Financial Express

Women farmers in Maharashtra have now joined the wave of pro-GM crop protests in Maharashtra by sowing the unauthorised varieties of herbicide-tolerant Bt (HT Bt) cotton in Pusada village, Amravati, on Sunday.

Financial Express

The tardy progress in the spread of southwest monsoon and prevailing heat wave conditions in many parts of the country have delayed planting in the current kharif season, with the area sown remaining nearly 8% lower than in the previous year, top officials in the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) said.

The Indian Express

FARMERS IN seven major paddy-growing districts of Haryana have agreed to opt for maize and other alternatives after the Manohar Lal Khattar-led state BJPgovernment offered major incentives for crop diversification in an attempt to address the rapidly falling groundwater levels in the state.

BW Businessworld

Bernard Baruch, a financier who was economic advisor to the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “Vote for the man who promises least, because he will be the least disappointing”.  Is it a homily, we wonder, that farmers in Madhya Pradesh (MP) should have heard? Before the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly polls, the Congress Party promised to waive loans of up to Rs 2 lakh of some 51 lakh farmers who had applied for the relief. As a poll strategy, it was scarcely innovative, for the tradition of wooing the populous community of Indian farmers with promises of debt write-offs dates way back to 1987.

The Print

Himachal Pradesh’s farmers have been traditionally credited with turning the state’s rugged mountain valleys into India’s best farming hubs, and with bringing in the apple revolution and high-yield cash crops.

The Times of India

Congress leader and former CM Prithviraj Chavan questioned the state’s data in the latest economic survey, saying it showed the agricultural growth rate being revised by as much as 11 percentage points in the same year.

The Wire

Now the robots are coming for our farms. The Washington Post tells us “farmworkers could be replaced by robots sooner than we think.” The Guardian paints a picture of “space bots with lasers, killing plants.” The New Yorker calls ours the “age of robot farmers,” forecasting that “the future of fruit-and-vegetable farming is automation.”

The Economic Times 

With the Union Budget around the corner, the Karnataka Poultry Farmers and Breeders Association (KPFBA) wants the Government of India to consider all poultry farming activities as ‘Agriculture’ under the Income Tax Act.

The Times of India

The Telangana high court on Tuesday directed the principal secretary of the state’s agriculture department to be present before the court on July 1 to explain the reasons as to why the authorities failed to pay compensation to the farmers of Adilabad district whose crops were severely damaged in the heavy rains of August 2018.

The New Indian Express

At a time when the State Level Banker’s Committee (SLBC) is putting its foot down to initiate steps including attachment of property to recover loans to farmers, it has emerged that the bad loans in the agriculture sector in Kerala is as low as 2.75 per cent.

Orissa Post

Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal Tuesday said the government will emphasise on agriculture development and farmers’ welfare for bringing poverty below five per cent over the next five years.

Addressing the inaugural session of the 16th Odisha Legislative Assembly, the Governor said the government will provide interest free crop loans to small and marginal farmers up to Rs 1 lakh.

The New Indian Express

A division bench of Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the principal secretary to agriculture to appear before it on July 1 and explain the reasons for the delay in payment of compensation (input subsidy) to the farmers of Adilabad district, who suffered crops damage due to unprecedented rains in August last year.

DNA

Demands to lift ban on the use of herbicide-tolerant Bt (HTBT) cotton in the state are growing stronger. Several farmers organisations have argued that the state government needs to take action in this regard soon to avoid the illegal sale of such seeds annually. HTBT is the herbicide tolerant (Ht) third-generation of genetically-modified (GM) cotton.

The New Indian Express

After the moratorium on agriculture loan and SARFAESI Act, the state government is now bracing to take on the public sector banks on the ‘agriculture gold loan scheme’ under the interest subvention scheme (ISS) of the Centre.