The New Indian Express

In a bid to assist farming communities in proper management of water resources and selection of crops basing on availability of water, the Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare department has asked all Collectors to form district-level committees for implementation of crop water budgeting (CWB). The benefits of adopting CWB include increase in awareness level among farmers on water resources and water saving devices for improved irrigation system.

The Economic Times

farMart started with an Uber-like model for tractors, but is now providing credit loan to underserved farmers and addressing some basic farming woes. “Smallholder farmers are unable to acquire loans from banks and NFBCs as the financial institutions have no mechanism to assess their creditworthiness, track utilization and collect small ticket size payments from farmers. Agriculture is a seasonal activity and informal lenders tend to exploit farmers as capital is scarce during particular periods in cropping cycles,”

News Gram

The increasing frequency of pest attacks on the state’s farmlands forced the state government to deliberate over the issue. Experts and agricultural scientists have now brought the focus on beneficial insects, whose population has substantially eroded over the past years owing to indiscriminate use of pesticides and chemicals by farmers in the state. State Agriculture Department Joint Director Dr Sukhdev Singh said excessive use of chemicals on farmlands was also killing agriculture-friendly insects useful in controlling the population of pests.

DNA India

The Gujarat government on Sunday announced that it will give a second agriculture power connection to farmers from the tribal belt with a survey number land of four-acre or more. The state in a release said that the decision was taken to benefit small farmers, particularly in tribal areas of the state where landholdings are not big enough to get a second power connection for agriculture.

The Hans India

Heavy rains lashed several mandals in the district on Sunday. After long duration of dry spell, heavy downpour gave a major relief to farmers to practice cultivation works. Heavy rainfall recorded in Srikakulam City and Rural, Narasannapeta, Kotabommali, Tekkali, Nandigama, Palasa, Mandasa, Meliaputti, Sompeta, Etcherla, Amudalavalasa and other mandals.

Deccan Chronicle

Agri input stocks have trended lower in the last three months of erratic monsoon rains which picked up pace after a delayed start and still remains deficient in some parts of the country. The stock price has trended lower almost in a secular manner for fertiliser, agro chemicals and seed companies, analysis of data by Financial Chronicle showed with some big names like UPL, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers, GNFC, GSFC, Bayer Cropscience and Deepak Fertilisers down between 30 to 50 per cent over the last three month period.

Telangana Today

At a time when the national growth rate of the agricultural sector is showing signs of a downtrend, Telangana surpassed area under cultivation during the last kharif season in terms of crucial crops such as paddy and cotton. As against 9.05 lakh hectare cultivated last year as on date, paddy is being cultivated in about 9.28 lakh hectare in the State currently. The total area sown crossed the 90 per cent-mark this week with about 38.79 lakh hectare under cultivation against the normal area of 43.34 lakh hectare during the current kharif.

Live Mint

The late revival in monsoon rains has brought a much-required reprieve for agricultural input providers. The delay in the onset of the monsoon has impacted sales, making the June quarter one of the weakest for most farm input providers. But the scenario has now changed. “Amid the pickup in monsoon and contraction in sowing deficit, we expect performance to stabilize in Q2FY20,” said analysts at Edelweiss Securities Ltd. It said Q1 was one of the weakest ones for the sector.