Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Pollution Due to Burning of Paddy Stubbleedit
There is no conclusive study available that burning of paddy straw crop residue in the States like Punjab and Haryana would always impact quality of air in the States/UT like Rajasthan, Delhi etc. As per the Report of IIT, Kanpur, the back trajectory analyses suggest that the Crop Residue Burning and other biomass emissions may be transported to Delhi from the sources upwind of Delhi.
Demonetisation will hit paddy procurement: WB food ministeredit
West Bengal food minister Jyotipriyo Mullick today said the demonetisation was taking a heavy toll on paddy procurement in the state and would cause a severe food crisis in days to come. Despite a bumper paddy production in Bengal this year, the process of its procurement by the government has gone for a toss due to the current liquidity crunch among farmers, who are unable to pay the labourers engaged in reaping paddy crops.
HARYANA RECORDS ALL-TIME HIGH PADDY PROCUREMENTedit
Paddy procurement in Haryana in the current kharif season has crossed 53.24 lakh metric tonnes (MT), an all-time high. Last year, only 42.69 lakh MT of paddy was procured by the agencies during the corresponding period. Also, the farmers have been paid Rs 8040 crore for this record procurement, said Haryana Minister of State for Food , Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Karan Dev Kamboj on Tuesday.
Decks cleared for paddy procurementedit
The state will finally start procuring paddy from December 10 through 330 central purchasing centres (CPC) at paddy-growing blocks after meeting with the district magistrates and ADM (food), though harvesting is very low due to severe liquidity crunch. By November 25, 55% of paddy is harvested, but only 22% Kharif paddy has been reaped so far. The government is thinking of diverting 100-day job labourers to fields for reaping the crop. Bengal’s food minister Jyotipriya Mullick on Tuesday said: ” After the paddy is procured, it will go to rice mills. Each entry at rice mill will generate three challans, one of which comes straight to food department in Kolkata. Immediately , the fund will ...
With 69% monsoon deficit, officials fan out to assess impactedit
With the state facing a 69% deficit in rainfall, a team of senior bureaucrats has fanned out to assess the impact of the water shortage on crop production and livestock in the state. The development also comes in the wake of the opposition clamoring for declaring the state as drought-hit, akin to 2012-13, but the government is undecided since a revival of monsoon is forecast from December 1.
Zulfkar inaugurates ‘Maize Procurement Centre’ at Reasiedit
Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali on Monday conducted an extensive tour of far-flung areas of district Reasi and listened to grievances of common masses during a series of public meetings at Sungri, Mahore, Arnas and Reasi, an official spokesman said. The Minister also inaugurated a Maize Procurement Centre (Maize Procurement Mandi) at Seela. Speaking on the occasion, the minister stressed on the need for establishing a ‘Food Procurement Corporation’ in the state to address the issue of food scarcity.
Farmers selling produce 20% cheaper than normal: Ex-Agri Secyedit
Due to a lack of buyers in the market, farmers of perishable goods are selling their produce at 20 percent cheaper, says Former Agriculture Secretary Siraj Hussain. He says the farmers may also use poor quality seeds for sowing as they do not have the money to buy superior ones. Farmers will require more money in two weeks time, when they have to apply fertilizers on their crop, says Hussain. They have only till then to get cash in their hands to buy urea.
3.26cr farmers enroll for crop insurance in 2016 kharif seasonedit
About 326 lakh farmers have been covered under the new crop insurance scheme for a sum insured of Rs 1.37 lakh crore during the 2016 kharif sowing season, government said today. “As per tentative data available, during kharif 2016 about 326 lakh farmers have been insured covering an area of 380 lakh hectare for sum insured of Rs 1,37,535 crore as compared to 309 lakh farmers during kharif 2015 season covering an area of 339 lakh hectare for sum insured of Rs 69,307 crore,” Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said in Lok Sabha.
Forget MSP hike, govt needs to implement existing pricesedit
Recently, Union minister for road transport, Nitin Gadkari, publicly embarrassed Maharashtra’s minister of state for agriculture Sadabhau Khot, a firebrand farmers’ leader. Attending a public function in Nashik with Khot, Gadkari asked him to give up his demand for support prices for agricultural produce. Prices, Gadkari said, are now determined in the international market and are beyond the government’s control.
Indian farmers average monthly income just over Rs 6,400edit
While the average income of farmers in India is somewhere around Rs 6,000 mark; those who cultivate in the lands of Punjab had more than double of the average income. In a statement by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare on Tuesday, said, “…the average income per agricultural household from various sources is estimated at Rs. 6,426/- per month during the reference period of the agricultural year July 2012 to June 2013.” Punjabi farmers’ average monthly income in this period stood at Rs 18,059.
Technology in Agriculture
Demonetisation: See short-term impact on tractor sales; focus on mfg needed: M&Medit
“Demonetisation a move in the right direction,” says Pawan Goenka, MD of Mahindra and Mahindra in an interview to CNBC-TV18’s Priya Sheth, adding that more needs to be done to truly make India a manufacturing nation. All the steps taken by the government so far, like ease of doing business, trying to attract investment, getting infrastructure right – all of these are important pieces of the puzzle but so far it has not made a huge difference for our industries, says Goenka. The impact of all these initiatives has not been as envisaged maybe because of overall economic conditions like global slowdown etc., he adds.