January 2019

Like in any other annual Budget, GoI is expected to unveil key measures to address rural agrarian distress in tomorrow’s interim Budget announcement. This is especially anticipated, considering the Lok Sabha elections are around the bend.

‘Achhe Din’ Far From Reality for Potato Farmers in India

Recently, MPs belonging to the opposition were pictured selling potatoes outside parliament. A farmer from Agra made news for sending to Prime Minister Narendra Modi a money order of Rs 490 – the profit he earned for selling 19 tonnes of potatoes. Last year, farmers dumped potatoes outside Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s house. It would appear obvious, even to casual observers, that potato farmers in India face a crisis.

Production of horticulture crops seen at record 314.67 million tonnes in 2018-19

India’s horticulture production is estimated to rise by 1 per cent to record 314.67 million tonnes in 2018-19 on higher area, the government said Wednesday.

Artificially low inflation has hurt farmers, solution lies in balancing consumer-farmer interests

In 1986 or 1987, I was young and foolish,and single, which means I was always looking for love. I was in my favourite bar in Bandra one night, drinking a Rosa rum and coke, when, rather surprisingly, two African women walked in and sat at a booth some ways behind me. One of them was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life.

Delhi farmers may get more as minimum support price

“Even after working hard day and night, farmers are economically weak,” development minister Gopal Rai said on Monday. He pointed out that the UPA government had failed to implement the Swaminathan committee report on farmers and the NDA government had also ignored it. And farmers are committing suicides due to bad agriculture policies, he added. Besides implementing the recommendation on MSP, the government will also discuss other suggestions in the conference, the minister sa

Telangana Revolutionising Agriculture Sector Through IT

Elets

The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation has automated the process of application of license. In fact, the entire departmental process has been made online. Digital signing of licenses has also been enabled, says C Parthasarathy, Principal Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Government of Telangana, in conversation with Sudheer Goutham of Elets News Network (ENN).

India fields Ramesh Chand for top post at UN’s Food Agriculture Organisation

Business Today

After laying low for nearly five decades at agri-related international platforms, India has decided to field a candidate for leadership position at the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation or FAO. PMO officials confirmed that India has nominated Ramesh Chand, member of the NITI Aayog and the Finance Commission, for the job.

FM Piyush Goyal discusses steps to promote lending to MSME, agriculture sectors

The government on Monday asked state-run banks to step up their support to meet the lending needs of India’s growing economy, with finance minister Piyush Goyal saying the focus areas would be loans to housing and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Creating jobs out of the mixer

As India heads for Lok Sabha elections, issues relating to jobless growth and farm distress are haunting the ruling NDA government. The common perception is that both these factors are responsible for widening income inequality in India. Oxfam International Report 2019, however, argues that this worsening income distribution is a global phenomenon.

How foul air makes our life miserable

That was the first reaction of almost everyone I met on a vacation in the southern hill town of Madikeri, Karnataka. It is almost as if the national capital conjures up just this one vision: of people in masks walking under a smog-laden sky, quite like the spectacle of Beijing’s ‘airpocalypse’.

Manufacturing fails agriculture

Mydigitalfc.ocom

Breast beating about agrarian distress is the flavour of the poll season. The crisis has been building over decades and has reached a tipping point. Quick fix solutions like loan waivers may be good options, but are unlikely to make a dent on the problem. The population explosion and lack of structural and factor reforms have resulted in the agriculture sector, which contribute about 17-18% of the GDP being forced to support more than 50% of the country’s population. A demographic disaster is staring the country. Loan waivers by state governments are a manifestation of ‘the goalkeeper’s dilemma’ i.e.being perceived as acting in a crisis, without caring for the outcomes. Such waivers have been unsuccessfully experimented with earlier, ...

Many reforms needed to revive agriculture sector

The Hindu

Former deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of India (now NITI Aayog), Montek Singh Ahluwalia has suggested large-scale reforms, including scientific and policy support for improving productivity and profitability, to revive the agriculture sector in the country.

Agriculture is India’s Greatest Occupation, a Farmer its Driving Force

Krishijagran

I worked as a media person and a writer who would share her opinions about various issues and trends concerning the urban population of the nation. While I was exploring options for a job change I came across an interesting and challenging opportunity of understanding the needs of a completely different target group i.e. the farmers! Without having any agriculture background, I joined Gramophone, an AgTechstartup that aims to solve real problems faced by farmers in India. My team at Gramophone provides assistance to more than 150,000 farmers for growing their crops in a better way.

Modi Government Set Up India’s Second Agricultural Institute: Minister

NDTV

Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Sunday alleged that the previous UPA government ignored the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission for setting up of a second Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI).

Opposition to protest ‘anti-farmer’ policies on February 18 in Patna

Members of as many as 40 organisations of sharecroppers, marginal and small farmers, including those affiliated with the Left parties, RJD and Congress will take out a march in Patna on February 18 during the winter session of the assembly to press for their demands and highlight the ‘anti-farmer’ policies of the Centre and the Nitish Kumar government.

Reforming policies

Millennium Post

After the surprising state assembly results of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the upcoming interim Budget is quite unlikely to be a traditional vote-on-account.

Half-way, doubling farmers’ income is a distant dream

Down To Earth

Last December, amid clamour for an urgent “deal” for India’s distressed agriculture sector and selectively leaked reports of a “mega” deal in the media, the Centre released data on inflation. The perceived good news turned out to be rude jolt for the government.

Telangana farm sector takes healthy shape

Telangana Today

The agrarian sector in Telangana, once dismissed as a loss-making economic activity with little promise of any positive change in the gloomy picture, made a dramatic turnaround in just four-and-half years post the State’s bifurcation.

Inter-state trade of agri-items on e-NAM platform gains momentum

Inter-state trade of farm products in mandies (wholesale markets) through the eNAM platform is gathering pace with the latest transaction taking place at Gujarat’s Palanpur mandi, which sold green gram to Sumerpur mandi of Rajasthan.

FPO in Telangana’s Kamareddy bringing growers out of farm distress

The Week

Farmer producer organisation (FPO) KPFPCL has become a game changer in at least 23 villages in this arid district, as agrarian distress has come down after farmers’ income grew by directly selling their produce through KPFPCL, according to growers.

Efforts on to double exports from $321 billion: Suresh Prabhu

Moneycontrol

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu on January 27 said new policies of the government will ensure the doubling of exports, currently pegged at $321 billion, in a few years.

Big relief for farmers! Govt may approve agri-package on Monday; Waiver of crop loan interest or complete waiver of insurance premium on card

The cabinet on Monday is likely to approve a package for farmers to boost their income and address distress in the farm sector, sources said, adding that the move will come ahead of the general elections. “The cabinet meeting is scheduled tomorrow (Monday) and the agriculture ministry’s proposal on addressing income deficit syndrome of small and marginal farmers is on the agenda,” a highly placed source said.

Entrepreneurs Propose to Remake Agricultural Waste Into ‘Cooling’ Screens

Come October, the India’s capital begins its annual battle with smog – a toxic cocktail of automobile and industrial emissions, construction dust and a generous splash of smoke from burning crops. Burning is the quick and economical means by which farmers get rid of post-harvest waste.

View: Reform arcane agricultural policies to resolve farmers’ distress

After the surprising state assembly results of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the upcoming interim Budget is quite unlikely to be a traditional vote-on-account.

Too Late For Quick Fix, Farm Crisis A Lesson For Next Government

Huffington Post

Nearly a fortnight after the ruling BJP lost all three assembly elections last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with senior members of his cabinet to discuss possible sops for farmers which could be declared and implemented before the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Since then, there have been intense discussions within government and among wider policy circles about possible solutions for agrarian distress as well as multiple problems of the rural economy.

Capt flays Centre for failure to help beleaguered farmers

Lashing out at the BJP-led Central Government for failing to come to the rescue of the beleaguered farmers, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday said that the farmers’ suicides will continue in Punjab and other States if Centre does not give up its apathy to the farming community.

How to address regional imbalances in agriculture credit in India

In the last decade, agriculture credit has registered a per-annum average growth of 16.5%. In terms of physical outreach, the three credit purveying agencies (commercial banks, cooperative banks and regional rural banks) have been able to add 699 lakh accounts between 2007-08 (440 lakh accounts) and 2017-18 (1,139 lakh accounts).

FM may propose more loans to farmers, SMEs

Asian Age

With just few months left for the Lok Sabha polls, rating agency ICRA said the forthcoming union budget is likely to propose measures to increase credit to agriculture and small and medium enterprises.

Mitigate agriculture distress

Agrarian distress has come to take centrestage in the Government’s political and economic discourse, more so after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) electoral losses in the three Hindi heartland States of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The Modi sarkar had originally intended to deliver on its commitment of doubling farmers’ income by 2022 without resorting to populist welfarism. But as farmers’ protests turned out to be more demanding, the ruling regime is hard-pressed for time to explore alternate avenues for imminent redressal as it is in its last lap of governance. With just three months in hand, it’s important that the Government gets the pulse of the voters right and strikes the right economic notes in its sixth and final ...

Relief package for farmers soon: Minister

Minister of State for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala on Thursday said a big relief package for the country’s farmers will soon be announced.

Farmers should be compensated for soil damage: NGT panel

The team visited six CETPs of which most were non-complying with standards and not achieving zero liquid discharge. “Polluted water flowing in river Bandi is a constant threat for health of villagers and to the agriculture,” the report states.

Will FM bite the bullet on income support to farmers?

One of the possible announcements could be income support to farmer to tackle the current farm crisis. The various models of this scheme being discussed mostly involve direct cash transfer based on land ownership and merger of existing subsidies.

Crop colonies to help higher farm returns

Apart from grouping villages into clusters, farmers will be advised on what crops to cultivate so that they can get the best price for their produce. It was observed that farmers tend to cultivate crops which fetched good returns. With more number of farmers choosing to cultivate the same type of crop, it has resulted in higher produce and glut in the market, leading to steep fall in the price of the produce

There is need for more commitment to agriculture

The Union Budget is not only a source of getting financial support for important projects, but it is also an index of the importance of different sectors of the economy. During the last few years, the importance of agriculture is getting realised largely through agitation. The rural distress is growing. The National Commission on Farmers which I chaired recommended ten years ago pro-farmer pricing, procurement and distribution strategies. Unfortunately, the recommendations have not been taken up for serious implementation. I hope the present Budget will also provide an indication of the political scenario in relation to commitment to agriculture. I wish to emphasise that if agriculture goes wrong, nothing else will have a chance to go right. We ...

Agriculture: The Green Fist

BW Businessworld

Need Reforms in agriculture sector if we want to double farmer’s income: Niti Aayog

The Times of India (Blog)

Doubling Farmers Income by 2022 cannot be achieved if we are not able to bring reforms in Agriculture sector, said government think tank Niti Aayog on Wednesday.

Make India climate smart: We have big infrastructure plans but forget to review them through a climate change lens

India will invest billions of dollars in public infrastructure over the next few years. Government policies also aim to massively increase private investments across sectors – manufacturing, services and agriculture. Each of these policies and investments will have time horizons spanning five to 50 years. Examples of planned infrastructure include – 100 new airports with an investment of $60 billion, interlinking of rivers at a budget of Rs 5.5 lakh crore, a linked network of ports through Sagarmala at an outlay of Rs 4 lakh crore. At a different scale, just one project – the 29.2 km coastal road planned in one city, Mumbai – will cost Rs 10,000 crore.

Maharashtra Farmers’ Shattered Hopes in Onion Fields

NewsClick

When the market falls badly, farmers turn to other crop than onions. So, in the next season the rate of onions shoots up to sky. This gives a good amount to the farmers directly. Then, in the next season, large number of farmers again shift to onions. The extra produce results in the falling of prices. And so on. This is the cycle of crisis. Over the last thirty years, this has been happening season after season.

Agriculture: The Green Fist

BW BusinessWorld

The Modi regime’s focus from the start had been to reshape the entire farming system in India through an income revolution. The government’s rather larger – than- life – vision is to double farmers’ income by 2022. Yet, the years 2017 and 2018 will probably be best remembered for attempts to “use farmers as a tool” to serve political ends. In 2019, a year that will prove decisive for the electorate, what then should the farmer expect – beyond promises that is?

Rs.15,147 Cr. worth agriculture loans waived: Minister

UNI

Andhra Pradesh Minister for Agriculture Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy said that Rs.15,147 crore worth agriculture loans have been waived so far and the state has achieved double digit growth rate. Addressing a Kisan Mela programme organized in the campus of Acharya N G Ranga Agriculture University at Lam in Guntur district on Tuesday, he said that the remaining agriculture loan waiver worth Rs.8,000 crore would be disbursed along with 10 per cent interest during the month of February. Stating that the state go

Economic Agenda 2019: Sowing seeds for better farm growth

Rural is on top of India’s agenda. Farmers are vigorously demanding strong government support to battle severe economic hardship at a time when politicians across parties are wooing them for votes.

Agriculture crisis led to lower inflation in producing states

Kochi: Crisis in the farm sector of major food-producing states in the country was the major reason for the decline in inflation in those states, said rating agency CRISIL. In the report, ‘States of growth 2.0: The scorecard, and the workout on how each state got to where it has’, the agency said that in FY 2018, Kerala recorded the highest inflation among states, hurt by rigidity in food and beverages and urban housing prices.

Sale of banned pesticides could be made criminal offence: Kerala Agriculture Minister

The state government is looking at the possibility of making the use of banned pesticide a criminal offence, Agriculture Minister V S Sunilkumar has said.

Remove shackles on agricultural prices

As policymakers debate what form of income support will cure India’s extensive farm distress, we have a study whose insights suggest that the right policy has to look beyond ratcheting up support prices to unsustainable levels and cash transfers to farmers. Agricultural policy is deeply flawed and calls for structural reform. This crisis can no longer be contained with band-aid. It calls for proper diagnosis and remedy.

To solve farm crisis, look to the past

In the very first scene of a 1953 film that became a landmark in Indian cinema, Do Bigha Zameen, Shambhu and Paro, portrayed superbly by Balraj Sahni and Nirupa Roy, are ecstatic that rain clouds have gathered over their village after two dry long years. Bimal Roy’s matchless direction and Salil Chowdhury’s masterful story brought cinegoers very close indeed to the raw ties that bound our farmers to the monsoon, to the city (where Shambhu becomes a rickshaw puller), to the lender of credit and to the fates that ruled over all these.

Hailstorm, rain pelt down on rabi crops

The hailstorm and rainfall that lashed Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday may damage the ongoing standing rabi crops, including wheat cultivation. The national Capital was also whipped by severe hailstorm and downpour since early on Tuesday.

Three Out-Of-The-Box Policy Ideas to Clean up India’s Toxic Air

One out of every eight deaths in India in 2017 was caused by air pollution, according to a study. That’s almost twice as many deaths caused by cancer. This is a grim warning to India’s policymakers.

Why Burn Stubble When You Can Sell It? NTPC Generates Electricity Via Agri-Waste At Dadri Power Plant

Swarajya

State-run NTPC’s Dadri power plant has begun generating power via a technique called biomass co-firing which uses agriculture waste as fuel, reports Economic Times (ET).

Economic Agenda 2019: Sowing seeds for better farm growth Read more at: //economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/67633643.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Rural is on top of India’s agenda. Farmers are vigorously demanding strong government support to battle severe economic hardship at a time when politicians across parties are wooing them for votes.

Govt needs to focus on agricultural reforms, SMEs to push private investment

Agricultural reforms and the revival of small enterprises will be key to driving private investment even as economists cautioned that an immediate recovery is unlikely.

18% of 6,000 farmers used money to buy more land

Mumbai Mirror

Around 18 per cent of nearly 6,000 farmers who received compensation for acquisition of their land for the Nagpur Expressway aka Samruddhi corridor have reinvested their shares in buying more agricultural land.

Maharashtra govt seeks Centre’s aid for horticulture sector

The Indian express

The state government has urged the Centre to evolve a comprehensive policy to protect the interests of horticulturists facing tough competition from imported fruits and vegetables.

India said to mull $9.8 billion spending to pay cash to farmers

India is considering a plan to transfer cash to farmers to ease their financial burden instead of offering subsidies, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Agriculture in focus at IMI Kolkata meet

Hindu Business Line

As a part of the UK-India Education Research Initiative (UKIERI) project, an event “Down to Earth: Interdisciplinary Conference on Agri-Innovation and Entrepreneurship” was jointly organised by Leeds Beckett University, UK, University of Calcutta and IMI Kolkata on January 21, 2019 in IMI Kolkata.

Equip farmers to reach global market: Kerala Guv

Kerala Governor P Sathasivam Monday said spices cultivators should be encouraged to think globally and make use of the latest farming technologies.

Agriculture loans Not taken farm loan still eligible for waiver, complain 100 farmers

The agriculture department, in its ongoing process to collect application forms under Jai Kisan Rin Mukti Yojana, has received a common complaint by 100 farmers that their names were mentioned in list of the scheme’s beneficiaries even when they had not taken agriculture loan. The list of farmers, whose debts will be waived off, has been pasted at gram panchayats offices. The department has so far received 41,841 application forms in three categories- green, white and pink. A total of 35,392 green forms, which are for farmers who have obtained loans and their bank accounts have successfully been linked with Aadhaar number, have been received. Also, 5725 white forms, which are for farmers whose bank ...

Government should suspend Essential Commodity Act for 3 years, says former agriculture secretary

Former agriculture secretary Siraj Hussain on Monday said the government ‘essential commodity act’ for three years to elevate the falling prices of agri products.

CSR: 7 Agriculture Apps to Support Digital Farming

CSR Journal

India is going digital in every sector at a remarkable speed. The launch of ‘Digital India’ by the government has ensured that the process is accelerated. Considering the fact that the livelihoods of 58% of rural households still rely on agriculture, it was only a matter of time before agriculture too became digital.

Farm loan waiver: Majority and poorest farmers do not benefit – a status check

Business Today

Agrarian distress has come to the centre stage of national discourse primarily because of last year’s multiple farmers’ marches and the electoral outcomes in the three Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. This augurs well for a sector which provides 49% of total employment and supports nearly 70% of population but has largely been relegated to the background.

Agriculture needs no political heat

Dawn

This is not the case right now: the federal government wants the removal of the current chief minister of Sindh and treats the opposition parties — the PPP and the PML-N — with utter contempt while grievances of the PTI’s coalition partners in Balochistan refuse to go. The opposition parties as well as independent analysts have expressed serious reservations about the manner in which the anti-corruption drive is moving on. Some people call it selective and one-sided.

AI can’t solve farm distress but takes baby steps to improve farm productivity in India

Factor Daily

The plight of the Indian farmer is well known and the related farmer suicides have overshadowed the industry for some time now. While the solutions to the Indian farmer’s problems might not lie wholly in tech solutions, tech can go a long way in helping them find solutions for their problems.

Vibrant Gujarat Summit: Gujarat govt signs 408 MoUs in agriculture sector

The agro and food processing sector saw 408 MoUs being signed during the three days of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2019 held at Mahatma Mandir on Sunday.

From plate to plough: Over Rs 45 lakh crore plundered from farmers

The Modi government is entering its proverbial phase of the ‘last ten overs’ before the Election code of conduct kicks in. All plugs are being pulled off to win over the targetted segments of society who could potentially bring BJP/NDA back to power.

Awareness drive for farmers a success in Guntur district

The Hans India

‘CropLife India’ has announced a successful completion of the first year of the extensive awareness drive for farmers on the importance and use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and responsible use of crop protection products at ceremonies held across the district on Saturday.

Months after reviving its fields, Goa village reaps harvest

St Estevam, Goa’s island village which took to agriculture last year after 30 years fearing land sharks, has “good news” to share. “Organic paddy, too,” says Nestor Rangel, a local resident and nodal person behind the community farming initiative.

Farmers with small land holdings urged to ally with companies

Union minister of state for agriculture Parshottam Rupala has suggested that farmers with small land holdings should join hands and enter into contract farming with private companies. Rupala was speaking at the seminar on ‘Sustainable technology-driven agriculture for New India’. He said Gujarat has a large number of farmers with small land holdings. He said that to thrive, these farmers have to ally with sectors such as horticulture and aquaculture. “Secondly, these farmers can collectively forge an alliance with companies by signing a memorandum of understanding,” he sai

Dadri plant generates power from agricultural waste

NTPC Dadri has started power generation from agricultural residue-based fuel called biomass co-firing. Touted as the next big thing in renewable or green energy, biomass co-firing uses pellets made from paddy straw and other agricultural residues to generate electricity. Currently, the plant has started with 10% biomass co-firing in power generation.

State’s credit potential pegged at Rs 75,611 crore

BHUBANESWAR: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Developemnt (NABARD) has accessed credit potential of `75,611.97 crore under the priority sector for 2019-20.The projection was made in the State Focus Paper for Odisha released by Chief Secretary AP Padhi at the annual State Credit Seminar organised by the national bank here on Saturday.

Thiruvananthapuram: Order to inspect pesticide depots

Deccan Chronicle

Agriculture minister V. S. Sunil Kumar has directed officials to check all depots storing pesticides following the death of two farmers engaged spraying it in Thiruvalla.

Nabard estimates Rs 75,612-cr credit for Odisha

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) on Saturday revealed its overall credit potential projection for Odisha under priority sector at Rs 75,612 crore for 2019-20.

Convergence essential for agri sector growth: Rio

Nagaland Post

State chief minister, Neiphiu Rio, has emphasised on the importance of convergence of various Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs) meant for farmers/rural people so beneficiaries could avail maximum benefit.

NABARD estimates Rs 75,612 crore credit potential for Odisha

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) Saturday projected an overall credit potential for Odisha under priority sector at Rs 75,612 crore for 2019-20.

Bring in structural changes to make agriculture resilient, sustainable and profitable: VP

Inaugurating Agri-Vision 2019, a two-day conference on ‘Envisioning Agro Solutions for Smart and Sustainable Agriculture’ at Hyderabad, he stressed the need for a concerted action from all stakeholders to find comprehensive, long-term solutions to the multiple challenges faced by the agriculture sector. Short-term measures like loan waiver would provide temporary relief and would not be beneficial to the farmer in the long run.

Netherlands to handhold India in best agricultural practices: Ambassador Marten van den Berg

Netherlands will handhold Indian in best agricultural practices so that it grows best, wastes less and exports more, the Dutch ambassador to India Marten van den Berg told ET on the sidelines of the Vibrant Gujarat 2019 here. One hundred and twelve delegates from various Dutch companies are visiting India to attend the Vibrant Gujarat 2019 event that kick-starts on Friday. Although India is a food surplus nation, huge quantities of food goes to waste owing to poor management ..

The digital revolution sweeping the agriculture sector in India, and everywhere

YourStory

Farming has come a long way since the first farms were created in Mesopotamia centuries ago, but trading and supply of agriculture has not kept pace. As farmers focused on production, grain traders focused on maximising profitability through matching supply and demand in world markets. The technology was built in the form of Commodity Trade Risk Management (CTRM) systems to help traders analyse markets, complete transactions, and manage risk and compliance.

Market Movers: US weighs lifting China tariffs; major farm package on the cards

Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh Thursday indicated announcement of major measures in the coming weeks to address farm distress across the country, a move that will come ahead of Lok Sabha elections. The agriculture ministry has prepared a cabinet note on “addressing income deficit syndrome of small and marginal farmers” proposing various steps, including a financial package and interest waiver for timely crop loan repayers.

Distressed Indian farmers set to determine fate of Modi govt

The Asian Times

Today, as Prime Minister Modi seeks another term in a general election due before May, those promises are haunting him. Indian agriculture is in crisis. Farmers are in ferment. During Modi’s tenure, the costs of inputs, and therefore of cultivation, have risen alarmingly, while prices for agricultural products, and therefore farm incomes, have stagnated or dropped. And, because government-guaranteed Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) have not been paid, farmers around the country are going broke.

Indian farmers in revolt

The Daily Star

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi led his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to a landslide victory in the 2014 general election, he promised to be all things to all voters, eloquently promising “achhe din” (good days) for India. One of his target audiences was farmers; the agriculture sector still accounts for 67 percent of employment, and he grandly promised farmers that his government would double their incomes by 2020. He swept their votes.

On the autofarm: China turns to driverless tractors, combines to overhaul agriculture

Reuters

A brand new combine harvester buzzes up and down a field in eastern China without a driver on board, chopping golden rice stalks and offering a glimpse of what authorities say is the automated future of the nation’s mammoth agricultural sector.

Rural distress: Farm sector needs an Amul-like solution

The agrarian challenge is well known in India and the reaction of politicians, economists, and experts is always on target. Yet little seems to be achieved, and after the regular noise for a season or so, it is back to the old ways. Announcements that are made are rarely followed up and there is a big gap between loan waivers announced and allocations made. It is not that there is a magic formula to address the issue as the problems and solutions are well known. Yet, we never seem to be anywhere close to a solution and the same story which we heard two decades back is replayed.

The digital route to transforming farm sector

In March 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced doubling farmer incomes by 2022. This policy replaced increasing food production as the main focus.But the goal of doubling farm incomes was criticised by many experts as unachievable even as they lauded the shift in priorities.

Agricultural transformation is high on everybody’s agenda today. Various stakeholders, including experts, policy-makers and political executives, have expressed their views on how to move forward with agricultural policies so that our farmers can prosper. However, performance of policies and strategies that are already in their implementation stage will provide valuable guidance for the future. It is in this connection that it is imperative to analyse the results of India’s achievements in the pulses sector in the last two to three years that has surprisingly gone unnoticed. The annual production of pulses in India was stagnating at around 15-18 million tonne for several years while its domestic demand increased steadily. In 2015-16, against an estimated domestic demand of 23 million tonne, production stood at 16.35 million tonne. To meet the demand gap, India had to import pulses every year. It can, therefore, be concluded that the earlier policies were not successful in this important sub-sector of agriculture.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said water conservation works through the government flagship scheme and microirrigation practices have ensured protective irrigation to over 34 lakh hectares in Maharashtra. “A few decades back, when the state used to get around 110% annual rainfall, the agricultural productivity was around 180 lakh metric tonne. Protective irrigation has helped the state to cope with declining rainfall. The state received considerably deficient monsoon last year but agricultural productivity increased to 185 lakh metric tonne due to protective irrigation,” he said.

The pulse of Indian agriculture

DBT, ICAR sign MoU for cooperation in agricultural biotechnology research and education

Jagran Josh

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on January 14, 2019 to increase emphasis on multi-disciplinary research and development activities and nurturing innovations in agricultural biotechnology research and education.

CRPF Giving Advanced Scientific Training to Farmers in Jharkhand

Krishi Jagran

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel after putting the brakes on Maoist activities in the Saranda forests of West Singhbhum (Jharkhand) are focusing on developing the nearby villages. The security forces along with villagers are trying to improve the agricultural productivity.

Centre to declare policies for agriculture export, air cargo

Zee News

Union minister of commerce, industry and civil aviation Suresh Prabhu on Sunday said that the agriculture export policy will be announced in the next few days. He said the policy aims to give a boost not only to agriculture but also to horticulture, plantation, fisheries and dairy sectors. He said the policy will help fetch good price for agricultural produce.

NTPC to use straw pellets in power plants

My digitalfc.com

With governments still pondering over best suited solution to address worsening air pollution in the National Capital, the country’s largest power producer, NTPC, has taken the lead by proposing to partially replace coal with pellets made of paddy straw and other agricultural residue to generate electricity in 35,000 MW of its power plants.

Many countries, including India, opened up their markets to US agriculture, poultry exports: Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump has said that his trade and tariff policies have started working and many countries, including India, have opened up their markets for American poultry and agricultural products that were not allowed previously.

Costly Policy: Why India’s MSP hike is kosher for WTO?

There is a popular saying: “The best defense is a good offense.” And this adage sounds apt for the US, which, of late, has raised so many issues against India’s domestic support in its notification submitted to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to use the Agreement on Agriculture’s article 18.7. This notification prepared by the US in May 2018 shows that India is breaking the WTO negotiations rule. Indeed, the US has not followed the multilateral rules. President Donald Trump continuously makes such policies that distort the world’s free flow of trade, including the hikes in import duty of 25% for steel and aluminium against China, and the imposed trade restrictions on Iraq.

Stubble fire burns over 100 hectares

The Flinders News

The fire is currently burning uncontrolled in a north to north easerly direction towards Read Road, Tower View Road, Youngs Road, Wokurna Road, Aeroplane Road.

Farmers await a new dawn: Here are some decisive actions that can alleviate agricultural distress

That the rural sector is witnessing difficult times cannot be denied. The primary problem with Indian agriculture is that average size of land holding at 2.28 hectares (1970-71) has now halved to 1.08 hectares (2015-16), creating immense pressure on land with persons dependent on agriculture still at 43% of all Indians. Thus, most of the farmers are shifting to cash crops and or allied activities to survive. This problem has been further compounded by marketing interventions of agricultural produce that though being addressed through new initiatives like eNAM are still being inadequate.

Suggested an income-centric approach to farming: Ashok Dalwai, CEO, Rainfed Area Authority of India

An Ashok Dalwai-led panel submitted the much-talked-about report on doubling farmers’ income (DFI) to the government in September. The Centre has now asked the committee to oversee how the suggestions are implemented. Dalwai, a trained agriculture economist and also a serving bureaucrat (he is currently CEO of the Rainfed Area Authority of India), spoke to FE on how the panel’s recommendations could be implemented in a time-bound manner. Excerpts:

Paddy MSP remunerative for farmers: CACP chairperson

Amid demand to fix minimum support price (MSP) of paddy at Rs 2930 per quintal, Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) chairman Vijay Paul Sharma on Tuesday said MSP fixed for paddy at present (Rs 1750 per quintal) is ‘remunerative’. CACP under the Union ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare is mandated to recommend the MSP of various agriculture produce to the Centre to incentivise the farmers.

AP achieved 11% agriculture growth

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reached his native village Naravaripalli on Monday for Sankranti festival and interacted with his family members. The chief minister also visited Heritage factory at Kasipentla in Chandragiri mandal and celebrated the festival with workers and staff. Speaking on the occasion, Chandrababu Naidu said that nowadays food habits of the people changed and they were consuming more fruits and vegetables along with milk and dairy products.

Agriculture Experts Ashok Gulati Hails Odisha’s KALIA Scheme

Kalinga TV

Noted economist Padma Shri Prof Ashok Gulati, ex-chairman of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) hailed KALIA (Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation) scheme of Odisha government on Tuesday.

A quota for farmers

The last few years have seen the so-called dominant farming communities — especially the Jats, Marathas, Patidars and Kapus — mount violent agitations demanding quotas in government jobs and higher educational institutions, whether under the OBC (Other Backward Class) or any specially created category.

State ropes in research scholars from agricultural varsities to increase foodgrain productivity

Millennium Post

Bengal government has roped in research scholars from various agricultural universities in order to increase productivity of rice and other foodgrains.

How can Modi government double agricultural exports by 2022

Significant progress can be made towards the goal of doubling farmers’ income by 2022, with a mission-mode focus on agricultural and food processing exports. Boosting exports from the agriculture and food processing sectors will provide a much-needed fillip to jobs as well. The recently released Agriculture Export Policy 2018 is a huge step in this direction. This is the first such policy in India, and it will bring much-needed stability to the agriculture export market.

UAE, Saudi Arabia to invest in Indian agriculture sector: Suresh Prabhu

Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu on Sunday said the UAE and Saudi Arabia have evinced interest in investing in India’s agricultural sector.

Naidu asks governments to focus on skill development to serve needs of changing farming sector

All India Radio

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today asked the Central and State Governments to make concerted efforts for achieving positive change in the Agriculture sector.

Farm loan waivers not an effective means to address farm distress: ADB India head

Addressing the issue of farm loan waiver, Asian Development Bank (ADB) India country director Kenichi Yokoyama said that farm loan waiver is not an effective means to address farm distress, the Indian Express reported.

VP seeks government intervention for changes in agri sector

Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday called for Central and state governments’ intervention through policy decisions for structural changes in agriculture, and called upon youth to pay “renewed attention” to this sector.

Samunnati in talks with PE firms to raise up to $70 million

Samunnati Financial Intermediation and Services Pvt. Ltd, a non-banking financial company (NBFC) specializing in loans to farmers and entities engaged in agriculture, is in talks with global private equity firms General Atlantic (GA) and Warburg Pincus to raise around $50-70 million, two people aware of the development said.

Agri-mall for farmers to come up at Peth-Naka along national highway

The district planning and development council (DPDC) has allocated funds of Rs89 lakh to set up the infrastructure. The farmers from the region will be empowered to sell their agricultural produce directly to the customers. The farmers will be allocated the space on a temporary basis. Sangli district collector Vijaykumar Kalam-Patil, while speaking to TOI, said, “It will be first of its kind of retail outlet in the state. The funds have been allocated under novel schemes of the DPDC. The farmers will bring their own produce and carry out the process of selling it. The commuters travelling along the highway will be our target customers. In the first phase, we are going to open ...

Agri teams to probe adulteration in fertilizers

Following complaints of adulteration in fertilizers, district magistrate NG Ravi Kumar has constituted a team of agriculture department officials to investigate the matter. The team, led by district agriculture officials, has started conducting raids on shops selling fertilizers. According to agriculture department officials, in Agra district around 2.83 hectare land is used for agricultural activities. Going by the data available, the annual consumption of fertilizers in the district includes 8,100 tonne of urea, 5,800 tonne of diammonium phosphate (DAP) and 2,700 tonne of potash. The district has 665 registered shops selling seeds and fertilizers.

Strengthen agriculture by long-term structural changes: Venkaiah Naidu

Vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu Saturday called for strengthening agriculture by bringing in long-term structural changes as farming is our basic culture providing livelihood to nearly 60 percent of our population.

Submit detail report for establishing crop colonies, food processing units

Telangana Today

The State government was firm on establishing crop colonies and food processing units on a large scale and officials should submit a detailed project report within a week in this regard, Agriculture Principal Secretary C Parthasarathi said here on Saturday.

Farm crisis: Here’s what experts have to say

CNBC 18

Last year, farmers from across the country put their differences aside and marched to New Delhi highlighting the deepening agrarian crisis. Speaking at EXIM Bank Commencement Day Lecture, panel of experts shared their views on India’s agriculture crisis and global growth concerns.

Inter-state trade kicks off at e-National Agriculture Market

Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh have allowed trading through the e-NAM platform following which farmers of Uttar Pradesh have been able to sell their vegetables such as tomato, potato, brinjal and cauliflower to traders outside the state, a government statement said.

eNAM reports first inter-State sale

Taking National Agriculture Market, or eNAM, a step forward, a farmer from Haldwani in Uttarakhand sold his tomato crop to a trader in Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh in the first-ever inter-State transaction on the online trading platform, an official statement said here on Thursday.

Badal writes to PM, seeks assured marketing, direct income support for farmers

Former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking assured marketing of crops and direct income support for farmers to deal with “alarming” agrarian crisis in the country.

2 day high-level workshop on crop colonies from February 5

Business Standard

A two day high-level workshop to be attended by agriculture and other officials would be held here from February 5 to finalise a road map on crop colonies proposed by the Telangana government.

Considering transport subsidy to states for promoting agri exports: Suresh Prabhu

The government is considering providing transport subsidy to states for promoting agriculture exports, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu said Thursday.

India must create jobs to shift struggling farmers from agriculture: Lord Desai

Noting that two-third of farmers in India do not have enough land to earn a sustainable living, British economist Lord Meghnad Desai on Thursday said the next government in the country should look to create enough jobs and industries to pull a section of farmers out from agriculture instead of waiving farm loans.

Kalaburagi sees dip in farmer suicides

Farmer suicides in Kalaburagi district have come down by nearly 50% in the last nine months (April 1 to December 31, 2018) compared to the corresponding period in 2017. According to official sources, 35 farmers have committed suicide between April 1 and December 31, 2018, while the figure was 60 in 2017.

Agricultural drones: The shape of Indian agriculture to come

SME Future

As of January 2018, the agriculture sector’s contribution to India’s GDP was 17–18 per cent, according to India Economic Survey 2018. Given the importance of agriculture in the economy of India, the 2003 NSS 59th assessment of the sector should be worrisome because it reveals that 40 per cent of Indian farmers would rather be in some other profession and not farming. One of the primary reasons of this disgruntlement is declining returns on investment (ROIs) and other problems such as crop diseases and improper planning of resources.

15th finance panel all praise for Odisha’s agricultural scheme

The Fifteenth Finance Commission on Wednesday praised Odisha for making significant progress and hailed Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s non-waiver agriculture scheme.

Why is Loan Waiver to Farmers a Lollipop to the Agriculture Sector of India?

ET News

Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan witnessed such waivers worth crores. This announcement comes at a time when about 1.8 lakh crores worth farmer waivers have already been announced by seven other Indian states.

SC hasn’t upheld agriculture giant’s patents on seeds: Activists

Three such organisations — Navdanya, Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture and All-India Kisan Sabha — described reports of Monsanto winning patent rights in the apex court on Tuesday as absurb. They said the court only invalidated a previous order by a division bench of the Delhi high court, which had dismissed Monsanto’s appeal with respect to patent exclusion under Section 3(j) of the Patents Act

Agrarian Crisis Can Even be Described as Civilizational Crisis, Says P Sainath

News 18

Acclaimed journalist and Founder-Editor of the People’s Archive of Rural India, P Sainath attributes the existential crisis confronting India’s agrarian society to macro-economic policies set in motion 25 years ago. Talking to Anuradha SenGupta, Sainath makes a case for state intervention in agriculture and says the Modi government, with its shifting positions and policies like demonetisation has only aggravated the assault on agrarian livelihoods.

India Inc expects over 7% growth in next 12 months: Survey

India Inc expects over seven per cent growth in the next 12 months on the back of a number of policy initiatives taken by the government, said a PwC-Ficci survey.

MSP intervention: A different surplus

During the 2016-17 and 2017-18 agricultural years (July-June), the Central agencies — National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed), Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) and Food Corporation of India (FCI) — together procured 18.78 lakh tonnes (lt) and 44.96 lt of pulses, plus 2.16 lt and 19.99 lt of oilseeds, respectively. a

Farmers’ distress takes centrestage after Rahul’s campaign

The Asian Age

Will millions of Indian farmers ever see their incomes double, free from the vicious cycle of debt, despair, distress and death? Or will they be a mere pawn for political parties ahead of polls as rural distress rears its ugly head?

Why is Loan Waiver to Farmers a Lollipop to the Agriculture Sector of India?

ET News

GDP Growth: 7.2% Predicts CSO, 7.3% World Bank

Krishijagran

India’s GDP is expected to grow at 7.3 per cent in the fiscal year 2018-19, and 7.5 per cent in the following two years, the World Bank has forecasted owing to the rise in consumption and investment.

Agricultural export policy: Suresh Prabhu asks states to set up nodal agency for implementation

Zee Business

Confront the harsh reality: The only way we can really help farmers is to take most of them out of farming

Today, we give farmers 2.2 trillion rupees in subsidies on fertiliser, power, crop insurance, seeds, credit, irrigation and a myriad other items. We have a massive programme of procurement of grains at above market prices; we give highly subsidised food grains to 75% of rural population; and we offer guaranteed employment for 100 days to one adult in each rural household.

Lab to land: Addressing Indian agriculture’s weakest link — Extension

Income from farming depends on many factors, which includes knowledge of improved agronomic practices and also information on agriculture-related government schemes. Agriculture extension is about dissemination of this critical gap-filling knowledge and information, which, in the 1970s and 1980s, was done by the so-called Training and Visit (T&V) workers. The T&V programme, however, went to seed in the early-1990s. The collapse of extension services subsequently led to creation of a district-level Agriculture Technology Management Agency or ATMA system. Its functioning has been far from satisfactory. The work of state agriculture department staff is today largely reduced to input distribution and dishing out small subsidy sums under a plethora of fragmented schemes to farmers, as opposed to ...

Agriculture Loans Worth Rs 10.2 Crore Disbursed by Syndicate Bank Turn into NPAs in 5 years

News 18

Agriculture loans worth Rs 10,253 crore disbursed by Syndicate Bank have turned into non-performing assets (NPAs) in the last five fiscal years until March 2018, revealed an RTI query.

Government banking on organic to boost agri exports

A month after launching Agriculture Exports Policy, the Central government is now banking on promotion of organic produce and organic processed food to help increase the income of farmers. It is likely to announce more incentives for organic farmers and food processors.“We cannot increase the income of farmers if we do not encourage them to go for value-added agriculture. In the next few months, our focus will be to promote organic farming in a big way, bringing farmers and organic food producers together,” said a senior official from the Agriculture Ministry.

Odisha’s Revenue Generation Up 19%

Odisha TV

The revenue generation of Odisha has seen a growth of 19 per cent until the end of December against the corresponding period of the previous financial year, said an official on Tuesday.

Agriculture marketing is really the key

Recent state elections have made it very clear that the key agenda of the coming Lok Sabha elections will revolve around the farm sector. It appears that farm loan waiving scored more weight than numerous productivity enhancement and risk reduction schemes (such as higher minimum support prices, soil health cards, irrigation schemes, e-NAM, agricultural insurance, and many others). This is despite of the fact that, at the all-India level, as high as 48% of farmers are non-borrowers, and only 23% borrow from formal sources (Situation Assessment Survey 2012-13).

Farm exports: Centre directs States to set up nodal agencies

The Commerce Ministry has asked States to set up nodal agencies dedicated to the implementation of the agriculture export policy approved by the Union Cabinet recently.

Parshottam Rupala: Interest Subvention Scheme for Short Term Crop Loans of Rs.3 Lakh

Krishi Jagran

As per the information provided by the Minister of State for Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Shri Parshottam Rupala, with a view to ensure availability of agriculture credit (including loans taken against Kisan Credit Card) at a reasonable cost/at a reduced rate of 7% per annum to farmers, the Government of India, is implementing an interest subvention scheme of 2% for short term crop loans up to Rs.3 lakh.

Prabhu asks states to set up nodal agency for implementation of agri export policy

Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu Tuesday asked states to set up a nodal agency dedicated for the implementation of the agriculture export policy. Last month, the Cabinet approved the agriculture export policy with an aim to double farm shipments to USD 60 billion by 2022. Prabhu was speaking at the inauguration of the first national workshop on the policy. The minister “exhorted all state governments to set up a nodal agency dedicated for the implementation of the policy,” the commerce ministry said in a statement.

Innovative Experiment Helps UP Farmer Become Debt-Free, Earn Rs 15-20 Lakh a Year!

The Better India

The hilly region in the state of Uttar Pradesh saw a crippling drought for the fourth time in five years in 2018, where hundreds of farmers were pushed to kill themselves due to mounting debts and crop failures or completely abandon their ancestral profession.

Maha cabinet approves SMART project for agriculture sector

In a bid to give a boost to the agriculture sector and agri-allied businesses, the state cabinet Tuesday approved the Maharashtra State Agriculture and Rural Transformation (SMART) project.

Yet another sweetener for sugar companies before elections

The Narendra Modi government is looking at yet another relief package for sugar companies, and this one could be twice the size of the one announced in September 2018, ET Now learns from sources in the government.

ICAR has contributed in increasing agriculture production

Technologies developed by the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) have significantly contributed in increasing agriculture production, said Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh.

International agriculture body has a model to boost farm income

The Hindu

The International Society of Extension Education (ISEE) has proposed a five-point formula to States, particularly Karnataka, for bailing out farmers from crises and to make agriculture a profitable venture.

Why agriculture needs peasant-oriented policies

The All India Kisan Sabha raised the demands of remunerative prices, i.e. one-and-a-half times the cost of production for all crops and their assured procurement at that price and punishment to those who pay less than that price and a one-time waiver of all loans from public sector banks, co-operative banks and all private money lenders. Both the steps should be taken together. This benefit should be given to all farmers, including small and marginal farmers, tenant farmers and agricultural workers.

India’s Cow Crisis Part 2: Threat of decline looms over livestock economy after 35 years’ growth

Down To Earth

It is almost a year since Rahamdin Khan hasn’t got any good sleep. A resident of Khoabas, a bucolic village of 500 households at the foothills of Aravalli mountain range in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, Rahamdin witnessed a cruel turn in his fate some four years ago.

Climate Change Affecting Agriculture, Wheat Production in India Could Drop by 23%: Agri Ministry

Krishi Jagran

The effects of climate change along with rising pollution are causing direct harm not just to human beings, but also to the agricultural crops. Agriculture Ministry in a written response to the parliamentary committee said that crops like wheat, paddy, maize, potato, cotton, sorghum, mustard and coconut are likely to be badly affected by climate change.

Farm loan waiver will impact credit culture: RBI governor Shaktikanta Das

Timesnow

RBI governor Shaktikanta Das addressed the media in a press conference on Monday. Das talked about the liquidity crisis, MSME, banking sectors and more in his briefing. When asked about farm loan waiver, Das said that farm loan waivers are related to states’ fiscal space and any generalised farm loan waiver has an adverse effect on credit culture.

National Bank For Agriculture And Rural Development – Fixes Record Date for Payment of Interest for Bonds

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has informed BSE that the Company has fixed January 27, 2019 as the Record Date for the purpose of Payment of Interest for Bonds.

India’s agriculture growth not helping farmers, prices at 10-year low

India’s agriculture production is projected to grow 3.8 per cent during the 2018-19 financial year, almost 0.4 per cent more than last year. However, the rise isn’t expected to fetch any remunerative return for farmers for the second year in a row.

Punjab needs to reorient energy mix

Controlling carbon emissions is a must to achieve the objective of limiting the global temperature rise within 1.5°C above the pre-industrial levels. The use of coal as fuel for energy production has to be replaced completely by non-greenhouse gas-emitting sources by 2050.

Farm loan waiver is not as silly a policy as you might think: Amartya Sen

Amartya Sen looms large over our economic and political discourse. A Nobel laureate and Bharat Ratna awardee, the eminent economist and philosopher was in Bengaluru over the weekend to join other jury members of the Infosys Science Foundation that, each year, honours outstanding contemporary researchers and scientists (Sen is the jury chair for Humanities). Feisty as ever, Sen answered a range of questions that Mint threw at him, with his unique combination of wit, intellect and empathy laced with philosophical humanism.

14 crore agri labourers ignored in race to dole out loan waivers

Even as States are once again vying to announce loan waivers to help farmers, government data suggest that such efforts have failed to mitigate farm distress as they leave out 14.43 crore agricultural labourers, who constitute 55 per cent of the people involved in agriculture in India.

Post-monsoon rainfall deficit could worsen drought conditions, say agriculture experts

Agricultural experts from Maharashtra have expressed concern over the 44 per cent deficit rainfall in the post-monsoon period during October to December 2018, as reported by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Agriculture: Food trade deficit rising again

Dawn

In the first five months of 2018-19, the food trade deficit stands at $954 million. If no major initiatives are taken to boost food exports and contain imports, the full-year deficit may again end up close to $2bn. Even exports of 0.5m tonnes of wheat and wheat products, as suggested by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, cannot enhance food export earnings to a level to avert this possibility.

Nurturing innovation in the agriculture sector

The Hindu

As many as 24 teams of entrepreneurs, all in the agriculture start-up space, visited some of the coconut farms in Pollachi recently. They were there to meet the farmers, know first hand the challenges faced by the coconut growers, learn more about the irrigation systems used and see if their innovative solutions can be used in the farms.

Farm distress: MSP, loan waivers vs direct income support

The loss of BJP/NDA in the recently concluded state elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan has given the political party a bitter jolt. The party had dodged the reality and gravity of farm distress until then, with its Union agriculture minister equating farmer agitations with ‘political drama’. However, they not only have acknowledged the crisis now but are also looking for ways to address farmers’ issues.

Scientists question govt policies responsible for rising area under water-intensive rice crop

Reducing area under paddy crop in Punjab has been a big issue for every successive government for over past two decades as water table is depleting 90 cm every year. In the ongoing Indian Science Congress, the agricultural scientists questioned the policies, which are responsible for growing rice on 3 million hectares in Punjab, besides the reason of providing water subsidy on paddy, a highly water-intensive crop resulting in depleting water table.

Expect more distress in farm sector, warns expert

Speaking on ‘Economy in Election Year’, organised by the Chennai chapter of the Observers Research Foundation, Narayan said the underlying problem is one of abundance of production and farmers not getting remunerative prices. State governments are not doing enough to create markets for farmers’ produce.

Farm crisis: Short-term palliatives are futile

Some 60 years ago, the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru said: “Everything can wait except agriculture”. But for the last two decades, agriculture has been waiting even as the economy has continued to make rapid strides.

6 reasons why India has failed to solve the riddle of agriculture marketing

Down To Earth

Farmers’ protests have ruled the headlines consistently in the last two years and their distress over low farm prices, poor logistics for transport and government-assured purchases has been clearly evident. While the 14 volumes of the Dalwai Committee Report on doubling farmers’ income released last year provided a road map for transition from a mere Green Revolution to an Income Revolution for farmers, a parliamentary panel reportsubmitted in the Lok Sabha on January 3 underlines that the country is yet to solve the ‘Riddle of Agriculture Marketing’. Here are its 6 reasons:

‘Achhe din’ ahead for India’s agri-commodities market; here’s how?

The commodity market in India, especially agri-commodities, is on the cusp of transformation. The three biggest bottlenecks – storage, logistics and financing infrastructure inadequacies – that plagued the sector and resulted in colossal harvest and post-harvest losses are finally being eliminated with a synergistic combination of technology, physical infrastructure and stronger regulation.

Raj govt panel recommends waiving all loans of farmers who committed suicide

An inter-department panel formed to look into the modalities of farm loan waiver in Rajasthan has decided to recommend Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to waive all loans of farmers who have committed suicide.

Three Months After Shaking Delhi, This Farmers’ Union Plans Its Return

The Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) will be blocking the Delhi-Dehradun highway in a few places around Muzaffarnagar on January 10. The Uttar Pradesh-based farmer organisation claims that the government has not fulfilled any of the demands that it raised on October 2 when its followers descended upon Delhi. The protests led to violence on the borders of Delhi, as the farmers were not allowed to enter the capital.

Agri dept to help farmers save maize from fall armyworm

Farmers cultivating maize in Coimbatore and surrounding districts had to face a new problem last June – fall armyworm (spodoptera frugiperda). The insect, an invasive species native to the tropical and sub-tropical Americas that feeds voraciously on growing maize crops at its larva stage, had wreaked havoc in maize plantations.

Rs 30 lakh subsidy given to farmers in Mohali

Agriculture development officer Gurdyal Kumar said that subsidy amounting to Rs 1,000 per quintal has been provided to the farmers on “first come first serve basis”. He informed that the market value of these seeds is Rs 3,000, whereas the agriculture department provides them for Rs 2,000

Rajasthan govt writes to centre to extend time of produce purchase

The government has been able to purchase moongfali on MSP from farmers less than the target given by the union government. Till January 3, merely 1.39 lakh metric tonnes of the produce was being bought against the Kharif target of 3.79 lakh metric tonnes.

14 Agri mandis in C’garh linked to e-NAM platform so far

In the entire country, 585 wholesale regulated markets/ Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) Markets have been so far integrated with e-market (e-NAM) platform in 16 States and 2 Union Territories (UTs), who have carried out requisite reforms in their State Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee Act (APMC Act).

Modi government mulls Rs 10,000 per annum payment to farmers

The Narendra Modi government is contemplating several options to roll out a farm relief package as soon as possible, and the Cabinet is likely to deliberate several proposals over the next two weeks.

Organic farming need of the day

State Times

Organic agriculture emphasizes the use of management practices in preference to the use of of farm inputs taking into account that regional conditions require locally adapted systems. This is accomplished by using wherever possible agronomic, biological and mechanical methods as compared to using synthetic materials to fulfill any specific function within the system.

Loan waivers won’t stop farmer suicides: Agricultural scientists

Even as political parties are going all out to woo the farming community by announcing loan waivers, Dr O P Yadav, agriculture scientist and director of CAZRI (Central Arid Zone Research Institute), Jodhpur, feels this is a “negative approach” and would not be sustainable in the long run. He said farmers should be paid remunerative price of their crop not such loan waivers.

India can become strong eco power with right policies: Gadkari

Union minister Nitin Gadkari Saturday said the country needs “good” leadership and appropriate policies to become a strong economic power but also made it clear that he was “not talking politically”.

Potato acreage rises due to higher farmer’s remuneration, cheaper seed

Potato cultivation is set to gain acreage by 7-8 per cent in India, second largest producer in the world, as better remuneration in the previous season has exhorted farmers to grow more tubers this Rabi season. Prevailing low price of seed potato and price assistance schemes launched by various states to check distress sale have also driven farmers to increase tuber cultivation in the country.

Low temperatures to boost wheat crop

Wintery conditions marked by lower-than-normal temperature have improved the prospects for a bumper wheat output this rabi season, even though scanty rains could affect other crops including barley, mustard and chickpeas. The standing wheat saplings have gained as day and night temperatures have plummeted, with clear skies boosting the vegetative growth of the crop.

Farmers need some support on input as well as output management, says government official

Ashok Dalwai is additional secretary at agriculture ministry. Dalwai is the chairman of a high-level committee on doubling farmers’ income. Dawai said loan waivers do not do any good in the long run and the government is committed to transforming agriculture so that the farmers are able to access credit in a more robust manner.

Govt helping farmers through various schemes in times of glut

The Centre is compensating and helping farmers through various programmes including newly launched ‘TOP scheme’ in times of glut production of key vegetables, agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh said in Rajya Sabha on Friday.

Loan waiver is not a long-term solution, says top government official

Loan waivers do not do any good in the long run and the government is committed to transforming agriculture so that the farmers are able to access credit in a more robust manner, said Ashok Dalwai, additional secretary, agriculture ministry.

A silent green revolution is still on in the country

Silencing the critics of Indian green revolution, who have been arguing that its achievements were short-lived and that a fatigue had set in a long ago, a senior Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) official on Friday said there is ample proof to show that the country is still going through a green revolution which is rather a silent one.

Modi government mulls Rs 10,000 per annum payment to farmers

The Narendra Modi government is contemplating several options to roll out a farm relief package as soon as possible, and the Cabinet is likely to deliberate several proposals over the next two weeks

Drought derails rabi crop sowing in Maharashtra

The sowing for the rabi or winter crop in Maharashtra has slowed down considerably due to the current drought in the state. Sowing done until December 28 was at 29.6 lakh hectares, which is only 52% of the average area available for the winter crop (56.9 lakh hectares), according to data from the state agriculture department.

Identification of farmers for KALIA begins

Sundargarh district administration has geared up its machineries to identify farmers under Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme with a target to prepare the list of beneficiaries by January 10 for the first phase.

Govt takes direct benefit transfer route to farm votes

The Asian Age

The new farm-focussed direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme, to be announced by the government soon, may bring some respite to farmers battered by rising debt and falling prices for the farm produce.

PMO likely to discuss relief package for farmers today

Cabinet is likely to discuss a mega relief package for farmers either next week or the week after. And in a bold move, the PMO is considering the feasibility of paying nearly Rs 10,000 to a farmer’s household.

Opinion: Adopting AI in agriculture

Mydigitalfc.com

It is one of the marvels of human innovation but artificial intelligence (AI) offers a tough competition to us. The days of speculating rain and sunshine may soon fade with artificial intelligence’s capability to predict right conditions with precision to an extent. It comprises one of the basic aspects of precision agriculture (PA) promoted even by the government to boost productivity and in turn, farmers’ income.

Agriculture, rural development to be focus areas: CM

Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Tuesday said agriculture and rural development will be focus areas for the Government in the year 2019. He said the New Year will witness the emergence of a new Jharkhand. He shared

Trends in agriculture in 2019

Fortune

The fluctuating prices for key crops such as tomato, potato and onion (TOP) has resulted in the government announcing ₹500 crores for initiating Operation Green. It aims to stabilise the demand- supply situation for these crops and promote initiatives to control disparity. The situation requires fundamental changes beginning from crop variety selection (table variety v/s processing varieties), procurement mechanism, post-harvest handling and storage, processing of produce, market development, logistics services and distribution However, it remains to be seen how it will impact an average farmer. Take the example of tomato, India produces around 19 million tonnes of tomato every year. Leading producing states like Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh which contribute to around 30% of the total production ...

Government to provide Rs 600 crore subsidy sops to merchant exporters

The government Wednesday decided to provide 3 % interest subsidy to merchant exporters to enhance flow of funds for them with a view to boosting outbound shipments.

India’s retaliatory tariffs to hit US exports worth USD 900 mn: Congressional report

India’s proposed retaliatory tariffs against US agricultural products including apples, almonds and lentils will have an adverse impact on American exports worth nearly USD 900 million, according to the latest Congressional report. India last year announced higher import duties on many US products like apples, almonds, walnuts, chickpeas and lentils in retaliation to President Donald Trump’s decision to impose heavy tariffs on imported steel and aluminium items, a move that sparked fears of a global trade war.

Government working on real-time pricing, demand forecast for select crops: report

In order to make an accurate assessment of commodity pricing and demand’s movement, the government is working on a proposal to develop forecasts for select goods from the next kharif season, Business Standard reported, citing sources.

Agri ministry’s focus on farmers’ welfare & increasing agri employment

FnB news

Increasing employment in the agriculture sector and enhancing the incomes of farmers are the important factors in the implementation of the agricultural policy of the incumbent government, whose primary goal is farmers’ welfare.

Panic grips farmers after crop damage

Farmers in the district are a worried lot after reports of a pest attack on wheat crop at Kheri Mallan village. At Kheri Malan village, a farmer had lost his crop on 15 acres to the pest attacked. The farmer has blamed the state government for the loss of his crop as he had sown wheat through a happy seeder as a measure to stop stubble burning.

Farm loan defaults rise as banks brace for big write-offs

Delinquency in agriculture loans is already on the rise, even as banks brace for big write-offs following the string of farm loan waivers recently announced by several state governments. In the six months to 30 September, Indian banks saw bad loans rise to 8.4% of their agriculture book, a rise from 7% as of March 2018, according to data from Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The bad loan ratio has climbed every year since 2011-12, as shown in the adjoining chart.

Resolving the winter ordeal

Millennium Post

Though a report by System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SAFAR), under the aegis of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, shows that vehicles and industries contribute the most to the pollution in National Capital Region (NCR), pollution arising from farmers burning crop residue in the regions adjoining NCR has taken the centre stage recently.

New Year resolution: No farm-loan waiver, please

2019 might be another farm-loan waiver year, but farmers in drought-affected Hiware Bazar village in Maharashtra, have a different plan in mind. They are not interested in the government’s loan waiver, but have resolved to develop their own marketing model this year to increase profits.

Government may sow big scheme to weed out farm distress

With the general election a few months away, the central government has begun crunching the numbers in preparation for a comprehensive programme to help farmers tide over challenges posed by a dip in prices and dwindling incomes.

Punjab get Jaivik India Award for promoting organic farming

UNI

Punjab honoured as the second best state amongst states of north and north-east India, for extensive promotion and implementation of organic farming and bagged prestigious Jaivik India Award.

Has Bengal’s farm income trebled?

The Statesman

“The soul of India lives in its villages,” declared the Father of the Nation in the last century. Even today, more than 60 per cent of Indians live in villages. The significance of rural development in the over-all national development cannot be over-emphasized. The soul of rural India is in agriculture. It generates 17 to 18 per cent of our GDP. Agriculture is the source of livelihood for more than 50 per cent of our total work force. It supplies food to the nation and basic raw materials to agro-based industries. It earns valuable foreign exchange from agricultural exports. Farm income generates demand for industrial goods and contributes to domestic capital formation through savings out of farm income.

Palanpur, a fascinating story of income growth, social change

Palanpur is a relatively unknown small village in Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh. However, it has a special place in development economics because of a research project that has stretched over seven decades. Economists have conducted seven detailed surveys of Palanpur since the 1950s, a rare longitudinal database that shows how the village has changed over three generations.

Modi is said to plan cash handout for India farmers before vote

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is studying three options, including a cash handout for farmers, people with knowledge of the matter said, as his administration seeks to ease an agrarian distress and shore up popular support ahead of next year’s general election.

Modi is said to plan cash handout for India farmers before vote

Politics over farmers’ deaths heats up in Raj

BJP state president Madan Lal Saini on Sunday blamed the Congress-led state government for the deaths of farmers. Saini said that because of an insensitive Congress government in state the farmers are being forced to die an untimely death.

West Bengal: New schemes to provide Rs 2 lakh compensation for farmers’ deaths, says Mamata Banerjee

Scroll

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced schemes for farmers, months ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Banerjee said that the state government will pay the premium on crop insurance schemes and will give farmers Rs 5,000 per acre annually, ANI reported.

Farm scheme suffers from non payment of insurance claims: Parliamentary panel

News d

A parliamentary panel headed by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi recommended the government to provide for sufficient financial allocations with regards to major crop insurance schemes with which they could attract more farmers. The panel further suggested that the agriculture insurance policies should be re-established in a way that it includes multi-cropping under its umbrella.

Agriculture and rural development top priority: Jharkhand CM

The Avenue Mail

Chief Minister Raghubar Das Tuesday said agriculture and rural development will be key focus areas for the government in the year 2019. He said the New Year will see the emergence of a new Jharkhand. He shared his vision of bringing about Jharkhand’s metamorphosis in the year ahead.

Bank credit sluggish in Goa

The Navhind Times

Despite inducements to increase lending, banks in the state continue performing poorly on the credit front, and there has been no revival in advances in the first half of the current financial year.

Arm the farming sector

If good politics is — as it, perhaps, should be — about winning elections, it might be eminently sensible at this time for any party or coalition with an eye on the 2019 elections to ignore economists’ familiar sermons on the perils of populism and get farmers on their side.

Budget

Budget may focus on rural, agriculture sector

In the previous Union Budget, the government’s focus was on improving farm incomes and infrastructure. Hence, allocation to farm procurement and roads sector was increased by 21% and 16% respectively. Ministry-wise spending in the year also shows that the government’s focus has been maintained on farmers, health, roads and rural infrastructure.

Farmers demand separate budget for agriculture

Farmers said that there was still no mechanism that could provide authentic statistics about the acreage of cr… Read More Nashik: Farmers from the district want the central government to have a separate budget for agriculture just like the railway budget. The farmers also want the Centre to set up separate funds for farmers in line with the Price Stability Funds. The reactions from farmers come ahead of the union budget for the financial year 2019-20 that will be presented on February 1. “We want separate agricultural budget in the interest of th

Budget and farm distress: Budget 2019 should be a balancing act

Budget 2019 is just few days away, and as expected, farmers and people having interest in the agriculture sector are eagerly hoping to hear some good news. Measures to boost the already troubled agriculture sector are likely to get top priority across the spectrum in view of the sensitivity of Indian agriculture in the political economy. Debates and discussions around issues relating to farm distress throughout the country have heightened the expectations manifold.

Budget 2019: This Village Shows All That Is Wrong With India’s Agriculture Read more at: https://www.bloombergquint.com/union-budget-2019/budget-2019-this-village-shows-all-that-is-wrong-with-indias-agriculture Copyright © BloombergQuint

Bloomberg Quint

He had borrowed Rs 5 lakh from banks and loan sharks to buy a cow and lease land for a small farm the size of football field in Karnataka’s Chikkade village, a three-hour drive southwest of India’s IT city of Bengaluru. There was almost no crop for two years as there was hardly any water in the local dam, his wife Parvathi said. “I tried to help by stitching clothes, but we weren’t able to repay,”

Budget Expectations 2019: ‘Agriculture Needs Massive Investment’

Quint

Indian agriculture needs serious attention as majority of population is dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, says Dr Pramod Joshi, Director-South Asia at International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) ahead of the interim Budget on 1 February.

Data analysis: Agriculture spending doubled during Modi’s term, but farmers are still in distress

Scroll

In a year of already failing rain and declarations of impending drought, government data on the crisis-ridden agriculture sector that sustains more than 600 million Indians – or half the population – appears to reveal ever-increasing spending.

Budget Expectations 2019: ‘Agriculture Needs Massive Investment’

Quint

Data analysis: Agriculture spending doubled during Modi’s term, but farmers are still in distress

Scroll

Farm Sector Requires More Than Just Money From Budget 2019, Say Experts

Quint

In a year of already failing rain and declarations of impending drought, government data on the crisis-ridden agriculture sector that sustains more than 600 million Indians–or half the population–appears to reveal ever-increasing spending.

Farm Spending Doubles Over Past 5 Years, But Budget Will Have To Go Beyond Money, Say Experts

IndiaSpend

In a year of already failing rain and declarations of impending drought, government data on the crisis-ridden agriculture sector that sustains more than 600 million Indians–or half the population–appears to reveal ever-increasing spending.

Cabinet may soon approve agricultural relief-package for farmers

Business Today

Budget 2019: FM Piyush Goyal may review performance of PSU banks ahead of February 1

Interim finance minister Piyush Goyal may review on Monday the performance of public-sector banks (PSBs) in resolving the bad loan mess, undertaking governance reforms and lending to key sectors such as agriculture and MSMEs.

Budget 2019: Dear PM Modi, these two pro-farmers moves can prove to be game-changer

Farmers’ protests in last two years hit the headlines and became a powerful tool for the Opposition parties led by Congress to pinch Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with sharp rhetoric. The alleged anger among the agrarian society was evident in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur, streets of Mumbai, Maharashtra and even in Delhi. The BJP governments in Centre and states tried to douse the wrath by announcing farm-loan waivers and increasing the minimum support price (MSP) of Kharif crops.

Budget 2019: Real estate, housing, agriculture in focus; post-budget profit-booking will be there in markets

ET Now

The budget has always been an event when we expect volatility to expand with perception to safeguard the portfolio and hedge the overall risk in the market we see a lot of activity in the derivatives. This budget is no different than previous but the fact remains it is coming in an election year.

Interim Budget 2019 to be dedicated to farmers: Agri Min Radha Mohan Singh

India TV Business Insider Business Standard DNA

Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Wednesday said the Budget will be dedicated to farmers in the country as part of the government efforts to double their income by 2022.

Budget 2019 to be dedicated to farmers: Agriculture Minister

Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Wednesday said the Budget will be dedicated to farmers in the country as part of the government efforts to double their income by 2022. “It was a matter of pride that due to the implementation of various farm schemes, India has become among the leading economies in the agriculture sector,” he said at a conference organised by the Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI) here on ‘Government, Industry and Farmer can work together to make farming more profitable’.

Interim Budget 2019: Here’s what might come out of Finance Minister’s briefcase

ETNow news

February 1 is fast approaching and NDA government is all set to present its last budget before the general elections. It may be noted that Finance minister Arun Jaitley is in the US right now for a medical check-up however, he recently confirmed that he will be there to present the budget. Finance Ministry organised the customary ‘Halwa Ceremony’ which marks the printing of Budget documents.

Budget 2019-20: J’khand govt announces more than a dozen new schemes in Election year

UNI

harkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today laid the annual budget of the state for the financial year 2019-20 in the floor of the assembly worth Rs 85,249 crore. However, keeping in mind the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections which will take place in 2019 the government has announced more than a dozen new schemes catering broadly to agriculture, rural development, education and health

RSS affliates warn against farm loan waiver in interim budget (IANS Special)

Four BJP governments in states had rolled out farm loan waiver schemes but RSS affiliates have strongly warned against these in the interim budget, saying such a move would only worsen the agrarian crisis and put further pressure on the banks.

Budget 2019: Contract farming, food processing key to ending rural distress

Even though the share of agriculture in GDP has come down considerably over the years, more than half the population of the country is still dependent on agriculture, making this an important segment, from the point of view of vote-bank in an election year. Added to this is the fact that there is large scale farmer distress and farmers’ protests are getting louder by the day. Under these circumstances, this is a sector that will undoubtedly get special attention in this budget. In what way Finance Minister will attempt to address the distress of the farmer community in this budget is an issue of interest to all.

Budget 2019: PHD Chamber expects reforms in farm sector, rationalisation of direct taxes

Industry body PHD Chamber Sunday said it expects further reforms in agriculture sector and rationalisation of direct taxes in the forthcoming interim Budget.

Budget 2019: Govt may hike agriculture credit target to Rs 12 lakh crore

The Week

The farm credit target is likely to be raised by about 10 per cent to a record Rs 12 lakh crore in the 2019-20 budget to be presented on February 1, according to sources.

Budget bounty seen for agriculture and infrastructure

The Telegraph

Usually interim budgets presented in election years do not attempt at expanding budgetary allocations or raising new taxes. However, for some time the government has been giving out hints that this is a mere convention and it is not bound by such rules. The government is considering a scheme which promises to waive interest on loans up to Rs 3 lakh for farmers, in case they have been prompt with repayments. This year the outlay for farm loan subsidy stands at Rs 15,000 crore, which is expected to go up 40 per cent or more if the government accepts the recommendation.

How agriculture fared in Arun Jaitley’s budgets

A major promise on which Prime Minister Narendra Modi rode to victory in 2014 Lok Sabha elections was doubling the income of farmers by 2022. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s budgets did not lose sight of the ambitious target. They were marked by several innovative schemes such as soil health cards and gigantic outlays such as for farm credit.

Agricultural reforms, rate cut to drive 7.5% growth: Ficci President

Agricultural reforms, interest rate cut and credit availability to micro, small and medium enterprises will drive India’s economic growth to 7.5% in 2019-20, said newly elected president of Ficci Sandip Somany.

Farm loan waiver: How to nip it in the bud

Despite substantial increase in agriculture production and productivity levels over the years, farmers’ indebtedness has not changed significantly. According to the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey (Nafis) 2016-17, 52.5% of agricultural households were indebted.

RSS bodies seek relief for farmers, MSMEs in budget wish list

In the run-up to the last budget of the Narendra Modi-led government, which is likely to be tabled in the Parliament in the first week of February, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as two Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) organisations — Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) — have asked for reliefs to farmers, small industries, business men and middle class.

Banks fail to meet priority sector lending targets overall: RBI data

The banking sector failed to meet the priority-sector lending (PSL) targets overall, revealed data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The banks also failed to meet targets of specific sectors such as agriculture and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

CLAAS Mentions

Global Agricultural Haying and Forage Machinery Market 2018-2023 Segmented by Regions (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, MEA)

Blog of India

Agricultural Haying and Forage Machinery market deals with the emerging market such as competitive landscape, mergers & acquisition analysis, agreements, collaborations, partnerships, and new products launch. Agricultural Haying and Forage Machinery market segmented by types, application, key players, and a geographical region which helps the customer for detail research.

Competition

Deere Comes Up With High-Tech Farming Equipment

Newsgram

It has GPS, lasers, computer vision, and uses machine learning and sensors to be more efficient. This is the new high-tech farm equipment from John Deere, which made its first Consumer Electronics Show appearance this week to highlight the importance of tech in farming.

Coverage

Class showcase its agri equipment

Samaja

Technology in Agriculture

कंबाइन हार्वेस्टर व स्ट्रा मैनेजमेंट सिस्टम यंत्र पर भी मिलेगा 50% अनुदान, नरवाई से मिलेगी मुक्ति

Dainik Bhaskar

आम कंबाइन से कटाई करने पर एक से डेढ़ फीट अवशेष खेत में ही रह जाती है, जिसे किसान जलाते आ रहे हैं। इसके कारण आगजनी की घटनाएं भी होती हैं। 2013 में ग्रीन ट्रिब्यूनल की सख्ती के बाद खेतीबाड़ी विभाग तथा प्रदूषण कंट्रोल बोर्ड ने कंबाइन के पीछे सुपर एसएमएस सिस्टम लगाने की तजवीज दी। यह सिस्टम बची अवशेष को कुतरकर छोटा कर देता है, जो बाद में खाद बन जाती है।

ASABE Includes Innovations from New Holland Agriculture, Case IH in 2019 AE50 List

Krishijagran.com

The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers or ASABE have incorporated 3 ground-breaking technologies from Case IH and 2 technologies from New Holland Agriculture in their annual AE50 Awards. The awards honor the year’s most innovative designs in engineering products or systems for the food and agriculture industries.

Agricultural Harvesting Machinery Market To Increase At CAGR Of 9.2 % By 2023 – Key Vendors and Landscape, Trends, Challenges and Projections

Blog of India

Global Agricultural Harvesting Machinery market 2023- Report offers a widespread and detailed evaluations and forecasts study of Agricultural Harvesting Machinery industry along with the examination of essential features providing key industry perceptions to the readers. The Agricultural Harvesting Machinery market research report further delivers a methodical viewpoint of the industry by studying key components impacting the industry such as Agricultural Harvesting Machinery market development, consumption volume, developing trends and industry cost structures during the forecast period. The report goals to present the analysis of global market segment by product type, applications and by regions. The Agricultural Harvesting Machinery market report is a comprehensive study of expansion drivers’ industry, current trends in the market, and restrictions. It contains analysis ...

New Holland Agriculture Display Technological Advanced Tractor sat Krushi Odisha Exhibition

Orissa Diary

New Holland Agriculture, one of the world’s leading agriculture equipment brands,is exhibiting a selection of its extensive range of tractor sat the Krushi Odisha 2019 atKrushi Odisha, Bhubaneswar.The display at Company’s 25 x 8 Mtr.stall includes the very popular 3230, Excel 4710 4WD Paddy Special 4WD & Excel 4710 4WD.

Punjab govt to offer subsidy on paddy transplanters

The Punjab government will offer 40 to 50 per cent subsidy to paddy growers on the purchase of paddy transplanters, an official said Tuesday. “In order to encourage farmers towards mechanised paddy transplantation, the Punjab government has come up with a comprehensive plan to provide paddy transplanters with 40-50 percent subsidy, which will certainly ease out the labour problem being faced by the farmers in peak season,” said Punjab agriculture secretary K S Pannu in an official release here. The agriculture department

Get 50% subsidy on paddy transplanter

By offering 50 per cent subsidy on paddy transplanters, the state government is set to give boost to mechanisation in paddy transplantation in the upcoming season (June and July).

Punjab’s cure to burning stubble lands farmers in pest trouble

The Punjab government’s latest solution to stubble burning may have resulted in fresh trouble for farmers — stray growth of paddy on fields in which wheat has been sown with the help of Happy Seeder. Happy Seeder is a farm equipment which drills wheat seeds into a field without removing paddy stubble. The state government had been suggesting it to farmers during this sowing season to bring down incidents of stubble burning. However, with paddy stubble now starting to grow, farmers fear their fields would turn into breeding grounds for insects and rodents, and ultimately affect yield.

Multi-Purpose Crop Residue Manager

With a view to solve the problem of crop residue and which in-turn can help control the problem of stubble burning, a team of mechanical engineering students of Chandigarh University have come-up with an innovative and economically viable solution — multi-purpose crop residue manager.

Denied subsidy on purchase of farm tools, three farmers plan to move Allahabad High Court

Three farmers, including two women, plan to move Allahabad High Court after being denied subsidy on purchase of farm tools. They have served notices to deputy director of agriculture Anil Tiwari and director of agriculture of UP Swaraj Singh before filing a joint writ petition in the court. It is mandatory to serve a notice 30 days prior to moving court.

Cops take first step, ban waste burning till February 27

The city police have become the first state government agency to respond to the unprecedented levels of pollution the city has witnessed this winter by imposing a ban on waste burning in the city limits till February 27, 2019. The notification issued on Monday directs senior officers to be vigilant to prevent violations of the order

Stubble Burning

Fin Commission forms committee to resolve `31K cr food account legacy issue

Providing a major relief to the debt ridden Punjab Government, at least to some extent, the 15th Finance Commission on Wednesday decided to set up a panel under one of its member to resolve Rs 31,000 crore food account legacy issue.

How foul air makes our life miserable

NREGA may provide way to tackle crop burning, says chief ministers’ panel

A chief ministers’ panel has recommended that in order to curb pollution caused by crop burning, the high labour cost of converting biomass into compost could be funded through MGNREGA labour.

Leading by example: Farmers in over 50 Meerut villages shun stubble burning

Farmers in over 50 Meerut villages shun stubble burning MEERUT: In a recent air quality monitoring data released by the Central Pollution Control Board, 10 out of the 12 most polluted cities of the country were in Uttar Pradesh, and most of them in Meerut zone. Experts say that paddy straw and stubble burning in many parts of Haryana, Punjab and western UP districts have contributed to rising pollution levels. Most of the farmers in these regions have also refused to shun the stubble burning for lack of any other alternative to dispose off the crop residue.

Entrepreneurs Propose to Remake Agricultural Waste Into ‘Cooling’ Screens

CSR: Eco-Friendly Alternative to Stubble Burning

The CSR Journal

Stubble burning is a norm among farmers in northern India. The practice includes intentional burning of the straw stubble remains of the crop after it is harvested. However, this activity was causing extreme pollution in the environment. In fact, in October 2018, stubble burning in Punjab was responsible for 32% of the pollution in Delhi, according to a report by the Centre-run system of Air Quality Forecasting and Research.

These UP farmers reduced their carbon footprint by 22 lakh kilos, using this method

The Better India

Several parts of North India continue to move towards the red zone of the air quality index, majorly due to stubble burning. A commonly used method, it involves intentionally setting fire to the straw stubble remains of crops, after the harvest is complete. Due to its adverse effects on the environment, it was banned by the state governments of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. While sections of farmers continue to protest against the ban, claiming that the alternative options are not effective enough, farmers in Meerut have proved them wrong.

CSR: Eco-Friendly Alternative to Stubble Burning

CSR Journal

Government devises mechanism to check farmers’ exploitation by custom hiring centres