Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Chhattisgarh: Controversy erupts over media report claim on farm woman’s doubling agricultural incomeedit
A row broke out over a claim in a media report relating to the remark by a Chhattisgarh farm woman during a video interaction with Narendra Modi on how her agriculture income had doubled, prompting union ministers to allege that a section of the media had “an agenda of deriding” the prime minister.
NITI Aayog wants states to adopt zero-budget natural farmingedit
Aayog member Ramesh Chand, who is an expert in agriculture, said that such methods could be scaled up nationally only after they have been scientifically proven to be correct and there is proper manual for these. Under ZBNF, neither fertiliser nor pesticide is used and only 10 per cent of water is to be utilised for irrigation as compared to traditional farming techniques.
Using Artificial Intelligence for the good of farmersedit
After graduating from IIT-Madras, the first thing that Vivek Rajkumar did was to buy four acres near Thiruvananthapuram and start farming. He was trying to cultivate paddy and grow banana. His neighbours were small farmers and all of them consulted a self-styled local expert on all matters agriculture. That expert, says Vivek, had no clue of what he was talking about. Yields were bad and profitability was poor; it didn’t make any sense at all, he adds.
Farming in India unprofitable for nearly 2 decadesedit
Farmers’ protests across India, largely prompted by bumper harvests and low prices, may have escalated since 2016, but India’s agriculture sector hasn’t been generating enough revenues to keep farmers profitable for nearly two decades now, according to a study by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a grouping of 36 countries, and research firm ICRIER.
Deficit rainfall hits kharif, 33 per cent fall in coverage areaedit
Witherratic rainfall casting a shadow on the prospects of kharif crops in some districts, the area under cultivation of paddy, pulses, oil seeds and cotton is about 33 per cent less than last year.According to sources, the area covered under paddy cultivation is 7.82 lakh hectares against 11.64 lakh hectares during the corresponding period last year. The State Government has planned paddy cultivation in an area of 35 lakh hectares during kharif season. The rainfall in June and July was 25 per cent and 46 per cent less than normal.
Partial PDPS: Whither agricultural price and procurement policy?edit
The Union Government has substantially hiked the minimum support prices (MSP) of 14 commodities for the 2018-19 kharif season. This is in keeping with the promise made in the Union Budget for 2018-19, of fixing MSPs at 150% of the cost of production. The hike in MSPs is indeed very impressive—ranging from 4% for arhar and urad to 52% for ragi, with a median hike of 25%. The scale of increase can be gauged from the fact that the median increase during the last four years was 3-4%. This massive hike is expected to yield a handsome return of more than 50% over the cost of production to farmers—as high as 97% for bajra and 60-65% for ...
The Mirage of MSPs: NDA government’s pre-election scheme for farmers is a game of smoke and mirrorsedit
Dazzling, so-called “unprecedented” announcements made amidst much fanfare and pomp have been a defining feature of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government. The “historic” increase in minimum support price (MSP) for kharif crops announced by the government is too little, too late in the coming. A closer look betrays the harsh reality behind this gimmick and exposes it for what it really is – smoke and mirrors intended to mislead farmers of the country after four years of total neglect and apathy.
Feeding the world without destroying itedit
How can we feed the world without destroying it? This was the title of the World Food Convention held on 26th June in Berlin, Germany. Some 500 invitees representing decision makers as well as science and academia discussed the most burning issues of global food production and distribution.
Study Finds Farmers in India Worse off Due to Government Policiesedit
The National Democratic Alliance’s policies since coming to power in 2014 have proven counterproductive for the farmers of the country and they would have been better off without them, a study jointly undertaken by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) has found.
Stubble burning: Punjab to produce bio-ethanol from paddy strawedit
To curb the menace of crop residue burning and create a positive atmosphere for industrialisation, Punjab government has taken a decision to set up a Bio-ethanol project.In this regard, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed on Monday between Punjab government and M/s SAB Industries Ltd. with proposed investment of Rs 719 Crore.
Stubble burning: Punjab to produce bio-ethanol from paddy strawedit
To curb the menace of crop residue burning and create a positive atmosphere for industrialisation, Punjab government has taken a decision to set up a Bio-ethanol project.In this regard, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed on Monday between Punjab government and M/s SAB Industries Ltd. with proposed investment of Rs 719 Crore.