Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Growth in agriculture, industry sectors slows down in Haryanaedit
Low growth in industry and agriculture sectors seems to have slowed overall growth in Gross State Value Added (GSVA) in Haryana during the past three years.
The Economic Survey of Haryana for 2019-20, which was tabled on the floor of the state Assembly on Friday, shows that the growth of GSVA decreased from 9.8 per cent in 2016-17 to 7.8 per cent in 2017-18 and further declined to 7.3 per cent in 2018-19.
The survey report issued by the Department of Economic and Statistical Analysis, Haryana, shows that the service sector has shown increase in growth during this period.
The Agriculture and Allied Services has always been an important contributor to the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). ...
Unseasonal rainfall damages rabi crops in parts of M’wadaedit
Many areas of the city along with districts like Beed, Jalna and Latur received unseasonal rainfall during the 36-hours ending on Sunday evening. The untimely showers have damaged rabi crops like sorghum, wheat and maize besides affecting the mango flowering in many places. The India Meteorological Department (IMD), in its bulletin issued on Sunday evening, has forecast similar rainfall activity over the next 24-hours.
Leeway for farmersedit
Gurjeet Singh Mann, a progressive farmer from Kirpal Patti village of Sirsa, has been getting his crops covered under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) ever since it was launched in the kharif-2016 season. He says he had no choice so far, because the premium for the crop insurance is debited automatically by his bank from his account.
But he always wondered why he and other farmers like him had to pay premium for risks like drought and floods though there is no history of such calamities in the area where his fields are located.
Punjab’s concerns need to be addressededit
NATURAL calamities like droughts, floods and cyclones, besides erratic rainfall, cripple the farm sector, leading to huge losses in agricultural production. Crop insurance is a prerequisite to cover crop losses against such non-preventable causes.
The Union Cabinet recently approved the revamp of the PMFBY and the Restructured Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) to address challenges and loopholes in these programmes. Now, the government has come out with customised crop insurance (single peril insurance cover) for states by factoring in a specific natural disaster.
Kerala: Better soil health, market linkage, revives paddy cultivationedit
In Kerala, paddy production and area under paddy cultivation have been shrinking over the years, but farmers at Mayyil village panchayat in Kannur district have reversed their fortunes.
Paddy cultivation had turned into an unremunerative activity mainly due to increasing labour costs, low yields and poor returns from the final produce. This resulted in farmers shifting to other crops and leaving paddy fields untilled.
Farmers in Andhra’s Namburu village use drone to spray away their worriesedit
A year ago, a few farmers of Namburu, a small village in Guntur district, were fascinated to see a machine flying over the field of Kotireddy, one of their counterparts. On enquiring, they learnt that it was a drone, and the 39-year-old farmer said he was using it to spray pesticide on his crop.
The unavailability of farm labourers and the high wages they charged when available pushed Kotireddy, a computer science graduate, to experiment with the technology.
Rs 100 crore startup fund, agri incubator for Mohaliedit
With a view to bolstering startup ecosystem and leveraging the IT momentum gained in the last three years, Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal on Saturday announced a Rs 100-crore startup fund and setting up of an incubator at Kalkat Bhawan, Mohali, to promote agri startups. Speaking at entrepreneurial event “TiECon Chandigarh 2020” here, the minister said the startup fund is being created in partnership with IKG Punjab Technical University, while an executive committee comprising government officials and experts would be formed to facilitate setting up of the incubator.
ICAR inks pact with Patanjali for farm research, trainingedit
The country’s premier agri-research body ICAR on Sunday signed an agreement with Hardiwar-based Patanjali Bio Research Institute (PBRI) to undertake research work as well as training and education.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Director General Trilochan Mohapatra and PBRI CEO Acharya Balkrishna in the presence of Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, an official statement said.