Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
No big demonetisation hit on sowing season; rabi area up 6% over last yearedit
While area under wheat was down 8% from normal on December 2, it was just 1% below normal on Friday. With just a couple of weeks left for the sowing season to end, it is clear that the rabi crop hasn’t taken a big hit due to demonetisation. Area sown till Friday was 51.9 million hectares, up 6% from the comparable period last year and marginally higher than what is described “normal” for the period. Sowing of wheat, the crop that accounts for about half of the rabi area, recovered smartly over the last fortnight. While area under wheat was down 8% from normal on December 2, it was just 1% below normal on Friday, according ...
Irate farmers seek compensation for crop lossedit
Collector promises to recommend to the State to declare the district ‘drought-hit’ Collector M. Karunakaran has assured the farmers that he would recommend to the State Government to declare the district as ‘drought-hit’ after the agriculturists, carrying withered crops in the monthly farmers’ grievance redressal meet, urged him to give adequate compensation for the loss they had suffered after the northeast monsoon belied. During the meet held at the Collectorate on Friday, agriculturists from Sankarankovil and Surandai, carrying withered black gram and groundnut crops, entered the District Development Council Hall and asked the Collector, who was chairing the meeting, to forward the proposal to the government for disbursing compensation for the crop loss.
Govt not considering higher wheat import dutyedit
“The government today informed the Parliament that it was not considering imposing higher customs duty on wheat to discourage overseas purchase. Last week, the government had reduced import duty on wheat to zero from 10 per cent to boost domestic supplies and check price rise.”
Declare Madurai drought-affected, say farmersedit
They also demanded waiver of crop loans taken by farmers and to compensate them for their losses. Pointing out the abysmal level of water available in the combined Periyar credit in the Vaigai dam, N. Palanichamy, president of Tamil Nadu Sugarcane Farmers’ Association, said that the present harvest season was going to be an almost total failure.
Demonetisation: Impact on Agricultural Crops in Indiaedit
The prices of non-horticultural crops in India have so far held steady despite the impact of demonetization. However, the arrivals at the local mandi present a somewhat mixed picture where the arrivals of onions and cotton seem to have picked up in recent weeks, but the arrivals of paddy remain depressed post demonetisation. Rabi acreages are near normal despite the strain on farmer finances. Overall, while it appears that the agricultursl markets have so far coped fairly well with demonetisation, delays in arrival of new currency could create problems. Meanwhile, the demand for agri-inputs has slackened.
For putting farmers firstedit
Attired in her trademark salwar-kameez-dupatta and a string of pearls, Mallika Srinivasan sits with ease behind the wheel of a giant tractor, justifying the epithet ‘Tractor Queen of India’. And why not? Farming in India has long been a male dominated activity. But Srinivasan—a Wharton graduate—has defied all odds to make her company the world’s third-largest tractor manufacturer.
BJP cultivates farmers with loan waiveredit
The BJP is doing a U-turn by scrapping farmers’ loans following ground-level information about demonetisation adversely impacting the voter-heavy rural sector. On the cards are interest-free floaters too. NITI Aayog, the agriculture ministry and senior ministers compiled reports on farming losses due to the cash crunch.