Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Farmers are among the worst hit because of government’s demonetisation moveedit
Farmers are among the worst hit because of government’s demonetisation move. Ready paddy is either dumped in their store houses or they’re selling it off at a nominal price. Because of the cash crunch, many farmers who had sown seeds for Rabi are not able to purchase fertilizers. Quite a few haven’t been able to procure the seeds for sowing. The problem is prevalent all over; be it the villages of Manda, Meja, Karchana, Bara, Jari etc of the trans-Yamuna blocks or those of the trans-Ganga area of Phaphamau, Soraon, Mauiyama, Sahson, Phulpur and Manjanpur.
Rabi sowing progress: a silver liningedit
Even as the farm sector is widely believed to be facing the unintended consequences of the recent currency demonetisation, ground reports of planting for the upcoming rabi harvest provide some consolation. Three weeks after the decision to withdraw high-denomination currencies was announced, the impact on rabi planting appears rather limited.
Key changes to back more crops likelyedit
In a big shift in the food security policy, the government is set to include crops other than wheat and rice that are now more in demand due to higher incomes and changing nutritional requirements. This will mean greater production of crops such as pulses, subsidy for fertilisers for other crops and incentivising farmers to diversify the crop basket.
Centre mulls scrapping wheat import duty to boost suppliesedit
The Centre is mulling scrapping import duty on wheat to boost domestic supplies amid rising prices and concerns about the 2016-17 wheat crop in view of IMD’s forecast of warmer winter. The government had in September lowered wheat import duty to 10 per cent from 25 per cent till February.
CII organises Agri business partners meet in Hyderabadedit
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Telangana today organised the ‘Agri Business Partners’ meet, focusing on ‘Robust Agri Business Value Chain’. The meet was organised to address some of the critical issues of concern to the stakeholders of Agri-business in Telangana, to update the agri-business fraternity with the latest changes in Agricultural policies of the country and the state of Telangana, to deliberate on agri technologies towards sustainable precision farming among other issues.
The mystery of agricultural growthedit
That demonetisation will cause Indian economic growth to slow is no longer a matter of speculation. While clear estimates of the extent of deceleration will only emerge after some time, preliminary estimates of automobile sales and the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for manufacturing suggest a slowdown in the manufacturing sector. The PMI for manufacturing fell from 54.4 in October to 52.3 in November. The PMI for services fell to 46.7 in November from 54.5 in October, suggesting a contraction in service sector activity. Given that the construction sector has already been muddling along at its lowest pace of growth in two years, the hope of an economic miracle now rests on the agricultural sector.
Centre mulls scrapping wheat import duty to boost suppliesedit
The Centre is mulling scrapping import duty on wheat to boost domestic supplies amid rising prices and concerns about the 2016-17 wheat crop in view of IMD’s forecast of warmer winter. The government had in September lowered wheat import duty to 10 per cent from 25 per cent till February.
With losses of 60-70 per cent, declining sales, agriculture suffers biggest blowedit
A month after the withdrawal of high-denomination notes, agricultural remains one of the sectors hit hardest by demonetisation, as it grapples with major losses. While some farmers have incurred a loss as high as 60-70 per cent, rabi sowing has also taken a hit due to the cash crunch.
Promote separate hill farming policy: ASSOCHAM plea to U’khand govt.edit
State holds vast potential in growing medicinal, herbal & horticulture crops. Uttarakhand needs to promote a separate hill farming policy as the state has a meagre 14 per cent net sown area, more so as 3/5th of the state’s total working population is engaged in agriculture, noted a recent ASSOCHAM-RNCOS joint study.
Paddy growers urged to adopt drill sown rice patternedit
Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda has exhorted farmers to adopt drill sown rice (DSR) pattern to cultivate paddy. “Unlike the conventional method of cultivating paddy in the command areas, adopting the DSR technique will have many advantages. It is not only cost effective, as the input cost is less, but would also help maintain soil health, conserve water, which has become very precious, and get better yield. Therefore, I appeal to paddy cultivators to give a thought to shifting to DSR technique after seeing the success of the farmers who have adopted it,” he said.
Minister allays fears of farmersedit
Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives Pocharam Srinivas Reddy said that the farmers need not face any problems during this season in cultivating their crops. Addressing the farmers at Srinagar village of Varni mandal in the district on Wednesday, he said that as there were bountiful rainfall this season, there is sufficient quantities of water for sowing Rabi and Kharif crops. The Agriculture Minister got on to a tractor and personally went around the fields ploughing the land.
C’GARH IMPLEMENTS PM CROP INSURANCE SCHEMEedit
The Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme has been implemented for the Rabi season 2016-17 in the entire State, officials informed. The crops covered are wheat, (irrigated) wheat (unirrigated), Alsi, potato and ‘Tiwda’ and several other crops. Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal directed the Department officials to spread awareness among the farmers regarding the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Crop Insurance Scheme during the current Rabi season.
Technology in Agriculture
SBI inks MoU with VST Tillers to offer loans to farmers to buy tractorsedit
State Bank of India (SBI) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with VST Tillers Tractors to offer loans to farmers to purchase products such as tractors, tillers, power seeders and reapers. The tie-up is part of the Bank’s strategy under which the lender is developing risk mitigated, value chain financing solutions that can cater to all stakeholders, starting from farmers to distribution channel partners.
Sonalika Tractors export surge by 32% in Novemberedit
Indian tractor manufacturer Sonalika ITL has reported 32 percent growth in their exports in November 2016. The company has exported 1059 tractors this year, against 800 tractors that were exported last year during the same month. The export division alone has registered the growth of 20 percent in 8 months starting April to November 16. The company has exported 8121 tractors as compared to 6739 Tractors in same period last year. Furthermore, company also had achieved a milestone of 7 lakh customer reach in November 2016, from the time of its inception.