The Indian Express

Over 3.10 lakh farmer families in Pune district will receive the first installment of Rs 2,000 under the newly-launched Pradhan Mantri Krishi Samman Nidhi Yojna (PMKSNY) by March 31. Officials of the state agriculture department said of a total of 1.52 crore farmers in the state, about 1.21 crore farmers who hold less ...

Telangana Today

The farming community has to keep itself abreast of changes taking place in the field of agriculture and adopt new techniques, suggested District Collector RV Karnan. He appealed to the farmers to take up intercropping and crop rotation instead of monoculture. He addressed farmers at Kisan Mela organised by Agricultural Technology Management Agency ...

Deccan Chronicle

Farmers’ continued to line up before Krishi Bhavans across Kerala with Aadhaar cards, land tax receipts, ration cards and bank passbooks to enroll themselves with the PM-  Kisan Samman Nidhi that assures each farmer a direct cash transfer of Rs 6,000 every year.

Asian Age

Lakhs of farmers who on Thursday showed their strength by giving a 12-hour statewide bandh call demanding price, prestige and pension, had rejected the packages announced this year by the NDA government at the Centre and the ruling BJD government in the state.

Quint

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday will launch the Rs 75,000-crore Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, by transferring the first installment of Rs 2,000 each to over one crore farmers, a senior agriculture ministry official said.

The Times of India

The agriculture department has finalized list of 30,000 farmers of Indore district, who will be benefitted under Jai Kisan Farm ...

The Times of India

Despite agriculture experts and Punjab government stressing on the need for diversification of the crops to break the wheatpaddy cycle for the past many years now, there has been little headway in convincing the farmers because of the assured Minimum Support Price (MSP) on the two crops. To make them even more dependent on the wheat-paddy cycle is the acceptance of demand for increase in MSP by the Centre almost every year.

The Week

Twenty Nepalese farmers and agricultural experts are undergoing training in organic farming in India as part of a partnership between the two countries in the agriculture sector. The main objectives of the training programme are to promote certified organic farming for improvement of soil health, to share impact of organic farming on produce quality, productivity, soil health and environment, to ensure supply of organic input through establishment of bio-fertilizer and bio- pesticides production unit.

The Telegraph

BJP national chief Amit Shah has asked farmers associated with the party to scratch the face of Congress leaders if they question Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agricultural policies.

Financial Express

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is moving its plant breeding management system to a digital platform over the next four years. The objective is to improve the efficiency of plant breeding. It intends to double the average annual yield gain of 0.8% obtained through genetic enhancement since the start of the Green Revolution in the mid-1960s, to 1.5% annually over the next couple of decades.

Telangana Today

Declaring that Telangana was a pro-farmer State, the Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao announced a whopping Rs 20,107 crore allocation for the agriculture sector in the vote-on-account budget for 2019- 20. The allocation for the farm sector is a massive increase over last year’s Rs 15,788 crore.

Down To Earth

Bangladesh farmers and environment groups are angry over the government’s decision to allow commercial cultivation of the controversial genetically modified (GM) rice, popularly called as the golden rice. They organised country-wide protests on February 13, 2019, after Bangladesh Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzak announced in early February that cultivation of golden rice may start in the country within three ...

The Economic Times

More than 20 million farmers, mostly from BJP-ruled states have been enrolled for the PM-KISAN scheme that will give small and marginal landholders Rs 6,000 a year, but most Congress-ruled states and West Bengal have sent very few names or not uploaded any data for cash transfers by the Centre.

Network 18

Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has proposed to waive all agriculture term loans up to Rs 1 lakh outstanding as on December 11, 2018, in the vote-on-account budget for the financial year 2019-2020 presented in the assembly on Friday.

CGTN

China on Thursday issued guidelines to support small household farmers and encourage them to become involved in modern agriculture.

The move aims to provide assistance to small household farmers, get them involved in modern agriculture, speed up development of modern agriculture and rural areas and facilitate the strategy to revitalize rural areas, according to the guidelines released by general offices of the ...

The Hans India

Over 40,000 farmers had gathered in Delhi from across India on November 20, 2018. Forty-year-old Chandravati from Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh, left three of her daughters and a son back in her village to participate in the Kisan Mukti March at the Ram Lila Maidan, forgoing a Rs 120 per day wage rate.

Telangana Today

Determination, grit and a little push from the government can transform ones life. Guguloth Nagaraju, a 28-year-old tribal man and native of Shivaigudem tanda in Medak district has just proved that.

The Times of India

The government in reply to a question by Congress member Thasra Kanti Parmar told the assembly that the state has seen an increase of 4.34 lakh farmers between 2010-11 and 2015-16, of that 3.89 lakh was in the category of marginalised and small farmers. The number of small and marginalised farmers increased by 12% in the state.

Business Standard

The Gujarat government Thursday told the legislative Assembly that the agriculture census of 2015-16 has indicated a rise in the number of small and marginal farmers in the state.

The Wire

The focal point of this year’s budget has been the announcement of a new centrally-sponsored scheme, the ‘Pradhan Mantri Kishan Samman Nidhi’ (PM-KISAN). This scheme assures small and marginal farm households a guaranteed annual income support of Rs 6,000.

Moneycontrol

China will deepen reforms of its agriculture sector to promote its rural economy, the government said in its first policy statement of 2019, as it seeks to bolster growth and offset trade challenges.

DNA

In a bid to address farmers’ woes, the state government has proposed to step up use of information technology and real time data to provide timely assistance to farmers. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in an interaction with Wipro Ltd board member Rishad Premji at the NASSCOM 2019 event said the state government was moving towards a trillion dollar economy by 2025 from the present $400 billion with a prime focus on agriculture.

Outlook

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to respond to the plea that a part of Rs 75,000 crore available with it under the National Clean Energy and Environment Fund (NCEEF) be utilised for the purchase of Turbo Happy Seeder machines for farmers for cutting standing paddy stubble as an alternate to stubble burning.

The Times of India

For Punjab farmers, the euphoria over green revolution successes has long been eclipsed by issues of survival. Stuck in the wheat-paddy cycle, most farmers have adopted a model of mass production of grains, relegating adopting of innovations and marketing to the backburner. Mass production of paddy by Punjab — the ‘food bowl of India’ — has also played havoc with the state’s water table.

Down To Earth

Over 40,000 farmers had gathered in Delhi from across India on November 20, 2018. Forty-year-old Chandravati from Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh, left three of her daughters and a son back in her village to participate in the Kisan Mukti March at the Ram Lila Maidan, forgoing a Rs 120 per day wage rate. Accompanied by her husband and neighbour Manju (35), she, along with 40 other women from her village and adjoining districts, joined the peaceful congregation in the anticipation of being heard by those at the helm of policy making.

India Today

Haryana will move shoulder-to-shoulder with the Narendra Modi led government at the Centre in taking new leaps on infrastructure and social development, Vipul Goel, Industry and Commerce Minister, Haryana, said in his inaugural address at Mail Today’s Build India Summit on Tuesday.

Qrius

Agriculture is a leading cause of climate change, but it is also undeniably affected by it. Farming must therefore change in order to keep up with global demands, while reducing its environmental impact. Without these necessary changes, it’s estimated that by 2030, the impacts of climate change will be even worse, causing yields to decline so much that we will cancel out any progress we have made towards eliminating global hunger.

Business Standard

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday approved the launch of Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan with the objective of providing financial and water security to farmers.

Krishijagran

The Scheduled Tribes Development Department will implement a Rs. 15 crore project in the next financial year for tribal people. It will be a step to start sustainable agriculture and allied activities on land owned by them and with records of rights (RoR).

The Times of India

On Sunday, President of India Ram Nath Kovind said that farming should be seen in a wider entrepreneurial context. He also insisted that traditional farming should be linked to the agricultural value chain.

The Times of India

In order to make available branded goods in the rural areas, the cooperative department plans to set up super stores in about 10% village cooperative societies in each district. This would help the societies to improve their financial condition and also quality goods and services will be available even in rural areas

The Navhind Times

Addressing the media after the cabinet meeting, Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai informed that there was a demand from the farmers that the Sanjivani sugar factory be brought under agriculture department, and thus the cabinet has given its nod to do so.

The Indian Express

With elections approaching, every party is swearing by farmers and trying to woo them for their votes. The Narendra Modi government has already announced a package of Rs 75,000 crore for about 12.6 crore small and marginal farmers. While in absolute terms, this looks sizeable, once it is divided by the number of farm families to be covered, the amount is very small — just Rs 6,000 per family per year, which is about 6 per cent of their annual income. This level of support, unless augmented further, may not go far in winning the farmers’ confidence. Most would agree that farmers have been under stress for quite some time, and have not got justice so far.

Scroll

On the morning of January 17, KK Sanal Kumar strapped a motorised sprayer onto his back and left for a paddy field near his home in Peringara gram panchayat of Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district. The owners of the field, Unnikrishnan and Sanil, gave him several bottles of the highly hazardous pesticide Viraat to spray on their 40-day-old crop. The field forms a part of the 55,000-hectare rice-growing area in the Kuttanad region, popularly known as Kerala’s rice bowl.

Financial Express

With elections approaching, every party is swearing by farmers and trying to woo them for their votes. The Modi government has already announced a package of Rs 75,000 crore for about 12.6 crore small and marginal farmers. While in absolute terms it looks sizeable, when it is divided by the number of farm families to be covered, it is miniscule—just `6,000 per family per year, which is about 6% of their annual income. This level of support, unless augmented further, may not go far to win farmers’ confidence. Majority would agree that farmers have been under stress for quite some time, and have not got justice so far.

Udaipur Kiran

Addressing the gathering, President Ram Nath Kovind complimented Haryana for adopting proper methods for stubble burning which led to decrease in air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region.

The Hans India

The government will transfer Rs 2,200 crore to Rs 2,500 crore to 5 lakh farmers under the 4th and 5th installment of the crop loan waiver scheme and Annadata Sukhibhava Scheme in next three months to extend helping hand to farmers.

The Times of India

With the data of farmers being uploaded on state portal ahead of February 24, when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana in Gorakhpur, Bijnor has topped the list of districts with maximum names, followed by Prayagraj.

Business Standard

Haryana has made significant achievements in agriculture, but there are challenges which need to be met, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said Sunday. Khattar, while addressing the closing ceremony of the 4th Agri Leadership Summit here, said his government has set a target to ensure that farmers earn an income of at leastRs 1 lakh per acre.

Financial Express

Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Y V Reddy termed the recent trend of rolling out doles for the farm sector, including the Union Budget’s basic income scheme, as a “disturbing trend” which will impact fiscal stability, growth and also Centre-state relations.

Business Standard

The BJP-IPFT government in Tripura has approved the Rs 6000 financial assistance to farmers having upto two hectares of cultivable lands under the Pradhanmantri Kissan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PMKSNY), state Agriculture minister Pranajit Singha Roy said Friday.

The Week

After reading theoretical ecologist Robert Ulanowicz and distilling his message to relate it to the agrarian crisis in India, young author Yaashree Himatsinghka believes a change in how we look at ecosystems and transitioning to more sustainable policies is the way to solve farmer worries.

Deccan Chronicle

Many farmers express doubts on the implementation of ‘Annadata Sukhibhava’ scheme announced by the state and Central government.

The authorities have not framed any guidelines or instructions for the agriculture department over the scheme. Farmers say that they could not believe anything positive from the scheme just as has been happening with many of the previous schemes.

Pune Mirror

Pesticides and fertilisers may have been the cornerstones of

The Times of India

Agriculture department principal secretary Sudhir Kumar on Friday said the government has so far registered 51 lakh farmers in the state.“Collection of data is in progress for registration of more farmers,” Kumar said while addressing a workshop on ‘Building evidence in agriculture: Reviewing data systems and the way forward’, organised by the International Growth Centre (IGC) in collaboration with the Indian Agricultural Statistics and Research Institute (IASRI) and the Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) here.

Arunachal Times

Sixty-seven farmers from Anya and Nirjuli-III villages and nearby areas of Assam benefitted from a ‘farm technology awareness-cum-demonstration mela’ organized by the NERIST’s agricultural engineering department here on Friday. The programme was aimed at acquainting the farmers with improved technology to help them enhance their income, and to help them develop linkage with education and research institutes, government agencies, and manufacturers and dealers of agricultural tools and machinery.

Financial Express

The US and Canada on Friday said they have jointly approached the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against India for allegedly “under-reporting” market price support for five varieties of pulses and have submitted their own steeper calculations for scrutiny of members. “Based on United States/Canadian calculations, it appears that India has substantially underreported its market price support for chickpeas, pigeon peas, black matpe, mung beans and lentils,” a US Department of Agriculture release stated.

The Pioneer

Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture Network (RRA N) in collaboration with National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India & National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) organised a National Convention on ‘Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture — Restructuring Policy and Public Investments to address Agrarian Crisis at the India International Centre (IIC), New Delhi on Thursday.

The Economic Times

An expert committee set up by the government has recommended setting the minimum wage at Rs 375 a day, higher than the existing rate of Rs 321 for agriculture or unskilled workers and Rs 371 for semi-skilled workers. The ministry of labour and employment had constituted the committee under the chairmanship of Anoop Satpathy, fellow of the VV Giri National Labour Institute, in January 2017 to review and recommend ways to calculate the national minimum wage.

The Tribune 

Still worse, a Planning Commission report had worked out that between 2004-05 and 2011-12 , about 14 crore jobs were lost in agriculture. Many economists term the migration from agriculture to be a welcome sign. Going by the World Bank prescription, which was doled out back in 1996, India was directed to go for a population shift, translocating 40 crore people from rural to urban areas in the next 20 years, by 2015.

The Indian Express

The share of distressed agriculture sector in non-food credit offtake has remained stagnant and the banks’ exposure declined even as non-performing assets in the sector zoomed by over 40 per cent as of September 2018, a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report has said.

Krishijagran

As per the information was given by Minister of State for Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Shri Parshottam Rupala in Lok Sabha today,‘Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Maha Abhiyan (KUSUM) scheme is currently under the process of seeking approval.

DownToEarth

The dip in retail inflation to a 19-month low, as reported by the Union government on February 12, 2019, once again underscores the agrarian crisis in the country. The middle class may be worried about rising prices, but four items that can be traced back to farms showed deflation, while inflation in a few others was negligible in January.

Moneycontrol

Both bank credit as well as deposits growth marginally declined on a fortnightly basis, clipping at 14.5 percent at Rs 94.29 lakh crore deposits grew at a tepid 9.63 percent to Rs 121.22 lakh crore for the fortnight ending February 1, according to the latest RBI data.

Down To Earth

A staggering Rs 1,950 crore, which is three quarters of the total funds under India’s flagship agriculture scheme the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana-Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR), remains unutilised. The scheme aims at creating robust pre- and post-harvest infrastructure.

Scroll

V Chandrasekhar Reddy, a farmer in Andhra Pradesh’s Kadapa district, has been reaping rich dividends since moving away from conventional farming. For the past four years, he has been using traditional seeds on his 11-acre farm. He has replaced chemical fertilisers and pesticides with those made from waste generated by cattle and other locally available material.

The Times of India

The key to smart agriculture lies in the collaboration between IITs and agricultural universities of the country, as the symbiotic relationship between the two can lead to synthesis of artificial intelligence with agriculture, said IIT Ropar director Prof Sarit Kumar Das at the 43rd Vice-Chancellors’ Convention of Indian Agricultural Universities’ Association (IAUA), underway at the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.

Business Standard

The Government with a view to enhance the production and productivity in agriculture sector, announces Agriculture Credit Flow Targets every year and these targets have consistently been surpassed by the Banks. The Agriculture Credit Flow Target for 2018-19 has been fixed at Rs, 11,00,000 crore and against this target, as reported by NABARD, the disbursement by Banks till September, 2018 is Rs. 6,45,205 crore.

Millennium Post

The Bengal government is likely to set up a centre of excellence (COE) for agriculture and horticulture at Chinsurah in Hoogly district by the end of this year, department of Food Processing Industries and Horticulture secretary Nandini Chakravorty said on Tuesday.

Farmers Weekly

In the 1990s, as a keen young man who thought he knew it all, I persuaded my father to buy a direct drill. Dad was sceptical. He had been there before, in the 1970s, when he had bought something cruder, but similar. In his time, after a few years of what he called “match and scratch”, he started struggling with compaction on our clay soils, so he returned back to the discs and power harrow.

CNBC TV 18

According to a report published by the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) India Wage Report, the average daily wages of agricultural labourers was Rs 120 in 1993-94, while it became Rs 177 in 2011-12. For legislators, senior officials and managers, it increased to Rs 1,052 in 2011-12 from Rs 530 in 1993-94.

The Times of India

File photo of Maharashtra dought PUNE: Agricultural department data has revealed that acreage of almost all crops in Maharashtra has significantly dropped because of the drought situation in the state as the rabi sowing season ended in January.

Financial Express

The government subsidises agriculture in a number of ways. It provides direct subsidy through fixation of minimum support price for essential crops and purchase of machinery, drip and sprinkler irrigation under various centrally-sponsored schemes. The indirect subsidy is extended through provision of inputs such as irrigation, fertiliser and power at prices much below their cost of production.

Moneycontrol

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on February 11 emphasised on the importance of sustainable agriculture as a part of sustainable development and said more efficient systems of irrigation with “more crop per drop” mantra should be used .

Orissa Post

Welcoming the newly-announced PM Kisan, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to include share croppers, landless labourers and vulnerable agricultural households under the scheme.

Devdi course

Vice President Venkaiah NaiduMonday emphasised on the importance of sustainable agriculture as a part of sustainable development and said more efficient systems of irrigation with “more crop per drop” mantra should be used . Speaking at the inauguration of the three-day World Sustainable Development Summit 2019 here, he said, “There is a need to make use of the endless possibilities of biotechnology and nanotechnology to develop a range of green products, including nano-fertilisers.”

The Wire

Madan Pal Singh is a small farmer with five acres of land in Amarpur, a small village about 40 kilometres from the main town of Meerut in western Uttar Pradesh. He is unimpressed with the Narendra Modi-led Central government’s recent announcement that it will provide Rs 6,000 per year to small and marginal farmers

Krishi Jagran

NITI Aayog member, Ramesh Chand has been nominated by the government for the coveted position of the Director General of the United Nation’s (UN) Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Krishijagran.com

The Agriculture Department has cautioned farmers to check the wheat crop regularly as yellow rust may hit the crop in mid-February. There is expectation of a steep hike in day temperature in the coming days.

Business Standard

ShivOm Dayal Energies (P) Ltd., is setting up two biofuel projects worth Rs 800 Crore. The two biofuel plants will be set up in the districts of Saharanpur and Bijnor. The UP government in its cabinet meeting held on 7th February 2019, approved the two second-generation ethanol plants which will incur an investment of INR 400 crore each. The state government will also offer the company with facilities including stamp duty waiver, capital subsidy as well as SGST rebate.

The Times of India

Seeking to bring all landholding cultivators within the institutional credit system, the Centre is set to launch a special drive to reach out to all farmers with Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) by doubling its footprint from 6.95 crore to around 14 crore active cards ahead of general elections. The aim is to issue KCCs to eligible farmers within two weeks of submission of application forms.

Youth Ki Awaaz

The general elections in India are just a few months away which would witness the largest democratic exercise in the world.  All political parties have begun prioritising their strategies, which would be showcased through their respective political manifestos. The defeat of BJP in Madhya ...

UNI

The Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare organised an awareness and educational camp on yellow rust disease of wheat crop for the farmers in Phillaur block of the district under Mission Tandarust Punjab

Dawn

The sub-sectors of agriculture, which include minor crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry, have the potential to increase farmers’ earnings by ensuring the export of surplus stocks to neighbouring markets.

The Times of India

Bengaluru: Farmers’ distress has dented the state’s economic performance, and is expected to reduce the overall growth to 9.6% compared to 10.4% the previous year, even as other sectors are poised for decent growth. The 2018-19 Economic Survey released on Friday estimates the agriculture sector will post a ...

The Times of India

Picture used for representational purpose only HYDERABAD: Telangana’s pricncipal secretary for agriculture, C Parthasarthi has said that the government’s Rythu Bandhu scheme is not a permanent fixture. Speaking to STOI, Parthasarthi said that the scheme is an interim arrangement to provide assistance to distressed farmers until the government puts in place the adequate infrastructure to support agricultural activities.

DNA

Jammu and Kashmir government has joined the club of first few states to fast-track the process of transferring the first instalment of Rs 2,000 to the farmers’ accounts under the ambitious ‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi’ (Prime Minister Kisan) scheme. Brought under President’s Rule on December 20, 2018, the state has fixed February 22 deadline to identify the eligible farmers so that the first installment of Rs 2,000 is transferred before March 31.

The Times of India

CM Bhupesh Baghel government in Chhattisgarh on Friday presented its maiden budget in Raipur RAIPUR: Panning the focus from construction-oriented and infrastructure development to rural development, agriculture and uplift of farmers, the oneand-half month old Bhupesh Baghel government in Chhattisgarh on Friday presented its maiden budget with a size of Rs 90,910 crore in the Vidhan Sabha. Presenting a Rs 10,881 crore deficit budget with a special emphasis on village economy Baghel spared the common man by not proposing any fresh taxes, but made allocations to fulfil poll promises of waiving off short-term loans of farmers and reducing the electricity bill of domestic consumers by half.

Zee News

Agriculture loan without collateral: Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government announced a direct cash support scheme – PM Kisan – for farmers, here’s another good news for them. Now, the Reserve Bank of India has cleared a proposal to increase the limit of collateral free agriculture loans from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.6 lakh. The RBI has announced several developmental and regulatory policies. For farmers, the central bank has cleared proposals related to “enhancing the limit of collateral free agriculture loans from ₹1 lakh to ₹1.6 lakh, keeping in view the overall increase in inflation and rise in agriculture input costs.” The RBI said, “this is expected to enhance coverage of farmers in getting access to ...

DNA

Eighty per cent farmers in Maharashtra are eligible for the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, a state minister said here on Thursday.

DNA

Deputy CM and PCC chief Sachin Pilot distributed loan waiver certificates to the farmers in a function held at city’s Sirsi on Thursday. Gehlot government, in the first phase, have started camps at all the district headquarters for waiving off loans of farmers.

Odisha TV

Cotton, which is popularly referred to as white gold among farmers is a widely-cultivated crop in Sonepur district. While farmers of the district cultivated cotton on a large scale expecting good returns, the non-functional mandi in the district has left them in distress.

The Times of India

While the Delhi government is trying woo them with a draft agricultural policy, farmers of the national capital do not seem to be very happy with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party on the issue of high electricity charges every month

The Wire

Last week, while presenting the Narendra Modi government’s last budget, acting finance minister Piyush Goyal announced a direct income support scheme for small and marginal farmers across the country. Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, farmers owning less than two hectares will be provided Rs 6,000 per annum by the Centre.

The Northlines

More than six years have passed since the announcement of Agriculture Policy in J&K state, but the state agriculture policy has yet see the light of the day.

Forbes

The United Nations reports that about 1/3 of the food producedglobally each year is lost or wasted, and I’d reckon that number is not too surprising. Those of us in the United States see evidence of waste each time we go out to eat or do a weekly purge of jam-packed refrigerators. Outside the waste, however, there’s a greater problem many of us don’t realize. Just as the amount of food wasted globally is skyrocketing, the global demand for food is, ironically, set to rise.

Navhind Times

Following guidelines from the central ministry, the state agriculture department has started geo-tagging of all the agricultural assets with the farmers across the state for better land and crop management.

Business Standard

The scheme, announced in the interim budget, will be implemented from this year itself and the first installment of Rs 2,000 will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of the farmers by March.

Business Standard

Eight states including Uttar Pradesh are offering inter-state trading via 21 electronic national agricultural market (eNAM) so far in the country, Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal said Thursday.

Free Press Journal

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday increased collateral-free agriculture loans’ limit to Rs 1.6 lakh from Rs 1 lakh. Das said: “Agricultural loan without collateral was fixed in 2010. Keeping in view the overall inflation and rise in agriculture input costs, it has been decided to raise the limit for collateral-free agriculture loans from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.6 lakh, he added. Before arriving at this figure, there was an internal accounting done, he added. Das said, “We will be issuing the circular within a week or so,” when asked about the timeline for availing this loan.

The Indian Express

If there’s one proof of the Narendra Modi government’s trade policy undergoing a distinct shift over the last nearly two years in response to agrarian unrest – from pro-consumer to pro-farmer — it is the numbers relating to farm imports. Between 2013-14 (the last year of the previous Congress-led UPA dispensation) and 2016-17, the value of India’s agricultural commodity imports soared from $15.53 billion to $25.64 billion. But in 2017-18, this fell to $24.89 billion, while registering an even sharper 18.9% year-on-year decline during the first three quarters of the current fiscal (see table)

Business Standard Outlook India

The Union Cabinet here on Wednesday approved the signing of agreements between the India and Ukraine for cooperation in agriculture and Food Industry. The agreement includes a Joint Working Group, comprising of representatives from both the countries, which would provide for cooperation in various fields of agriculture and the food industry for a period of five years.

The Times of India SME Times

In order to achieve the objectives of the Agriculture Export Policy, the government has identified clusters across the country for development of exports, said an official release on Wednesday. In Maharashtra, six clusters have been identified for grapes, mango, pomegranate, banana, oranges and onion, the release added. For successful implementation, FPO’s and co-operatives should be linked with the farmers and exporters.  Required infrastructure needs to be provided in these clusters and use of latest technology in agriculture has to be adopted, it added.

NDTV The Times of India Hindustan Times DNA Financial Express

The Centre on Wednesday approved the creation of a corpus of Rs. 2,000 crore for Agr-Market Infrastructure Fund (AMIF) for development and upgradation of agricultural marketing infrastructure in Gramin Agricultural Markets and Regulated Wholesale Markets. The AMIF will be created with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). It will help provide state governments subsidised loans to develop marketing infrastructure in 585 Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs) and 10,000 Grameen Agricultural Markets (GrAMs).

The Pioneer

Over 35 per cent of cultivable lands have been provided with irrigation facilities in 237 out of 314 blocks in the State so far.

Financial Express

The expectation of a big announcement for rural India was high, and the Budget did not disappoint. Before getting into the specifics, a positive trend that may have gone unnoticed is the conversation has moved from farm output to farm income. Having achieved self-sufficiency plus surplus in production, the country need not worry about “where will food come from?” With farmers having delivered, it is incumbent on us to ensure they earn adequate income to support family and meet aspirational goals.

The Pioneer

To assess the plight of farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture has decided to carry out a pan-India survey to ascertain their income and indebtedness among other issues for the current crop year (July-June). The last such survey was conducted for the reference year 2012-13 (crop year). Thereafter, the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) has not conducted any such survey.

The Pioneer

To assess the plight of farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture has decided to carry out a pan-India survey to ascertain their income and indebtedness among other issues for the current crop year (July-June). The last such survey was conducted for the reference year 2012-13 (crop year). Thereafter, the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) has not conducted any such survey.

SME Times

The Government has been reorienting the agriculture sector by focusing on an income-centeredness which goes beyond achieving merely the targeted production, said an official release.

The Times of India

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) left more than 2,500 seats vacant from its all-India quota in the last four years, a reply to an RTI query has revealed, despite there being thousands of eligible candidates.

The Times of India

Seeking to bring all landholder cultivators within the institutional credit system, the Centre has decided to aim at doubling the footprint of Kisan Credit Cards from the existing 6.95 crore active cards with farmers to around 14 crore cards in due course with most being issued ahead of the general election

The Times of India

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Tuesday announced setting up a high-powered committee to boost dairy sector for supplementing farmers’ income in a result-oriented manner. During a meeting to review the progress of various development projects and schemes related to animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries, the chief minister asked additional chief secretary of animal husbandry department to complete the formalities for setting up the committee, an official statement said. The committee will consist of the Chairman of the State Farmers Commission, Director Husbandry, Director Dairy Development and a representative of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU).

Krishijagran.com

The Parliament was informed on Tuesday that the central government is planning to launch an index in order to rank the states on basis of ease of doing agriculture business.

The Wire

Shivraj Singh Chauhan was dethroned as Madhya Pradesh’s chief minister after a long stint lasting 15 years. Although the Bharatiya Janata Party lost in Madhya Pradesh, the party secured two lakh more popular votes than the Congress. Chauhan had a farmer-friendly image for a long time. He reportedly complained to the RSS number two, Bhaiyaji Joshi, that had the policies of the Centre not ruined agriculture, the BJP could have won in the state for a fourth time.

The Times of India

A team of officers from the Union agriculture ministry would be holding meetings with the government officials from Punjab, Haryana as well as Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday at Chandigarh. Punjab’s agriculture secretary Kahan Singh Pannu said that in Tuesday’s meeting, the state government would understand modalities of the scheme and would also share its data as well as inputs about state farmers

Millennium Post

In a significant boost to the agriculture sector, the Bengal government has increased the budgetary allocation for the same by 120 percent. During his Budget speech, state Finance minister Amit Mitra said in the Assembly on Monday that the total allotment for the agriculture sector has been increased from the Rs 2,766 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 6,086 crore in 2019-20.

The Pioneer

To get the first installment of Rs 2,000 under the Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), farmers will have to link their account with Aadhaar number to verify the identity of eligible farmers.

The Times of India

The agriculture department would soon distribute ‘soil health cards’ to 53,162 farmers across the district. The cards would contain all vital information of the soil in a farmer’s land such as nutrient content, chemical properties, recommended crops and nutrition inputs needed. This would help farmers use fertilizers in an informed and judicial manner and reduce expense and improve soil quality, an official said. The cards would be given under the initiative titled ‘Mission on Soil Health Card’, under the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture.

The Pioneer

In an attempt to provide farm related facilities and awareness at the doorsteps of the farmers of the State, Governor, Droupadi Murmu stressed that Birsa Agriculture University (BAU) should hold awareness programmes on Block level.

The Wire

Shivraj Singh Chauhan was dethroned as Madhya Pradesh’s chief minister after a long stint lasting 15 years. Although the Bharatiya Janata Party lost in Madhya Pradesh, the party secured two lakh more popular votes than the Congress. Chauhan had a farmer-friendly image for a long time. He reportedly complained to the RSS number two, Bhaiyaji Joshi, that had the policies of the Centre not ruined agriculture, the BJP could have won in the state for a fourth time.

The Pioneer

The Government would start disbursing substantial amount under the income support scheme for small farmers in this month itself as beneficiary data is already in place, a top Finance Ministry official said.

Krishijagran.com

Agriculture experts and farmers in Punjab have termed the Interim Budget 2019 as a ‘bundle of lies’, ‘concealed’ and a ‘rude joke’ on the farming sector for which the Centre had been making claims about increasing the minimum support price of 22 crops, promoting  diversification and bringing in improved crop insurance policies.

The Hans India

To achieve sustainable development, an equi-focus on both agriculture and industry is a sine qua non. “Developing only one sector, at the cost of other equally important sectors, is not the right strategy as all sectors is inter-connected,” said Sanjeev Chopra, Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie.

The Telegraph

The Modi government’s grand announcement of Rs 6,000 a year for small and marginal farmers owning land up to 2 hectares — which many critics see as a blatant cash-for-votes overture ahead of this year’s general election — is likely to stumble because of India’s patchy land records system.

The New Indian Express

While announcing an income support scheme for farmers in the interim Budget for 2019-20, Union minister Piyush Goyal highlighted the distress in the farm sector due to falling prices of agriculture commodities. However, a 2016 scheme launched by the government to help farmers get better prices for their produce through an integrated digital market platform still remains underutilized. According to the agriculture ministry, over one crore farmers are registered on the portal and around 45 lakh have benefited from the measure so far.

The Times of India

A farmer takes buffalo to paddy field for ploughing in Mangaluru. BENGALURU: The Narendra Modi government’s cash incentive for farmers is expected to benefit about 80 lakh small and marginal farmers in Karnataka. “There are around 80 lakh marginal and small farmers who have less than 2 hectares (5 acres) holdings. If Rs 6,000 is paid to each farmer, the total outlay for Karnataka will be Rs 4,800 crore. Karnataka should get at least Rs 1,600 crore in the first instalment before April,’’ said a senior agriculture department official citing the Karnataka Agriculture Census 2010-11.

The Wire

Much of these are supply side factors, arising from structural changes in either the agriculture sector or the economy in general. An ongoing study of farmers’ suicide cases in a relatively well-off region of Karnataka, however, points to certain changes in the fundamental relationship that farmers’ have with their land.

Telangana Today

Telangana Legislative Assembly Speaker P Srinivas Reddy said Telangana Government’s Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Beema schemes have earned United Nations recognition among the top 20 schemes selected world over.

The Economic Times

The government will pay 100 million farmers Rs 2,000 each by the end of March and will be able to swiftly transfer subsequent instalments under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PMKISAN) scheme for small landholders, minister of state for agriculture Gajendra Shekhawat told ET.

The Economic Times

As widely expected the Narendra Modi government has announced an income support scheme for poor farmers in Interim Budget 2019.

The Indian Express

Seven farmers’ organisations of Punjab have written to the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) for its intervention after several incidents of farmers facing criminal cases from private and nationalised banks over delay in recovery of agricultural loans. The organisations – BKU Ekta, Dakaunda, BKU (Ugahan), Kirti Kisan Union, Bharti Kisan Union, Kisan Sangharsh Committee, Karatikari Kisan Union and Kisan Sangharsh Committee Azad – requested the committee to stop the banks from obtaining blank cheques for agriculture loans and filing criminal cases against farmers for loan recovery, saying it is a violation of bank rules. “

Business Standard

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal had announced the scheme while presenting the interim Budget on Friday. Goyal said farmers who owned less than 2 hectares of land would receive income support worth Rs 6,000 a year — Rs 2,000 in three instalments. Crucially, the scheme was introduced with retrospective effect, and the government plans to transfer the first instalment to beneficiaries in the current fiscal year.

The New Indian Express

In another step towards strengthening agriculture infrastructure and enhancing farmers’ income, the State Government on Saturday sanctioned 20 new projects estimated at `350 crore for implementation during the current year.Projects submitted by Agriculture and Farmer’s Empowerment Department were sanctioned by the State-level Sanctioning Committee of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi here.“A total of 28 projects were presented by the project proponents. Considering their importance and feasibility, the sectioning committee accorded approval to 20 projects.

The Pioneer

The Centre has written to all States, directing them to quickly identify small and marginal farmers who will receive `2,000 as the first installment by March-end under the `75,000-crore income support package announced in the Budget, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said on  Saturday.

Krishijagran

Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) has been signed between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). A five-year plan for Indian agricultural research was finalized.

The Wire

The income support scheme in the ‘interim budget’ can give ‘interim relief’ to the farmers, but cannot provide a sustainable solution to unfair price related problems in the agricultural sector. The budget statement proposed Rs 6,000 per annum for farmers with less than five acres, under ‘Kisan Samman Nidhi’ (Farmer Honour ...

The Asian Age

Ajit Navale, a farmer leader and state general secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha, which had organised a 180-km march from Nashik to Mumbai last year, said that the Centre has lost the last chance to fulfil farmers’ demands and that a budgetary provision had not been made for increasing the income of farmers and creation of purchase centres.

Devdi course

Terming the budget for 2019-20 as historic, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan SinghFriday said it was taking a little longer to resolve farmers. problems due to the wrong policies of the previous Congressgovernments. “Since the past 48 years only slogans were raised for farmer. and poor…only one familygained strength during this period,” the minister told reporters here.

The Hindu Business Line

A five-year plan for Indian agricultural research was finalized with the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). This plan will focus on technologies especially suited to harsh conditions of the drylands, covering grain legumes and dryland cereals – groundnut, chickpea, pigeonpea, finger and pearl millet and sorghum.

AIR

Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh has said that farmers welfare is an integral part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Sabka Sath – Sabka Vikas. Addressing the conference of Vice Chancellors of State Agriculture Universities and Directors of ICAR institutes in New Delhi, Mr Singh said, a number of strategic initiatives have been taken to accelerate the progress of agriculture and to transform the farm sector.

The Times of India

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.