Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
PM Modi govt looks to protect farmers amid bumper crop projection, revive import duty on pulsesedit
The decision of the central govt comes after Kharif farm gate prices of pulses, especially tur or arhar and urad, have been falling below the minimum support price (MSP) in mandis across key producing states, As per media sources, the government had been pursuing a zero percent duty on imports since 2006 so as to bridge the gap between demand and supply of pulses,. However, this year (2016-17), in anticipation of a bumper crop, the government has decided to restrict import in a bid to protect domestic farmers.
Government plans 2 mn tonnes’ buffer of pulses: Ministeredit
The government is creating a dynamic buffer of up to two million tonnes of pulses, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution C.R. Chaudhary told the Rajya Sabha on Friday. Around 14.25 lakh tonnes of pulses were procured and contracted for imports for the buffer as on March 6, he informed the house.
Farmers reap rich digital harvestedit
Demonetization has pushed many farmers to go digital. Platforms like The Agrihub, AgroStar, Big Haat, and RML AgTech that provide services and products to farmers say there’s been a significant increase in payments done through debit cards, credit cards, net banking and other digital modes. Big Haat, an e-commerce platform that sells agricultural products, including seeds and fertilisers, has seen its online payment transactions grow from 5% of overall transactions six months ago to 30%.
After Kharif, India set to reap record Rabi crops: NCAERedit
A good monsoon in 2016 helped in achieving record Kharif crops output, and India is set to replicate the performance in Rabi or winter sown crops too, said a study by economic think-tank NCAER. As per the NCAER’s report on the short-term agricultural outlook for the 2017 Rabi season, Gross Value Added (GVA) in agriculture and allied sector registered a significant 3.3 percent year-on-year growth in the second quarter of 2016-17 as compared to 1.8 percent growth in the previous quarter.
Indian researcher uses novel strategy to increase wheat yieldedit
Using a novel route, an Indian researcher has been able to increase wheat grain yield by 20% and also improve the resilience of wheat to environmental stress such as drought. By using a precursor that enhances the amount of a key sugar-signalling molecule (trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P)) produced in wheat plant, Dr. Ram Sagar Misra, from the Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford and currently with the Department of Chemistry, Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida, has been able to increase the amount of starch produced and, therefore, the yield.