Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Tamil Nadu sets 25 lakh tonne as paddy procurement target this season: Food Minister R Kamarajedit
The paddy procurement target for the current samba season has been fixed at 25 lakh tonnes, food minister R Kamaraj said at the tripartite meeting held on Tuesday. The previous year it was 19.1 lakh tonnes, the minister added.
“Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) had set up 1,766 direct procurement centres (DPCs) last year, through which 19.1 lakh tonne paddy was procured from 5.06 lakh farmers. Through 513 DPCs established in the state including 63 in non-delta districts this season, we have procured 87,000 tonnes of paddy so far. Based on the requirements, the number of DPCs will be increased,” Minister further said.
Telangana to ink deal with NHRDF for onion seed productionedit
The Telangana government will enter into an agreement with Nasik-based National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF) in February for enhanced production of onion seed. As per the MoU, the NHRDF will provide starter seed of red (4), dark red and white varieties of onions for Telangana State.
A team of officers led by Telangana State Seeds Development Corporation Ltd (TSSDC) Managing Director K Kesavulu visited the NHRDF in Nasik to witnesses the work being done by the premier institution established by the National Agricultural Cooperative marketing Federation of India Ltd (Nafed) on Tuesday.
Farmers in a financial fix due to delay in payments by stateedit
The farmers of Kerala’s rice bowl are gearing up to start agitation programmes against the state government as they have not received the money for the paddy procured by the state government last year.
The farmers have already submitted a memorandum to agriculture minister V S Sunilkumar seeking his immediate intervention for distributing the price of the paddy as soon as possible
PM Narendra Modi to chair PRAGATI meeting tomorrowedit
Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, will chair the 32nd interaction through PRAGATI- the ICT-based, multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation, on 22nd January 2020.
In the previous thirty one interactions of PRAGATI, projects worth over twelve lakh crores have been reviewed by the Prime Minister. In the last PRAGATI meeting of the year 2019, 9 projects worth over Rs. 61,000 crore related to 16 states and the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir were taken up for discussion. There were also discussions on various topics like grievances of Indian citizens working abroad, National Agriculture Market, Aspirational District Programme and infrastructure development programmes and initiatives.
West Bengal: Govt Procured Only 22% of Paddy Crop Target for This Seasonedit
The West Bengal government’s Agriculture Department has managed to procure only 22% of the rice they had promised to procure from the cultivators across the state till now. The farmers in the state are refusing to sell their produce to the government because of various flaws in the process of procurement.
Earlier in November 2018, the West Bengal government had announced that during the current season, it would buy 52 lakh metric tons of paddy from the farmers in the state. Out of these 52 lakh metric tons, 24 lakh metric tons were to be procured by the government directly from the farmers, through Central Purchase Centres (CPCs), while the remaining 28 lakh metric tons were to ...
Agriculture produce trading touches Rs 91,000 crore mark on e-NAM platformedit
Agriculture produce worth Rs 91,000 crore has been traded through the e-National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) platform so far and the figure will soon reach Rs 1 lakh crore, the government said on Tuesday.
The agriculture ministry on Tuesday organised the first national consultative workshop on strengthening agri-logistics in e-Nam here.
At present, 585 mandies (agri-markets) across 16 states and two Union Territories have been integrated on the e-platform. It is expected that 415 other mandis will soon be integrated. “On this portal more than 1.65 crore farmers and 1.27 lakh traders have registered. Through this platform trading of Rs 91,000 crore has already taken place and in the near future it is expected to reach 1 lakh crores,” ...How many farmers are there in India? Government has no clueedit
Crores of rupees are spent every year on food subsidy and on subsiding farm inputs, but there is no accurate record of these farmers or their total count. While announcing the PM-Kisan scheme, the Centre made a provision for ₹87,000 crore for a year for paying ₹6,000 each to 14.5 crore families. However, over the last one year, only 9 crore farmer families have been identified.
It could be that not all farmers have enrolled for the scheme. But, even if one assumes the number of left-out farmers to be 1.5-2 crore, the numbers still do not add up to 14.5 crore.
In a way, this is good news for the Centre that is trying hard to mop ...
Budget
Budget 2020: Allocation for agriculture must signal change in favour of science, tech, private investmentsedit
The Union Budget is not the only occasion to make changes in policy, but like the US President’s State of the Union address, it is a platform for the government to declare how it proposes to improve people’s incomes, reduce disparities and enhance economic efficiency.
In agriculture, the government’s stated objective of doubling farmers’ income by 2022-23 has not been matched by action. There has been a de-emphasis of science and technology. Instead, ideological considerations have weighed in.
Budget 2020 wishlist: Here are the key challenges for agriculture sectoredit
Budget 2020: Boost for rural economy, connecting villages to digital India expectededit
Union Budget 2020-21 is expected to focus on the transformation of rural India with a nearly 15% jump in fund allocation to boost the village economy and raise incomes, particularly of small and marginal farmers, three people aware of the development said on Tuesday.
“Transformation of the rural economy is a must for two reasons; to reverse the current economic slowdown, which is hit mainly due to weak demand, and to make India a $5 trillion economy by 2025. Both the objectives require special focus on agriculture and rural economy, hence greater fund allocation,” one of the people cited above said, requesting anonymity.
India’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.5% in the second quarter of the current ...
Technology in Agriculture
‘We should definitely adopt new technology … Higher or lower yield depends on how we manage our crops’edit
The logjam in approval of newer genetically modified (GM) cotton seeds has catalysed planting of unauthorised seeds known as herbicide-tolerant Bt (HTBt). Vijay N Waghmare, director of the Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR), Nagpur, speaks to Vishwa Mohan on the issue:
Is CICR investigating the use of unapproved variety of GM cotton seeds by farmers?
We had first reports on illegal cultivation of HTBt cotton in 2017 and CICR has been voluntarily collecting samples since then from farmers’ fields in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Telangana. We tested these samples in our Bt referral lab and found 15-17% of it were of HTBt variety in 2017-18. Nearly 12-15% of the samples were found to be positive in 2018-19 in these ...
Govt. Policies
Telangana govt releases Rs 5,100 cr to farmers as part of Rythu Bandhu schemeedit
Extending a hand to farmers for the rabi/yasangi season, the Telangana government has released about Rs 5,100 crore as part of the Rythu Bandhu scheme, in which the state provides investment support to farmers.
The KCR-led government’s scheme is aimed at giving farmers an initial investment so that they can be rid of the dependence on private lenders. The scheme dispenses money twice a year at the rate of Rs 5,000 per acre.
The government order states: “In pursuance of the Budget Release Order, the Government, after careful examination, hereby accord Administrative Sanction to the Commissioner of Agriculture, Telangana, Hyderabad towards meeting the expenditure in relaxation of quarterly regulation orders under the Investment support scheme.”