Indian Express

Punjab Agriculture Department is busy distributing moong dal seed kits to farmers these days during the ongoing sowing season aimed at pushing pulses cultivation in the state. Indian Express explains what the state is trying to achieve.

What is the total area under pulses in Punjab?

While Punjab is the highest contributor of wheat and paddy to the national pool, it lags behind in cultivation of pulses. In Punjab, mainly moong, mash and arhar pulses are grown. In 2019, there was 11,700 hectares (28,899 acres) area under pulses including moong, mash, and arhar in the state, out of around 39.69 lakh hectares under agricultural crops. This area is not even one percent (0.74 per cent) of the total agricultural ...

Tribune India

Farmers have rejected the Sangrur administration’s preliminary report on damage to crops over 7,150 acres due to recent rain and hailstorm as a “bundle of lies”, as the officers concerned have claimed that the damage to crops is below 25 per cent. The farmers alleged that many among them had suffered losses more than 50 per cent. They also said the officers had prepared the report without even visiting the fields of affected farmers.

“More than 50 per cent of my land has been affected. However, the officers did not visit our field, and sent a report that the loss to crop is below 25 per cent. Like me, there are many more farmers from my village ...

The Hans India

Land acquisition by the government to distribute house sites to the poor became a cause for concern among several farmers and tenants. Farmers of small holdings are saying that they would losing their livelihood and some tenants are worried over the loss of investment on crop.

For instance, a farmer K Srinivas and a tenant N Raju at Perecharla village in Medikonduru mandal in the district expressed fear that they might lose the investment made on standing crop due to its acquisition. The farmers said that most of the lands being taken by the government are fertile giving high yields every year.

Times Of India

Andhra Pradesh state agriculture commissioner H Arun Kumar announced during his tour of Vizianagaram district on Saturday that the state government is planning to set up plant health clinics in all mandal headquarters of the district. The commissioner said that these will be set up across the state to facilitate the growth of the agriculture sector through crop monitoring.

The agriculture commissioner further announced that the state government is developing a mobile application for agriculture and associated departments could be provided in a coordinated manner.

Times Of India

Climate change and global warming may hit India’s GDP within a decade, a report published by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) has said. By 2030, temperatures in India could reach such levels that outdoor workers may be forced to cut short their daylight working hours to beat the lethal heat waves, the report says.

The MGI report has estimated that the impact of global heating on outdoor work and the resultant loss in productivity could put 2.5% to 4.5% of India’s GDP at risk annually. “As of 2017, in India, heat-exposed work produces about 50% of GDP, drives about 30% of GDP growth, and employs about 75% of the labour force, some 380 million people,” the report says.

Times Of India

Seven states — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland — have shown “significant decreasing trends” in annual rainfall in the last 30 years and many parts of the country witnessed increase in number of “dry days” during the monsoon season which adversely affected groundwater recharges in these regions. These are some of the key findings of a report, ‘Observed Rainfall Variability and Changes’, which was shared by the ministry of earth sciences (MoES) with a parliamentary panel in response to the latter’s queries on changing rainfall patterns in the context of its impact on agriculture.