The Asian Age

YSR Congress Party on Tuesday lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for storming out of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) or FreeTrade Agreement, saying that it is a breather for the agriculture and industrial sectors of the country.  The union government’s decision in this regard is a breather for the agricultural and industrial sectors of the country. Had India entered into RCEP, the market would have flooded with imported products. The agreement would have adversely affected the interests of the local farmers and medium level industrialists.

Afternoon

Despite heavy rains and floods this year, many parts of Maharashtra received deficient rainfall. 70 per cent area of the state falls under semi-arid region. Maharashtra has declared drought three times in the last five years. In the backdrop of water crisis and drought, Israel can be role model for Maharashtra in water management. Farmers of the state have been irrigating their fields by flooding them, while Israel has invented drip irrigation technology which saves up to 75 per cent water. Drip irrigation also increases crop production by 15 per cent.

The Times of India

Promoting crop diversification and shifting to a short duration paddy crop in Punjab can help reduce the stubble burning problem and its impact on air pollution in the national capital, National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) CEO Ashok Dalwai said on Tuesday. Paddy can be grown in other parts of the country but not wheat which requires winter, he said, adding the state government should educate farmers to shift to non-paddy crops by providing some incentive.

Orissa Diary

Union Ministry for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare adopts several steps to tackle Stubble burning Ministry for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has adopted several measures to tackle Stubble burning incidents. The Central Sector Scheme, ‘Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization for In-Situ Management of Crop Residue in the State of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh & NCT of Delhi’ was launched with a total outgo of Rs.1151.80 Crores for the period from 2018-19 to 2019-20 by the Government of India to tackle air pollution and to subsidize machinery required for in-situ management of crop residue in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi. Within one year of its implementation utilizing an amount of Rs. 500 crore, the ...

The Siasat Daily

Kerala’s ruling communists are now eagerly embracing the path of technological upgradation in the agrarian sector with the state’s young Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar providing a prime example. Speaking to IANS here, the 52-year-old Kumar said he has set up a full fledged “Mission Mechanisation Programme” in his department where a registry is currently being prepared of all the machinery owned by the department.  The biggest addition that has already undergone field trials is an agro-drone which can be used for spraying fertilizers, micronutrients and pesticides. Next month this will be officially launched in Thrissur. We are working out a protocol for this drone for when it will be used for spraying chemicals as here ...

The Economic Times

In an effort to productively use India’s wastelands, the ministry of rural development has come out with the fifth edition of Wasteland Atlas -2019, eight years after the last edition was published in 2011. This is significant as it takes into account 12.08 MHa of unmapped area of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) for the first time. “The effort has resulted in estimating the spatial extent of wastelands for entire country to the tune of 55.76 Mha (16.96 per cent of geographical area of the country i.e. 328.72 Mha) for the year 2015-16 as compared to 56.60 Mha (17.21 per cent) in the year 2008-09,” rural development ministry said on Tuesday.

The Times of India

Tamil Nadu minister for revenue and disaster management R B Udhayakumar on Tuesday launched an app called PANNAI (Pest-disease advance notification and need-based agriculture information) developed by the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation for farmers in the Vedaranyam block. Minister for agriculture R Doraikkannu launched a newly developed geo-agri portal. The new portal is a geographical information system (GIS)-based forewarning model for pest and disease management for paddy and vegetable crops in Vedaranyam block. Both the launches were held at MSSRF here.

Krishi Jagran

Efficient use of technology has the potential to spell a turnaround to make farming profitable, help overcome the crisis in the agriculture sector and also help meet the changing needs (demands) of consumers, said Director of Research in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) K.S. Subramanian. Delivering the lecture, Dr Subramanian said about the challenges and opportunities in the smart agriculture and he also emphasized on how the artificial intelligence, drone, sensor technologies, robotics may play a crucial role in extending of modern technologies to the farmers in the country. He also spoke on how nanotechnology will contribute to agricultural research for providing better services and developing low cost farm applications and technologies.

All India Radio   

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has said, the role of agriculture scientists is vital in farmers’ welfare and country’s progress. He said, the revamped ASRB will play a greater role in ensuring availability of capable and qualified Agriculture Scientists through a transparent and streamlined process.