Indo Asian Commodities

Kharif crop sowing has got a headstart as India has been receiving healthy monsoon rainfall this year. Last week, rainfall picked up and the country received above average showers for almost an entire week. Overall through July, India has received above average rainfall so far. The rainfall received in July and August is critical to the farmers as this will determine the crop output of the year. Farmers sow crops such as rice, pulses, coarse cereals, oil seeds, sugarcane and cotton in the kharif crop sowing season.

“With the monsoon season in full swing, crop sowing is off to a very strong start, with the area sown through 3 July now reported at around 43.3 million ...

Forbes India

Agriculture supports nearly half of India’s workforce despite its decreasing contribution to the country’s GDP (85 percent to 16.5 percent during 1950-2020). Upscaling promising digital solutions across the agricultural value chain can address pressing challenges, posed mainly by the pandemic in the present time and over the long-term by way of climate change and growing population. More importantly, such efforts will leave us with a stronger value chains and means to better welfare.

The concern of getting infected with COVID-19 weighs heavily as the farm workforce engages in kharif to feed the country. Mechanising more farms can reduce risk of infection while increasing farm efficiency. Just under 45 percent of Indian farms are mechanised. China and Brazil, India’s ...

Telugu Bullet

The area under Kharif crops reached over 580 lakh hectares as on July 10, as per the sowing coverage data released by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on Friday. The acreage of pulses has increased unexpectedly compared to last year as the timely onset of monsoon this year favored early sowing in the rainfed areas. The total area under pulses rose to 64.25 lakh hectares, up 162.35 percent from the same period last year.

As per the Ministry’s latest sowing coverage, the acreage of tur is 26.18 lakh hectares, up 199.20 percent from the corresponding data a year ago while the area under urad reached 19.79 lakh hectares and moong 15.16 lakh hectares.

News 18

The government’s wheat procurement has touched an all-time record of 38.98 million tonnes so far in 2020-21 marketing year (April-March), with Madhya Pradesh surpassing Punjab as the country’s biggest wheat procuring state.

The previous record was 38.18 million tonnes achieved in 2012-13. Wheat procurement stood at 34.77 million tonnes during 2019-20 marketing year. Wheat marketing year runs from April-March, but bulk of procurement is normally done in the first three months.

Counter View

The Covid-19 crisis has highlighted the risks of an unhealthy diet and the extreme fragility of food systems. The economic reconstruction that will follow the pandemic is the perfect opportunity to provide better nutrition and health to all. The pandemic should spur us to redefine how we feed ourselves, and agricultural research can play a vital role in making our food systems more sustainable and resilient. Family-owned farms still produce some 80% of the world’s food. There is an inextricable link between farmers with small landholdings and our survival and the health of our planet. They play a highly critical role in protecting the environment. But they are among the most underserved population.