Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Lockdown: Telangana Farmers Allege Irregularities in Paddy Procurement Centresedit
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 ...
Lockdown impact: Despite bumper wheat crop, Haryana, Punjab farmers may not harvest profitsedit
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.
Maharashtra: Agriculture dept to focus more on alternate markets, online shoppingedit
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 ...
UP: Following Lockdown Woes, Farmers Left Distressed after Rain, Hail Damages Cropsedit
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.
COVID-19: HD Deve Gowda wants Karnataka govt to announce special package for farmersedit
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 ...
For India’s distressed farmers, a little bit of help on Twitteredit
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 ...
Many tobacco farmers shifting to ginger cultivation in Mysuruedit
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.
Horticulture Department comes to the rescue of jackfruit farmers in Tamil Naduedit
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.
Covid-19: India moving towards normalcy in agriculture, says MHAedit
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.