Reuters

India’s food grains production in 2016/17 is expected to rise by 8.1 percent from a year ago to a record high 271.98 million tonnes as good monsoon rains improved yields, the country’s farm ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The country’s production of wheat is likely to rise by 4.7 percent from a year ago to 96.64 million tonnes, while pulses production will rise to 22.14 million tonnes, it said.

The Hindu Business Line

The Centre has decided to procure 330 lakh tonnes (lt) of wheat during the rabi marketing season 2017-18, higher than 229.61 lt during the last season. A decision to this effect was taken on Wednesday in the conference of State Food Secretaries, chaired by Preeti Sudan, Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distribution.

The Economic Times

Ukraine’s January wheat exports fell by around 14 percent to 1.2 million tonnes and most of it went to India, consultancy UkrAgroConsult said on Wednesday.

Business Standard

The government has fixed a target to procure 33 million tonnes of wheat this rabi season, almost 10% higher than last year. The decision was taken on Wednesday at a meeting of state food secretaries, chaired by Preeti Sudan, secretary at the central government’s department of food & public distribution. A record output is estimated this time.

Indian Cooperative

The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Radha Mohan Singh said that all courses upto Agricultural Graduate are being linked with employment and are being made profession oriented. This will be a big help for the students in earning their livelihood.

 

Live Mint

In the past few years, horticulture crops emerged as a favourite for small growers across the country. 2016-17 marks the fifth straight year when production of fruits and vegetables is estimated to surpass that of foodgrains. This signals a fundamental shift in India’s farm economy towards a growing share of horticulture crops, which now contribute nearly a fifth to the agriculture GDP.

Business World

If noble intentions had the power to make a difference, the Indian farmer would perhaps, be richer than his counterparts in Sweden. The number of proposals, policies, schemes, projects and incentives provided to agriculture since the 1950s are so staggering that it would take a researcher months to merely count and list them. And yet, Sweden is as good as a different planet for the Indian farmer. Forget Sweden, even the “manufacturing” powerhouse is far ahead in India when it comes to agriculture. For most crops, productivity per hectare in China is more than double that of India. At about 500 million tonnes, foodgrain output too is almost double that of India.

The Hans India

Postbudget discussions organised by VIT University on the Union Budget 2017-’18 recently evoked mixed reactions with speakers welcoming the thrust given to the farming sector. Addressing the gathering, VIT University chancellor G Viswanathan, said the highlight of the budget was provision of Rs 10 lakh crore for agricultural credit as this would go a long way in boosting the country’s farming sector. He said another noteworthy point was allocation of Rs 48,000 crore for MNREGA scheme.