Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Government finalises Model Contract Farming Act, 2018edit
The act brings in all services in the agriculture value chain, including pre-production, production and post-production services, under its ambit along with contract farming activity. The act lays special emphasis on protecting the interests of the farmers, considering them as weaker of the two parties entering into a contract, the ministry states.
UP GOVT SANCTIONED RS. 300 CRORE TO UPPCLedit
The Pioneer
The Uttar Pradesh Government has sanctioned Rs. 300 crore as first installment of subsidy to the UP Power Corporation (UPPCL) for ensuring power supply to private tube-wells of farmers . For this purpose, a budgetary provision of Rs. 600 crore has been made.
Agri dept to issue soil health cards to 68L farmersedit
The agriculture department is gearing up to distribute soil health cards to another 67.67 lakh farmers before the end of 2018-19 fiscal and has invited farmers in Trichy district to claim them. The card offers crop-wise recommendations of nutrients and fertilizers required for the land based on a soil test in order to help farmers improve their productivity through judicious use of inputs.
Big change in Odisha’s homestead land offeredit
Scarcity of homestead land has forced the state government to tweak its Vasundhara scheme and lower the quantum of land initially promised to the beneficiaries.Rescinding its earlier decision to give 10 decimal of homestead land to the landless poor, the government has now decided to give four decimal of land. It has also decided to simplify the procedure to ensure that more people got the benefit of the scheme without facing any hurdles.
Maharashtra farmers say they’ll use GM seedsedit
Even as the country debates the use of genetic modification technology, some cotton farmers in Maharashtra have decided to defy government directives against the use of illegally propagated herbicide-resistant cotton varieties and other GM crops like brinjal and mustard. They have called their protest an ‘Agitation for Freedom to use Technology’.
DUTCH INSTITUTIONS, BIZ CAN HELP INDIA DEAL WITH AIR POLLUTION: RUTTEedit
The Netherlands government, institutions and businesses can help India deal with air pollution caused by stubble burning around the national capital, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said today.”It (stubble burning) is happening at two places bordering Delhi. It is creating lot of pollution in winters. I have mentioned in the CEOs forum that we are partnering with Dutch institutions and companies and players here…To see how we can do this,” he said here.
Fodder pellets answer to stubble burning menaceedit
An MoU has been signed between Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University and M/s Neway Renewable Energy (Bathinda) Private Ltd (NREBPL), a sub group of Alkindi Group Company, Doha, in Qatar, to convert paddy straw into enriched fodder pellets. The MoU was signed by Dr JPS Gill, Director Research, and Abdul Samad Melath, Chairman, NREBPL, in the presence of Dr AS Nanda, Vice-Chancellor; Dr Parkash S Brar, Dean College of Veterinary Science; Dr SK Uppal, Dean Postgraduate Studies; Dr Manju Wadhwa, Head of Department of Animal Nutrition, GADVASU: and Dr SK Siva Kumar, Director, NREBPL. The university will be looking after the research and development part.
Residents feel pinch of rising fuel pricesedit
Residents are feeling the pinch of rising fuel prices. Sunil Mehta, a trader, said, “Middle income group families are the worst hit due to hike in fuel prices.” He wondered why the Narendra Modi-led Central Government was in a hurry to introduce GST on almost all items barring fuel.
Record wheat harvest in Punjab underlines a revolution still greenedit
26.3 quintals an acre or 6.5 tonnes per hectare. That’s what Bahadur Singh Jaria has harvested from 10 out of his 30 acres land planted to wheat in the recent 2017-18 rabi season. It is being described as the first time a farmer in Punjab — possibly India as well — has broken the 6.5 tonnes/hectare yield barrier in wheat; the previous highest was 6.456 tonnes recorded by a Sangrur farmer in 2013-14.
Fodder pellets out of paddy straw to tackle burning issueedit
To bring down air pollution due to stubble burning, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Gadvasu) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Khanna and a Chennai company (a subsidiary of Doha-based firm Messrs Neway Renewable Energy Private Limited) to convert paddy straw into enriched fodder pellets for cattle