Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
From India to Brazil, farmers face ‘Post-Apocalyptic’ food crisisedit
The Economic Times – Online
For Australian cattle farmer Jody Brown, the most chilling evidence of drought is the silence. Trees stand still, the warbling of birds gone. Lizards and emus have long departed, while kangaroo mothers, unable to sustain offspring, kick baby joeys from their pouches, leaving them to perish in the devastating heat. “You just feel like you’re in some kind of post-apocalyptic scene,” 37-year old Brown said from her family’s ranch in Queensland’s central west. The constant dryness means her cattle herd has dwindled to around 400, down from 1,100 at its peak in 2002, and at times there have been no animals on the land at all. The native grasses, once green sustenance, have ...
EXCLUSIVE | COP26: Sustainable farming pact ’unsustainable’ without climate finance, say officialsedit
Moneycontrol – Online
India’s decision to stay away from a multilateral agreement on sustainable farming is rooted in the fact that it is “actually unsustainable without climate finance”, officials said at the end of the crucial first week of COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow. According to the British Government, more than 27 countries have laid out new commitments to change their agricultural policies to become more sustainable and less polluting, and to invest in the science needed for sustainable agriculture and to protect food supplies from climate change. But, days after initial reports said India was a party to the ‘Sustainable Agriculture Policy Action Agenda’, the Environment Ministry clarified that New Delhi has not signed the agreement. Officials ...
Competition
John Deere Selected as CES® 2022 Innovation Awards Best of Innovation Honoree in Robotics Category and Honoree in Vehicle Intelligence & Transportation Categoryedit
IT News Online – Online
John Deere has been named a CES® 2022 Innovation Awards Best of Innovation honoree in the Robotics category, and an honoree in the Vehicle Intelligence & Transportation category. This is the third consecutive year John Deere has received an Innovation Award from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which recognizes outstanding design and engineering in consumer technology products. This announcement was made ahead of CES 2022, the world’s most influential technology event, taking place January 5-8 in Las Vegas, NV and digitally. John Deere is an Innovation Award honoree in two categories for its See & Spray technology. See & Spray is a technologically advanced robot for the agriculture industry that leverages computer vision and machine learning to detect ...
Technology in Agriculture
India- Israel Sign Pact to Develop Drones and Robotics for Agriculture & Defence Sectorsedit
Krishi Jagran – Online
On Tuesday India and Israel inked a deal to collaborate and jointly develop next-generation technologies and products such as drones, robotics, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. This is surely a step in the right direction as it will help both countries to innovate and develop their economies together. India especially stands to gain a lot as the innovative technologies developed via this Bilateral Innovation Agreement could help India to stay true to the promises made during COP 26. As India needs holistic implementation of innovations in the field of agriculture and other industrial sectors to make sure it can keep up the crop yield to feed its citizens while also not compromising with nature. Especially ...
Govt. Policies
Govt loan scheme for NRK returneesedit
The New Indian Express – Online
The Kerala State Backward Classes Development Corporation (KSBCDC) has invited applications for a loan scheme for non-resident Keralite returnees belonging to OBC or minority communities. The self-employment/business loan scheme with an upper ceiling of `30 lakh aims to support people who lost their jobs abroad and had to return to Kerala. The loans will be sanctioned for any legal venture or for self employment projects in agriculture, production and service sectors. The projects could be dairy farm, poultry farm, floriculture, integrated farming, bee keeping, vegetable farming, aquaculture, bakery, sanitary shop, hardware shop, furniture shop, restaurant, beauty parlour, hollow bricks unit, provision store, driving school, fitness centre, supermarket, workshop or tourism projects. The ...
Monsoon + Indian Agriculture
Study identifies India among global flash drought hotspots from 1980-2015edit
DownToEarth – Online
A majority of the flash drought events in India occurred during the monsoon season — especially across the central, northwest and northeast regions of the country — and primarily between May and September from 1980-2015. Analysis of seasonal flash drought occurrence showed that these regions experience their peak frequency at the beginning of their respective monsoon seasons, according to a new study published in journal Nature Communications. The study identified rapid drought intensification across the United States, Brazil, southern Africa, Spain, western Russia and Australia. Flash drought is the rapid onset or intensification of drought and is set in motion by lower-than-normal rates of precipitation, accompanied by abnormally high temperatures, winds, and radiation. ...
Paddy crop on ‘lakhs’ of acres submerged in Tamil Nadu, govt says will assess damageedit
The Indian Express – Online
A farmer’s body on Wednesday said standing paddy crops in at least ‘five lakh acres’ have been ‘damaged’ due to monsoon rains and demanded Rs 50,000 farm input compensation per hectare, while the Tamil Nadu government said it has directed authorities in Cauvery delta regions to assess the damage. Paddy crops, both Samba and Thaladi in at least five lakh acres in Cauvery delta regions, including Nagapattinam and Thanjavur, has been damaged, President of the TN Federation of All Farmers Associations, P R Pandian said. “We urge the government to provide Rs 50,000 compensation per hectare to affected farmers. There should be transparency in providing compensation and disbursal.
Paddy in India
Paddy in Telangana and a problem of plentyedit
The New Indian Express – Online
As a major agrarian crisis stares at Telangana, the ruling TRS and opposition BJP are involved in a blame game rather than helping the farmer. Interestingly, the problem is on account of bountiful production as there are better irrigation facilities for the farmers now than in the past. Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao argues that the Centre has abdicated its responsibility of procuring all the raw rice produced in the state during kharif. On top of this, he faults the Centre for saying that it would not take rabi paddy in future on the grounds that it yields parboiled rice, which has no demand. But Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy, who represents Telangana ...
Haryana govt has stopped paddy procurement in 12 districts: Seljaedit
Hindustan Times – Online
Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president Kumari Selja on Wednesday accused the state government of stopping paddy procurement in 12 districts. “The anti-farmer and conspiratorial face of the BJP-JJP government has once again come to fore. Every day, the government is trying to ruin the farmers by hatching new conspiracies,” Selja said in a statement, asking the state government to procure crop from farmers at minimum support price (MSP) by removing the ban on government procurement. Selja said the BJP-JJP government has issued an order prohibiting government procurement of PR paddy at MSP in mandis of Jind, Ambala, Faridabad, Palwal, Hisar, Fatehabad, Jhajjar, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Panipat, Sonepat and Yamunanagar districts. “Neither is the crop ...
Over 98% paddy procured: Ashu; 15% yet to reach mandis: Farmersedit
The Times of India – Online
Refuting claims of farmer groups and opposition parties where they have said that a considerable amount of paddy is still to be procured, Punjab food and civil supplies minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu has made it clear that the state government has procured nearly 98% paddy, and mandis will be closed in a day or two. Afterwards, a small window will remain open for farmers and the procurement will be made only after fully verifying the details about paddy and no purchase will be made for arhtiyas and rice millers. Speaking to TOI, Ashu said, “As much as 179 lakh metric tonne paddy had arrived in mandis till evening of November 9, out of ...
Stubble Burning
Kaithal tops Haryana farm fires, state count sees 33 per cent dropedit
The Times of India – Online
Kaithal has reported the highest number of farm fires in Haryana this season, at 1,066, followed by Fatehabad (938), Karnal (848), Kurukshetra (518), Ambala (267), Yamunanagar (142) and Sirsa (148), according to data from the Haryana Space Applications Centre (HARSAC). Districts with small paddy cultivation areas, such as Palwal (101), Panipat (99) and Sonipat (70), have also witnessed stubble-burning incidents. The data indicates 4,753 cases of stubble fires in the state between September 15 and November 10, which is significantly lower than 7,083 recorded in the same period last year — a drop of nearly 33%. However, this could change, said experts. Since rains lingered well into October this time, farm fires ...
The work of setting the stubble on fire continues, so far 227 casesedit
Jagran – Online
Incidents of stubble burning are continuing in the district. Many people had already harvested the crop, but had not picked up the stubble from the fields. Now the work of burning that stubble is going on. Where earlier farmers were setting the stubble on fire in distant villages, now the work of setting the stubble on fire in the fields situated on the side of the highway has started. By setting fire to the stubble in the fields located on the right side of the highway, the smoke of the stubble comes on the road, Due to which the risk of accidents has also increased. If we look at the figures of this time, so far 227 cases of stubble burning have ...
Delhi govt to launch Anti-Open Burning Campaign from November 11 – Know Key Detailsedit
Jagran Josh – Online
The Delhi government on November 9, 2021, announced that it will be launching the Anti-Open Burning Campaign from November 11 to December 11, 2021 in Delhi to curb instances of open burning and air pollution in Delhi. The announcement also comes after the Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi turned ‘hazardous’ when it touched 503 on the AQI index after Diwali. Meanwhile, 92 construction sites in Delhi were banned on November 6 for violating dust norms.While announcing the Anti-Open Burning Campaign, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai mentioned he has written to the Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav to call an emergency meeting to deliberate on the issue of stubble burning. Rai also cited incidents of stubble burning between ...
Stubble burning: 350 incidents of farm fire reported in Uttar Pradesh in 24 hoursedit
Hindustan Times – Online
As many as 350 incidents of farm fire were reported from several districts of Uttar Pradesh in the last 24 hours contributing to the worsening air quality in the state. The fires are a reflection of the incidents of stubble burning that continue. Farm fires are a major contributor to air pollution in winter and the effect is palpable in the AQI (air quality index) data of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Four Uttar Pradesh cities, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad and Baghpat, recorded severe air pollution with their air quality index (AQI) crossing 401 during the day. The air quality of the state capital also reached near the 300-mark and the average AQI recorded there ...
Tractor industry
VST Tillers Tractors to invest USD 1.6 million in start-up Zimenoedit
Zee Business – Online
VST Tillers Tractors Ltd on Wednesday said it will invest a further USD 1.6 million (over Rs 10 crore) in California-based start-up Zimeno Inc which is into the development of electric autonomous tractors. A meeting of the board of directors held on November 9, 2021, has further decided to invest USD 1.6 million in Series B preferred stock of Zimeno Inc, a company incorporated in the State of California, USA, VST Tillers Tractors Ltd said in a regulatory filing. Earlier in March this year, the company had invested USD 15,00,000 (Rs 11.07 crore) in Series A preferred stock of Zimeno Inc. On the rationale of the latest investment, VST Tillers Tractors said, “The company ...