News18 – Online

Despite a surge in Covid cases, several farmer unions have persisted with their protests against the Centre’s three laws for agricultural reforms passed in September last year. A committee appointed by the Supreme Court to study the laws and consult all stakeholders has submitted its report on March 19. Niti Aayog member Prof Ramesh Chand, who spearheads a lot of policy discussions on agriculture, spoke to News18 on the merits of the farm reforms, the implications of the protests— particularly on the Centre’s aim to double farmers income by 2022 for which the government think tank had prepared a road map — and what the future may hold.

The Hindu Business Line – Online

Notwithstanding its small size and population compared to other States and UTs, Puducherry tops the chart in consumption of major fertilizers from 2015-16 to 2019-20 (in kg/hectare) followed by Telangana and Punjab. Interestingly Bihar is in a neck-to-neck competition with Haryana in the use of fertilizers.

Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka are also among the top 10 States using fertilizers.

The Tribune – Online

The Agriculture Department has been organising various camps for farmers in the district. The department targets to hold 77 camps till April 30. Experts have organised as many as 20 camps in which 1,250 farmers took part. A camp was organised at Kangniwal village by the department in which farmers were apprised of various techniques that they could adopt. Jalandhar (east) Agriculture Development Officer advised farmers to prepare themselves to prevent any untoward (fire) incident during harvesting of wheat crop. He also told farmers about the availability of seeds on subsidy. TNS

Republic World – Online

While on one hand, farmers are agitating about the new agricultural law, on the other hand, many farmers have now started to understand the benefit of agricultural reforms. The ground reality of the new agricultural law has started to appear. Earlier farmers had to the farmers had to bid for their crop. Despite the power, they could not get the price that they were entitled to. The new agriculture law has completely changed the picture. Now, the traders are going to the fields and bidding for the crop but the rates are decided by the farmers.

Farmers of Dhodsar village- about thirty kilometres from Jaipur are very happy with the new agricultural law. While speaking with Republic, farmers said that earlier they had ...

The Economic Times – Online

The Government of India in its Economic Survey in 2018 noted that the agricultural sector is undergoing feminization, a term used to indicate how increasingly a large number of women are taking up roles as entrepreneurs, cultivators and labourers. Presently, the agriculture sector employs 80% of all economically active women in India, which includes 48% of the self-employed farmers and 33% of the agriculture labour force. In the past decade, many global economies have also acknowledged the decisive role women play in ensuring food security and preserving local agro-biodiversity.