Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Women’s organisations come out in support of farmers’ protest, says agri laws will have adverse impact on womenedit
Deccan Herald – Online
The letter also condemned the “repression” of protesting farmers by tear-gassing and water cannoning them in the bitter cold and accused the BJP-led Centre and state governments in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana of unleashing “unprecedented barbarism” on the peaceful farmers wanting to reach Delhi for the protest. Track the latest updates on the farmers’ protest here The letter was signed by All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA), Pragatisheel Mahila Sanghathan (PMS), All India Mahila Sanskritik Sanghatan (AIMSS) and All India Agragami Mahila Samiti (AIAMS).
“Nivar cyclone extensively damaged crops in over 6.59 lakh Hectares”edit
Outlook – Online
The Nivar cyclone last week caused extensive damage to crops in over 6.59 lakh hectares in different districts of Andhra Pradesh, state Agriculture Minister K Kanna Babu said on Monday. Initiating a short discussion on agriculture in the Legislative Assembly on the first day of the five-day winter session, he said complete enumeration of the crop losses would be completed by December 15 and input subsidy distributed to affected farmers by December 31. “The Chief Minister conducted a review meeting this morning and directed the authorities to procure even discoloured and sprouted paddy and rescue the farmers. The Agriculture Department and allied departments are working on that,” Kanna Babu said. “There have been bountiful rains this ...
Centre’s Scheme to Convert Rural Haats into Agri Markets Remains Unutilisededit
The Wire – Online
The Centre’s scheme to convert rural haats (village markets) into agricultural markets, which was meant to help small and marginal farmers who cannot access the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) markets, is now in cold storage.
Not a single haat has been converted or developed into an agricultural market under the Narendra Modi government’s ambitious project to upgrade 22,000 rural markets across the country as outlined in the 2018-19 national budget.
This information, revealed by documents obtained by The Wire under the Right to Information Act, casts doubt upon the claims made by the Centre as well as state governments of providing better agricultural markets to the nation’s farmers.
Organic farming in India: 3 women agripreneurs who are making a changeedit
Yahoo Finance – Online
The number of female farmers surged during the 1940s, as men went off to fight in the World War II.
The Economic Survey 2017-18 says that in modern times, there is an increasing number of women in multiple roles as cultivators, entrepreneurs and labourers. Globally, there is empirical evidence that women have a decisive role in ensuring food security and preserving local agro-biodiversity. The reason being that rural women are responsible for the integrated management and use of diverse natural resources to meet the daily household needs.
In India, though women contribute significantly to farm incomes, they have long been an invisible force. At least 33% of the primary workers on farms are women, says ...
Rescuing agriculture: Farm reforms can’t be rolled back. But Centre needs to mitigate anxietiesedit
The Times of India Blog – Online
Farmers, mainly from northwest India, continued to blockade Delhi for the fifth day in a row. There is a significant trust deficit between the Centre and farmers’ representatives. It is time for wiser counsel to prevail before something snaps. The government shouldn’t back down from the farm legislations it passed in the last Parliament session. The legislation was hardly radical and promises to boost agriculture. Most states have headed in that direction over the last few years through legislative changes. Therefore, there can be no going back.
The discontent has coalesced into one primary demand, some sort of guarantee over the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism. The government has promised that MSP ...
Branding and marketing of agri products by tribals in the offingedit
The Hindu – Online
The tribals of Nagapura, on the outskirts of Nagarahole National Park in Hunsur, will soon vie for a slice of the market for spices and agricultural and horticultural crops cultivated by them, in a move that will shore up their income.
As part of an initiative to empower them financially, the State government has conceived a blueprint to facilitate the marketing and branding of agricultural and horticultural crops, besides spices such as turmeric, ginger, and black pepper cultivated by the tribals.
Bayer CropScience partners BigHaat for last mile deliveryedit
Outlook – Online
German drug and agrochemicals major Bayer CropScience on Monday said it has partnered agri-input e-commerce platform BigHaat to enable last mile delivery of its seeds and crop protection products directly to doorsteps of farmers.
The partnership will support farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and focus on paddy, cotton, corn, chilli and horticulture crops, Bayer said in a statement.
Besides access to the entire range of Bayer”s agri-solutions from seed to harvest, farmers can also avail crop-specific agronomic advisory through BigHaat”s Agristore digital platform, it added.
Set up in 2015, BigHaat is one of India”s leading agri-input e-commerce platforms, providing a wide range of quality inputs including seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, nutrients, farm ...
Contract Farming: A Boon or Bane?edit
Krishi Jagran – Online
Agriculture is the age-old occupation of India due to it being an Agrarian economy, it is a large contributor (16%) to the Gross Domestic Product of our country. Not just the Agrarian workforce, but similar to a ‘Domino Effect’, multiple other industries like retail, chemicals, e-commerce, widely rely on the output from the Agricultural Sector.
This article talks about the topical ‘Contract Farming’ debate ongoing due to recent reforms initiated by the Indian Government. It aims to provide a holistic outlook on what contract farming is and how it may be beneficial for providing a structure to the Indian Agricultural Landscape. The article also interlinks the structure required with various inputs that technology can bring ...
HexGn, AFC India join hands to promote 1,000 agri-tech start-upsedit
Outlook – Online
Consulting firm HexGn and AFC India have joined hands to promote agriculture-related entrepreneurship in India and aim to promote 1,000 agritech start-ups in the country over the next five years. AFC India Ltd (formerly Agricultural Finance Corporation Ltd) is a multidisciplinary cross-functional development organisation providing consulting, advisory and implementation support for agriculture, rural development and other strategic socio-economic sectors in India. It is wholly-owned by commercial banks, NABARD and EXIM Bank.
As part of the partnership, HexGn will host a series of programmes and initiatives to increase the capabilities and skills of first-generation technology entrepreneurs in the agri-tech domain, a statement said. AFC, along with HexGn, intends to support, handhold and build a community of entrepreneurs ...
Tractor industry
Omega Seiki plans to launch electric tractor, cargo pick-up truck as part of expansion planedit
Daily Excelsior – Online
Omega Seiki Mobility aims to bring in multiple electric products including two-wheelers, a four-wheeler cargo vehicle and a tractor over the next two years, as per a top company official. The company, which is a part of the Delhi-based Anglian Omega Group, also aims to set up manufacturing facilities across various parts of the country. Omega Seiki already has multiple manufacturing sites in Delhi/NCR. The company also plans to have around 200 dealerships across the country by the end of next year. It has earmarked an initial investment of Rs 200 crore for the projects and going ahead aims to raise another Rs 1,000 crore in order to fund the expansion plans. “We are going to ...