Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Pulses, oilseeds procurement at 50% of target with two weeks leftedit
The government has so far procured 1.8 million tonnes of kharif season pulses and oilseeds, which is less than half of the sanctioned procurement quantity of 3.78 million tonnes, even as procurement ends this month.
Market cues: Link between MSPs, mandi rates tenuousedit
A comparison of the increase in mandi rates of key foodgrain and the hikes in their minimum support prices (MSPs) over the years shows that higher MSPs don’t always translate into better realisations for farmers. While the link between the two — mandi rates and MSPs — are somewhat erratic, in most cases the mandi prices have remained significantly lower than MSPs (see chart).
Now, AI to help government gauge crop yieldedit
In order to speed up claim settlement of farmers under the existing crop insurance scheme, the agriculture ministry has decided to use specialised agencies to carry out pilot studies to estimate crop yield at village/gram panchayat level using innovative technology. The move will help in quickly arriving at an “accurate” yield estimation figure.
External funds for research in ICAR institutes remain unutilisededit
The Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) has asked several agricultural research institutes affiliated to it to furnish details of the externally funded research projects taken up by them.
According to the sources, an ICAR circular said the funds remitted to 32 externally funded projects by the sponsored agencies from different countries remained lying in various banks since the financial year 2014-15.
A sweet success story: In 12 years, India’s honey production grows by 200%, exports by 207%edit
As per the latest data from the National Bee Board, under the Department of Agriculture, the country’s total honey production reported in 2017 – 2018 was 1.05 lakh metric tonnes (MTs), compared to the 35,000 metric tonnes in 2005-2006. Today, India also has as many as 35 lakh bee colonies, compared to 8 lakh during 2005-2006. The number of beekeepers, beekeeping companies and honey societies has also increased and as of January 2019, the country had 9,091 registered people in the apiary business.
SMART project to bring residue-free vegetables to Pune marketsedit
URBAN consumers in Pune will soon be able to buy fruits and vegetables that are free of any residues of insecticides and other chemicals. The Department of Agriculture, along with the Directorate of Marketing and the Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB), are working towards the creation of a value chain which will make such products available for urban consumers.
Teenage innovater from Kashmir’s Pattan designs an agriculture droneedit
A class 9 student from Khore Sherabad, Pattan has designed a drone to help farmers in spraying pesticides in their orchards in a better and efficient way. The unique innovation 15-year-old Aryan Khan has come up with has been named as ‘Agriculture Drone’.
Farmer leader hits out at GAIL for pipelineedit
Farmer leader PR Pandiyan has stated GAIL violated norms while laying pipelines near Tharangambadi and the violations should be investigated by the State government.
Stubble Burning
Long-term plans to fight pollution in Delhi gathering dustedit
Air pollution level in the city nosedived last week and stayed in the ‘very poor’ category for two days partly due to dust storms and also because of non-implementation of long-term plans to fight pollution, experts and government officials told The Hindu.