Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Give farmers a carbon tax break after ‘harvest from hell’: Green Party agriculture criticedit
It sounds a little counter-intuitive admits the Green Party’s agriculture critic, but it’s true. The party devoted to saving the environment is calling for a break on the carbon tax for some of Canada’s long-suffering farmers.
After a rainy year in the Prairies, wheat farmers have been left with the soggiest harvest in almost a decade and adding insult to injury is an extra charge for the federal carbon tax on fuel used to dry the grain.
Kate Storey, an organic wheat farmer in Manitoba who also serves as the Green Party’s agriculture critic, says this tax break would more closely resemble “disaster relief” than anything else and it’s not going to make the Green Party any less ...
Farming development aspirationsedit
Food, as development studies writer John Madeley reminds us, is more than a commodity and agriculture more than an economic activity. Agriculture employs about 44% of India’s workforce, but contributes about 14% of its GDP. Farmers have no control on agricultural input costs and output prices, hence the distress.
Govt cuts reserve prices of wheat, rice to make space for new crop yieldedit
Faced with poor offtake of grains from the official reserves, the government has cut the reserve prices of wheat and rice to clear the space for new crop, as the current food grain stocks with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) is 2.5 times the buffer norm. But, the delayed decision may not help FCI to substantially liquidate its stocks as procurement of the new crop will start from April. For this the agency needs 35 million tonne (MT) of storage space.
View: Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens, not quite the challenges on Budget-eveedit
As Budget Day draws near, the business press tends to focus on likely Budget announcements, chiefly changes to assorted tax rates, apart from the size of the fiscal deficit relative to the value of the economy’s overall output, or Gross Domestic Product. This misses out on some crucial aspects of what needs to be done.
The world is fragile. Global warming has made extreme climate events more frequent and ever more erratic. The world economy flounders, as output growth slows in most major economies but stock markets boom, thanks to the liquidity sloshing around in the world’s financial plumbing, after quantitative easing (QE) by the US Fed, European Central Bank, Bank of Japan and Bank of England ...
Budget
Budget 2020: Will Fewer Middlemen Incentives, Innovation Fund Catalyse Agritech Startups?edit
It’s 2020 and we are almost on the verge of yet another Union Budget that will once again decide the fate of millions of farmers in India.
The 15-year-old MS Swaminathan report on Indian agriculture and the plight of farmers is outdated and the situation for the agri economy has only worsened since then as the Indian government never acted upon the recommendations of the report.Technology in Agriculture
Agri goes high-tech as start-ups aboundedit
Financial Express
As the proliferation of smartphones and the availability of cheap data packages empowers farmers to access information and advice, Agri tech startups are coming into their own.
India’s agriculture departments are complex. But Odisha is using data to fix itedit
India’s agriculture policy makers have the herculean task of not only delivering time-sensitive responses to farmers’ needs but also accounting for personnel, topographical, weather, and logistical variations within each state. But the growing calls for modernising agriculture, however, has been merely focused on spurring mechanisation and increasing research to improve farmer productivity.
Govt. Policies
‘Agri policy SAMRIDHI to raise farmers’ income’edit
To boost the farming sector and farmers’ income, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched the State Agriculture Policy called ‘SAMRIDHI’ at the inaugural function of a five-day agriculture expo, ‘Krushi Odisha-2020’, held at the Janata Maidan here on Monday.
“My Government is dedicatedly working towards development of farmers and my aim is to hike farmers’ income under the new agriculture policy,” said the Chief Minister at the expo which is themed ‘Leading Farmers to Profitability’.
Naveen Makes Odisha’s Agri Policy 2020 More Farmer-Centricedit
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday categorically announced that increasing the farmers’ income and contributing to their welfare was one of the main objectives of ‘Samrudhi,’ Odisha’s new agriculture policy for 2020.
Speaking at the 5-day event Krushi Odisha-2020 conclave at Janata Maidan in Bhubaneswar, he said, “My government is dedicatedly working towards development of farmers. My aim is to hike farmers’ income under the new agriculture policy.”