Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
With hopes of good monsoon, Karnataka prepares for yet another droughtedit
In what has been a particularly harsh summer, pre-monsoon showers have provided the people much needed respite in the past weeks, and Karnataka is eagerly waiting for the onset of the southwest monsoon, expected to hit the state in the first week of June. Although the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast a normal monsoon (96%) for 2017, the Karnataka government wants to leave nothing to chance, and is preparing the state for the worst. Agriculture minister Krishna Byre Gowda told STOI that officials had been instructed to prepare contingency plans to handle the eventuality of a monsoon failure.
Uttarakhand farmers to be allowed cut20 varieties of trees: Union agriculture ministeredit
Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh on Sunday said in order to bolster income of farmers, the Uttarakhand government would be allowed to bring about necessary changes in the law enabling them to cut 20 varieties of trees, according to a central government scheme, which has already been in place in different parts of the country. The farmers will have to grow those 20 varieties of tress, which once matured, they will be allowed to cut and sell in the timber market. Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has also agreed to launch the scheme for the benefit of farmers,” Singh told TOI.
Union agriculture minister unhappy with state of dairy unitsedit
Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh, who was in Uttarakhand on Saturday, expressed displeasure over failure of dairy unit to present Rs 17 crore Utilisation Certificate to Centre and directed officials to send the UCs on priority. The union minister assured that within ten days of receiving UCs, his ministry would release funds for the department.
State aiming for technological solutions to forecast agri pricesedit
Chairman of the Karnataka Agriculture Prices Commission Prakash Kammardi said the commission was in talks with tech major Microsoft to come up with software that can predict the prices of agricultural and horticultural commodities with a “fair degree of precision”.
NAFED ‘spent Rs. 10,000 cr to procure pulses’edit
The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) has spent about Rs. 10,000 crore in procuring pulses and creating a national buffer-stock of 20 lakh tonnes. NAFED Managing Director Sanjeev Kumar Chadha told BusinessLine that the Finance Ministry provided the budgetary funds over the past 18 months, spread over two fiscals. In the next 12-15 months, this stock will get liquidated and the proceeds from the sale will help NAFED rotate the funds.
Fresh survey on the anvil to give input subsidy for formersedit
Top officials of the State Agriculture Department told The Hans India that the study would be intensified during the ensuing Kharif season. The officials would visit the agriculture fields to ascertain the quantum of fertilisers and pesticides used for different crops per each acre.
Commercial banks to go easy on farm loansedit
This will hugely benefit farmers, since about 86% of farmers in Tamil Nadu have received loans from commercial banks, a senior official said. Though the SLBC advised its member-banks to proceed on extending relief measures to farmers soon after the Tamil Nadu government declared all 32 districts as drought affected, it had to take up the issue with the RBI for extension of relief measures till July 10 this year. The SLBC’s communication was in response to Agriculture Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi’s letter, highlighting the plight of farmers and requesting an extension of relief measures.
VCs see fertile ground in agtechedit
Leclerc is optimistic exits will pick up once the current pipeline of venture-backed companies matures and the largest agriculture industry players refine their M&A strategies. In the past year and a half, there’s been a wave of planned consolidation in Big Agriculture, with pending mergers between Dow and DuPont as well as Bayer and Monsanto. These companies will likely need time to close and digest these mega-acquisitions before looking seriously at buying startups
Genomics lab to come up in cityedit
The first genomics lab for agriculture and animal sciences will be inaugurated at SmartCity on Monday. Tamil Nadu Agricultural University vice-chancellor K Ramaswamy will inaugurate the AgriGenome Lab. The lab will provide necessary impetus to enhance the quality standards and yield of agriculture and livestock in the country to meet the growing demand for food, address concerns on health and food safety and ensure sustainable development.
Compelling reasons why India needs agricultural biotechnologyedit
That India should take note of this issue is relevant because we are home to almost a sixth of humanity, a significant proportion of who live in villages and are farmers. Much of the debate around agri-technology has centred on agri-biotechnology, of which GM crops is a part. I specifically highlight biotechnology because it is arguably the most promising and rapidly evolving agri-technology available today. It is also a technology well proven within India as seen with regards to the spectacular success of Bt Cotton and two billion hectares of biotech crops have been planted in 28 countries since 1996.
Patanjali’s Baba Ramdev, Acharya Balkrishna now want to generate electricity using bullsedit
Baba Ramdev and his associate Acharya Balkrishna of consumer goods company Patanjali are working on a unique form of renewable energy: Bull power. Research of over one and a half years on the idea to generate electricity with the aid of a bull’s pulling power has yielded initial success. The aim is to ensure that the animals don’t get sent to slaughter.
Aadhaar is completely secure; UIDAI chairman J Satyanarayana explains whyedit
The question of data breach and security issue doesn’t arise at all in the government’s ambitious unique identity programme, stresses J Satyanarayana, chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and advisor (IT), government of Andhra Pradesh. Satyanarayana has been associated with the design and implementation of over 20 major e-government projects at the state and national levels; he is best known as the founder of eSeva, a one-stop-shop for citizen services in Andhra Pradesh. A key speaker at the Oracle Open World in New Delhi last week, Satyanarayana tells Sudhir Chowdhary that India’s digital transformation will significantly improve the quality of government services and increase transparency in its style of working.
New technology makes candy of mace, to boost farmers’ incomeedit
While the use of nutmeg and mace (rind) is popularly seen in food, scientists at the ICAR-CCARI have found an innovative use for the pericarp to prepare a mouth-watering dry fruit and a mouth freshner.
US advocacy group backs GM techologyedit
A US-based policy advocacy group has said that government needs to respect science and an independent agency can evaluate health and environment concerns. The statement comes even as India is about to decide whether to allow GM technology in cultivation of food crops.
An app that helps ryots decide best time to selledit
A data application developed to help farmers decide the best time to sell their produce in face of high fluctuation in crop prices has won the two-day long hackathon ‘ICT4D Data Jam’, which was held at ICRISAT’s ihub on May 12.
Director reviews progress on horticulture projectsedit
Director Horticulture Jammu Bhawani Rakwal conducted an extensive tour of twin Border districts of Rajouri and Poonch and inspected the development works and plantation of Citrus in Kangri area of Sunderbani Zone. He emphasized on covering of more area under citrus plantation to form a large cluster to ease the marketing of the fruit. While checking ongoing works at Govt fruit plant nursery Siot and Rajouri, he directed the nursery staff to follow the laid down procedures for raising the quality planting material. He also visited Pecan nut village in Doongi and Sasalkot in Doongi Block of District Rajouri and Khari Karmara in Poonch District.
PKVY to promote traditional farming in Odishaedit
In a bid to revive the traditional farming, which is now on the verge of extinction, the State government has decided to launch Paramparagata Krushi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) in 10 districts from the ensuing Kharif season. The scheme funded by the Centre and the State Government on 60:40 ratio will promote sustainable agriculture through organic method in Cuttack, Khurda, Nayagarh, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Sundargarh, Kandhamal, Koraput, Rayagada and Kalahandi districts.
IIT-Mandi gets hi-tech labedit
The IIT-Mandi inaugurated its BioX Centre at Kamand campus yesterday. It was conceived at the IIT-Mandi in 2012, driven by the need for affordable healthcare and advanced technology interventions in agriculture and for preservation of the environment in the Himalayan region.Director of IIT-Mandi Timothy A Gonsalves said since 2012, IIT-Mandi started hiring faculty and made an initial investment of Rs 10 crore in lab equipment. As it had reached a critical mass, the formal structure of the BioX Centre was approved in December 2016. Now, the BioX Centre building is complete for the purpose, which was inaugurated by Professor K Vijay Raghavan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.
Rajasthan to market orange brand ‘Raj Santara’edit
The horticulture department is mulling of marketing Rajasthan orange in the brand ‘Raj Santara’. Kota division is contributing 98% of the State produce in terms of ‘Nagpur Orange’. While majority of oranges produced here are Nagpur orange, the introduction of new varieties of oranges like Jaffa, Valencia and Daisy is being explored said principal secretary agriculture and horticulture Neelkamal Darbari.
SKUAST-J organizes ZREAC meeting for Kharif 2017edit
Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) Jammu organized a Zonal Research and Extension Advisory Committee (ZREAC) meeting with respect to Agriculture, Command Area Development, Horticulture, Sericulture and Floriculture. The meeting was chaired by Dr Pradeep K Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, SKUAST-Jammu, who highlighted the importance of feedback from officers of the Line Departments for carrying out productive research by the scientists of the University for well-being of the farming community of Jammu region. He also stressed upon the close liaisoning between Line Departments and University for doubling the farmers’ income in next five years.