Financial Express

The milk consumption in the country dropped significantly after the government imposed coronavirus lockdown. As hotels, restaurants, sweet marts and the unorganised tea stalls remained shut across the nation, the milk consumption fell by 25-30% during April and May 2020, a CARE Ratings report said. While some of this consumption fall was cushioned by an increased demand in households, dairy players also have some tricks up their sleeves to survive the pandemic. “Shift to branded and packaged milk from loose milk due to fear of contracting the disease will also be favourable for the demand of products of organised players,” the report said. Dairy players’ margins will also be aided by the fact that procurement of SMP/milk has been ...

Krishi Jagran

Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for around 58 per cent of India’s population. Gross Value Added (GVA) by agriculture, forestry and fishing is estimated at Rs 18.55 lakh crore (US$ 265.51 billion) in FY19 (PE). Growth in Gross Value Added (GVA) by agriculture and allied sectors remained at 2.1 per cent in H1 2019-20.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ (or Self-reliant India Mission) on May 12 with an economic stimulus package of worth Rs 20 lakh crores which has aimed towards achieving the mission. The Mission focuses on the importance of promoting local products and it is expected to focus on land, labour, liquidity and laws. The mission is also expected to complement Make in India Initiative which intends to encourage manufacturing in India and agriculture sector to have great potential.

Krishi Jagran

Due to the Corona outbreak, many people who were living abroad have returned to their homes, so there is a shortage of workers in many factories and manufacturing companies. Tractor making companies like Mahindra tractors and Farm Equipment (Tafe) and Sonalika are struggling with customized hiring schemes. These three companies are now trying to take the chance to gain advantage on increasing demand as their workers are moving back to their homes in other states. These companies have now found an easy way to provide tractors on rent to deal with this problem.

Indian Express

The acute shortage of migrant labour to transplant paddy has helped Punjab achieve what the state government has been unsuccessfully trying to do for over a decade. For the first time ever this year, the area under ‘Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR)’ is set to be the highest ever from the year the technology was introduced in the state in 2009-10. The increase in area under DSR, even according to initial trends, is already 8.60 times higher than last year, and paddy sowing will continue till the end of this month. Experts estimate that by the time sowing ends around 22 per cent to 26 per cent of the total targeted area of paddy will be brought ...

Economic Times

The government is looking to create 3,500 farmer producer organisations (FPOs) in next three years to ensure farmers get remunerative prices for their produce, a top official said.

“Most of these FPOs will be based on government’s one-product-one-district initiative where in FPOs will primarily promote and trade particular commodity besides other produce in small quantities,” said Neel Kamal Darbari, managing director of Small Farmer Agribusiness Consortium, the government’s nodal agency for promoting FPOs. “This will help clusters and FPOs in getting identity,” she said.

The Print

My friend Ajay Vir Jakhar, who runs Bharat Krishak Samaj and is currently the Chair of Punjab Farmers’ Commission, has tweeted a mischievous request asking for names and contact details of those farmer organisations that support the three “historic” ordinances passed recently for the agriculture sector.

He asks this question even as he knows the answer: none. None of the myriad farmers’ organisations, unions, coalitions with any mass base, with the possible exception of the BJP’s own Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, have welcomed or even supported the Narendra Modi government’s three laws on agri-marketing. All the organisations that I know of and work with have vehemently opposed them. That should set everyone thinking. Are these ‘historic’ moves really going ...

Swarajya Mag

The Central government has allocated Rs 4,000 crore as annual allotment to states for the current financial year under ”Per Drop More Crop” component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY-PDMC).

The state governments have identified the beneficiaries to be covered under the programme, said an Agriculture Ministry statement, adding that the process to release funds to some of the states is already under way for the year 2020-21.

Swarajya Mag

Direct Cash Transfers (DCT) have emerged as one of the most effective methods in the hands of the welfare state. Studies have shown their positive effects on outcomes related to household consumption, education, healthcare, etc.

Since 2014, India has bet big on DCTs. The Jan Dhan bank accounts, Aadhar and Mobil trinity has helped Indian government transfer subsidies worth lakhs of crores over the last few years while eliminating corruption and pilferages worth tens of thousands of crores.