Financial Express

The Andhra Pradesh government is setting up 11,158 Rythu Bharosa centres with digital kiosks for integrating agriculture inputs and advisories, to assist farmers. These centres, which will be set up in a phased manner by June, are virtual shops for large retailers and other bulk buyers to take orders from farmers and will have model products on display.

Besides, the state government will create new bank accounts for some 56 lakh farmers and issue 1.12 crore credit/debit cards to them by the next kharif season to enable them to avail crop loans and other government benefits.

New Indian Express

Asserting that India was proud of its farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the government was continuously taking steps to ensure the interests of those “who feed the entire country” were protected.

He also said his government was committed to protect the rights of these ‘anndataas’ (food providers). “India is proud of its food providers. The government is committed to protect the rights of those who feed the entire country, and is taking steps to take care of their interests,” Modi tweeted.

Deshabhimani

Financial Express

The farm and allied sector will likely remain somwhat insulated from the damaging impact of the pandemic and grow at 3% in FY21, contributing about 50 basis points to the country’s economic growth, Niti Aayog member (agriculture) Ramesh Chand said on Wednesday.

Decent expansion of the farm sector will partly soften the blow to the economy, which is ravaged by the Covid-19 outbreak and is widely expected to experience sharply negative growth in the current fiscal.

Indian Express

“Gaadi kab chalega? Hum ko ghar jaana hai (When will trains run? We want to go home),” says 20-year old Ashish Kumar, of Puraini village in Saharsa’s Bihar, currently stuck in Mohali.

This is not Ashish’s first time in Punjab – he has been to the state twice earlier, to harvest wheat and then stay back for paddy transplantation. However, this time, he does not want to stay.

Ashish is part of a group of 12-odd farm labourers from Saharasa district harvesting wheat in the fields of Chappar Chiri. They are working in the shadow of the Chappar Chiri war memorial – built to commemorate the fierce battle between Sikh and Mughal armies in May 1710, when ...

Times Of India

Asserting that India was proud of its farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the government was continuously taking steps to ensure the interests of those “who feed the entire country” were protected. He also said his government was committed to protect the rights of these ‘anndataas’ (food providers). “India is proud of its food providers. The government is committed to protect the rights of those who feed the entire country, and is taking steps to take care of their interests,” Modi tweeted.

Economic Times

The country’s farm sector is functioning smoothly despite COVID-19 lockdown and there will not be much impact on its growth in the current fiscal unlike other sectors, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Wednesday.

Agriculture and allied sector’s growth stood at 3.7 per cent during the 2019-20 fiscal.

Financial Express

Even as most of the economic activities are at standstill amid the nationwide lockdown, the agriculture sector is at the rescue of the Indian economy. The Agri sector is mostly unaffected from the lockdown and is expected to grow by 3 per cent this year. It is estimated that the sector alone will give over 0.5 per cent growth to the overall economy, said NITI Aayog member and agricultural policy expert Ramesh Chand in a press conference today. He also highlighted five key reasons why the Agri sector will show a bumper growth this year.

Hindustan Times

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar briefed the media on Wednesday. During the press conference, the minister said that farmers across the nation have benefitted a great deal through Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme during the coronavirus lockdown.

Tomar said that the Department of Agriculture has transferred Rs 17,986 crore to farmers since March 24.

The minister also emphasised the significance of “Kisan Rath” App which was launched amid the coronavirus lockdown on April 17 to help farmers and traders identify the right mode of transportation for movement of farm produce.

Indian Express

COVID-19 has opened a window of opportunity to wean away farmers in Punjab and Haryana from growing rice to less water-guzzling crops such as cotton and maize.

The driver: Uncertainty over the availability of an estimated 1 million labourers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar who undertake the bulk of the paddy transplanting that begins from mid-June. That, plus the lack of mechanical transplanting options, in contrast to the ubiquitous combines used for both paddy and wheat harvesting, means fewer farmers are likely to take up rice cultivation in the coming kharif season.

First Post

The last five days have been chaotic for farmers in the small town of Pathri in Maharashtra’s Parbhani district. Four hours, from 7 am to 11 am, see a deluge of farmers frantically lining up to sell their harvested cotton to the local traders.

Gajanan Ghumbare, a farmer with 10 acres of land where he grows cotton, says, “The procurement of cotton began last week for the first time since lockdown. 60 quintals of stock is lying in my farmland since the harvest in January. Farmers are panicking at the thought of being unable to sell their crop.”

News Click

The Novel Coronavirus crisis has seeded a deep rot within the globalised industrial system. The corporatist Mecca, Wall Street, is deserted as shares and stocks plummet. The ILO predicts that over 25 million jobs will be lost globally, much higher than 2008 recession which cost 22 million jobs. Meanwhile, another report says over 400 million or 40 crore workers may sink into poverty in India.

The Hindu BusinessLine

Farmers in Saurashtra region are learning to imbibe a new life in a Covid-19 era as they bring their farm produce for auctions at the market yards.

Manjibhai Ribadiya from Kalawad in Jamnagar district says, he has started learning the ropes of social distancing, personal hygiene and most importantly waiting patiently for his turn to come.

“Life isn’t the same anymore. After the harvest, we wait for an intimation from the market yard for our turn to participate in the auction. Once we receive the SMS, we equip ourselves with masks and gloves and reach the APMC yards. Here, we park our trailer in a queue at a distance and wait for our number to be ...

Economic Times

The exemption in agricultural activities during the lockdown has resulted into a record sales of fertiliser during this month.

According to data from fertiliser ministry, fertiliser dealers across the country purchased 15.77 lakh tonnes which is 46% higher that last year’s sales of 10.79 lakh tonnes during first 22 days of April.

The forecast of a normal monsoon this year is likely to increase the crop area and thus the consumption of fertiliser.

Tribune India

Amid curfew, the prices of vegetables have crashed in wholesale markets across the state. Staring at losses, the vegetable growers have appealed to the state government to buy their stock at a fixed price and bail them out of the crisis.

Vegetable traders here said that cauliflower and capsicum were being sold at Rs 2-6 per kg in the wholesale market. Many growers were unable to even cover the input costs.

As a mark of protest, some growers are even throwing away their vegetables. Farmers of Bhaini Bagha village in Mansa today threw their capsicum on the Bathinda-Mansa highway as no one was paying them more than Rs 2 per kg for their produce. “If the situation ...

The Hindu

While the India Meteorological Department has predicted a normal monsoon, spatial forecast models show wide variations in rainfall across the country which can have dire implications for farmers, especially on the north eastern coast and the dryland areas of the Deccan.

For instance, there are likely to be long dry spells and low rainfall in June and July, similar to what happened last year, followed by excess rainfall in the later part of the monsoon in August and September, according to the Agriculture Ministry officials working on an analysis of the seasonal forecast before holding State-level meetings on the likely implications.

The Hindu BusinessLine

About 1,200 farmers in Nashik have established a direct supply chain with 57,000 customers in Mumbai, Pune, and Nashik during the lockdown and have sold vegetables and fruits worth ₹4 crore in a month.

These farmers, part of Sahyadri Farms, the leading farmer producer company in Nashik, have used e-commerce, social media, and technology to establish a direct supply chain between producers and consumers.

Greater Kashmir

The Department of Agriculture (DoA) on Tuesday ruled out any major impact of the nationwide lockdown on harvesting of rabi crops across the Jammu division and said the region is expecting a bumper crop this season.

A senior government official on Tuesday said over two dozen wheat procurement centres are being set up to facilitate the farmers to sell their produce.

Telangana Today

Living up to its new reputation as the Rice Bowl of India, Telangana State continues to supply rice to different parts of the country. Even as the State government commenced procurement of about 1.03 crore tonnes of paddy, tonnes of rice are being supplied to various States.

Acknowledging the State’s contribution in terms of paddy supply to the nation, Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal on Tuesday tweeted that the Centre was maintaining adequate supply of essential goods with boiled rice being transported from Mahabubnagar in the State to Payyanur and West Hill of Kerala.

South Africa Today

The lockdown measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic make excessive demands on security forces and yet the government has not availed itself of the support offered by organised agriculture in terms of the Rural Safety Strategy due to its apparent inability to reach a positive decision regarding requests for assistance. While the government drags its feet, farmers are suffering enormous losses as a result of an increase in livestock and produce theft and illegal slaughtering and looting of farms, said TLU SA and Agri SA.

“Farmers are fed up with the government’s total disregard for farmers and their needs,” said Tommie Esterhuyse, chair of Agri SA’s Centre of Excellence: Rural Safety. “It is now time for ...

News 18

More than a week after the Centre relaxed norms on agriculture and allied activities, farmers have been unable to sell their produce. Lack of harvesters, labour shortage, lacklustre storage facilities, untimely rains and a dying demand are now starting to point towards a supply constraint that may eventually manifest itself much after India expectedly emerges out of the coronavirus pandemic.

With the non-availability of machines and agricultural labour, Ramesh Prasad and his son took half-a-month to harvest their wheat farm and another three days in storing and transporting it to the ‘mandi’. They have hardly been able to sell anything for the past two days.

News Click

Amid lockdown for to contain the spread of novel coronavirus or COVID-19, farmers in Telangana are worried over irregularities in the ongoing paddy crop procurement process.

Farmers’ organisations have alleged that during the procurement process, rice millers and government authorities are allegedly depreciating the weight of paddy in the name of moisture, wastage and poor quality of the crop, thereby reducing the price, causing them losses at a time when they are already struggling with the impact of the virus on markets.

As proposed in March, the state government, run by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), recently began paddy procurement from farmers at 7,700 procurement centres across the state. According to state government estimations, Telangana has produced ...

India Today

Yield from Punjab and Haryana makes up around 70 per cent of the wheat central pool which is distributed through the public distribution system (PDS) in India. During 2019-20 both states contributed 129.12 LMT and 93.2 LMT respectively which was higher as compared to 2018-19 when the two states contributed 126.92 and 87.84 LMT of wheat.

This year Punjab and Haryana are expected to procure 135 LMT and 90 LMT of wheat respectively despite lockdown restrictions.

Indian Express

Farmer Producer Companies (FPC) and farmer groups have emerged as silent heroes during the nationwide lockdown by keeping the supply of fresh fruits and vegetables running in urban areas. Buoyed by the success of the direct market intervention by growers, the state agriculture department is now planning to make it permanent with the help of application-based delivery platforms.

As wholesale markets in urban areas of Pune and Mumbai suspended their operations in view of the growing number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, the onus of ensuring the supply of fresh fruits and vegetables fell on FPCs and farmer groups.

Agriculture Commissioner Suhas Diwase said they had mapped the state in terms of identifying FPCs in production hubs, which can supply ...

News Click

Fifty-five-year-old Ramawadh Yadav lives in Rampur village, barely five kilometres from Azamgarh district, sits, clasping his forehead, near his field which is now completely damaged due to untimely rain and a hailstorm.

At the other end of the field, a harvester machine is busy felling the crop. Just about 24 hours ago, Ramawadh Yadav was completely unaware that his wheat crop would be flattened by the rain and strong winds.

The  News Minute

Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda on Monday demanded that the Karnataka government announce a special package for farmers who are on the verge of quitting agriculture as their profession following losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Please announce special package for the farmers to bail them out of the loss due to the lockdown. Drop many of the schemes in the budget but don’t leave the farmers in distress,” Gowda said in his letter to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.

The JD(S) supremo said the way relief has been announced for the milk producers by procuring the unsold milk and distributing it to the slum dwellers, the same assistance should be provided to the farmers ...

Indian Express

Just weeks after India announced a nationwide lockdown, it was time to harvest watermelon crops across the country. This past winter, Chandram Benur, a small farmer in Karnataka, had taken a loan of Rs 6,00,000 to grow watermelon in the five acres he owned in Nimbal village of Karnataka’s Indi taluk.

Unable to reach the local market, the 80 tonnes of watermelon in Benur’s fields was beginning to rot. Desperate to offload the fruit and without any access to long-term cold storage, he was compelled to sell the fresh harvest at just Rs 2 per kilogram to those in his village still willing to buy the produce. The rest were being given to farm animals to eat. On a ...

The Hindu

Staring at an uncertain export market and stung by declining earnings, many tobacco farmers in Mysuru have started finding ginger cultivation more lucrative.

Several tobacco farmers took to ginger cultivation over the last two to three years and the numbers are expected to increase this year after the Tobacco Board, fearing a dip in global demand for tobacco on account of COVID-19, reduced the crop size from 100 million kg last year to 88 million kg.

More than 80% of the superior Virginia Flue Cured (VFC) tobacco cultivated in Periyapatna, Hunsur, H.D. Kote, and K.R. Nagar taluks of Mysuru is exported to cigarette-manufacturing companies abroad, particularly to European countries, which are reeling under the impact of COVID-19.

The Hindu

The Horticulture Department of Tamil Nadu has come to the rescue of jackfruit farmers who had cultivated the crop but were in distress due to the slump in sales during the lockdown.

Panruti, in Cuddalore district, is home to the largest area in jackfruit cultivation in the State with the fruit being cultivated over 700 hectares in the district.

Farmers there were apprehensive about selling their fruit, but the Department then came forward and purchased the fruits for distribution along with vegetable bags to front-line workers, relieving the farmers of their worries. The jackfruits were procured by the Department from farmers and distributed free of cost along with watermelons and other vegetables in kit bags.

Times Of India

The Union Home Ministry on Monday announced that the country was moving towards normalcy in the agriculture sector as over 80 per cent wheat was harvested till Sunday, and over 2,000 mandis were functional. Making the declaration in a press briefing, a Home Ministry official also mentioned that works under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), especially large community projects like water conservation and irrigation projects, are providing employment to 2 crore labourers.

Tribune India

Widespread rain across Haryana today damaged the wheat lying in the open at various grain markets even as farmers rued the inadequate arrangements at purchase centres to deal with the showers.

The rain that lashed Karnal damaged the wheat produce lying in the open while arhtiyas maintained that the slow lifting of the grain also contributed to their problems. Farmers have been forced to suspend harvesting for a couple of days as they alleged that there were insufficient arrangements at the procurement centres to cover the produce lying in the open.

In Kaithal, rain accompanied by strong winds caused damage to the grain lying in mandis and hampered harvesting operations at several places, adding to the worries ...

Hindustan Times

Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala on Sunday demanded relaxation in moisture specifications for wheat as unseasonal rainfall had damaged the harvested crop.

He asked the state government to increase the moisture content limit for wheat from 12% to 18%.

Addressing mediapersons here on Sunday, Surjewala criticised the government for its failure to provide adequate arrangements for coverage of the wheat harvest lying in the open in grain markets. He said grain markets in Karnal, Nissing, Jundla, Gharaunda, Assandh, Nilokheri, Kaithal, Guhla Cheeka, Pundri, Pai, Dhandh, Ismailabad, Shahbad, Pehowa, Jhansa, Bilaspur, Jagadhari, Yamunanagar, Rohtak were waterlogged.

Indian Express

Foodgrain stocks in the Central pool stood at 73.85 million tonnes (mt) as on April 1, the highest ever for this date and three-and-a-half times the minimum operational-cum-strategic reserve requirement of 21.04 mt.

The 73.85 mt figure includes 24.70 mt of wheat and 32.24 mt of rice. In addition, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state government agencies were holding 25.24 mt of un-milled paddy, whose rice equivalent, at an out-turn ratio of 67 per cent, worked out to 16.91 mt. Out-turn is the share of rice extracted from harvested paddy grains after removal of outer husk and inner bran layers.

Times Of India

The Centre is examining a “significant number” of reforms along with staggered stimulus packages aimed at various stressed sectors of the economy as part of its strategy to combat the bruising impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Sources said the government has started the process of identifying reforms which can be pushed through to make the economy more attractive and productive and help it overcome the impact of the pandemic in the “shortest possible time.”

Times Of India

Amid the ongoing lockdown, nearly 90% of the wheat arriving in mandis over the first 10 days has been procured by government agencies, while the entire paddy crop in southern states has been purchased, as part of an attempt to ensure that farmers do not face hardship, while also replenishing stocks in Food Corporation of India silos. The food stock, which is remains surplus by a long margin, has been depleted in the last few weeks as the government doubled the quota of grains given to the poor through the public distribution system due to Covid-19. As reported by TOI on April 15, states are targeting to procure 40 million tonnes during 2020-21 marketing year (April to March), compared to ...

Hindustan Times

For the first time in a decade, the world risks being cut off from Russian wheat at a time when some key buyers are rushing to import it.

The top shipper last month limited sales through June to protect its own supply as the coronavirus crisis sparks food-security concerns around the world. Although the curbs were seen loose enough to ensure normal trade flows for this time of year, Russia has already burned through the entire quota. It will halt grain shipments to all but four former Soviet neighbors once the last cargo booked under the limits leaves the country.

While the ban will only last until farmers start harvesting in July, some other nearby nations have ...

Tribune India

Farmers staged a protest against the Union and state governments for “failing” to lift thousands of tonnes of wheat lying in the grain market at Bhodiwala village in the Dharamkot subdivision of Moga district.

They alleged the Food Corporation of India (FCI) was not purchasing wheat from them. The Bhodiwala village grain market has been allotted to the FCI for the purchase of foodgrain.

Sukhchain Singh, Kamaljit Singh and other protesting farmers said they were waiting for their turn to sell the grain for the past couple of days, but the procurement authorities were not willing to buy.

Times Of India

Keeping in view the uncertainties and the peculiar challenge posed by the Covid-19 threat, the government of AP has decided to go for early distribution of kharif seeds in AP, to help the farming community in distress.

The main crop season for AP is kharif the government wants to ensure that there is no shortage of seed or any difficulties in making the supply, hence the decision to take up seed distribution, early. Sources in the agriculture department disclosed that the government was taking all measures to ensure that the farmers were ready to take on kharif activity as when required, for which the pre-requisite was early supply of seed to enable them to carry on with their kharif-field work.

Financial Express

A lockdown has been imposed in the entire country to prevent the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus. People have welcomed this decision as they understand that desperate times call for strict measures. The manufacturing for all product categories has been stopped, until further notice, apart from the ones listed under essential items.

News 18

Russia, the world’s largest wheat exporter, is suspending grain exports, including wheat, rye, barley and corn until July 1, the ministry of agriculture said Sunday.

In early April, the government introduced export quotas for certain grains until the end of June but these were “fully exhausted” by Sunday, the ministry said in a statement.

“After exporting all grain declared under the quota, the export of wheat, meslin, rye, barley and corn to non-member states of the Eurasian Economic Union will be suspended until July 1, 2020,” the statement said.

The Eurasian Economic Union groups Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.

News Meter

Jogi Reddy, a Hyderabad-based farmer, was left with 30 quintals of papaya which he could not sell due to the national lockdown announced on March 24. He was worried that the fruits might get rotten as there were no retailers or transporters available to sell his produce. Reddy’s brother from Canada knew about a twitter page run by Ruchit Garg named Harvesting Farming Network (HFN) and he shared details about his brother’s farm on it.

India Today

Struggling to cope with labour shortage during the harvest season amidst the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, untimely rain and hailstorm have now added to farmer woes in some districts of Uttar Pradesh as it has caused extensive damage to the crops.

Unseasonal rain and hailstorm that lashed the Balrampur district on Saturday evening has increased the worries of Bhanu Kumar. The farmer’s standing wheat crops in Rajneetpur village which couldn’t be harvested due to lack of labour amidst the nationwide lockdown has now been completely damaged due to the inclement weather conditions.

Hindustan Times

Heavy unseasonal rains have caused damage to standing crops in a setback to farmers bracing for the busy agricultural season amid the coronavirus disease pandemic and lockdown that have already reduced the availability of farm labour and transport of their produce in parts of India.

An exact estimate of the damage caused by the rain in six states – Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal — would be available only after surveys are conducted, government officials said, expressing concern that the damage could result in less-than-expected procurement of foodgrains.

Food Corporation of India had expected to procure 35 million tonnes of foodgrains from the rabi season harvest, compared to 34 million tonnes last ...

Business Today

Only 1.32 lakh tonnes of wheat was sold in the mandis across India during the first 21-day lockdown announced by the Modi government on March 27, says a quantitative analysis of  agricultural crops that made it to various agricultural markets. This was only about 6 per cent of the total amount of wheat sold in the same 21-day period in 2019, and only 3.4 per cent of the total amount of wheat sold in the mandis in this period in 2017.

The first of its kind study, published by city based Society for Social and Economic Research (SSER) reveals that the situation was not better in the case of some other key Rabi crops also. In addition ...

Hindustan Times

Indian Railways has transported 5.2 million tonnes of foodgrains in the month since the country went under a lockdown on March 25 to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease, more than double the quantity the national transporter carried in the same time a year ago, as the Centre tried to avert the spectre of hunger by making sure every region had plentiful food stock.

With barely seven of India’s 2,067 large wholesale food markets functioning in the initial days of the lockdown, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Indian Railways went into overdrive to ferry grain stocks from food-surplus states to deficient ones.

“The railways’ transportation of food stocks has played the single most important ...

The Wire

Haryana’s Director General of Police Manoj Yadava Friday said the state government has decided not to allow the entry of rabi crop from neighbouring states.

In his order issued to all Commissioners of Police and District Superintendents of Police, the DGP asked them to not permit the entry of wheat or mustard crop harvested from fields located in the neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab.

He said the state government has decided not to permit entry of Rabi crop from neighbouring states into Haryana.

As per the government instruction, Haryana farmers have been asked to reach mandis and procurement centres with their produce in a staggered manner after they get an SMS on their registered mobile numbers.

Financial Express

Mango growers from Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh, which is famous for Banganpalli, Chinna Rasalu and Pedda Rasulu varieties, are expecting about 50% losses due to unseasonal rains and high velocity wind.

The growers said the overall production is relatively low at 50% though the complete harvest is still due till month- end. Further, due to lockdown, the local traders are unable to lift the produce from the farmers to supply to retail markets.

India Today

Farmers in Akola in Maharashtra used technology to sell produce worth Rs 8.50 crore during the lockdown in place for the novel coronavirus outbreak, a senior agriculture official said on Saturday.

The three-week-long nationwide lockdown started on March 25 and was extended on April 14 till May 3.

“Helped by the state agriculture department and the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA), 69 farmer groups in Akola took orders directly from customers and delivered vegetables, fruits worth Rs 8.50 crore since lockdown began,” informed District Agriculture Superintendent Mohan Wagh.

The Wire

COVID-19’s economic implications have once again catapulted agriculture into the mainstream discourse. The reverse migration of labourers to India’s hinterlands is having a differentiated impact across regions. While agricultural operations in the well-endowed regions are about to suffer, the hinterlands will have received an excess supply of labourers, throwing up new challenges and opportunities.

In this context, it is worthwhile to revisit the role of agriculture in economic development to throw light into the policies the sector will need to adopt to recover better.

Economists have delineated agriculture’s major roles in economic development, broadly in terms of contributions like products, markets, factors and foreign exchange. Product indicates supply of goods like foods and several raw materials (like ...

The Wire

 On March 26, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government had decided that all ration card holders in India will be provided one kilogram of pulses every month starting April, for a period of three months. This was a part of the PM Garib Kalyan package – the Centre’s only relief measure so far to deal with the consequences of the lockdown for the poor.

Almost a month later, on April 20, the government issued a press release which once again announced that “it has decided to distribute pulses to the eligible households under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PM-GKY).”

The release also said that the government has so far issued 1,07,077 metric tonnes of pulses to states. “Issued only ...

The Hindu

Rajasthan government’s scheme to deploy tractors and some other equipment to help farmers in various agricultural activities free of charge amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown has proved quite popular with over 4,000 peasants availing these services.

Talking of the benefits and popularity of the innovative scheme, Agriculture Minister Lalchand Kataria said various free services under the scheme would continue till June 30.

The Hindu

The agriculture sector is slowly coming out of the lockdown restrictions in the Union Territory with trading of paddy and pulses picking up in the regulated markets.

Ever since the territorial administration eased restrictions for the farm sector a week ago, the arrival of paddy and pulses at the Regulated Market Committee yards at Thattanchavady, Koonichempet, Madagadipet, Maducarai, Karayamputhur and Kanniakoil has gone up.

Times Of India

Untimely rain and hailstorm have damaged the wheat crop in certain areas, leaving it shrivelled and lustreless. A team from the Centre visited affected areas on Wednesday, with the state government hoping for a relaxation in grain quality. There were complaints of shriveled wheat grains and lustre loss from parts of Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib and Mohali, following which the department of food and civil supplies wrote to the Centre for a survey.

Hindustan Times

The Union agriculture ministry said on Thursday that the harvesting of rabi pulses and potato was completed, while that of wheat, sugarcane and onion was on track and will soon be concluded.

The government said that the arrival of staple vegetables in mandis saw a jump compared to last month. There was a six-fold increase in arrival of onion, a statement by the agriculture ministry said.

In the lockdown clamped to control the outbreak of coronavirus disease (Covid-19), the government exempted agriculture activities. “In the major wheat growing states, the status of harvesting is encouraging,” the statement said.

As reported by state governments, about 98-99% of wheat crop has been harvested in Madhya Pradesh, 88-90% in Rajasthan, ...

Counter View

The coronavirus crisis lockdown has made one thing very clear that food is the single most important thing that human beings need. Life can go on without internet connections or mobile phones but not without food. While the economy was totally shutdown the only people who were allowed to freely move about, were people dealing in food items. Lot of other category of daily earners started selling vegetables to ensure some income for themselves in this period. Community kitchens and food distribution activities were allowed by administrations even if safeguards like wearing masks and maintaining physical distances were thrown to the wind.

PIB

Harvesting Status as on 22.04.2020

Wheat: In the major wheat growing States, the status of harvesting is encouraging.  As reported by the States about 98-99% of wheat crop has been harvested in Madhya Pradesh, 88-90% in Rajasthan, 75-78% in Uttar Pradesh, 40-45% in Haryana, 35-40% in Punjab and 82-84% in other States.

Pulses: As reported by the States, harvesting of pulses has been completed in almost all the States.

The Hindu Business Line

Harvesting of boro paddy in West Bengal, set to begin in about a week, is likely to be hampered by labour shortage as most of the workers have gone to their villages following the pandemic scare.

The State government is trying to deal with the manpower shortage by deploying additional combine harvesters.

The Better India

Mumbai-based entrepreneur Ruchi Jain grew up in a household that revered fresh harvest. She saw how her mother put immense thought into what ended up on her family’s plates.

“My mother was very particular about the food we ate. The focus was always on eating fresh and organic produce which we grew at home. In fact, we have a food forest at home itself where there are trees like moringa, amla, guava, mulberry among others,” smiles the 33-year-old with a Master’s degree in Environment Change and Management from Oxford University.

Ruchi’s post-Masters work with a World Bank project took her to the rural landscapes across India which further added to her pre-existing knowledge base of environmental ...

Republic World

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday asked the district and sub-divisional authorities to ensure that the target of doubling farmers’ income is achieved by 2022. The chief minister visited Charaideo district and Sadiya sub-divisional headquarters and reviewed their preparedness to deal with the situation arising out of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Sonowal directed the deputy commisioner in Charaideo to hold regular meetings with agriculture and other related departments so that the “state can be on its path to achieve the goal of doubling farmers’ income by 2022”. During the ongoing lockdown, agricultural activities have been allowed but the social distancing norms and the heath safety procedure must be followed to tackle the coronavirus crisis, he said.

Indian Express

Announced as part of the COVID-19 relief package about a month ago, free pulses — 1 kg per family — to beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) are yet to reach many households in the economically poor strata.

Out of the total monthly allocation of 1.95 lakh metric ton (LMT) pulses under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY), barely 19,496 ton have been distributed by the states till Wednesday, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, which is monitoring supply of essential items during the nationwide lockdown.

Youth Ki Awaaz

The world is facing the COVID-19 pandemic. Humans are confined to their homes with restricted outdoor mobility. This epidemic is destroying the socio-economic framework of nations and is resulting in human suffering, social upheaval and economic damage. It is said that environmental degradation and ecological imbalance are responsible for this pandemic. It is the result of anthropogenic climate change and deforestation.

In 2019, atmospheric CO2 concentration was 47% above the pre-industrial level. At present, Earth is under severe pressure due to emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs).

The Print

As many states in north India begin their food grain procurement operations and more and more news begin to filter in from rural India, we can see one of the biggest blunders of the ongoing coronavirus lockdown strategy: it might turn India’s biggest asset during this crisis into our biggest liability for a long time to come.

Hindustan Times

A four-member team of the Union department of food and public distribution on Wednesday visited several grain markets in Patiala district as part of their two-day visit to Punjab over problem of discolouration and shrivelling of wheat grain due to inclement weather.

The team led by Dori Lal, assistant regional director of the department’s quality control cell, is on a visit to Punjab after chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh took up the issue of the Food Corporation of India (FCI)’s refusal to purchase shrivelled wheat, which got damaged due to rain and hailstorm.

The state has 35 lakh hectare of area under wheat cultivation. The total wheat arrival is expected to surpass the targeted 135 lakh tones ...

Indian Express

A set of black pipes, part of a drip irrigation set-up, on a 17-acre patch in Ghutia village of Katoria block symbolises a transformation in Banka district. Around 42,000 acres of virtually uncultivable land in this semi-hilly area is now a profitable green patch. Farmers here grow mangoes, Arjun trees, lemon and khas grass.

Through drip irrigation and rainwater harvesting structures, digging up ponds and making check dams, the Banka district administration took up an initiative to convert this land, consisting mostly of red laterite soil, into cultivable land. It started the drive in March 2000, spreading awareness about government subsidies for raising ponds, rainwater harvesting structures and drip irrigation. Now, at least 5,000 farmers, who would ...

Your Story

The nationwide coronavirus lockdown has grounded several industries and halted economic activity.  In the first phase of the lockdown, the most prominent impact was felt in the food supply chain due to widespread closure of APMC markets, disruption of transport and logistics, scarcity of contractual labour employed in agricultural farms, etc.

GK Today

On April 20, 2020, the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare announced that the sown crop area of summer crops has increased by 36%. Farmin

Economic Times

After labour and lockdown, it is the decision of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to charge toll starting April 20, which is likely to disturb the crucial harvesting and procurement of rabi crops. All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) has demanded that the toll on highways should be suspended till May 3 as transport sector will not be able to sustain this burden.

Hindustan Times

Even as welcome showers in the last 24 hours brought down temperatures in more than half the districts of the state, UP farmers were faced by another challenge: how to protect their Rabi crop.

Farmers, now harvesting wheat, mustard and pulses, are facing labour shortage and absence of transport facilities due to the nation-wide lockdown imposed to contain the Covid-19 outbreak.

“My wheat harvest on two-acre land was drenched in the rain last night. This has delayed wheat husking (removing the wheat grain from the husk). The process requires wheat to be dry. If it rains in the next two days, I will be in big trouble,” said Surat Ram Verma, a farmer in Malihabad, Lucknow.

Sambad English

With an aim to lessen the troubles of farmers to sell their agricultural produce during lockdown and maintain social distancing amid COVID-19 pandemic, the Odisha government today launched a website for vegetable and fruits farmers.

Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment Minister Arun Sahoo launched a website www.odihortmarketing.nic.in here to facilitate easy and timely marketing of Horticultural products like fruits, vegetables, flowers and spices etc.

Greater Kashmir

Amid the lockdown, many people have switched over to conventional ways of overcoming shortage of vegetable at their own level.

Agriculture department, Kashmir has also started a campaign to encourage kitchen gardening.

Kashmir Welfare Trust, a voluntary group has taken an initiative to encourage kitchen gardening in Srinagar to help overcome shortage of vegetables amid COVID19 lockdown.

Manzoor Wangnoo, chairman KWT said to begin with, he first replaced the lawn at his house by a kitchen garden to grow vegetables.

Republic World

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday in a statement said that the state would need big interventions in the agricultural sector to remain self-sufficient in food grain production, in case of the prevailing circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic continuing for a long period. He said that Kerala is dependent on other States for meeting its demand for food grains, fruits and vegetables.

Hindustan Times

Haryana government on Tuesday said that 1.82 lakh MT of wheat was procured from 16,546 farmers at different purchase centres across the state.

As per the claims of the government, the procurement on the second day picked up pace even as the commission agents in certain districts, including Jind, Bhiwani, Rewari and Rohtak, refused to participate in the procurement process.

In Karnal district and adjoining areas, commission agents held a protest in support of their demands. They have been mounting pressure on the government to revert to old procurement method, a demand that the state government has dubbed as ‘unreasonable’.

Financial Express

State-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) has supplied about 3.51 lakh tonne of foodgrains for distribution to the poor via ration shops in north eastern region during the ongoing lockdown notwithstanding the difficult hilly terrain, the food ministry said on Monday.

Out of the 3.51 lakh tonne of foodgrains, 1.74 lakh tonne has been provided under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Anna Yojana (PMGAY), while the rest under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), it said in a statement. Under PMGAY, the Centre is giving for free 5 kg foodgrains per beneficiary and 1 kg pulses per household for three months under the Public Distribution ...

Economic Times

The government will have to spend Rs 4,000 crore more on the revamped crop insurance scheme after making it voluntary from the upcoming kharif season.

The annual premium is likely to increase by 2% from existing 12.5% as number of participating farmers is likely to fall 30%.

Over the last three crop seasons since launch, the average number of participating farmers had been 37.5 million with 58% of them having crop loan.

The Wire

With the wheat procurement by government agencies on hold in Rajasthan amidst the lockdown, farmers are forced to sell wheat at a rate much below the Minimum Support Price (MSP) to local buyers at the state-operated mandis.

In the Kota division, farmers have been selling wheat at a price as low as Rs 1,684 per quintal against the MSP of Rs 1,925 per quintal set by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare for the year 2020-21.

Rinku Meena, a farmer from Khatauli village in Pipalda tehsil of Kota district, sold his 22 quintals of wheat at the rate of Rs 1,684 per quintal to a local wholesaler, on April 16.

The Week

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is a public health emergency with grave implications for the population of the world. India, as part of the global community, has been adversely impacted by ongoing health crisis– especially the poor and marginalized. However, there is a relatively low understanding of socio-economic science. This pandemic is a global health crisis and can also lead to the food security crisis in India if correct measures are not taken. In India, it is imperative to minimize the adverse effect and disruption of livelihood of the poor and marginalized. Although supplies of staples, fruits, vegetables, and meats have been adequate during the COVID-19 outbreak so far, still there are threats to food security, in the ...

The Hindu Businessline

The lockdown has impacted the pace of procurement, driving prices below MSP in MP and Rajasthan, even as costs incurred due to transport and harvesting have increased

For Chandrabhan Dhaka, a wheat farmer near Fatehabad in Haryana, the lockdown imposed by the Centre from the last week of March to curb the spread of Covid-19 posed a new set of challenges.

Like most other villages in Haryana, Chandrabhan’s village, Bhutal Kalan, 16 km from Fatehabad town, too faced massive labour shortage, triggered by the reverse migration of farm workers — who normally come from parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Chandrabhan managed to harvest a part of his standing crop, but is now grappling ...

Live Mint

The government on Monday approved that surplus rice available with Food Corporation of India (FCI) can be converted into ethanol in order to manufacture alcohol-based hand sanitisers and also for blending with petrol.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the National Biofuel Coordination Committee (NBCC).

“A meeting of NBCC was held today under the Chairmanship of the Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, wherein it was approved that the surplus rice available with FCI may be converted to ethanol for utilization in making alcohol-based hand-sanitizers and in blending for Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme,” the petroleum ministry said in a statement.

Republic World

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on Tuesday in a statement said that under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme during the coronavirus lockdown period imposed on March 24 till date, about 8.89 crore farmer families have been benefited. The statement added that so far an amount of Rs 17,793 crores has been released so far.

Farmers in India were expecting a bumper wheat crop this season. Ironically, they are now finding ways to minimise losses despite the Centre relaxing lockdown norms for agriculture and allied activities starting Monday.

Breather for Cities, Plunderer for Farms

Just as farmers were dealing with the perils of coronavirus lockdown at a time when harvesting of rabi crop is supposed to be at its peak, untimely rains late on Saturday across most parts of North India exponentially increased their fears of a crop failure.

Hailstorms hit fields in Punjab, Haryana and parts of Uttar Pradesh exactly when wheat and rabi crops were just starting to be harvested.

“Any amount of rainfall on ready, standing crop during the harvest season ...

Economic Times

The government is closely monitoring the demand and supply of agricultural products and regularly interacting with mandis and top officials of states. This has helped ensure smooth supplies during the lockdown, officials said.

“We have ensured that there is no shortage of TOP (tomato, onion and potato) in any state. There is no scarcity of these three essential horticultural items. Only thing is stitching supply and demand together. We are coordinating with supply and consuming states for uninterrupted delivery,” said an agriculture ministry official.

Rediff

Brajwasi Meena, a young farmer from Sheupur district in Madhya Pradesh, decided not to sell his 50 quintals of wheat as the trader was offering him a price which was almost Rs 250-350 quintal less than the minimum support price of Rs 1925 a quintal under a new system called, ‘sauda patrak or parchi’.

“If I had sold the crop at the rate offered by the trader, I would have incurred a loss of almost Rs 11,000 in a trolley full of wheat, which weighs 50 quintals,” Meena said

Times Of India

The efforts taken by the agriculture marketing and horticulture department to help banana farmers sell their produce after the Covid-19 outbreak have started reaping dividends. Banana farmers from Trichy have sold out about 4,500 tonnes of banana to the tune of Rs 5.78 crore during the lockdown period so far. Following appeals from the farmers, the state government instructed the district administrations to initiate steps to sell banana, which are ready to harvest. It may be recalled that TOI had carried stories highlighting the plights of banana farmers.

Times Of India

Unseasonal rains have caused severe damage to the standing crops across Telangana. Several tonnes of harvested paddy and maize, brought to government established paddy procurement centres, were also destroyed by the rains on Saturday and Sunday. A shortage of tarpaulin covers and gunny bags has only aggravated the problem. Along with the paddy crop, maize and mango orchards were also affected by the rains. Crops in Karimnagar, Asifabad, Kumaram Bheem, Nizamabad, Kamareddy, Rajanna-Sircilla, Siddipet, Peddapalli and Jagtial districts have suffered damages.

Times Of India

The relaxation of conditions for transportation of agricultural produces has brought much relief to coconut farmers in the district. Since the restrictions were relaxed, nearly 30,000 to 50,000 coconuts were transported from Sholavandan to other states Bharathiya Kisan Sangh secretary T Perumal said Sholavandan in Vadipatti block is a major area where coconut is cultivated in Madurai. While only 30% of the coconuts would be sent for domestic use within the state, the remaining 70% would be sent to states such as Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Following the lockdown, the coconut farmers have been facing difficulties to market their produce.

Economic Times

The lockdown is driving some long-awaited positive changes in agriculture – it is bringing farmers in direct contact with big buyers in cities and is forcing a change in cropping practices that will help rejuvenate the soil and conserve water.

The uncertainty in mandis has strengthened direct sales. The central and many state governments are helping farmers bring their produce to cities, cutting the middlemen who often make maximum profit in the entire chain.

Sme Street

Wheat crop harvesting reached around 67 per cent of the total area under cultivation so far and summer crop sowing is also in progress despite a nationwide lockdown as timely intervention by the central and state governments has ensured that there is minimal or no disruption to the farm activities, said the Union Agriculture Ministry.

According to the Union Ministry of Agriculutre and Farmers welfare, the total area under wheat crop this rabi season is 310 lakh hectares of which 63-67 per cent has already been harvested in the country.

Indian Express

Farmers are currently harvesting, if they haven’t already, a bumper rabi crop. The India Meteorological Department has forecast a 100 per cent normal southwest monsoon (subject to a model error of ± 5 per cent), with the possibility of weak La Niña conditions (the opposite of El Niño that is generally not favourable for rainfall in the subcontinent) developing in the second half of the four-month season from June to September. That bodes well for the coming kharif planting season too. Agriculture is important from two standpoints. The first is inflation control, which is predicated on adequate supply of food, feed and fibre. Secondly, farmers and rural labourers have high marginal propensity to consume. The Indian economy ...

DD News

In order to ensure uninterrupted supply of daily essentials, Railways carried food grains in its over 3,600 wagons across the country yesterday. During the lockdown period from 25th of last month till yesterday, more than 4.2 million tonnes of foodgrains have been transported by the national carrier.

Railways is working in close coordination with Ministry of Agriculture for supply of foodgrains across the country. Container Corporation of India is also working in association with NAFED to ensure transportation of pulses.

Sunday Guardian Line

Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stress on efforts to complete rabi crop harvesting, the shortage of labour and machinery due to the lockdown clamped to prevent the spread of coronavirus has caused great difficulties in ensuring the same and the situation has created fear among farmers of losing their farm produce. A bumper wheat crop in farms across the nation is standing for harvest, but in the absence of labour and transportation due to the lockdown in place, lakhs of farmers are forced to watch their crops rot in the farms like mute spectators. Although PM Modi has suggested the use of machinery for smoothly completing the harvesting process and also sought help from entrepreneurs in ...

India TV News

India, the world’s second-largest wheat producer, has so far harvested crop in 67 per cent of the sown area of 310 lakh hectare in the country, taking safety precautions against COVID-19.

“Amidst the uncertainty prevailing today, the one activity giving hope is agricultural activity, which is also providing the reassurance of food security. All throughout India, numerous farmers and agriculture labour are sweating and toiling against all adversities,” the agriculture ministry said in a statement.

Farmers’ silent efforts, coupled with timely intervention by the central and state governments, have ensured that there is minimal or no disruption to harvesting activities and the continued sowing of summer crops, it added.

Financial Express

The Centre has launched Kisan Rath Mobile App that will facilitate farmers and traders to identify suitable transport facilities for the movement of farm produce during coronavirus lockdown. The App will allow transportation of farm produce from farm gate to mandi and from one to another mandi. It will ensure seamless supply linkages between farmers, FPOs, APMC mandis and intra-state and inter-state buyers.

Hindustan Times

The Covid-19 lockdown has not only hit the conventional crop farmers in Bihar, but tea and pineapple growers too. These businesses have been impacted equally hard with farmers in Kishanganj district being forced to dump their produce due to lack of processing and prospective buyers leading to heavy monetary losses in the last few weeks.

The tea growers’ association in Kishanganj has estimated losses worth Rs 20 crore due to non-plucking of green leaves in time (from March end to April first week) as the gardens and factories remained shut for work after lockdown.

As per reports, growers dumped a large quantity of green leaves in the first flush from March 22 to April 7 as there ...

Scroll

Kaliamma Nanjan, 70, sings as she cuts through her farm in Kerala’s Western Ghats. She deftly navigates the slopes of Attappady in Palakkad district with the gravity-defying dexterity of a mountain goat. Her silver-grey hair and bright saree vanish as she enters her mosaic-like 3.5-acre farm – her own agrobiodiversity haven.

There is one acre each of paddy, little millet and finger millet, and the remaining area is divided between vegetables for daily use, hyacinth beans, corn, and pulses.

Kaliamma is part of a unique project as a “Master Farmer” with the Kudumbashree Mission to promote and mainstream agrobiodiversity by reviving traditional and sustainable farming practices called panchakrishi.

The Hindu

The COVID-19 lockdown seems to have brought the best in Farmers Producers’ Organisations (FPOs), numbering 550 in Tamil Nadu.

From having maintained a low-key in the last five-odd years, broadly taking care of “back-office” operations of the State farm sector, the FPOs or Farmers Producers’ Companies (FPCs) have voluntarily involved themselves in the supply of fruits, vegetables and other essential commodities to consumers in the light of the lockdown, according to Gagandeep Singh Bedi, Principal Secretary (Agriculture) and Agricultural Production Commissioner.

Times Of India

Syncing its advisories with exemptions given to farmers during lockdown period, the agriculture ministry has issued 17-point guidelines for prevention of Covid-19 spread during crop harvesting/, threshing and sowing operations, and extended validity of various tests reports on approval of tractors and farm machineries till December 31. Even validity of license of seed dealers, which are expired or going to be expired, has been extended till September 30. “These moves will help uninterrupted farm operations across the country,” said an official while sharing data which shows how exemptions have, in fact, helped farmers completed harvesting of wheat in 67% of the total sown area as on Friday.

NDTV

The government today said 67% of wheat crop sown in winter (rabi crop) has been harvested despite the lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It said there is “minimal or no disruption” in harvesting rabi crop and sowing of summer crop during the lockdown.

“Summer crop sowing is 14% higher over corresponding period last year as on April 17,” the government said in a statement.

“Amidst the uncertainty prevailing today, the one activity giving hope is agricultural activity, which is also providing the reassurance of food security. All throughout India numerous farmers and agriculture labour are sweating and toiling against all adversities. Their silent efforts, coupled with timely intervention by the central and state Governments, have ensured that there ...

DD News

The procurement under the Price Support Scheme (PSS) in Rabi 2020-21 season is currently in progress in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

As on 16th of this month, over 1.33 lakh Metric Tonnes  of Pulses and over 29 thousand 264 Metric Tonnes  of Oilseeds were  procured by NAFED and Food Corporation of India valued at around 785 crore rupee. It has benefited over 1.14 lakh  farmers.

During the lockdown period  over 97 thousand Metric Tonnes of Rabi Pulses and Oilseeds have been procured under PSS scheme.

DD News

This mobile application is developed by the National Informatics Centre to facilitate farmers and traders in searching transport vehicles for movement of Agriculture and Horticulture produce.

Speaking on the occasion, Tomar said that agricultural activities have to go on amidst the lockdown. He said, concessions have been given to the Agriculture sector on directions of the Prime Minister.

He said, Kisan Rath’ App will greatly facilitate farmers, FPOs and Cooperatives in the country to have the choice to find a suitable transport facility to transfer their agriculture produce from farm gate to markets.

Times Of India

The lockdown announcement has been taken literally to its heart by a village in Kamareddy district of Telangana. The villagers of Komatipalli in Lingampet mandal, which is nearly 30 km from Kamareddy town, have locked their houses and shifted to their agricultural fields. The villagers have set up temporary shelters, each in their own field, and are engaged in agriculture. The agricultural fields are located 2-3 km away from the village. All the families packed their belongings and food provisions and have been living there since March 28 a few days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown for 21 days from March 24.

News Click 

Every single day since the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wijay Kantibhai Dabhi, 30, a farmer from Patana Bhal village of Valabhipur taluka, Bhavnagar district, has tried to sell crop harvested a month ago. But, all his attempts have been in vain, as the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) market is closed and there are too many farmers desperate to sell their harvest to a handful of private buyers.

“This year we had a good harvest and were looking forward to a decent income. But we have been unable to sell our crop so far with APMC being closed. Many from our village sell to private buyers from Surat, but only a handful of ...

Business Standard

In a major setback for farmers and consumers alike, vegetable cultivators have started ploughing their fields for kharif sowing despite some 30 per cent of the crops remaining unharvested due to a sharp drop in demand and disruption in marketing infrastructure following the coronavirus lockdown in the country. Kharif sowing time for vegetables will begin after a week or two.

The situation emerged due to the countrywide lockdown that began on March 25, and was later extended for 19 days to contain spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. A major chunk of the demand was from hotels, restaurants and small eateries, all of which have been forced shut.

NDTV

President Donald Trump on Friday announced a $19 billion financial rescue package to help the agriculture industry weather the staggering economic downturn sparked by measures to defeat the coronavirus.

Trump told a press conference the government “will be implementing a $19 billion relief program for our great farmers and ranchers as they cope with the fallout of the global pandemic.”

The program will include direct payments to farmers, ranchers and producers who Trump said have experienced “unprecedented losses during this pandemic.”

National Herald India

While availability of foodgrains, vegetables and fruits is abundant at least for the time being, agriculture experts and the FAO (Food & Agriculture Organisation) have cautioned about a looming crisis if the relaxation in the lockdown from April 20 fail to restore the supply chain. Even prices, which have plunged or remained stable because of the sudden disappearance of bulk demand by hotels, restaurants etc., could also rise later this year. Harvesting and marketing of crops have been hit by the lockdown, noted R.

Caravan Magazine

At the beginning of this year, things looked good for Indian farmers. As per advance estimates of the agriculture ministry, the country was expected to produce a record 106.21 million tonnes of wheat in 2019–20, 2.61 million tonnes more than what was produced the previous year. This increase was mainly attributed to increased acreage under wheat production and optimum soil moisture on account of a good monsoon between June and September 2019.

The first blow to farmers was unseasonal rains and hail storms in mid March. Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh saw severe damage to their crops. Around seven hundred thousand acres of land under wheat cultivation was affected in Punjab alone. Even as farmers were in ...

NDTV

The agriculture ministry aims to increase foodgrain production by 6.35 million tonnes to record 298.3 million tonnes in the 2020-21 crop year riding high on hopes of normal monsoon.

The foodgrain output in the 2019-20 crop year (July-June) is estimated at an all-time high 291.95 million tonnes, as per the second advance estimates released by the ministry in February.

“IMD has forecast the June to September southwest monsoon rainfall over the country as a whole is likely to be normal. This augurs well for rain-fed kharif crops,” Agriculture Commissioner SK Malhota said at a national level video conference organised to plan for sowing of kharif (summer) crops.

The Wire

In recent decades, the world has become more interconnected than ever before. An unprecedented movement of goods, money and information across great distances has been celebrated as the triumph of globalisation. But there is also a dark underbelly to these networked flows on a grand scale.

The rapacious nature of contemporary economic growth and consumption has meant the dilution of workers rights, a sharp increase in economic inequality and the destruction of ecosystems across the globe. At the same time, many countries have come to suffer from the pernicious political implications of dense connectivity offered by social media and the internet.

The Print

 Chandra Pal Singh, a 48-year-old small farmer with three acres of farmland in Firozabad’s Usaini village, is harvesting what’s left of his wheat crop with his two sons and wife. Most of his crop was destroyed by stray cattle, and he says the family is left with just Rs 1,500 to survive, as his sons, who used to work at a local brick kiln, have lost their jobs under the nationwide coronavirus lockdown.

Singh has to finish cutting the remaining wheat, so that he can go and sell it with his other produce, bottle gourd, in neighbouring villages, as transporting it to the local mandi (wholesale market) is costly and time-consuming. Under the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread ...

Times Of India

With the beginning of wheat harvesting season in Haryana, the state authorities have also started the process to contain stubble burning, as burning of paddy residue had become a major source of air pollution last year. The incidents of wheat stubble burning is being monitored by Haryana Space Application Centre (HARSAC) and other district-level committees, comprising officials from the agriculture and revenue departments.

Times Of India

Purchase of wheat started across 5,500 purchase centres across the state on Wednesday. This year, the government has set a minimum supply price at Rs 1,925 per quintal and a target of 55 lakh tonnes of wheat purchase. On Wednesday, around 6,000 tonnes of wheat was picked up at the wheat purchase centres through more than 615 farmers. Principal secretary, agriculture, Devesh Chaturvedi said that several concessions had been made for farmers to enable them to bring their produce to the purchase centres, while also allowing for buyers to purchase directly from the fields. “As against the lockdown rules, farmers have been given permission to travel and up to four people can travel in one vehicle,” he said.

The Better India

Every year, Unnikrishnan Vadakkumchery, a Thrissur-based organic farmer, generates nearly 40 tonnes of fresh vegetables from a plot of land which barely measures 1.5 acres. His cutting-edge farming methods and innovative ideas have made this possible.

In fact, in 2016, he was awarded by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for this bumper harvest on a small plot.

It is thus nearly impossible to believe that until a few years ago, the same person was a novice in farming and was more invested in his computer repairing business.

Tribune India

Tonnes of foodgrain has been moved from grain producing northern India to part of the country which need to provide grain to the poor and needy during this lockdown period.

As the lockdown commenced on March 24 the first task was to provide foodgrain for 80 crore citizens under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

The Northern Railways has despatched 15.75 Lakh Tonnes of foodgrains which is 137 per cent higher than last year. It has lifted 53 per cent of foodgrain during the lockdown period, a big chunk of it from Punjab and Haryana.

The News Minute

Around this time every year, pushcarts bearing juicy watermelons and muskmelons line every corner of Chennai city. Now, with the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown in place across the country, this sign of summer has been missing. Meanwhile, the scene in the farming fields is heartbreaking.

Farmers in Chengalpattu and Kanchipuram districts who grow these melons are facing a tough time with reducing demand. “A lot of these fruits go to the juice making industry – restaurants, juice shops, tea shops, and the likes. But now with the lockdown, farmers are unable to move their produce. They are now abandoning full-grown fruits in their fields,” says Alladi Mahadevan, an organic farmer from the region.

Business Insider

New Delhi, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Kailash Chaudhary said that the farmers will be paid within three days of their crops purchased by government.

Tribune India

Over 3,100 metric tonnes of wheat was procured on the first day of procurement in Punjab on Wednesday, an official statement said.

The procurement agencies had purchased 18,309 metric tonnes (MT) of wheat on the corresponding day of last year.

Different procurement agencies, including Food Corporation of India, procured wheat from the grain markets across the state.              Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu said the state government has set up 1,867 procurement centres and 1,824 mandi yards for the purchase of crop.

The state government is expecting to procure 135 lakh metric tonnes of wheat in the current Rabi marketing season.

Times Of India

India has started export of major farm products such as rice, meat, dairy and processed food items after the government stepped in to resolve the issues related to transportation and packaging in the wake of COVID-19 lockdown. The Union agriculture ministry, in a statement, said exporters’ problems are being resolved by the farm export promotion body Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).

Republic World

In view of the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 crisis, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday, April 16 launched a call centre in order to facilitate the inter-state movement of perishable items. According to reports, the 24×7 service, All India Agri Transport Call Centre, is a part of the measures that are taken to facilitate farmers and farming activities at the field level.

News 18

Activities like agriculture, e-commerce, manufacturing and IT services will be allowed after April 20 as the central government on Wednesday released fresh guidelines for the nationwide lockdown with more relaxations to “mitigate hardships to the public”.

The guidelines, issued by the home ministry a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the lockdown till May 3, has also allowed exceptions for construction activities and rural works under MNREGA to restart the economy in a graded manner. The full list of activities that are prohibited and allowed can be seen here.

India Today

The new guidelines by the Narendra Modi government indicate how the government plans to exit from coronavirus lockdown. Rural India, which houses more people and more wage earners, is the starting point as the government chalks out plan to rescue economy from coronavirus strike.

This is the time for harvest which is an activity that sustains rural economy for several months. And, this is what that cannot wait. A stricter lockdown would render millions of farmers across India penniless. Low income in rural areas has been a major reason for extended economic slowdown in India over past two years.

Scroll

The Covid-19 global pandemic has thrown our world into chaos. Already, the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation have warned of a “looming global food crisis” if the coronavirus is not managed properly. The prices of world’s two staples: wheat and rice have risen sharply.

Agrarian production is falling all over the world. In India, the government has been taking precautions to ensure that the harvest season and the farm inputs supply chain are not disrupted. But on the ground, it’s clear that the agriculture system has been fractured.

From pineapple to tea, and other sub-sectors like seeds and farm inputs, the sector is in deep shock. ...

Times Of India

As Punjab braces up for staggered wheat procurement from April 15 amid the Covid-19 crisis, it faces an uphill task of smooth purchase while maintaining proper social distancing. There is also an apprehension that shortage of labour could turn into a major problem for the farmers in the state. Punjab’s secretary, agriculture, K S Pannu said distribution of coupons to farmers has begun and those identified to sell their produce on April 15 have already got them. On Monday, the chairman of market committee in Patran issued passes of farmers to arhtiyas (commission agents). As per the plan, the agriculture department is moving three days in advance and will try and engage labour of the same ...

Times Of India

The government has lined up a slew of measures to kickstart agricultural activity in the state, which came to a halt after the nationwide lockdown was imposed. Agriculture minister BC Patil on Tuesday said the government will consider demands for a minimum support price (MSP) for vegetables and other horticulture crops.

Speaking to reporters in Chikkaballapura, Patil said farmers have been facing problems marketing vegetable crops. “Huge quantities of vegetables are rotting as the marketing network has been crippled due to the lockdown. The government will support the demand,” Patil said. The government also plans to ensure hassle-free movement of farmers, farm labourers, equipment, fertilizers and other essentials across the state by issuing special curfew passes.

Economic Times

Amid extensions of lockdowns in states due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), which is implementing the electronic National Agriculture Market (eNAM) project under the agriculture ministry, plans to add 415 mandis to the existing 585 mandis. This will take the total number of eNAM mandis to 1,000 across 21 states and Union Territories, helping farmers to get real-time payments. SFAC is working to on-board more banks to broad-base the options for farmers and traders. The existing network of 585 mandis across 16 states and two Union Territories has a user base of 16.6 million farmers, 128,000 traders and 70,934 commission agents.

Economic Times

The government has assured exporters to bring farm exports back on track by ironing out the difficulties and hurdles exporters are facing.

Agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal said that the government will look into all the issues related to transportation, international freight and permission for a lower strength operation.

“We will consider issues pertaining to port, ocean freight services, courier services for necessary resolution. The Home ministry has already issued directives allowing interstate transportation of goods,” he said while addressing exporters and agri industry representatives through video conference.

NDTV

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced the extension of the nationwide lockdown till May 3 while assuring safeguards for the farmers in the middle of the Rabi or winter crop harvest.

Hours after the Prime Minister’s address, the Uttar Pradesh government confirmed that the procurement of the Rabi crop by state and private players would begin as scheduled on Wednesday.

Around 5,500 wheat procurement centres are being set up across the state by the Uttar Pradesh government, where farmers can transport their produce and also sell grain at the government-mandated Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 19.25 per kg.

Hindustan Times

With Punjab set to start wheat procurement on Wednesday under the shadows of Covid-19, the state food and civil supplies, and agriculture departments have dispatched hundreds of gallons of sanitisers and thousands of gloves and masks to all 1,864 grain markets (mandis) and purchase centres besides rice shelling mills temporarily designated as procurement stations.

With a bumper crop likely this time, the total wheat arrival is n expected to surpass the targeted 135 lakh tonnes. Due to rainfall and fall in temperatures at the maturing stage of the crop, both harvesting and procurement were postponed by a fortnight. To maintain social distancing to avoid the spread of coronavirus, procurement will be made in a staggered manner as ...

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The agricultural sector in India has come to halt with the 21-day national lockdown. Supply chains have broken down, labour is in short supply and there has been a surge in food prices, leading to a drop in availability. This comes at a time when farmers were gearing up to harvest the rabi crop. As a result, they are now facing issues over harvesting and supplying crops to the market.

What role does agriculture play as we think about the economic consequences of Covid-19? And what can India do to ensure that challenges we’ve experienced in the past 21 days do not continue, even if the lockdown does?

The Wire

After the Ministry of Home Affairs said that agricultural activities would continue during the lockdown period, the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) issued a national advisory enumerating precautions that farmers must take while harvesting, threshing, storage and marketing produce.

Despite this, states like Rajasthan have not taken up any effort to initiate procurement operations.

In Rajasthan, E-mitra, an e-governance service platform, has been suspended amid the lockdown, making it impossible for farmers to begin registering themselves for the procurement process.

Orrisa Diary

The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Government of India is taking several measures to facilitate the farmers and farming activities at field level during the lock down period. The updated status is given below:

To ensure supply of seeds to the States under National Food Security Mission, the subsidy pertaining to seeds under the scheme shall be for varieties less than 10 years. It has also been decided to allow Truthful Label seeds for subsidy component for the North East, Hilly regions and the UTs of Jammu & Kashmir only, for all crops under NFSM. Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme during the lockdown period from 24.3.2020, about 8.31 crore farmer families ...

Times of India

Industry body CII on Monday said that harvesting of rabi (winter) crops has been impacted due to labour shortages and logistics issues and suggested the government to leverage Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) for imparting training to farmers about health and hygiene. “The agri and food supply chains are vulnerable to massive disruptions which can further impact availability and prices, hence proactive measures for safety and health of farmers and workers are required at both the farm as well as mandi level,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general, CII.

Economic Times

The union agriculture ministry has started an All India Agri Transport Call Centre for coordination between states for inter-state movement of perishables – vegetables and Fruits, Agri Inputs like seeds, pesticides and fertilizer etc. The Call Centre can be accessible from any mobile or landline phones.

This will facilitate inter state transportation of fruits and vegetables. Truck drivers, traders, retailers, transporters or any other stakeholders who are facing problems in inter-state movement of above commodities, may seek help by calling at the Call Centre.

Economic Times

Local governments across several states are procuring fruits and vegetables directly from farms to ease rural distress and provide essential supplies to customers.

In the absence of trading and market auctions, the farmers are finding it difficult to sell their produce, resulting in the piling up of vegetables and fruits at several places.

Kerala government has actively reached out to farmers and consumers and has announced a Rs 20,000 crore relief package, including free distribution of essentials to the people.

Economic Times

The government plans to expand the coverage of digital agriculture market – e-NAM – to 1000 mandis. Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that the government will add 415 mandis to e-NAM platform to expand its coverage form existing 585 mandis.

“e-NAM is an innovative initiative in agricultural marketing to enhance farmers accessibility digitally to multiple number of markets & buyers and to bring transparency in trade transactions with the intent to improve price discovery mechanism, quality commensurate price realization and also to develop the concept of One Nation One Market for agriculture produce,” he said.

Telangana Today

Finance Minister, T Harish Rao has said they were expecting 10,500 metric tonnes of Bengal Gram harvest in Sanagreddy district this season.

The Minister, who inaugurated a paddy procurement centre in Jogipet on Monday, has said that Telangana government has decided to purchase the entire Bengal gram crop in Telangana though the Centre had permitted them to procure just 25 per cent of the crop.He has further said that they were going to open 93 paddy procurement centres across Sanagreddy district expecting 43,300 metric tonnes of paddy harvest this Yasangi.

Insights On India

Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the country, – different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers.

Times Of India

UP government on Sunday looked set to lend a thrust to rural economy amid ongoing lockdown period by announcing initiation of wheat procurement within the minimum support price (MSP) from April 15. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting presided over by chief minister Yogi Adityanath at his official residence. Additional chief secretary Awanish Awasthi said, “The chief minister has directed that Mandi system should be further strengthened and social distancing be maintained during wheat procurement.”

Financial Express

The pile-up of harvested or un-harvested perishables may have caused farmers a loss of around Rs 15,000 crore. Market arrivals of fruits and vegetables have sharply fallen since the imposition of the lockdown (see chart), and if it is extended by another month, losses could swell to Rs 40,000-Rs 50,000 crore, if not more, traders and economists say.

First Post

“Be it any crisis, it’s the farmer who has to suffer. If the farmer won’t suffer on behalf of others, how will the society survive?” asks 48-year-old Sanjay Barwade, a farmer from the village of Boragaon in the Chikodi taluka of Karnataka’s Belagavi district. After his two-and-a-half-acre-wide field was ravaged in the August 2019 floods, Barwade took an agricultural loan of Rs 40,000 for his rabi crops. Thereon, it was going according to plan – 3,000 kilograms of beans, 100 kilograms of coriander, and sugarcane would be harvested on an acre of land, which was due to mature post-November this year.

Telangana Today

Telangana State is slowly but surely emerging as the ‘Rice Bowl of India’. Within a short span of five years, the area under paddy cultivation has doubled, from 22.7 lakh acres in 2014-15 to 40.7 lakh acres in the 2019-20 kharif season. With regard to yasangi, the area under paddy cultivation has increased more than three-fold, from 12.23 lakh acres in 2014-15 to 39.12 lakh acres in the ongoing season in the State. It should not come as a surprise then that the State government is targetting a humongous one crore acres in a single season in the next three years.

Manorama Online

One of the best things the Soviet Union ever did for its citizens was allotting land for dachas or summer cottages. It has been a tradition from the 1950s for Russians and citizens of former Soviet countries to use the land around their dachas to farm potatoes, beetroot, cabbages and other vegetables, as well as grow fruits and berries. Many urban families harvest enough potatoes to last all winter. They would also pickle cabbages and cucumbers and make jams from berries. (Anton Chekhov loved having a spoonful of homemade berry jam with his black tea).

Times Of India

 As Covid-19 rages, in farms across the country it’s a grim Baiskahi staring at farmers hit by a plethora of woes — from the labour force working on fields drying up due to fear and migration to crops drying up, lack of liquidity among farmers and even a severe shortage of gunny bags to pack produce. Even fear of catching the virus in big cities is keeping farmers and transporters away from transporting crop and vegetables. Most farmers in Punjab and Haryana grow wheat, the biggest rabi crop. It will be difficult to ask them to stagger their harvest as they are worried over clearing their fields to prepare for sowing of kharif (summer-sown) crops like ...

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