Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Punjab: Central team checks out shrivelled grainedit
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.
Harvest of pulses, potato complete: Centreedit
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, ...
Privileging agriculture will trigger migration from urban to rural areas, boost economyedit
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.
Functional agricultural markets almost double since beginning of lockdownedit
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.
Labour shortage likely to hit Bengal rabi paddy harvestedit
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.
Mumbai Woman’s Startup Sells 300+ Organic Foods From 10,000+ Farmers!edit
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 ...
Ensure That Target Of Doubling Farmers’ Income Is Achieved By 2022: Assam CM To Officialsedit
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.
Only 10% free pulses under govt scheme distributed to poor so faredit
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.