The Hindu

Drought and dry spell due to the failure of north east monsoon and the ban on ‘jallikattu’ dampened the Pongal celebrations. People used to cook pongal, the sweet delicacy, with freshly harvested rice grains but this year, they bought rice from shops and celebrated the festival. This year, there was no harvest and paddy crop withered even before flowering. Yet farmers thanked the nature and sun god.

Money Control

Indian importers have purchased 2.7 million tonnes of wheat from Australia, France and Ukraine so far this fiscal and additional 1.2 million tonnes of grain is expected to arrive by the end of next month. However, traders have not signed any import deals for wheat delivery beyond March as they are skeptical that the government may reimpose customs duty on the grain when the harvesting of the new crop starts from April 2017.

The New Indian Express

The Centre has approved the State Government proposal for extension of Kharif paddy procurement deadline to April 30. Paddy procurement is in full swing in most of the districts except Kandhamal where the the process will start from next week, Joint Director (Procurement) in the Food Supply and Consumer Welfare department B K Prusty said.

The Times of India

The mobile app offering instant help for farming-related issues along with a SIM card that facilitates sharing of expert advice through calls and SMSes — both initiative of Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) — have found growing number of takers from the farming community across the country.

State Times

Agriculture continues to be an occupation and way of life for more than half of the Indian population. The agriculture, which is an engine of growth and development and a significant contributor to the national economy, has been greatly influenced by the process of globalisation. There is a matter great concern about imbalance of total production, the urban-rural divide, national food security and economic access to food. The agricultural strategy in the country seeks to bridge the product and production gaps.

Business Standard

Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh will lead a five member Indian delegation to Germany for participation in the Global Forum for Food & Agriculture from 19-21 January and G-20 Agriculture Ministers Meeting on January 22 in Berlin.

First Post

This year’s budget is expected to focus on the need to remove bottlenecks in production and distribution of food products as well as pave the way for cashless transactions in the sector. The expectations of people-friendly reforms by the government have increased even further post the announcements of demonetisation and GST implementation.

State Times

Agriculture in the country has largely been done by conventional methods. These conventional methods are largely crude which depleted our natural resources, require more labour, inputs and money. Despite more labour and inputs the production is not optimum besides a huge damage to soil and human health and loss of biodiversity. Greater stress is now being laid on adopting practices which conserve the natural resources, do not compromise with the soil health, does not harm the diverse flora and fauna and also give adequate yields.

The Times of India

The Madhya Pradesh government has earmarked Rs 1,600 crore for the expansion of training infrastructure and skill development capacity over the next five years. The scheme is to generate employment for youths and provide manpower to industries as per their requirement.