Outlook

The most common grievance of farmers against MSP (minimum support price) levels fixed by the CACP (Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices) is that the price falls below the cost of production. What CACP does is to set MSP at such a level that it is likely to be higher than the paid-out cost with most farmers and higher than the full cost of C2 (cost of cultivation) that includes imputed cost of land, labour and capital for relatively efficient farmers.

News18 The Indian Express

At present, the total area in the country under irrigation is 45 per cent and the production in irrigated area is double as compared to the rain fed area and endeavour would be to increase the irrigated area by seven per cent, which would imply that the production would be enhanced by 14 per cent, said Romesh Chand, member of NITI Aayog.

The New Indian Express

Monsanto, a GM company, is the supplier of GM Cotton seeds in India. Notably, Bayer is set to merge with Monsanto. Large international GM companies have deep pockets—the influence they wield on the research labs and agriculture universities in India is enormous. The tobacco industry in the US was able to influence all concerned to turn a benign eye on the adverse effects of tobacco, and delay firm governmental action for over 70 years!

Business Standard

The Haryana government has decided to implement a special scheme under which it will purchase small landholdings of farmers, consolidate these and use the consolidated land for development works, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Saturday.

The Times of India

Professors from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) educated the farmers on the use of shade net, use of polyhouse, biofertilisers, vermicompost and use of hybrid seeds. “Hybrid seeds are better cultivated in pro-trays because there will not be competition among the seedlings for water and nutrition. They will all grow to the same length within 25 days and can be transferred to the field,” said PR Kamala Kumaran from TNAU. “But, hybrid seeds are expensive and can not afford to be wasted,” he said.

Im4change

The seeds of the agrarian crisis lie in the seed. The Green Revolution seeds were bred for chemicals. That is why Norman Ernest Borlaug had to evolve dwarf varieties that reduced biomass, triggered desertification and water famine. Monsanto’s GMO Bt cotton increased cotton seed prices by more than 70,000 per cent, trapping farmers in debt and establishing a seed monopoly. Most of the 3,10,000 farmer suicides were in the cotton belt. Monsanto controls 95 per cent of the cotton seed.

Indo Asian Commodities

Among the major concerns is researchers’ and developers’ inability to learn the regulatory status of new genetically engineered organisms without undergoing complex risk assessments, providing little clarity about which products will be subject to regulation. The requirement that risk assessments would be conducted for plant products based only upon the technology used in their production, rather than actual risk, is a concern. “This runs counter to USDA’s 30-plus years of experience regulating biotechnology,” the groups’ letter said.