The Hindu

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has announced that an allocation of about Rs. 7,500 crore will be made in the next (2018-19) Budget for the input investment assistance scheme to be implemented from the kharif 2018 in the State, under which the State Government would credit Rs. 4,000 per acre each for kharif and rabi crops, separately.

Business Standard

Haribhai Bhensdadiya, a 54-year-old farmer in Moti Danudhar village in Jamnagar district of Gujarat, sold cumin seed a few days ago for Rs 50,000. If Bhensdadiya had his way, he would have sold the lot for cash. But the trader who bought his produce wanted at least a part of the payment be made by cheque. Bhensdadiya ended up receiving Rs 30,000 by cheque and Rs 20,000 in cash. “Cheques are not convenient, I have to wait for two days for them to clear. I prefer cash,” he said.

The Economic Times

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadanvis has said that the government will use satellite images in case big quantities of tur sold at Nafed centres to verify if the sellers had actually planted tur. The government will take criminal action against traders who sold imported tur at government procurement centres. The CM announced allocation of Rs 1000 crore to procure about 1 lakh quintal tur that was registered at various centres on Aprill 22 for sale as the central government’s ..

Livemint

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) on Tuesday announced a Rs3.36 trillion lending plan for the priority sector in Maharashtra in 2017-18. The plan includes Rs58,862 crore in crop loans and Rs27,973 crore in agriculture term loan.

Business Standard

Seeking priority to using farm loans for creating durable assets, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that banks should focus on bringing back farmers forced out of the formal credit system in the current financial year.

The Hindu

Marginal and small farmers are likely to benefit the most from the input investment scheme proposed to be implemented by the Telangana Government from kharif 2018 as they comprise nearly 86% of total farmers (holdings) in the State with control over 55.5% of agriculture land.

Business World

Despite a ban and dire warnings from the Environment Pollution Control Authority, the burning of wheat stubbles to clear the fields for paddy sowing is a rampant practice in Punjab and Haryana, leading to severe air pollution across the region and in Delhi, too. These days farmers do it in a secret way as there is stringent monitoring and satellite surveillance carried out by the Punjab and Haryana government. Also, after crop fires they term it as an accident.

The Hindu

Experts at a workshop on ‘Impact of climate change on livestock-based livelihood systems’ have called for projects with a climate-change perspective. Presenting a paper on ‘Role of officers with animal husbandry background in changed environment’ at the three-day workshop, D.V. Deshpande, Director, Bankers Institute of Rural Development (BIRD), Lucknow, said compared to previous years, market-centered production has been acquiring momentum in animal agriculture.

The Times of India

Seeking to create abarrier-free market for agricultural produce and livestock across the country, the Centre has unveiled a model law and urged states to adopt it at the earliest.

The Hindu Business Line

One of the major challenges that confronts agriculture in India today is that the children of farmers, by and large, are not interested in their familial occupation. To address this challenge and make agriculture attractive to the youth, the Union Government is rolling out a programme that offers bankable options for the youth in agriculture and allied sectors.

PTI News

Niti Aayog in its three-year draft action agenda on Tuesday suggested a host of reforms in taxation, agriculture and energy sectors with the objective of accelerating growth and increasing employment opportunities. The draft agenda, released by Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya on Tuesday, also underlined the need for recalibrating the role of the government by limiting its involvement in activities that do not serve a public purpose.

Business World

Despite a ban and dire warnings from the Environment Pollution Control Authority, the burning of wheat stubbles to clear the fields for paddy sowing is a rampant practice in Punjab and Haryana, leading to severe air pollution across the region and in Delhi, too. These days farmers do it in a secret way as there is stringent monitoring and satellite surveillance carried out by the Punjab and Haryana government. Also, after crop fires they term it as an accident.

Telangana Today

The agriculture extension officers should equip themselves with total data pertaining to farmers in their jurisdiction. They have to have survey number of land holdings, extent of land, name and phone numbers and crops cultivated by the farmers, said Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao here on Tuesday.

Business Standard

Farmers claim banking is not speedy in rural areas. Cotton farmers in Punjab who accepted 80-90 per cent of their payments by cheque till January, are increasingly demanding cash. “This is due to weak banking in rural areas. Farmers want cash for their daily requirements,” said Bhagwan Bansal, president, Punjab Cotton Ginners Association.

The Economic Times

“At best what I can do because it is an agriculture income, instead of using agriculture income for one particular year, what I could do is I average it over three-year period or may over five years period as agriculture income is subject to annual fluctuations, barring that threshold should be the same,” he said.

The Economic Times

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadanvis has said that the government will use satellite images in case big quantities of tur sold at Nafed centres to verify if the sellers had actually planted tur. The government will take criminal action against traders who sold imported tur at government procurement centres. The CM announced allocation of Rs 1000 crore to procure about 1 lakh quintal tur that was registered at various centres on Aprill 22 for sale as the central government’s procurement programme ended on Aprill 22.

Business Standard

Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Tuesday said that the Central Government has been giving priority to the agriculture sector by allocating maximum funds for the farmers’ welfare.

Livemint

Fadnavis, however, said the tur stock procured by the government was a record in Maharashtra. “Across the country, around 1.1 million tonnes of tur has been procured by the government agencies. Maharashtra alone accounts for 40% of this procurement and our share will go up to 45% after we have procured the remaining stock at centres. This is a record high procurement and no other state has bought this much of Tur. In 2011-12, under a similar scheme implemented by the Congress-NCP government, Nafed procured only 20,000 tonnes of Tur and stopped procurement on 15 March. Our government has procured 2,500% more tur and gave three extensions after March 15,” Fadnavis said.

The Hans India

After the fiery rains and hailstorm wreaked havoc on paddy fields two weeks ago, the fire engulfed nearly 35 acres of paddy field in separate incidents that took place in Nalgonda and Suryapet on Tuesday. In one incident nearly Rs 2 crore worth cotton bales were reduced to ashes. Sources said in Pillalamarri village of Suryapet mandal, as many as 25 acres