Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Half of global cotton growing regions may face severe climate risks: Studyedit
The Economic Times – Online
Climate change could expose half of all global cotton-growing regions, including India, to high risks from temperature increases, changes in rainfall patterns and extreme weather events by 2040, according to a global study. Under a worst-case climate scenario, all global cotton-growing regions will be exposed to increased risk from at least one climate hazard by 2040, according to the study “Adapting to climate change – physical risk assessment for global cotton production”, which was commissioned by the Cotton 2040 initiative and climate-risk specialists Acclimatise, part of Willis Towers Watson’s Climate and Resilience Hub.
‘Managed Farmlands’ is a trending future-positive concept. Have you heard of it?edit
The Times Of India – Online
Since the pandemic-initiated lockdown started in March 2020, most of us have been confined to our homes and have been working from home. People living in the metro cities have found themselves struggling with the size of their abode. Indeed, a place that was previously being used just to sleep became the whole habitat of the person and that instigated a lot of emotions. People started realizing the stress of living in the city and the importance of a bigger home along with the necessity of a getaway and travel. And that has brought a lot of changes not only to our lifestyles but to our mindsets as well. Some companies and employees ...
Make arrangements for smooth paddy procurement: Punjab CMedit
Hindustan Times – Online
Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday directed the secretary, food and civil supplies department, to ensure elaborate arrangements for smooth paddy procurement during the kharif marketing season 2021-22. The agriculture department has fixed the target of 197.47 LMT of paddy production during current season with sowing of crop over 30 lakh hectares across the state. The department procured 202.83 LMT Paddy in the kharif marketing season 2020-21 and 132.10 LMT wheat in the rabi marketing season 2021-22.
Punjab seeks to bring 10 lakh hectares under direct seeding, one quarter of target achievededit
The Indian Express – Online
AFTER GETTING good results from ‘Direct Seeding of Rice’ (DSR) last year, Punjab farmers are adopting this technique this year too, and may bring large areas under it if initial trends are taken into account. The state agriculture department plans to bring around 1 million hectares under DSR this year — a huge target to achieve, and double the area that came under DSR last year. Though the chief agricultural officers of various districts of the state say that due to availability of migrant labourers for paddy transplanting this year, DSR is being used a little less as compared to last year. However, until June 14, 2.23 lakh hectares (around 5.51 lakh acres) area ...
Budget
Karnataka plans to expand agricultural lending in the cooperative sectoredit
Krishi Jagran – Online
Karnataka has hiked its agriculture lending target in the cooperative sector by around 14% this fiscal year over 2020-21 in order to assist farmers who are suffering as a result of the COVID-19-induced shutdown. Earlier this week, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa announced that a total of Rs 20,810 crore would be provided to nearly 31 lakh farmers this year, up 13.97 percent from 2020-21, when a total of Rs 17,901 crore was disbursed to around 26 lakh farmers. While 30.26 lakh farmers will receive a total of Rs. 19,370 crore in zero-interest short-term loans, roughly 60,000 farmers will receive Rs. 1,440 crore in 3 percent-interest mid-term and long-term loans, according to the Chief Minister.
Dams and Indian Agriculture
Pune: Steady rainfall in catchment areas sees dams continue to fill upedit
Hindustan Times – Online
Despite rainfall in the city being relatively moderate this June, rainfall in the catchment areas has been steady, continuing to fill dams on which the district is reliant for water supply, both for urban needs and agriculture. HV Gunale, chief engineer, water resources, Pune division, said, “As there was good rainfall in May, water used for irrigation was also less this time. Moreover, catchment areas are seeing a good rainfall which has left the dams with good water storage. However, the municipal corporation draws water for drinking purposes and so some dams are less full as of Wednesday, as compared to the start of June,” said Gunale.
Technology in Agriculture
Tech will help scale up reach of PMFBY with precision agriculture: Expertsedit
Business Standard – Online
Digitisation and technology will play a significant role in scaling up the reach and operations of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) with precision agriculture, experts said on Wednesday. “There is a need to drive financial inclusion and progressive digital strategy for farmer prosperity using advanced technologies at an economic scale,” Kolli N Rao, senior advisor of International Reinsurance and Insurance Consultancy and Broking Services (IRICBS), said. Speaking during a webinar on ‘Digitizing Crop Insurance’, he added that there is also a need to develop need-based agri-insurance products or models for insurers, farmer-beneficiaries and government agencies.
Agristack: The new digital push in agriculture raises serious concernsedit
Down To Earth – Online
On April 13, 2021, the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft Corporation to start a pilot project in 100 villages of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. The MoU requires Microsoft to create a ‘Unified Farmer Service Interface’ through its cloud computing services. This sets in motion the ministry’s plan of creating ‘AgriStack’ (a collection of technology-based interventions in agriculture), on which everything else will be built. The government, through this MoU, aims to provide ‘required data sets’ of farmers’ personal information to Microsoft to develop a farmer interface for ‘smart and well-organised agriculture’.
Monsoon + Indian Agriculture
Early monsoon rains cause damage to maize crop in Biharedit
Hindustan Times – Online
Early monsoon rains have damaged maize crops in Bihar’s Seemanchal and Kosi regions with farmers looking for solace in higher procurement prices for the crop this year due to higher demand. A 55-year-old farmer, Ramadhar Chauhan of Gogarh village in Purnia, said, “Rains came at a time when we were drying our harvest on the road. We have no proper place to store our harvest, which led to the damage.” According to rough official estimates, about 20% or 600,000-800,000 tons of matured maize may have been destroyed due to early rains.
Stubble Burning
DM formed a team for the prevention of burning of stubble / other agricultural wasteedit
Tarun Mitra – Online
District Magistrate Soumya Agrawal has constituted a Tehsil wise team under the chairmanship of Additional District Magistrate Finance and Revenue to prevent the burning of stubble/other agricultural waste. He has nominated the Deputy District Magistrate in each Tehsil in-charge of the flying squad team. Sadar Tehsil includes Deputy District Magistrate, Police Officer Sadar and Assistant Development Officer of Agriculture Department, Development Block Sadar, Sawghat, Bankati, Bahadurpur and Kudarha. The District Magistrate has given clear instructions that under no circumstances should stubble or other agricultural waste be burnt under the jurisdiction of the above mobile squad. For this, a WhatsApp group should be made involving the Lekhpal and village heads. On receiving information about burning of ...
Every 10-unit rise in PM levels leads to 7 hospital admissions in Delhiedit
Hindustan Times – Online
Every 10-unit increase in ultra-fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) leads to at least seven respiratory distress-related hospital admissions in Delhi every week, a study conducted by Maulana Azad Medical College shows. It was found that 96.5% of respondents of the survey believed that vehicular emissions was a major contributor to air pollution in Delhi, while 77% said it was industrial pollution. Around 65% of respondents attributed poor air quality to waste burning, 46% said it was due to construction activities, and 28% of Delhiites blamed stubble burning and firecrackers for air pollution.
In first half of 2021, Punjab AQI was ‘poor’ even during lockdownedit
The Indian Express – Online
Data on air quality reported from six industrial cities in Punjab suggests that the particulate matter (PM10) concentrations in all six cities were greater than the permissible limit on more than 50 per cent of days in the first half of 2021 and that even during Covid lockdown the air quality in Punjab ranged from poor to very poor. Experts taking part in a virtual discussion on ‘Air Quality Management in Punjab’ revealed that real time monitoring data from Mandi Gobindgarh, Patiala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Khanna has revealed the startling statistics.
Tractor industry
Demand is back, all major drivers for tractor industry looking good: VST Tillers Tractorsedit
CNBC TV18 – Online
Antony Cherukara, chief executive officer (CEO) of VST Tillers Tractors, on Wednesday, said that many dealerships closed as the second wave of COVID-19 impacted rural India during the months of April and May. “However, the demand is back now and all the major demand drivers are looking good for the tractor industry,” he said. VST Tillers Tractors reported very strong earnings for the March-ended quarter. Revenue jumped 62.5 percent, led by strong growth in both the power tiller and tractor segment. The company turned profitable in Q4. Speaking in an interview with CNBC-TV18, Cherukara said, “June was good. In April-May, we were in the midst of the second wave of COVID and had troubles because ...