The Hindu Business Line

Welcoming the move by the Centre to remove export restrictions on select pulses, the trade body, India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA) stated that the decision would benefit the entire pulses value-chain starting from farmers. On Friday late evening, the Centre lifted the ban on export of select pulses such as tur (pigeon peas), urad (black gram) and moong dal (green gram), which were earlier prohibited to protect the retail prices from going up.

The Hindu

ITC’s agri business division, which has an annual turnover of about Rs 9,000 crore, is planning to foray into fresh fruits, vegetables and upgraded series of echoupal which it sees as potential areas for non-linear growth. “There are new age consumers on one end and farmers looking for higher income on the other end,” S. Sivakumar, division chief executive, agri business, ITC, told The Hindu.

The Times of India

The state government on Saturday decided to develop ‘organic corridor’ along the Ganga by encouraging vegetable farmers of selected riverine villages against using chemical fertilizers in their fields. The government also plans financial incentives for farmers to use only ‘organic manure’ in their fields and reuse treated sewage water for irrigation.

Prajatantra

Around 225 districts across India are expected to face drought this year over the failing monsoon. The season’s deficit is presently at 6.2 percent of the usual. The 225 districts account for 37 percent of the country’s 630 districts for which the rainfall data is available. However, these districts now have a 20 percent shortage with nine of them bearing acute shortage of 60 percent, data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) revealed.