Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
PAU to hold training course for young farmersedit
The directorate of extension education, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), has invited applications from the young farmers of Punjab for the three-month training course on “Integrated Crop Production ,”to be held from August 1 to October 31. Young and matriculate farmers within the age limit of 20 to 40 years are eligible for the course.
Soil health cards to be given to 12 cr farmers not 14 cr: Govtedit
“There are some states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh which are lagging behind, but they too will pick up in the coming months,” Singh noted. For instance in Uttar Pradesh, soil health cards been issued to one crore farmers so far against the target of 2.3 crore farmers, a state government official who attended the meeting said. The process has been fastened under the new administration in the state and hope to achieve the target soon, the official added. As per the central governments plan, soil of farm fields of 12 crore farmers will be tested once in two years on 12 parameters including the status of micro-nutrients.
Scope of loan waiver expanded, 3-4L more farmers may benefitedit
Following criticism by farmers’ outfits and the Opposition over eligibility criteria for the recently-announced loan waiver, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government on Wednesday extended the scope of the package. Now, the cut-off date to waive loans has been fixed to April 2009. Earlier, the government announced that farmers who took loans between April 2012 and June 30, 2016 could avail of the loan waiver.
Rice exporters seek PM’s help to protect Basmati exports to EUedit
Rice exporters have sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention in convincing the European Union to postpone by two years its decision of bringing down the tolerance level for fungicide tricyclazole, used by Basmati farmers, to ‘near-zero’ levels.
Paddy growers in a quandaryedit
Seeds supplied by PACSs ‘fail’ to sprout Paddy growers in several villages of Bonakal mandal have suffered a setback at the threshold of Kharif sowing after the paddy seeds of a particular variety supplied to them by the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACSs) allegedly failed to sprout during the pre-germination process.
No minuses for area sown under pulsesedit
Contrary To Expectations that the cropping area under pulses might shrink this year following a sharp fall in prices, the area sown at 18.8 lakh hectares (till June 30) is surprisingly 44% higher than the 13.04 lakh hectares in 2016-17. The acreage under cotton too has risen sharply to 46.10 lakh hectares, from 19.07 lakh hectares last year. However, these are early days since the sowing season has just got off to a start.
KVK empowers farmers with field-level trainingedit
Agriculture experts P Ratha Krishnan, P S Manoj and K K. Aiswarya handled sessions at the programme. Agriculture Officers P Renu, Krishi Bhavan, Thurayur and K K Abdul Basher, Krishi Bhavan, Keezhariyur were also present. The project was funded by ATMA (Agriculture Technology Management Agency) and farmers were selected from Payyoli, Thikkodi, Thurayur, Mappayur and Keezhariyur Panchayats.
India, Israel sign pact to set up $40-m R&D fundedit
India and Israel today signed seven agreements to increase cooperation in key sectors like space, agriculture and water conservation after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held indepth talks with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed for setting up of $40 million worth India-Israel Industrial Research and Development (R&D) and Technical Innovation Fund.
India, Israel agree on strategic partnership in water, agricultureedit
This will focus on water conservation, waste-water treatment and its reuse for agriculture, desalination, water utility reforms, and the cleaning of the Ganga and other rivers using advanced water technologies,” it stated. According to the statement, the partnership will also include the reinforcement and expansion of the existing centres of excellence in agriculture set up by Israel in India under the stewardship of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Agency for International Development Cooperation (Mashav) and the Indian Ministry of Agriculture to promote commercially viable business models involving farmer producer organizations (FPOs); the provision of quality planting material; and the transfer of post-harvest technical know-how and market linkages involving the private sector through PPP, B2B & other models”.
India asks FAO to remove hurdles in accessing climate fundsedit
India today asserted that climate finance is necessary for sustainable agriculture and the UN body -Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) -should remove capacity constraints in accessing and effective use of the fund in developing countries. Since climate change impact on agri sector is a ‘certain’, there is a need to diversify crops from rice, wheat and maize to millets, which is a climate smart nutri-cereal, Junior Agriculture Minister Parshottam Rupala said at the 40th session of FAO conference in Rome, Italy.
Gujarat Farmers Reap Sweet Fruits of Indo-Israel Partnershipedit
The scientists had chosen dwarf mango varieties from Israel for this experiment. Dwarf plants require less space and bear fruits early during the flowering season. Earlier, farmers planted the Kesar plants at a distance of 10 mt from one another. After grafting them with the Israeli variety, the new dwarf hybrids required less space (around 5 mt) on fields. Thus, farmers can grow more trees in limited space.
CM Devendra Fadnavis’ loan waiver list finds 813 farmers in Mumbaiedit
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took to twitter on Monday late night to announce the list of farmers whose loans would be written off on account of his government’s Rs. 34,022 crore farm debt waiver. But the list share by him ended up attacting attention for all the wrong reasons. The Chief Minister’s list contended that the Mumbai metropolis would have 813 farmer beneficiaries. This included 694 farmers in the island city of Mumbai and another 119 in suburban Mumbai.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu allays farmers’ drought fearsedit
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu assured the farmers of all help even if monsoon plays truant. Addressing a mammoth public meeting at Muktapuram village in Kanaganapalle mandal in Raptadu Assembly constituency represented by Paritala Sunitha here on Wednesday, the chief minister said that despite rains eluding Krishna delta, water was released to Krishna delta by the end of June.
Blame garlic boom for farming crisisedit
Shaitan Singh, father of Gopal Singh, said that the deceased had taken a loan and dug a tube well and incurred debts because of it. Former jilla pramukh of Jaisalmer Abdullah Fakir said that many farmers were committing suicide in the state. Singh was the first such case in Jaisalmer. He asked the government to provide compensation and a job to a family member.
Agri pact with an eye on doubling farmer incomeedit
The strategic partnership in water and agriculture with Israel is aimed at the Indian government’s goal of doubling farmer incomes by 2022, said foreign secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Wednesday. We have announced strategic partnership in water and agriculture and we really think that it has major potential. The key point here that there is a declared goal by the government of doubling farmer incomes by 2022 and that’s only possible through technological advancement” Jaishankar said.
Agri department to issue 68,000 Soil Health Cards to farmers in Jalandharedit
For bringing the scientific expertise pertaining to the soil health for better agricultural crop yield, the agriculture department will issue as many as 68,000 Soil Health Cards (SHCs) to the farmers in Jalandhar district.
J&K: Govt. organises ‘kisan mela’ to boost agricultureedit
The Jammu and Kashmir government (J&K) organised mega machinery ‘cum seed festival’ to benefit the farmers, and boost the overall agricultural sector of valley in Srinagar on Tuesday. The event was organized by authorities of Sheri Kashmir University of agriculture science and technology (SKUAST) in the university’s campus.
A novel cropping pattern that can multiply mango yield 3-foldedit
Several farmers in the Dharmapuri-Krishnagiri belt, which is famous for its varieties of mangoes, have started chopping their mango trees. Lack of rainfall and innovative technologies were their major concerns. Some said the trees were very old they were planted nearly 30 years ago. Another farmer Malaisami from Palamedu in Madurai is also facing a similar situation. “I have a 3-acre farm with mango trees. But I have decided to chop them,” he said.
President Pranab Passes Two State Laws as Parting Shotedit
The laws include the Minimum Wages Amendment bill that would benefit several lakhs of people in about 60 labour occupations by raising the minimum wages for them. The other pending laws are an amendment to the Land Reforms Act that will give rights to tribals and dalits rights to the land they have illegally built houses on, another amendment strengthening the Goonda Act, the Good Samaritan and Medical Professional (protection and regulation during emergency situations) bill which protects people who assist others in accidents and other emergencies and an act for fixing prices and compensation for genetically modified cotton seeds.
NSL research focuses on short-duration crops to beat monsoon vagariesedit
While the company has been the largest Bt Cotton seed company in India — the only GM crop cultivated in the country, its focus is on addressing the key challenges plaguing Indian agriculture like drought, pests and diseases, nutrient-use efficiency, low productivity and the like, through a combination of conventional plant breeding and modern biotechnologies using non-GM or transgenic strategies.