Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Traditional farming to be promoted in Wayanadedit
Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar on Thursday rolled out his department’s plan for the coming years, which include declaring Wayanad district for traditional agriculture crop and practices, Attappady millet-growing area, and allocating more funds to bring at least 3 lakh hectares of land under cultivation to produce 10 lakh tonnes of paddy a year.
Mozambique increases cotton producer price by 50%edit
The Government of Mozambique, a country in southeastern Africa, has increased the minimum price paid to farmers by more than 50 per cent for the 2016-17 agricultural season. The minimum price has been raised based on a proposal presented by cotton growers. For Mozambique, cotton is the third largest export earning commodity after coal and shrimps. For first-grade cotton, the minimum price has been increased from about 22.5 US cents per kilo to about 35 US cents per kilo, Mozambican media reported quoting Cabinet spokesperson Mouzinho Saide.
Mandis Try to be Cashless, with Patchy Successedit
Efforts to make transactions at mandis cash-free have met with a high rate of success in mandis which deal with commodities like jeera, sesame, soyabean, cotton and wheat. However, mandis where vegetables and fruits are sold, like Azadpur mandi, are still struggling to bring down cash transactions.
Innova Agri approves 300 tons of mangoes to Australiaedit
Karnataka-based Innova Agri Bio Park has received the Australian government’s approval to process and export nearly 300 tonnes of Indian mangoes to Australia. The Gamma Irradiation facility-treated mangoes qualified the phyto-sanitary and food standard requirement for entry into Australia, the company said.
Government to go soft on recovery of crop loanedit
The communication also insisted that proactive steps be taken to convert more number of short-term crop loans into medium-term loans and urged the banks to take steps to give maximum number of agricultural loans to eligible farmers, whenever farmers approach primary agricultural co-operative credit societies for loans.
Government launches e-krishisamvad to offer agri solutionsedit
The Economic Times The Financial Express
Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today launched e-krishisamvad, an internet-based interface, that will provide direct and effective solutions to the problems faced by farmers and stakeholders in agri sector. People can directly connect to the ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) website http://icar.org.in and get appropriate solutions from the subject matter specialists and institutes through web or SMS, the minister said in a statement.
Cheaper Imports pound pepperedit
Karnataka sellers offering their pepper at Rs 530 a kg were not able to sell in Delhi markets as the material imported from Sri Lanka was being offered there at Rs 510-512 a kg. On the terminal market 30 tonnes including Sri Lankan material were traded at Rs 530550 a kg. Indian export prices were at $8,825 a tonne c&f for Eruope and $9,075 a tonne c&f for the US.
An app to help farmers increase crop yieldsedit
In a country of 120 million farmers, it is surprising that technology is not as focused on the development of agriculture as it could be. The knowledge available to the urban agricultural researcher is difficult to transmit to the farmers in the hinterlands. It is with this agenda that Neeru Bhooshan started working on creating an app for information sharing with farmers and industry stakeholders alike.
‘Chilli farmers victimised in Khammam market yard case’edit
Middlemen against e-NAM vandalised facility: Laxman Middlemen who vandalised the e-National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) facility at Khammam agriculture market yard have been allowed to go scot free and chilli farmers are being victimised instead, BJP State president K. Laxman said. The Centre has introduced the e-NAM, the online trading platform for fair price discovery, in as many as 44 market yards to eliminate the middlemen and ensure better prices to farmers.
JK Agri Genetics surges after reporting strong Q4 resultsedit
JK Agri Genetics standalone net profit rises 910.53% in the March 2017 quarter JK Paper gains after announcing cessation of JV agreement with Oji JK Packaging JK Tyre gains after board approves fund raising JK Lakshmi Cement gains on board’s nod to raise funds JK Lakshmi Cement gains on bargain hunting JK Agri Genetics was locked at 20% upper circuit at Rs 730.65 at 13:46 IST on BSE after net profit spurted 910.5% to Rs 3.84 crore on 44.5% increase in net sales to Rs 47.60 crore in Q4 March 2017 over Q4 March 2016.
Size Matters Here Tooedit
Highly profitable companies and rich individuals have used the tax exemption for farm income to great advantage. In 2014-15, for example, Kaveri Seed Company showed Rs 186.6 crore as tax-exempt farm income, while Monsanto India declared tax-exempt farm income of Rs 94 crore.
FMCG, agri-input stocks soar on better rain prospectsedit
Other agri input stocks like pesticides makers and seed companies have also rallied on higher demand hope led by Bayer Crop Science (25.35 per cent), Monsanto India (6.21 per cent), Dhanuka Agritech (9.45 per cent) UPL (8.36 per cent) and Syschem India (8.14 per cent). With good monsoon rains in 2016 India’s overall GDP growth in FY17 surged over 7 per cent and in FY18 also it is expected to be above 7 per cent.
Plateful of painedit
The food we would be left with would be the next big determinant of our health in the future. It would be full of obesogenic toxins and cancer-causing agrochemicals. Genetically modified (GM) foods that are linked with allergies would become more common in our markets, despite the fact by that time, more data on GM food’s detrimental effects would have accumulated— food rich in fat, salt and sugar rich foods would lead to obesity and increase the risk of diabetes and heart ailments. One estimate shows that by 2020, chronic diseases would account for almost three-quarters of all deaths worldwide.
Another RSS affiliate slams NITI Aayogedit
Recently, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) farmers’ cell have also slammed NITI Aayog for its recommendations to tax farm income, its support to genetically modified or GM crops and its alleged attempt to scuttle Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative to provide affordable medicines. In a letter to the PM on May 1, the Manch had accused NITI Aayog of pursuing an agenda that is “against national interests and fundamentally anti-poor.”
GM mustard gets regulators nod, govt’s decision awaitededit
Rajya Sabha TV Business Standard Business Standard The Hindu Business Line The Economic Times The Financial Express The Times of India MINT Deccan Herald
India’s GM crop regulator recommended the commercial use of genetically modified mustard in a submission to the environment ministry amid opposition by anti-GM groups, including RSS-affiliated bodies. In its submission, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), the nodal regulator for Genetically Modified (GM) crop, has given a “positive” recommendation– but “with certain conditions”.
Cash and chemicals – for Laos, Chinese banana boom a blessing and curseedit
Kongkaew Vonusak smiles when he recalls the arrival of Chinese investors in his tranquil village in northern Laos in 2014. With them came easy money, he said. The Chinese offered villagers up to $720 per hectare to rent their land, much of it fallow for years, said Kongkaew, 59, the village chief. They wanted to grow bananas on it. In impoverished Laos, the offer was generous. “They told us the price and asked us if we were happy. We said okay.”
Govt eyes private role, foreign technology for ‘Blue Revolution’edit
India will promote big private investments in deep sea fishing and take foreign technological support to realise the full potential of the sector, which supports an estimated four million fishermen and their family members and contributes Rs 65,000 crore annually to the economy. Billed as the roadmap for a ‘Blue Revolution’, the new national policy on marine fisheries lays emphasis on bringing sustainable utilisation of the fisheries’ wealth from marine and other aquatic resources.
To recharge groundwater, give due attention to soil: conservationist Vijay Boradeedit
We are concentrating only on water conservation but unless we give due attention to soil conservation, the problem of water scarcity will not be solved, observed Vijay Borade—winner of Krishi Bhushan Award and the former member of Maharashtra Water Conservation Advisory Council—at the Natural Farming Summit 2017 organised by the Sri Sri Institute Agricultural Sciences & Technology Trust (SSIAST) in Bengaluru on Tuesday, May 9.
Farmer’s Notebook: How a Fogging System Can Help Improve Indian Sericultureedit
Sericulture farmers in tropical zones such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal often struggle to provide good environmental conditions to rear silkworms during the summer months, thus getting poor or no cocoon yields. Dr N. Sakthivel, a scientist at the Regional Sericultural Research Station, Central Silk Board in Salem, Tamil Nadu has come up with a solution to overcome this problem with a simplified fogging system for silkworm-rearing houses.
These IIT Kharagpur Alumni Show How You Can Grow Organic Veggies on Your Rooftopedit
Friends from the IIT Kharagpur, Saahil Parekh and Kaustubh Khare never imagined that they would helm a startup. Post graduation, both arrived in Delhi—Saahil worked as a sustainability researcher at TERI while Kaustubh joined the Young India Fellowship, following which he was selected as an IIC fellow by the University of Chicago to work as an urban designer.
Call for agriculture sensitive to nutritionedit
Agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan on Thursday called for a ‘new agriculture’ that is sensitive to the nutritional needs of the population and also to changes in rainfall and heat patterns. Speaking at the inauguration of an international conference titled “Climate Change and adaptation: Empowering small holders and ensuring food security,” organised here by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, he said there was a need for the scientific community to find solutions to sea-level rise, temperature rise and climate change.