ANI News

A high-level team from Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MAFW) is going to visit Jammu and Kashmir to look into the infrastructure for the overall development of agriculture and horticulture sector in the state. It was decided at a high-level meeting which was convened under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), Ministry of Agriculture Farmers and Welfare, on Saturday at Krishi Bhawan here to discuss the boost in the production of almonds and walnut of four States including J&K. The meeting was chaired by Rajveer Singh, Joint Secretary MIDH, Ministry of Agriculture Farmers and Welfare.

The Quint

It’s that time of the year again when farmers across Punjab and Haryana burn hectares of open fields to dispose off crop waste to prepare for the sowing of wheat for the next season. This results in elevated pollution levels in bordering states, especially Delhi, which sees an increase in its AQI levels due to the rise of harmful particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and other greenhouse gases which affect more than 300 million Indians. To battle the same, an Indian start-up is working on an AI-based platform called Zuri that it claims will be able to monitor and predict the adverse effects of stubble burning.

The New Indian Express

Krishna district horticulture department is going to organise a set of workshops for college students, on zero budget farming, rooftop gardening and organic farming soon. “These workshops will be exclusively designed for the students so that they can pursue these as hobbies. Also, the initiative will try to connect the young generation with agriculture,” B Dayakar Babu, Assistant Director of Horticulture, Krishna district said on Friday.

Krishi Jagran

Gujarat Agriculture Minister RC Faldu said the State Agriculture Department has commissioned a crop assessment in the excess-rainfall regions of the State, including Saurashtra and Kutch.  At a time when farmers are staring at Kharif crop losses caused by deluge, the Gujarat government has asked crop insurance companies to assess the losses and clear farmers’ claims. 

Krishi Jagran

Expanding food productions have often come at a heavy cost to the natural environment. Important key resources like water, soil quality and land are moving in a very unfavourable direction. Constant use of chemical-based inputs like fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and mechanized farming have led to over exploitation of natural resources, especially groundwater and soil to the extent that most of the farming enterprises have turned out to be environmentally unsustainable. the Green Revolution has brought much needed self-sufficiency in the production of foodgrains. In fact, cereals production has generally been greater than the domestic demand since the mid-1990s, leading to an increase in export of cereals. Over the past half-century, rice yield grew by 145 percent and wheat, by 270 percent.

The Leaflet

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Chief Secretaries of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to constitute special cells to review the air pollution levels on a daily basis for the next one month, including on holidays. The panel directed to finalise a monitoring mechanism by October 7 in the wake of paddy straw burning. The NGT panel headed by chairperson Justice AK Goel passed the order in a plea filed by Ganga Lalwani for remedial action to prevent burning of crop residue that leads to air pollution in the NCR region.

The Morung Express

One day collaborative training on ‘Sensitization on Agripreneurship’ sponsored by National Institute of Agricultural Management (NIAM), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, GoI and ATMA Nagaland was held at the Conference Hall, Directorate of Agriculture, Kohima on September 27. Dr I Amenla, Joint Director of Agriculture in her introductory speech stressed on engaging the unemployed youth in Agriculture and also on “understanding the bigger picture” as it involves not only farming but fields which can be diversified into Agribusiness.

ANI News  The Hans India

Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan on Friday said that organic farming is an age-old tradition of India and has been practised by farmers since olden days. He was speaking to the media after inaugurating the ‘National Organic Agricultural Products Exhibition’ at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Complex stadium here.

Live Mint

A unique app combines Artificial Intelligence and geospatial data to help monitor and regulate farm fires. It has been conceptualised by a Gurugram-based collective, Blue Sky Analytics, which has worked on a set of apps and dashboards that monitor air quality and emissions. Blue Sky Analytics will start doing predictions well before the burning season, allowing policymakers to focus in advance on farms that have been known to burn crop waste historically.