Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
India’s rice export prices edge up to 4-month high on strong African demandedit
Rice export prices in India edged up to the highest level in more than four months this week, helped by healthy demand from African countries, while markets in Thailand and Vietnam grapple with the new coronavirus outbreak.
India’s 5 percent broken parboiled variety was quoted around $370-$375 per tonne this week, the highest since the last week of September.
Export prices were up from $369-$373 quoted in the previous week, also supported by an appreciation in rupee.
Farmers to protest cut in MGNREGA fundedit
Condemning the union government’s decision to reduce the fund allotted for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MNREGA) scheme in the Union Budget, Thanjavur District Cauvery Farmers Protection Association will hold a massive protest on February 12 urging the government to enhance it.
Budget 2020: Why Are Feminists Worried About Agricultural Sectors?edit
This year’s budget is everything but fact specific. Facts had seen a controversial reality in the Modi regime. While the ‘pyaare watan of Kashmir’ made an unusual flowery presence in the budgetary speech, with various symbols of IOK being reproduced and the youth being celebrated, numbers are all but ‘lies’. That’s what professor Jayati Ghosh reiterated at a conference in Maharashtra where she said the government had highhandedly reduced allocation in crucial spheres of socioeconomic development like agriculture, employment guarantee, food, health and education.
Govt jobs fuelling interest in agricultureedit
Large number of government jobs available at district and mandal level as agriculture field officers has fuelled interest among students to pursue degrees in agriculture and horticulture. In the last four years, Telangana government appointed 2,100 agriculture extension offers in addition to filling up 2,000 posts for Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya.
80 per cent kharif paddy target achieved in Odishaedit
With less than two months left for the purchase of paddy under price support system in the current Kharif marketing season, the State Government has procured over 39.5 lakh tonne of the food grain from farmers till February 3. The paddy procurement in the State during the corresponding period last year was 39.45 lakh quintal. The State has set a target to procure 41 lakh tonne of rice equivalent to 61.96 lakh tonne of paddy (50 lakh tonne Kharif and 10 lakh tonne rabi) in 2019-20.
Making agriculture future ready: How Modi’s ‘Gram Sadak’ scheme is helpingedit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s road building scheme for rural India could also hold a key towards uplifting farm economy. Under the third phase of PMGSY (Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana), the government has made it conditional for the release of funds that the state governments first undertake reforms to their respective Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) laws. “The states adopting reforms in line with the Union Agriculture Ministry-drafted Model Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion & Facilitation) Act of 2017 “shall be accorded priority in PMGSY-III”, The Indian Express cited a supplementary note for a Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs meet which was held in July last year.
Rural India will finally have money to buy more: RBI says consumption will revive because of thisedit
With an increase in rabi sowing this year, the rural consumption is also expected to revive as farmers will have more money at their disposal. While it has been a year of slowdown in the consumer sector, majorly owing to a slump in rural spendings, “private consumption, particularly in rural areas, is expected to recover on the back of improved rabi prospects,” RBI said in its sixth bi-monthly policy for this fiscal year. Further, the recent rise in food prices has also augured well for agriculture as this will support rural incomes, the central bank added. RBI has projected the increase in rabi sowing by 9.5% up to January 31, 2020 as compared to the same period ...
Haryana on high alert after locust attacks in Rajasthan, Punjabedit
After the reports of locust attacks in the neighboring Punjab and Rajasthan, the state of Haryana has also been put on high alert. Special teams have been constituted to tackle the situation and to spread the awareness about the same across the state and further to control the locust attack, the state farmers will also get the pesticides at 50 percent subsidy. Confirming the development, Jai Parkash Dalal, the state agriculture and farmers’ welfare minister, informed that an appeal has been made to the farmers to inspect their fields and immediately report the presence of any locust attack in their fields and inform about the same to the local agricultural development officer, Krishi Vigyan Kendra of Haryana Agricultural University, Hissar or deputy director, agriculture ...
India Rice Rates Hit Four-Month High While Thailand and Vietnam Traders Battle Coronavirus Outbreakedit
Rice export prices in India edged up to the highest level in more than four months this week, helped by healthy demand from African countries, while markets in Thailand and Vietnam grapple with the new coronavirus outbreak.
India’s five per cent broken parboiled variety was quoted at around $370-$375 per tonne this week; highest since the last week of September. Export prices were up from $369-$373 quoted in the previous week, also supported by an appreciation in rupee.
Mega project to map India’s genetic diversity gets govt green signaledit
The government has cleared an ambitious gene-mapping project that is being described by those involved as the “first scratching of the surface of the vast genetic diversity of India”. The project is said to be among the most significant of its kind in the world because of its scale and the diversity it would bring to genetic studies.
The Indian Express has learnt that the Rs 238-crore Genome India Project, which will involve 20 leading institutions including the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru and a few IITs, will be rolled out soon.
Kerala’s GDP recorded higher growth rate at 7.5 % in 2018-19edit
The Economic Survey for 2018-2019 tabled by the Kerala government in the Assembly on Thursday showed a higher growth rate with the state’s Gross Domestic Product at 7.5 per cent during the period as against 7.3 per cent in 2017-18. According to the survey, though the growth rate was on a higher side, agriculture and allied sector growth declined. “The agriculture and allied sector growth declined to (-)0.5 per cent during 2018-19 from a growth rate of 1.7 per cent in 2017-18,” it said. The survey also said the contribution of secondary and tertiary sectors improved from 2017-18.