Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Farmer suicides down by 10 per cent in country, 14 in Maharashtra: Centreedit
A year before the 2019 elections, the Centre has informed the Parliament that the number of suicides by farmers and agricultural labourers during 2016 has come down approximately by 9.77 per cent.Minister of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Radha Mohan Singh said the number of suicides has come down from 12,602 in 2015 to 11,370 in 2016.
India stares at farm produce storage crunch of 35 mn tonnes: Nabardedit
Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, chairman of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), says the assessment is of an agricultural produce storage gap of 35 million tonnes (mt).The agri procurement season’s peak is May-June. Agri finance and warehouse industry sources expect a huge requirement after the kharif harvest, with over 10 grain, cereal and oilseed crops trading below the government’s Minimum Support Price (MSP).
Problem of plenty looms over state’s agri sectoredit
The bumper crop of sugarcane, for instance, is leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of farmers with sugar mills unable to crush the mounds of stocks piling up. The state produced 2.5 crore tonnes of sugarcane in 2016-17 and it went up to 3.6 crore tonnes in 2017-18, thanks to good monsoon during the rabi season last year. With 70% of the state already having received 70% excess rains and half of the rainy season still to come, Karnataka is expected an yield of 4.5 crore tonnes of sugarcane by the end of the year.
Officials learn about ‘New Crop Insurance Portal’edit
A training programme was conducted on New Crop Insurance Portal under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY) today here at Directorate of Agriculture. Deputy Mission Director, PMFBY, K K Sharma, State Heads of Insurance companies (RGICL, ICICI/L & OIC), Representatives of Banks and Officers of the Agriculture Department participated in the training programme.
Workers from West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh help Godavari farmersedit
Many farmers who have been facing problems for various reasons and mainly due to input costs, now heave a sigh of relief as their investment during paddy transplantation season has come down.
India extends USD 200 million lines of credit to Rwanda after PM Modi holds talks with President Kagameedit
India today extended USD 200 million lines of credit to Rwanda as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held wide-ranging talks with President Paul Kagame and discussed measures to boost the bilateral strategic ties by strengthening cooperation in defence, trade and agriculture sectors.
More ‘crop colonies’ to come up in Telanganaedit
The ‘crop colonies’ concept of the agriculture department has yielded the desired results as the production of vegetables in Ibrahimpatnam area increased from 44,000 tonnes to 83,000 tonnes. With the shortage of vegetables in the state after the bifurcation of the erstwhile combined AP, the Telangana agriculture department focused on improving the vegetable production.
PUNJAB RELEASES RS 760 CR TO CLEAR PENDING FARM POWER SUBSIDY, AGRI ARREARS, VAT, GSTedit
Punjab Government on Monday released Rs 760 crores to clear pending the arrears against power subsidy for farmers, besides others payments towards agriculture and allied activities.With this, all the pending bills towards the Value Added Tax (VAT) or Goods and Services Tax (GST) would also be cleared. VAT or GST refunds have been cleared up to July 20, 2018, with disbursal of Rs 17 crores, said the government’s official spokesperson.
Kisan Call Centre: ‘Advisers’ mostly rely on own knowledge to guide farmers claims studyedit
Tele-calling to the Farmers’ Tele-Advisors (FTA) at Kisan Call Centre (KCC), Pune, is among the most favoured ways for cultivators seeking all kinds of information. The KCC operates with 69 ‘advisers’, who guide farmers, and two supervisers, receiving over 3,000 calls on an average everyday from across Maharashtra and Goa. The study covered 30 ‘advisers’ and 80 farmers from Pune, Ahmednagar, Solapur and Osmanabad districts.
Trump’s mega billion dollar plan to shield farmers from trade waredit
The Trump administration is set to announce Tuesday a plan to provide billions in aid to farmers to help shield them from the impact of a trade war in which agriculture is a main target for retaliation against US tariffs, a person familiar with the plans said.
CLAAS Mentions
Mechanisation promises cleaner winters in north this yearedit
Winter in Delhi will be far much free of pollution this year given the spark in demand for stubble management machinery in Northern states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh where open-field burning of the agricultural residue deteriorates air quality every year. A renewed thrust in farm mechanization ushered by the Centre’s fund allocation and awareness campaign run by states is expected to substantially improve air quality in the month of October and November.