Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Depressing trendedit
Another year passes by. While there were a lot of expectations for a better future for farmers, but as 2019 fades into history, the farming community is still grappling to recover the cost of cultivation. With prices dropping across the spectrum, barring a few crops where assured procurement takes place, farmers incurred massive losses. With agriculture is crisis, the farm labour too had to bear the brunt. Farm wages had prevailed at a five-year low.
Dairy Farming
Modi govt backs cow dung-based farming. Now its own officials call it a ‘myth’edit
Top serving and retired government officials, agriculture scientists and policymakers have warned that the zero budget natural farming (ZBNF) method, actively promoted by the Modi government, could lead to severe food shortage in the country.
The ZBNF is a low-cost farming method propounded by the 2016 Padma Shri awardee Subhash Palekar. It involves the application of a mixture of fresh indigenous cow dung and urine along with jaggery, pulses and flour on the soil to be cultivated.
Govt. Policies
Govt to launch scheme providing food to farmers at Rs 10: Haryana CM Khattaredit
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is all set to introduce a new scheme which would provide nutritious meals to farmers visiting the grain market with their crops at Rs 10. The scheme will also apply to farmers visiting the sugar mills as well.
The decision was taken by Khattar in the meeting of party volunteers in Rohtak’s canal rest house.
Punjab Government Mulls Partial Withdrawal Of Power Subsidy To Farmers With Medium, Large Landholdingsedit
The Congress government in Punjab led by Chief Minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh in a special meeting took up a proposal to withdraw any power subsidy to a section of farmers, reports The Economic Times.
If the State government decides to go ahead with the proposal then except small and marginal farmers, the ones with medium and large landholdings would lose the subsidy cover.
Stubble Burning
Dipping mercury may damage wheat sown lateedit
It is feared the intense cold wave may cause damage to the late sown wheat crop. Many farmers were forced to resow because of Armyworm and pink stem borer infestation and the July floods. They now fear heavy losses.
“In view of the ban imposed by the state government, farmers had to sow wheat without burning the stubble, which led to Armyworm and pink stem borer infestation, and they had to resow the crop. Now, dipping temperatures could prove detrimental for the late sown varities”, explained Rajpal Singh, a BKU (Ugrahan) leader from Mangwal village. “The Punjab Government has not announced any financial help to the farmers who have suffered losses,” he said. In Sangrur district, wheat ...