Business Standard

He suggested that he was taking an electoral risk by making such utterances as some people might say that Modi “does not know politics” since he is giving such an advice to farmers when elections are near. “Do not burn it (crop residue). It is your property which is worth crore of rupees. Do not burn it,” Modi said while addressing a gathering here after laying foundation stone of AIIMS here.

India Infoline

Farm produce worth Rs 3,841 crore has been traded through electronic-National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) till 16 November in 250 wholesale markets connected to this platform, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Radha Mohan Singh said at an Assocham event held in New Delhi.

SiaSat

“We will write off 50 per cent of the loans if the central government waives off 50 per cent of the money farmers borrowed from banks for the kharif season this fiscal,” Chief Minister Siddaramiah told lawmakers attending the 10-day winter session of the state legislature that started here on November 21.

The Economic Times

Winter crops were planted on 327.62 lakh hectares as of Friday, compared with 241.73 lakh hectares on November 18, according to data from the agriculture ministry. The acreage planted is 4.62% higher than a year earlier, when crops covered 313.17 lakh hectares.

The Pioneer

He directed officials to undertake pilot project on the cultivation of local traditional crops including Mandua (finger millet), Ramdana (Amaranthus) and Gahat among others in two districts of the state. Work on this pilot project should be started soon at Pokhri in Chamoli district and Dharchula in Pithoragarh district, said the minister, while also directing that Rs 50 lakh be released soon for each of the projects’ marketing.

The Hindu

He urged the State government to lift the ban on digging borewells on agricultural land. The arecanut plantations are drying up in Sorab, Shikaripur, Bhadravati and Sagar taluks owing to moisture stress caused by scanty rain. Even the paddy crop cultivated in Malnad region, under upland farming and drill sowing methods, and the crop in command areas of tanks are also drying up.

Hindustan Times

Post-demonetisation, the farmers, who have not got payment for their paddy, are facing a lot of problems. The procurement of paddy started on October 8 and lasted till the middle of November. All the purchase agencies cleared the bills of up to October 20, except one, which cleared the bill of up tol October 27, as per sources. Around 17 lakh quintals of paddy worth Rs 255 crore has been purchased from the Nabha market this season. “Around half of the payment is pending,” said a commission agent. However, officials refrained from releasing the data about the pending payment.

The New Indian Express

Demonetisation has been a double whammy for Punjab. The state government’s revenue has fallen by almost 50 per cent and farmers are unable to buy fertilizers and seeds for the winter wheat crop. The Punjab government’s daily take by way of value-added tax [VAT], which used to be Rs 30-35 crore until November 8, has fallen to Rs 14 crore. Revenue from stamp duty, which used to  be Rs 200-250 crore per day, has almost dried-up. There have hardly been any sales of property in the state since Nov. 8.

News18

Pakistani authorities “halted” the import of cotton and other agricultural commodities, including vegetables, from India via the Wagah border, it was reported on Saturday. An official from the Department of Plant Protection has said the move came due to escalating tensions between the two countries after Indian troops allegedly targeted a passenger bus and an ambulance near the Line of Control (LoC) and killed “three Pakistani soldiers and 10 civilians” on Wednesday, Dawn reported.

Business Standard

A week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes — 86 per cent of India’s currency notes by value — business in the agricultural market of Pathardi, 350 km east of Mumbai, fell by 60 per cent, indicating how the rural economy of India’s richest state, Maharashtra, recovering from two years of drought, is slowing down. Pathardi’s Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), representative of 2,500 such markets in India, is where where most agricultural trade in the region takes place–almost all of it in cash. A slowdown in these markets can have wide-ranging effects on farmers, traders and the Indian agricultural economy.