The Hindu

The Assistant General Manager, NABARD, J. Subramanian, said that the focus of the plan was in line with the Union government’s policy of doubling the income of farmers. “This includes providing training to farmers for capacity-building and adoption of newer technologies to bring down their expenditure and thereby add to their income,” Mr. Subramanian said.

The Hindu Business Line

Over five lakh farmers had traded farm produce worth Rs 3,841 crore through the electronic-National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) — the online portal for trading in agriculture commodities — up to last week, said Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh. The transactions took place at 250 wholesale markets connected to the online platform, where 54,000 traders made purchases. As many as 28,000 commission agents have registered themselves so far, the Minister said while inaugurating an Assocham conference on ‘Linking farmers with the market’ on Thursday.

The New Indian Express

The farmers will have to use manual workers for cutting and shifting paddy straws to their houses.  “For this, we need cash. While a male worker charges Rs 300 per day, female workers demand Rs 250. I do not have sufficient Rs 100 notes. I stood in queues before an ATM and a bank for two days and withdrew Rs 12,000. While the bank gave me four Rs 2,000 notes and twenty Rs 100 notes, the ATM delivered one Rs 2,000 note. The Rs 2,000 notes are of no use since the workers are not willing to take and demand small exchange,” said another farmer Dinesh Patra from Basudevpur of Bhadrak district.

The Hitavada

In rabi season, area of wheat cultivation will increase. Hence, once again, bumper wheat production is expected in State. Madhya Pradesh is looking forward to break its own record in wheat production. In rabi season, area of wheat cultivation will increase. Hence, once again, bumper wheat production is expected in State. “Last year, Madhya Pradesh wheat production stood at 184 lakh metric tonne. Wheat was sown in 59 lakh hectares last year. This time, wheat cultivation area has increased to 63 lakh hectare. Hence, we are expecting wheat production around 200 metric tonne,” said Director of Agriculture Department, Mohan Lal to ‘The Hitavada’.

The Times of India

The government’s move to allow farmers to make purchase of seeds with the old banned notes has not proved a boon for them. Stocks and varieties of seeds available at the government and cooperative outlets are limited forcing farmers to make purchases from private shops. Sowing for winter crops such as wheat and chana is under progress in the region. Madhya Pradesh is the top producer of chana in the country.

The Times of India

The sudden cash crunch after demonetisation has proved to be a double whammy for the farmers eyeing on the cash crops, including musturd and wheat. In the absence of cash, they are apprehending loss of mustard crop as they are short of cash to pay to the labourers who are roped in to remove weeds from the sown crop.

NDTV

Demonetisation has had a definite strike on various sectors of the economy. The 17 lakh-crore food and agriculture market in the country and the lives of many farmers have been affected in a multitude of ways. The FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) sector is likely to record a massive sales drop in months to come, an estimated “15-20% dip in the top line for food companies in the third quarter,” opined Varun Berry, Managing Director of Britannia in an interview with Business Standard. Former Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh noted in the parliament that the GDP could take an overall hit of an estimated 2%.

The New Indian Express

Agriculture Secretary C Parthasarathi kick started the beginning of market transactions through electronic weighing machine linked to eNAM portal for red chillies on Thursday at Malakpet Market yard. Parthasarathi inspected Malakpet market’s transactions for onions and also took stock of eNAM entries that had arrived with details of crop varieties. He discussed and reviewed the issues in implementation of eNAM for procurement of red chillies which is expected to be transported to the markets very soon. He added that e-Weighing would bring in greater transparency.

The Hans India

The Deputy Chief Minister, K Srihari, has formally launched the newly set-up Agricultural College on the premises of Regional Agriculture Research Station (RARS) at Mulugu road in Warangal on Thursday. The College established through GO Ms. No: 68, has started on the premises of the RARS from the current academic year with an intake of 60 students. In the first academic year, 35 girls and 25 boys are pursuing B Sc (Hons) Agriculture in the College.

The Hindu

According to the potential credit plan, prepared by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and released by District Collector T.N. Hariharan here on Thursday, of the total credit outlay of Rs. 16,892.31 crore for the district for next fiscal, the MSMEs are expected to get Rs. 7,735 crore, following by the agriculture sector (38 per cent). This will include crop loan and term credit to agriculture and allied activities, agriculture infrastructure development, and ancillary activities. The proposal is to double the income of farmers by 2022 and hence, efforts are directed towards improvement of agricultural productivity, diversifying production towards high value agriculture, and shifting major portion of farm employment to non-farm activities.

The Economic Times

Ratings agency Moody’s has said demonetisation is beneficial for the Indian government and banks but implementation challenges of this “unprecedented move” will disrupt economic activity and weigh on GDP growth for a few quarters. The move will have credit implications for every sector of the economy as the decline in economic activity will depress corporate sales cash flows. Moody’s expect implementation difficulty to disrupt economic activity with sectors having a more direct exposure to retail sales like telecom and auto, or with large exposure to sales in rural areas such as farm equipment manufacturers being impacted the most.