The Indian Express

Diesel is now retailing at Rs 71.34 per litre in Delhi, compared to Rs 57.46 a year ago. That is a whopping Rs 13.88 per litre or 24.2 per cent jump, which — along with similar increases for fertilisers and crop protection chemicals during this period — threatens to undo all the gains to farmers from higher minimum support prices (MSP) of crops declared by the Narendra Modi government.

The Hindu Business Line

In the last Rabi season (January-May 2018), a farmer from Medak district of Telangana cultivating paddy in two acres preferred to hire a combine harvester by paying ₹1,800 per hour despite having four family members who could have completed harvesting their field without paying a rupee.

The Tribune

Rice residue burning has high global warming and pollution potentials. This was stated by Dr JS Samra, former CEO, National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA), NITI Aayog, while delivering his talk during a brain storming workshop on “Crop residue management” at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) here on Thursday.

Millennium Post

Green policy think tanks are pushing for the adoption of pro-farmer solar power policies, along the lines of Delhi government’s ‘Mukhyamantri Kisan Aaye Badhotri Yojna’ (MKABY) which aims at increasing annual income of farmers through installation of solar pumps for agriculture.

The New Indian Express

While the extent of damage to crops in the floods has been estimated at 56,439 hectares, a related sector supplying agriculture inputs too remains battered. Tonnes of fertilisers and pesticides have been laid waste after floodwater gushed into shops.As the fertile top soil has been washed away, experts feel the soil needs to be tested and sufficient quantities of organic manure, major and minor nutrients applied. Amendments also need to be made to the soil to restore fertility.

Financial Express

Logically, any commodity that can be traded should be allowed on the futures platform as it gives a chance to users to hedge their risk. In fact, if the rules of the game are played out well, it should lead to efficient price-discovery, which is what a futures market is all about.

The Hans India

In a major relief to the farmers of Rajampet and Railway Kodur constituencies, the state government agreed to construct two irrigation projects on Cheyyeru river with an estimated cost of Rs 160 crore.

The Hindu Business Line

The University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad, plans to hold its annual four-day Krishi Mela from September 22-25. UAS has planned to organise Krishimela-2018 under the theme ‘Consume Millets-Conserve Health’ in collaboration with the Karnataka State Department of Agriculture and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) at the main campus in Dharwad.

Governance Now

The ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare had recently organised a seminar, ‘Agriculture 2022: Doubling Farmers Income’, where over 300 top minds from the government, academia, industry, NGOs and most importantly representatives from the farming community participated for two days to chalk out a roadmap. The highlight of the conference was various groups looking at aspects like policy, inputs, value chain, automation, credit, insurance and sustainable agriculture and presenting a way forward to the prime minister of India. While such brainstorming was the first of its kind, the mindset of at least my group on sustainable agriculture left much to be desired.

The Wire

Government banks handed out Rs 58,561 crore to 615 accounts in agricultural loans in the year 2016. On average, each account has been given over Rs 95 crore in agricultural loans.This information was revealed by the Reserve Bank of India in response to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by The Wire.