Live Mint

As Delhi chokes on smog, the spotlight has once again been put on the farmers of the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana and their practice of burning farm stubble during the post-harvest season. Faced with the prospect of employing scarce and costly labour to dispose the stubble, or purchasing an expensive machine to do the same job, or the unpleasant but effective alternative of burning what is left in their fields after the harvest, farmers seem to be preferring the last option for a quick and dirty end to the agricultural season. While Delhi’s residents seethe in anger at such a practice, it is worth considering the intense margin pressures that have led farmers to adopt ...

Money Control

Expecting the bumper paddy crop this kharif season, the Odisha government has decided to procure a record quantity of paddy from farmers this year in order to widen the rural economy. Reviewing the arrangements of the procurement in all the 10 districts of Cuttack, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Balasore, Jagatsinghpur, Mayurbhunj, Bhadrak, Khurda, Puri and Nayagarh, the State food and civil supplies minister Sanjay Dasburma said the state government has decided to procure paddy worth Rs 7,500 crore from farmers this year.

The Times of India

Maize crops raised in 1.20 lakh acres in and around Kunnam and Veppanthattai taluks in Perambalur district have failed to yield for want of sufficient water, forcing farmers to cut down the crops to use as fodder for their cattle. Various farmers’ bodies have appealed to the state government to announce Rs 20,000 per acre compensation for crop loss.

The Times of India

Had the Delhi’s neighbouring states adhered to the guidelines of the two-year-old national policy for management of crop residue (NPMCR), the Capital and other cities in the NCR would have been spared of current alarming situation of air pollution due to stubble burning.

Bloomberg Quint

There is a neat alternative to the burning of paddy straw in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, which is exacerbating Delhi’s air pollution, already burdened by vehicle emissions and construction dust. It is called conservation agriculture. Sadly, the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), which has been demonstrating it at its station in Ludhiana for the past four years has done little to advertise it. Paytm’s Chief Executive Officer Vijay Shekhar Sharma has pledged Rs 10 crore to startups that can sustainably scrub clean the air of Indian cities. Perhaps, he should devote a slice of it to amplify BISA’s experience.

PTI

Jharkhand is expecting 4 lakh tonnes of paddy following a good monsoon. This was informed in a review meeting of the Agriculture Department chaired by Chief Minister Raghubar Das today, an official release said here.

The Shillong Times

Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Tuesday repudiated the allegation that the State has utilised only Rs 34 crore out of Rs 244 crore sanctioned under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY). Sangma said the total fund received over the years after RKVY was implemented in the State was Rs 244.56 crore and that the utilisation certificates were also furnished. He also said the funding pattern is determined by how much the State is investing in agriculture and allied sectors.

The Indian Express

Even while Punjab attempted to wash its hands of the air pollution that is plaguing Delhi, the state has not been able to set its own house in order either. Apart from sitting over the subsidy applications for agriculture machines, which can help curb the practice of burning paddy stubble, the state has not been able to add even a single biomass power plant in the last three years.

The New Indian Express

Slamming the State Agriculture Department, Kerala Congress (M) vice chairperson and MP Jose K Mani alleged on Tuesday that the department has shown culpable negligence towards the issues of farmers. He was speaking after inaugurating the state-level dharnas to be held in front of district Collectorates in protest against the government’s apathy towards farmers’ woes. According to Jose, the disregard of the Agriculture Department towards farmers has drawn flak even from the ruling coalition members.

The Economic Times

Process solutions company Praj Industries says that manufacturing second generation ethanol from the agricultural waste can reduce smog formation in the national capital. One of it’s plants is expected to come up in Haryana, while the company is in advanced stage of discussion for setting up a plant in Punjab.

The Indian Express

A three-day international event of ‘Global Rajasthan Agritech Meet (GRAM)’ for farmers will begin here tomorrow which will showcase best global practices and technologies suitable to farmers. Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh will inaugurate the event, a platform for farmers, investors, manufacturers and the academicians and researchers, on Wednesday at Sitapura, an official said.

Business Today

The Economic Survey of India data from 2001-2012 shows that although 50 per cent of employment was in agriculture sector, the per income capita rise was minuscule compared to manufacturing and services sector. Projection shows that the disparity will grow dramatically across sectors by 2022 where agriculture per capita income ratio would be 5.4X when compared to manufacturing which would be at 7.7 X and services at 15.7X. It is imperative that we shift employment from agriculture in rural areas to manufacturing and services. In this respect we must follow what China has done in terms of developing new urban centers across the country. This will help in arresting migration from rural areas to already choked metros.

The Hindu

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is preparing to improve the use of satellite data for agricultural crop forecasting and crop health management. ISRO chairman A.S.Kiran Kumar said here on Tuesday that plans were afoot to bring more crops and some minor crops also into the forecasting network, which currently covers eight major crops. Addressing a function held here to mark the inauguration of the Kerala portal of the Bhuvan GIS platform, he said the application of space technology would be extended to the development of horticulture, pest and nutrient management, post-harvest infrastructure planning and bringing cultivable wastelands and fallow land under cultivation.

The Economic Times

Amid concerns over rising pollution in the national capital due to stubble burning in neighbouring states, the Centre today directed Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to promote use of agri-equipment for crop residue management in a big way. Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today held a meeting in this regard with representatives of Punjab, Haryana and UP governments as well as senior officials from Environment Ministry and Central Pollution Control Board and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

The Times of India

President Pranab Mukherjee will be in Chandigarh on November 20 to throw open a biennial four-day agriculture technology and business exposition, the industry grouping Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) said in a statement issued here on Tuesday. The expo, CII Agro Tech 2016, will start at the Parade Ground in Sector 17, Chandigarh, from November 19. At the inauguration on the expo’s second day, Israel president Reuven Rivlin will be the guest of honour, said CII Agro Tech 2016 chairperson Rumjhum Chatterjee in the statement.

Hindustan Times

Sukhwant Singh, a farmer in Haryana’s Kurukshetra, had most of his 12 acres of agricultural land under paddy. After harvesting his crop, he set the paddy stubble on fire, burning it to the ground within a few hours. Singh and most other paddy growers in Punjab and Haryana, who are facing financial constraints due to falling productivity and dwindling returns, do not care about the ban on stubble burning put in place by the state governments in 2003-04.