Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
With wheat crop standing, untimely rains worry farmers in Haryanaedit
Untimely rains in several parts of Haryana since wee hours of Wednesday have rendered the farmers worrying across the state for their standing wheat crop. Farmers in Rohtak and adjoining areas told HT that though the rains were scanty, it hit the standing wheat crop. Similar views of farmers came from Karnal and adjoining areas where too the wheat crop was soon to be harvested.
Agriculture and climate change: Breeding for the Ides of Marchedit
Farmers sowed a record 31.56 million hectares (mh) under wheat this time, up from 29.25 mh in 2015-16 and the normal area of 30.17 mh. That was largely courtesy a good monsoon, which helped recharge the soil moisture and aquifer levels. The crop’s overall growth — from germination, seedling development and tillering (production of multiple side stems from the initial parent shoot), to earhead emergence, flowering and early grain development — was also excellent, till the spike in temperatures from around March 21.
Making mandis farmer-friendly: National agriculture market to complete a year, but its potential benefits remain untappededit
It was in the year 2000 that eChaupals were launched with much fanfare. Using information technology as an autonomous agent of change, and hailed as the lone success story to bridge the information divide, these eChaupals were projected as the game changer, empowering farmers by providing information and removing ‘corrupt’ intermediaries.
Farm loan waiver: A bad idea for agriculture economyedit
In India where annual agriculture waste is about Rs 96,000 crore, farm loan waiver is just a poll sop with no long term economic gain for farmers in distress. The money waived could be invested for creating infrastructure that makes farmers independent of cartel of traders and help them to reap maximum economic benefit of their produce.
All agricultural assets to be geo-tagged by ISRO’s NRSC; MoU to be signed tomorrowedit
Under the MoU, the NRSC will geo-tag all agriculture assets which are created under the ‘Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana’ (National Agriculture Development Plan) in different parts of the country. Such assets include seed processing units, seed farms, soil testing labs, bio-fertilizer production units, seed storage godowns, seed certification infrastructure, labs for production of bio control agents, state pesticide/residue testing labs, machinery to reduce post-harvest losses, poly houses\shade-nets and orchards among lakhs of such facilities across the country.
Technology in Agriculture
Mahindra targets horticulture sector with all new JIVO tractoredit
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. on Wednesday unveiled their third new tractor platform in three years called the Mahindra JIVO. After focusing on larger and more powerful tractors in the preceding NOVO and YUVO platforms, Mahindra has designed the JIVO to penetrate the less than 30 HP segment. What sets this platform apart from competitors is its narrow and compact design aimed at horticulture and row crop farming sector.
New combine harvesters grounded, manufacturers hitedit
Agriculture implement manufacturers in the state have been hit hard as Punjab government has suspended registration of new combine harvesters following the directions from NGT, which asked northern states to take measures against burning of crop residue in fields.
Sonalika Tractor sales up 19.6% at 81,531 units in FY17edit
Tractor maker Sonalika Tractors has reported its best ever annual sales at 81,531 units, registering a growth of 19.6 per cent in 2016-17. During the year, the company sold 69,290 units in the domestic market, clocking an increase of 18 per cent from the previous fiscal, Sonalika Tractors said in a statement. Exports in FY17 grew by 29.3 per cent at 12,241 units, it added.
Indian tractor sales seen rising as regions waive farm loansedit
Tractor sales in India are likely to grows in double digits in the fiscal year that started on April 1, following a decision by at least two states to waive some loans to farmers, India’s biggest tractor maker said on Wednesday. India’s tractor industry posted 18 percent volume growth in the fiscal year that ended March 31.