Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Farm talks at WTO continue to undermine Indian farmersedit
Media India – Online
On March 10, the agricultural negotiations committee of the World Trade Organisation will undertake yet another round of discussion on numerous contentious issues that have been lined up for discussions by the Geneva-based trade regulator. These talks are significant for several reasons. First, they concern agriculture, which is the largest source of livelihood for an overwhelming majority of humanity as close to 70 pc of people, mainly in the developing nations, depend solely on farming for survival.
Second, these talks would be the first ones since the WTO has a new director-general who brings with her two radical elements, marking a first in the history of the WTO. On March 1, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria became ...
Ploughing a new furrow in the agri-regulatory systemedit
The Hindu – Online
Change is needed as Indian farmers face constraints, and as world agriculture will now rely on middle-income countries
The intense debates around the recently enacted farm laws have brought to…
WayCool moves another step towards sustainable Agricultureedit
APN News – Online
One of India’s fastest growing agri-commerce companies, WayCool Foods has signed a 3-year umbrella MoU with National Design and Research Forum (NDRF). The collaboration will help WayCool in its pursuit to re-imagine the agri-supply chain with the introduction of solutions aimed at constantly enhancing efficiency and reducing food wastage. For NDRF, WayCool’s farmer connect and distribution excellence will help expedite field trials of its unique, sustainable agricultural products such as naturally developed bio-fertilizers. Further, WayCool’s network will also be leveraged to ensure these sustainable innovations reach the fields.
Why are Indian farmers so infuriated with Reliance’s agritech plans?edit
ZDNet – Online
You may have noticed that India has been engulfed by unprecedented, massive protests against its government.
Hundreds of thousands of farmers have been amassing across the country to say no to the country’s three new farm laws that, farmers say, threaten their livelihoods. Even global celebrities Rihanna and Greta Thunberg have taken notice and tweeted their support of the protests.
But this has only enraged the government and its band of vocal celebrity supporters across the Bollywood film industry and cricket establishment. A few weeks ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government did something to further terrify the ordinary Indian — it arrested and jailed two twenty-something, innocent, and relatively unknown women for supporting the farmers.
How an advice hotline is making farmers in India more productiveedit
Forbes India – Online
The gap in agricultural productivity between countries is vast: the richest nations perform about 50 times better than the poorest, which has implications for global income inequality.
Clearly, part of the problem in low-income countries is a lack of money for farmers to invest in better seeds or equipment. But there are other issues at work, too. In a new study, Jacopo Ponticelli, an associate professor of finance at Kellogg, and colleagues suggest that lack of information about agricultural technologies and practices is a major barrier. And, importantly, their research showed that offering farmers on-demand advice over the phone can help remedy this.
Stubble Burning
Desertification in India: How Green Revolution hastened the man-made soil degradationedit
Down To Earth – Online
Cultivated lands in India are in the grips of desertification. The country’s Green Revolution pockets are especially prone to the problem. The biggest threat of desertification emanates from the major crops of the Green Revolution — wheat and paddy.
Sardara Singh Johl, a Padma Bhushan-awardee agricultural economist and chancellor of Central University of Punjab, has suggested that if agricultural land in Punjab is to be protected from desertification, the best way is to shift wheat and paddy cultivation to 5 million hectares of land in the Indo Gangetic plains of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal
Johl’s mantra, unfortunately, doesn’t provide concrete measures to pause desertification. The senior agricultural economist should have counteracted Green Revolution ...
Sambalpur seeks stubble burning banedit
The New Indian Express – Online
AS wildfire rages across Odisha, the Sambalpur forest division has submitted a proposal to the State government requesting a ban on stubble burning within 50 metre radius of the jungles.While the wildfire in Simlipal forests is yet to subside, the fire points become frequent in other parts of the State in the last one week. Officials of Sambalpur division said 57 incidents of forest fire have been reported from different places till Monday. Though no major loss has occurred, around 10 hectare of forests have been damaged in the fire so far.
Divisional forest officer (DFO) Sanjeet Kumar said, around 60 per cent of the fire points are due to stubble burning near the ...
Tractor industry
Swaraj Tractor plans to launch new range of tractorsedit
LiveMint – Online
Mahindra group’s Swaraj Tractor said it plans to launch a new range of tractors in both higher and lower horse power (hp) to support small farmers in their puddling operations.
The tractor maker also said it has introduced a series of initiatives in paddy mechanisation in Andhra Pradesh Pradesh and Telangana as it seeks to enhance its presence further in the region, according to a statement issued on Tuesday.