Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Flour millers want heavy reduction in wheat price under open market sale schemeedit
Flour millers have demanded the current wheat price under the open market sale scheme (OMSS) be cut by 23 per cent on assurance that the millers would purchase 10 million tonnes from the government’s official stock.
A decrease in the reserve price may help the government to reduce the stockpiles of the cereal with the Food Corporation of India, which is double than the buffer norm of 27.6 million tonnes as on July 1, 2020.
Kharif sowing up 88% at 433 lakh haedit
With almost three-fourth of total districts in the country receiving excess to normal rainfall so far, the area under kharif crops increased by 88 per cent over to 433 lakh hectares (lh) till Friday as against 230 lh in the corresponding week last year, according to kharif sowing data released by the Agriculture Ministry here.
Oilseeds and pulses, which are predominantly rain-fed crops, recorded highest increase as compared to the same period last year.
With Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra planting soyabean over 42.2 lh and 29 lh as compared to 8.5 lh and 1 lh, respectively, during the corresponding period the total area under soyabean cultivation zoomed 225 per cent to 109 lh. Similarly, Gujarat ...
Govt plans to boost organic farming by doubling allocation, but experts say it’s anti Swadeshiedit
In a major push to organic farming in the country, the Agriculture Ministry has proposed to double the allocation for the sector to Rs 1,300 crore annually. The Centre has provided Rs 660 crore to support the sector in its budget estimate (BE) for FY21. In a presentation to the Fifteenth Finance Commission, the Agriculture Ministry has proposed to bring additional 25 lakh hectares under organic farming in the next 5 years. The current organic farming coverage of 28 lakh hectares is a measly 2% of the total farm land.
Odisha to provide Rs 1,040 crore credit to 7 lakh landless farmersedit
The Odisha government has launched a scheme ‘Balaram’ to provide agricultural credit of Rs 1,040 crore to landless farmers who are facing hardships due to the coronavirus outbreak, officials said on Friday.
Around seven lakh landless cultivators will be benefited from the programme in the next two years, they said.
The decision in this regard was taken at a high-level meeting presided over by chief secretary A K Tripathy on Thursday.