Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Paddy fields of 8 Haryana districts to demonstrate new technique to grow riceedit
Hindustan Times – Online
Farmers of eight districts of Haryana under the watch of experts will grow paddy on 20,000 acre during the current paddy cultivation season, in what is the first-of-its-kind incentive-driven push to promote direct-seeded rice (DSR) technique. Farmers opting for this cost-effective and less water-consuming method of growing rice will receive ₹5,000 per acre. Each farmer opting for this scheme can grow the crop using DSR technique on maximum 2.5 acre. This piece of land will be called ‘demonstration plot’ to popularise the technique among the peasants.
Need To Address Challenges To Agriculture, Mainly From Covidedit
Outlook Krishi – Online
Speakers at the ongoing 42nd Session of the FAO Conference have expressed concerns while addressing challenges the world faced today, mainly from the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic. “The COVID 19 pandemic has further put the spotlight on the sector. India with her tremendous growth trajectory in the field of agriculture will continue to share best practices and build capacities of other developing countries,” said Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar while addressing the session on Tuesday, June 15.
Covid-19 calls for a new agricultureedit
Business Standard – Online
Covid-19 compels the realisation that development paradigms need to integrate livelihood goals with those of sustainability and health. The most important livelihood in India remains agriculture. But we have never applied the sustainability or nutrition lens to farming. A narrow pre-occupation with raising yields at any cost has ultimately resulted in a serious farm crisis, whose underbelly has been exposed by the pandemic.
In a recent paper commissioned by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Niti Aayog (“Symbiosis of Water and Agricultural Transformation in India”), P S Vijayshankar and I argue that a move away from the monocultures and technologies of the Green Revolution and a shift in cropping patterns to match India’s diverse ...
Bihar speeds up seed distribution for early sowing of paddyedit
Hindustan Times – Online
With Bihar experiencing early monsoon, the agriculture department aims to distribute subsidised seeds to registered farmers including at their doorstep by June 25 to ensure early sowing of paddy as part of the state’s climate resilient agriculture programme. It is also encouraging crop diversity to guard farmers against losses caused by damages to conventional crops due to exigencies of weather. The department has set the target of distributing 113,000 quintal seeds (mainly paddy) for the kharif season, of which, 37,000 quintal has been distributed including delivery of around 10,000 quintal at farmers’ doorsteps, a programme launched last year.
Competition
India has quietly made deep economic inroads in Africaedit
Weekend Leader – Online
India has quietly upped its game in Africa. While pundits have been busy analysing Indias involvement with China, US and other European countries, Indian public sector as well as private sector have been making deep inroads in Africa. So when India became Africas third largest trading partner, the news failed to grab eyeball. Several Indian companies such as ONGC Videsh, Tata Group, Bharti, Godrej Group, Mahindra & Mahindra, Escorts, Apollo, and Essar among others are already present in Africa.
Technology in Agriculture
These 4 Daring Agri-Tech Startups Are Empowering Farmers With Advanced AI For Farming!edit
Trak – Online
Technology can be a powerful enabler not only when it comes to overcoming the hurdles in the supply chain, but also to improve the yield and revenues. Agri-tech leverages the power of technology to improve farming-related activities. It holds extensive promise when it comes to helping improve the yield and profitability for farmers with greater efficiency. After traditional supply chains got disrupted due to the COVID-19-led lockdowns, plenty of agritech startups are helping farmers connect with buyers, automate supply chains and build the next layer of data analytics to drive efficiency by using artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), bio-tech, drones, satellites, etc.
Giving farmers a connectivity boostedit
Deccan Chronicle – Online
India is an agrarian economy. A sizeable chunk of economic activity takes place in the hinterlands, where lack of awareness about technology and access to industrial centres are major challenges. Nitika Bhatia from Punjab, who has first-hand knowledge of the concerns of the agricultural community, has come up with an initiative to connect all the stakeholders in the agrarian cycle. The 25-year-old alumna of the Lovely Professional University, Punjab, started Agrohub, India’s first B-2-B-C web platform for farmers, in 2020, with an exhaustive database of certified vendors, including machinery manufacturers, seed producers, fertilizer manufacturers, farmers and dealers from all parts of the country.
Govt. Policies
12 crore Farmers benefited from the PM Kisan Yojana so faredit
Krishi Jagran – Online
The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana is popularly known as PM Kisan Yojana. This scheme first came into effect from 1st December, 2018 and it was announced on 1st February 2019. The PM Kisan scheme officially launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 24th February 2019, in Gorakhpur. PM Kisan Yojana Scheme launched by the government of India for farmers of the country. This is a 75,000-crore scheme and its main focus is to cover 125 million farmers, irrespective of the size of their landholdings. This scheme provides the financial assistance to all the marginal and small farmers, through this scheme the farmers can get up to Rs 6,000 per year as a minimum ...
Maharashtra signs MoU with USA to boost agro-industry sectoredit
The Indian Express – Online
Agriculture Minister Dadasaheb Bhuse and US Consul General David Ranz signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) Wednesday to promote and strengthen the SMART (State of Maharashtra’s Agri-business and Rural Transformation Programme) projects for the upliftment of small and marginal farmers. The collaboration between the state and USA agriculture department is aimed at seeking advanced technology to boost the agriculture sector in Maharashtra. “Under the Balasaheb Thackeray Agro-Industry and Rural Transformation SMART projects, the state government plans upliftment of small and marginal farmers. The focus is to make farming sustainable and income-oriented,” Bhuse said.
3 Centers Of Excellence Established In Karnataka Under Indo-Israel Agriculture Projectedit
India Education Diary – Online
For taking forward the Israeli technologies in the field of Horticulture, Sh. B. S. Yediyurapp, Chief Minister, Government of Karnataka and Sh. Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of Indiajointly inaugurated the 3 Centers of Excellence (COEs) established in Karnataka under Indo-Israel Agricultural Project (IIAP). MIDH Division of Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare, Government of India and MASHAV – Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation – are leading Israel’s largest G2G cooperation, with 29 operational Centres of Excellence (COEs) across India in 12 States, implementing advanced Israeli Agro-Technology tailored to local conditions.
Monsoon + Indian Agriculture
Excess early rains boost sowing trendedit
Hindustan Times – Online
A bountiful monsoon has bolstered sowing of a range of kharif or summer-sown crops, which is progressing at a quicker pace compared to previous two years and is likely to keep farm growth on track and help tame rising inflation, a major concern across economies, including India, experts have said. The government expects a third straight year of record harvests, an official said, requesting anonymity. Early monsoon rains have boosted sowing of crops such as rice, cotton, soybean, maize and pulses in southern, central and western states. In northern states, too, sowing has accelerated.
Stubble Burning
11 thermal plants in NCR accounted for 7% of Delhi air pollution in Oct-Jan: Studyedit
The Economic Times – Online
According to the study, a relatively longer stubble-burning period and unfavourable meteorological conditions were primarily responsible for Delhi’s worsening air quality in winters last year. Household heating and cooking were responsible for 40 per cent of the pollution burden in December 2020 and January 2021. The analysis showed the contribution of stubble burning to Delhi’s PM2.5 levels exceeded 30 per cent for seven days (between October 10 and November 25) in 2020 as against three days in 2019.
UP plans to train newly elected pradhans in stubble managementedit
Hindustan Times – Online
Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Rajendra Kumar Tiwari on Wednesday directed officials to make all necessary preparations to stop the repeat of incidents of stubble burning by farmers in the state with special focus on areas where the crop residue burning incidents were reported most last year. Holding a meeting here, he asked officials to chalk out an action plan to make farmers aware of harms caused to the environment by stubble burning and benefits of the stubble management.