Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Deep tech innovations to solve India’s agriculture issuesedit
IIIT-Hyderabad and National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) signed an MOU to start an Agri Tech Startup Accelerator Program. The Agri Tech Startup Accelerator Program will identify, support and facilitate idea-stage enterprises using latest technologies and innovations to solve agriculture specific issues faced in India.
Rain-fed farmers busy preparing fieldedit
Plan to raise at least one crop utilising sharp showers Farmers in rain-fed areas are very busy preparing field to raise at least one crop, mostly pulses, cotton and maize, utilising the sharp showers that rocked the district for the past one week. Thousands of hectares of rain-fed land remain barren since last year owing to failure of monsoon. Early rain in August encouraged several farmers to kick-start farm work.
Need to follow Apeda standards for organic produce: NITI Aayogedit
Business Standard The Financial Express
Optimistic that organic farming is set to expand in India, NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant suggested that standards set by export promotion body Apeda (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) should be followed for organic products to push deeper into global as well as domestic markets.
It’s time the Indian pulse grower received his dueedit
It is a good sign that the beleaguered pulses sector is now beginning to draw policymakers’ attention. Quickly following the quantitative restriction on import of tur/arhar (two lakh tonnes for fiscal year 2017-18) import of urad and moong have also been placed under a ceiling of 3 lakh tonnes.
Input prices have pulled down farm incomeedit
A substantial increase in input costs of materials has led to a decline in crop income over the years. This has resulted in the purchasing power of farmers not improving even though there was an increase in farm output, an official report has said.
India’s rain deficit widens to 6%, raises crop yield concernsedit
India’s rainfall deficit for the June-September monsoon season has widened to 6 percent as of Wednesday, the highest since the season’s start on June 1, data compiled by India Meteorological Department (IMD) showed. Rainfall that is nearly a fifth lower than normal so far in August has raised the deficit and stoked concerns about the production of summer-sown crops such as rice, cotton, oilseeds and pulses.
Empower The Farmeredit
India’s agriculture strength has grown up substantially, I have been a witness to it for many decades. There will be a day when we will be able to feed the foreign nations as well. Agriculture in our country is a livelihood industry. Our first task is to produce enough food to fulfil the commitments of the Food Security Act. We should always produce more than other nations to earn additional income for our farmers. This will require greater attention in post-harvest technology and management.
CCEA nod to rename food processing scheme as PM Kisan Sampadaedit
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today approved renaming the new central food processing scheme SAMPADA as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) with an aim to benefit 20 lakh farmers and generate 5.30 lakh jobs by 2020.
Agri start-ups to get wings through ‘Agri-Udaan’edit
The biggest challenge start-ups usually face is attracting investors and scaling up operations. The challenge is much bigger in the case of agri start-ups. Buoyed by the response to its first accelerator programme for agri start-ups, the National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) is launching its second edition of accelerator programme christened ‘Agri Udaan’ for start-ups in food and agriculture segments. Managed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, ‘Agri Udaan – Food and Agribusiness Accelerator 2.0’ will help select start-ups scale up operations in the agri value chain.