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.