Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
India’s Suffering Female Farmers Have the Most to Loseedit
Foreign Policy – Online
Rajveer Kaur grew up working in the fields of Gandhar village in Muktsar, Punjab, alongside her parents and siblings. After her school day, she would harvest wheat and feed cattle; during summer break, they sowed cotton and rice for the monsoon season. “If you want to eat, you don’t have a choice,” she said. “It’s a question of survival from one day to the next when you are born into a family of laborers.”
Kaur is a Dalit woman, a dual identity that reflects the most marginalized of India’s oppressive caste hierarchy. She is also among the millions of women protesting laws enacted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deregulate the agricultural sector. In Punjab and elsewhere, ...
Study: Ag policy in India needs to account for domestic workloadedit
Cornell Chronicle – Online
Women’s increased agricultural labor during harvest season, in addition to domestic house care, often comes at the cost of their health, according to new research from the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI).
Programs aimed at improving nutritional outcomes in rural India should account for the tradeoffs that women experience when their agricultural work increases, according to the study, “Seasonal time trade-offs and nutrition outcomes for women in agriculture: Evidence from rural India,” which published in the journal Food Policy on March 24.
Negotiable warehouse receipts — How the RBI is helping formalise India’s agricultural economyedit
The Print – Online
After the meetings of the Monetary Policy Committee last week, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced an increase in the limit of loans under priority sector lending from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 75 lakh per borrower. This includes loans availed by farmers, farmer producer organisations and primary agriculture cooperative societies. These loans are given for agricultural produce against a pledge or hypothecation for which the warehouses registered with the Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority have issued negotiable warehouse receipts or electronic-NWRs.
The limit of loans for physical warehouse receipts (WHR) will continue to be Rs 50 lakh per borrower. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s decision sends a clear message that e-NWRs are a superior instrument compared ...
DDC Shopian Reviews Functioning Of Agriculture Sectoredit
Indian Education Diary – Online
The District Development Commissioner (DDC), Shopian, Sachin Kumar Vaishya today convened a meeting of concerned officers to review the Agriculture Sector in the district.
At the outset, Chief Agriculture Officer, Ghulam Hassan Magray presented a detailed account of progress cum performance recorded in various sectors. He said that the district has achieved substantial progress in production as well as in productivity of some major food crops.
He also highlighted some issues and bottlenecks in these sectors and sought the personal intervention of DDC in resolving these issues in a time bound manner.
After taking a comprehensive review, the DDC emphasized achieving better performance in this sector. He stressed for exploring new and scientific farming techniques ...
Bayer to support Niti Aayog’s AIM innovation initiatives in agriculture, healthcareedit
The Hindu Business Line – Online
German crop protection, chemical and pharma major Bayer on Tuesday announced its partnership with the Union Government’s flagship initiative Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) of Niti Aayog, the Centre’s think-tank, in supporting innovation and entrepreneurship in agriculture and healthcare.
A statement from Bayer and AIM said that the initiative would be across the country supporting current and future programmes in both these sectors.
Technology in Agriculture
The agritech revolutionedit
IDGconnect – Online
Agriculture is at the centre of many of the world’s biggest issues, from hunger to climate change. The UN reports that over 70% of global fresh water consumption is currently linked to the industry, and estimates that 50% more food will be needed by 2050 in order to feed our growing population.
Understandably, there’s a pressing need to prioritise the optimisation of food production systems by reducing inputs, maximising yields and ultimately minimising greenhouse gas emissions, as the future must be sustainable.
Farmers have been facing many of the same challenges for generations, such as water shortages, limited land availability and difficulties managing costs. What’s changed, however, are the capabilities of the agritech industry.
Insights created by spacetech will ensure improved productivity and profitability in agriculture: Mark Kahn, Managing Partner, Omnivoreedit
Financial Express – Online
Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced satellite imagery to produce unique data sets which help tackle problems like predicting harvests, natural disasters and tracking the presence and spread of pests, detecting illegal mining etc, there are startups which are helping farmers. Omnivore, which is considered to be India’s leading agritech venture capital firm, is helping the farmers to get actionable insights with the power of technology. There is innovation in agritech, and this is being brought by space data startups like Pixxel; a disruption that was far from being imagined almost a decade ago. India’s spacetech industry is seeing a lot of action now, especially as the government is providing impetus to the sector. Omnivore funds ...
Tractor industry
Tractors end FY21 with historic production, growth in sales, exportsedit
The Hindu Business Line – Online
The tractor industry has reported historic production, highest-ever domestic volumes and a strong growth in exports in 2020-21.
With strong domestic demand on the back of robust rural economy and recovery in exports from the second quarter of FY21, industry achieved its highest-ever production at 9.65 lakh units in FY21 against 7.78 lakh units in FY20, according to the data provided by Tractor & Mechanisation Association (TMA).
“The healthy monsoon, government support to farmers both at the central and state level and focus on mechanisation to ensure large scale coverage even during the Covid time boded well for agricultural mechanisation. TMA is happy to contribute to the rural economy during the pandemic by keeping ...