Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Punjab working on farmers’ shift to direct seeded riceedit
The Times Of India – Online
With paddy cultivation about to start in Punjab, stress is being laid on motivating farmers to opt for direct seeded rice (DSR) technique and use crop residue management (CRM) machinery for clearing the stubble. The state agriculture department wants the area under DSR paddy to be doubled from the previous year. It has targeted paddy transplantation under DSR technique over at least 1 million (10 lakh) hectares. The department is also going in for increasing the scope of insitu crop residue management to minimise the stubble burning after paddy harvest. The department claims that so far over 76,600 CRM machines have been provided to custom hiring centres (CHC) and individual farmers at subsidy ...
Ban puddling for paddy cultivation, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh Urgededit
The Times Of India – Online
A group of farmers has urged Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh to ban puddling for paddy cultivation – which makes it a water-guzzling crop – and ask the paddy growers to adopt tried and tested alternative techniques like direct seeding, which also lead to reduction in input costs. The group, in its letter to the chief minister and memorandum to Jalandhar DC and chief agriculture officer, has pointed out that it has already been proved that direct seeding techniques or transplanting paddy on ridges without puddling are successful, so puddling should be banned to save groundwater. The farmers said the use of alternative techniques resulted in equal or slightly less output, but led ...
Lockdown and Tauktae batter hopes of farmersedit
The New Indian Express – Online
Recent strong winds and heavy rain triggered by the recent cyclone destroyed crops, but farmers couldn’t sell even whatever they could salvage because of the triple lockdown. As a desperate measure, WhatsApp groups have been formed by agricultural officers to help farmers sell their produce
My banana cultivation in 75 cents of land was completely destroyed in the recent strong winds and heavy rain occurred due to Cyclone Tauktae in the state. From the 520 plantains that I planted, more than 200 were completely destroyed. Some plantain bunches, which were just a few months old, were also lost with no option for replanting and these had to be thrown away,” said Jayakumar P, ...
Credit Suisse cuts India’s nominal growth forecast to 13-14 per centedit
The Economic Times – Online
“Point-to-point rate of inflation based on the CPI-AL (Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers) and CPI-RL (Consumer Price Index for Rural Labourers) decreased to 2.66 per cent and 2.94 per cent in April 2021, from 2.78 percent and 2.96 per cent, respectively, in March, 2021,” the labour ministry said in a statement.
Another positive factor is the good monsoon forecast and, if this materialises, this will the third consecutive good monsoon season. This bodes well for the agriculture economy, and will help revive rural demand faster, they said.
“Overall, we expect good recovery in the second half of the financial year, albeit lower than what we had anticipated before the second wave,” they ...
Technology in Agriculture
New technology, improved connectivity best way to help people in rural areas: UNedit
Times Now News – Online
New approaches made possible through improved access and Internet connectivity can raise the standard of living for approximately 3.4 billion people living in rural areas, without them having to migrate to cities, according to the newly released 2021 World Social Report “Reconsidering Rural Development.” The COVID-19 pandemic, together with already persistent high levels of poverty and inequalities, are threatening to stall progress for the world’s rural populations. But the pandemic has also proven that new technologies can enable rural populations to flourish, ending the rural[1]urban divide.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the new technologies opened up new opportunities for rural development. “Opportunities exist to build a greener, more inclusive and resilient future. The experience ...
Cotton Farmers in India Fight Against Bollworm with the help of Artificial Intelligence: Reportedit
Krishi Jagran – Online
According to a study by the Wadhwani Institute for AI, cotton farmers in Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Telangana have seen reductions in pink bollworm damage and improved crop quality by using artificial intelligence (AI)-based pest management applications. The institute’s approach is based on a simple smartphone and offers real-time, localized, and reliable pest advisory that can assist farmers in mitigating pest problems and saving crops. The remedy, which is available in eight Indian languages, makes pesticide recommendations based on the severity of the pink bollworm infestation.
Govt. Policies
Pulses’ prices decline in India after government opens up importsedit
The Economic Times – Online
Wholesale prices of tur, moong and urad have declined 10-15% this week after government changed pulses import policy from ‘restricted’ to ‘open’ in the previous week. Traders, processors, farmers and analysts are concerned the move can put a break on India’s efforts of achieving self-sufficiency in pulses as fall in prices can encourage farmers to move to more remunerative crops.
Along with the changes made in import policy, the Centre has asked state governments to monitor pulses under the Essential Commodities Act to control any spike in prices. As prices of most of the pulses are ruling close to the minimum support price levels, trade participants are surprised by the policy changes.
Farm laws: ‘Don’t test our patience,’ say protesters, ask Centre to resume dialogueedit
Scroll – Online
Farmers protesting against the three new agriculture laws have warned the Centre not to “test their patience” and to instead initiate dialogue and accept their demands, PTI reported. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of the farmers’ unions, made the comment in a statement released on Wednesday after spells of rain caused damage to their protest sites at the borders of national Capital Delhi.
“It has been a chaotic situation with regard to food and accommodation, due to the rain,” the statement noted. “Roads and several parts of the protest sites have been filled up with rainwater. For six months now, in all such circumstances, in the absence of any government facilities and support, the ...
Tractor industry
Covid to limit tractor sales growth, says reportedit
Update News 360 – Online
Growth in domestic tractor sales volume might get limited to 3-5 per cent this fiscal on the back of strong second wave of Covid-19 infections and rising cases in hinterland, apart from high-base effect of last fiscal, said Crisil Ratings on Tuesday. Accordingly, the agency said that trend is expected to take place despite the forecast of a normal monsoon auguring well for farm incomes and therefore tractor demand.
Besides, it pointed out that operating margins of tractor makers will shrink on an average by 200 basis points (bps) due to firming up of steel prices, which is the primary raw material and accounts for bulk of the cost. However, the credit profiles of ...