The Hans India

The new system of online cash transfer to farmers within two days introduced by the Civil Supplies Corporation has helped it procure 4,500 metric tonnes of paddy for the Kharif season; and, that too, in just a week after the procurement centres opened. The Corporation, which has already opened 400 centres, most of them in places like Nalgonda and Karimnagar districts, has plans to open more than 2,000 centres throughout the State for the first time during the season.

The Telegraph

The Bihar government has decided to do away with the paddy procurement target for the current season (2016-17) ostensibly on the ground that harvest was expected to be bumper this year and hence it was not setting any limit for the farmers. The government had failed to meet paddy procurement targets of 30 lakh metric tonnes per annum for the past two years. Paddy production estimates in the two preceding kharif seasons ranged between 90 and 93 lakh metric tonnes, as both were drought years with the state getting less than normal rainfall. Bihar government agencies could procure only around 20 lakh metric tonnes in 2014-15 and around 19 lakh metric tonnes in 2015-16.

The Times of India

India will keep its wheat import tax unchanged at 10 percent and state-run traders will not import the grain for now, as the private trade is expected to buy up to 3 million tonnes this year, the highest in a decade, a senior government source said. India, the world’s second-biggest wheat producer, lowered the import tax on the grain to 10 percent from 25 percent in September, helping private traders such as Cargill, Louis Dreyfus and Glencore to import large quantities to combat a looming shortage.

Hindustan Times

Whether it’s wheat or paddy, smog engulfs the region at the end of the harvesting. Thanks to the practice of stubble burning, which farmers opt for to get rid of the unwanted plant residue, before preparing the land for the next crop. Most farmers say this is the only viable option with them as managing stubble in a scientific manner using machines is too costly. Still, there are farmers who have realised the seriousness of the ill-effects of stubble burning and are supporting people of their ilk in collecting and supplying the residue to the biomass plants. Better still, this earns them profit too. HT meets two such progressive farmers.

BW Disrupt

The company leverages cutting edge technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), big data, cloud, mobility, and data analytics to improve the agri-supply chain, including milk production, milk procurement, animal insurance and farmer payments. Their SmartMoo™ cloud is built to support massive sets of data from “tens of millions of litres of milk….across millions of farmers.” Some of their leading clients are dairy service providers like Hatsun, Lactalis, Heritage and Prabhat.

The Times of India

Gujarat ranks down there at the bottom with less than 15% share of agriculture and allied sector in (Gross State Domestic Product) GSDP. The state is ranked at the bottom with states Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu.

The Hindu

Krishi Mela, a four-day annual demonstration farming technologies, is scheduled to begin on Saturday on the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Raichur, campus. Addressing a media conference on the campus, P.M. Salimath, Vice-Chancellor of the university, said that in view of the United Nation General Assembly’s declaration to observe 2016 as International Year of Pulses, Krishi Mela 2016 was designed around the central theme of “The Role of Pulses in Food and Nutrition Security”.

The Indian Express

To tackle the regional imbalance in development in the state, the Maharashtra government has sanctioned projects worth Rs 3 lakh crore in the backward regions of Vidarbha and Marathwada in the last two years. The sectors were policy corrections were taken include agriculture infrastructure and industries, which have remained in a state of neglect in the two drought-affected regions, which have also seen a large number of farmer suicides.