Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Most farmers did not know of agencies that procured crops under MSP: Reportedit
Down To Earth – Online
Only about 24 per cent paddy and 20 per cent wheat is sold under minimum support price (MSP) in India, according to the findings of the 77th round of the National Sample Survey report. The data from the report, titled Situation Assessment of Agricultural Households and Land and Holdings of Households in Rural India, 2019, is from 2018-2019 agricultural year (July 2018-June 2019). The report also underlined the percentage of farmer families aware of the procurement agency under MSP they should sell the crop to. Only 14.5 and 18.5 percent farmer families sold their produce to the government procurement agency under MSP in the Kharif and Rabi season respectively. This figure was even less ...
Sikkim : Farming Equipments Distributed Among Beneficiaries Of Namchebong Constituencyedit
North East Today – Online
On Tuesday, September 14, the Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services Department Minister has organized a token distribution programme for the beneficiaries of Namchebong constituency. The programme has been conducted at Gram Prashashanik Kendra, Assam Lingzey. During the programme, over one hundred farming households from Namchebong constituency received various agricultural machinery tools and tokens, including Power Tiller, Power Weeder, Chaff Cutter, Mini Rice Mill, Brush Cutter, Spices Grinder, Rice thresher, Garden Hand Tools.
Rain spell good for paddy, says agri diredit
The Times Of India – Online
It has rained substantially till Monday and the Canacona farmers seem to be happy, director of agriculture Nevil Alphonso and managing director horticulture, Sandip Faldesai said. Alphonso told TOI that most of the paddy, which is grown in the uplands, is healthy and since the sheaves are in grain-formation stage the rain spell is very favourable. As of now no cases of crop damage have been reported at the nodal agriculture office but any heavy rain hereafter may partly damage the crop.
With focus on paddy, farmers ignore other cropsedit
Deccan Chronicle – Online
The state government seems to have failed in achieving the target for sowing of most crops in the ongoing kharif season except paddy, soybean and maize, according to data available with the agriculture department. Only two weeks are left for the season to end, on September 30. The data obtained from all districts as of Tuesday showed that the area under paddy exceeded the target at 124 per cent, while jowar, red gram, groundnut and mustard crops were not sown on even half the stipulated target area for kharif. The government is setting targets for cultivation of different crops every year to discourage the trend of the majority of farmers opting for paddy. Crop diversification ...
Future-proofing agricultural systems requires user-centric design and thoughtful deliveryedit
The Times Of India – Online
Global population will surpass 9 billion people by 2050. Those 9 billion people will have, in general, a higher quality of life and higher demand for food per capita. To meet that demand, we need to grow at least 60% more food than is produced today. A daunting task in and of itself, an increase of this size seems nearly impossible in the face of continued destruction of arable land and increasing weather volatility due to climate change. Dry lands will become drier, floods will become frequent and disastrous and harvests more unpredictable. Over 500 million smallholder farmers, who support some 2 billion family members and produce an estimated 70% of the world’s ...
Competition
Escorts partners with IndusInd Bank to provide exclusive agri-finance solutions for farmersedit
India Info Online – Online
In an effort to make its range of tractors and farm equipment more accessible in these challenging times, Escorts Ltd., has partnered with IndusInd Bank to provide attractive financial solutions to farmers. IndusInd Bank will offer farmers an easy access to financial assistance in the form of loans in a seamless manner. The partnership was signed between Mr. Shenu Agarwal, CEO, Escorts Agri Machinery and Mr. Shiban Kaul, Head – Tractors & Farm Equipment Loans, IndusInd Bank. With this, Escorts aims to provide farmers with a hassle-free, transparent and a quick mechanism to purchase tractors. Given its deep understanding of the rural markets and wider penetration, IndusInd Bank will bring forth better accessibility to ...
Technology in Agriculture
Agriculture ministry signs 5 MoUs to promote digital tech in farm sectoredit
Business Standard – Online
The Agriculture Ministry on Tuesday signed five MoUs with CISCO, Ninjacart, Jio Platforms Ltd, ITC Ltd and NCDEX e-Markets Ltd (NeML) to conduct pilot projects for promotion of digital technology and other best practices in the farm sector. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said modernisation of the agriculture sector will continue by infusing new technologies so that farmers can increase their income. He was speaking at the MoU signing ceremony here.
Govt. Policies
Election casts shadow on Punjab’s farm fire measuresedit
The New Indian Express – Online
From appointing 8,000-plus nodal officers to providing farm machinery and announcing fiscal incentives to forming a dedicated task force, Punjab has set an ambitious target of cutting down incidents of farm fire by half this time. Rough estimates suggest that over 220 lakh tonne of stubble is produced in Punjab. While 50 lakh tonne is diverted to biomass power generating plants, 100 lakh tonne of the remaining 170 lakh tonne is of concern. Over 8,000 nodal officers at village-level across the state will monitor farm fires in the current season of paddy harvesting, officials said. Similarly, 76,626 advanced agri-machines will be available for farmers to take care of stubbles in 20 lakh hectares ...
Monsoon + Indian Agriculture
Assess crop damage due to rain too: Bihar agriculture ministeredit
The Times Of India – Online
Taking a departure from the past practices, the agriculture department has asked the DMs of the 28 flood-prone districts to assess the crop damage suffered by the farmers both due to rainfall and floods. Agriculture minister Amarendra Pratap Singh told mediapersons on Tuesday that the fresh assessment was ordered on the direction of CM Nitish Kumar. The state began to witness heavy rain from the last week of May even before the formal start of the monsoon around June 12. Several plots of land were flooded by rainwater and no paddy plantation could be done in those plots. The agriculture department has put a condition that such waterlogged plots of land which could ...
Stubble Burning
Don’t burn food grains, the government will make awareedit
Jagran – Online
Deputy Commissioner Kumar Amit held a meeting with the officials of the concerned departments to ensure proper disposal of 14 lakh metric tonnes of stubble produced from BJ paddy in 2.34 lakh hectare area in the district. He said that mapping should be ensured by verification of machinery used for stubble disposal, including special awareness campaigns to make farmers aware of stubble handling in the district, so that machinery could be used properly. Last year, less than ten stubble burning cases were reported in villages. DC asked the Agriculture, Co-operative Sabha and Panchayat department to motivate them not to completely set fire to it this time. He said that there are 2354 machines available in the ...
Gram Panchayats to prevent incidents of stubble burning will be encouraged: DCedit
Amar Ujala – Online
Panchayats in the district will be encouraged to stop the incidents of stubble burning in their villages and make farmers aware about stubble management. This information was given by Deputy Commissioner Mahavir Kaushik in a meeting organized on the subject of stubble management by the officers of Agriculture, Revenue and Panchayat Department in the auditorium of the Mini Secretariat. Deputy Commissioner Mahavir Kaushik said that 63 villages of the district are in Red Zone and 66 villages are in Yellow Zone. He directed the officers to conduct awareness campaigns in these villages and inform the farmers about stubble management. Upload the list of villages having Custom Hiring Centers (CHCs) on the portal so that farmers ...
Hry readies pollution plan for 5 ‘critical’ areasedit
The Times Of India – Online
The Haryana government on Tuesday said it is preparing a special action plan to mitigate air pollution this winter season in five ‘critical’ areas — Gurgaon, Faridabad, Panipat, Sonipat and Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar district. “We will issue separate plans for vulnerable areas before winter commences. Every year, we see a high number of pollutants in these places. The plan will underline what needs to be done and which agency will be responsible for implementing it,” said S Narayana, secretary, Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB).
Punjab: To curb stubble burning, more than 31,000 crop residue management machines sanctionededit
Times Now News – Online
In order to reduce stubble burning, 31,970 crop residue management machines have been sanctioned for individual farmers, panchayats, customer hiring centres (CHCs) and Primary Agriculture Cooperatives Societies in Punjab, the state agriculture department has informed. Paddy straw management agri-machines like happy seeder, super seeder and paddy straw chopper have been sanctioned to farmers and others under the government’s crop residue management (CRM) scheme. Director Agriculture Sukhdev Singh Sidhu said the state agriculture department has already approved a total of 10,297 applications submitted by panchayats, PACS and CHCs.