The Times of India

The state government has decided that a group of five ministers, to be headed by agriculture and farmers’ welfare minister O P Dhankar, will tour the state and interact with farmers to resolve their grievances. They will be organizing ‘Kisan Panchayats’ across the state. The announcement to this purpose was made by minister of state for social justice and empowerment Krishan Kumar Bedi while interacting with newspersons here on Tuesday. The decision to constitute the group of ministers was taken in a meeting chaired by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

The Financial Express

India is Primarily an agrarian economy, yet its farmers continue to be among the poorest in the world. The country’s farm productivity too remains way below the global standards. A niche start-up is trying to break traditional stereotypes for increasing agricultural productivity by bringing in technology and mechanisation for the fanning community on a pay-for-use basis.

The Indian Express

The Maharashtra Agriculture Produce Marketing (Development and Regulation) Bill was passed in the House with the support of the BJP and Shiv Sena. The legislation will now be referred to the State Legislative Council before it becomes an Act.

The Financial Express

India’s farm sector received Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) worth Rs 354.77 crore during April-May this year, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. The data in this regard was placed before the Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Agriculture S S Ahluwalia.

Business World

India is among the top-five producers of most of the commodities, in addition to being a major consumer of bullion and energy products. Agriculture contributes about 22 per cent to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Indian economy. All this indicates that India is a major center for trading of commodity derivatives. However participation on commodity exchanges is very limited. Globally, the Open Interest /Production ratio ranges from 20 to 40 per cent across commodities with that of Soybean being 41 per cent and wheat at 28 per cent. In India, however, it’s is only marginal at 1.8 per cent for soybean and 0.1 per cent for wheat. This also highlights the huge opportunity that exists ...

The Economic Times Green Ecosystem

Consolidation at the global level of Monsanto-Bayer, Dow Chemical-Du Pont and ChemChina-Syngenta, among others, is triggering a corresponding consolidation of their arms in the Indian agrochemical space. With global acquisitions, the global agrochemical and seed industry is now being controlled by four big players, as against six earlier, commanding a market share of 55-60%, according to a Deloitte report.

Deccan Chronicle The Asian Age

On March 10, 1995, Mahyco (Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company), a collaborator with Monsanto, imported 100 grams of the Bt Cotton seed without approval from the GEAC, which under Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of hazardous Microorganisms Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells, 1989 — framed under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 — is the only body that can grant permission for importing genetically engineered substances.

Anupam Bharat

Africa and India are gearing up to further enhance cooperation in agricultural science, technology and innovation, and move beyond dialogue to a range of practical options from a virtual biotech platform to agribusiness centres, seed investments and even joint donor-aided projects. The meeting, which included ministers, heads of biotechnology organsiations, seed industry representatives, officials and scientists, generated a slew of proposals to enhance agricultural collaboration.