Bhaskar

Under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, the Punjab Government has decided to reduce pollution (which also reduces soil fertile power) caused by ensuring clean environment in the state and burning of straw Super straw management (SMS) has been made mandatory on the combine harvester.

Combine harvester is a machine that harvests crops. The lower part of the plant is saved after harvesting, which is burnt by the farmers. It is actually a machine used in Punjab. This machine harvests crops in a very short time, due to less availability of laborers in Punjab and Haryana, the use of this machine has increased.

The Hans India

Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy reiterated that the regulatory farming being implemented in Telangana for the first time has become a big success and in the coming days this is going to turn out to be a big boon for the farmers as they will be gaining huge profits and minimising their losses improving their economic conditions.

Q8 India

An overflowing Narmada threw life out of gear in parts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and water released from the Hirakud dam flooded several districts of Odisha on the weekend. At least 24 people were killed in flooding in MP and Odisha. and thousands were displaced as heavy rainfall lashed other parts of India, causing reservors to overflow.

Reporter Live

Wearing a soiled kurta-pyjama, Ajay Kumar was tending to his green fields in a rural village in Uttar Pradesh. The uncertainty of the past few months is gradually making way for hope and happiness. The lands are now green, and with a good monsoon forecast, Kumar was hopeful of a bumper harvest. “When I had returned to my village in April, we had no hope and were staring at a bleak future. So, turning to our ancestral fields seemed the only way forward for us. Two months on, we have made good progress and with good monsoon, I am looking forward to a bumper crop and good income,” Kumar said in Hindi.

Financial Express

BOUNTIFUL RAINS AND news of tractor-sales shooting up by 38.5% in the month of July have triggered quite a buzz in the market. It is being claimed that the performance of agriculture this year will be a saviour of the economy. There is no doubt that while most of the other sectors are likely to see big negative growth, agriculture will deliver a reasonably healthy positive growth. With water storage in reservoirs in good shape, not only Kharif harvest is likely to be good, but there is hope for a robust rabi crop too.

Tribune India

THE Centre’s move to ban 27 widely used pesticides (12 insecticides, eight fungicides and seven herbicides) may have little immediate impact on agriculture and farmers. As of now, a draft order has been issued, banning the manufacturing and sale of these pesticides on the grounds of the risk they pose to humans and animals.

Indian Express

Bountiful rains and the news of tractor sales shooting up by 38.5 per cent in July have triggered quite a buzz in the market. It is being claimed that agriculture will be the saviour of the economy this year. There is no doubt that while most of the other sectors are likely to see negative growth, agriculture will deliver a reasonably healthy positive growth. With water storage in reservoirs in good shape, not only is the kharif harvest likely to be good, there is also hope for a robust rabi crop.

Hindustan Times

An overflowing Narmada threw life out of gear in parts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and water released from the Hirakud dam flooded several districts of Odisha on the weekend. At least 24 people were killed in flooding in MP and Odisha. and thousands were displaced as heavy rainfall lashed other parts of India, causing reservors to overflow.

Rainfall has been 25% more than normal in August, which India Meteorological Department (IMD) is the highest for the month in 44 years. The previous highest in August was recorded in 1983, when rain was 23.8% more than the normal.

News Click

The Rajasthan Pollution Control Board had issued an advertisement in local papers on July 30, calling for a public hearing ahead of the grant of environmental clearance to Cairn Oil and Gas, a vertical of Vedanta Limited, the largest oil and gas exploration and production company in India, for exploring oil and gas in six blocks in Sindhari, Chohtan, Dhorimanna, Gudamalani, Bayatu and Shiv. Barmer is the site of the country’s largest onshore oil block.

However, farmers have called for postponement of the hearing scheduled to be held on Monday, August 31. They fear the exploration will affect productivity of their land.

New Indian Express

The lush fields and scenic hills around Varappalayam camouflage the distress of farmers living in the village very well. For the impoverished workers of the perennially ailing sector, the Covid pandemic and associated lockdowns were a brutal body blow. K Ranganathan, one such farmer from Varappalayam near Coimbatore, pinned his hopes on the Central government’s financial assistance programme, to tide through the tough times. The officials executing the programme, however, seemed to have different ideas.

Window To News

Central Office of Horticulture Mission in MP to be started soon: Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar Shivraj ji, you have left our Punjab behind in wheat production –Harsimrat Kaur Badal

Bhopal 29 August 2020:  Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that five ultra-modern clusters will be set up in the next three years to promote horticulture and food processing in the state. One of these clusters will be world class. Like the conventional crops, horticulture crops will also be promoted in Madhya Pradesh. All efforts will be made to double the income of farmers through cold chain, value addition and food processing. Only the welfare of farmers can help in realizing the dream of Atmanirbhar ...

Green Eco System

The livestock farm rearing native Indian cow breeds but with a zero-dairy policy. Aparna Rajagopal’s Beejom organic farm is trailing the … Read Complete New : Eco India: The livestock farm rearing native Indian cow breeds but with a zero-dairy policy

India Today

Plentiful monsoon rains spurred Indian farmers to plant summer crops across a record swathe of farmland 7 per cent bigger than last year, promising a bumper harvest in Asia’s third-biggest economy, despite the rapid spread of coronavirus.

Farm ministry data shows growers sowed 108.2 million hectares (267.4 million acres) with crops such as rice, corn, cotton, soybeans and sugarcane

Current Affairs

The E-Market place allows the farmers to connect with the UAE food industry directly bypassing intermediaries. This optimizes the supply chain and ensures traceability creating value for all stakeholders.

In 2019, India exported more than 38 billion USD of agricultural and processed food products to UAE.

The platform will help to improve Global Food Security Index of UAE.

Telangana Today

Based on the positive data on the state of the economy, speculations are rife that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may cut interest rates in its forthcoming monetary policy slated on April 5. Such a move can spruce private investment and help accelerate revival of the economy.

The major respite comes from fall in Consumer Price Index (CPI)-led inflation to 4.44% in February this year, from 5.05% in January, though it is more than the corresponding level of 3.65% of February 2017. With the fourth quarter coming close to an end, taking stock will help plan the growth trajectory of FY19.

Asia Insurance Post

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday demanded that the states’ share in the Pradhan Mantri Pik Vima Yojana (PM’s crop insurance scheme) should remain at 50 percent.

He was speaking at a video conference with Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar on the agriculture reforms ordinance.

News Today Net

latest study has explored how new technologies, demographic trends, and climate change will impact Indian agriculture and food systems over the next decade.

Titled “The Future of Indian Agriculture and Food Systems: Vision 2030”, the report by Omnivore, an agritech venture capital firm, says aggritech innovations will have an outsized impact on Indian agriculture by 2030.

The report points out the need for investment in horticulture, dairy, poultry, aquaculture, and food processing. It anticipates a future with significant advances in farm mechanisation and automation, including farm robots taking over labor intensive tasks and reducing drudgery.

The report further notes that India’s agricultural workforce in the future will be smaller, younger, and more gender diverse, and will ...

Business Standard

The food ministry on Friday said it is considering extending the implementation of ration card portability under the ‘One Nation-One Ration Card’ initiative beyond March 2021.

This was discussed at a meeting of an empowered committee on public distribution system (PDS) reforms, chaired by Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey. The meeting was for review and approval of extension of the Integrated Management of PDS (IM-PDS), under which the ‘One Nation-One Ration Card’ plan is being implemented.

IM-PDS is a portal that provides the technological platform for the inter-state portability of ration cards.

Express India

Omnivore, a leading agritech venture capital firm, launched its report on The Future of Indian Agriculture and Food Systems: Vision 2030. The report, a bold vision for agritech, explores how new technologies, demographic trends, and climate change will impact Indian agriculture and food systems over the next decade.

New Indian Express

India’s export business has been among the worst hit by the ongoing pandemic. In the first four months of the current financial year, namely, from April to July, merchandise exports have fallen by over 30% over the corresponding period in 2019. But amidst this gloom, there is cheer in officialdom that exports of agricultural commodities have increased.

In July, several agricultural commodities, especially of food grains and oils, showed a spurt in exports. As compared to the levels in July 2019, exports of non-basmati rice rose by 48%, other cereals by 205% and oil seeds by nearly 33%. If we go back to the figures of the first quarter, namely April to June, for which further ...

Economic Times

In what should spell good news for the rural economy, India has reported an all-time record acreage of Kharif (summer sown) crops this year despite the Covid-19 pandemic and flood situation in many states. The development indicates that the farm sector, which remained largely free of restrictions during lockdown, may continue to register growth despite a shrinking GDP.

Indian Express

Punjab Vidhan Sabha Friday passed a resolution rejecting the farm ordinances and proposed Electricity Bill promulgated by the Centre.

The resolution was moved by the Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and was supported by the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Lok Insaaf Party (LIP), but was opposed by the BJP. SAD MLAs gave the sitting a miss.

Outlook India

The Centre has assured that the farm ordinances will have no bearing on the existing crop procurement policy and that the minimum support price (MSP) system will continue, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said on Thursday.

He had written to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar last month, expressing apprehensions of Punjab’s farmers on the implication of three farm ordinances passed by the Centre.

These ordinances are the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance.

Sahil Online

Karnataka Agriculture Minister B C Patil on Thursday demanded an additional Rs 2,036 crore funds under central schemes for micro irrigation, farm mechanisation and setting up of soil health labs in Karnataka.

These initiatives are necessary to support the farmers amid increase in kharif sown area so far this year, he said.

In a representation to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Patil sought an additional grant of Rs 521.96 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana-Per Drop More Crop (PDMP) component so that more farmers can be provided the benefit of micro irrigation, thereby increasing cropping intensity and crop productivity.        The state government has already identified 10 taluks/blocks for implementation of pilot ...

Daily Pioneer

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said here on Thursday that there was no impact of lockdown on agricultural activities like harvesting, procurement of food grains and marketing of agricultural produce as the state government had taken special measures to protect the agriculture sector from the adverse impact of the coronavirus pandemic induced cessation of economic activities.

“The lockdown could have adversely impacted the harvesting of wheat and supply chain of certain essential commodities. But the UP government had permitted agricultural activities  which prevented the possible inconvenience that could have been caused to the farmers,” the chief minister said while participating in video conferencing presided over by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Agriculture Infrastructure Fund.

New Kerala

Agriculture has been the brighter spot with crop-area sown in the ongoing Kharif season witnessing positive year-on-year growth in all categories, led by rice and oilseeds as south-west monsoon season rainfall this year has broadly stayed healthy (8 per cent above the long period average as on August 26 as per IMD).

New Indian Express

A 43-year-old farmer who recently switched to cultivating vegetables instead of paddy, in line with the regulated farming being implemented by the State government, has begun bearing fruit. A typical paddy farmer, who used conventional methods, Vangala Ravinder Reddy says he used to struggle a lot to make both ends meet.

“Previously, I used to cultivate paddy in my one-and-a-half acres of land every season. Even if we work round-the-clock, at the end of the season, we would be left with just Rs 30,000 after all expenses, which was not enough to move forward,” he told Express.

The Hindu Business Line

Venture capital firm Omnivore on Thursday launched its report on “The Future of Indian Agriculture and Food Systems: Vision 2030,” which explores how new technologies, demographic trends and climate change will impact the country’s agri and food systems over the next decade.

The report highlights eight key trends that will drive the future of agriculture in India, with the critical caveat that climate change could negate this positive direction if not reckoned with.

Economic Times

Tractor makers are off the block to ride the farm sector resurgence for one of the best runs in more than half a decade buoyed by tailwind from the upcoming festive season demand. Despite 50 days of disrupted production and sales due to the Covid-19 pandemic, tractor makers expect volumes to grow 7-10% between August and December.

The country’s largest tractor maker, Mahindra & Mahindra, which managed 100% capacity utilisation a few times in June and early July along with rivals Tafe, Escorts and Sonalika, said it was on path to improved sales from August to December driven by positive sentiments.

Doordarshan News

The covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the digitisation of India’s farm sector and adoption of digital rural products and payments over the last few months, according to agritech venture capital firm Omnivore. In its report, The Future of Indian Agriculture and Food Systems: Vision 2030, Omnivore highlights key trends that will drive the future of agriculture in India, including precision agriculture and automation creating a “farm of one”, eco-friendly crops, farmer-consumer intimacy, rise in diversity, quality and sustainability of food sources, among other things.

Hindustan Times

Chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray in a video conference with Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday urged the Central government to restore the old policy of equal share of the state and Central government in the premium of crop insurance, as the new tweaked norms are leading to an additional annual burden of ₹600 on the state exchequer.

The state government has also requested the Centre to lift the upper cap of 25% on the procurement of the pulses and cereals at the minimum support price.

Greater Kashmir

Ending the prolonged dry spell, the Wednesday rainfall brought the much-needed relief to the farmer community in Kashmir.

The deficit rainfall in the last two months had badly affected the agricultural operations in Kashmir.

“The rainfall, though scant, was much-needed at this juncture. At least, it will save the apple trees which were desiccating due to the prolonged dry spell,” said Abdul Qadeer, an orchard owner from north Kashmir.

Since the soil was dry and lacking the required moisture, the farmers who had sown rabi crops, such as wheat, peas and oil seeds, were praying for the rain.

Doordarshan News

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce has underlined the need to increase the export of agricultural products by improving supply chain, value addition and developing infrastructure. It has also recommended more support and incentives to growers for scientific production of farm commodities to boost quality production and thereby give an impetus to exports.

Committee Chairman V. Vijayasai Reddy submitted the 154th report on exports of agriculture, marine, plantation, coir and turmeric products to Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi on Wednesday.

VCC Circle

Last month, Dnyaneshwar Siddhanth, a farmer from India’s western state of Maharashtra, was in desperate need of money to buy seed and fertilizer as the monsoon sowing season approached.

But after being rejected by his bank for a loan despite several attempts, Siddhanth finally borrowed 150,000 Indian rupees ($2,021) from a moneylender at a rate of 60% annually.

Krishi Jagran

Farmers have many functions in farming. All these tasks are made easy by agricultural machinery. With the help of agricultural machinery, farmers can complete all their tasks very easily. This saves a lot of time for the farmers as well. In today’s time, farmers are being motivated for sowing and harvesting with new technology. Many farmers are also turning to agricultural machinery. Paddy is to be harvested in the coming few days. For this, farmers use normal sickle, toothed sickle, reaper. But the farmers should use agricultural implements for harvesting the crop, so that the crop can be harvested well. Today we have brought information about an agricultural machine for paddy harvesting, which is known as Combine Harvester Machine. Let us give you some important information related ...

Business Today

Last month, Dnyaneshwar Siddhanth, a farmer from Maharashtra, was in desperate need of money to buy seed and fertilizer as the monsoon sowing season approached. But after being rejected by his bank for a loan despite several attempts, Siddhanth finally borrowed 150,000 Indian rupees ($2,021) from a moneylender at a rate of 60% annually.

Amid India’s worst economic slowdown in decades due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, millions of farmers like Siddhanth are being shunned by banks as lenders turn cautious due to rising bad loans. That is forcing them to turn to illegal moneylenders who are charging increasingly exorbitant rates, according to over a dozen farmers and bankers that Reuters spoke to.

Down to Earth

About 10-15 per cent areas under cultivation of rice and maize were affected by flash droughts during the monsoon seasons in India between 1951 and 2018, a recent study has found.

The study, Dominance of summer monsoon flash droughts in India, said flash droughts are mainly concentrated in the monsoon season in the majority of India, which can adversely affect maize and rice grown in the Kharif (June-September) season.

It has the potential to affect crop production and pose challenges in meeting increased irrigation demands, the study added.

Reuters

Last month, Dnyaneshwar Siddhanth, a farmer from Maharashtra, was in desperate need of money to buy seed and fertilizer as the monsoon sowing season approached. But after being rejected by his bank for a loan despite several attempts, Siddhanth finally borrowed 150,000 Indian rupees ($2,021) from a moneylender at a rate of 60% annually.

Business World

India exports only one per cent of its agri products like wheat, pulses and fruits, according to a parliamentary standing committee report presented on Wednesday to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu.

It called for upgrading agri infrastructure, improving efficiency levels in the supply chain and putting emphasis on value addition.

The Hindu Business Line

Prof Barbara Harriss-White, economist and Emeritus Professor, Development Studies, Oxford University, and Dr Mekhala Krishnamurthy, Senior Fellow, CPR, and Associate Professor, Sociology and Anthropology, Ashoka University, addressed issues such as challenges of agricultural market systems and food systems at the 15th International Conference on Public Policy and Management, hosted by IIM Bangalore’s Centre for Public Policy.

They were engaged in a special virtual conversation on ‘Public Policy for Food and Agricultural Markets: Planet Micro and Planet Macro.’

UNI India

Bihar Cabinet on Tuesday approved the New Bihar Agriculture Investment Promotion policy 2020 to encourage investment in the agriculture sector and also attract investment for Agro-based industries in the state.

The Hindu Business Line

G ChandashekharWith the implicit assumption that the cyclical nature of sugarcane harvest has been decisively broken, the NITI Aayog recently came up with a suggestion that the area under cane should be reduced by 300,000 hectares so that consistent annual surpluses in sugar as also the price and other impacts on the sector as a whole can be minimised.

Whether there is adequate ‘political will’ to actually get down to implementing the suggestion is of course debatable. Be that as it may, fine cereals rice and wheat deserve far greater attention than sugar.

Outlook India

Rice delivery operations, including allotment of mills, their registration and physical verification, will be undertaken online in Punjab under the new custom milling policy for paddy approved the state government, an official spokesperson said on Tuesday. The Cabinet, met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, approved the new custom milling policy for 2020-21, aimed at ensuring seamless milling of paddy and delivery of rice into the central pool from more than 4,150 mills operating in the state, the spokesperson said. To ensure smooth paddy procurement, the state government has also decided to launch a dedicated portal.

Hindustan Times

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, all rice delivery operations in Punjab, including allotment, registration and physical verification of rice mills, will be managed and monitored online, under the new Punjab Custom Milling Policy for paddy for the 2020-21 kharif season.

The state cabinet on Tuesday approved the new policy, aimed at ensuring seamless milling of paddy and delivery of rice into the Central Pool from more than 4,150 mills operating in the state. The state is expected to procure 170 lakh metric tonnes (MTs) of paddy during the season beginning on October 1, with a total area under paddy sowing this year at 26.6 lakh hectares. Last year, 29.2 lakh hectares was under paddy cultivation.

The Hindu Business line

As many as 14 States, including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu and Assam, have finalised the State-specific action plan for agriculture export policy (AEP), while the remaining States are at different stages of finalisation of their respective plans, the Commerce Ministry has said.

Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) is engaged with all States and UTs for implementation of the AEP and has also signed MoUs with AFC India Ltd, and National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), Delhi, to utilise their expertise in the agriculture sector, as per an official release circulated on Tuesday.

Business Standard

India has now reached a stage in which surplus foodgrain management has become a major challenge, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its annual report on Tuesday.

The total production of foodgrains reached a record 296.65 million tonnes in 2019-20, while total horticulture production accounting for about 40 per cent of gross value added (GVA) in the farm sector also reached an all-time high of 320.48 million tonnes

Hindustan Times

Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) will be cancelling its kisan mela (farmers’ fair) for the Rabi season and instead organising a virtual mela because of social distancing issues during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The university, which had earlier cancelled the mela for Kharif crops in March, will reach out to farmers through mobile applications, webinars and YouTube videos.

Indian Express

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, all rice delivery operations in Punjab, including allotment, registration and physical verification of rice mills, will undertaken online under the new Punjab Custom Milling Policy for 2020-21 that was given a go ahead by the state cabinet Tuesday. The paddy procurement season in Punjab begins October 1.

E Gov

“Agriculture has a key role in making India a $5 trillion economy”, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There is no doubt that agro is a robust industry in India and being among the top five exporters across the globe, India is a key player in the global agriculture market, says Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, in an interview with Arpit Gupta of Elets News Network (ENN).

Financial Express

India has now reached a stage in which surplus foodgrain management has become a major challenge, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its annual report on Tuesday.

The total production of foodgrains reached a record 296.65 million tonnes in 2019-20, while total horticulture production  accounting for about 40 per cent of gross value added (GVA) in the farm sector ? also reached an all-time high of 320.48 million tonnes.

Financial Express

April-June may be the first time that India’s economy would contract year-on-year since the government started coming out with quarterly estimates of GDP from 1996-97. But the data for the quarter, to be released by the National Statistical Office on August 31, could also show GDP falling for the first time in spite of agricultural production going up.

Daily Excelsior

Agri-ecotourism is a novel concept in Indian tourism sector, which provides vast opportunities for tourists to experience the authentic ethnic culture of rural societies and actively engage in agricultural activities without disturbing eco-system. As per World Tourism Organization (WTO, 2002), it is fastest growing tourism model in the world and is a part of rural tourism which relates to tourism on farms. It directly benefits the local farmers and provides them opportunities to expand their activities and also to increase their income.

Get News

There are probably a few situations that are as frustrating to a farmer than to have machinery go down in the middle of the year’s busiest time. Every farmer has probably experienced that moment when they are getting into the thick of harvesting, and, all of a sudden, something breaks or malfunctions. It’s the perfect case of Murphy’s law in action.

The Wire

In his address to the nation on May 12, 2020, the Prime Minister gave a call for Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. He said that the state of the world today teaches us that an Atmanirbhar Bharat is the only path and our scriptures mention eshah panthah, self-sufficient India.

For agriculture, self-sufficiency has been an objective from the first five-year plan itself, which allocated about one third of plan funds to agriculture. Large irrigation projects were started and several fertiliser manufacturing units were set up in the public sector. Agriculture grew by 3.22 % in the first plan (1951-52 to 1955-56) and 3.59 % in the second plan (1956-57 to 1960-61).

The Wire

Ravindranath lives in the heart of the Thar desert in India. He and his family are agropastoralists – people who grow crops and rear livestock – in the village of Kalu in Bikaner district, Rajasthan. But the dry grasslands that people like Ravindranath have depended on for centuries for pasture are slowly being depleted.

“Sometimes we have to pay money and buy cattle feed [instead of grazing our animals],” he said.

India Info Line

The rural economy will recover at 5% from the pandemic impact, faster than other sectors, which are likely to shrink around 5%. India’s rural market has entered a decade of ‘digitalization and discovery of consumers,’ and rural demand for FMCG will be more than the urban market. This was stated by Pradeep Kashyap, deemed the ‘Father of Rural Marketing’, in a virtual talk organized by IIHMR University on ‘Rural is Now,’ The talk was facilitated by Dr. Sheenu Jain, Associate Professor, Marketing and Chair, Marketing & Communications at IIHMR University.

Indian Express

While it is clear that India’s broader economy will contract this year, it is also true that well-distributed rainfall has meant that the agriculture sector per se may be quite productive this year.

A new report by Crisil throws light on the prospects of the farm sector. Here’s a closer look at the farm sectors and its prospects.

What is the status of Southwest monsoon?

As of August 21, monsoon is 7 per cent above normal, according to the Crisil report. “Rains in India, normal and most well spread in three years – across time and regions so far,” it states.

Free Press Journal

‘Why agriculture matters for India’ is the first session of ‘Future of Agriculture’ series which has been organised by SIES College of Arts, Science and Commerce and Free Press Journal (FPJ) in association with NSE, NCDEX Investor (Client) Protection Fund Trust, and East West Seed.

The panellists in this session included (in alphabetical order) Dilip Rajan, MD, East West Seed India; Arun Raste, Executive Director, NDDB; and Simon Thorsten Wiebusch, COO, Bayer Crop Science. The session was moderated by RN Bhaskar, Consulting Editor, FPJ and the opening remark was delivered by Uma Maheshwari Shankar, Principal of SIES College of Arts, Science and Commerce.

Assam Tribune

The share of the agriculture and allied sector in GSDP (gross state domestic product) and its annual growth rate have declined considerably during the last 10 years. In 2011-12, the sector contributed 19.89 per cent to GSDP at constant (2011-12) prices. The share has declined to 15.16 per cent in 2019-20 as per advanced estimate. The period has also seen the rate of growth of the sector plummet drastically from 16 per cent in 2012-13 to 2.90 per cent in 2019-20 at constant prices (as per new series).

Revealing this in its report, the Advisory Committee for Revitalization of the State’s Economy in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic situation cited lack of growth and lack of ...

The Statesman

Covid-19 might have hit all the economic sectors badly, but luck is favouring Indian agriculture sector this year as there has been 95 per cent equal distribution of rainfall all over the country. Along with historic sowing, and timely rains agricultural experts are predicting bumper crop this year.

“I, in my lifetime, have never seen so many factoring favouring agriculture,” said former director general of Indian Council for Agriculture Mangla Rai. “I do not remember ever before monsoon was so proportionately distributed, well precipitated and timely. Rains poured when it needed the most except some areas of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir region. But these areas are negligible. Lastly, this year sowing areas broke all records~ ...

Business Standard

With headline inflation breaching the Reserve Bank of India’s upper range, analysts are generally agreed that the central bank’s room for manoeuvre in cutting the policy rate is limited. Assessing the four-year term of the three external members of the monetary policy committee (MPC), the second edit explains here why the central bank may not cut rates in the near term. And, as Ajay Shah points out in his column, “monetary policy is pursuing the right objective but is currently ineffectual”.

Punjab Update

With the holistic aim to ensure cleaner environment especially considering COVID-19 pandemic and reduce air pollution stemming from burning of paddy straw which adversely affects the fertility of soil, the Punjab Government has already made it mandatory under the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 for the Combine harvesters to have Super Straw Management system attached with the harvesters.

Disclosing this, the Secretary Agriculture and Nodal Officer for control of residue burning campaign Kahan Singh Pannu said that some combine owners out of total 13,000 in the State, try not to install the super SMS system just to save the time and cost of operation.

The Hindu

As many as 14 beneficiaries have been selected for agri business orientation / incubation at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) here under the Central Government’s Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana – Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sectors Rejuvenation scheme.

According to S.D. Sivakumar, Director (Agri Business Development), the scheme has two components: Agripreneurship Orientation Programme (AOP) and Startup Agribusiness Incubation Programme (SAIP). It aims at strengthening infrastructure in agriculture and allied sectors to promote agripreneurship and agribusiness . The TNAU, which has a technology business incubator, was identified for the scheme last financial year.

The Wire

In April this year, the Punjab government constituted an expert panel on the economy to aid medium and long-term revival strategy for the state post the COVID-19 induced lockdown. The other state which has set-up a similar expert panel is Rajasthan.

The Punjab panel, headed by the former deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of India, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, submitted its first report on July 31.

India Education Diary

Mr. Pradeep Kashyap predicted that the rural economy would grow, whereas the industry and services sectors will shrink around 5 percent. Rural demand for FMCG will grow faster than urban, and companies may need to tweak their business models to set new price points. The rural growth will be fuelled by the rise in internet users and women in the formal workforce, better roads ensuring last-mile delivery, and easy loans to SMEs. In the pre-pandemic times, the Indian farming market, a segment of the rural market, was projected to grow at a CAGR of 10.8 percent during 2019-2024.

Sunday Guardian Live

The Indian food industry is creating immense value addition, particularly within the food processing industry on the back of huge potential for future growth. The Indian food and grocery market is sixth largest in the world with retail accounting for 70% of the total sales. The Indian food processing industry accounts for 32% of the country’s total food market and is ranked fifth in terms of production, consumption and exports. It contributes around 8.80% and 8.39% of Gross Value Added (GVA) in Manufacturing and Agriculture respectively, 13% of India’s exports and 6% of total industrial investment. Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for half of the country’s population with the government targeting food production of ...

Inc42

We have witnessed a surge in VC investments in the agritech space over the last couple of years – Arya Collateral Warehousing Services Pvt. Ltd., Bijak, Clover, DeHaat, Jai Kisan, VeGrow among many others.

In my Accel days, agritech was a nascent sector. The market opportunity was huge but the pool of high-quality startups and founding teams in the country was small. My first exposure to the sector happened through Agrostar. I was very fortunate to co-lead (alongside a partner) the fund’s Series B round of investment in the company. Following the investment, the company went on to raise a $27 Mn Series C round in 2018. It was an immense pleasure to work with the founders (Shardul and ...

Indian Express

There’s an increasing number of people who are hectoring the world about our abominable treatment of animals, especially those bred and “farmed” for food and they try very hard to make these people give up steaks and smoked ham and eat leaves instead. Many of their criticisms are valid and we ought to be more humane in our dealings with them (though doing so while killing something might seem paradoxical). Ah, yes, and now here comes the “but”!

Let’s look at the way we treat plants. First, let’s remind ourselves of what green plants do for us. They shower oxygen and clear up carbon-dioxide meant to suffocate us. They pump up and purify water from the earth’s ...

Economic Times

We don’t get such good weather often,” says Kirpal Singh over the phone from Kairana in western Uttar Pradesh. “It rains well and then the sun shines for a few days. Then it rains again,” Singh, who cultivates sugarcane and rice, says.

“It is ideal for farming.”

Sun, rain NSE -1.46 % and clean air have provided the silver lining in an otherwise bleak year so far. Rains have more or less evenly blessed the farming districts of the subcontinent, although some parts in Bihar, Assam, Gujarat, Telangana and Andhra have been hit by floods. Combined with availability of labour in villages due to reverse migration forced by the coronavirus pandemic, kharif sowing has been early and even, ...

Indian Express

April-June may be the first time that India’s economy would contract year-on-year since the government started coming out with quarterly estimates of GDP from 1996-97. But the data for the quarter, to be released by the National Statistical Office on August 31, could also show GDP falling for the first time in spite of agricultural production going up.

The country’s GDP registered an annual decline, at minus 5.2%, last in 1979-80. But that year also recorded negative growth for agricultural GDP, at minus 12.8%. Even the previous GDP contractions of 0.3% in 1972-73, 3.7% in 1965-66, and 1.2% in 1957-58 were accompanied by farm output falling by 5%, 11% and 4.5% respectively.

Outlook India

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday said procurement of various crops from farmers at minimum support price (MSP) will continue, and stressed that agri marketing reforms have been done for the welfare of farmers.

He asked states to ensure that full benefit of the newly launched Rs 1 lakh crore Agriculture Infrastructure Fund reaches small and marginal farmers.

Outlook India

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday expressed hope that Haryana will see Punjab”s viewpoint on the issue of Sharda-Yamuna Link canal project.

Responding to a question from a Patiala resident during his weekly Facebook live #AskCaptain, the Punjab chief minister also underlined the need to understand and adhere to international principles on water sharing, “as per which all agreements on this precious resource have to be reviewed after 25 years”.

Singh said he had told the same to the Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Haryana CM ML Khattar during a video conference meeting with them, convened earlier this week on the directions of the Supreme Court.

The Week

”I am growing tomatoes, radish and onions but I am no longer using the ordinary ways of agricultural production. As October approaches, we will not be able to grow any vegetables and fruits outside. This greenhouse will be our asset,” said Tsering, a progressive farmer who is taking care of one of the first greenhouses set up by the administration of Union territory of Ladakh to help the locals become self sufficient in crop produce.

Bloomberg Quint

Total area under coverage so far during this kharif (summer sown) season has risen 9% to 1,062.93 lakh hectares on better monsoon, the agriculture ministry said on Friday. As on Aug. 21, total kharif crops have been sown on 1,062.93 lakh hectare area, against 979.15 lakh hectare area during the corresponding period of last year. “There is no impact of Covid-19 on progress of area coverage under kharif crops as on date,” an official statement said.

Hindustan Times

Intense rainfall was witnessed in isolated places of Bilaspur and Solan districts, while heavy rainfall was reported in isolated places of Hamirpur and Chamba districts and light to moderate rainfall was experienced in other parts of Himachal on Friday.

State meteorological department director Dr Manmohan Singh said rainfall is likely to continue throughout the state till August 27.

With the water level of Beas river increasing due the persisting wet spell, authorities have advised people against venturing near the river. A house was damaged in Solan’s Mohal village when a huge boulder crashed into it. However, no loss of life was reported and the debris was removed.

News Click

From across India, farmers, fishworkers, peasant leaders, researchers, elected representatives and civil society platforms made submissions on the failure of the Modi Government to address the crisis in agriculture and allied sectors.

Even as the Indian Parliament is yet to begin its 2020 monsoon session, peasant movements and civil society organisations today organised a virtual People’s Parliament to bring to attention of Members of Parliament, media and the general public the impacts of the COVID pandemic on Indian agriculture and allied sectors. In the four hour session, all speakers were unanimous on the failure of the current regime to ensure adequate access to food, prevent the collapse of prices for farmers and fishworkers and ensure the health ...

Financial Express

The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) has stormed the global economy, with unprecedented impact. By comparison to some countries, India faced the brunt of the disease late although the effect has been as keenly felt in most sectors. The agriculture and allied sector, one of the mainstays of the economy, was severely influenced. The announcement of the nationwide lockdown in March intended to prevent the spread of the virus was a necessary step but it also brought many economic activities, including agriculture, to a temporary halt.

In Odisha, the government set up early actions for the management and control of COVID-19. The State Crisis Management Committee comprising senior officials of various departments, was formed on March 4 for intersectoral ...

The Hindu

A moment comes, but rarely in history, when a nation seizes control of its destiny; when a new Atmanirbhar era begins and when the people of a nation move forward with confidence. It is fitting that this moment has come during the global novel coronavirus pandemic. Even as the world is reeling from the impact of the pandemic, India is recovering with fresh energy and making bold plans for the future.

The pandemic began spreading around the world just a few months ago. Yet, it has plunged the global economy into its deepest economic contraction since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Trillions of dollars of economic output have been wiped out, most countries will take ...

Indian Inc. Group

In 2017, the Doubling Farmers Income (DFI) Report in India highlighted the extensive funding opportunities for agri-entrepreneurs, farmers’ aggregations and support to agri startups that directly purchase from farmers in the country. The key objective, the report recommended, was to enable physical access of farmers’ produce to markets to monetise it in larger volumes and unlock a steady source of incomes for farmers.

Cut to 2020, and in the midst of a pandemic, the wishes of India’s most marginalised and under-appreciated farmers came true: on August 9, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the $13.2 billion Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), an instrument to be used over the next four years to build post-harvest storage and processing ...

Bitmesra

From a country that faced constant famines owing to the monstrous colonial-era policies and wars, to a self-sufficient state recognised as an agricultural powerhouse and one of the largest manufacturers of various commodities in the world, India has come a long way. The Bengal famine under British rule was one of the most severe famines that killed over 3 million people. Post-independence from the British, the Indian state realized the need to become self-sufficient.

Rural Marketing

Advanced farm mechanisation can improve the lives of farmers and agricultural workers. Digital agriculture – where farmers can use digital technologies to access useful information, particularly on weather, could revolutionise the agriculture sector,” Shomita Biswas, Joint Secretary (M&T), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, Wednesday said.

Yes Punjab

With indication of the beginning f the Monsoon session of parliament in the second week of September, the government is learnt to have planned to clear 11 ordinances on priority amid the oppositions attempt to keep it on backfoot over the Galwan Valley incident in which 20 soldiers were killed.

Financial Express

Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana has been successful in providing free foodgrains to 94 per cent beneficiaries since April 2020. The scheme aimed to provide free ration to nearly 81 crore people in the country amid the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Adding to the benefits, nearly 60.7 lakh new beneficiaries have also been added under NFSA by states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar during the COVID-19 period, who can avail schemes like PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, said a statement by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution. The government further said that no state or Union Territory has indicated any further demand for coverage under the National Food Security Act, ...

Farm Equipment

Total revenue for Mahindra’s fiscal year 2020 was reported at $6.8 billion, down 15.2% from $8.1 billion in fiscal year 2019. Total farm equipment revenue for the year came in at $2.3 billion, an 8.7% decline from the $2.5 billion reported in fiscal year 2019.

Mahindra reported an operating profit of $388.7 million, down 64.5% from $1.1 billion in the previous fiscal year. The company reported a total loss of $48.3 million, compared to a profit of $904.4 million in fiscal year 2019.

Femina

As is known, agriculture is the primary source of income for India’s 58 per cent of the population. And, as agriculture contributed to 17 – 18 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product of the country in 2018, it inevitably increases the need to technologically propel the industry even further. There has been a consistent and significant rise in the emergence of agricultural technology start-ups that are making farming and agriculture easier and viable with time. This advent of the agritech industry with increasing youngsters, IIT, management and engineering graduates exploring their career interests in the field, India’s agricultural scene is no longer painting a feeble picture or is restricted to uneducated. Read on to know some of ...

Financial Express

The government will provide credit to farmers under Kisan Credit Cards in an attempt to help the agricultural sector tide over the coronavirus pandemic. “In an effort to buffer the agricultural sector from the shock of COVID-19, a special saturation drive is underway to provide concessional credit to farmers through Kisan Credit Card (KCC),” the Ministry of Finance announced in a statement on Thursday. As of 17th August, credit cards to 1.22 crore farmers have been sanctioned with a credit limit of over Rs 1 lakh crore. It is expected that the same will help in reviving the rural economy and accelerating agricultural growth.

Tribune India

For decades, American dairy farms have been hit by low prices. While the small dairy farms have increasingly pulled down shutters, the continued expansion of corporate farming has resulted in surplus milk production, leading to a fall in prices. In the past six years, milk prices have seen a 40 per cent drop on an average.

In 2016, more than 43 million gallons of milk was thrown away by the farmers. This huge milk waste could have filled 66 Olympic-sized swimming pools, says an estimate. Regardless, corporate milk production continued to soar while another 3,000 dairy farms closed down in 2019, says a report of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). This necessitated US President Donald Trump ...

DSIJ

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has severely hampered the global economy. However, there are a few sectors that were spared by the wrath of COVID-19 namely the pharmaceutical sector, consumer goods sector, and agricultural sector.

Agriculture and allied industries have recorded positive profit numbers for June during FY20-21. Factors like the early onset of monsoon, 19 per cent higher Kharif sowing, and agricultural inputs being an essential commodity, these companies carried out their operations during the COVID-19 lockdown period.

Hindustan Times

All four measures of weather forecast accuracy used to predict monsoon by India Meteorological Department (IMD) have shown a marked improvement over the past three years, while the probability of detection (POD) to forecast heavy rainfall has made significant progress, said M Rajeevan, secretary, Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) at an Indian Meteorological Society lecture on Wednesday.

POD accuracy went up from 45% from 2002-16 to 70% in 2017-19, the MoES secretary cited to buttress the IMD’s feat.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration describes POD to be the number of hits in forecast divided by the total number of events observed.

Financial Express

Prospects of a bumper summer crop seem brighter as the sowing activity is fast drawing to a close in most regions of relevance in the country’s agriculture map. While the monsoon rains overall have so far been marginally above normal (long period average), the distribution pattern hasn’t played spoilsport either, with the key regions receiving adequate precipitation or only marginal deficiency. Some of the rain-deficient regions turned out to be amply irrigated ones, allaying the worries, if any, even further.

Lok Satta

Despite warnings from the government to take action against banks for negligence in disbursement of crop loans, the pace of disbursement of crop loans has not increased this year. With the kharif season halfway through, only 44 per cent loans have been disbursed in Amravati division. In this crisis of the corona, the farmers are likely to fall into the trap of moneylenders.

Down To Earth

It is a piece of news that everybody would love to cheer about, except those who made this possible.

The current kharif season is exceptional. In comparison to last year, over eight million more hectares of farms are under cultivation this season.

There are more people engaged in cultivation now due to the huge reverse migration of workers after the countrywide lockdown over the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Most of them are those who had quit farming.

All types of crops have reported an increase in acreage. But the increase in acreage of rice — the staple crop in kharif that sustains the maximum number of farmers — is the highest in the last five years. The monsoon is expected ...

Live Mint

India is staring at a protracted slowdown as coronavirus cases reach its countryside, with signs of recovery in the rural economy hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi “at best a mitigating factor”, government officials and analysts said.

The world’s No.5 economy reports first-quarter GDP data on August 31 and, according to a Reuters poll, it is likely to have contracted 20% over April-June. It is forecast to shrink 5.1% in the year to March 2021, the weakest since 1979.

Nearly half of India’s 1.38 billion population rely on agriculture to survive, with the sector accounting for 15% of its economic output.

Business World

Punjab Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Wednesday said that there had been “meagre” hike in Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane announced by the central government. In a release, he said the Union Government should announce bonus at the rate of Rs 70 per quintal in addition to the already announced price to save the sugarcane cultivators “already reeling under the burden of inflated costs during COVID-19 pandemic”. He said bonus must be credited directly into the accounts of the farmers. “States like Punjab having less recovery rate have also been discriminated against with the Union Government fixing Rs 270.75 per quintal price based on 9.5 per cent recovery,” he said. The minister said that ...

Hindustan Times

The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) would soon release a white paper on whether cloud seeding is a viable technology to trigger rainfall, M Rajeevan, secretary, MoES, said during a lecture organised by the Indian Meteorological Society on Wednesday.

The drought-prone states such as Karnataka and Maharashtra had tried cloud seeding with large investments in the past.

Delhi, too, had toyed with the concept in 2018 to deal with deadly November smog, but never got around to get it implemented.

Delhi-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) has concluded its two-year experiment on cloud seeding and has drafted a report.

A team of IITM scientists conducted airborne experiments with two aircraft missions over Solapur in Maharashtra. ...

Indianfoline

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) is set to announce India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first quarter ending June 2020 (QFY21) by August 31, 2020. All eyes will be on the performance as the GDP data will reflect the adverse impact of Covid-19. Due to the pandemic, the country entered into a nationwide lockdown with some businesses at standstill and some opting ‘work from home’ option. The lockdown continued for a whole April and May month before unlock-1 was imposed from June this year.

The Wire

Only six farmers benefited from state procurement of wheat in the state of Delhi in the 2020-21 rabi marketing season, information obtained by The Wire via the Right to Information Act (RTI) has revealed. The quantity procured was less than 500 metric tonnes (MT) – or less than 1% of wheat production in Delhi – as per the information provided by the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (MCAFPD)

This is in stark contrast to the announcements made by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government last year, when it had announced the Mukhyamantri Kisan Mitra Yojana (Chief Minister Farmer’s Friend Scheme – CMFFS). Under this scheme, around 20,000 farmers in Delhi were to benefit from minimum support prices ...

Times Of India

Indian agriculture provides employment opportunities to more than half of our population. It includes more than 12 crore smallholder and marginal farmers, most of them face annual risks related to low rainfall, price volatility, inflation, weak infrastructure, debts and so on. Covid-19 pandemic is an added challenge for this sector and its stakeholders, effecting majority of population due to its large outreach. On one hand rural sector is one of the neglected sectors and on the other hand, global tensions left us to concentrate more on local consumption and production, leaving no other option to look upon producers, local enterprises and rural economy.

Hindustan Khabar

Due to the Corona Virus, where there is a huge decline in all sectors of the auto industry. At the same time, bumper sales of tractors continue during this period. According to the federation of Automobiles Dealers Associations (FADA-FADA), in July 2002, 76,197 tractors were sold.

The Hindu Business Line

Monsoon is normally associated with flash floods. But a team of Indian researchers found that a kind of rapidly developing drought also manifests during the prominent rainy season.

Long-term monsoon breaks — prolonged dry spells during the season — are leading to a unique phenomenon called flash droughts in India, affecting kharif crops and groundwater depletion, according to a new study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Gandhinagar.

Power Today

After enduring two consecutive years of drought, the monsoon in India has been recorded as ´normal´ in 2016, at just 3 per cent below the long term average. The monsoon, which spans from June to September, is said to be normal when rainfall is between 96-104 per cent of the long term (50 year) average of about 88 centimetres. Comparatively, in 2015, the southwest monsoon ended with a rain shortfall of 14 per cent, the worst since 2009. This sends good news to those associated with the country´s agriculture sectors that have been too long in the gloom.

Financial Express

India’s per capita GDP in rural regions has grown at a rate of 6.2% since 2000. The agricultural sector has shown an impressive growth of 5.9% in Q4 2020. CRISIL’s forecast states agricultural sector will depict 2.5% growth in 2020-21 as against India contracting at 4.2%.  The factors favourable for the agricultural sector are a 15% better than normal monsoon, increased availability of water in reservoirs for irrigation, increase in sowing acreage area of Kharif crop, aggressive implementation of the MGNREGA scheme by the Government and various other welfare measures targeting the rural sector. Economic estimates show that the Indian rural economy has been resurgent and Bharat seems to be moving relatively faster on the path to recovery.

Swarjyamag

The surge in tractor and farm equipment sales in the country could extend beyond the traditional Diwali season to at least until the end of this year, thanks to hopes of a better harvest of the standing kharif (summer) crop in the farms now.

The hopes come on the heels of tractor manufacturers reporting numbers better than last year. Sales of tractors, in particular, continued to be buoyant in July and were nearly 38 per cent higher than the same period a year ago

The Financial Express – Online

Analysts say the prospects are bright, given that the rules allow the seller (farmer) to set his own price (within a defined band) for selling the crops.

The Sentinel – Online

The economy of Assam is primarily agrarian and therefore increasing the purchasing capacity of the farmers is critical to revival of the economy. Procurement of marketable surplus paddy is the most effective channel of putting more money in the hands of the farmers. Ironically, the procurement of paddy by Food Corporation of India (FCI) or the state agencies has been abysmally low even though Assam figures among the top ten rice producing states in India.

Times Now News – Online

While the countrywide lockdown brought most economic activities to a grinding halt in urban areas, rural India continued to be normal in view of exemptions from restrictions allowed to farmers to conduct farming operations, including harvesting and transporting their produce to grain markets. These exemptions helped to maintain continuity in the supply chain, especially in view of the harvesting and sowing season. Food Corporation of India and State Governments carried out massive procurement of rabi crops, mainly wheat.

News Click – Online

Incessant rains in the last four days has led to flood like the situation in several parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. As India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecasted rainfall till the end of August, thousands of people have been evacuated from low lying areas in East and West Godavari districts in Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, farmers in Telangana are staring at huge crop losses as thousands of acres of farmland are submerged.

News Track

Haryana government will soon create 17 thousand ‘Kisan Mitra’ in the state. These Kisan Mitra as volunteers will work to make the farmers aware and ensure the benefit of the government project. Haryana Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister JP Dalal said that the Haryana government has decided to hire 17 thousand Kisan Mitra for how to manage the finance according to the usefulness and income of the farmers.

They will advise farmers according to volunteers. Similarly, in the recently announced self-reliant India’s Rs 20 lakh crore relief package, Rs 1 lakh crore has been saved for agricultural infrastructure. 3900 crores has been earmarked for Haryana. In developing warehouse, agro based industry and other infrastructure, plans are being made to get maximum ...

Financial Express

On August 9, prime minister Narendra Modi launched the Rs 1 lakh crore Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) to be used over the next four years. This fund is for building post-harvest storage and processing facilities, largely anchored at the Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), but can also be availed by individual entrepreneurs. The point to be noted is that AIF will be used as loans to FPOs and other entrepreneurs through Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS) at concessional interest rates. NABARD will steer this in association with the ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare. The implication of this for the central government budget is not going to be more than Rs 5,000 crore over four years in terms of interest ...

Tribune India

PM Narendra Modi recently launched a Central scheme of Rs 1 lakh crore under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund for agri-entrepreneurs, startups, agri-tech players and farmer producer organisations (FPOs) for building post-harvest infrastructure and nurturing farm assets. It is believed that the assets will enable farmers to get greater value for their produce as they will be able to store and sell at higher prices, reducing wastage and increasing processing and value addition. The PM stated that India had a huge opportunity to invest in post-harvest management solutions like warehousing, cold chains, and food processing, and build a global presence in areas such as organic and fortified foods.

Times Of India

The silver lining even in these times has been the superior performance of the agriculture sector owing to the good rabi harvest and monsoon. Foodgrain production has touched 295.67 million tonnes with record growth over the past four years [2016-19]. Further, CRISIL projects agricultural growth at 2.5% for 2020-21. It is the right time to boost the food processing sector at MSME and food parks’ level and we are doing our best.

Indian Express

A study conducted at Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), Ludhiana, has estimated that Punjab, where 63 lakh hectares (155 lakh acres) are under wheat and paddy, incurs a post-harvest loss of over Rs 2,000 crore annually due to the two crops.

This loss occurs at the ‘farmer level’ between harvesting, transporting to mandis and storing by farmers at home for their own consumption or sale at a later stage.

There are three types of crop loss — pre-harvesting loss, which occur due to pest/disease attack or unfavourable weather conditions, post-harvesting loss, which can be divided into two parts — loss at the ‘farm level’ and at the storage level in the godowns/storage areas of the government.

Indian Express

India has never experienced negative economic growth since 1979-80, and before that in 1972-73, 1965-66 and 1957-58. All these were drought years with 1957-58 also registering a significant balance of payments (BOP) deterioration and 1979-80 witnessing the second global oil shock following the Iranian Revolution.

The real GDP decline of 5-10 per cent that various agencies are projecting for 2020-21 would be the country’s first ever not triggered/accompanied by an agricultural or a BOP crisis.

India Today

The golden age of Indian agriculture may finally have begun. The Rs 1 lakh crore Agriculture Inf­rastructure Fund, launched on August 9, will support farmers, primary agricultural credit societies, farmer-producer organisations (FPOs) and agri entrepreneurs in building community farming assets and post-harvest infrastructure. These assets will enable farmers to get greater value for their produce as they will be able to store and sell at higher prices, reduce wastage, increase processing and add value. About 85 million farmers are already getting investment support (six tranches have been disbursed) under the PM-Kisan scheme. India exports over $35 billion worth of agricultural products annually.

The Hindu

The Energy Department is striving to bring down the power purchase cost by closely monitoring the generating units, even as the distribution companies (Discoms) explore ways to contribute to the goal.

Current Affairs

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare recently announced that India ranks first in Organic Farming. Also, India ranks ninth in terms of areas under Organic Farming.

Sikkim was the first state in the world to become completely organic. The other states that have similar targets include Uttarakhand and Tripura.

India has launched two schemes to assist farmers in adopting organic farming. Also, the Agro-Export Policy, 2018 gave simultaneous thrusts to organic farming. The schemes are as follows

The main Organic Exports from India include sesame, flax seeds, soya bean, medicinal plants, tea, ...

Hindustan Times

A strong, confident and “aatmanirbhar” (self-reliant) India is essential not just for itself, but for the sake of larger global good, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday in the course of a wide-ranging speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort to mark India’s 74th Independence Day.

His 86-minute long speech also focused on the two other issues most Indians are worried about now — the coronavirus pandemic (where Modi said his government has a plan ready to distribute a vaccine once it is found) and China (where, without naming the country, he referred to the country’s resolve to defend its sovereignty). And like some of previous speeches on Independence Day, this one too had a target ...

News Click

Addressing a farmers’ rally in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, in 2016, Prime Minister Modi had announced that he wanted to double farmers’ incomes by 2022. Before that, he had addressed several farmers’ rallies in other states, in an attempt to assuage the unrest roiling the farmers after two successive years of drought, a botched attempt to get a draconian land acquisition law passed, and a wave of farmers’ protests. So, this announcement was meant to be a brahmastra, a mantra that would reassure the farmers once and for all.

The Hans

Telangana State Planning Board vice chairman B Vinod Kumar on Sunday said that the government is planning to provide marketing to the agricultural produce, of which production has increases in the State thanks to the availability of water. The Planning Board vice chairman was speaking in the webinar on ‘International Business and Economic Development post COVID19’. He said that the State is becoming greener with the long-sighted view of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who designed and executed projects like Kaleshwaram and others. Because of availability of water, the agriculture production has gone up in the State. He said that the government is striving for an international marketing facility to the agricultural produce for the crops like ...

Indian Express

On August 9, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Rs 1 lakh crore Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) to be used over the next four years. This fund will be used to build post-harvest storage and processing facilities, largely anchored at the Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), but can also be availed by individual entrepreneurs. The fund will also be used to provide loans, at concessional rates, to FPOs and other entrepreneurs through primary agriculture credit societies (PACs). NABARD will steer this initiative in association with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. The implication of this for the Central government budget is not going to be more than Rs 5,000 crore over four years in terms of interest subvention subsidy. The creation ...

Hindustan Times

On the occasion of the country’s 74th Independence Day on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country needed to replicate the “self-reliance” of the country in agriculture in other sectors of the economy, underscoring the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” campaign.

The prime minister said his government had freed the country’s agriculture sector by abolishing archaic regulations, which will help to increase famers’ income. “The last few years have seen pioneering changes and futuristic reforms in agriculture. Farmers now have access to more markets, better financial support,” the PM said.

New Indian Express

Farming is much like gambling; there is no guarantee what the rolling die would yield. Farmers have watched helplessly the flood water gobble up the fruits of their toil, drought ravage their farms, and pests lay waste to their crops. Yet, every year they till their land and sow the seeds hoping that the odds would favour them. And sometimes, they win.

Krishi Jagran

Agriculture sector, which is the largest and the most diverse sector in India, has a significant position in the Indian economy providing livelihoods to millions of its citizens. Despite India being the top producer of several food grains such as rice, wheat, pulses, cotton and sugarcane, the agricultural output has been fairly volatile due to low yields. Many factors are at play here – but such variance in growth can be primarily attributed to agriculture’s susceptibility to natural disasters such as droughts, floods, cyclones, storms, landslides and earthquakes.

The farmer’s problems are further compounded by the unexpected outbreak of epidemics and human interference in the form of fire, fake seeds, adulterated or sub-standard pesticides and market price ...

The Hindu Business Line

When the country went into a total lockdown recently following the outbreak of Covid-19, it wrought severe disruption in the economy — and in people’s lives. Millions lost their livelihoods practically overnight, and with it the capacity to feed their families. But what served as a societal shock absorber of sorts was the huge foodgrain stocks held by the state-run Food Corporation of India.

An estimated 81 crore beneficiaries are being provided 5 kg of rice/wheat per person free over and above their monthly entitlement under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.

Small News

While Covid-19 pandemic continued to adversely impact the auto industry in July, the tractor segment has emerged as an exceptionIt is the only auto segment to have registered positive YoY growth in July 2020. All other segments like two-wheelers, cars, commercial vehicles and three-wheelers have registered negative growth. A total of 76,197 tractors were sold in July 2020, which is YoY gain of 37.24%. Sales during the corresponding period last year stood at 55,522 units.

Forbes India

Rewind back a quarter and there was little or no talk of rural India powering India’s growth story. In fact, its economy faced considerable headwinds. Prices for agricultural crops had increased only modestly since 2014 and as real estate prices fell, the wealth effect was noticeably missing. Construction employment had dried up and manufacturing jobs found it hard to fill the gap. The net effect was depressed wages.

The Statesman

Former Union agriculture secretary SIRAJ HUSSAINwas one of the key officers who prepared the agriculture sector roadmap and drew up most of the agriculture schemes announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his first term. Hussain also headed the Food Corporation of India, a statutory body under the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, which is engaged in the procurement and distribution of the Rabi and Kharif crops in India.

Prior to assuming the Union agriculture secretary’s post, he was secretary in the food processing ministry. The 1979 batch Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer had earlier served in UP in various capacities including as chief of UPSIDC (Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation), ...

Tribune India

The group of experts led by eminent economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia has suggested radical policy changes in agriculture, industry, skill development and digitisation to propel growth in Punjab.

The first report, submitted to the Punjab Government last week, was discussed by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh with the experts through video-conferencing. He reiterated that free power to farmers would stay. He agreed with the recommendation that diversification in agriculture was the way forward. The final report is to be submitted by December 31.

Millennium Post

At a time when there are “apprehensions” over deriving timely benefit out of Rs 1 lakh crore of agriculture-infrastructure development fund as announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Bengal government is ensuring direct transfer of benefit of the subsidy that is given to the rural populace for setting up of more Custom Hiring Centres (CHC) and augmentation of farm-mechanisation. It was on Sunday, the Prime Minister had announced Rs 1 lakh crore Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) under which agri-entrepreneurs, start-ups and farmer groups would be getting credit at subsidised interest. But the state government is considering that it in no way will be helpful for farmers as loans will be disbursed through banks whose lackadaisical ...

The Federal

States are slowly opting out of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), just two years after the Centre launched the crop insurance scheme with much fanfare.

It is not just states with non-BJP governments (even Gujarat has exited, following Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Jharkhand) that are raising questions about the feasibility of the scheme.

The PMFBY is a voluntary crop insurance scheme for states introduced during the Kharif season in 2016.

Economic Times

With rainfall intensifying in August after some deficit in July, India is likely to harvest a record kharif crop if the rest of the monsoon season goes well. Till August 7, the overall area under kharif crops was 10% higher year-on-year, driven by factors such as early onset of monsoon, reverse migration of labour and higher minimum support price for some crops. Good temporal and spatial distribution of rainfall aided crop growth.

Zee News

 India ranks first in the number of organic farmers and ninth in terms of area under organic farming. Sikkim became the first state in the world to become fully organic and other States including Tripura and Uttarakhand have set similar targets, according to an official statement.

North East India has traditionally been organic and the consumption of chemicals is far less than the rest of the country. Similarly, the tribal and island territories are being nurtured to continue their organic story.

Live Mint

Most recent economic indicators suggest a modest recovery compared to the first two months of India’s lockdown. But when compared to the data of last year, it also becomes clear that an economic comeback is likely to be a long-drawn affair. There is also a consensus that a recovery will be contingent on a revival in consumption demand, which had declined considerably even before the lockdown. The only hope during these grim times seems to arise from the agricultural sector, which is expected to not only show positive growth, but also boost consumer demand. Such hopes are bolstered by a normal monsoon and increased sowing this year, on top of last year’s record production of some crops. ...

Live Mint

As the government is contemplating a second dose of fiscal stimulus to the ailing economy, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the farm sector has proved to be a strength of the Indian economy during the pandemic and needs to be further supported in the post-pandemic era.

“When PM repeats that he wants to double the income of the people engaged in these activities, it has a very strong case. We owe it to them to improve their lives and income. In the post pandemic era, agriculture has to be seen as our strength which we have to absolutely give support to,” Sitharaman said while virtually addressing an event organized by a Bangalore based non-government organization ...

Times Of India

Tractor sales in Rajasthan has shot up by 40% in July riding on buoyant rural economy, while passenger vehicles sales returned to green on lower base, increased supplies and delivery of postponed bookings accumulated during lockdown months. However, local industry feels that the improved numbers should not be taken as a trend until secular growth returns in the coming months.

“On the face it, the passenger car sales numbers look healthy but the growth has come on a low base. Up to October last year, the demand for cars was under pressure and sales were lower. Second, many bookings had to be postponed during March, April and May. So, the July figures capture some of those bookings,” said Sai ...

Urdu Wire

Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser has stated that Prime Minister Imran Khan is taking keen interest in agriculture and has called for a comprehensive report to formulate agricultural policy.

Chairing a Special Agriculture Committee meeting in Islamabad on Wednesday, he said Prime Minister wants to improve agriculture sector and it is a good omen that all parties, putting aside political differences, are working towards this end. He also said that a task force will be formed as government wants a scientific solution to the problems related to agriculture including those caused by Covid-19.

Daily Pioneer

Director General, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department Vijay Singh Dahiya on Wednesday said that to stop farmers from burning crop residue, Haryana Government will provide them subsidy on crop residue management equipment. Farmers can send their applications till August, 21, 2020 on the portal www.agriharyanacrm.com of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department.

Sharing more details, Dahiya said that under the ‘In Situ Crop Residue Management’ scheme of the Central Government, for crop residue management in various districts of the State, subsidy will be given on super Straw Management System, Happy Seeder Machine, Paddy Straw Chopper, Threader Mulcher For Crop Residue, Reversible MB Plough, Super Seeder, Zero Till Drill Machine and Bailor Rack Reaper (Tractor Mounted Reaper Binder, Self ...

Times Of India

Emphasising on the need for a food processing policy in the state, industries minister KT Rama Rao on Wednesday said there are abundant investment opportunities in Telangana as the state registered high numbers in agriculture production. The policies will help bolster rural economy and increase employment opportunities, said KTR. While presenting the draft food processing and logistics policies to the cabinet ministers, KTR said that the completion of irrigation projects and other measures introduced by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has helped increase the crop production.

Counter-Currents

The farmer’s job is to cultivate and harvest. Not to construct grain silos.

Prime Minister Modi on Aug 09, 2020 launched a new financing scheme under the Rs. 1 lakh crore Agriculture Infrastructure Fund meant for setting up storage and processing facilities, which will help farmers get higher prices for their crops, according to the government statement.

The Hindu Business Line

Let’s face it, Indian agriculture is a mess. A quagmire of complex challenges and policy neglect laced with vested interests have resulted in daunting demographics. The agriculture sector employs more than half of India’s workforce, consumes around 90 per cent of its freshwater resources and uses nearly half the available land; yet, it generates barely 13 per cent of GDP and around 10 per cent of exports. With more than half of all farmland rain-fed, small-size farms disincentivising mechanisation, nearly half of all farmers lacking access to credit, rapid soil degradation and a staggering ₹92,000 crore-plus of produce lost to spoilage annually, the path forward is long and difficult.

The Hindu Business Line

The coronavirus pandemic is likely to have a transformative impact on the rural economy. Anil Ghanwat, President of Shetkari Sanghatana, says the pandemic has shown farmers the way forward. Agriculture should be strengthened to stop migration to cities and farmers should get remunerative prices for their produce so that they can start agri-processing businesses in villages. According to Ghanwat, Covid-19 has proved to be a blessing in disguise; it could open the doors to economic freedom for farmers

Times Of India

Benefits of Rs 1 lakh crore fund to finance agriculture infrastructure including farm start-ups, announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, may not reach the peasants, say activists and farmers. On the other hand, those from the corporate sector have welcomed the step. Reacting to the announcement made a couple of days ago, farm activists said the government was shifting its focus from the core issues. The stress has to be on increasing farmers’ income while the funding facility announced will benefit businesses or the moneyed class in rural areas, they said.

Times Of India

The Indian Railways will provide its surplus land parcels on lease at more than locations to Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other agencies of the food ministry for building storage facilities to see not a single grain is wasted. Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan and railway minister Piyush Goyal shared the common agenda of the two ministries after a review meeting on this issue on Tuesday. The FCI and other agencies under the food ministry have about 74.5 million tonnes of storage capacity, which includes gunnies of foodgrains kept under ‘covered and plinth’ (CAP), which is not a good practice to store grains. There are often reports of how gunnies of foodgrains get wet due to rain in different parts of the country. The ...

Indian Education Dairy

Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar today virtually launched the Krishi Megh (National Agricultural Research & Education System -Cloud Infrastructure and Services) along with the KVC ALUNET (Krishi Vishwavidyalaya Chhatr Alumni Network) and Online Accreditation System for Higher Agricultural Educational Institutions (HEI).

Current Affairs Today

The scheme is being replaced as the insurance firms have sought high premium from the government this time. If approved, the state government will have to pay Rs 4,500 crores. This amount is much higher than the average yearly premium of Rs 1,800 crores. The compensation is to be provided if the loss of crop is more than 33% due to excess rain or drought or unseasonal rainfall.

Aspirant World

Agricultural Mechanization is one of the key drivers for sustainable development of the agriculture sector.

It helps in: Increasing land productivity by facilitating timeliness and quality of cultivation

Reducing the cost of operating by ensuring better management of costly inputs

Inventiva

Prime Minister Modi has propelled financing ease of Rs 1 trillion under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund for agri-entrepreneurs, agri-tech players, startups, and farmer groups for post-harvest administration and feeding farm assets on this weekend.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also issued the sixth installment of Rs 17,100 crore to more than 85.5 million farmer-beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) plan.

BLOC

When Covid-19 hit India, the country’s economy was already under stress and on a weak footing, said Arvind Panagariya, Professor of Economics, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University. “However, I think the government has handled it pretty well with its focus on ensuring that people had the basic necessities sorted — food and shelter. A big stimulus, contrary to some views, could never have given a supply response. The government was also correct in announcing measures to create a guaranteed fund and ensure cash flows,” he added, while addressing the Post-Graduate Programme in Public Policy and Management students in the public policy talk series hosted by IIMB.

Economic Times

The concept of biomobility in India has evolved to the stage where it will soon be implemented in day to day life. The central government’s wholehearted support and conducive policies have opened doors for the production of fuel from bio-waste.

Following is the first in the series of articles that will comment upon the impact of biomobility on various facets of the society and economy.

Indian Express

Farmers in Maharashtra have been forced to take up fresh kharif sowing after seeds supplied to them failed to germinate, but their access to crop loan from banks remains low. As against the target of Rs 45,785 crore, crop loan disbursed till the first week of August to 30 lakh farmers for the kharif season was Rs 22,770 crore, or only 50 per cent has been disbursed.

“The financial condition across the rural belt is worrying. Farmers are worst affected as they don’t have cash. The fall in farm produce prices in last four months has wrecked their lives,” said Shetkari Sanghatana president Anil Ghanwat.

Hindu Post

Bharat has set an ambitious target of doubling the farmers’ income and also simultaneously have a target of US$ 60 Billion agri-export by the year 2022. The value of processed food exports during 2018-19 was of the order of US$ 35.30 Billion accounting for about 10.69 percent of Bharat’s total exports.

The exports of the food products have shown a rising trend since 2014-15.  The organic food segment in Bharat is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10 per cent during 2015-25 and is estimated to reach Rs 75,000 crore (US$ 10.73 billion) by 2025 from Rs 2,700 crore (US$ 386.32 million) in 2015.

News 18

TDP National President and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday said that YS Jaganmohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh should stop implementing its lopsided policies as they were crippling agriculture, irrigation, industry and all sectors of the State economy.

Naidu appealed to the people to think carefully whether they would like to have ‘true development’ brought by the previous Telugu Desam Party regime or ‘true destruction’ being caused by the present government.

Addressing a press conferences to create awareness against the state’s 3 Capital Plan, Naidu said that the ruling party leaders had only focused on Amaravati demolition and suppression of different sections of people in the past 15 months. Consequently, all the developmental projects ...

Tribune India

Rejecting allegations of favouritism being shown to certain manufacturers, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today ordered a first-of-its-kind social pre-audit of the Crop Residue Management (CRM) Scheme for supplying farm equipment on subsidy to farmers.

The Tribune

RAMANDEEP Singh, a farmer of Mard Kheda village near Sunam in Sangrur district, was foreseeing a tough time in April when the Covid-induced lockdown was in force. He was doubtful whether he would be able to harvest his crop or plant the next one in his fields. Troubled, he called officials of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) at Kheri village, who helped him and other farmers of the area in not only harvesting and selling their produce, but also in implementing direct seeding of rice (DSR) in the wake of labour shortage and to save depleting groundwater in his village.

Krishi Jagran

Mango (Mangifera Indica) is the most ancient among all the tropical fruits and is believed to be originated in the Indo – Burma region of Eastern Asia. India is the major mango producing country in the world with an annual production of 20.44 million tons from an area of one million hectares. Mango is eventually a tropical plant but endures wide range of temperature. It grows well under tropical and sub-tropical conditions

The Hindu Business Line

India is all set to record an all-time high wheat output of 107 million tonnes (mt ) in the current crop year of 2019-20 (July-June), 40 per cent higher than the past 10-year average, thanks to favourable weather and a supportive policy regime.

Indian Web 2

The agriculture ministry has been funding startups in the agriculture and allied sectors under central scheme Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY). Under this scheme, the government has funded 12 startups already with an amount of Rs 11.85 crore.

On August 6, the ministry has made an announcement that it is planning to invest nearly 36.71 Cr in 346 agritech startups and startup working in allied sectors like agro-processing, artificial intelligence, digital agriculture, farm mechanisation, waste to wealth, dairy, fisheries, among others. The selected start-ups were trained for two months at 29 agribusiness incubation centres (KPs & RABIs) spread across India.  R-ABI is RKVY-RAFTAAR Agribusiness Incubators.

The Wire

Farmers, especially from North India, recently staged a tractor march in Ludhiana to express their anger against rising fuel prices and the three ordinances introduced by the Central government, namely The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020.

At the same time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was speaking at the Ideas Summit, on ‘Building a Better Future’, organised by US-India Business Council (USIBC), inviting American companies to come and invest in ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. The prime minister said the agricultural reforms undertaken by the government would facilitate ease of business and announced that the food processing ...

Business Today

The central government on Sunday released a draft notification for separate emissions norms for construction equipment and agriculture machinery vehicles. In the notification, the government has introduced a change in nomenclature for emission norms form Bharat Stage to TREM Stage. This has been done to avoid any future confusion.

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement, “The ministry has invited suggestions and comments from public and all the stakeholders on a draft notification proposing to amend CMVR (Central Motor Vehicles Rules) 1989 … to separate the emission norms for agricultural machinery (agricultural tractors, power tillers and combined harvesters) and construction equipment vehicles.”

Business Today

The central government on Sunday released a draft notification for separate emissions norms for construction equipment and agriculture machinery vehicles. In the notification, the government has introduced a change in nomenclature for emission norms form Bharat Stage to TREM Stage. This has been done to avoid any future confusion.

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement, “The ministry has invited suggestions and comments from public and all the stakeholders on a draft notification proposing to amend CMVR (Central Motor Vehicles Rules) 1989 … to separate the emission norms for agricultural machinery (agricultural tractors, power tillers and combined harvesters) and construction equipment vehicles.”

Agri Times

The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare has said that there has been satisfactory progress of sowing area coverage under Kharif crops.

Rice: About 321.79 lakh ha area coverage under rice as compared to 274.19 lakh ha during the corresponding period of last year. Thus 47.60 lakh ha more area has been covered compared to last year.

Pulses: About 119.59 lakh ha area coverage under pulses as compared to 114.77 lakh ha during the corresponding period of last year. Thus 4.82 lakh ha more area has been covered compared to last year.

Coarse Cereals: About 160.43 lakh ha area coverage under coarse cereals as compared to 154.77 lakh ha during the corresponding period of last year. ...

Times Of India

Agriculture is the mainstay of our economy as it provides food to millions and raw materials to the industries. Agriculture has grown tremendously in modern times, with cutting-edge research and constant innovations taking place. In India, agriculture is one of the preferred career options for science students. The field of agriculture requires not only talent but also in-depth knowledge of it. The needs of a vast population has contributed in enhancing this occupation into an entirely separate source of learning. There are degree programmes and diploma courses available to learn agriculture on a broad scale.

Hindustan Times

Almost half of the central funds meant for rural employment guarantee scheme and subsidised ration – the two central schemes that have helped to deal with the economic distress due to Covid-19 – have already been spent in the first four months of financial year 2020-21, government data shows.

While the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) enabled 90 million households to get work between April and July 2020, subsidised ration under National Food Security Act (NFSA), also called public distribution system (PDS), was provided to an average 720 million people every month during this period.

According to the central government data, till July 2020, around 45% of Rs 1,01,500 crore for NREGA and 44% ...

Economic Times

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Saturday said the farm sector of the country has remained largely unaffected by the economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking at a webinar organised by Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), he said the farmers were able to do full harvesting of the rabi crops and the ongoing kharif season is progressing well.

“The agricultural sector is largely unaffected. The rural economy remained stable and there was a bumper harvest of the rabi crops. The ongoing kharif season is progressing well,” Tomar said.

Bhaskar

The area under kharif crops has registered an increase of 10 per cent over the previous year. According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture, kharif crops have been sown in 966 lakh hectare area till Friday. The area under kharif crops was 878 lakh hectares in the same week last year.

If the acreage of kharif crops continues to grow in a similar way, it could also set a new record. In the language of farming, acreage is called the area in which a crop is planted or planted. At the same time, an area of ​​10,000 square meters or about 1,07,639 square feet is called a hectare.

Gaadi Waadi

As the nation-wide lockdown slowly recedes, carmakers in India are showing huge growth in monthly sales figures, although only a few manufacturers were able to record positive YoY growth. Sonalika International Tractors Ltd is one of them, recording a massive 71.66 per cent YoY growth in the commercial market space. In July 2020, the company was able to retail 8,219 tractor units in the Indian market, up from 4,788 units sold in July 2019, while overall sales (including exports) stood at 10,233 units. Surprisingly, despite such a massive YoY gain, Sonalika ITL has actually recorded negative growth in terms of monthly sales.

DT Next

Business Standard

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday highlighted the need to constantly review the country’s food, agriculture and trade policies according to changing times.

He also called for reorienting agricultural priorities towards more nutrition-sensitive food.

Inaugurating the virtual consultation Science for Resilient Food, Nutrition and Livelihoods’ organised by the M S Swaminathan Foundation, Naidu drew attention towards impacts associated with poor diet quality and said that both undernutrition and obesity are significant risk factors for non-communicable diseases.

The Hindu Business Line

Mahindra & Mahindra on Friday posted a 97 per cent year-on-year drop in its consolidated net profit to ₹67.79 crore during the first quarter of this financial year, severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. It had posted a consolidated net profit of ₹2,259.74 crore in the year-ago period.

Tribune India

The government will certify farmers engaged in natural farming under the Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Kisan Yojana.

Chief Secretary Anil Khachi, during a meeting of the Task Force on Natural Farming held at the Secretariat, directed Agriculture Department officials to complete the certification of farmers. He said that it was necessary to certify farmers engaged in natural farming so that they could get a better market and price. He emphasised the need to create a brand to ease the recognition and marketing of natural produce.

News D

Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan is a renowned Indian geneticist and administrator, who made a stellar contribution to the success of India’s Green Revolution programme was born on August 7, 1925.  The Green Revolution went a long way in making India self-sufficient in wheat and rice production.

Swaminathan has been acclaimed by TIME magazine as one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th century and one of the only three from India, the other two being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.

He has been described by the United Nations Environment Programme as “the Father of Economic Ecology” because of his leadership of the ever-green revolution movement in agriculture and by Javier Perez de Cuellar, Secretary-General of the ...

Live Mint

The railways will begin its Kisan Rail services to transport perishable goods from today. The train will be flagged off via video conferencing by Union Minister of Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal. The event shall be attended by other dignitaries from Maharashtra. This will be the first such train, carrying vegetables and fruits, that would run between Maharashtra and Bihar.

Krishi Jagran

A new report from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has claimed that India could become one of the top five agricultural exporters in the world in a post COVID scenario. India is currently ranked at eight with a total export value of over $39 billion.

The move would further boost the image of India in terms of agriculture. The sector has already shown tremendous growth even in the wake of the pandemic with the government estimating a positive growth of 5.9% when many of the sectors have shown negative growth.

Your Story

The Agriculture Ministry on Thursday said it will fund 234 more startups in the agriculture and allied sectors with a sum of Rs 24.85 crore under a central scheme in the current fiscal. The government is promoting innovation and agripreneurship by providing financial support and nurturing the incubation ecosystem under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).

Financial Express

While Indian economy is facing headwinds of coronavirus, the agricultural sector is an outlier, with the growth in the sector also helping spur rural demand. In fact, several sectors whose sales heavily depend on rural India have already started to exhibit a demand revival. “The agricultural sector has emerged as a bright spot… developments have had a salutary effect on rural demand as reflected in fertiliser production and sales of tractors, motorcycles and fast-moving consumer goods,” RBI said in its Monetary Policy statement on Thursday.

Owing to good progress of monsoon in July, the sowing in the season has been higher by 5.9% as of 31st July 2020 as compared to last five year average. The live storage in ...

Hindu Tamil

Sixty P. Kalyanam, general secretary of the Cauvery Delta District Federation of Agricultural Associations, has demanded that steps be taken to set up temporary huts and install wet paddy drying machines to facilitate unrestricted paddy procurement at paddy procurement centers .

This is stated in the letter he sent to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu today:

“In the Cauvery delta districts, the pre-harvest season, which was planted in April and May through drainage pipes, has started in full swing. Therefore, we need to open more direct paddy procurement centers to facilitate the completion of paddy procurement without delay. To date, there are very few purchasing centers.

Financial Express

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana’ is successfully reaching the doorsteps of the weaker sections of society. While the states have lifted about 118 LMT (99 per cent) food grains from FCI depots or the central pool, they have distributed over 111.52 LMT (93.5 per cent) of allocated food grains during April-June 2020, according to the Food Corporation of India. On the back of an unprecedented crisis led by the coronavirus pandemic, the Modi government rolled out a special scheme to provide free food grains to about 81 Crore National Food Security Act (NFSA) beneficiaries covered under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Householders (PHH) in March 2020.

The government pledged to provide 5 kg ...

The Hindu

With Karnataka stepping out of the lockdown, signs of recovery were witnessed in some areas of the State economy such as registration of vehicles, e-way bills and consumption of electricity.

Times Of India

About 50% farmers from Nashik district are losing the prompt repayment interest (PRI) subvention as they fail to clear the interest amount in their accounts annually. “With the central government announcing 3% interest waiver on crop loan of upto Rs 3 lakh if the farmers renewed the accounts with the banks on annual basis in which they just have to clear the outstanding interest amount. But, the farmers are losing this valuable input from the government,” pointed out a senior banking officer after emerging out from bankers’ meeting called by the district collector Suraj Mandhare

Times Of India

Indo Asian Commodities

India’s agriculture sector is likely to mitigate the adverse impact on the economy hit by the coronavirus this fiscal, riding on the back of good monsoon, a Finance Ministry report said.

“With the forecast of a normal monsoon at 102 percent of the long-period average (LPA), agriculture, which contributes about 15 percent of total gross value added, is set to cushion the shock of COVID pandemic on the Indian economy in 2020-21,” says the Macroeconomic Report for July, released by the Economic Affairs Department.

Financial Express

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is banking on a recovery in rural demand to slow the economy’s first contraction in four decades. But capricious rainfall may play spoilsport. After an impressive start and good rains in June, the monsoon petered out in July, a crucial month for growth of young grain plants and oilseeds such as rice, cotton and soybeans. Economists will be closely monitoring the rainfall pattern in the coming weeks for hints about the future of the rural economy.

India’s agriculture has been the lone bright spot in the country’s shrinking economy, with the government as well as the central bank betting on rural demand to lift growth after recovering tractor sales pointed to a consumption revival. Any setback to the ...

Times Of India

Tractor sales in the country have clocked over 35% year-on-year growth in July on the back of robust agricultural activities. Top manufacturers like Mahindra & Mahindra and Sonalika have recorded about 28% and 72% growth respectively, while Escorts saw nearly 10% growth, despite supply constraints. Tractor marketers said the July figures prove that the spike seen in June was not just pent-up demand but a sentiment revival.

Market leader Mahindra recorded its highest ever July sales this year with 25,402 tractors sold (including exports) compared to 19,992 units in July 2019.

Bloomberg Quint

Tractor sales at dealerships jumped to the highest in 19 months, aided by normal monsoon and pent-up demand in India’s hinterland ahead of the sowing season, helping the sector witness a recovery

Times Of India

Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday held a meeting with a group of progressive farmers who are associated with cooperative farming models, like the Kanyaka Multipurpose Farm, Sitajakhala Milk Cooperative Committee and Pabhoi Greens at his residence and discussed the scope of agriculture, fishery, dairy farming, poultry, seed production and other allied sectors in the state.

The farmers’ group apprised the chief minister about a detailed plan for Assam to become self-reliant in production of agriculture and other allied sectors and urged him to take up long and short term plans for rapid development of those sectors, the chief minister’s office said. The CM’s office added that Sonowal has assured the farmers’ group that such long and short ...

Inventia

Amidst the pandemic, it has been observed over the past few months that the agricultural economy is going to save the day for the Indian economy. This year when economies all over the world are contracting due to the lockdown since mid-march because of the widespread of the virus. Meanwhile, India experienced that the agriculture sector expected to continue to grow. It has been seen a jump in the sales of tractors and motorcycle during the pandemic. It gave rise to many theories that have been floated about a farm economy-fuelled revival. However, many people can’t differentiate between agricultural and rural economies. Some of them think that they are the same. Which is not true!  Rural is not only agriculture.

Financial Express

Call it role reversal. Insurers used to complain of the high claim ratio under the crop insurance scheme in the initial years after its 2016 launch; now, state after state is quitting the scheme, as they find it difficult to foot the rising premium bill. A perceived tendency among insurers to admit less of farmers’ claims and the delays in settlement of claims also seem to have prompted some states to develop cold feet about the Modi government’s flagship scheme, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).

Economic Times

The economy was past the worst of the pandemic as leading indicators showed a recovery in June compared to the trough in April, however, the rising number of daily cases and intermittent lockdowns have made recovery prospects fragile, according to a government report.

“With India unlocking, the worst seems to be over as high-frequency indicators show an improvement from the unprecedented trough the economy had hit in April 2020,” said the finance ministry’s monthly economic report for July.

Tribune India

According to them, India has the capacity to replace imports and produce globally competitive products. They stress upon the need for a focused approach with the right blend of policy formulation and implementation to become self-reliant. The question arises: what kind of support is needed to make India atmanirbhar in agriculture?

“When the Central government frames a policy, it must involve stakeholders in the whole process. Only then can we become atmanirbhar in agriculture,” says Ajay Vir Jakhar, Chairman, Punjab State Farmers’ and Farm Workers’ Commission.

Rediff

The often-repeated theory of demand generation in the rural economy due to the government’s intervention may be overstated, feel economists, even though they cite different reasons for their thesis.

A recent note brought out by Credit Suisse says that net gain from the government support measures may be just Rs 7,500 crore a month, which constitutes 0.9 per cent of the rural gross domestic product (GDP).

The Hills Time

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal held a meeting with a group of progressive farmers associated with cooperative farming models like Kanyaka Multipurpose Farm, Sitajakhala Milk Cooperative Committee and Pabhoi Greens at his residence on Monday where he discussed about the scope of agriculture, fishery, dairy farming, poultry, seed production and other such allied sectors in the state.

The Print

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is banking on a recovery in rural demand to slow the economy’s first contraction in four decades. But capricious rainfall may play spoilsport.

After an impressive start and good rains in June, the monsoon petered out in July, a crucial month for growth of young grain plants and oilseeds such as rice, cotton and soybeans. Economists will be closely monitoring the rainfall pattern in the coming weeks for hints about the future of the rural economy.

Times Of India

Rice millers have not returned 3.6 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of rice to the government a year after paddy was given to them for milling, raising suspicion that the staple may have been diverted to the open market. Every year the government gives paddy of two crops i.e., vaanakalam (kharif) and yasangi (rabi) to the millers, which are milled and returned to the government for supply through the public distribution system (PDS).

News D

Additional Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal said the state has submitted to the Central government an annual action plan of Rs 639.10 crore under the Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization for In-Situ Management of Crop Residue scheme.

The plan entails in-situ and ex-situ management of crop residue, as well as enforcement measures regarding prohibition on stubble burning.

Times Of India

Tractor sales in the country have clocked over 35% year-on-year growth in July on the back of robust agricultural activities. Top manufacturers like Mahindra & Mahindra and Sonalika have recorded about 28% and 72% growth respectively, while Escorts saw nearly 10% growth, despite supply constraints. Tractor marketers said the July figures prove that the spike seen in June was not just pent-up demand but a sentiment revival.

Punjab Update

To motivate the farming community to restrain from burning crop residue, the Punjab Government has decided to provide subsidy worth Rs. 300 crore ranging from 50% to 80% to farmers for the purchase of 23,500 agro-machines/farm equipments for the management of paddy residue during Kharif, 2020.

Disclosing this here today, Additional Chief Secretary (Development) Anirudh Tiwari said that state government has invited applications from farmers both individually and in groups to provide subsidy on the purchase of paddy residue management machines in the current Kharif season.

Indian Express

To say agriculture is roaring may be an exaggeration, but it is definitely one sector where things are closest to business-as-usual in today’s Covid-ravaged Indian economy.

One indicator of that is sowings. Farmers have in the current kharif (monsoon) season so far planted 13.9% more area compared to last year’s coverage at this time. Moreover, acreages are higher in all major crops, barring jute.

Tribune India

PM Narendra Modi’s call for making India atmanirbhar (self-reliant) has led to a debate on the potential of the agriculture sector to become self-sufficient. Experts say we are self-reliant in cereals, wheat and paddy, but are heavily dependent on imports for oilseeds and pulses, to name a few.

Rediff

The often-repeated theory of demand generation in the rural economy due to the government’s intervention may be overstated, feel economists, even though they cite different reasons for their thesis.

A recent note brought out by Credit Suisse says that net gain from the government support measures may be just Rs 7,500 crore a month, which constitutes 0.9 per cent of the rural gross domestic product (GDP).

Telangana Today

Thanks to a good monsoon and abundant rainfall, the prices of vegetables which remained high for last several weeks in the city have started to come down.

On Sunday, the prices on essential vegetables including tomatoes, green chillies, cabbage, cauliflower, onion, lady fingers and cucumber in the rythu bazaars of the city registered a sharp dip when compared to earlier weeks.

The Hindu

A week ahead of Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections R.A. Karunavathi, a farmer in Chandana Pokuna village in Polonnaruwa, located in the island’s North Central Province, is looking for a reason to vote. “Why not boycott? We are forced to think like that,” she says, obviously fatigued with polls and politicians.

Polonnaruwa district is known internationally for its evocative rock-cut Buddha sculptures and ancient city — now a UNESCO World Heritage Site — that one strand of popular history traces to the Cholas. It is also the country’s rice bowl, with the district’s farmers producing the highest amount — 3 lakh metric tonnes last year — of paddy in the country.

Indian Express

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) is the first universal basic income-type of scheme targeted towards landed farmers. It was introduced in December 2018 to manage agricultural stress. Initially, the scheme was targeted at small and medium landed farmers, but with the declining growth in gross value added of the agricultural sector, it was extended to all farmers in May 2019. The Union budget had allocated Rs 75,000 crore to this scheme in 2020-21.

Hindustan Times

Warming of Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean is likely to weaken the India monsoon further in the near future, which could be accentuated by land mass changes across the country, says a new study by the National Institute of Oceanography at Goa published in a peer-reviewed journal.

The study is significant as it reviewed the under sediment cores derived from the Krishna Godavari basin of the Bay of Bengal to understand how the monsoon rainfall pattern has changed in the past 2,000 years. Most of the studies on Indian monsoon pattern are based on temperature and rainfall variations available with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) since 1901 for land and sea.

Apeksha News

With the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown which can extend for some more time, there are now concerns rising over food supply.

The potential negative impacts of the pandemic on agricultural production, market stability, food supply is considerably significant.

The Hindu Business Line

Tractor and construction equipment maker Escorts is planning a capital expenditure (capex) of ₹225-250 crore this fiscal in view of some favourable business prospects.

The company will be spending the proposed capex on new product development, and capacity addition in the machining division, which is meant for both Escorts and its JV with Japan’s Kubota Corporation, the company management said during the Q1 earnings conference call.

Punjab Update

To motivate the farming community to restrain from burning crop residue, the Punjab Government has decided to provide subsidy worth Rs. 300 crore ranging from 50% to 80% to farmers for the purchase of 23,500 agro-machines/farm equipments for the management of paddy residue during Kharif, 2020.

Disclosing this here today, Additional Chief Secretary (Development) Anirudh Tiwari said that state government has invited applications from farmers both individually and in groups to provide subsidy on the purchase of paddy residue management machines in the current Kharif season.

Pointing out further, Tiwari said that it has been decided to give these machines to 7000 farmers, 5000 cooperative societies, panchayats and farmers groups to refrain them from burning crop residue ...

The Week

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s short tweet—‘megha re barso’ (rain down clouds)—on Sunday probably is a good indicator of worrying rainfall situation in the state.

Considerably below par rainfall during the month of July has rendered the state rain deficient mid-way through the rainy season, totally nullifying the excess situation of June. So much so that 20 out of 51 districts in the state (according to meteorological records) are staring at drought situation, having received between 20 per cent to 41 per cent deficient rainfall up to August 2 (from June 1), data released by the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) at Bhopal showed.

Sachi Shiksha

Dairy farming made farming a profitable deal: Dairy farming: Farm-barn: Integrated farming system For those who call agri-business a loss deal, the young progressive farmer of Sarsa has tried to show that this agriculture can prove to be a profitable deal by adopting integrated farming system.

Millenium Post

Bengal has witnessed several path-breaking agricultural movements in the past. The Singur movement and the triumphant win of farmers with their relentless endeavour to get back their lands headed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee became a ‘role model’ for the world. Now after nine years of coming to power and putting an end to 34 years’ of the Left Front’s rule in 2011, Banerjee took another crucial move that has come up as a major leap towards technological advancement in the state’s agricultural sector. This will add another feather to Bengal’s crown after winning Krishi Karman Awards six times and that too with five of them coming in consecutive succession from 2011-12.

The Hindu

The automobile sector may be struggling with CÓVID-19-related issues but July saw a rise in tractor sales.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.’s Farm Equipment Sector (FES) reported a 27% growth in the sales of tractors to 25,402 units.

Sonalika Tractors reported a 71.7% growth in domestic sales to 8,219 units. The company sold a total of 10,223 units including exports. The comparative figures were not available.

Hindustan Times

With satisfactory rainfall across Maharashtra, the sowing average for crops in the state has reached 91%. Agriculturists and officials say they are expecting bumper agriculture production this year.

As per a report collated by the agriculture department on July 27, crops have been sown on 1.29 crore hectare (ha) of the 1.42 crore ha that comprises the average area under kharif crops.Last year, sowing was done on 1.15 crore ha on the corresponding day.

The sowing for oilseed crops like groundnut and soybean has crossed its average area of 41.57 lakh ha to spread across 42.89 lakh ha. Pulses have reached 90%, with sowing completed on 19.98 lakh ha against its average area of 22.17 lakh ha. ...

New Indian Express

The Covid-induced lockdown, which saw reverse migration to the hinterland, coupled with good monsoon rains, has had a positive effect which is showing on the fields. There has been an increase in sowing activity across the state in the prevailing kharif season.

As per the data from the State Agriculture Department, cultivable land in the state is 73 lakh hectares of which close to 50 lakh hectares has already been covered under sowing, meeting 68 per cent of the target.

Scroll

The Chotanagpur Plateau in Eastern India, criss-crossed with streams, once was lush green even in winter.

But increasingly erratic rainfall in recent years has made life much harder for the region’s impoverished indigenous subsistence farmers, most of whom rely on monsoon rains between June and September to grow a thirsty rice crop.

“Our land is rich, but our people are poor,” said Gagu Oraon, a farmer from the Oraon indigenous community in Tukutoli, a village in Jharkhand that has struggled with low yields and crop failure.

Economic Times

What happens when the market leader reports a six-digit sales number and a positive growth? In normal circumstances, one might wonder as to what is new about that!

But today, when Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) reported over 1-lakh domestic sales for the month of July 2020, it gave a ray of hope in the minds and hearts of every auto enthusiast, in an industry that is currently plagued with multiple issues.

Financial Express

Area sown to rice, the main kharif crop, has increased by 19 per cent to 266.60 lakh hectares so far across the country in the current kharif season on account of good rains, the agriculture ministry said on Friday. Among cash crops, cotton planting has risen by 11.29 per cent to 121.25 lakh hectares so far in the current kharif season of the 2020-21 crop year (July-June) from 108.95 lakh hectares in the year-ago period.

Sowing of kharif crops begins with the onset of southwest monsoon from June, while harvesting from October onwards.

Down To Earth

Natural disasters hit India’s farmlands the worst last year in two decades, the Centre said.

More than 14.4 million hectares (ha), roughly seven per cent of India’s gross cropped area, was affected in the 11 months through February 20, 2020. The area, spread over 14 states, was seven times that of the previous year.

Losses could mount as unseasonal and excessive rainfall in March 2020 further damaged rabi crops in Punjab, Haryana, UP, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.  At least 0.4 million ha of cropped area was lost in these states, according to news reports.

Before 2019-20, 2007-08 (8.5 million ha), 2006-07 (7.1 million ha) and 2013-14 (6.3 million ha) had been the worst years for cropland losses. ...