in Karnataka.

• Benefits 
  • The yield is high: Around 6-8 kg raw banana yields a kilogram of flour that fetches Rs 200.
  • It provides a livelihood option. 
    • Farming families can produce the flour and sell it to shops and industries nearby.
  • The flour has immense nutritive value (high in potassium, vitamin B6, vitamin C, magnesium, copper, manganese, fibre and protein).
  • The flour can also help prevent and alleviate symptoms of several diseases such as blood pressure, asthma and diabetes. 
  • It helps farmers circumvent distress sales.

Marburg Virus

• Recently, West Africa’s first case of the Marburg virus was confirmed in Guinea.

About 

• Marburg virus disease is a highly virulent disease that causes hemorrhagic fever, with a fatality ratio of up to 88%. 
• It is in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola virus disease. 
•  Large outbreaks 
  • Two large outbreaks that occurred simultaneously in Germany and Serbia in 1967 led to the initial recognition of the disease. 
    • In Africa, previous outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.

• Causes 
  • Human infection with Marburg virus disease initially results from prolonged exposure to mines or caves inhabited by Rousettus bat colonies. 
• Transmission 
  • Marburg is transmitted to people from fruit bats
  • It can spread through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids. 

• Symptoms 
  • Fever, severe headache, severe malaise, Muscle aches and fatigue, abdominal pain and gingival haemorrhage are common. 

• Treatment
  •   There are no approved vaccines or antiviral treatments for the virus yet
  • However, a range of potential treatments including blood products, immune therapies and drug therapies are currently being evaluated.

Operation Greens Scheme

• The Ministry of Food Processing Industries launched the Operation Greens scheme in 2018 for integrated development of the Tomato, Onion and Potato (TOP) value chain.
  • It was expanded as per budget announcement 2021-22 to cover 22 perishables including shrimp.
• The scheme aims to promote Farmer Producers Organizations (FPOs), agri-logistics, processing facilities and value addition etc. in identified production clusters 
• Features 

• The scheme provides for short term intervention by way of providing a transportation and storage subsidy of 50%.
• Long term intervention through value addition projects in identified production clusters with Grant-in-aid of  35% to 70% of the eligible project cost subject to a maximum of Rs. 50 crore per project.
• Under the scheme, state-wise funds are not allocated as the scheme is demand-driven and projects are approved as per scheme guidelines on the basis of applications received for setting up of projects in eligible production clusters.

• Aims and Objectives 

• It aims to enhance value realization of TOP farmers, reduction in post-harvest losses, price stabilization for producers and consumers and increase food processing capacities and value addition etc.

Olympian Bat

• A bat called “Olympian bat” (name given by scientists) has left the climate scientists intrigued after the bat broke British records by flying a distance covering more than 2,000 km from London to the Pskov region situated in northwestern Russia.

Key Points

• About Nathusius’ pipistrelle:
  • It belongs to the Nathusius’ pipistrelle species of bats.
  • The Nathusius’ pipistrelle is found across Europe from the U.K. to Asia Minor.
  • It was only as big as a human thumb and its wing was marked with a “London Zoo” ring.
  • This achievement is topped by only one other bat in Europe: a Nathusius’ pipistrelle that migrated 2,224 km from Latvia to Spain in 2019.
• Significant: 
  • It is the longest distance covered by a bat from Britain across Europe. 
  • The journey is important for climate scientists as it gives them the window to learn more about bat migration and how it is connected with climate change.

National Nathusius’ Pipistrelle Project

• About
  • A project named ‘National Nathusius’ Pipistrelle’ was launched by the Bat Conservation Trust in 2014. 
  • The purpose was to understand the conservation threats for Nathusius’ pipistrelles in Great Britain. The primary motto of the project is to find out the migratory origins of this species of bats as it may help understanding its links to climate change.

Mount Merapi

• It is the most volatile and active volcano situated in Indonesia.
• It’s peak is near Yogyakarta, an ancient city of several hundred thousand people embedded in a large metro area.
• Indonesia is an archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because it sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the ocean.

National Edible Oil Mission-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP)

• Recently, the Prime Minister announced a National Edible Oil Mission-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) to boost domestic oilseed production and make the country self-sufficient in cooking oils.

Key Points

• The scheme involves investment of ?11,000 crore in the edible oil ecosystem.
• Aim: To raise the domestic production of palm oil by three times to 11 lakh MT by 2025-26.
• It will provide farmers with all facilities, from quality seeds to technology to promote farming to produce palm oil and other oil seeds.
• Special emphasis is on north-eastern states and Andaman and Nicobar Islands for promotion for palm farming.

Significance 

• It will help in reduction of imports and promote high yield of edible oil.
  • India is the world’s biggest vegetable oil importer.
  • India produces less than half of the roughly 2.4 crore tonnes of edible oil that it consumes annually. 

Commonly used oil in India

• Mustard, coconut,rapeseed, sesame, safflower, linseed, niger seed, castor are the major traditionally cultivated oilseeds.

Oilseeds in India

• India is one of the major oilseeds grower and importer of edible oils. 
• India’s vegetable oil economy is the world’s fourth largest after the USA, China & Brazil. 
• The oilseed accounts for 13% of the Gross Cropped Area, 3% of the Gross National Product and 10% value of all agricultural commodities.