Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Self-driving tractors: Next big thing in agricultureedit
If the change from manual or animal assisted agricultural operations to tractors, was a revolution, another huge change is in the offing. Farmers will soon be able to till the soil, sow seeds and harvest crops, using a driver-less tractor.
Indian companies are among the world’s early movers in developing a driverless tractor. The Mahindra group unveiled its version last year. The farmer can sit in the shade, and control the tractor and its tilling pattern, from a tablet computer. He can also set a geo-fence using GPS so that the tractor does not stray into an adjoining field. And if an obstacle like a cow comes in the path, it is intelligent enough to avoid it! Another Indian ...
Indian agriculture is under an invisible emergencyedit
In 2019, three weeks after the kharif harvesting season began, reports emerged that farmers are selling their produce at a price way below the minimum support price (MSP) announced by the government. Except for a few crops like paddy and maize, market prices for most of the 14 kharif crops, including moong, urad, tur, nigerseeds, bajra, jowar, ragi, cotton, soya bean and sunflower, dropped 8-37 per cent below MSP.
While farmers incurred massive losses, the news did not trigger much outrage among the middle class. The reason is simple: If food prices remain low, household budget remains intact. In fact, the government got a pat on the back for keeping food inflation under control, and nobody really bothered to know what ...
Look back at the decade: Agrarian distressedit
By 2010, India was feted globally to tide over the economic recession of 2008 smoothly. At the core of this achievement was retaining demands for consumption that sustained economic growth. A Majority of these consumers are in rural India and most of them also depend on agriculture. This showed the criticality of rural India to the national economy.
But, from the middle of the decade a deep agrarian crisis set in. It pushed some 440 million Indians into an economic abyss. This decade would be remembered for the meltdown of the rural economy while the formal economy as well floundered. India is about to enter into a critical phase.
Dairy Farming
There’s some dung around: Solving the dairy value chain problemedit
There is a first world problem visiting the shores of the developing world, and it’s called deflation. India has been seeing some deflationary pressure, or at least price stagnation across several sectors in the economy in the last six months. Not a healthy sign for a growing economy perhaps, but that’s another other discussion. Limited inflation in food is actually a good thing.
Technology in Agriculture
Emerging tech can address major agricultural challenges: Expertsedit
The Indian agriculture sector contributes around 18% to the Indian GDP and is one of the major employers in the country. The rising urban and rural populations are dependent on the agrarian sector, following which the demand is robust and expected to grow further.
Besides satiating India’s needs, the agriculture sector is also driving exports and in the coming years, the sector is poised to generate better momentum.
Smart Agriculture to support the demands of agritech sectoredit
We live in an age where it pays to be smart, be it in our approach towards cities, classrooms or even agriculture and farming. While in the US up to 80% farmers use smart farming technology, in India, the field of smart agriculture is still at a nascent stage, says Deependra Kumar Jha, vice chancellor, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES) that has recently launched its School of Smart Agriculture to cater to the growing demand for new-age agri professionals
Govt. Policies
Tackling farm crisis, ensuring quota for locals top on coalition agendaedit
Tackling growing unemployment, the farm crisis and ensuring reservation for locals top the agenda for the alliance led by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) as it prepares to form the government in Jharkhand.
JMM, which contested the assembly elections in alliance with the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, promised in its manifesto earnings of ₹72,000 per annum for every poor family. The alliance also promised that unemployed graduates and post-graduates will get a monthly allowance of ₹5,000 and ₹7,000 respectively. The populist promises include reserving 75% of private sector jobs for locals, along with 28% reservation for Scheduled Tribes, 27% for Other Backward Classes and 12% for Scheduled Castes. The alliance has also promised to come out with an ...