Asia Samachar

The Government of India had brought in three ordinances on 5 June 2020 in the name of agricultural marketing reforms:

Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020; Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020; and, Ess­en­tial Commodities (Amendment) Ordi­nance, 2020.

These ordinances relating to trading and pricing of agricultural products have now become acts after having been passed as bills by India’s Parliament and approved by the President of India. The farming policy of the present government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as articulated thro­ugh these enactments constitutes a watershed moment in reflecting this government’s agenda in favour of deepening the entry of agrobusiness capitalism and ...

Tribune India

PADDY residue management (PRM) technology is being adopted by farmers at a rate slower than that expected by policy planners. The incidence of farm fires after paddy harvesting in 2019 did not decrease significantly in spite of an appreciable support by the government for popularising farm machinery for the management of paddy residue. These included machines for retention on surface in the field (Happy Seeder and Super SMS-fitted combine), incorporation in the field (chopper, mould board plough and rotavator), and removal from the field (straw baler) of paddy residue. Punjab’s farmers, though known for their keenness to adopt new technologies, neither showed the expected positive response to the advocacy and incentives, nor yielded to other measures adopted ...

Indian Express

Although clouds of smoke from stubble burning are rising in the sky, here’s a silver lining: this year Punjab will produce 15% less stubble than the previous years.

For the past several years, Punjab has been witnessing a production of around 20 million tonnes (200 lakh tonnes) of paddy stubble. However, it came down to around 17 million tonnes (170 lakh tonnes) this year.

Experts assert that with available resources, the fires should not go beyond 20% to 25% of the total paddy area.

The Wire

Farmer organisations that have been on the warpath against the big changes being initiated in Indian agriculture walked out of their recent meeting with ministry officials in Delhi.

The prime minister also recently assured farmers that the minimum support price (MSP) regime is not being eliminated and that Agricultural Produce Market Committee mandis are only being made more competitive. But the gap between the farmer position and that of the government is not narrowing.

One thing both sides agree on is that the changes being introduced are game changers but from opposite ends.

Tribune India

Continuing with the introduction to the three new farm laws passed recently, this week the Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 is being taken up. Read on to understand the provisions and likely benefits of this new law.

Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 aims to provide

Creation of an ecosystem where the farmers and traders enjoy the freedom of choice relating to sale and purchase of farmer’s produce which facilitates remunerative prices through competitive alternative trading channels To promote efficient, transparent and barrier-free inter-State and intra-State trade and commerce of farmer’s produce outside the physical premises of markets or deemed markets notified under various State agricultural produce market ...