Agri-Business

According to the Joint Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India, the government is “Foreseeing the future risks of climate change” which is likely to impact agricultural growth by establishing policies for sustainable agriculture in India.

The Times of India

Sucha Singh Gill, member of the revenue commission, Punjab, on Wednesday said a shift in policy could prevent the tragedy of farmer suicides. Speaking on ‘Neo-liberalism and agrarian crisis with special reference to Punjab agriculture’, Prof Gill said commercialization was not going to help farmers as they did not have the capacity to take risks. Quoting an National Sample Survey Office report, Gill said Punjab had 25.74 lakh land owners, but of these only 9.30 lakh are actual cultivators, raising a pertinent question who are these people who are not cultivating?

ET Auto

The commerce ministry, after consulting various departments like IT and agriculture, has made an offer to the US to resolve trade issues between the two countries, Union Minister Suresh Prabhu said Wednesday. The US is demanding greater market access for its agricultural, dairy products and medical devices. Besides, they are seeking reduction in import duties on certain IT products and increasing their exports to bridge trade deficit with India.

The Indian Express

As many as 36 per cent farmers in Punjab are ‘marginal farmers’ whose income is less than their expenditure, said Professor Sucha Singh Gill, during a public lecture at Panjab University, Monday.

The Economic Times

The government and the Reserve Bank will have to bring in a new set of regulations to ensure that borrowers repay their debt on time following the Supreme Court striking down an earlier rule of the monetary authority, Niti Aayog chief executive Amitabh Kant said Wednesday.

Business Standard

“The growth is forecast to pick up modestly to 7.2 per cent in FY 2019 on revived rural consumption, continued growth in private investment in response to improved bank and corporate balance sheets, more competitive domestic firms and products under the Goods and Services Tax, and less drag from net exports,” it said.

BW Disrupt

Intello Labs, an AI-focused agritech startup, announced today that it has closed a seed round of $2 million from Nexus Venture Partners and Omnivore. Intello Labs is leveraging AI tools, including computer vision and deep learning, to build a platform for grading and quality monitoring of agricultural commodities.