Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
On the autofarm: China turns to driverless tractors, combines to overhaul agricultureedit
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 solutionedit
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 sectoredit
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.edit
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 agricultureedit
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.DBT, ICAR sign MoU for cooperation in agricultural biotechnology research and educationedit
CRPF Giving Advanced Scientific Training to Farmers in Jharkhandedit
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.
Budget
Budget bounty seen for agriculture and infrastructureedit
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 budgetsedit
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.