Economic Times

Tractor sale volumes are expected to grow 10-12 per cent this fiscal over the previous year primarily driven by a strong rural income owning to solid rabi crop harvest, ratings agency Ind-Ra has said.

Moreover, government initiatives in the form of a hike in minimum support price (MSP) for kharif crops and increased budgetary allocation under MGNRES are supporting rural income, it said in a report.

India Today

India’s farm sector is a plateful of paradoxes. Chew on this, to begin with: We are the world’s largest producer of milk, oilseeds, pulses, cotton, mangoes, papayas and bananas. There’s more: Globally, India is the second-largest producer of rice, sugar, tea, vegetables and fish. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) currently has enough buffer stock of wheat and rice in its godowns to feed every Indian family dependent on the Public Distribution System for rationed grains for the next two years.

News Click

Farmers from across Odisha held a rally in Bargarh district on Friday to protest against the new farm laws describing these as a threat to the farming community and age-old institutions.

Shouting slogans against the farm laws, a large number of farmers took part in the rally at Padampur town under the banner of Paschim Odisha Krushak Sangathan Samanwaya Samiti (POKSSS) and Rajbodasambar Krushak Sangathan and congregated at a mega protest meeting.

Terming the new laws as ‘anti-farmer’, POKSSS convenor Lingaraj said in the meeting that farmers of Odisha have so far been opposing the laws symbolically, but now they have intensified their agitation.

Rural Marketing

Value addition and diversification are essential to increase export competitiveness and farmers’ income, Dr M Angamuthu, Chairman, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) said Thursday.

Addressing the National Conference on Enhancing Export competitiveness of Agriculture Produce, organised by FICCI, Dr Angamuthu said, “To successfully increase agri export we must focus on increasing value addition and develop a strategy for diversification. Our farmers must get better farm income by doubling of exports. This is the right time to increase our productivity and diversify to value addition. We are designing specific strategies to improve organic agriculture and value addition in food items.”

Money Control

Wheat prices in Indian markets have increased over the last couple of weeks following its exports to countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, besides demand for the festival season.

They, however, are ruling lower compared with the same period a year ago.

“Wheat prices had dropped lower than the minimum support price (MSP) after the Centre finished procuring nearly 40 million tonnes (mt) till June for buffer stocks that will help distribute foodgrains through the public distribution system. But prices have increased by Rs 100 a quintal in the last couple of weeks,” said Raj Narayan Gupta, a Delhi based flour miller.

Financial Express

The Centre has set a target to purchase 74.2 million tonne (MT) of paddy (nearly 50 MT in terms of rice) in the current kharif marketing season (October-March), 18% higher than last season’s 62.7 MT, minister for food and public distribution Piyush Goyal said on Friday.

Terming the current agitation by farmers in Punjab as politically motivated, he said the Centre is prepared for a dialogue to remove the apprehensions regarding MSP. He also reiterated that official procurement at minimum support prices (MSPs) would continue.

As for the ongoing kharif procurement, the Food Corporation of India has so far purchased 19 MT of paddy across the country, which is 24% higher than in the corresponding period last ...