Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Farmers want more reliefedit
Terming the State government’s relief for crop loss as an eyewash, representatives of a few political outfits picked up argument with officials during the farmers’ grievance meet held here on Friday. “Even though more than three lakh farmers in the district have been hit, only 45,000 farmers are going to get compensation. This is an eyewash. We have no trust in this administration,” said Mr. Viyanarasu to trigger heated argument between him and the officials. When the argument against the officials became intense, the police entered the hall and took the protesters out of the venue.
Sudden heat, high speed winds harming wheat cropsedit
The arrival of early summer accompanied by high speed winds is worrying farmers who have sowed wheat this rabi season. Over the past one week, temperatures have risen across northern India and are hovering between 24 and 27 degrees Celsius.
Include climate change in development planning: agri congedit
The 13th Agricultural Science Congress passed a declaration recommending a set of measures, including framing of a national water policy and inclusion of climate change in development planning, to address problems affecting the farm sector.
Karnataka to release drought-tolerant varieties of five crops by next yearedit
Karnataka’s efforts to use non-transgenic biotechnology to tackle the impact of climate change has just begun to yield results, with the State set to release drought-tolerant and improved varieties of five crops, including ragi, by next year.
Innovation essential for growth of India: Kota Harinarayanaedit
With many countries sniping at India’s heels, only innovation will keep India ahead of the pack, said eminent defence scientist Kota Harinarayana. “Our infrastructure is creaking, agriculture has stagnated with marginal growth and our manufacturing sector’s performance is below par. Our imports exceed our exports. We continue to depend on imports to meet our defence requirements. Innovation is essential to ensure India’s growth,” said Harinarayana. “We must recognize that everything we know and operate becomes obsolete over time. Continuous renewal is the name of the game to remain alive and kicking,” added Padamshree award winner.
Climate-smart agriculture: Bengaluru declaration calls for water security policyedit
The four-day XIII Agricultural Science Congress, which deliberated on climate-smart agriculture, came out with a Bengaluru declaration on Friday urging the Centre to develop a robust water security policy that can insulate agriculture from the vagaries of monsoon.
Technology in Agriculture
Bihar emerges as a huge market for farm equipmentedit
Bihar is emerging as a big market for farm equipment as the farmers, of late, are switching over to mechanized harvesting due to huge shortage of agricultural workers in the state. According to a study conducted recently, Bihar has a market three times bigger than West Bengal as far as sale of big farming machines like threshers, combined harvesters, rotavators and straw reapers is concerned.