Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Coronavirus: As harvest season approaches, Punjab farmers have hard time making arrangementsedit
With wheat harvesting season to start from April 15, the farmers are having a tough time in making all the necessary arrangements to kickstart the harvesting process.
Amidst the shortage of labour, the other problem that they are facing this year due to the virus spread is arranging sanitisation of the tractors and combines and also providing sanitisers to the workers working in the fields.
The cause of concern for the farmers is that the sanitisers that are not easily available in the market these days due to huge demand and the cost factor are also bothering especially the marginal farmers.
No harvesting anxiety for Punjab thanks to 17k combine harvestersedit
While procuring around 13 million tonnes (130 lakh metric tonnes) of wheat amid coronavirus outbreak poses a significant challenge for Punjab, the state seems less worried about harvesting the standing crop in the coming days. Thanks to the mechanised harvesting in the state, which owns over 17,000 combine harvesters, 90 per cent wheat here is cut mechanically without the use of much labour in the fields.
‘Ensure farmers don’t incur losses, keep food processing industry open’: KCR to PM Modiedit
The Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, during the four-hour video conference meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, urged him to extend the nationwide lockdown for another two weeks. The CM also called for economic support to farmers and wanted the PM to allow key agriculture-based industries to function.
The lockdown has helped to contain the spread of coronavirus disease to a great level. It is better to extend the lockdown for two more weeks. There is no other better solution than this, KCR told PM Modi.
Coronavirus | Despite lockdown hurdles, sowing of summer crops upedit
Pulses also see significant increase in early sowing despite lockdown limitations
NITI Aayog suggests mandi norms relaxation for farmers for 6 monthsedit
NITI Aayog member and agricultural policy expert Ramesh Chand has recommended to the government that the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act be kept in suspended animation for the next six months in view of the Covid-19 outbreak. This should be done across states even if an ordinance is required, he said, to ease pressure on farmers and ensure smooth supply of farming goods.
Nearly 2 Crore Farmers yet to Benefit From PM Kisan, Two Weeks After Relief Packageedit
On March 26, while announcing the PM Garib Kalyan Package, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that the first instalment of PM Kisan for 2020-21 will be paid ‘immediately’ to 8.69 crore farmers.
Two weeks later, more than 1.82 crore farmers are yet to receive the Rs 2,000 that was due to them for the April to July period and which the finance minister had, on March 26, said will be paid ‘immediately’.
According to data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, the first instalment of 2020-21 of Rs 2,000 has been transferred to 6.86 crore farmers, as of the evening of April 9, 2020.
Coronavirus impact: Food security at risk as crisis engulfs farmersedit
A bumper yield of paddy, wheat, jowar, cotton, vegetables, maize and millets in Hanumanahalli of Dharwad district is at the mercy of COVID-19 lockdown. Over 30% of the crop lie unharvested, due to the acute shortage of labour and lack of access to the fields. The harvested crops remain stacked in the fields and houses of farmers, as they cannot transport the grains without logistics support.
Technology in Agriculture
Multiple Cropping: How to Double your Production with this Modern Harvesting Technique?edit
Agriculture and farming techniques are changing and growing over the time and years. Moreover, agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization. Farmers can easily adopt new techniques to enrich their yield and double their profit and income. While science has invented many new techniques of harvesting crops to get the best result, multiple cropping is one of them. Hence, multiple cropping is the best example of new harvesting techniques to grow and harvest crops. In simple words, multiple cropping or multicropping is the practice of sequentially growing two or more crops in the same piece of land during one growing season instead of just one crop. Moreover, it is a form of polyculture.