Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Boosting pulses production: From scarcity to sufficiencyedit
This pandemic has made us learn one key lesson: Be atmanirbhar. More so in the case of food. Imagine scrambling for food when everything has been shut down, including avenues for import. Most of the countries which had food grains declared an export embargo. India is a rare example. The country not only fed its citizens for free but also gave food in the form of humanitarian aid.
Farm fires set to continue as subsidy may not encourage shift to techedit
The harvest season has already begun in many parts of northwest India, and even as most farmer groups agitate against the farm bills, community leaders said crop stubble burning may continue this year too, saying subsidies on straw management machinery is not enough for small farmers to switch to machines.
Satellite images released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) have shown an increasing number of stubble burning incidents in Punjab over the past five days, especially in Amritsar district.
Nasa also warned that with plumes of smoke being seen over Delhi, the city’s air quality may also deteriorate in the coming weeks. Delhi government data shows that stubble burning accounted for 44% of the city’s ...
Chief Agriculture Officer provides farming machines to farmers in Patialaedit
As part of the steps being taken to prevent burning of straw in the current kharif season, machines were being provided to the farmers in Patiala district for disposal of paddy straw. Giving information in this regard, Chief Agriculture Officer Dr. Mr. Inderpal Singh Sandhu said that in order to tackle the problem of burning of straw, the Agriculture Department has formulated a comprehensive program to deal with the problem of burning of straw without burning it. Under this, agricultural machines are being provided to the farmers individually or through groups or cooperative societies at 50 per cent to 80 per cent subsidy.
Listen to CACP: Centre must review open-ended procurement of grainsedit
One would have thought a government-appointed panel of agri-economy experts repeatedly recommending a review (read scrapping) of the open-ended rice and wheat procurement policy would have pushed the Centre to do this post-haste. The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) has recommended this in all its price policy reports for kharif and rabi crops since March 2019, right till the latest one (in July). Of course, now, with farmers agitating against an ‘agri-reform laws mean MSP repeal’ bogey drummed up by opposition parties, a review seems politically fraught.
Had the Centre eased farmers in states like Punjab and Haryana into scaled-down procurement earlier, it is possible that these protests—clearly aimed at protecting the significant revenues states ...
Farmers need price assurance tooedit
One silver lining to the 24 per cent fall in quarterly GDP between April and June, was that growth in the agriculture sector was positive, at 3.4 per cent. This is the first time in India’s history that we are experiencing a steep recession without any adverse shock of drought or a failed monsoon affecting agriculture.
Another notable positive development was the robust procurement of the spring harvest (rabi crop), especially of wheat. Not just frontrunners like Punjab and Haryana, but Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh also had good rabi procurement by the Central government-run Food Corporation of India (FCI). When the FCI does procurement, usually through its designated agencies, based in various states, it ...
Govt. Policies
The new farm reforms: Content and controversyedit
The passing of farm bills in both the houses of Parliament has led to a major controversy in the country. The government claims that it is a historic step taken in the interest of farmers, giving them freedom to sell their produce anywhere and to whomsoever they want in the country. But the opposition parties say it is a ‘black day’ as it will destroy the existing system of minimum support price (MSP) and APMC markets, and leave the farmers at the mercy of big corporations.
Farm reform laws open the market. Now, a regulator is needededit
At the outset, the three farm Bills brought in by the Narendra Modi government seem to create a level-playing field in the farm sector. They empower the farmer to sell their produce anywhere and to anyone who offers them the best price. There is no need for the farmer to pay mandi tax, if the mandis are not providing any additional services.
The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020 lays down the nomenclature to usher in contract farming in India. Companies engaging farmers in contract farming and providing crop advisory, input and assured buyback, may turn out to be a boon for the farmers. Of course, the government can always have a strong oversight on the way the companies engage with farmers and can anytime blacklist those that violate the prescribed ...
What do the agricultural reforms mean for the farmers in India?edit
Agriculture is an essential part of Indian economy in terms of income and livelihood. Its share in GDP is 16% and 44% in jobs. Thus understanding the recent agricultural reforms becomes critical. The broad goal of these is to free farmers from restrictions on sale of their produce. This allows private capital to come in by allowing farmers to enter into deals with large buyers such as exporters and retailers.
For this several amendments have been made. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020: removes cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oil, onion and potato from essential commodity list; does away with the limit of stock imposition except under exceptional circumstances; basically it aims to give the freedom to agribusinesses to ...