Telegraph India – Online

The Bengal government has achieved the target of sowing kharif paddy this season despite Cyclone Yaas and floods and the officials are giving the credit to the welfare schemes initiated by the state for farmers. “This year, the target of kharif cultivation was 42.06 lakh hectares. A total of 100.80 per cent of the target area was cultivated in the kharif season this year. This is a success considering the challenges we faced because of the cyclone and floods,” said a senior government official. But, sources said, schemes like Krishak Bandhu scheme and Kisan Credit Cards played an important role in drawing farmers to the fields despite the cyclone and floods that had inundated their ...

The Times Of India – Online

Civil supplies minister Gangula Kamalakar on Sunday appealed to farmers to take up cultivation of other crops too by reducing paddy sowing area keeping in view the central government’s decision not to procure coarse variety of rice. Addressing the farmers of Karimnagar rural mandal, the minister said the farmers would face severe hardships if they don’t take the state government’s advice to switch to other crops. “You can cultivate sunflower, groundnut, millets and cotton among others,” he said. With Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao personally taking up the matter with the central minister, Food Corporation of India (FCI) has agreed to procure the paddy of last Yasangi and the next Vanakalam season. However, ...

Hindustan Times – Online

Amid continuous protests against the contentious farm laws, a Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of Agricultural Households, Land and Livestock Holdings of Households of Rural India, 2019, conducted from January to December 2019 revealed a 59% surge in farmers’ incomes that are not adjusted for inflation, on a nominal basis. The survey also showed that farmers’ incomes adjusted for inflation — which economists call real income — have risen by about 2%. However, when the inflation-unadjusted incomes are distributed among the number of farming households to derive per capita farmers’ incomes, one gets a figure of ₹27 a day, as reported by HT earlier.

Hindustan Times – Online

There is a need for a continuous dialogue between the farmers and the government, and the interests of the agriculturists should never be mixed with politics, Vice-President (VP) M Venkaiah Naidu said during the launch of a set of works on the life and writings of prominent Haryanvi farmer leader, Sir Chhotu Ram. Naidu credited Ram for major agricultural reforms in the erstwhile province of Punjab. Referring to Sir Chhotu Ram’s contributions, Naidu said that he was instrumental in making laws that freed farmers from the exploitation of moneylenders, and vicious debt cycle. He also got the mandis formed at the local level so that farmers could set the right price for their produce, Naidu ...

Business Standard – Online

Ministers for Agriculture from the G20 nations have committed to shift their sector policies to better ensure sustainability and security of food systems in the world. After a two-day summit in central Florence, Italy, the Ministers approved a final statement made of 21 points, mostly focused on “identifying and overcoming the major hurdles to meeting the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals provided by the 2030 Agenda)”, reports Xinhua news agency “We recognise the need to identify paths for sustainable and resilient food systems and to find appropriate institutional, collaborative, and financial frameworks for their implementation, to overcome short and long-term challenges,” they stated.