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Our top story looks at how a Delhi-based group is working with farmers in Haryana and Punjab to prevent burning of crop residue, to instead, make it profitable.

The New Indian Express

Over 80 per cent of Nabarangpur’s population depends on agriculture, but irrigation has been a perennial problem for the farmers. While the State Government has been announcing several irrigation projects over the years, majority of them are yet to see the light of the day.

Mydigitalfc.com

Agriculture is the primary source of earning for about 58 per cent of India’s population. Consider how farm produce interact with bonds, stocks and currencies. As commodity prices rise, the cost of goods moves up, causing inflationary pressure in the economy, and this will lead to higher interest rates. As interest rates go up, bond prices fall as the two have an inverse relationship.

The Economic Times

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who has been making efforts to forge a non-Congress, non-BJP front, said Saturday the country needed new economic and agricultural models as the present system did not work.

The Hindu Business Line

The government is in the process of setting up a panel to monitor the implementation of the recommendation of the Doubling Farmers’ Income (DFI) committee, a senior agriculture ministry official said.

The Times of India

VAIGA, the international workshop and exhibition on agro-processing and value addition, concluded here on Sunday with a decision to strengthen the existing farmer producer organisations (FPOs) . Agriculture minister V S Sunilkumar said FPOs have been focusing on largely on coconut and to some extent fruits at present . “It will be expanded; Crops like turmeric, pepper and flowers will be included,” he said.

The Kashmir Monitor

The Department of Agriculture on Sunday organised a day-long Mega Kissan Mela cum Exhibition at Dak Bungalow Khanabal. The event was inaugurated by Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) Nazir Ahmad Laway in presence of Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, Mohammad Younis Malik and Director Agriculture, Kashmir, Syed Altaf Aijaz Andrabi.

The Economic Times

Wheat output in India, worlds’ second largest producer after China, is likely to increase in the current Rabi season as farmers looks to bring more area under the cereal crop in the key producing states. The sowing this season has progressed earlier than the last year in most states including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, a trend usually seen favourable for yield of wheat.

Down To Earth

Farmers’ protests ruled the headlines this year. Their distress over low farm prices, poor logistics for transport and government-assured purchases has been evident.

Business Standard

Kishore Tiwari, chairman of the Vasantrao Naik Swavlamban Mission (VNSM), said Saturday that the BJP may take a leaf out of Telangana government’s agricultural polices.

SF Gate

Farmers and others who may need to burn stubble have until Tuesday to make it happen.

Financial Express

Farm loan waivers—of more than Rs 850 billion in FY18 and FY19, announced by various state governments—are the flavour of the season. This can affect credit offtake and induce further stress for banks and amount to another agrarian crisis. Farm sector NPAs accounted for 16% of banks’ advances under the priority sector lending in October 2018. Post the early waiver-announcements, credit growth in agriculture and allied activities has been a meagre 2.9% between April and October 2018, and 8% on a y-o-y basis. In FY17, the credit growth reported was 13%, followed by 5.5% in FY18.

Business Standard

With the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in mind, the government is looking at a sort of income support scheme for farmers, along with tweaking some existing programmes, to make them more beneficial and improve their acceptability among growers.

The New Indian Express

The agriculture sector in the state has suffered a double whammy with drought conditions continuing in the North East (NE) monsoon season as well. As a result, the state government has decided to declare drought in 156 taluks in the Rabi season, of which 95 taluks are affected by severe drought.

DNA

After BJP’s loss in the recent state assembly elections, Kishor Tiwari, chairman of the Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavlamban Mission, a task force appointed by the state government to address farmers’ distress, submitted a ten-point agenda to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to address rural distress before the 2019 general elections.

Deccan Chronicle

Farmers in northern India begin burning crop stubble in their fields despite a government ban on slash-and-burn farming, which forms a lethal smog cocktail over the country. Local authorities appear powerless to stop it, but farmers say they are being unfairly blamed.

The Hans India

Claiming that the income of farmers in the State doubled during the last four-and-half years because of the sustainable and innovative efforts introduced by the TDP government, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said that he accorded highest priority to agriculture and allied sectors and will continue the same.

Mint

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday alleged that the central government did not cooperate with the state in the implementation of its farm loan waiver scheme.

Telangana Today

Chief General Manager of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) Vijay Kumar on Wednesday exhorted the farmers to adopt new cultivation methods like high density multi-crop cultivation to reap benefits.

Cogencis

The series of farm loan waivers announced after the recently concluded assembly elections in some states has left the central government worried about their fiscal health, a source said.

The Economic Times

In a country where bank loans worth Rs 10 lakh crore qualify to be categorised as bad, the wave of competitive populism in bailing out farmers is building further stress for lenders. From the largest State Bank of India to the most valuable HDFC Bank — all have their share of repayment woes, sown in the rural hinterland.

The Pioneer

Climate change has hit agrarian Uttar Pradesh very hard and experts claim that crop yield in over a dozen districts across the state has been adversely affected and might result in a drop in production and financial losses to farmers.

The Economic Times

The government is considering several measures to support farmers in distress as pressure mounts for a nationwide loan waiver scheme ahead of the general election. These include doubling collateral-free loans under Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) to Rs 2 lakh and changes in the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) crop insurance scheme to enhance coverage and ensure faster settlement of claims, said a senior official.

The Economic Times 

In a country where bank loans worth Rs 10 lakh crore qualify to be categorised as bad, the wave of competitive populism in bailing out farmers is building further stress for lenders. From the largest State Bank of India to the most valuable HDFC Bank — all have their share of repayment woes, sown in the rural hinterland.

The Times of India

Punjab would be participating for the first time in the World Economic Forum (WEF) in January 2019. WEF, Switzerland-based not-for-profit organization founded in 1971, has come a long as an international institution that attracts top brains from businesses and governments from across the world. An agrarian Punjab would be represented by its finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, who spoke to TOI’s Sanjeev Verma about his expectations from the Forum’s annual meeting in Davos starting January 21, 201

Moneycontrol

Last week, Jharkhand anounced a plan to give Rs 5,000 per acre aid to small and marginal farmers from the next financial year. Odisha has gone a step further and promised Rs 10,000 per family “as financial assistance for taking up cultivation” for the next three financial years. These are good starts but more could be done.

The New Indian Express

AT a time when the cattle are struggling for fodder across the tribal region round the year, thousands of tonnes of paddy straw were left to rot in different villages of Koraput district. Lack of interest among the farmers to use and store this agro-waste is said to be the main reason behind the dumping.

Financial Express

As the government faces flak from farmer organisations over its failure to ensure minimum support prices (MSPs) for their crops, a section of the farming community in Uttar Pradesh is not complaining as it gets some additional income by taking a third crop in a year. These farmers, who are a part of ITC’s ‘Baareh Mahine Hariyali’ initiative, claim to have doubled their income in past two-three years. Ashish Kumar Singh, 40, of Ghoshuan village in UP’s Chandauli district, has taken up summer moong as an additional crop before paddy, which is the major kharif cereal cultivated in the region. “Earlier, I used to grow paddy in kharif and wheat in rabi. But I am now getting ...

The Economic Times

The Azadpur mandi, India’s largest wholesale market for agriculture produce with an annual turnover of more than Rs 150 crore, is not on the electronic National Agriculture Market (eNAM), because the local government has yet to amend rules to facilitate that, food ministry officials said. Six other mandis in the national capital are also not on the online trading platform, which aims to enhance farmers’ income, promote transparent and competitive trading and remove restrictions on movement of ag ..

The Statesman

Gandhi toured the country for two-and-a-half years to collect information and interact with marginal and small farmers to discover why they had got into indebtedness and were unable to enjoy the fruits of development. His book, he prefaces, is a “tribute to India’s marginal farmer whose daily toil is as much an act of defiance as an article of faith”.

DNA

It is a perfect mix of government plans and corporate execution, both teaming up to demonstrate how the vision of doubling farmer incomes by 2022 could become a reality.

Financial Express

The flavour of the season on the farm front is loan waivers! Farmers’ leaders are asking for it and those looking for power are ready to oblige. Newly elected chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan all have announced loan waivers within their promised time of 10 days. It may cost the state exchequers more than Rs 50,000 crore. The Congress president has also challenged the prime minister that he will not let him sleep unless loans of all farmers are waived off. He also scores a brownie point by saying if the government can “waive off” Rs 3.5 lakh crore for 15 business families, why not for millions of farmers.

The Times of India

Though they fell short of targets, Haryana and Punjab may have made a beginning in combating stubble burning by recording a 29% and 11% fall in incidence over 2017 of farm fires that are seen as a major source of winter pollution in Delhi and surrounding areas.

Asian Age

The opposition of farmers to the Narendra Modi government is not very surprising. The increasing resort to agitation, leading to massive farmers’ rallies in the national capital in recent weeks, may have been a major factor that led to the fall of the BJP governments in the Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh Assembly elections. The distress in Indian agriculture was one of the many reasons that led to the defeat of these governments. It was the result not only of incompetence but reflects the low priority given to rural voters and their needs in favour of urban residents and foreign suppliers.

The Hindu Business Line

Modernising Indian agriculture will require nothing less than a step change in key elements of the sector: supply chains and markets; production support; and credit and crop insurance.

The New Indian Express

Minister for Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Prafulla Samal has called on the farmers to produce more exportable commodities to increase their income. Expressing concern over poor participation of farmers in the Krushak Mela organised in every district, he has urged agriculture experts to make these fairs more informative.

News18

With the agrarian crisis enveloping almost all of India, election statistics indicate that loan waivers have become the winning-mantra for state elections. In the last two years, every party that has promised farm loan waivers has gone on to win elections

The Times of India

Rebuilding Kerala will be a major theme of the third edition of ‘Vaiga’, the international workshop and exhibition on agro-processing and value addition, which will begin on Thursday in Thrissur. Addressing a news conference here on Saturday, agriculture minister V S Sunilkumar said the theme of rebuilding Kerala will be debated from three dimensions — livelihood perspective, revival of agriculture sector in post-flood situation and Kerala flood’s impact on agriculture.

Qrius

With three new chief ministers waiving off farm loans within hours of  taking oath in three states, the Modi government has received a strong message: do not take farmers for granted! No wonder the Modi government is mobilising all its political capital to woo the farmer votebank. This has become especially evident in the aftermath of BJP’s loss of three state assembly elections, and in the months leading up to the Lok Sabha 2019 elections.

The Indian Express

Sidestepping political pressure to waive farm loans in Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday announced his Cabinet’s approval to Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme, under which Rs 10,180 crore will be spent over three years, till 2020-21, for providing financial assistance to cultivators and landless agricultural labourers in the state.

KrishiJagran

Kisan Diwas or National Farmers Day will be observed across the country on 23rd December to celebrate the birthday of Chaudhary Charan Singh, who was the 5th Prime Minister of India.

The Times of India

Farm loan waivers can be avoided if the government uses its Electronic National Agricultural Market (e-NAM) effectively, along with a system of licensed assayer of agro commodities, according to ratings agency Acuite.

The Times of India

After pondering over it for several months, the state government finally decided to adopt Israeli farming techniques to secure maximum produce using as little water as possible.

The Print

Raghuram Rajan ought to be taken seriously because he advances robust arguments: benefits of such a waiver often go to the best connected, it creates enormous stress for the fiscal health of the state government and it inhibits investment down the line. Bankers have often argued that loan waivers hurt credit culture and thus harm rural banking and, eventually, work against the farmers themselves. Agricultural economists tell us that farm loan waivers cannot solve the crisis of Indian agriculture.

The Hindu Business Line

Since the 1970s, agriculture in many States has been receiving electricity at either low tariffs or for free. Much of this supply is un-metered. Due to the lower tariff and poor revenue collection, agricultural sales are often seen as a major reason for the financial losses of distribution companies ( discoms). Part of this loss is then recovered through higher tariffs for other consumers like industry and commercial (called cross-subsidy), and the remaining through direct subsidy from the State governments.

The Economic Times

Technologies developed by the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) have significantly contributed in increasing agriculture production, said Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh. He said that schemes like – Attracting and Retaining Youth in Agriculture (ARYA) scheme and the student READY (Rural Entrepreneurship Awareness Development Yojana) scheme were proving to be very effective in attracting rural educated youth to agriculture.

MoneyControl

The sadness of 2019 will begin when it becomes an act of repetition. The first example one can think of is the fact of stubble burning and the blame game that followed. The year 2019 will repeat the same ritual of indifference. The pollution reports will intensify the sense of indifference and politics of monotony and children’s lives will continue to be devalued, India will continue to be the casualty capital of children below six. Politicians will savour it as a Guinness Book statistic and life will go on.

The Times of India

A way forward, the Aayog broadly expressed the need for implementation of its ‘Action Plan for Biomass Management’ to eliminate problem of stubble burning setting up of task force to control pollution from brick kilns, taking effective measures for disposal of waste and converting vacant space in urban areas into urban greens among others. 

Business Standard

Furthermore, the report suggested that the national capital had the highest annual population-weighted mean Particulate Matter 2.5 last year, followed by neibhouring Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Haryana. All had mean values greater than 125 µg/m3. Of the 1.24 million deaths attributable to air pollution, more than half were people below 70 years. “In India, the major sources of ambient particulate matter pollution are coal burning for thermal power production, industrial emissions, construction activity and brick kilns, transport vehicles, road dust, residential and commercial biomass burning, waste burning, agricultural stubble burning, and diesel generators,” the study stated.

India Times

As citizens fall ill after inhaling soot and PM 2.5 levels, stubble burning has added to north India’s pollution woes. The burning of rice straw or stubble burning has put the farmers under a scanner, while they say that the pollution in Delhi-NCR is due to continued emissions and not because of some seasonal crop burning.

The Hindu Business Line

This is part of the on-going exercise of the Commerce Ministry to implement the Agriculture Export Policy approved by the Cabinet recently. The policy aims to double farm exports from $30 billion to $60 billion by 2022 and then reach $100 billion in the next few years. It also seeks to double farmers’ income by 2022.“We are getting ready with our list of deliverables. We are identifying the department and agency concerned for various items in the farm policy. We will be communicating to them the actionable points,” the official said.

The Economic Times 

After the recent defeat in three major states, the BJP government has ramped up the efforts to please farmers in the coming days, and before the 2019 General Elections. The Prime Minister himself has held several rounds of consultations with agriculture ministry on this, and is overseeing ways to overhaul the existing farm welfare schemes, ET Now learns from sources.

All India Radio

It vouches for the transformation of the rural economy, creating a policy environment that enables income security for farmers and modernising agricultural technology for doubling farmers income. Later talking to media, NITI Ayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said, modernisation of the agriculture sector and creation of entrepreneurs are important to address the problems in the agricultural sector.

Mint

When residents gather around the fire on foggy winter evenings in Rampura, a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district, the conversation often veers toward the declining fortunes in agriculture. Take 27-year-old Pushpendra Singh, who completed his master’s degree in commerce in 2016, but was unable to find a decent job. Singh now toils on the family farm so that his younger brother can finish his studies and find a teaching job.

Fincitizen

Buoyed by the financial gains made by selling surplus power worth Rs 976 crore in the open market from April till October, the (PSPCL) has put in place a plan to further augment its power generation capacity by another 1,000 MW. It will conduct an 800 MW supercritical thermal power unit at the Ropar thermal power plant. It will also convert one of the 210 MW units at the Bathinda thermal power plant, which is shut down, into bio-mass unit to help farmers find a viable solution to stubble burning.

UNI

This year, around 10-15 percent of bilateral trade was done by Turkey, while India accounted for the rest, said TurkStat. During her India visit, Pekcan also met with Suresh Prabhu, India’s commerce, industry and civil aviation minister, and Radha Mohan Singh, the agriculture minister. She underlined that such bilateral meetings would strengthen and expand the two countries’ trade and economic ties.

Millennium Post

In recent past, a lot has been written about farm loan waivers. Studies have pointed out loan waiver programmes do not make much economic sense (N. Banik, 2018 – Are Loan Waivers a Panacea for Rural Distress? Economic and Political Weekly). However, if current political discourse is any indication then the loan waiver is the flavour of the month.

 

BusinessWorld

Since the first green revolution in the 1960s that radically transformed the face of Indian agriculture, the sector has consistently been a major contributor to India’s GDP. Recently at Davos, it was estimated that the Indian economy will reach $5 trillion by 2022 where agriculture would contribute to $1 trillion of the GDP alone. To achieve this growth, modern agriculture in India is undergoing a fresh wave of revival by adopting technologically sophisticated manufacturing processes that will lead to better crop yields. Our current farming practices have truly entered the automated digital age led by the Internet of Things (IoT). Digital technology has become a powerful ally in aiding farmers’ decision-making, productivity and competitiveness.

The Times of India The Pioneer

The Government’s agriculture schemes are “not disjointed” but linked at various stages of the farm sector. Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh informed the Parliament that Indian agriculture is confronted with high price volatility and climate risk for which adequate preparedness has been in place. Due to steps taken by the Government, despite climate risks, the overall crop production in the country is on the increasing trend, he said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Singh.

The Better India

Every winter, we read extensive reports on how Delhi is suffocating in thick smog and how apart from vehicular and industrial pollution, stubble burning is the reason behind the air-pollution. Keeping the urgency of finding a use for the stubble residue in mind, a team from IIT, Delhi has developed a way of turning it into paper plates! This innovation will not only curb stubble burning in the states of Punjab and Haryana but will also provide a sustainable income to the farmers who burn it because the storage or transportation of the ‘useless’ stubble becomes quite expensive for them. With IIT Delhi’s innovation, farmers can earn up to 100% profit from the paddy straw!

Business Standard  National Herald

Agrarian crisis emerged as a major political concern in 2018, fuelled mainly by a fall in crop prices and a poor procurement mechanism which will provide opposition parties a common ground to rally against the BJP ahead of the next year’s general elections. The anger brewing against the perceived “anti-farm policies” of the government could be measured by the poor performance of the BJP in the rural parts of Hindi heartland states in the just-concluded Assembly elections, that saw the BJP ousted from power in all three states.

The Logical Indian

Modern agriculture practices have become one of the perpetrators of climate change that we are facing today. According to the Synthesis Report of the UN ‘Millennium Ecosystem Assessment’ – “Agriculture is the largest threat to biodiversity”. Despite the fact that, agriculture is one of the predominant causes of global warming, its impact on the environment is often overlooked. According to World future council, agriculture is directly responsible for 14% of total greenhouse gas emissions.

Forbes 

A team of leading scientists from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Ethiopia, as well as senior representatives of the Syngenta Foundation — under the auspices of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and in collaboration with the Volcani Center–last week visited Israel to explore the possibility of establishing an Israel-Africa Agriculture Innovation Center.

The Financial Express

In the recent past, a lot has been written about farm loan waivers. Studies have pointed out that loan waiver programmes do not make much economic sense. However, if current political discourse is any indication, then a loan waiver is the flavour of the month. If not farm loan waivers, what else can we do to increase farm incomes? During the year following loan waivers, small farmers lose out on three counts: Lesser access to formal loans, falling agricultural revenue because of higher informal loan cost, and a falling agricultural productivity.

The Pioneer

Members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) on Monday staged a protest in front of the District Administrative Complex over non-fulfilment of pending demands. They demanded that cases registered against farmers for burning stubble be cancelled. Representatives of the union also submitted a memorandum of demands to the Deputy Commissioner in this regard.

The Indian Express

Maharashtra Agriculture Price Commission chairman Pasha Patel believes the higher Minimum Support Price policy will have to be adequately backed by infrastructure, which is lacking at present. In an interview to The Indian Express, he says we have to focus on greater planning and monitoring of schemes for farmers.

Mint

In a report titled An Economic Strategy for India last week, several economists including Rajan and the International Monetary Fund chief economist Gita Gopinath said, “We need deep-rooted transformation of agriculture, treating it not as a sector that has to be propped up through repeated sops, but as an engine of India’s job creation and growth.

The Hindu

The agricultural sector continues to remain the largest contributing sector to the GDP with a share of 16%. The onset of GST in the sector is encouraging industry players/stakeholders to go beyond the boundaries of cities and States and create one-of-a-kind national market for agricultural goods with a clear and hassle-free supply chain which would lead to the free movement of agri-commodities across India.

The Times of India

“Like Punjab and Haryana, farmers in Bihar have also started burning stubble in the fields, which will not only harm them and environment which will not only harm them and environment, but also create a horrible situation in future.

HuffPost India

Commenting on the problems being faced by the agriculturists in Gujarat, Togadia alleged the BJP government is favouring industries over farmers by supplying them water and electricity. “Though a canal passes from Dehgam, local farmers do not get water from it. On the other hand, industries are getting water generously. Crop insurance is a scheme to fill the pockets of some insurance companies. If this continues, such protests would take place across the country”, he said.

The Financial Express

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Sunday said around 5,000 Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) plants will be set across the country by 2023. He said these plants meant for extracting biogas from agricultural residue, cattle dung and municipal solid waste will have an estimated annual CBG production of 15 million tonne.

The Economic Times

The effects of climate change, like more frequent heat waves, dry spells, droughts and changing frequency and intensity of rain, on agriculture cannot be ignored. And at risk are not just the 120-million farmers of the country but also more than 500 companies that make up India’s Rs 15,000 crore seed industry.

Qrius

A number of states have announced farm loan waivers over the last two years. The quantum of such waivers is already in excess of Rs 1.2 lakh crore. Following the recent state elections, economists fear that more such waivers at the state and central level may be considered. In the report released today, the group of economists said that loan waivers divert spending away from other priorities such as building out infrastructure in the agriculture sector.

Entrepreneur India

Recent government policies, such as the Model Contract Farming Act, aim to promote contract farming in the agriculture sector. Opportunities in contract farming include: Poultry contract farming, with expected growth in meat consumption, Services for contract farming community such as easier access to agri-inputs, technology, credit.

TNS

Particulate matter (PM 2.5) is released from industries, vehicles, brick kilns and crop burning. Its emissions are high when farmers in India and Pakistan practise stubble burning after harvesting rice. According to a study, farmers burn 30-90 percent of crop residue in India (Punjab) (Lohan et.al 2017) whereas Pakistan (Punjab) constitutes for 72 percent to the smog formation in the region (Irfan et.al 2015).

Hindustan Times The Times of India

While the early pollution warning system has been installed in Delhi and would help alert authorities of dust particles being blown in from west Asia, the Union government has also allocated funds to tackle pollution from stubble burning in northwest India

The Financial Express

When the new MSP regime was implemented in July, one of the common fears in the market was that the hikes would stoke inflation fears. Four months down the line, not only does this fear seems to have subsided, but serious concerns are now being raised over the continued decline in food prices. Food inflation in rural areas at an all-India level has been consistently declining and stood at 1.9% in FY19 (till November) as against 5.4% in FY15. While such decline/low single-digit inflation in food prices are a boon for consumers, it is bad news for farmers.

Firstpost

Since 90 percent of the rural constituencies in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and 70 percent in Rajasthan are agricultural, where the ruling party suffered a huge setback. Repeated farmers’ protest marches may have evoked little response, but an electoral debacle will not be, particularly when the 2019 general elections are looming large.

Times Now NYOOZ Zee Business The Times of India

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday expressed concern over reports of stubble burning in some districts and called for urgent steps to check the practice. At a meeting held in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, where the agriculture scenario of the state was reviewed, he also highlighted the need for herding stray cattle to “gaushalas” since cow dung and urine were required for organic farming.

Fibre2Fashion

The National Cotton Council (NCC), the central organisation for the US cotton industry, strongly supports the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 released today and urges Congress to quickly pass the measure and the President to sign it into law. A new five-year farm bill will bring some much-needed certainty and predictability to the US cotton industry.

Business Standard 

Godrej Group, a diversified conglomerate, today, hosted an agri-conclave focusing on ‘#FarmerNomics – Shaping the Future of Indian Agriculture’. In the run-up to Kisan Diwas (23 December), the aim of the conclave was to focus on the role of allied stakeholders, such as corporates, civil society, and academia, in doubling farmer’s income.

The Quint

After the 180 km ‘Long March’ of tribals and farmers from Nashik to Mumbai between 6 and 13 March, farmers were once again on the front pages of newspapers when they gathered in number in Delhi on November 30. Among their main demands were remunerative prices for produce and relief from debt.

The Financial Express

The main sources of air pollution in NCR are more or less of the same nature as in case of Beijing, except that the former has an additional source from stubble burning. While stubble burning has to be completely stopped, pollution from other sources has to be controlled by strict enforcement of time-bound ambitious targets and honest monitoring, as Beijing has done.

MoneyControl

The Supreme Court on December 11 said that it will hear in January second week a plea seeking steps to curb pollution in Delhi-NCR caused by stubble burning in neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana. A bench of justices A K Sikri, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer said that it is fixing the issue of stubble burning for final hearing in second week of January and asked the Ministry of Forests and Environment, Haryana and Punjab to file their response on the plea before the court by then.

The Financial Express

Given how competitive India’s agriculture exports are compared to industrial ones—the share of farm exports to output is greater than industrial exports to industrial output—it is obvious that any solution to raising overall exports has to have a special focus on agriculture. Indeed, a study by Ashok Gulati and Shweta Saini at ICRIER for the decade FY05-FY14 showed that, for most products, India’s farm exports were competitive with those globally.

World Observer

The Global Combine Harvester Market Research Report Forecast 2018-2023 is a valuable source of knowledgeable data for market strategists and methodologies. The Combine Harvester Market research contributes to the overall industry survey along with the growth trends, prior and futuristic price, interest, order, sales, and the supply data. A detailed description of the industry value chain, as well as the distributor analysis, has been provided by the industry specialists.

The Economic Times 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged scientists in the country to find a concrete solution to deal with the problem of stubble burning even as he asked farmers to seek out methods to earn money using the agriculture residue. He said the government had taken several measures to address the problem arising out of paddy residue burning in the northern states of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, which has led to smogformation in the national capital.

Business Standard

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that it will hear in January second week a plea seeking steps to curb pollution in Delhi-NCR caused by stubble burning in neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana. A bench of justices A K Sikri, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer said that it is fixing the issue of stubble burning for final hearing in second week of January and asked the Ministry of Forests and Environment, Haryana and Punjab to file their response on the plea before the court by then.

The Economic Times

Central government teams have been deputed to assess the drought situation in six states – Andhra Pradesh, Maharasthra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Odisha, a senior agriculture ministry official said on Monday. These six states and the Karnataka government had declared drought for the kharif (summer) 2018 season. Barring Odisha, the other states have submitted a memorandum seeking funds from the central government.

The Hindu Business Line

Our Bureau Agriculture should not be seen as a cause, but as a solution to problems. The country should reorient its agricultural research to focus on the challenges of smallholder farmers, according to RS Paroda, Chairman of Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS) and a former Director-General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

Business Standard

On the night of November 29, 2018, as many as 100,000 farmers from all over India arrived, via trains and tractors, in New Delhi, the country’s capital. The next day, tens of thousands more marched to the parliament to draw the Central Government’s attention to the deepening agrarian crisis and resulting farmer suicides.

Swarajya

Last week, the cabinet cleared the Agricultural Export Policy (AEP), 2018 as part of the government’s policy to double farmers’ income, following which the government said that export of agricultural products will play a pivotal role in this.

FirstPost

In North India, stubble burning by farmers combined with coal-fired power plants are facing the brunt for polluting Delhi’s air and making the city unlivable. In Central India, several communities face respiratory disorders due to extensive mining in the region for several decades.

The Financial Express

The government’s target to raise farm exports to $60 billion by 2022, as envisaged under a new policy, from $38 billion in FY18, is a Herculean, if not impossible, task, given that key commodities —ranging from grains to cotton that make up for a bulk of outbound shipments — still face risks of export curbs, analysts reckon.

Telangana Today

Governor ESL Narasimhan on Sunday urged students of agriculture to work towards food and environment security. Participating in the second convocation of Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) here on Sunday, the Governor advised students to educate farmers on the virtues of organic farming, which yields healthy and nutritious food.

Rawr Magazine

Blockchain Technology in the Agriculture Sector Market report evaluates the present Blockchain Technology in the Agriculture Sector market industry scenario by studying the historic data for the period of 2013-2017 & provides the useful growth & upcoming trends forecast for the period 2018 – 2022. The analysis provided in the report comprised of key market data like market size, share, leading vendors or manufacturers, present in the Blockchain Technology in the Agriculture Sector market space.

The Telegraph

Burning of crop stubble, which is cited as a major reason for New Delhi’s polluted air, is catching up in Bihar and farmers have started adopting the practice in Patna district as well. Alarmed over its potential to aggravate the pollution levels in the state capital and other cities, chief minister Nitish Kumar has directed officials to curb the practice before it becomes a major threat

 

The New Indian Express

With its ambitious agriculture export policy, a first-of-its-kind in the country that received the Cabinet nod the other day, the Centre aims to boost agriculture exports to $60 billion by 2022 and do away with arbitrary curbs on exports. “We exported agricultural products worth $37 billion during the last fiscal and are confident of doubling the same, with the new export policy set in place,” said Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister for Commerce and Industries.

Business Standard

Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana E S L Narasimhan Sunday said it is necessary for the agricultural scientists to ensure that the food that is available is pure and healthy. He said organic farming is the way forward to ensure this.

The Economic Times 

Amid growing demands for farm loan waivers, Niti Aayog Member and agriculture policy expert Ramesh Chand said he is not in favour of debt waivers as this help only a small fraction of farmers. The country recently witnessed agitations by farmers in key farm states in support of their demands ranging from farm loan waiver to clearing of dues by sugar mills and higher prices for crops.

The Hindu Business Line

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on Saturday said it has signed an agreement with Green Climate Fund (GCF) to infuse $100 million into an ambitious project designed to unlock private sector initiatives for creation of rooftop solar power capacity across India.

The Economic Times 

Shanky Sungroya is a first year MSc student in the school of agriculture at Lovely Professional University (LPU), Punjab. But he is already running an enterprise with a monthly sales of Rs 80,000. The icing on the cake is that his venture, Green Grocer, sells agriculture products made on campus and it was incubated by the university. It was in the second year of his bachelor degree that Sungroya came up with the idea of sourcing and selling fruit and vegetables harvested from the campus farms.

The Times of India

Buoyed by the financial gains made by selling surplus power worth Rs 976 crore in the open market from April till October, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has put in place a plan to further augment its power generation capacity by another 1,000 MW.

News 18

The Cabinet on Thursday approved a policy to boost exports of farm commodities such as tea, coffee, fruits and vegetables, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu said.

Newslaundary.com

News of agricultural distress has been hitting the media for years now. Governments, present and previous, haven’t come up with any structural changes to deal with the same.The one thing that they have done is to play around with the minimum support price (MSP) policy. The government declares an MSP for 22 agricultural crops through the year.

Yahoo news

Union Minister Suresh Prabhu and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addressed a press conference in the national capital on Thursday. He announced that the union cabinet has cleared Agriculture Export Policy, the first-ever policy to have been brought out by Government of India and said cabinet approved agriculture export policy in line with government’s commitment to double farmers’ income by 2022.

The Economic Times

The union cabinet today approved the agricultural export policy, thereby, removing export restrictions on most organic and agro processed products. In its first ever policy for agricultural exports, the cabinet also decided to give high value, value added and perishable products a special reference.

The Pioneer

Punjab Government on Monday claimed that stubble burning has reduced as much as 50 per cent this year in 14 out of 22 districts in the state.

Business Standard

Facing farmers’ agitation across the country, the government may soon pass the agri export policy that aims to double agri export to $60 billion by 2022.

The Hindu Business Line

At a time when the Centre is offering enhanced minimum support prices (MSP) to the farmers for the Kharif crops, India’s farm subsidies’ regime has come under intense scrutiny in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The Economic Times

Finance minister Arun Jaitley blamed previous Congress governments for not pumping adequate resources into agriculture which has led to both agrarian distress and inadequate quality of life in the rural areas. In a Facebook post, days after a farmers’ rally in the capital, he said the NDA has pumped in resources into the rural areas that has improved infrastructureNSE -0.96 % and lifted the quality of life

News 18

The government notified dual-fuel usage for agriculture and construction equipment vehicles in a bid to promote the use of alternative fuels like CNG in tractors, tillers and harvesters.

FirstPost

Delhi witnessed a massive farmers’ protest rally, a Kisan Mukti March, on 29 and 30 November under the banner of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) — an umbrella organisation of more than 200 farmers’ unions and NGOs. One of the major forces in this protest rally was the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) — a CPM-affiliated union that took up farmers’ issues in its 15-point charter of demands. By undertaking four long marches covering 18,000 kilometres in 23 days and holding more than 400 rallies from 2016, it has tried to create awareness among farmers regarding the agrarian crisis in India.

Financial Express

The Union Cabinet is expected to approve Thursday a policy to boost exports of agriculture commodities such as tea, coffee and rice and increase the country’s share in global agri trade, an official said. The Commerce Ministry has sent the final agri export policy to the Cabinet. The proposed policy would focus on all aspects of agricultural exports including modernising infrastructure, standardisation of products, streamlining regulations, curtailing knee-jerk decisions, and focusing on research and development activities.

DownToEarth

Agricultural negotiations have often been contentious since differences exist between the developed and the developing countries on issues of finance and technology transfer. The first workshop scheduled under the roadmap of the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA), which took place on December 3 at COP24 in Katowice, Poland, was agreed upon at COP23 in Bonn as a space for discussion on agricultural issues.

Business Standard

One-sixth of the world’s population is impacted and affected by air pollution with various countries taking remedial measures, which are still not enough to curb this menace that continues to jeopardise our lives and that of future generations.

Mint

India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the second quarter (Q2) has laid bare the deepening distress in its villages. Farm incomes haven’t risen even though the government has announced a hike in minimum support prices. The country’s agricultural output, measured as gross value added, grew at a sedate pace of 2.8%, far slower than the 5.3% in the June quarter. This was on top of a low base of 2.6% growth last year.

The Hindu Business Line

The government is under intense pressure following large-scale protests by farmers’ groups. The question is not whether these protests are spontaneous or instigated, but whether the policy-makers have done enough proactively to address the problems raised by growers.

Krishijagran.com

For strengthening the future of agriculture in India, it is important to attract youngsters towards agricultural education. And this may require massive awareness programmes amongst the youth focusing on various facets of agriculture and related subjects.

The Hans India

From the times immemorial, historians described India as a land of milk and honey as it is blessed with innumerable natural resources. Dubbed as ‘Annapoorna(The food bowl of India) Andhra Pradesh is a major producer of  rice, wheat, Sugar Cane, Cotton, Maize,  pulses, spices, tobacco and chilly. There is no dearth for perennial rivers like The Godavari, Krishna, Penna, Nagavali and Vamshadhara that emerges from both the eastern and the WesternGhats surrounding the state.

Business World

The two-day long Global Agriculture and Food Summit concluded at Ranchi in Jharkhand on November 30 with a plethora of promises from the Central and State leadership of the BJP to transform living conditions of farmers by 2022. But the pertinent question that remained unanswered is: Is the BJP in right earnest to ensure agrarian reforms while making these promises to farmers? If the past bears testimony to the fact, the answer is not in the affirmative.

The Hindu

Incidents of stubble burning — following the harvest of paddy crop in Punjab and Haryana — cannot be averted by imposing fines, or giving notice or giving farmers capital subsidy. Instead, the issue requires long-term vision and strategic policy interventions.

Dariya news

Addressing business heads, entrepreneurs on 40th anniversary celebrations of Ludhiana Management Association in Ludhiana today, Governor Acharya Devvrat said that natural farming was the only available alternative for fertilizers based farming in Punjab, Haryana and all over the country as the present crop practices were poisoning the soil and as a ewsult affecting health of people.He said environment, water and diseases were three important issues, in Punjab and the world, at large, which could be resolved with active participation and involvement of all the stakeholders. He said there three issues were challenges to the society and future of civilizations on earth.

The Times of India

The earlier NAIS was based on the trust model where government collected a token premium from farmers but bore liability for payment of claims beyond premium collected. PMFBY is an actuarial model based scheme where token premium is charged and government pays the balance premium quoted by insurance companies selected by states through transparent bidding — full liability of payment of claims is with companies.

Business Standard

Authorities in Punjab are targeting a 90 percent reduction in stubble burning cases next year, a senior official said here on Monday.”Stubble burning has reduced by as much as 50 per cent this year in 14 of 22 districts in Punjab, mainly in Majha and Doaba (north and central Punjab),” K.S. Pannu, Secretary- Agriculture, Punjab, said here.

Mint

Later this week, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee will meet to provide its assessment of inflation in India and, accordingly, set the repo rate.

The Wire

Fifty-two-year-old Kiran Shantappa Ghorwade died after falling from the third floor of Ambedkar Bhawan in Jhandewalan on Saturday, Indian Express reported. Ghorwade, a resident of Kolhapur district in Maharashtra, had travelled to Delhi to take part in the farmers protest on November 29 and November 30.

Financial Express

Delinquencies in the agri loan portfolios of some banks are seeing a spike. At State Bank of India (SBI), the gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio for its agri loan book shot up to 11.43% at the September-end this year from 9.93% on September 30, 2017; slippages or accretion of fresh bad loans were Rs 2,700 crore.

The Economic Times

An Australian university is planning to invest AUD 5 million as a part of a collaboration with agricultural universities across India, to leverage research and innovations that may help Indian farmers double their income by 2022, varsity officials said.

Mint

India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the second quarter (Q2) has laid bare the deepening distress in its villages. Farm incomes haven’t risen even though the government has announced a hike in minimum support prices. The country’s agricultural output, measured as gross value added, grew at a sedate pace of 2.8%, far slower than the 5.3% in the June quarter. This was on top of a low base of 2.6% growth last year.

The Hindu Business Line

An innovative company based in Douala was awarded the inaugural Pierre Castel Prize this year, thanks to a technique that enables urban dwellers to grow vegetables and raise fish using only 10 percent of the water needed for conventional agriculture.

The Hindu

What if all you had to do to cut down Delhi’s pollution was to buy disposable plates? Swedish giant IKEA hopes to do just that. It has plans to develop products from crop residue on farms to help cut down the need for crop burning in North India. One of those products could be rice-straw plates. The company, which launched in India a few months ago, is the latest to come up with a solution to one of Delhi’s biggest challenges — its annual smog.

The Tribune

After corporates, the country’s premier institutions have pitched in to help out Punjab farmers. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Ropar and Roorkee (Uttarakhand) are offering pragmatic solutions to their problems such as stubble burning and dwindling yield.

The Indian Express

Lauding the role of farmers in emergence of India as an exporter of key agricultural and allied products, President Ram Nath Kovind Saturday termed them “bold in embracing risk and converting risk into opportunity”. At the same time, the President also gave a call to all stake holders and “large-hearted farmers” to come up with a solution to stubble burning.

 

The Pioneer

The issue of stubble burning and ways to tackle the same was the focus of the “Kisan Goshthee” on paddy straw management, held during the ongoing four-day CII Agro Tech India 2018 here on Sunday.

DNA

Guess neither Maharashtra nor Gujarat fathomed that acquiring land would be such a problem. Not only this, the central government had a tough time convincing the Maharashtra government to part with some of its prime lands in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) for a terminal station.

The Times of India

Farming is central to the Indian identity and is more than just a profession, said President Ram Nath Kovind whie inaugurating the 13th CII Agro Tech fair at Parade Ground, Chandigarh, on Saturday. He also addressed the issue of stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana saying it is the responsibility of the state governments, farmers and other stakeholders to come up with a solution to curb the practice.

The Indian Express

As thousands of farmers marched towards Parliament, demanding loan waivers and better prices for their produce, Sultanpur MP and BJP leader Varun Gandhi, who spent several months in understanding the rhythm of India’s villages for his book ‘A Rural Manifesto: Realising India’s Future Through Her Villages’, tells LIZ MATHEW that there is a need for a national conversation on rural distress.

The Pioneer

Praising Indian farmers on Saturday, President Ram Nath Kovind said they have proven to be “remarkably adaptable” to innovation and bold in taking risk, which has helped India become an exporter of key agricultural and allied products.

The Pioneer

On the concluding day of the mega event ‘Global Summit on Agriculture and Food Industries’, Chief Secretary Sudhir Tripathy said that the aim of the Government has shifted from increasing agricultural production to increasing income of the farmers. The name of the Ministry has also been changed from ‘Agriculture and Co-operative’ to ‘Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare’, he added.

Down To Earth

Opposition parties united on the issue of the agrarian crisis on the last day of the two day protest by farmers from more than 200 organisations across India. The march to Ramlila grounds in Delhi had representatives and party leaders of 21 political parties speak in a united voice. They vowed to pass two bills prepared by the organisation to free farmers from indebtedness and guaranteed price for their produces. Yet, there was no response from the Modi government on these demands.

FnB news

Technology on farms is possible only with innovation and policy support in India. The country is witnessing uberisation on farms, with miniaturisation of equipment to sow and irrigate agricultural lands.

The Wire

This Friday, thousands of farmers across India marched in central Delhi to demand action on the recommendations of the M.S. Swaminathan committee. Students marched alongside farmers, led by the umbrella body of All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC).

Huffington Post

Thirty-five-year-old Jitendra Kumar sells Papad in Central Delhi to make ends meet. He usually sells four Papads for Rs.20.But on Friday, he was selling four Papads for Rs.10 to the farmers who had gathered at the Parliament Street from all parts of the country to demand a special session of Parliament to deliberate upon agrarian issues.