Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
NABARD promotes alternative income sources for rural population dependent on agricultureedit
Economic Times – Online
he National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is promoting off- farm sectors to reduce rural West Bengal’s over dependence on agriculture, an official said. Around 20 per cent of the people of West Bengal still live below the poverty line and the average size of landholding is only 0.77 hectares, Nabard claimed.
“As 20 per cent of the people of West Bengal still live below the poverty line and the average size of land holding is only 0.77 hectares, Nabard was working on reducing the rural West Bengal’s over dependence on agriculture. Nabard is encouraging young entrepreneurs move towards the handloom sector,” Nabard DGM Kamalesh Kumar said on Saturday.
Israel and India to open agriculture research instituteedit
Israel21.org – Online
Qualified students in India will soon be able to earn a degree from Ben-Gurion University (BGU) of the Negev in dryland agriculture and biotechnology, hydrology and water quality, desert studies, or ecology and conservation.
The new initiative is centered on BGU’s establishment of a joint agricultural research institute in Chennai, India, in partnership with Aban Offshore, an international Indian company in the offshore drilling and wind energy markets
India’s plan to collectivise millions of small and marginal farmers may fall shortedit
Scroll – Online
India’s plan to collectivise and support millions of small and marginal farmers into profitable business groups may fail without significant reforms in the existing funding and support ecosystem for farm collectives, experts say. In five years to 2023-’24, the government plans to set up and support 10,000 new farmer producer organisations, where farmers come together as shareholders to expand the production and marketing of their agricultural output.
Apart from shareholder funds and bank credit, these groups also receive some initial financial support from government agencies.
Relook agri-subsidies to curb agri-pollutionedit
Financial Express – Online
If you were being forced to consume poison and pay for it, how would you react? Not well, for sure. It sounds abstract, far-fetched, but this is one of the dynamics at play behind air pollution in Delhi and the broader Indo-Gangetic Plain.
People in this highly-polluted airshed are choking, led towards a slow death. As winter dawns, the wind slows, temperatures drop, and suspended particulate matter (PM) accumulates. The already high pollution in Delhi and surrounding cities from congested traffic, dust, construction, waste burning, power generation, etc, gets a top-up from paddy-stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh. This top-up varies daily, from 1% to 42% of total pollution (see graphic). But, ...
Dairy Farming
Dairy as a means to double rural farmer’s income: Dr. Pravin Kini, Founder & Managing Director, Tropical Animal Geneticsedit
Krishi Jagran – Online
India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of milk. The value of output from milk and milk products is the highest amongst all agricultural commodities, accounting for nearly one-fourth of the value of output from the agricultural sector.
Given that dairy is the lifeline of India’s agro-based economy, the government views dairy as a key sector in its goal of doubling rural farmer income by 2025. In this regard, the government is also taken up initiatives to increase investment in this sector and support innovations in the private sector.
Technology in Agriculture
Development, Deployment Of Technology Needed To Transform Agriculture Sectoredit
BW Businessworld – Online
November 21 (ANI): Digital innovation can transform Indian agriculture and the focus should be on spreading awareness about the potential of such technologies in the agriculture sector, Anna Roy, Senior Adviser (DM&A, Industry) NITI Aayog said. She was speaking at a webinar organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Addressing the webinar on ‘Deep Tech for Smart Agriculture in India’, Roy said, “The real challenge for us is not the development of technology, but instead the deployment of technology, and we as a nation have to come together for the development and deployment of such deep-techs for the agriculture sector.” She further mentioned that in this era of digital transformation, deep-techs are ...
OVERLOADED tractor-trailers carrying wheat straw are a common sight on main highways in Narwana.edit
YourStory. – Online
At a panel moderated by CM Patil, CEO, Deshpande Startups, during the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2020, Ajay Maniar, Partner, Aavishkar Funds; Mark Kahn, MD, Omnivore Ventures; and Prashanth Prakash, Partner, Accel Partners, spoke about agritech as the upcoming sector in India, especially in the startup community. “This is a new decade where we see a digital green revolution,” said Prashanth. According to him, in the first green revolution, farmers were, in some sense, entrepreneurs but were limited to their field, water supply, and irrigation canals, and so on. In this digital green revolution, the entire supply chain is being addressed, and that is what is getting a lot of investors and entrepreneurs excited about being part ...