Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Maharashtra moves to start irrigation scheme in 251 chronic drought-hit talukasedit
The Maharashtra government on Tuesday decided to implement a programme to provide assured and protected irrigation in 251 rain-fed talukas hit by chronic drought, farmers’ suicides, and Left-wing extremism.
National Conference on Agrarian Crisis and Alternative Policies to be held on 11, 12 Julyedit
All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) together with All India Agriculture Workers Union (AIAWU) will organize a national conference on ‘Agrarian Crisis & Alternative Policies’ on 11 and 12 July, 2019 in Hyderabad.
Raigad Farmers Cultivate Rice With Less Wateredit
Rice is the second important crop of Maharashtra and is grown over an area of 14.99 lakh hectares with an annual rice production of about 32.37 lakh tons. The state’s average productivity is 2.01 t/ha, ranking it 13th in rice production in the country.
Protesting farmers sowed banned HTBT cotton, says lab reportedit
A laboratory report has confirmed that farmers in Maharashtra’s Akola district indeed sowed banned herbicide-tolerant Bt (HTBT) cotton by way of protest last month, a state government official said Tuesday.
Farmer suicides increased after UPA’s Rs 70,000 crore loan waiver: Centreedit
Suicides by farmers increased after a loan waiver of Rs 70,000 crore was announced by the previous UPA government in 2008, Union minister Parshottam Rupala said on Tuesday.
Rupala, union minister of state for agriculture, also said an audit conducted after the announcement of the mega loan waiver scheme had found that people who were not farmers were also given the loan waiver.”There was an increase in farmers suicides after the Rs 70,000 crore loan waiver scheme was announced,” he said during Question Hour.
To resolve the water crisis in India, get the agriculture rightedit
It all really started with an innocuous Instagram post by Hollywood actor Leonardo Dicaprio, wherein he highlighted the water issue in Chennai. The narrative till then was of a local Tamil Nadu government caught napping, unable to grapple with the scarcity of water. Sadly, Chennai has been no stranger to water shortages, there were even times when potable water was transported via railways to the city. So, there was not much attention given to the story, beyond the political play. But, Dicaprio’s post transmuted the water scarcity issue into a climate-change one. Almost overnight, experts and novices alike woke up to calamity of water scarcity in India.
Political crisis casts shadow over cloud seeding, drought-relief plansedit
The political turmoil has upset the drought-mitigation programmes such as cloud seeding and contingent crop plan in the state. “I was scheduled to convene a meeting on Monday to assess the sowing and programmes planned to tackle drought. But it didn’t happen as I was among the ministers who resigned, as part of the plan to save the government,” said agriculture minister NH Shivashankar Reddy. “I hope officials will handle the situation efficiently,” he added.
Farmer suicides spiked after UPA’s Rs 70k cr loan waiver: Parshottam Rupalaedit
Suicides by farmers increased after a loan waiver of Rs 70,000 crore was announced by the previous UPA government in 2008, Union minister Parshottam Rupala said on Tuesday.
Bhagwant Mann: Keeping Punjab out of agriculture committee is gross injusticeedit
AAP’s Punjab president and MP Bhagwant Mann on Monday said that the Centre had done “gross injustice” to Punjab by keeping it out of a national-level committee constituted to promote agriculture and double the income of farmers in the next three years.
Agricultural output growth to keep food prices low over the coming decade, but many uncertainties are aheadedit
Global demand for agricultural products is projected to grow by 15% over the coming decade, while agricultural productivity growth is expected to increase slightly faster, causing inflation-adjusted prices of the major agricultural commodities to remain at or below their current levels, according to an annual report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
Minor millets get a major boostedit
With water becoming a precious commodity, the state agriculture department has taken up an initiative to increase the cultivation of minor millets, which require less water and are also nutritious. Under the ‘Nutri Cereal Scheme’ of the Centre’s National Food Security Mission, the department will promote minor millets by setting up demonstration farms and providing subsidies to the farmers.
Meet the Seed Bankers Who are Saving India’s Local Cropsedit
“Annadana”, a seed bank of indigenous seeds founded by Sangeeta Sharma, a former communication professional offered 800 varieties of native seeds that are cheaper and more productive than the hybrid seeds. Sharma had established “Annadana” as a startup in 2001 with 20 varieties of indigenous seeds on her five-acre farm in Bengaluru.
World farm commodity prices could remain flat for 10 years: Annual reportedit
Prices of global farm commodities may stay flat or even drop for the next 10 years as production outpaces demand, said a report on Monday as Indian farmers look to boost their income by increasing exports.
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar expresses concern over delay in sowing of kharif cropsedit
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar Monday expressed concern over the delay in sowing due to deficient rains but said there is still time for planting of Kharif (summer-sown) crops.
Monsoon boost: Deficit in kharif sowing to be over by July-end, says govtedit
Allaying apprehension of a drop in crops output, the government has expressed confidence that the deficit in kharif sowing will be covered by the end of the month after rains rebounded in many parts in the past few days. Many of the major producing states are also banking on the current spell of monsoon to make up the sowing area losses in June that received a five-year low monsoon rainfall.
On the water frontedit
A one-week delay in the monsoon’s arrival has laid bare the precariousness of India’s water situation. The images of thousands of Chennai residents running after water tankers were telecast by BBC and CNN. Several people had to walk for miles to get drinking water in parched lands. If this was the condition of humans, one can imagine the condition of cattle. These images clearly exposed that the Indian lion, the symbol of Make in India, has feet of clay.
AI in agricultureedit
Artificial intelligence (AI) is making rapid inroads into the Indian farm sector. The ease with which farmers are adopting it indicates that it would soon become a major professional guide for the farmers.
Budget
Budget push for zero budget farming but contradictions mar Andhra’s natural agri forayedit
Andhra Pradesh has played a leading role in promoting agroecological farming in the past two decades. The Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture (CMSA) initiative of the state is often cited as a major intervention which encouraged farmers to gradually move away from chemical-intensive farming. However, despite such efforts, just 1 per cent of the state’s farmers practise non-chemical farming.
Centre allocates Rs 75,000 cr for PM-KISAN to cover 145 million farmersedit
Nirmala Sitharaman has allocated Rs 12,000 crore less in the Budget for financial year 2019-20 towards the government’s flagship income support scheme, PM-Kisan, which has been extended to cover all farmers now.
Budget 2019: Boost for rural economy as govt resolves to tackle agricultural issuesedit
Union Budget 2019 India: At the Centre of everything that we do, we keep gaon, garib aur kisan,” said finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her first Budget presentation. As we read the Budget papers in detail, we see a clear focus of the government, and rightly so, on strengthening the tenets of the rural economy, i.e. Bharat.
Technology in Agriculture
Govt to give 80% subsidy on stubble-ripper: Dy CMedit
Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday requested farmers not to burn stubble in the fields and asked them to purchase stubble-rippers on which the government will give 80% subsidy. “The stubble burning in the fields is harmful in two ways. First, the smoke coming from stubble pollutes the atmosphere. Two, it leaves behind carbon which is not useful for the agriculture field, besides killing insects which otherwise act as organic manure for the land,” Modi said while replying to a short-notice question of BJP MLA Anil Singh.
Bihar govt. giving 80 per cent subsidy on purchase of machinaries for use of stubble as fertiliseredit
Bihar government with an objective to encourage management of stubbles and their use as fertilizer instead of burning them in agriculture fields is giving 80 per cent subsidy on purchase of machinaries to meet the objective.
Stubble Burning
Govt to give 80% subsidy on stubble-ripper: Dy CMedit
Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday requested farmers not to burn stubble in the fields and asked them to purchase stubble-rippers on which the government will give 80% subsidy. “The stubble burning in the fields is harmful in two ways. First, the smoke coming from stubble pollutes the atmosphere. Two, it leaves behind carbon which is not useful for the agriculture field, besides killing insects which otherwise act as organic manure for the land,” Modi said while replying to a short-notice question of BJP MLA Anil Singh.
Bihar govt. giving 80 per cent subsidy on purchase of machinaries for use of stubble as fertiliseredit
Bihar government with an objective to encourage management of stubbles and their use as fertilizer instead of burning them in agriculture fields is giving 80 per cent subsidy on purchase of machinaries to meet the objective.