Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Governor calls for lost-cost tech to help small farmersedit
The Telegraph – Online
Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu has stressed on developing and extending need-based, low-cost, system-responsive farm technologies for small and marginal farmers who constitute over 80 percent of in the state.
Inaugurating the three-day eastern region regional Agrotech-2021 Mela at Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) on Friday, she said a major part of the state’s arable land remained fallow during the rabi season due to the prevalence of rain-fed farming amid inadequate irrigation facilities. She clalled for focussed research on developing early maturing crop varieties with low water requirement.
“Integrated farming, incorporating animal husbandry, poultry, fishery and forestry in to the system, should be promoted for minimizing losses and insyances of crop failure due to aberrant weather conditions,” she said.
Dairy Farming
Sperm Farming: An evil reality of technological advancementedit
The Northlines – Online
India has the world’s largest number of cattle. They are not being worshipped in the temples; they are not ambling through the countryside eating as they move. They are being hit by farmers in whose fields they come to eat, they are being thrown acid on by urban fruit sellers, they are being poisoned and taken away by people who strip their skin for leather, they are being kept tied in filthy small stalls for milk, they are being put onto overcrowded trucks and taken for illegal slaughter, they are being herded into jails called gaushalas, where they stand in their own faeces, till they fall down dead of starvation. They eat plastic, they drink from ...
Technology in Agriculture
Agri-Tech Company Harvesting launches HFNmandi, online commerce platform for farmersedit
APN News – Online
In the last 10 months, Harvesting has worked relentlessly with farmers across India and listed over $23 million worth of agri-produce on the platform. Farmers simply send WhatsApp messages to the HFN team, whose technology then broadcasts supply information to buyers over social media platforms like Twitter. The entire process is so simple and effective that in less than a year Harvesting has attracted over 23 lakh farmers from 22 states. Several government agencies, non-profit organizations, farmer groups, and individual farmers are already engaged with HFN. Over 200 commodities got listed on the platform, bought by wholesale buyers such as food processing companies, five-star chains, F&B restaurants and food exporters.
Even after the relaxations in lockdown, ...
Two Jharkhand-born entrepreneurs are building a Global Agritech Giantedit
BWDisrupt – Online
In a dynamic startup culture which India holds, the late-2000s and early 2010s were about the rise of consumer internet and poster boys in e-commerce, food tech, and mobility in India, and the mid-to-late 2010s, especially post-demonetisation, about fintech explosion, then what awaits us this decade could be the rise of tech-enabled agriculture according to two Jharkhand-born co-founders of Bengaluru-based CropIn, one of India’s oldest agritech (or agtech) startup which was founded in 2010 by first-time entrepreneurs Krishna Kumar, Kunal Prasad, and Chittaranjan Jena (left the company in 2019), nobody in India or even in the developed world was backing agriculture with technology. Moreover, quitting jobs in MNCs to get into the agriculture sector was extremely unconventional. ...
Govt. Policies
Tomar emphasises on raising pvt investment in farm sectoredit
Outlook – Online
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday stressed the need to increase private investment in the farm sector and asked entrepreneurs to set up food processing units.
The minister was addressing a summit on ”Agriculture and Food Processing Opportunities in Madhya Pradesh” organised by the Ministry of Food Processing, in partnership with ASSOCHAM and Invest India through video conference, according to an official statement.
Tomar, who is also the food processing minister, encouraged entrepreneurs to set up food processing units in the country, and assured them that the government will provide all possible help.
He informed that the government is granting speedy approvals to the food processing projects.
“The Union minister also stressed on the need ...
AAP Govt Spent Rs 7 Crore to Advertise Rs 40,000 Bio-Composting Programme: BJPedit
The Wire – Online
The Arvind Kejriwal government spent a disproportionately large amount of Rs 7 crore on a publicity campaign to advertise a bio-composting solution to discourage stubble burning, while only Rs 40,000 had been released for the actual programme, leader of opposition in Delhi Assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, has alleged.
In a letter addressed to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, the BJP leader has said that while Rs 40,000 had been released for the purchase of pesticides, Rs 13.20 lakh was spent on the transportation of the same, and Rs 7 crore for advertisements. Bidhuri has demanded a probe into the “misdeed” of the Aam Aadmi Party government by a sitting high court judge to expose the alleged misappropriation ...
Stubble Burning
‘Stubble decaying needs judicial probe’edit
The New Indian Express – Online
Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri on Thursday wrote a letter to Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal demanding a judicial probe in the stubble decomposition campaign of the Delhi government. BJP leader Ramvir Singh Bidhuri alleged that there has been misappropriation of public funds by the Arvind Kejriwal government for purchase of pesticides last year.
According to the BJP MLA, the AAP government spent more amount of public money in advertising the scheme rather than spending on the product itself. “It is requested of the Lt- Governor to order an immediate probe by a sitting judge of the High Court into the bungling of crores of taxpayer’s money by the Kejriwal ...