Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Wheat crop not affected by recent unseasonal rains: Govtedit
We have checked with four states Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. There is no damage,” Agriculture Secretary Shobhana Pattanayak told reporters. However, the harvesting will be delayed for 4-5 days where the crop is still wet, he added. There have been sporadic unseasonal rains in some of the wheat growing states for last three days. The government is estimating a record 96.6 million tonnes of wheat in the 2016-17 crop year (July-June).
Centre declares Kerala drought-hitedit
Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan told The Hindu that the declaration was based on a memorandum submitted to the Union Ministry of Agriculture seeking assistance for drought relief activities. He said a Central team would visit Kerala on April 18 to assess the situation.
HC questions Centre over maize importedit
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday questioned the central government over its move to import maize while the crop was not being procured from farmers under minimum support price (MSP) scheme.
Punjab: Rainfall, strong winds play spoilsport; delay wheat harvestedit
The threat of damage looms large over the standing wheat crop, following heavy rainfall and high velocity winds across the region on Wednesday. Hailstorms in some parts of the district added to the worries of farmers. Post-inclement weather conditions, besides waterlogging in the fields and flattening of standing crop has been reported from several villages of Ghanaur, Nabha, Bhadson, Patiala and Patran blocks.
To frame a model contract farming law, precondition to make it business-friendlyedit
The NITI Aayog is currently preparing a new model contract farming law—the earlier one was recommended 14 years ago—to revamp the system of firm farm linkages in the Indian agriculture sector. The main objective is to assure procurement from farmers at remunerative prices, while mitigating risks arising due to price fluctuations, especially of perishable commodities.
Telangana State agriculture needs all-out govt supportedit
Agriculture in India is the pivotal sector for ensuring food and nutritional security, sustainable development and for alleviation of poverty. It is a key sector for generating employment opportunities for the vast majority of population. For quite some time, agriculture sector, as a whole, has been confronted with numerous challenges linked to food and energy crisis coupled with climate change and degradation of natural resources.
Agriculture has unlimited scope with satellite and remote sensing technologies: Ministeredit
Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh has said that there is unlimited scope for development in the sector by utilizing satellite and remote sensing technologies. He said that in the coming days the satellite technology will be used for land resource mapping, pesticide management, soil health mapping, crop yield estimation as well as assessment of natural calamities.
Farm loan waivers a bad idea: RBI governor Urjit Pateledit
Reserve Bank of India governor Urjit Patel has sounded the alarm on state governments waiving farm loans and has called for a consensus on eschewing them to avoid damaging the national balance sheet.
Technology in Agriculture
Sonalika ITL sells 81,531 tractors in 2016-17, up 19.6% YoYedit
Sonalika ITL, India’s third largest tractor brand, has clocked all-time high sales of 81,531 tractors in 2016-17, a year-on-year growth of 19.6 percent. While the company sold 69,290 units in the domestic market, up 18 percent YoY, it exported 12,241 units, up 29.3 percent YoY.