Technology Times

Soil health was unnoticed across the country by the farmers due to lack of awareness and knowledge about maintaining fertility of the soil. The use of nitrogen and phosphorus were still under-dose and some other micro was also ignored during the preparation of soil.

First post

The first three months of 2019 have seen 29 farmers committing suicide, or one farmer killing himself every two days, in Beed district of Marathwada region, one of the most drought-hit districts of Maharashtra.

Down To Earth

A team of Indian scientists has identified genotypes of soybean that can tolerate drought better without comprising on yields. Incorporating the traits, which confer drought tolerance in these cultivars, scientists hope to develop more resilient varieties.

The Hindu

India is in the middle of a historical election which is noteworthy in many respects, one of them being the unprecedented focus on women’s employment. The major national parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, have reached out to women, and their respective manifestos talk of measures to create more livelihood opportunities in rural and urban areas, which include incentives to businesses for employing more women.

The  Times of India

A study on farm suicides in Punjab between 2000 and 2013 by a professor in the Punjabi University has found that 97% were in the Malwa region. Data compiled by Kesar Bhangoo, a professor in the economics department, reveals that out of 6,943 suicides by farmers and farm labourers in Punjab during these 13 years, 6,387 (91.99%) were due to debt and 556 (8.01%) due to non-debt.

Financial Express

The current energy consumption pattern of India’s agricultural sector is mired in inefficiency. Despite farmers being dependent on the sun for most farming activities, irrigation usually happens quite late at night. This is due to the practice of supplying subsidised electricity to farmers during the midnight hours.

The Morung Express

Interacting with heads of several departments at Raj Bhavan here, Mukhi said that focus should be made for effective implementation of various centrally sponsored programmes and schemes such as doubling farmer’s income by 2022, Swachh Bharat Mission, Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DUGJY) and Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in the state.

The Wire

A right to information (RTI) query filed by The Wire has revealed that crores of rupees credited into farmers’ accounts under the Modi government’s ambitious PM Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme were reversed within a few hours.

Down To Earth

The Gujarat government must not opt for an out-of-court settlement with PepsiCo as the Protection of Plant Varieties & Farmers Rights (PPV&FR) Act 2001 lets farmers cultivate any variety they like to, including the patented variety of potatoes, say activists.