The Indian Wire –  Online

According to a recent report published by World Economic Forum, millions of hectares of forests are lost each year.

They have also pointed to the contribution of Agriculture in this loss, particularly from the cultivation of seven commodities.

The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has defined deforestation as the conversion of forest to another land use or the long-term reduction of tree canopy cover below the 10% threshold.

Forest areas around the world are majorly cleared for agriculture, logging, mining and large-scale developmental projects.

The Hindu – Online

“With estimates indicating that the water availability for agriculture likely to be reduced to 70% from 83% by 2050, the availability of good quality and adequate quantity of water for farming would be crucial for continued food and nutritional security of the country,” secretary of Union Ministry of Science and Technology Ashutosh Sharma has said.

Delivering his address via video link at the 33rd annual convocation of University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (UAS-D) on Saturday, Mr. Sharma said that recycling of waste water, including domestic and industrial effluents in farming, would substantially increase the reuse of waste water.

The Hindu – Online

Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) Director of Research N. Trimurthulu on Saturday appealed to farmers to adopt drone technology to minimise the input cost on agriculture workers apart from effective practices of seed sowing and spraying pesticides.

Addressing a gathering of farmers from across the district at the Agricultural Research Station (ARS) here during the one-day Kisan Mela, Mr. Trimurthulu claimed that the research on developing new technology for testing moisture per cent in paddy was in progress.

ANGRAU Assistant Director of Research (Godavari Zone) G. Jogi Naidu called upon farmers to share their experiences and field level challenges and provide inputs to find solutions to the diseases being reported in the cultivation of the ...

The Times of India – Online

Successive Governments have been trust worthy for farmers. The prima facie evidence of this trust is the response of farmers to green revolution in crops, white revolution in milk, yellow revolution in oilseeds, silver revolution in eggs carrying India to top rank in milk and second rank in all others in agriculture. It is the responsibility of farm leaders, opinion makers, policy makers to allay fears, apprehensions regarding the aims, objectives and vision of the new farm laws. The main objective is to reduce exploitation of farmers by middleman and traders in APMCs, as farmers are even to this day issued informal ‘white slips’ with no transparent price fixation mechanism, with illegal deductions, under ...

LiveMint – Online

Faced with rising bad loans in the agriculture sector, banks are seeking flexibility in loan repayments under the Kisan Credit scheme from Reserve Bank of India, according to three people aware of the matter. Banks are looking to ask RBI to allow them to renew the scheme for small and marginal farmers for an amount upto ₹3 lakh, provided they pay only the interest amount, they added. KCC comes up for renewal in the June-July period every year.

Financial Express – Online

With the aim to boost export of agriculture products, the Centre has identified several products under 15 broad categories, allotting one product for each of the country’s 728 districts so that there is convergence of resources under different schemes of various ministries and also it helps increase farmers’ income.

The products have been identified from agricultural, horticultural, animal, poultry, milk, fisheries, aquaculture, marine sectors across the country after taking inputs from the states, Union Territories and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

The New Indian Express – Online

Rains continue to be the main source of water for irrigation for a chunk of the country’s farmers. In fact, rainfed agriculture supports 40 per cent of the country’s population and contributes an equal percentage towards the nation’s food basket. Unfortunately, rainfed agriculture is not as productive as agriculture with a guaranteed source of irrigation water. The productivity is low in such areas, less than one tonne per hectare, due to a variety of reasons including uncertain rains, frequent droughts, degraded soils etc.

Krishi Jagran – Online

Agriculture sector in India helped in the speedy recovery of the economic growth post the pandemic. India’s agriculture and allied sectors helped the farm sector clock a growth rate of  3.4 percent in the financial year 2020-21. It is lower than the last year’s growth but is the best when compared with other sectors during pandemic. Despite the disruptions in the supply chain during the Covid-19- led lockdowns, Indian agriculture is set to perform better.

According to the first advance estimates issued by the Agriculture Ministry, food grain production is expected to be 144.52 million tonnes in Kharif 2020-21 as against 143.38 million tonnes in the previous year. While oilseeds output would be lower, other commercial crops such as sugarcane, cotton are likely to do well. Interestingly, the cultivation of the majority of Rabi crops too have brought good news as ...

NDTV – Online

The economy snapped from recession and returned to growth in the October-December quarter after two successive quarters of contraction in growth. The gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.4 per cent in the third quarter, which is a sharp improvement from the de-growth of 23.9 per cent and 7.5 per cent in the previous two quarters. India is one of the few economies that witnessed positive year-on-year growth in the October-December period. The gains in the economy in the third quarter were driven by growth in sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, electricity, gas, water and utility services, construction and financial, real estate, and professional services.

YourStory – Online

India is the second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. However, this abundance also brings along produce spoilage and wastage. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations says 40 percent of horticultural produce worth $8.3 billion is wasted every year due to inadequate logistical support, lack of refrigerated storage, supply chain bottlenecks, poor transport, and underdeveloped marketing channels.

KNN India – Online

Luring Vietnam of easing tax compliance for setting up MSME units in the state, the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government has invited the latter to invest in agriculture, textile.

Additional. Chief Secretary, MSME, UP government, Navneet Sehgal during a virtual discussion on India -Vietnam Trade and Investment Connect on Thursday organised by Indian Industries Association (IIA) said that the UP has liberalized the policies and brought many changes in the ecosystem and there are various potential growth areas for tie-ups.

”We can collaborate and take advantage of each other’s strengths, as Vietnam is good in electronics and UP is good in textile and agro-based industry. We have 60 products under One District One Product (ODOP) which we ...

Times Now – Online

ET NOW poll sees Q3 (October- December quarter) GDP to return to growth after a decline in the last two consecutive quarters. Q3 GDP growth is seen at 0.6% led by growth in Agriculture and Industry and Government spending is seen supporting growth. Agri sector growth is seen supported by abundant monsoon and record sowing. Most high frequency indicators report an uptick and corporate earnings have been strong in Q3. Services sector growth is seen support from Government spending. FY21 GDP is seen at around -7% as per ET NOW Poll.

The Logical Indian – Online

Amid the ongoing farmers protest against the three farm laws passed by the Indian Parliament, the Union Agriculture Ministry has said India’s foodgrain production is estimated to rise 2 per cent in 2020-21 crop year to an all-time high of 303.34 million tonnes. The Agriculture Ministry’s second advance estimates of production of the crops for the year 2020-2021(July-June cycle), released on Wednesday, February 24, showed 5.84 million tonnes higher than the 297.50 million tonnes of foodgrain produced during the 2019-2020 crop year. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar attributed the rise in production to the ‘tireless hard work of the farmers, research by the agricultural scientists and as well as farmer-friendly initiatives of the Central Government’. ...

University of Delaware – Online

India is the world’s second-largest producer of wheat and rice and is home to more than 600 million farmers.

The country has achieved impressive food-production gains since the 1960s, due in part to an increased reliance on irrigation wells, which allowed Indian farmers to expand production into the mostly dry winter and summer seasons.

Those gains, however, have come at a cost: The country that produces 10 percent of the world’s crops is now the world’s largest consumer of groundwater, and aquifers are rapidly becoming depleted across much of India.

The Wire – Online

The July 2020 report of the high-level expert group (HLEG) on agricultural exports, appointed in 2019, by the 15th Finance Commission, confirms the fulcrum role of the three farm laws to facilitate a shift in India’s agricultural export policy, from the previous framework of meeting domestic demands and exporting surplus to targeted exports prioritising the demands of overseas markets.

The mechanism elaborated in the report details the massive structural changes envisioned for farming, use of resources, land control, public procurement and food. Increasing agricultural exports from $40 to $100 billion is deemed a ‘national imperative’ to double farmers’ incomes by 2022-23. This grand plan is by all accounts not merely a ‘national plan’, but intrinsically part of a larger global agri-business agenda.

The Tribune – Online

Dr Inderjeet Singh, Vice-Chancellor, GADVASU, Ludhiana, stressed on scientific goat farming for the uplift of poor peasantry in the state. The VC was addressing the trainees enrolled under a week-long skill oriented vocational training course at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Booh in Tarn Taran on Wednesday.

He also took stock of various extension activities such as development of demo units and strengthening of laboratory amenities at its campus. The VC said as the goat was considered as poor man’s cow and walking refrigerator and there were many scopes of better income from this area. Dr Balwinder Kumar, Associate Director, KVK, Tarn Taran, discussed a diverse factors contributing towards good goat rearing practices which grazes in open farm ...

Times of India – Online

On the second anniversary of PM-Kisan scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP functionaries on Wednesday highlighted the measures taken by the Centre for farmers’ empowerment in a bid to blunt the opposition campaign to paint the government as “anti-farmer” in the light of the enactment of the three farm laws last year. Modi said the PM-Kisan scheme was launched with an aim to ensure a life of dignity as well as prosperity for the hard working farmers, who work day and night to feed the nation. “The tenacity and passion of our farmers is inspiring,” he said.

“Over the last 7 years, the government of India has taken many initiatives for transforming ...

LiveMint – Online

It started with a casual conversation. Sriram Gopal, the founder-chief executive of Chennai’s hydroponics tech firm Future Farms, was at the house of a friend who had just become a father. “I had gone to congratulate him,” recalls Gopal, 38, who ran an IT company then. They got talking about food and its impact on health. “I felt strongly about this (food quality) too,” says Gopal, adding that the friend, who worked in the food industry, introduced him to a documentary on hydroponics.

Business Standard – Online

India’s foodgrain production is estimated to rise 2 per cent in 2020-21 crop year to an all-time high of 303.34 million tonnes on better output of rice, wheat, pulses, and coarse cereals amid good monsoon rains last year, the agriculture ministry said.

Crop year runs from July-June.

Releasing the second advance estimates for 2020-21 crop year, the agriculture ministry said foodgrain production is projected at a record 303.34 MT.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar attributed the rise in production to efforts of the farmers and scientists as well initiatives of the central government

Successful Farming – Online

India is likely to harvest a record 109.24 million tonnes of wheat this year, the farm ministry said, further boosting stocks at government granaries that are fast running out of storage space due to more than a decade of bumper production. Wheat output in India, the world’s second-biggest producer, is expected to go up by 1.3% in the crop year to June 2021, the Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Ministry said in its second crop forecast for 2020/21. Rice output is estimated to rise by 1.2% to 120.32 million tonnes. India is the world’s biggest rice exporter and second-biggest producer.

The Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Ministry forecast this year’s total grains output at a record 303.34 million tonnes ...

The Tribune – Online

Gurnam Singh, the first non-Congress CM of Punjab, believed that agriculture was viable only with govt support. Industry, on its own, can’t sustain farming. But a prosperous farming community would sustain the industry by giving it a large consumer base. The govt will find that funding agriculture will pay far more social and financial dividends than subsidising bad industrial loans or promoting crony capitalism.

The 122nd birth anniversary of Justice Gurnam Singh, the first non-Congress Chief Minister of Punjab, falls today. He was one of the architects of the agriculture policy that made India surplus in foodgrains. This is relevant today amid the farmers’ agitation against the Central Government for repeal of the three new ...

The Indian Express – Online

Escalating fuel prices are set to burn a hole in the pocket of an already stressed farming community. The Indian Express explains how rising prices of petrol and diesel are set to increase the input cost of the farming sector by 28 percent compared to last year.

How will fuel price rise enhance the input cost in the agriculture sector?

In Punjab, there are around 11 lakh farm households that own 5.20 lakh tractors, nearly 17,000 combine harvesters including nearly 6,000 with an attachment of Straw Management System (SMS), which are used for harvesting around 36-37 million tonnes wheat and paddy in the state annually.

Krishi Jagran – Online

Strawberry is a temperate crop. That is why you find strawberries mostly in the hill stations of India. However, nowadays, strawberries seem to be available almost everywhere in India. It seems to have become an indigenous fruit, which actually it is not.

India is enjoying an astounding success of strawberry cultivation lately.  The recent Mann Ki Baat by Honorable Prime Ministers Narendra Modi features a lot of talk about the commendable cultivation of strawberries in various parts of India. These are places that are actually not suitable for strawberry cultivation and you may have hardly seen strawberry crops here. But, today, you can find successful strawberry farming in these places.

Cross Town News – Online

Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha today called for replicating the success stories of innovative and progressive farmers from across the country in Jammu and Kashmir through transmission of ideas and knowledge sharing for transforming agriculture & allied sectors, and for realizing the goal of doubling farmers’ income.

He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of a 2-day long Innovative Farmers Conference on “Farmer Led Innovations for Enhancing Farm Income” here at SKUAST Jammu organized to harness first-hand experiences of innovative farmers.

Business Standard – Online

Some farmers in Haryana destroyed their wheat crop in protest against the Centre’s new agriculture laws, prompting political and farmer leaders to appeal to them not to resort to such drastic measures.

Some farmers in the state’s Karnal, Jind and Ambala districts had destroyed wheat crops over two to four acres of their land.

Live Mint – Online

For farmers in Punjab, profits from agriculture have become limited and unpredictable over the years. Large-scale farmers try to resolve this by investing in other businesses. But a study shows these investments haven’t worked as they don’t generate the income farming does.

The study, by Shreya Sinha of University of Cambridge, UK, is based on a 2014-15 survey of 93 agricultural households across four villages in Ludhiana district of Punjab. Of these, 32 were large farmer households who have tried to diversify their income sources.

Free Press Journal – Online

As India aims to boost its exports, the government is looking at manufacturing containers in a big way while developing a shipping line under the Atmanirbhar Bharat programme. Containers are required to ship goods. At present, India is solely dependent on the public sector Shipping Corporation of India.

While the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has already set up a committee to study the feasibility of manufacturing containers at Bhavnagar in Gujarat, sources said that other such hubs are also being looked at.

Until now, most exporters have been relying primarily on Chinese containers. But with geopolitical contours changing rapidly, shortage of containers has hit exporters, who have had bear the additional ...

APN News – Online

Hyderabad based India’s premier seed company Kaveri Seeds, has been honored with the “Masters of Risk in Agriculture“ award , Mid-Cap Category at the 7th CNBC – TV 18 India Risk Management Awards  2020-21 .

Setup in 1976 by Mr. GV Bhaskar Rao, with an objective to fuel India’s Green revolution, Kaveri seeds today is India’s leading agriculture company specializing in Hybrid Seeds.

The Seed business is influenced by several variables as a result of which it is imperative to have in place sound and well defined processes and policies. Inability to manage a particular risk can considerably impact performance.

Seeds are an extremely important input for high quality agricultural output – a good quality seed can ...

The New Indian Express – Online

Stating that at least 50 per cent of the population in India is dependent on agriculture for livelihood, Department of Agriculture Research and Education secretary Dr Trilochan Mohapatra said the Centre wants to ensure that farmers’ income is doubled by 2022 to mark 75 years of the country’s Independence.

Speaking at the fourth convocation of YSR Horticulture University at Venkataramannagudem in West Godavari district on Monday, Dr Mohapatra, also the Director General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), praised the institution for contributing to the growth of horticulture by providing human resources and extending technological help to the farmers through its ‘VC to Village’ (Mana Gramam Mana Viswa Vidyalayam) programme.

LiveMint – Online

A powerful African proverb sums up what a community can achieve: “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Mondelēz International truly believes in the value of building a promising future for cocoa-farming communities. In its vision to create a future where the people and the planet thrive, the company has set long-term targets for sustainable growth that help in reducing the impact on the environment, thereby creating a positive circle of influence.

Emerging from that vision, Cocoa Life is one such initiative that collaborates with communities in six cocoa-growing regions across four continents: India, Indonesia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, the Dominican Republic and Brazil.

The Economic Times – Online

The Biden administration has appointed an Indian-American climate and energy expert, who spent three years deploying solar energy solutions in rural India, to a key position in the agriculture department.

Bidisha Bhattacharyya on Monday was appointed as Senior Policy Advisor in the Farm Service Agency (FSA).

She was earlier posted as Director of Climate and Energy Policy at the Centre for American Progress.Prior to joining American Progress, Bhattacharyya was vice president of Emerging Markets at the impact-investment firm Village Capital, where she led a global team across India, Mexico, and East Africa to invest in high-impact startups innovating to solve problems across clean energy deployment and financial inclusion.

LiveMint – Online

Reforms in agricultural markets are often seen as the way forward to increase competition and pass on benefits of price movements to farmers or consumers. But a recent study from Kenya shows that market reforms had limited impact on consumer welfare. Kenya had a wave of liberalization across its agriculture markets in the 1980s and 1990s.

The study, by Lauren Falcao Bergquist from University of Michigan and Michael Dinerstein from University of Chicago, provides evidence of collusion among traders, who enjoy a high degree of market power.

Tribune – Online

The agriculture sector showed its famed resilience even when the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak. In an agrarian economy like that of Punjab, agricultural production and the export of produce are giving a much-needed fillip to the economy.

The export of basmati rice, kinnow and non-basmati rice sourced from the fields of Punjab, seed potato, some vegetables, honey and even processed food like chilli paste and tomato paste has seen a surge in the past year. The state’s food producers and exporters have not only consolidated their position in the overseas markets, but have also entered new markets abroad.

The Tribune – Online

On a day the BJP, at its first meeting of new office-bearers, passed a resolution thanking the PM for reforms in the agriculture sector, farm unions held a massive rally in Barnala on Sunday, a clear indication that the farm stir has not lost steam and that the protesters are prepared for a long haul.

At the ‘maha rally’, Sanyukt Kisan Morcha leaders gave a call to Punjabis to reach Delhi in large numbers on February 27 when the agitation completes three months. They appealed to the women to celebrate International Women’s Day (March 8) at Singhu and Tikri.

The Hindu – Online

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has been modifying the curriculum of agricultural courses frequently, based on the present and future demands of the farm sector, Deputy Director General (Education) of ICAR R.C. Agarwal has said.

Speaking at the virtual launch of the two-day 6th national youth convention on innovation and agricultural reforms for farmer prosperity, jointly organised by Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University(PJTSAU) and All India Agricultural Students Association (AIASA) on Saturday, he said ICAR had been trying to make students self-dependent and entrepreneurs.

ICAR was funding establishment of incubation centres and experiential learning units in agricultural universities across the country, Mr. Agarwal said. He suggested the universities to maintain database of experimental ...

Business Insider India – Online

Lucknow, With the aim to double the income of farmers, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken measures to link over 2.5 million farmers to Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme.

Under KCC, loans are provided at a subsidised rate to the farmers for seeds, irrigation purposes, crop production, land preparation, fertilisers and other requirements.

This will resolve the ongoing capital crisis in the agriculture sector which directly impacts the production and sale of crops.

Business Today – Online

The “First Advance Estimates of National Income 2020-21”, released on January 7, 2021, indicate that agriculture and allied activities is likely to be the only sector to register positive growth in FY21 (plus 3.4% in real GVA), while the overall growth tanks to all-time low (minus 7.2% in real GVA). The budget for FY22 and Economic Survey of 2020-21 project the FY22 growth to be 14.4-15.4% (nominal GDP).

There is encouraging news from the corporate sector too. The listed companies booked “their highest ever profits in the midst of a severe lockdown” in the second quarter of FY21 and went to better their profits in the third quarter.

LiveMint –  Online

India’s agriculture production has been growing but is still dominated by rice and wheat thanks in part to subsidies. However, with better data and technology, Indian farming can diversify crops profitably.

Down To Earth – Online

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on February 28, 2016, had announced that by the time India celebrated its 75th Independence Day in 2022, its farmers’ income would have doubled.

The Union Budget 2021-22 presented on February 1, 2021 was, in fact, the penultimate budget before this deadline. It was a great opportunity for the Union government to outline what it had been doing to achieve this target, or at least give an overview on the status quo and how far the country had come to materialising the ambitious dream.

But niether the budget document nor the speech presented any details of the farmers’ current income levels. The matter found a brief mention in Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s ...

New Kerala – Online

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday said that the government is keen to use more technology in farming so that the farmers can get more price from their produce.

“Besides use of more technology, various efforts were undertaken and many schemes launched for the further improvement of the agriculture sector. Today in terms of food production, we produce more than our requirement. We are self-sufficient.

Times of India – Online

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the Centre and states need to work closely in collaboration to boost economic growth of the country.

Addressing the sixth meeting of the Niti Aayog governing council, PM said that the initiatives taken by the government would provide opportunity to everyone to participate in nation building to its full potential. He also noted that in past few years, India saw opening of bank accounts, increase in vaccination and health facilities, free electricity connection, free gas connection and many such phenomenal changes that has empowered the lives of the people.

Economic and Political Weekly – Online

In its quest for food security, India pursued high-productivity agriculture with state support, which was gradually withdrawn resulting in agrarian distress, as also environmental damage. Agricultural reforms in India need to be tailored keeping this context in mind. While linking agriculture to private corporate sector can be part of the strategy, the thrust has to be on the cooperative movement for storage, processing and marketing of agricultural products.

Relief Web – Online

Every year when floodwater recedes, the whole agricultural land near the riverbank is filled with sand which makes it uncultivable for crops.

Floods damage, but as we learnt it brings a lot of alluvial soil beneficial for the crops. The annual flooding of rivers that flow down from the Himalayas – especially the Koshi – has replenished the riverbanks of India. But over the last few years, river waters have started leaving behind more sand than silt leaving to the plains.

A major constraint of paddy production in North Bihar is affected by the recurring flood and sediments (Sands) deposit by flood in farmland. Though the water is free in the region farmers are forced to ...

Tribune – Online

Keeping in mind the hazard posed by the stubble burning, a crop residue management scheme was launched three years ago by the Centre. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare had launched‘Promotion of Agricultural Mechanisation for In-Situ Management of Crop Residue in the State of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh & NCT of Delhi’ for in-situ management of crop residue.

Various equipment and machines such as super straw management, system (SMS) attached with existing combine harvester, happy seeder, mulcher, rotary slasher, reversible plough, super seeder, baler and rakes, crop reapers, etc. are developed and are given to the farmers under this scheme. While individual farmers get a subsidy of 50 per cent or Rs 87,000 (maximum), a ...

Dir Agriculture – Online

Director Agriculture Kashmir, Chowdhary Mohammad Iqbal today convened a meeting here to chalk out the strategy for implementation of agriculture export policy submitted by Agriculture Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA).

Deliberating upon the draft paper submitted by Deputy General Manager for creating market linkages of the products produced in Kashmir viz. Saffron, Zeera, Exotic vegetables, Sweet Corn etc., it was resolved that a comprehensive strategy will be evolved with respect to each crop for its export and market linkages so that the farmers of Kashmir get benefited. It was given to understand that Kashmir has a huge potential of exporting Saffron, Rice, Vegetables, however presently the market linkages to these products are seldom in place ...

The Tribune – Online

The Agriculture Department is now producing wheat and maize seeds, which were earlier brought from outside the state, and distributing these to farmers, said Dr Naresh Kumar, Director, Agriculture.

He said the department had prepared an action plan for 2021-22 to produce seeds to meet the requirement of farmers. Keeping in view the demand of farmers, the state has fixed a target to produce 96,855 quintal seeds for 2021-22. “Nine registered farmer groups will produce over 95,000 quintal seeds, which would be purchased by the department and distributed. The department will purchase wheat seeds at 26 per cent higher rate, which will also boost the income of farmer,” he said. — TNS

Businessworld – Online

Amidst the months long farmers’ protest in Delhi, a fundamental question comes to mind: who is taking care of the field produce back home? With the entire process of farm to fork being a long-drawn and complex one, any laxity could be ruinous for the entire crop cycle. A preliminary research reveals it is primarily the women farmers back home who are carrying out the entire process while the men are away in Delhi protests.

It is worth noting in this regard, that despite the substantial contribution of women in agriculture and allied activities, their contribution is seldom documented. As per “Agriculture Census 2015-16” (released in 2018), the percentage share of women land holders has increased from 12.79% in 2010 ...

AA.com – Online

The recent international outcry on three agricultural bills is based on half-truths and a lack of understanding about the urgencies of the Indian agriculture sector, which is facing a plethora of problems due to lack of reforms. Many foreign celebrities have also rushed to comment on the protests going on in India without having a proper understanding of the issues at hand. The Indian American economist, and the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund, Gita Gopinath, on the other hand, has emphasized that agriculture is one of the areas where India needs holistic reforms. The same has been highlighted by many eminent economists as well. In fact, in the process of economic reforms that started in ...

Businessworld – Online

My first exposure to the crisis of sustainability was thanks to the short film – ‘The Story of Stuff’ in 2007. The simple message from the film was – you cannot run a linear system on a finite planet, indefinitely. It speaks of “stuff” – the production and disposal cycles of consumer products that have become a significant part of our lives in the last 100 years. Since then, the vision for a sustainable planet has garnered attention and the concept of a circular economy is catching on among producers in the manufacturing sector. However, a different value chain that nature has designed to be circular regressed several fold in the quest to feed a growing planet, ...

The Print – Online

A historic farmers’ movement is a moment to unveil a vision for the future. Not just for farmers or agriculture, but for rural India, and indeed for the future of India.

This movement has already created history. It has firmly brought back the farmers to the national imagination. You can’t pretend they don’t exist. It has put the fear of vote, more effective than the fear of God, in the mind of the political class. You don’t take panga with farmers. It has shut up market fundamentalists who whisper too-clever-by-half agri-reform recipes to the powers that be. No more corporate plugs masquerading as textbook economics pushing for “reform by stealth”. At least for some time. It has succeeded in pushing the envelope to where ...

Prevention Hub – Online

Flash droughts are droughts that intensify more rapidly than normal,  posing a risk to agriculture, ecosystems and water availability. Conventional droughts take months and sometimes even years to develop to full intensity. Flash droughts on the other hand develop at an unusually fast rate due to extreme weather conditions and persist from a few weeks to some months. Such droughts can be localised to a specific region or can become widespread and affect a large part of the country.

Economic Times – Online

When most of the world was celebrating bidding adieu to the fateful year, table-grape farmer Dinesh Nivrutti

Rakibe at Dharangaon — some 40km from Nashik — was busy readying his fruit-laden eld to ght the untimely forces of nature. The year 2020 had been rough for Rakibe and his ilk. The Covid-19-led trade restrictions meant he was forced to sell his export-quality grapes, which could have fetched him INR60 a kilo, for INR6 per kilo. For a crop that requires an input cost of INR3 lakh per acre, selling the nal product at one-tenth of the price was a loss even a large horticulture farmer like Rakibe could not afford again.

The Daily Star – Online

If you have bought locally grown strawberries, or dragon fruit, or the out of season bottle gourd, and the luscious Thai guava all year round, you are already a beneficiary of the silent agri-revolution happening in Bangladesh. For any observant consumer, the leaps and bounds advancement in food crop production needs no explaining, as well as its contribution to improved livelihoods and reduced poverty. According to the World Bank, agriculture accounted for 90 percent of the reduction in poverty in the five-year span from 2005, and food grain production in the country tripled between 1972 and 2014, demonstrating a growth rate second only to China.

But even as different organisations collect and tabulate all sorts ...

Telangana Today – Online

National Federation of State Cooperative Banks (NAFSCOB) Chairman Konduru Ravinder Rao has called upon the farmers to treat agriculture as a business enterprise to reap riches.

“Agriculture is not just a substitute in this present world of competition and the farmers should treat it as a business enterprise. The farmers should double their income by cutting down expenditure in farming with the mechanisation, reducing the use of pesticides and fertilizers and by using organic fertilizers and also by cultivating the commercial crops”, he pointed out.

Business Today – Online

A farmer and entrepreneur based in Maharashtra’s Bhiwandi has purchased a helicopter to make travel across the country easier for his new dairy business.

Janardhan Bhoir bought the helicopter for Rs 30 crores at a friend’s suggestion as he often traveled to places without airports, making travel longer for him. Bhoir says he often has to travel to Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat due to his dairy business and hence decided to make the hefty purchase.

“I have to frequently travel for my business, that’s the reason I bought a helicopter. I need it often to look after my dairy business and farming,” Janardhan told local reporters.

Forbes India – Online

Political polarization is shaping the shouting match over India’s new farm laws. For BJP supporters, these laws give farmers the freedom to decide where and to whom they sell their crops. These supporters portray farm protests as a western-inspired conspiracy. For them, Twitter shows double standards on hate speech. And they point out that rich farmers lead the protest: among Indian states, Punjab is at the top in terms of household farm income, almost thrice the national average.

The opposing camp insists that the new farm laws reflect Prime Minister Modi’s dictatorial tendencies. For them, new laws will allow big businesses to take over the farming sector. Not surprisingly, the protestors are also targeting privately operated highway ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

Everything starts from agriculture. From time immemorial, agriculture has been the basic work that people indulged in. Earlier, there was nothing else to do, no industries, no computers, no commercialization – right from the time humankind discovered fire, agriculture emerged.

People of ancient times were closely connected to nature. Their day started with the rising sun and the chirping of birds. The first thing they saw after waking up was greenery, nature. This is unlike today when our day starts after the sun has risen up in the sky and the birds are long gone.

The Hans India – Online

Edible oils are indispensable in the Indian kitchen. But it might be surprising to many that India imports most of the oil it consumes, unlike most other agricultural products which are produced locally. Even after having a diverse agro-climatic conditions, abundant land and large sections of population depending on agriculture, why does India have to import edible oils? What is the burden of importing edible oils on the government’s exchequer? What can we do to boost the domestic production of edible oils?

Times of India – Online

Aimed at promoting organic farming under the central government’s Paramparaghat Krishi Vikas Yojana ( PKVY), 900 farmers from Salcete and Mormugao talukas have been grouped into 40 village-level clusters. Each cluster encompasses 20 ha of agricultural land. “The aim is to create awareness about cultivating paddy, pulses, vegetables, coconut and other crops in an organic way, without use of pesticides. Since there cannot be an overnight shift from inorganic to organic mode, the scheme is to be implemented in three years, with stress laid on training the farmers to use bio-fertilisers and bio-pesticides,” Salcete zonal agriculture officer (ZAO) Shariff Furtado told TOI.

The product harvested will be given organic certification , Furtado said. “Once this ...

Daijirworld – Online

In what could prove to be a big relief for Nepal, New Delhi has decided to open transit facility through Indian territory for fertiliser trade between Dhaka and Kathmandu.

According to All India Radio’s news division, at present, 27,000 metric ton of fertiliser will be exported to Nepal through the Rohanpur-Singhabad rail transit route. Another lot of 25,000 metric tonne of fertiliser is likely to be exported subsequently, it said.

A report carried earlier by The Kathmandu Post noted that fertiliser shortage is a perennial problem in Nepal. It added that “despite tall promises the Oli administration has miserably failed in ensuring the timely supply of fertilisers.”

Adequate supply of fertiliser would be critical for Nepal’s agriculture ...

The Hindu Business Line – Online

The Budget for 2021-22 may have refrained from tinkering with your taxes, but it has proposed a new levy — Agriculture Infrastructure

The Free Press Journal – Online

Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hardened his government’s stand on the farm laws. In the Rajya Sabha, during his reply to the President’s address, the Prime Minister asserted that the farm laws wouldn’t be repealed, although the government was open to negotiations. Modi made his case for reforms by invoking former Prime Ministers Lal Bahadur Shastri, Chaudhary Charan Singh and Manmohan Singh.

In his long speech, lasting for over an hour, of which 25 minutes were devoted to the controversial farm laws, Modi likened the farm reforms to the green revolution of the mid-1960s and 70s, saying that revolution too had been met with resistance and opposition, just as the three ...

The Hindu – Online

Over the past three decades, a major rationale offered in favour of liberalising Indian agriculture was that farmers were “net taxed”.

Hindustan Times – Online

The Finance Commission has recommended a grant of ₹350 crore to Punjab for crop diversification in the state with a view to reducing pollution caused by stubble burning and saving groundwater.

The grant has been recommended from the 2021-22 to 2025-26 financial year. The commission’s report was tabled in the Lok Sabha by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman two weeks ago and has been accepted “in principle” by the central government.

“The Punjab government has sought support for bringing down pollution levels through a shift from paddy to other crops, especially maize. This will also help reduce the air pollution in the northern region,” the commission said while making recommendation for state-specific grant.

The spike in pollution ...

The Hindu – Online

In the last year of its mission to double farmers income, the Centre admits that no actual assessment of farm income has been carried out since 2013.

Ashok Dalwai, head of the committee on doubling farmers income, told The Hindu that only the implementation of strategies is being monitored, rather than actual outcomes. He cautioned that the impact of the pandemic could have a dampening effect on reaching the income target.

In response to multiple pointed queries on the topic in Parliament this week, the government did not provide any details on what the base year for this goal is or what the targeted income to be achieved by the 2022 deadline is.

NRDC – Online

Valentine’s Day seems like a fitting time to talk about the benefits of regenerative agriculture. The love, care, and creativity our interviewees showcase every day and their commitment to regenerative philosophies, principles and practices yielded a breadth of benefits on and off the land. Some had just started their relationships with regenerative agriculture and others were decades in. Some were switching one practice at a time, and others dove into the deep end and transformed their entire landscape at once. The regenerative agriculture movement is reviving an Indigenous approach to agriculture and flipping the narrative to show how agriculture can help restore ecologies, fight climate change, rebuild relationships, spark economic development, and bring people—consumers AND farmers and ...

The Times of India – Online

Giving a fillip to the agricultural infrastructure in the state, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has inaugurated a number of warehouses in Villupuram, Kallakurichi and Cuddalore districts, laboratories and training centres at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), and market complexes in various districts. In all, the government had spent Rs 93 crore on the new infrastructure. According to a statement issued by the state government on Sunday, the warehouses with a capacity of 500 tonnes to 7,500 tonnes were built at a cost of Rs 45 crore. They were inaugurated by the chief minister on Saturday. These warehouses at Avalurpettai, Thirukovilur and Gingee in Villupuram district, Ulundurpet in Kallakurichi district, and Kurichinipadi and ...

The Hindu – Online

Agriculture must be handled by women as they would ensure food security of the nation through sustainable and environment-friendly practices, said Sheelu Francis, facilitator of Tamil Nadu Women’s Collective.

She was addressing a webinar on ‘One Billion Rising’, a campaign against violence against women and children, which was organised by EKTA Resource Centre for Women and other institutions.

Ms. Francis said women produced food through organic methods to feed her family. On the other hand, men focussed on earning money and hence produced food using fertilisers. “So, it is important that women have their own land to undertake agriculture,” she said.

Indian Express – Online

The existing impasse around the farmers’ protest against the farm laws continues despite the intervention by the Supreme Court. I’m not going to comment on the merits or demerits of the new farm laws or the issues involved. However, let’s try to understand it from the broader perspective of the whole economic ecosystem.

Agriculture had been the dominant sector of the economy since the dawn of civilisation, until its supremacy was replaced by the first three industrial revolutions beginning 250 years ago. The industrial revolutions were also accompanied by the emergence of capitalism and a market economy. The three industrial revolutions created huge job opportunities and helped with the assimilation of the agrarian workforce into the ...

Indian Express – Online

If I say that Indian agriculture has the potential to double or even triple its output in the next 15-20 years, many people will laugh it away. But the reality is that many countries have done it and we can do it, too, provided our agri-food policy framework takes a dramatic turn, from being subsidy-led to investment-driven, from being consumer-oriented to producer-oriented, and from being supply-oriented to demand-driven by linking farms with factories and foreign markets, and, finally, from being business as usual to an innovations-centred system. At least this is what we can learn from a comparative study of Indian, Chinese and Israeli agriculture in a just released book, From Food Scarcity to Surplus — ...

Indian Education Diary – Online

The Government of India, the Government of Chhattisgarh and the World Bank today signed a $100 million project to develop sustainable production systems that allow tribal households in remote areas of Chhattisgarh to practice round-the-year production of diversified and nutritious food.

While Chhattisgarh has made progress over the past two decades in reducing poverty as well as acute undernutrition, both continue to pose significant challenges. CHIRAAG – Chhattisgarh Inclusive Rural and Accelerated Agriculture Growth Project will be implemented in the southern tribal-majority region of the state where a large population is undernourished and poor. The project will benefit over 180,000 households from about 1,000 villages in eight districts of Chhattisgarh.

The New Indian Express – Online

Farmers under an integrated agri extension platform (IAEP) for chilli farm value chain development in public private partnership mode, have witnessed a 27 per cent increase in net returns, 12 per cent in crop production and eight per cent in high-grade production.The platform, put in place by the state department of horticulture, aims to produce high-quality chilli in view of the increasingly stricter norms being imposed by countries that import chilli from India. “The IAEP, an initiative in partnership with ITC, not only ensures improved quality, but also increased productivity,” said horticulture commissioner Chiranjeevi Chowdary, noting that Andhra Pradesh is the largest producer of chilli in India and more than three lakh farmers are ...

Organic Farmer Mag – Online

Before Haber and Bosch invented atmospheric nitrogen fixation, farmers used manure, compost, cover crops and crop rotations to keep their soils fertile. Farmers relied on biological processes to feed their crops, and limited nitrogen availability often compromised yields. Mineral N fertilizer revolutionized farming, bypassing microbial decomposition to directly feed the crop surplus levels of nitrogen. Virtually unlimited nitrogen availability produced drastically higher yields, but the excess N began polluting groundwater, rivers, wetlands and oceans.

The green revolution demonstrated agricultural crops’ impressive yield potential and heightened consumers’ quality expectations. Modern organic practices seek to minimize nitrogen pollution while attaining yield and crop quality metrics comparable to conventionally produced crops. Carbon-based organic materials provide initial protection against ...

FrontLine – Online

A NEW report published by scholars associated with the Network of Rural and Agrarian Studies (NRAS) provides a comprehensive and critical overview of the state of contemporary rural India. Titled “State of Rural and Agrarian India Report 2020: Rethinking Productivity and Populism Through Alternative Approaches”, the report focusses on the key structural factors that have marked rural India’s economic and ecological conditions and also suggests alternative ideas, paradigms and methodologies to address the entrenched problems.

The authors of the report, who have been thinking about these issues for the past decade, are the sociologist Richa Kumar (an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi), Nikhit Kumar Agrawal (a PhD student in anthropology at the University ...

Economic Times – Online

The agriculture employs around 58% of the population contributing significantly to the Indian economy and accounting for 13% of total exports from the country. India continues to be a major supplier in the global food basket, as it is the world’s leading producer and consumer of milk, wheat, pulses, basmati rice, spices, oil, meat, sugar, cotton and castor oil. While the COVID-19 pandemic was tough for many sectors of the Indian economy, agriculture and related operations displayed resilience. However as was the case with all other major sectors, the pandemic made it imperative for the agricultural industry to look at ways of leveraging tech innovations for sustenance and revival, especially in the case of small holder ...

Silicon India – Online

Chennai based tech infused Aqua farming startup, Aquaconnect, won the 1st runner up “Best Agri Startup in Application of Digital Technologies (Mature Stage) Award” at the third edition of Virtual FICCI Summit & Awards for Agri Start-Ups. The two day event gives Agri Startups a platform to showcase their exemplary projects implemented on a range of issues impacting Indian Agriculture and allied sectors.

The award was presented by Shri B.C. Patil, Hon. Agriculture Minister, Govt. of Karnataka. Speaking at the event, he said that agri start-ups can provide missing links in the agricultural value chain and deliver efficient, innovative products, technologies and services to farmers and consumers.

APN News – Online

A virtual International Conference was conducted by Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII), Alliance for Agri Innovation and University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore on the topic ‘Current Scenario & Path forward for GM crops in India’.It saw discussions on how new technologies can address the problems of food insecurity, biotic and abiotic stresses, reducing expenses on crop inputs and hurdles in allowing the genetically modified (GM) crops for commercial release.More than 500 participants who joined the conference included scientists, researchers, biosafety regulators, government officials, students, academicians and general public. The speakers and audiences during the discussion pointed out that scientific data-based scrutiny of the GM technology is required and there is a need for public ...

The New Indian Express – Online

In a bid to boost pulses production in the State, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Food Processing Industries Narendra Singh Tomar laid the foundation stone of a regional centre of Indian Pulses Research Institute (IIPR) at Khurda on the occasion of the World Pulses Day. Laying the foundation stone through virtual mode from New Delhi, Tomar said that better species and high-quality seeds are major components of a good crop. He said the regional centre will help the State to enhance pulses production and productivity of the crops.

“Keeping this in mind, 150 pulses seed hubs have been established. The overall agriculture sector should move forward, this is the need of the ...

The Hindu Business Line – Online

India should focus on technologies such as Nanoencapsulation, cryo-grinding and artificial intelligence to improve cultivation as well as the quality of agriculture products, said delegates at Symsac X.

The second day of Symsac X, the international Symposium on Spices as Flavours, Fragrances and Functional Foods, discussed the importance of spice processing and value addition as well as cutting-edge technologies for plant health, two major areas in agriculture.

C Anandharamakrishnan from the Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology stressed the importance of sustainability strategies for the food industry. Localised product and localised industry should be evolved for improved food processing, he said, adding that the availability of raw material in all areas can ...

Tech Graph – Online

Agriculture Minister in Govt of Karnataka,  BC Patil on Wednesday said, “Agri startups can provide missing links in the agricultural value chain and deliver efficient, innovative products, technologies, and services to farmers and consumers.”

Addressing the virtual session of FICCI Summit & Awards for Agri Startups, Minister Patil said, “The food and agriculture practices and enterprises in India are poised for transformational changes in line with the new government policies. Agriculture has been rapidly evolving into agribusiness in terms of approach and structure.”

Reuters – Online

Rice export prices in India, the top exporter of the staple, remained anchored near a three-year high this week as other Asian and African buyers continued purchases, shrugging off the uptick in rates in recent weeks.

India’s 5 percent broken parboiled variety <RI-INBKN5-P1> was quoted at $402-$408 per tonne this week, unchanged from last week, which was the highest since May 2018.

“In the last two weeks prices have gone up, but buyers are still making decent purchases,” said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

India’s southern state of Andhra Pradesh will use a deepwater port to export rice for the first time in decades amid a global shortage of the ...

S&P Global – Online

 India is heading for its largest wheat harvest on record in 2021-22 (April-March) amid recently brightened prospects for higher exports in the current marketing season that ends on March 31.

India’s 2020-21 wheat harvest is expected to hit a record 107.6 million mt, and a record planting and favorable weather conditions have fueled the expectation of a bumper wheat harvest in 2021, the US Department of Agriculture’s India attaché said Feb. 11 in its Grain and Feed report. The agency did not provide exact production numbers for the 2021-22 season.

A 2020-21 rabi crop report from India’s Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare estimates the country’s 2021 wheat crop planting area at a new record of ...

Orissa Diary – Online

Dr Ashok Dalwai, CEO, NRAA, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Govt of India today said that while India has made good progress in ease of doing business, more efforts are still required to make agriculture competitive.

Addressing the inaugural session of the third edition of FICCI Summit and Awards for Agri Start-ups, Dr Dalwai said that agricultural start-ups should become the pivot of agricultural transformation. He also mentioned that it is imperative to democratize technology and create jobs in rural India through development of Agri start up ecosystem. “We need to create a single platform of agricultural institutions and compile their technology to make it available to the Agri start-ups. There are numerous incubation centres ...

The Tribune – Online

CSK Agricultural University, Palampur, will soon start a community radio station to make farmers aware of agriculture-related information and new technologies.

This radio station will be set up at Sundernagar in Mandi district, said HK Chaudhary, Vice-Chancellor of CSK Agricultural University, Palampur, here.

Chaudhary called on Governor Bandaru Dattatreya at Raj Bhawan and apprised him about the new initiatives. The VC apprised the Governor that recently during the golden jubilee celebration of HP statehood, the university published a booklet dedicated to progressive farmers of the state who have done outstanding work in the field of agriculture at state, national and international level.

The Hindu Business Line – Online

To help address the challenges faced by smallholder farmers, businesses and consumers, Intellecap and Transform Rural India Foundation (TRIF) today announced the launch of IAFS-CAP, a platform to promote circularity in production, processing and distribution of agriculture products such as food, fibre and fuel.

Circularity in agriculture is about optimising the system and is based on four basic principles — arable land should be used primarily to produce plant biomass for human consumption; by-products from food production, processing and consumption should be recycled back in the food system; adoption of the principles of regenerative agriculture and finally promoting consumption at low trophic levels.

Financial Express – Online

Agrochemical technicals company India Pesticides Ltd has filed preliminary papers with capital markets regulator Sebi. The Uttar Pradesh-based company looks to raise Rs 800 crore through an initial public offering which comprises fresh issue of shares worth Rs 100 crore and an offer of sale (OFS) of Rs 281.4 crore by promoter Anand Swarup Agarwal and Rs 418.6 crore by selling shareholders, according to draft red herring prospectus. The equity shares are proposed to be listed on BSE and NSE.

The company and selling shareholders in consultation with book running lead managers may consider a further pre-IPO placement issue of Rs 75 crore. The company in DRHP said that if the pre-IPO placement takes place then ...

The Pioneer – Online

Scientists, including those of Indian-origin, have developed a new system which they say can provide farmers in India early forecasts of expected variations in the monsoon season, an advance which may help reduce crop losses.

The researchers, including those from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) in the UK, used their long-term global weather forecasting system to predict when the summer monsoon will start, and how much rainfall it will bring.

In the study, published in the journal Climate Dynamics, they noted that the model provided accurate forecasts a month in advance for the timing of the monsoon in India’s major agricultural regions.

The scientists believe providing this information to farmers could help them ...

Business Standard – Online

Karnataka Agriculture Minister B C Patil said on Wednesday the Government would soon unveil a policy framework on agri start-ups and operational guidelines.

Patil said agri start-ups can provide missing links in the agricultural value chain and deliver efficient, innovative products, technologies and services to farmers and consumers.

Addressing a virtual session ofFICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) summit and awards for agri start-ups,he said the food and agriculture practices and enterprises in India are poised for transformational changes in line with the new government policies.

Indian Education Diary – Online

Mr BC Patil, Agriculture Minister, Govt of Karnataka today said that agri start-ups can provide missing links in the agricultural value chain and deliver efficient, innovative products, technologies and services to farmers and consumers.

Addressing the virtual session of FICCI Summit & Awards for Agri Start-ups, Mr Patil said that the food and agriculture practices and enterprises in India is poised for transformational changes in line with the new government policies. “Agriculture has been rapidly evolving into agri business in terms of approach and structure,” he added.

Mr Patil stated that since 2014, start-ups have been coming in a big way in India and by 2018 we had more than 50,000 start-ups. “In 2019 alone ...

Business Standard – Online

Ashok Dalwai, CEO, National Rainfed Area Authority of Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, has said that while India has made good progress in ease of doing business, more efforts are still required to make agriculture competitive. Addressing the inaugural session of the third edition of FICCI Summit and Awards for Agri Start-ups, Dalwai said that agricultural start-ups should become the pivot of agricultural transformation. He also mentioned that it is imperative to democratize technology and create jobs in rural India through development of Agri start up ecosystem. There is a need to create a single platform of agricultural institutions and compile their technology to make it available to the Agri start-ups.

Free Press Journal – Online

India now needs to move from a Green Revolution to a Cyan Revolution, that represents the fusion of agriculture and innovations for future-fit growth, said Arvind Bhadoriya, minister for cooperatives and public service management.Bhadoriya was addressing the virtual ‘FICCI Summit and Awards for Agri Start-ups’. Bhadoriya said that to build the foundation for the Cyan Revolution, the state government has launched the NAVAAS initiative.

Self-help technologies : It will focus on developing self-help technologies that support small and marginal farmers. The tools and techniques developed under NAVAAS will ensure livelihood security, reduce input costs, improve the productive value of yield, generate value from crop residue, reduce weather change vulnerability and conserve natural capital.

The Pioneer – Online

The Ministry of Agriculture has said that the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed a total 838 high yielding and trait specific field crop varieties, of which 578 are climate resilient, 41 short duration and 47 bio-fortified varieties in the last three year. Besides, India has developed only 63 Integrated Farming System (IFS) in 18 States so far and these models are suitable to 26 States and Union Territories and have the potential to increase the income of farmers by 2 to 3 times or more vis a vis existing systems/practices in a period of 3 to 4 years. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) 345 varieties of different crops were developed in ...

Businessworld – Online

There are 10 crore farmers in India out of which around 1.69 crore farmers registered on the e-NAM platform. With the integration of 38 new Mandis with e-NAM or the electronic National Agriculture Market, the Government has brought in a total of 1000 mandis under it and another 1,000 mandis will get added in FY-22

The National Agriculture Market or e-NAM is a pan-India electronic trading platform for farmers, traders, and buyers to sell or buy their agricultural produce smoothly in India. While the government is claiming a significant success having managed to incorporate 1,000 mandis under e-NAM, statistics suggest, a lot more work is required. Industry reports suggest that India has a little over 6,000 Mandis ...

Daijiworld – Online

India and Bangladesh will look at ways to jointly enhance productivity in the agriculture sector with forward and backward integration in the field. The two countries could also look at expanding trade in the sector and leverage each others strength.

Sources said that preliminary work has started and the focus would be on the north east states.

“Some work has started on India Bangladesh jointly working in the agriculture and agro-products sectors. The area where the two countries can collaborate is the north east,” an insider said.

Daijiworld – Online

ICAR deputy director-general Dr A K Singh said the new agriculture laws will benefit the farmers and the agriculture sector.

The protesting farmers on Delhi borders have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of Minimum Support Price and scrap the mandis leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.

The centre has maintained the MSP and mandi systems would continue and would be rather further improved and strengthened.

Youth Ki Awaaz – Online

Agriculture, being at the heart of every civilization, the sector and its primary stakeholders–the farmers–deserve much attention. The importance of the sector has been realized more during the COVID-19 pandemic when almost all the sectors had been closed and the economy had to fall back on this sector as it’s saviour. Despite the fact that this sector also suffered a huge setback due to the distorted market linkage, it was the only lifeline to keep the ball of economy rolling and kept the hope of socio-economic revival alive.

However, this important primary sector, in spite of several policies undertaken time to time by various governments, this sector hardly achieved 2-3% annual growth rate, and the ...

Hindustan Times – Online

Words carry the power to shape the future. Not many statesmen can speak in a manner as powerful as Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi. His response to the debate on motion of thanks on the President’s address pressed all the right buttons with people at this critical hour.

Replete with hard facts, and with a sprinkle of humour and wit, his speech addressed apprehensions related to crucial issues such as the farm laws. His message to the nation was clear — this is India’s moment under the sun and we must seize every opportunity for growth that lies ahead of us. It is time to re-energise our inherent capabilities and rebuild our nation. It would be ...

The Tribune – Online

THough the contribution of agriculture to the national GDP (gross domestic product) has gone down from 50 per cent to 16 per cent, India’s economy continues to be agrarian because agriculture employs around 60 per cent of our population. In the near future, agriculture will continue to be the main sector to provide livelihood to our population. Therefore, agriculture needs modernisation and investment to curb post-harvest losses and make it competitive at the international level. This can be achieved by framing a viable and dynamic agricultural policy. This policy will determine what to produce, where to produce and how much to produce. Animals are an integral part of our farming system. Depending on the agro-ecology of ...

Washington Post – Online

Rihanna may not have released new music in years, but her recent tweet on the ongoing farmers protests in India was music to the ears of human rights supporters around the globe.

Last week, the pop star and beauty mogul tweeted a CNN article about the Indian government shutting down the Internet in protest sites near the capital. She asked, “Why aren’t we talking about this?!” and used the hashtag #FarmersProtest, which has been the rallying cry for what started as a protest by Indian farmers against agriculture reform bills and has become one of the largest protests for economic and human rights in the world. Instead of simply ignoring ...

The Pioneer – Online

The current farmer agitation is a major event in contemporary India and it would be inappropriate to ignore it. This agitation is being analysed from many angles and a debate is underway on the government’s new agricultural policy and the farm laws. But, nobody reached the roots of the agitation. Behind the extreme discontent, agitations and suicides of Indian farmers, there is a five decade-old black chapter in the history of agriculture which is discussed only with a macroscopic viewpoint. Neither the central government nor the Punjab government nor the Punjab farmers made it an issue. This dark chapter of Indian agriculture is the so-called Green Revolution which originated in the mid-1960s and our governments and ...

Jagran English – Online

When the three contentious farm bills got President’s assent and turned into laws on September 27 last year, little did the government know that it will spark a rage of anger among the farmers, especially from parts of the northern India.

What started as small-scale protests, mostly in Punjab, way back in August 2020, escalated to few other north Indian states by October with farmers from Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan too joining in.

Delhi – the epicentre and victim of the many protests – once again turned into a fortress with its borders being flocked by tens of thousands of farmers, who have been protesting against the ‘liberalisation’ of agriculture, instead of celebrating their new ...

The Science Wire – Online

I’m going to do a slightly substantial thread on Sadanand Dhume’s piece for the Wall Street Journal because I am quite disturbed at the flex the debate is taking (February 4, 2021). The problems in the piece go far beyond a debate on how “gentle” the government has been on the farmers.

To quote from the article:

Free electricity has led farmers in Punjab to lower the water table dangerously by pumping groundwater to grow rice in a traditionally wheat-producing nation.

This causation is misrepresented. There’s a history to this. During the Green Revolution Punjab and Haryana moved to the wheat-paddy cultivation cycle from their traditional crops. This was encouraged and as we all know from ...

Logical Indian – Online

A group of 20 former Indian Foreign Service (IFS) ocers have jointly written an open letter to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) backing the three farms laws passed by the Indian Parliament. The group of ocers criticised the political groups and legislators from the USA, UK, the European Union and others who have blended their support to the ongoing Indian farmer’s agitation, The Indian Express reported. “Sustainable agriculture demands that farmers adopt the latest technology to diversify their production and the farm laws passed by the Indian Government is a step in this direction,” the former IFS ocers said while backing the provision of minimum support price (MSP) which has come under the radar by the ...

The Tribune – Online

Spread over 15 acres, ‘Centre of Excellence for Vegetables’ (an Indo-Israel project) in Kartarpur, Punjab, came into existence on December 24, 2013 and since has been fulfilling its purpose of providing a suitable platform for a rapid transfer of technology to farmers. The project was inaugurated by Punjab’s then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Israel’s ambassador to India Alon Ushpiz aiming at proper implementation and adaptation of Israeli techniques to multiply the production drastically and raise the quality.

The centre has shown a new way to farmers by moving on from using primitive techniques and adopting new agriculture technologies such as protected cultivation, drip irrigation, fertigation, now being implemented by them to increase their yield ...

Times of India – Online

To ensure timely settlements of claims under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has approved the proposal of the department of agriculture for flying drones over 100 districts growing rice and wheat, said Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

“To ensure timely settlements of claims under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has approved the proposal of Department of Agriculture for flying the drone over 100 districts growing rice and wheat,” Tomar tweeted.

Aljazeera – Online

On January 15, Liu Jin, a 45-year-old driver for Alibaba’s food delivery platform in the Chinese city of Taizhou, set himself on fire in protest over unpaid wages. “I want my blood and sweat money back,” Mr Liu said in a video shared widely over social media.

Meanwhile, across the border in India, millions of farmers were refusing to vacate the streets of New Delhi. They had been protesting for months, stubbornly defying the central government’s attempt to impose reforms that would put them at the mercy of giant corporations.

Down To Earth – Online

Climate change can reduce agricultural income by 15-25 per cent; it is high time that rationale of climate-resilient agriculture (CRA) is valued and implemented more rigorously.

Following are crucial to address the climate change and achieve sustainable development goals (SDG) in India:

Keeping these challenges in view, ...

Hindustan Times – Online

To ensure timely settlements of claims under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has approved the proposal of the Department of Agriculture for flying drones over 100 districts growing rice and wheat, said Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

“To ensure timely settlements of claims under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has approved the proposal of Department of Agriculture for flying the drone over 100 districts growing rice and wheat,” Tomar tweeted.

“This is the first remote sensing technology based largest pilot study in the country so far, conducted for crop yield estimation,” he added.

Apart from drone-based images, High Spatial Resolution ...

Down To Earth – Online

India’s agriculture sector makes a significant contribution to its Gross Domestic Product and provides livelihood for many millions of people. Agriculture is not only a means of trade and a source of livelihood, but is fundamentally associated with our culture.

Today though, farmers are distancing themselves from farming activities because of decreasing incomes and are looking at alternative opportunities. These new developments will set into motion an exodus from villages to cities.

Alternatively, in the hope of making quick money from their farmlands, farmers will be keen on giving their land on a contract basis.

Contract farming will prove to be disastrous for the lives of millions of people in India who are associated with ...

DownToEarth – Online

Climate change can reduce agricultural income by 15-25 per cent; it is high time that rationale of climate-resilient agriculture (CRA) is valued and implemented more rigorously.

Following are crucial to address the climate change and achieve sustainable development goals (SDG) in India:

Keeping these challenges in view, the Government ...

YourStory – Online

This debt support from YES Bank will help Origo to deepen its presence in agri supply chain domain and will also help overcome challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company stated. The agritech player intends to use the funds for improving the services and structures within the agricultural ecosystem. Following the development, Sunoor Kaul, Co-founder, Origo Commodities, said,

Founded in 2010 by IIT Delhi graduate Sunoor Kaul and Mayank Dhanuka, the startup has been focused on two elements – supply chain and financing, to ensure that farmers get a fair price and others involved in this ecosystem get access to legitimate capital. With 1,800 employees across 12 states, Origo has been able to support the rural ecosystem through agriculture ...

OpenPR – Online

armonaut, a satellite-based crop health monitoring start-up with headquarters in Bangalore (India), has recently announced its partnership with Godrej Agrovet to help it map over 15000 farmer fields and capture farm-level data for these fields. According to the spokesperson, Godrej has already mapped over 2500 hectares contributing to 1400 field pieces approximately. They are targetting the mapping of over 30000 hectares by the end of the current month to monitor crop health, water stress, evapotranspiration, soil organic carbon, weather forecasting, etc., using the technology provided by Farmonaut.

The founder & CEO of the satellite-based monitoring system announced the big news recently. He stated that “Farmonaut has made geotagging farmer fields more streamlined and a faster process. Our ...

Businessworld – Online

India has its eyes set on becoming $5-trillion economy by 2025. To achieve this feat, Indian economy needs to grow at the rate of 9% per year in actual terms. Becoming ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ or a ‘Self-reliant India’ is another goal in front of us. The government even announced a package to the tune of Rs 20 lakh crore to revive the economy. However, the one core area that really needs to be focused upon is rural inclusion, which will in turn help achieve these dual objectives.

The rural economy contributes nearly 25-30% to the GDP. Earlier, agriculture was the primary source of income and employment in rural India, but is now being displaced by the non-farm and ...

Down To Earth – Online

Agriculture in India is livelihood for a majority of the population and can never be underestimated.

Although its contribution in the gross domestic product (GDP) has reduced to less than 20 per cent and contribution of other sectors increased at a faster rate, agricultural production has grown. This has made us self-sufficient and taken us from being a begging bowl for food after independence to a net exporter of agriculture and allied products.

Total foodgrain production in the country is estimated to be a record 291.95 million tonnes, according to the second advance estimates for 2019-20. This is news to be happy about but as per the estimates of Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), demand ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

SIETZ Technologies India started operation in its newly upgraded manufacturing plant located at Prithla Industrial Area near Faridabad, Haryana, India. The plant’s capacity has been extended in order to widen their SOILTECH brand’s farm implement portfolio.

The plant features state-of-the-art technology, aimed to expand the line of products, which, at present, includes disc harrows, MB ploughs, disc ploughs, and rotary tillers. The plant’s latest manufacturing assembly line is equipped to the entire process from fabrication to final product testing.

The new products in the pipeline include laser levelers, reversible ploughs, super seeders, and mulchers.

India Education Diary – Online

The Government has taken following steps to educate/train farmers across the country about the latest machinery and technology to improve quality of their crop as well as increase production and income by adopting latest technologies for cultivation.

The Government has established four Farm Machinery Training & Testing Institutes located at Budni (MP), Hissar (Haryana), Ananthapur (AP) and Biswanath Chariali (Assam) which are engaged in imparting training to various categories of trainees including farmers, in the field of Farm Mechanization. These institutes have trained 10065 trainees during last one year.

Down To Earth – Online

The question of future of Indian agriculture has been around for some time now since the agrarian distress and crisis in the sector. It has become important in the context of the spate of recent reforms that include permitting private wholesale markets, contract farming, direct purchase from farmers and land leasing across states both under the earlier state-level Acts, and now under the central Acts.

But before this question is answered, it is important to profile the Indian agricultural sector and its major stakeholders, that is, land operating farmers-owners, tenants or leases.

It is common knowledge that the farm production sector contributes only 13 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and engages 44 per cent ...

Economic Times – Online

Agritech startups, many ush with funds raised recently, are set to go on a hiring spree this year. They’re carrying out aggressive expansion plans as the oldest business that employs more than half the country’s workforce increasingly embraces technology and innovations. The Economic Times spoke with half a dozen startups and a few agritech-focused venture funds, and all of them said they’re scaling up operations aggressively. Companies such as CropIn, Gramophone, Arya Collateral, Ergos, Samunnati, Ujjay, AgNext, Aquaconnect, and Agdhi plan to cumulatively hire at least 2,500 people — including talent from premier institutes such as Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institute of Science, and National Institutes of Technology — this year.

While much of the ...

Business Standard – Online

On a consolidated basis, Dhanuka Agritech reported 44.7% jump in net profit to Rs 40.04 crore on a 8.9% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 295.66 crore in Q3 FY21 over Q3 FY20.

Sequentially, the company’s net profit declined by 42.9% and revenue from operations contracted 33.2% over Q2 FY21.

“The demand of Group’s products depends on monsoon, pest infestation and crop patterns. Hence, there may be variations in the results from one period to another period, the company’s said in its notes to accounts.

Profit before tax in Q3 December 2020 stood at Rs 54.45 crore, up by 44.7% from Rs 37.62 crore in Q3 December 2019. Current tax outgo was higher by 35% ...

Equity Bulls – Online

The board of directors of Dhanuka Agritech Limited (the company) in its meeting held on February 2, 2021 has discussed and approved the setting up of a plant for technical manufacturing of Pesticides, i.e., backward integration process, at Dahej, Gujarat.

The company has a plot of approx. 1,37,000 square meters at Dahej, Gujarat which was acquired in 2013.

The setting up of this unit will involve an investment outlay of approx. Rs. 200 crores initially, which will be managed from internal accruals of the company.

The setting up of the above unit will improve the company’s position with other players for procuring the raw materials under the barter system. It will help the company to expand ...

Business Standard – Online

The Board of Dhanuka Agritech at its meeting held on 02 February 2021 has approved the dissolution of the wholly owned subsidiary of the company in Bangladesh. The Board also approved setting up a plant for technical manufacturing of pesticides i.e. backward integration process, at Dahej, Gujarat.

Inc42 – Online

The Agritech  sector has been getting investor attention for a few years now. Strong tailwinds formed by restricted movement, migration of labour and increased consumer awareness regarding health and wellness have helped accelerate technology adoption throughout the farming ecosystem during Covid times.

From 43 startups in 2013 to more than 1,000 in 2020, there are innumerable opportunities for everyone in the agritech space. In this article we analyse the financials of various companies within the market- linkage segment of the agritech landscape.

Times of India – Online

Prominent novelist and essayist Arundhati Royon on Saturday came out in support of the farmers who are agitating on Delhi borders, and said the new farm laws which they are opposing will help only the corporate sector.

Speaking at Elgar Parishad, a conclave, here, Roy also slammed the BJP governments at the centre and in states over issues such as anti-conversion laws and lockdown. “It is very important for us to stand by the farmers,” the Man Booker award-winning writer said.

“The new agriculture laws will break the backbone of the farm sector and give the control to the corporates,” she said, alleging that the Union government was trying to discredit the agitation. Roy referred ...

Nation – Online

To make food accessible and affordable, there is a need to focus on making modern technology for precision agriculture affordable to farmers to enhance productivity, and this requires revisiting the custom tariff imposed on several imported technologies, including seeds and micro-irrigation systems.

In turn, this would help towards the adoption of such technology by farmers contributing to the overall agricultural economy and food security.

This was noted in an article titled “A 60-day battle to tackle food security: Response of the Sri Lankan Government to the Covid-19 pandemic” authored by B. Marambe and P. Silva attached to the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Peradeniya, and published recently in the Sri Lanka Journal of Food and ...

Outlook – Online

The Chief Justice of India’s recent remarks suggesting women have no place in the ongoing farmers’ protests may have gone unnoticed in the 1960s. Today they appear astonishing in their lack of awareness about what the face of the Indian farmer looks like. Women are protesting alongside men because they too have stakes in the outcomes. Indeed, their stakes are bigger—in rural India, 73 per cent of female workers (and only 55 per cent of male workers) depend on agriculture. It’s high time women farmers were seen and heard in their own right by policy-makers and law enforcers. After all, they are the backbone of India’s agriculture and allied sectors, performing a wide range of tasks in ...

Times of India – Online

The parable of ‘blind men and an elephant’ increasingly seems to represent India’s agriculture policies, just as it previously did for India’s Industrialization.

Planning in silos coupled with tenured postings has denied India policy continuity, accountability and efficacy. Despite overwhelming precedence, Indian policy makers have failed to recognise that ensuring rural growth demands a multipronged policy thrust. Over 55% India resides in villages. Shifting rural youth to industrial or construction jobs; innovation in sustainable farm technologies, finance and productivity; vocational education and training and finally storage, logistics and accessible markets must all tango in tandem. Only then does rural growth move the wheels of consumption resulting in sustained GDP growth.

Japan, Taiwan and Korea followed the British ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

In the midst of inescapable shows against new changes, it should be unequivocally recognized that if Indian agribusiness doesn’t turn out to be universally fruitful, it is hard to understand India’s fantasy about being atmanirbhar.

Agriculture and related practices stay an essential source of sustenance for 60% of the populace, besides noteworthy additions accomplished in mechanical and technological advances, with more than 80 percent of farmers having minor or restricted landholdings. Agriculture represents 16 percent of India’s GDP, contrasted with 4 percent of the world’s GDP.

India has progressed significantly and turned into a net exporter of food grains compared to being a net cereal importer since its Independence. From 700 kilo for each hectare in 1966, ...