Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Rain irrigates fields as farmers continue protestedit
Times of India – Online
Light rain and cold weather has come as a relief for farmers, who have been spared the work of irrigating their fields amid the ongoing agitation. It has been raining lightly in the region for the past two days, resulting in natural irrigation of wheat, mustard and vegetable fields.
Over the last two days, Ambala has recorded maximum temperature of 16 degrees Celsius and minimum of 13 degrees Celsius. Scattered thunderstorm and rain has been predicted for the next two days, agriculture department officials said.
Most of the farmers protesting at the Delhi borders have been attending the agitation and coming home from time to time to look after their crops in northern Haryana.
A watershed moment for India’s farmersedit
LiveMint – Online
From preventing mildew before its arrival to conserving water, Fasal’s devices are helping farmers adopt new waysAccording to Fasal, the deployment of its IoT devices on 10,000 acres of farmland so far has saved 3 billion litres of water
Prasant Maroo is a vegetable farmer in Saloni village of Rajnandgaon district in Chhattisgarh, growing chilli, brinjal and various gourds. He first came across Bengaluru startup Fasal’s internet of things (IoT) device on a nearby farm.
There were sensors and transmitters attached to a pole stuck in the field, tracking soil, moisture, plant and microclimate conditions around the clock. AI-based analytics of this data over the cloud was providing alerts to the farmer on his smartphone. This had ...
ExplainSpeaking: How does Indian govt’s support for agriculture compare with other countriesedit
Indian Express – Online
On the economic front, the biggest news this week will be the release of the First Advance Estimates (FAE) of national income (read GDP) for the ongoing financial year (2020-21) on January 7th.
As the name suggests, these are just the advance estimates — because the year hasn’t ended as yet — and that too the “first” such advance estimates. The second advance estimates (SAE) will be made available on February 26th. After the financial year is over on 31st March, the “first provisional” estimates of GDP growth in 2020-21 will be released on 31st May.
Towards a Fairer Model of Farmingedit
The Citizen – Online
The farmer struggle begun in Punjab is unique in many respects. It has succeeded in uniting farmers from most parts of the country and gained the support and participation of many different sections of society, and from political leaders in developed and developing economies.
To my knowledge there is no other equal example of such a peaceful and democratic farmers’ struggle in the history of the world.
It has now become a people’s struggle.
The immediate cause may have been the three Agriculture Ordinances promulgated by the Union government in June, and the three Agriculture Bills enacted by Parliament in September to replace them – but the struggle is not confined to a repeal of these ...
Technology in Agriculture
Horticulture farmers lead the way in adoption of precision techedit
LiveMint – Online
India is among the top three producers in the world for most major agricultural commodities. That’s not surprising with half the country’s workforce involved in farming on 140 million hectares of agricultural land, nearly half of which is irrigated. At the same time, the vast majority of farmers in the country are poor and we see the spectre of thousands of suicides by them each year.
The biggest problem Indian farmers face is a disparity in information on demand, coupled with lack of market linkages.
Wadhwani AI partners with startups in agritech spaceedit
Telangana Today – Online
Wadhwani AI, an independent not-for-profit research institute focused on developing artificial intelligence (AI)-based applications, is strengthening ties with startups in the agritech space.
The institute is working with Indian and global startups that are helping farmers with early detection of diseases and advisory to save crops, thus ensuring better income and yield.
Wadhwani AI senior director-Programs Rajesh Jain told Telangana Today, “We realise that through private sector support, we can reach maximum farmers not only in India but across the world with our solution and technology to save their crop. We are actively engaged with agritech startups to make disruption happen in agriculture and faster.”Stubble Burning
No Deadline Has Been Reached to Change the Stubble Burning Ordinance; Says Agriculture Ministry Officialsedit
Krishi Jagran – Online
Even after reaching to an agreement to exclude farmers from criminal stubble burning laws under the Capital Air Pollution Ordinance, the Centre does not intend to take steps until all other problems with the protesting classes of farmers have also been resolved. When asked regarding the timeframe for amending the law, officials of the Agriculture Ministry noted that during Wednesday’s talks with protesting farmer leaders, only a “in principle” understanding was achieved.
‘The negotiations are already going on, the timetable, etcetera, will come up for debate until it is finalized. It was an in-principle judgment that the government approved two of their requests,’ a senior official from the Agriculture Ministry. ‘As per the final deal, the ...
Tractor industry
Tractor sales increase, combine sales dropedit
Moosejaw Today – Online
Tractor sales for the year increased by 9.1 per cent while sales of combines fell 11.1 per cent.
Dealers sold 24,727 two-wheel drive tractors to the end of November, an increase of 2,149, according to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.
During November, 2WD tractor sales increased 4.6 pec cent to 2,431.
Sales of four-wheel drive tractors dropped 10.1 per cent. A total of 36 were sold in November versus 39 sales last November.
Self-propelled combine sales, 1,292 year to date, fell 11.1 per cent with only 88 sold in November.