Tribune India

Amid a very grim economic scenario in the country, the agriculture sector has emerged as a ray of hope primarily due to positive climatic conditions, the ground situation and some timely action by the government.

According to the figures released yesterday, all GDP segments witnessed major contraction in the April-June quarter of 2020 barring agriculture which managed to register a growth of 3.4% because of nature and early opening up of the sector to facilitate procurement and sowing in the Covid lockdown.

Financial Express

While India’s manufacturing and services sectors saw a major contraction, the agriculture sector recorded a growth of 3.4 per cent in the fiscal first quarter. The farm sector is the only sector that remained almost unaffected during the pandemic, and supported the overall economy by providing a sufficient amount of food. The optimism emerging from the agri sector in the first quarter also gives high hopes of healthy farm production in the upcoming quarters, on the back of a favourable monsoon. The rainfall is likely to be normal in the second half of the four-month monsoon season, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had said earlier.

Agro Food Processing

The state cabinet of Punjab sanctioned the new policy, aiming to guarantee seamless milling of paddy and delivery of rice into the central pool from more than 4,150 mills operating in the state of Punjab.

Punjab has  projected to procure 170 lakh mts of paddy and the state is all set to go online with rice delivery operations, including feasible allotment, timely registration and physical verification of rice mills through videos, as part of the new milling policy for kharif 2020-21.

The Hindu

The Rajasthan government is examining the scope for increasing the export of agricultural commodities after strengthening agro-processing units amid the limited opportunities available during the COVID-19 pandemic. The State Agricultural Marketing Board will help the farmers in the export of cumin, oilseeds and isabgol.

Devdis Course

India’s one of the leading tractor manufacturer and No.1 Exports brand from the country, Sonalika Tractor beats its last month record & registering Highest Ever domestic growth of 80 per cent in Aug-20 with 8,205 tractors as compared to 4,560 sales same period last year. It continues its growth trajectory by surpassing estimated industry growth of 73 per cent in August-20. Overall sales (domestic plus exports) stood at 10,206 tractors in August-20 as compared to 6,412 tractors same period last year.

Down To Earth

India is facing the twin challenge of water scarcity and population explosion. The ongoing water crisis has affected nearly 600 million people and is expected to only worsen: The country’s population is touted to increase to 1.6 billion by 2050.

The agriculture sector is the largest consumer of water in India. It accounts for approximately 90 per cent of 761,000 billion litres of annual freshwater withdrawals in the country. Per capita consumption of water in agriculture sector ranges from 4,913 to 5,800 kilolitre per capita per year.

Times Of India

Exploitation of groundwater is leading to depletion of resources that will jeopardise future generations, increasing ecological costs and causing salinisation of aquifers due to seawater intrusion. To address this, many have argued in support of pro-rata electricity pricing or replacing free electricity supplied to farmers with direct benefit transfer for sustainable agriculture and groundwater use.

The argument squarely puts the blame on the tiller when in reality demand for food grains, policies and governments have led to this situation. It disregards the fact that withdrawal of free electricity not only corners farmers it may also not be a long-term solution that is required to replenish groundwater resources. In this context, it is important to capture the ...

Financial Express

While India’s manufacturing and services sectors saw a major contraction, the agriculture sector recorded a growth of 3.4 per cent in the fiscal first quarter. The farm sector is the only sector that remained almost unaffected during the pandemic, and supported the overall economy by providing a sufficient amount of food. The optimism emerging from the agri sector in the first quarter also gives high hopes of healthy farm production in the upcoming quarters, on the back of a favourable monsoon. The rainfall is likely to be normal in the second half of the four-month monsoon season, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had said earlier.

CNBC TV18

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) on Tuesday reported a 16 percent year on year fall in automotive sales to 30,426 vehicles in August 2020 compared to 36,085 vehicles during August 2019.

In the same period, total domestic sales declined 13 percent to 29,257 units from 33,564 units while total exports plunged 94 percent to 307 units from 5,373 units.

In the Passenger Vehicles segment (which includes UVs, Cars, and Vans), Mahindra sold 13,651 vehicles in August 2020, compared to 13,507 vehicles in August 2019, registering a marginal growth of a percent.

Khmer Times

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.