Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
DMK calls farmers’ agitation against Cauvery drilling planedit
Condemning the Centre’s recent order stating environmental clearance and public consultation is not mandatory for hydrocarbon projects, the DMK has called for protest rallies by farmers in five districts of the Cauvery Delta on January 28, demanding that the Centre declare the region a “protected zone”.
Known as the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu, the Cauvery region witnessed massive projects two years ago over the Centre’s decision to launch a hydrocarbon project in the region by drilling about 341 wells to hunt for hydrocarbon reserves.
Guv asks state to train farmers in natural farmingedit
Gujarat government should train at least 25,000 farmers in natural farming. This is what Acharya Devvrat, state governor, suggested on Friday.
Devvrat, who presided over the 16th annual convocation ceremony of Anand Agricultural University (AAU), has been advocating a shift towards natural farming
Current State of Indian Agriculture and Allied Industriesedit
Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58 per cent of India’s population. Gross Value Added by agriculture, forestry and fishing is estimated at Rs 18.53 trillion (US$ 271.00 billion) in FY18.
The Indian food industry is poised for huge growth, increasing its contribution to world food trade every year due to its immense potential for value addition, particularly within the food processing industry. The Indian food and grocery market is the world’s sixth largest, with retail contributing 70 per cent of the sales. The Indian food processing industry accounts for 32 per cent of the country’s total food market, one of the largest industries in India and is ranked fifth in terms of production, consumption, ...
Punjab: Ahead of maize sowing, threat of fall armyworm attack loomsedit
An insect species that was first detected in Punjab last year during the kharif season is now posing a major threat ahead of the beginning of the sowing of spring season maize. The ‘fall armyworm’, a gregarious insect, prefers to feed on maize, though it can attack several other crops too.
The sowing of the spring season maize will begin from the first week of February in nearly 30,000 hectares (74,100 acres) in 10 districts of Punjab – mainly in the Doaba region. It is one of the major spring season crops of the state.
US pushing India to buy $5-6 billion more farm goods to seal trade deal: Reportedit
The United States wants India to buy at least another $5-6 billion worth of American farm goods if New Delhi wants to win reinstatement of a key US trade concession and seal a wider pact, four sources familiar with the talks told Reuters.
US President Donald Trump cited trade barriers last year when removing India from its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme that allowed zero tariffs on $5.6 billion of exports to the United States. In retaliation, India slapped higher tariffs on more than two dozens US products.
Haryana to set up 200 pack-houses for vegetables and fruitsedit
Haryana Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Jai Prakash Dalal said that the state government will open 200 integrated small and big packhouses in the state in the next three years and a budget of Rs 500 crores has also been allotted for this scheme.
Locusts spotted in 3 districts of Punjab; farmers worriededit
Locusts were spotted in some villages of Punjab’s Fazilka, Muktsar and Bathinda districts triggering fear among farmers as the destructive swarms are known to devour the vegetation wherever they settle. The Punjab Agriculture Department (PAD), however, said necessary arrangements were in place to tackle a possible locust attack while ruling out any damage to crops at this stage.
Farmers from the three districts have urged the agriculture department officials to take urgent steps to tackle the pests. “We have found locusts in our fields… they are not in large numbers though,” said a farmer from Fazilka.
According to officials, locusts, popularly known as ‘Tiddi Dal’, have come from neighbouring Rajasthan which was attacked by one ...
Fifty years on, Citizenship Amendment Act brings new fears to Tamils repatriated from Sri Lankaedit
Valliyammal M., who was repatriated to India from Sri Lanka more than four decades ago, has been living in the same house in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu that the government built for her and her husband then. She has now partitioned the small single-room house into two, so that her son, Selvaraj, and his family can live in one half. As she boils water on a wood stove, the 75-year-old recalls how difficult she found life in India for the first two years after her return. “We were first put up in a camp in Mandapam in Rameswaram, set up to house repatriates brought back from Sri Lanka. Then we were brought here to Gudalur [a municipality ...
Technology in Agriculture
‘Alexa, water the plants’: Hyderabad start-up makes her a gardeneredit
Hyderabad: Ever thought how it would be if ‘Alexa’ could water your plants? A Hyderabad-based start-up ‘Inforepos’ has launched a product ‘Simplifarms’ using which you can command Alexa to water your plants.
Srinivas Gutti, who founded Inforepos, says, “The idea struck me when my parents after retirement came to Hyderabad to stay with me. My father, who worked as an Agriculture officer was interested in farming. In our backyard, he was cultivating a few vegetables and small plants. But as he used to go for an outing for a week or so, there used to be no one to water our plants. So, I thought of inventing this internet=based automatic plant watering machine.”