Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
U’khand govt hikes paddy procurement price by Rs 72 per quintaledit
The Times Of India – Online
The Uttarakhand government on Wednesday announced a hike of Rs 72 per quintal in the paddy procurement price. The minimum support price of paddy in the hill state is now Rs 1,960 per quintal, as against Rs 1,888 per quintal earlier. Uttarakhand’s food and civil supplies minister Bansidhar Bhagat has asked the department officials to complete all the formalities before October 1, when the paddy procurement process is set to start in the state. The minister has asked the officials to procure paddy from government departments between October 1 and 15. Thereafter, paddy will be procured from farmers through commission agents.
Punjab will dare Centre by rejecting 3 farm laws: Sidhuedit
Hindustan Times – Online
Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday said Centre’s three farm laws, which, he claimed, were illegal and unconstitutional, will not be implemented in the state. “The Congress is committed to the cause of farmers. We will not let the three black laws be implemented in Punjab. These central farm laws are a direct attack on the federal structure of India and against the spirit of the Constitution as agriculture is a state subject,” Sidhu said.
Plea to ensure MGNREGS workers move to agriculture when needededit
The Times Of India – Online
The government should devise a method to make people engaged in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation (MGNREG) scheme work in agricultural fields during important seasons so that the labour demand of the sector is met, say farmers. Periyar-Vaigai Irrigation Ayacut Farmers Associations secretary K Thirupathy said the hundred-day work scheme was implemented to help people overcome drought situations, when there was no agricultural activity. “But they were instead made to do alternate work and paid for it. Now, as it is implemented during the agricultural seasons also, it is causing much hardships,’’ he said.
Technology in Agriculture
Area under direct sowing of paddy in Punjab exceeds 6 lakh hectares, leading farmers of Bathinda districtedit
News18 – Online
Farmers of Punjab have expressed keen interest in adopting the technique of direct sowing of paddy. During the current paddy season, farmers have brought 6.01 lakh hectares (15.02 lakh acres) under this latest technology. According to the report of Punjab Remote Sensing Center, Ludhiana, the largest area so far has come under direct sowing. This year, 23 per cent of the total area under paddy in the state has come under this water saving technology. The farmers of Bathinda district have been instrumental in adopting the direct sowing technique in the state which has brought 52,760 hectares of land under this technology. Since then 46,820 hectares and 45,850 hectares in Sri Muktsar Sahib and Fazilka districts ...
Govt. Policies
31K Farmers of Jaipur Get Benefit of Free Rental Scheme for Agri Implementsedit
Krishi Jagran – Online
In Jaipur, the agriculture department launched the free rental scheme for agricultural implements.During the pandemic it has proved to be a blessing for needful cultivators. More than 31,000 of the farmers are benefited from this scheme, which concluded on 31st July, 2021. Mr. Lalachand Kataria, the state agriculture minister, said that this scheme was initiated through company named TAFE on 1st June, 2021 to provide comfort to small and marginal farmers having less than 2.5 acres of land in the state.
Punjab Government To Distribute Over 25,000 Agricultural Machinesedit
Krishi Jagran – Online
In this fiscal, the Punjab Agricultural Department has launched a drive to offer more than 25,000 agri-machines and farm equipment to farmers for in-situ paddy residue management, with a subsidy component of Rs 250 crore. Agriculture director Sukhdev Singh Sidhu said on Sunday that the department had already approved roughly 430 applications for balers and basic sowing machines from cooperative societies and panchayats. In the 1st phase, agro-machines were sanctioned at a subsidy of 80% to 246 panchayats and 185 primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS) to construct Farm Machinery Banks (FMBs) that would serve as Custom Hiring Centres.
Stubble Burning
Mitsui to invest $4.1 million in Punjab Renewable Energy Systemsedit
The Economic Times – Online
Tokyo-headquartered Mitsui & Co announced it will invest Rs 30 crore ($4.1 million) in Punjab Renewable Energy Systems Pvt Ltd (PRESPL), a biomass supply-chain management company in India. PRESPL is involved in the collection, storage and processing of agricultural residues and the production of biomass briquettes and pellets to meet the growing demand for biomass fuel from India’s rapidly expanding bio-energy industry. PRESPL also provides a range of operation & maintenance, and other technical services, to the industry.