Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Farm liberalisation still has a long way to goedit
The Free Press Journal – Online
Thomas Jefferson — a spokesman for democracy — said, “Agriculture is the wisest pursuit, because in the end, it will contribute the most to real wealth, good morals and happiness”. This describes agriculture’s significance for the Indian economy. We have not realised the essence of this statement even after 73 years of Independence and centuries of farming experience.
For years, agriculture has been running as a stand-alone sector, not integrated with the working of the national economy. Over 70 per cent of rural households depend on agriculture. Agriculture contributes about 17 per cent to India’s GDP and provides employment to over 60 per cent of the population. This implies significant underemployment and disguised employment. ...
AI for the farmeredit
The Indian Express – Online
“I see a big role for AI in empowering agriculture, healthcare, education, creating next-generation urban infrastructure and addressing urban issues,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while inaugurating the Responsible AI for Social Empowerment Summit, RAISE 2020. Artificial Intelligence-based agri-tech applications are set to unleash value in agriculture, especially in wake of the recent farm reforms that have opened doors to private sector investments in agriculture.
In the financial year 2019-20, Indian agri-food tech start-ups raised more than $1 billion through 133 deals. India’s exports of agricultural products rose to $37.4 billion in 2019 and with investments in supply chain and better storage and packaging, this is set to increase further. All these steps will go ...
Using smart agriculture system to make commercial and home farming easieredit
The Point – Online
In about 30 years, the world’s population is expected to exceed nine billion people — a growth of more than 30%. In other words, there will be 2.3 billion more mouths to feed.
Less developed economies such as North Korea and Cuba are already grappling with severe food shortages. Countries on the African continent remain the epicentre of hunger, with 676 million suffering from a lack of food.
That is why agriculture technology (agritech) firm Plant Cartridge Sdn Bhd has developed a growing kit to enable sustainable urban farming at home. Now, it is utilizing its knowledge for the growth of smart industry-scale farms in response to an insatiable demand for safe and sustainable food production.
Sky is the limit for Horticulture production: Navin Choudhuryedit
India Education Diary – Online
“Sky is the limit for Horticulture production in Kashmir” maintained Principal Secretary, Navin Kumar Choudhary, during awareness cum interactive session on Agro and related sector schemes organised by Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology-Kashmir, Shalimar, Srinagar.
The interactive programme was attended by Director Agriculture, Director Horticulture, Director Animal husbandry, Vice Chancellor SKUAST-K, Industrial Associations, Entrepreneurs, Farmers and students.
Stubble Burning
Punjab: Farmers’ kin also feeling breathless, seek govt helpedit
The Times Of India – Online
Every year fear grips 14-year-old Harsimran Singh, son of a farmer from a village near Jagraon, ahead of stubble burning season. For, around the time, it becomes difficult for him to breathe and he has to use an inhaler.
“My father stopped setting stubble on fire after I developed this respiratory problem. A doctor told us that my problem was directly related to smoke. There are many farmers in the village who burn stubble as they don’t have adequate resources to dispose it of. The doctor advised me to use an inhaler and avoid going out when stubble burning was in full swing,” said Harsimran.
Stubble burning: New Holland Agriculture strengthens equipment range of biomass aggregatoredit
Rural Marketing – Online
New Holland Agriculture, a brand of CNH Industrial and one of the world’s leading agriculture equipment brands, has delivered the second BigBaler 890Plus – large square baler along with T6070 tractor to Farm2Energy, India’s largest biomass aggregator. This new equipment was delivered to Farm2Energy’s founder Sukhbir Singh Dhaliwal and his team at their company’s premises in Bija village, in Ludhiana District, Punjab.
To enable the use of surplus crop residue for energy generation, rather than burning it in the field, New Holland Agriculture offers a complete range of equipment for harvesting, collecting and transporting biomass.
Bio-fuel plants in 7 diststo curb stubble burningedit
The Times Of India – Online
The state steering committee approved a budget of Rs 22.56 crore for setting up bio-fuel plants in seven districts — Meerut, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Hapur and Muzaffarnagar — in the national capital region (NCR) for productive use of crop residue and treatment of other bio-degradable waste to address the issue of stubble burning and air pollution. The steering committee headed by chief secretary RK Tiwari held a meeting on Thursday for consideration and approval of the projects as well as their implementation and monitoring under National Adoption Fund on Climate Change and decided to implement orders of the National Green Tribunal on Climate Resilience Building in Rural Areas Through Crop Residue ...
ICAR stubble burning solution shows promising results at trials in Delhi, Punjabedit
Hindustan Times – Online
A proprietary microbial solution developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) could be a breakthrough in the hunt for a solution to crop-residue burning, a major cause of winter pollution in north India, results from trials in Delhi and Punjab show.
“The ICAR’s invention, named Pusa, decomposes crop residue, including paddy straw, and turns it into manure in about 25 days, thus eliminating the need to burn paddy stubble. It could be a breakthrough if adopted with an integrated approach,” YV Singh, principal scientist of microbiology at Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), an affiliate institution of the ICAR which developed the solution, told HT.
Singh said the technology had an efficacy range of 70%-80%, citing results from ...