The Quint

A farmer in north Karnataka’s Bidar killed himself on Monday, 30 March, reportedly over the fact that he was not able to transport his watermelon crop to the nearby markets for sale.

According to a report in The New Indian Express, 47-year-old Chandrakant Biradar, a watermelon farmer, ended his life on Monday evening, burdened by debt and unable to find a way to send his watermelons to Kalaburagi or Latur in Maharashtra, where he used to sell his crop to wholesalers. A case of unnatural death has been registered at the local police station.

Times Of India

Coming to the aid of citizens facing hardship due to the lockdown, the Karnataka government on Wednesday took a slew of measures to ensure uninterrupted supply of food grains, vegetables and milk. These decisions include protecting the interests of farmers and milk producers. “We have decided to supply milk free of cost to the poor till April 14 and the district administrations have been entrusted to make the arrangements for it,” chief minister BS Yediyurappa said at a press briefing after chairing a meeting of the group of ministers.

First Post

Food prices in India are likely to rise soon, warn experts, as farmers in the country face the double whammy of erratic rainfall and a nationwide lockdown due to the novel coronavirus.

The Skymet Weather, a private weather forecasting agency, in a report published on Monday, expressed fear of loss of crops due to the recent untimely rainfall when the agriculture sector in India is already struggling to meet the challenges thrown by the nationwide lockdown.

Siasat

The heads of three global agencies warned Wednesday of a potential worldwide food shortage if authorities fail to manage the ongoing coronavirus crisis properly.

Many governments around the world have put their populations on lockdown to slow the spread of the virus but that has resulted in severe slow-downs in international trade and food supply chains.

Indian Express

In the wake of milkmen in Karnataka’s Belagavi throwing away an estimated 1,500 litres of milk due to COVID-19 lockdown, the state government has decided to purchase excess milk procured by the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) and distribute it free of cost to residents residing in slums and poor people through local municipal bodies from Thursday.

The state government has also decided to buy vegetables and fruits from farmers to avoid losses amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Telangana Today

District Collector Rajiv Gandhi Hanumanthu along with Joint Collector Dayanand visited the Enumamula Agriculture Market yard on Wednesday to check the availability of the godown space and make them ready for the storage of maize as the district administration is going to purchase the maize.

According to the official estimations, maize was sown in 41,547 acres of the land in the district and 1,66,175 quintals of the produce is expected in this Yasangi season.

Financial Express

The evolving situation around Covid-19 is becoming critical. Governments have already announced guidelines for citizens to keep themselves safe. Packages have also been declared to safeguard interests of various sectors. What could be the possible fall out on the agriculture sector—50% of population still depends on it—is indeed a cause of concern.

Scroll

The wheat crop on Sukbhir Singh’s four acres of land 20 km from Ludhiana in Punjab will be ready for harvest next week. Plentiful rain and an unusually cold winter, said the farmer, is set to increase the yields.

But he is worried about the lockdown: would he be able to harvest and transport the grain under the current conditions?

Financial Express

The Centre has transferred Rs 5,125 crore under the flagship direct income support scheme PM-Kisan since the coronavirus relief package was announced, while the target is to disburse April-July instalment of Rs 2,000 each to about 9 crore farmers immediately, front-loading release of the money which was otherwise to be transferred by mid-April latest.

The government on March 26 had announced a Rs 1.7 lakh crore of relief package for the poor and vulnerable sections of the society. Under the PM Kisan scheme, launched in February 2019, each beneficiary farmer is entitled to get Rs 6,000 every year in three equal instalments as direct income support.