Nagaland Post

India is losing 5,334 million tonnes of soil every year which is about one millimeter of top soil being lost due to soil erosion because of indiscriminate use of fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides over the years (The Hindu, 2010). The organic matter content, on an average, has gone down to a critical level and several micro-nutrient deficiencies are surfacing rather quickly in different parts of the country (The Hindu, 2017).

The Times of India

Until a decade ago, agriculture was not a career option for urban students. Aspirants and their parents’ associated agriculture jobs with working in the fields in a remote, rural area. However, that perception has changed over the last few years with the state and central government’s focus on this sector. Experts speculate that there will be more jobs in agriculture and allied industries, than ever before. “India being a land of agriculture, the future of agriculture education must grow in an extravagant way,” says Rajendra Prasad, vice-chancellor, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore.

The Free Press Journal

Southwest monsoon this year has become a thing of concern for policymakers as it has not just been delayed by a week, but it is also likely to be sluggish and erratic, which may spell trouble for the farm sector.

Business Standard

Several hundred farmers Monday sowed genetically modified Bt (bacillus thuringiensis) cotton and brinjal in Maharashtra’s Akola district in protest against the Union government’s ban on their use in agriculture, a farm outfit functionary said.

Mint

In a series of major decisions in its first cabinet meeting, the Andhra Pradesh government on Monday said all women who send their children to school will receive ₹15,000 from the state government from 26 January next year.

The Economic Times

An Indian farm group said its members had planted a variety of genetically modified cotton seeds which have not been approved by the country’s government, an offence that could result in five years imprisonment.

The Indian Express

After half a century, India is under a major locust attack from breeding grounds in Balochistan, Pakistan. Other international tidings are also not favourable for Indian farmers. In 2014, crude prices had hit rock bottom and the government received a bonanza of a few lakh crore. Circumstances have changed today: India’s finances are in a perilous state and we face the spectre of a drought.

State Times

Advisor to Governor K K Sharma on Monday called for tapping state’s growth potential in Farming sector. “Take determined efforts to bridge the gap between farmers, researchers, policy makers and development agencies for formulation and implementation of need based plans to facilitate growth of farming as a viable and lucrative venture in the state” he was speaking at an interactive meeting with statutory officers/officers of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology (SKUAST) Jammu.

The Times of India

The report on Periodic Labour Force Survey 2017-18 has now been released. Critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made much of the leaked estimate of unemployment rate of 6.1%. Hoping to turn voters against him, they repeated ad nauseam that unemployment rate had turned the highest in 45 years. But with their blinkered vision, they failed to see that the flip side of unemployment rate is employment rate, which stood at a hefty 94%. For most voters, unemployment was not an issue.

Rising Kashmir

Director Agriculture, P S Rathore, today reviewed the stocking of inputs like seeds, fertilizers, machinery for Kharif season and implementation of various farmers’ welfare schemes, here at a meeting. The meeting was attended by Joint Director of Agriculture (Inputs), Bule Kumar Zuti, Joint Director of Agriculture Extension, Anil Arora and Chief Agriculture Officers and Sectoral Officers. The implementation of action plans under the schemes like Ratriya Krii Vikas Yojana (RKVY), National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), Seed Village Programme (SVP) were discussed in detail. The improvement of infrastructure facilities at the grass roots level also came up during the discussions in the meeting.

The Times of India

Agriculture minister Vijai Sardesai on Monday floated the idea of developing Agricloud, a digital platform for management of agriculture activities in the state, the tender for which will be issued soon. The interface will enable the government to register farmers and keep track of all subsidies and inputs provided, while allowing farmers to make informed decisions through customised information provided by the system. “If my idea of setting up 500 organic clusters in Goa by this year actually works, we can have an Agricloud. We are in the process of finalising the tender for Agricloud,” Sardesai said.

The Indian Express

The Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) of Unjha in Mehsana district is set for a change of leadership after current chairman Gaurang Patel’s ‘Vishwas Panel’ on Monday lost to Dinesh Patel’s ‘Vikas Panel’ by as many as 10 seats to the election for 12 positions in the farmers and traders categories.

Qrius

As of June 8, the government said that it will implement the PM-KISAN scheme for farmers across India. After a cabinet meeting, the NDA government notified the ministry of agriculture to work with the states on implementing the programme.

ET Rise

Agri-focused accelerator and investor Pioneering Ventures has launched its Rural India Impact Fund, a private equity fund with a targeted corpus of $70 million, to provide growth capital exclusively to companies it has backed so far.

Financial Express

As several industries reel under the impact of rural slowdown, raising farm productivity could be one step towards increasing the demand from the rural sector, according to one of the foremost agriculture economists. For achieving this, India needs to rev up its agri-GDP growth which is below the desirable level of 4% per annum, Ashok Gulati, Chair Professor at Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, wrote in The Indian Express today. “India has never had any major agri-reforms and farmers’ incomes have remained very low,” he added.

Mathrubhumi

The opposition in the House moved a notice for an adjournment motion to discuss the farmers suicide in the state. Congress MLA I C Balakrishnan moved the notice for adjournment demanding a discussion in the wake of not waiving farmers loans