Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Weak arrivals lift pulsesedit
Weak arrivals and the government’s move to allow export of pulse seeds have lifted the prices of majority of pulse seeds, with masur (bold) quoted at Rs 3,350 a quintal, while masur (Madhya Pradesh) ruled at Rs 2,900-3,000.
Teething troubles for start-upsedit
Last two years have witnessed the emergence of start-ups even in the farm sector. Their count is still quite small compared to those in other fields but given the huge scope for offering technology and innovations-based solutions to the problems faced by the farmers, these enterprises seem set to proliferate rapidly.
Govt to revive five fertiliser plantsedit
The government is working to revive five fertiliser plants, having a production capacity of 65 lakh metric tonnes, to turn India from being an importer to an exporter in the field of urea and fertilisers, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Friday. During the Question Hour, Minister of Chemicals, Fertlisers and Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar said the government was working to revive the fertiliser plants at Sindri, Talcher, Barauni, Ramgundam and Gorakhpur.
Govt may lift ban on export of pulsesedit
The Central Government may lift a decade-long ban on export of pulses in abid to shore up domestic prices which have fallen sharply because of abundant supplies. India currently only allows export of organic pulses.
Crop Planting Jumps by 2.6% Over Last Yearedit
Crop planting has grown 2.6% from a year ago, government data on Friday showed, with increase in acreage seen mostly in cotton, sugarcane, rice and pulses. With the planting season at its fag end, crops now cover 87.82 million hectares, or 83% of the targeted acreage, agriculture ministry data showed. While the area under coarse cereal is similar to the previous year’s, there’s a 10% decrease in acreage for oilseed.
Call to bridge disparity between farm income and other sectorsedit
The concept of cheaper food should not endanger the lives of the farming community, said Devinder Sharma, a food and trade policy analyst. Delivering a lecture on the way forward for Indian agriculture at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Sharma emphasised that productivity-oriented agricultural income alone would not augment the income of farmers.
30 lakh acres of catchment areas face threat of drought in Telanganaedit
Due to drought conditions and meagre water levels, around 28 per cent of crops sown in catchment areas of projects may dry up. The worst-affected crops are paddy, maize and cotton.
A teacher and administratoredit
Some sections ascribe this constant pressure from extreme right wing outfits as the prime reason for Panagariya’s exit. But, people close to him said that such attacks did not affect him at all and, undeterred, he fielded policy prescriptions that were in the best interests of the country. This is how the Air India’s privatisation and strategic disinvestment in PSUs took shape. Also, despite opposition on the ground, he also favoured adoption of GM crops for farmers.
A champion of reason For P.M. Bhargava, methods of science were inedit
He marked the unique boundaries of science in India through his engagements with campaigns to protect food sovereignty and biodiversity and his vociferous resistance to GM crops on the one side, and his total and absolute commitment to justice for the victims of the Bhopal disaster.
The Triangle Between GM Mustard, The Supreme Court And The Centreedit
Significantly we should remember that earlier during the brouhaha about Bt Cotton, the Supreme Court had set up a Technical Expert Committee (TEC) in 2012 to assess the safety of GM crops. The TEC in its 2013 report had, among other things, recommended a ten-year moratorium on field trials of GM crops in all edible food crops.
Going nativeedit
“For about 5 years, I had been living out of a suitcase until I met Uma, my wife. It was our common interest in food and movies that brought us together. In those days, I was neck-deep in work trying to collect information and explain to the public why we had to oppose plans to bring in Bt brinjal into India.
Kisankraft MD talks about agri sectoredit
“Starting from Green Revolution initiative in 1960s, agriculture sector has always been supported by government both at the Central and State level. Since independence, there has been consistent improvement in total production, yields and many other indices. However, a lot more improvement is required,” says KisanKraft MD, Ravidra Agarwal.
Government Launched AGRI UDAAN Programme To Support Agriculture Start-Upsedit
Technology in Agriculture
Farmers real problems and its solutionsedit
In all these aspects farmers are facing problems. But fortunately most of this problem can be solved by the mechanisation technology. Now the technology is available for every operation of the farming. But adopting mechanization technology is also lased with many problems. Most of the farmers cannot adopt the mechanization because of less affordability.