Deccan Herald

Karnataka on Thursday demanded a Rs 5,064-crore relief package to offset the crop loss due to drought in most parts of the state and excess rain in three districts. Karnataka Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa and Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and submitted a memorandum seeking a Rs 4,702-crore relief package for loss of kharif crop this season.

The Economic Times

Rice stubble, a cause of air pollution due to open field burning, is set to catalyze investment of Rs 2400 crore in a string of biomass based energy projects and ethanol manufacturing facilities in Haryana and Punjab.

Web India 123

Andhra Pradesh stood top in the production of maize and third in the production paddy in the country. Informing this at a power point presentation during the District Collectors conference here today, Agriculture Department Secretary B. Rajasekhar said Paddy and Maize have recorded incredible yields in the state. The target set for total food grains production this year is 77.63 lakh metric tonnes.

First Post

The impact of demonetisation on agriculture is an indirect one. There are two cropping seasons in India. The monsoon crop, which is kharif, was in the midst of harvesting while the winter crop, or rabi, was in the first stages of sowing when the announcement was made. A good monsoon ensured that the kharif crop across all commodities was good, while the moisture retention meant that the rabi crop would follow suit. The demonetisation exercise began on 8 November, which was at the confluence of these two phenomena and had implications for both the activities.

Live Mint

Renowned agriculture scientist and architect of India’s green revolution, M.S. Swaminathan has rapped the Centre for abolishing the import duty on wheat, saying cheap imports will put the clock back on sustaining the wheat revolution. In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Swaminathan said that “sustaining wheat revolution is important for success of food security and fundamental to safeguarding livelihood security of wheat farmers.”

Business Standard

As the government pushes for cashless transactions in the agri-economy, so far, over 213,000 farmers have activated mobile banking accounts and about 81,000 farmers are now using e-wallet across India. The government hopes that the numbers would double in the next one to two months.

Siasat

The agriculture sector is all set to bounce back leaving two years of drought behind and may well pull off record foodgrain output of 270 million tonnes in 2016-17 on good rains, but farmers’ woes may continue due to adverse impact of notes ban and low sales realisation.

Hindustan Times

Kisan Swaraj, or the farmers’ movement, in pre-budget consultations with the government, has demanded that in the immediate run there be an exemption from demonetisation to all farm-related transactions. Contrast that with the view from the finance minister who declared that the cashless economy and its associated changes were the new normal. Assuming that this was the new normal or new quasi-normal, what could a quintessential farmer wish from the upcoming union budget? Below I present five natural fallouts of demonetisation for the budget wishlist now that the chinks in the armour of liquidity-driven non-arm’s length spot transactions for agricultural products have been somewhat laid bare.

The Times of India

Western Maharashtra is known for its success in the agriculture sector and the industry backing the farmers in the region with modern equipment always boomed. However, demonetisation has cast its shadow on this sector too. The demand for electric pumps, trollies, tractors, ploughs and fertilisers has plummeted owing to cash crunch as bills of cane, milk and other agricultural produce are stuck in cooperative banks.