Tribune – Online

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is expected to be signed by the end of March for a loan agreement of Rs 1,010 crore under the phase II of the HP Crop Diversification Promotion Project (HPCDP) said Agriculture Minister Virender Kanwar.

Presiding over the governing council meeting of the HP Agriculture Development Society (organisation executing the project), last evening, he said it would be implemented in all 12 districts of the state to boost the socio-economic status of farmers’ families as had been achieved in the phase I of the project being implemented in five districts — Mandi, Kangra, Hamirpur, Bilaspur and Una — since 2011.

Kanwar asked the department and the project authorities to complete the ...

Business Standard – Online

Fertiliser subsidy accounts for second highest subsidy in India at around 22% of overall subsidy burden amounting to Rs 79.5 thousand crores. Given the high fiscal outlay, it is crucial to responsibly design and implement an efficient, effective and environmentally sustainable architecture for the distribution system of fertiliser.

The government has introduced several path-breaking reforms laying a strong foundation for this endeavour. These include introduction of the Fertiliser Management System to monitor operations across the value chain, neem coating of urea to prevent pilferage into non-farm uses, gas-pooling to increase production efficiency of domestic urea, Direct Benefit Transfer System enabling capture of real time movement from plant port to retail and also thr sale of fertiliser ...

AgWeb – Online

Water shortages threaten to devastate India’s food security, driving down winter harvests by 20 percent nationwide and by as much as 68 percent in key regions, according to a new study.

As we approach World Water Day on March 22—an annual observance by the United Nations—we should focus our minds on the limited resource of freshwater. If Indian farmers like me lose access to it, we’ll also lose our ability to produce the food that we all need.

India is home to more than 1.3 billion people. Nearly one in five of the planet’s people live here: We’re the second most populous nation, after China. Yet we have only 4 percent of the world’s groundwater.

The Free Press Journal – Online

Rising temperatures and extreme weather conditions in Maharashtra is likely to have a serious impact on your food plate, says a Baramati based professor and researcher. A recent study conducted by Rahul Todmal, an Assistant Professor of Geography at Vidya Pratishthan’s ASC College in Baramati has predicted that warmer and extreme weather conditions post 2033 are likely to hit the production of agricultural food grains as well as cash crops in the state.

In his research study titled ‘Future Climate Change Scenario over Maharashtra, Western India: Implications of the Regional Climate Model for the Understanding of Agricultural Vulnerability’, he has indicated that the annual mean minimum temperatures are expected to rise significantly across 80 ...

The Pioneer – Online

The ongoing farmers’ agitation is not a spontaneous event. It is one of the consequences of decades old discontent emanating from paradigm shift in agriculture beginning with the Green Revolution in 1960s.  It would be wrong to think that only the new farm bills are at its roots. At its core, there are seeds of the Green Revolution which have enslaved farmers in various ways. And, above all, these poison-laden seeds have shattered the life base with which the society is nurtured and on the strength of which we dream of a safe future. A natural resource that has been most whipped off by our modern farming is the groundwater of the earth.

Now, a study ...

The Sentinel – Online

Since 1993 onward the World Water Day is celebrated every year on March 22 across the world. This is really an essential and appreciable step initiated by the United Nations for the greater interest of human civilization and its declared 22nd March of each year as the “World Day for Water”. This was first observed in 1993 as an International event with a theme “Water, Sustainable development, Sustainability”. This year’s theme for World Water Day is – Valuing Water. Thus it can be interpreted as the true value of water is much more than its price and it must be valued appropriately for different uses and for different users and due emphasis and actions should be ...

Greater Kashmir – Online

World Water Day, held on 22 March every year since 1993, focuses on the importance of freshwater. The theme of World Water Day 2021 is valuing water. World Water Day celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis. Water is the foundation of life on earth. From nourishing all living organisms to supporting the cultivation of food, water is crucial for our survival. 75 per cent of the earths surface consists of water, yet only two per cent of it is freshwater. Agricultural production consumes almost 70 per cent of the worlds freshwater supply. As the worlds ...