Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Agri summit to focus on doubling farm incomeedit
Faced with new challenges in agriculture sector, the Haryana Government has initiated the process to prepare the farmers to adopt new concepts like Peri-urban agriculture, Climate–smart agriculture and give impetus to adoption of organic farming and micro irrigation, besides marketing and branding of agricultural products.
Bumper crop does little to cheer pulses farmersedit
A bumper crop notwithstanding, farmers of pulses have several reasons to complain. And why wouldn’t they? Spurred on by the Centre’s assurance to procure their produce at the Minimum Support Price (MSP), many had increased the area under cultivation (acreage). But the government’s procurement target at MSP is only 10 per cent of the year’s total output.
Don’t rain on the monsoon paradeedit
As India stares at another harsh summer with the prospect of drought across the country, the issue before us is simple – how to manage our water resources and end our over-reliance on the monsoon. Year after year, the blame game is the same – hold the ‘below normal’ monsoon rains responsible for our water woes in summer without acknowledging that the ‘below normal rainfall’ that creates water stress is the new normal across the country. More so, because our water demands are growing, and to some extent, is linked to the rapid growth in economy.
Farmers, scientists to join hands for new concepts like Peri-urban agricultureedit
Faced with new challenges in the agricultural sector, the Haryana Government has initiated a process to prepare farmers to adopt new concepts like Peri-urban agriculture, climate-smart agriculture and give impetus to adoption of organic farming and micro-irrigation, besides marketing and branding of agricultural products.
Interview with Nabard chairman: ‘Farmers should get benefits, but we’re against waivers’edit
With the government initiating several steps on the rural front, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) is getting ready to raise around Rs 60,000 crore from the market, almost 50 per cent more than last year. “While we seek that farmers should get benefits, we’re not in favour of waivers,” Nabard chairman Harsh Kumar Bhanwala said in an interview to George Mathew.
Why Indian farmers don’t reap what they sowedit
Father of the Indian Green Revolution and renowned agri-scientist, Prof MS Swaminathan, in an interview with BusinessLine, states emphatically that the Centre’s promise of doubling farmer income can become a reality if careful thought is applied and a comprehensive plan is drawn up. The role of the State and the public are crucial here, he stresses.
Technology in Agriculture
Mahindra & Mahindra expands overseas tractors and farm machinery businessedit
Mahindra & Mahindra is expanding the international play for its tractors and farm machinery business, targeting to earn 50 per cent of the revenues from the overseas market in the next two years. The world’s top tractor maker by volumes is also open to more acquisitions to expand its reach and product capabilities.
Farm mechanisation means only tractors?edit
In a move that would adversely impact the farming community to a large extent, the Agriculture Department confined farm mechanisation to distribution of only tractors to ‘select farmers’ instead of extending it to all farmers to buy general farm equipment. According to highly placed sources the Department has issued two orders one after other in a gap of three days first order on January 27th and second order on January 30th — releasing ₹ 1 crore for each district for farm mechanisation.