The Statesman

Ever since Oxfam published its sensational report half a decade ago about women doing 80 per cent of India’s farm work though owning only 13 per cent of the land, there has been considerable discourse on feminisation of Indian agriculture, rebutted by others insisting that there has actually been a defeminisation.

Business Standard

NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand on Tuesday said public perception of growing harmful effects of chemicals in food cannot be addressed by organic farming or zero budget farming alone. Chand said the plant protection industry should play an active role in assuring consumers that all chemicals aren’t harmful and must educate farmers to adopt good farm practices and stop excessive use of chemicals.

The Hindu

The Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) of all major crops for the Kharif season FY2020 have been set at 50% above the cost of production, according to an answer given in Parliament by the Agriculture Ministry. MSPs have been steadily rising, but there seems to be a variation in what is considered production cost.

Daily Excelsior

Processing of seeds for agricultural purposes will ensure not only a fillip in crop production but its comparative better quality. It is well known that there are more than one physical characters of seeds like its size,shape, texture, length, colour and weight as also its affinity to liquid and electrical conductivity and the processing could be done on one or more attributes.

The Hindu

Measures include loans and investments in infrastructure and machinery. Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Tuesday made announcements in the Assembly to boost the agriculture and horticulture sectors in the State

The Times of India

Foodgrain production in the ongoing kharif (summer sown) season is expected to be same as last year’s despite deficient monsoon rains so far as there is still time to sow paddy and other crops, a senior government official said Tuesday. He said the farm sector is facing many challenges in form of water scarcity, providing right prices to farmers for their produce, market linkage and achieving sharp jump in agri-exports.

Krishi Jagran

A senior government official on 15th July 2019 said that the government is planning to make some changes to the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). The key changes will include making crop insurance voluntary to all farmers, giving flexibility to states to provide customised add on products,  removal of high premium crops, etc.

Odisha TV

The farming community has alleged that, though it is monsoon, the peak time for agriculture, they are yet to begin the agrarian works as there is no water in their fields. Hundreds of farmers in Dengsarangi and Gandamunda areas of the district have claimed that peasants residing in the low-lying areas are deprived of water for farming as adequate water has not been released from the Hirakud Dam.

Krishi Jagran

Representatives of the agrochemical industry expressed their views on making agricultural practices in India more Climate resilient and profitable for farmers. Topics discussed at the conference included reduction in timelines for registration for new molecules (first time to country), protection of regulatory data (PRD) & implementation of international best practices. Ways to help bring new technologies to Indian farmers, reduction of GST on crop protection chemicals, and to curb the proliferation of spurious agro chemicals were also discussed.

The Hans India

Initiating the debate on demands for grants of the ministries of Rural Development and Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the BJP Government of paying ‘lip service’ to the cause of farmers and not taking any concrete measure to resolve the agrarian crisis. “Indian farmer is today in the midst of a serious agrarian crisis with more than 30 farmers committing suicide each day,” he said.

Orissa Post

On a normal year with good rainfall, agricultural activities in this district often pick up pace by mid July. However, that is not the case this year owing to the dry spell that is affecting plantation of saplings leaving the farmers a worried lot. Mahapatra confirmed that the district has received less rainfall than the normal. “I hope the agricultural activities won’t get affected as some parts of the district are getting good rains. While sowing has been completed, transplantation is affected,” he said.

The Kashmir Times

In the last five years, our government has succeeded only in explaining in 14 volumes as to how farmers’ income will be doubled by 2022. The last volume contains only recommendations. In the meantime agriculture sector went from bad to worse, farmers’ income went further down with no sign of improvement in near future, and their distress aggravated further. Does it not also speak volumes about the dismal performance of the government? We cannot feed on mere ‘dreams’ and ‘optimism’ as our prime ministers want us to. We need real food and real income through real growth in Agriculture.

Krishi Jagran

 

The new India has ensured different agricultural policies which are working for the well-being of both farmers and consumers. Around 80% of India’s poor and farmers are living in rural areas. Hence, addressing widespread poverty and ensuring domestic food security are key objectives.

The New Indian Express

The World Bank has evinced interest in becoming a development partner of the state government in building a disaster-resilient Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said. Strengthening of rural markets; sustainable agriculture development project for Attapadi; Athirappilly Tribal Valley Agriculture project; and projects to check flooding in the Kole fields of Kuttanad.