Financial Chronicle

Farmers’ protest in Mad-hya Pradesh has once again exposed the myopic view of the politicians who are helpless in planning to provide a lasting solution to majority population in the country. The poli-tics of loan waiver may help peasants in the short term but their problems need serious and long-term strategy. The gestures seeking to douse smouldering embers of the farmers’ unrest by providing ex-gratia to kin of the deceased will not meet the end. Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s visit to Mandsaur where six people were killed in police action can be seen merely a cosmetic exercise.

The India Saga

One of the follies of the political leadership is to look at short term gains rather than taking an overall view after a proper assessment of the prevailing situation and working in a determined manner for sustained and multi-pronged development on the agriculture front.

The Financial Express

The Centre Has approved Rs  580 crore to cooperative Markfed in Madhya Pradesh for procuring various pulses in the current year. The union agriculture ministry has approved the said amount to the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) which in turn will release it to the MP-Markfed.

The Asian Age

With the agrarian crisis threatening to spread to other parts of India after getting ignited in Madhya Pradesh, the Centre on Wednesday approved the disbursal of short-term crop loans to farmers for the current season. Under it, farmers will get loans upto Rs 3 lakhs at seven per cent interest for six months, as in previous seasons ever since the scheme started in 2006-07. Those who repay on time will get a three per cent rebate; that is, they will be charged only four per cent interest. To provide relief to farmers hit by natural calamities, the government has decided to give two per cent interest subsidy for the first year on the restructured amount.

Inc42

PocketIndia holds the record for the second-largest agricultural land in the world, with around 60% rural Indian households making their living from agriculture thus creating a huge scope for agritech startups in the country.

The Hans India

Kakinada: ATMA (Agriculture Technology Management Agency), the nodal agency of the Union agriculture ministry, has taken up propagation of PMKSY (Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana) in East Godavari district for better agriculture practices. As part of this, the ATMA has taken up awareness campaign on accelerated irrigation development programme with irrigation department to increase water resources to suit the needs of cultivation, particularly in upland and agency areas

The Financial Express

West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi today said the country has witnessed enormous growth in agriculture which can play a significant role in alleviating poverty. “As per the current estimates there have been a record 267 million tonne of foodgrain production, 281 million tonne of vegetable production,” Tripathi said addressing a convocation at West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences here.

Financial Chronicle The Financial Express

Aarti Industries Ltd (AIL), a speciality chemicals company, today said it has entered into a Rs 4,000 crore multi-year contract with a global agriculture company for supply of high value agro-chemical intermediary. The project will entail an investment of about Rs 400 crore by the company, AIL said in a BSE filing. As per the contract, the company will supply high value agro-chemical intermediary for use in herbicides over a period of 10 years. The supplies are expected to commence from the 2019-20 fiscal and would generate expected revenues of approximately Rs 4,000 crore over the contract terms, it said.

The Hitavada

“It should not be ignored that the access to irrigation, roads to farms, agricultural pump and market rates of the cultivated products of Western Maharashtra is quite better than of Vidarbha. Despite, the 2008 loan waiver was beneficial to Western Maharashtra farmers than of Vidarbha farmers. If a farmer in Vidarbha is having 10 acres of agriculture land, he seeks more crop loan because of the infertile land. The government should take into consideration such type of cases,” said Khandewale.

Equity Bulls

To increase productivity, the focus should be on three broad areas: (1) quality and usage of key inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, and irrigation; (2) usage of modern technology in terms of equipment as well as seeds, especially the genetically modified ones which could reduce uncertainties due to weather and yield better produce; and (3) shift farm jobs to more remunerative ones such as horticulture and animal husbandry.

The Indian Express

He had demanded a study on impact of GM varieties of seeds to know if they benefit farmers and multinational companies. The Seeds Association of Madhya Pradesh has asked the National Seed Association of India to intervene saying that the order infringes upon provisions of Central government’s Seed Act, 1966.

VC Circle Avashya

In Indian agriculture, the scope—and application—of technology has long been limited to genetically-modified crops, high-yield seeds and, of late, a handful of sophisticated tools like aerial images and GPS technology. Needless to say, a lot of challenges that farmers faced remained unresolved, partly because there were no problem-solvers around. But that’s fast changing. Leveraging rising mobile and internet penetration, an army of agri-tech startups is offering farmers services such as on-demand delivery of farm inputs, online financial assistance, weather updates, drone-driven crop health identification, soil health assessment and equipment on rent, among others. Then, for purposes of edification and infotainment, there are startups offering both financial literacy videos and online games, such as Wonder village and ...

Nyoooz

The incidence of chemical use is higher in these parts owing to the extensive cultivation of cotton. It would have been higher still had it not been for the Bt cotton which requires lesser quantum of pesticide. “The tremendous shortage of workers has left us with no choice but to go in for pre and post emergence sprays of weedicide,” lamented farmer Gurnule Shivaji of Gudihatnoor in Adilabad district. Helpless “We know the land is being poisoned but new pest attacks are forcing us to use pesticides more than it appears to be required,” he added with an air of resignation.