Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
In Karnal, no rent on Happy Seedersedit
To encourage farmers shun burning stubble, the Agriculture Department will provide them with Happy Seeders free of cost this season.
A Happy Seeder is a tractor-mounted machine that cuts and lifts crop residue and sows wheat into the bare soil. Besides, it deposits the stubble over the sown area.
On Friday, the Agriculture Department sent 15 Happy Seeders to all six blocks of the district. It had purchased the machines for demonstration purpose in 2018 for making farmers aware of the importance of the crop residue management.
Bharat pulling India: Tractor makers struggling to keep up with demandedit
It is not just pent-up demand because the industry is up 12% compared to last year over six months in spite of being 80% down in April, says Pawan Goenka, MD & CEO, M&M. Do you think we have turned a corner? Coming to the economy, have we turned the corner? Do we have good news ahead of us? Of course, a lot of it is going to be conjecture right now. But I would rather look at the glass half full right now and not half empty. And the reason I am saying that is because at least in the industries that I am more familiar with, a constant improvement month on month is happening compared ...
32% of FCI’s FY21 wheat procurement cost to be mandi taxes, middlemen feeedit
As the debate rages on the impact of high mandi taxes on the finances of the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the data available with the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP) — the body that fixes minimum selling price (MSP) of crops — shows that arthiya (middlemen) commission and mandi taxes are expected to account for 32% of the total procurement incidentals of FCI in the 2020-21 wheat procurement season that began in April. Procurement incidental of FCI is part of the economic cost of procuring foodgrain.
Centre Sees 9 Times Jump In Paddy Procurement In Punjab In 13 Daysedit
Paddy procurement at minimum support price (MSP) in Punjab, the food bowl of India, rose nine times to 15.99 lakh tonnes in the first 13 days of the ongoing kharif marketing season from 1.76 lakh tonne in the year-ago period, according to the Union Food Ministry.
Paddy procurement commenced in Punjab and Haryana from September 26 due to early arrival of the crop, while in other states from October 1.
Explained: Why Punjab rent waiver on farm machines will not help muchedit
Punjab has recorded five times more stubble fires between September 21 and October 7 as compared to the same period last year. To control the fires, the state government, in a letter to the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) — a Supreme Court-mandated pollution control authority — said Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs) in the state will not charge any rental from small and marginal farmers for providing them machinery to manage stubble. But is this enough to stop the fires?
Govt. Policies
Three agriculture and farm trade bills game change for Indian farmers: Dr BR Jagashettyedit
Union government’s effort to table the three agriculture and farm trade bills are game changer for Indian agriculture. The three legislations: Famers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation ), Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Bill, Agreement on Price Assurance Services 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) 2020, are steps in the right direction, according to Dr B R Jagashetty, former National Adviser (Drugs Control) to MoHFW & CDSCO.
These Bills relate to extensive changes relating to marketing and trading of farm produce like crops, fruits and vegetables as they seek to create a common platform for farm produce sale. This apparently reduces the marketing system based on the APMC (Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees). “The new Bills also ...
Stubble Burning
Stubble management exhibition and trainingedit
Agriculture and Farm Welfare Department, Kapurthala, celebrated Farm Agriculture Day at the Dongranwal village in block Dhilwan to spread awareness among farmers about the proper management of stubble (or parali). An exhibition on paddy reaping and cutting with the use of super SMS, mulcher and happy seeder was held on the occasion. Chief Agricultural Officer Dr Najar Singh appealed to farmers to mix stubble with soil and to manage it with the requisite implements as per need of their land. He said as many as 839 machinery groups had been made in the district, which include 15 village panchayats and 97 government sabhas, who have been given 2988 agricultural machine equipments. Singh said farmers with vegetable produce ...
Ensure strict vigil to stop stubble-burning, depts toldedit
Almost 200 incidents of stubble burning were reported within two weeks of the start of paddy procurement. The details were presented at a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan. Total 1,791 cases of stubble burning have been reported till October 8. Environment compensation has been imposed in 499 cases, red entries have been made in land record in 320 cases, six cases have been registered under the Air Act, 1981, and three FIRs have also been filed against violators.
Punjab Pollution Control Board imposes total ₹12.25 lakh fine in 460 stubble burning casesedit
Punjab Pollution Control Board has imposed a total fine of ₹12.25 lakh in 460 paddy stubble burning cases in the state, with a senior official on Friday saying that by end of this month one would be able to make a fair comparison whether farm fires have gone up or come down in comparison to previous years. In 460 cases, we have imposed a fine (environmental compensation) of ₹12.25 lakh (between September 21-October 7), out of which we have recovered ₹70,000, PPCB Member Secretary, Krunesh Garg said.