Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
New mobile app launched to assist farmersedit
The Ministries of Earth Sciences and Agriculture have launched a mobile application that will provide location, and crop and livestock-specific weather-based agro advisories to farmers in local languages. To begin with, the service would be available for 150 districts in different parts of the country. It will be extended to rest of the country in a phased manner over the next one year. It will provide forecast relating to temperature, rainfall, humidity, and wind speed and direction, which play critical roles in agricultural operations and advisories to the farmers on how to take care of their crops and livestock. The information would be updated twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Assam CM Sonowal stresses the importance of adopting organic farming in Northeastedit
Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on August 2 took part in the inaugural programme of Northeast regional conference on transformation of Indian agriculture organised in Guwahati. Speaking on the occasion, he said that the constitution of a committee consisting of chief ministers for the transformation of Indian agriculture was indicative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s emphasis on the growth of the sector.
CM: govt intends to make Goa an organic stateedit
The Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, on Friday, announced that the government intends to make Goa an organic state, further maintaining that use of fertilisers like urea need to be discouraged among the farmers to achieve this goal. Replying to a Zero Hour Mention from the Mandrem MLA Dayanand Sopte as regards farmers in Bardez and Pernem talukas facing scarcity of fertilisers, the Chief Minister said that the department of agriculture will be regularly making available organic fertilisers like cow dung and ash to the local farmers, which would take some time.
Monsoon rains pick up, help revival of kharif crop plantingedit
A sharp pick up in monsoon rains in July has led to a rapid revival of summer crop planting across the country. The rainfall deficit, which was around 30% at the start of July, has now narrowed to 9%, boosting prospects of a good agricultural output. The crop area, which was down 6.4% last week compared with a year earlier, has slipped marginally to 6.6% as on Friday, but this is likely to be covered by next week with the weather office predicting above normal rains in August wiping out all the shortfall.
Farming 3.0 – Making Agriculture Sustainable through Micro-Irrigationedit
India is a water-stressed country. Going by the current rate of population growth and consumption trends, India, by as early as 2050, could be a water-scarce country. That means, if this prophecy of doom comes to pass, there will be less than 1000 cubic meters of water available per person in a year. This scarcity of water poses a severe existential challenge to humanity in general. But it presents an all the more grave and immediate threat to regions like Marathwada that rely on agriculture.
Agriculture meet in Guwahati to aid Northeast farmersedit
A northeast regional conference on transformation of Indian agriculture was held in Guwahati on Friday. Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu, who is a member of the high-powered committee on transformation of Indian agriculture, attended the conference. Speaking on the occasion, he said that a time has come when all the policy-makers and technocrats need to focus on sustainable and resurgent agriculture which will be robust, productive, climate resilient and farmer-oriented.
Technology in Agriculture
New mobile app launched to assist farmersedit
The Ministries of Earth Sciences and Agriculture have launched a mobile application that will provide location, and crop and livestock-specific weather-based agro advisories to farmers in local languages. To begin with, the service would be available for 150 districts in different parts of the country. It will be extended to rest of the country in a phased manner over the next one year. It will provide forecast relating to temperature, rainfall, humidity, and wind speed and direction, which play critical roles in agricultural operations and advisories to the farmers on how to take care of their crops and livestock. The information would be updated twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Farming 3.0 – Making Agriculture Sustainable through Micro-Irrigationedit
India is a water-stressed country. Going by the current rate of population growth and consumption trends, India, by as early as 2050, could be a water-scarce country. That means, if this prophecy of doom comes to pass, there will be less than 1000 cubic meters of water available per person in a year. This scarcity of water poses a severe existential challenge to humanity in general. But it presents an all the more grave and immediate threat to regions like Marathwada that rely on agriculture.