Hindustan Times – Online

As the food and civil supplies department gears up for wheat procurement from April 1, the Punjab government has sought a cash credit limit (CCL) of ₹29,000 crores from the Centre. According to the state agriculture department estimates, wheat production is likely to cross 170 lakh tonnes this rabi season, out of which 135 lakh tonnes is expected to arrive for procurement by the four state agencies and Centre’s Food Corporation of India (FCI). In the 2021 kharif season, state agencies had procured 190 lakh tonnes of paddy. On the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) recommendations, the Union ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare has fixed ₹2,015 per quintal as the minimum support ...

The New Indian Express – Online

The average landholding size in India is shrinking with the increase of rural population and fragmentation of families. Around 88% of households have landholding below two hectares with 0.5 hectare as the median size (Situation Assessment of Agricultural Households and Land and Livestocks Holdings of Households in Rural, 2019). This is a structural problem the nation has to contend with. Clearly, this militates against scale and makes attempts at aggregation a complex challenge. However, there is a silver lining. In recent times, there has been a spurt in the number of entrepreneurs venturing into agri-startups that are connecting farmers. The increase in mobile connectivity and low price of data have aided their reach. ...

CNBC TV18 – Online

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 25 asked stakeholders, corporate leaders, and policymakers to start bringing in the changes required to make India’s agriculture sector “modern and smart.” He was speaking at a webinar on ‘Smart Agriculture,’ which focused on the ways that the Union Budget 2022 helped the sector. He pointed out the “seven ways” in which farming in India can be transformed, based on the Union Budget. These include the adoption of natural farming, use of emerging technology like artificial intelligence (AI) and drones, reducing the import of edible oils, logistic improvements for transportation of farm products, agri-waste management, great financial inclusion to farmers, and investments into agri-research and education. Here’s how India ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

US agriculture sector is about to feel the effects of the Ukraine-Russia conflict from fertilizers to food prices. Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, warned the states against the price gouging in fertilizers, major agricultural export for Russia. US farm groups are waiting for the ripple effect on major crops due to the high energy costs, sanctions, and counter-sanctions.vDue to the Ukraine- Russia conflict, the US could face new demands to produce crops like wheat for allies in Europe. US farmers might see new markets to reach there but rising prices for commodities can affect everyone from farmers who buy seeds to sow to US consumers who can likely end up paying more at the supermarket. ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

Covid – 19 has impacted the entire world. Some regions had been affected more severely than others like Gaza. Gaza’s condition is worsening day by day. The rapidly crashing economy, of Gaza, can be viewed through the constant decline in the living conditions of people. The poverty and unemployment rates in the country are rising rapidly from 45% to 59%. According to statistics, women’s unemployment in Gaza is even higher, at 62%. Amid this crisis, two groups of young women decided to turn to agriculture to provide food for their families. When Ghaidaa Qudaih graduated from university, she was among the several other women, who were unemployed and were suffering from poor living conditions. When ...

Telangana Today – Online

Telangana State’s GSDP at current prices in 2020-21 was Rs. 9,80,407 crore, according to provisional estimates of Telangana State Development Planning Society released here on Wednesday. Although the secondary and tertiary sectors contracted by 2.1 per cent and 3.9 per cent respectively at constant prices, they still fared better than the much steeper contractions at the national level. In 2020-21, Telangana was the sixth highest contributor to the country’s GDP at both current prices and constant prices. In 2020-21, the per capita income in Telangana State was Rs 2,37,632 at current prices and Rs. 1,53,298 at constant prices, one of the strongest economic indicators of the well-being of a population, and was 1.84 times and ...

Business Standard – Online

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a webinar on smart agriculture on Thursday. According to an official statement issued on Wednesday, an important webinar on smart agriculture is being held on February 24, which will be mainly addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Parshottam Rupala and Food Processing Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras will also attend the webinar. Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary and Minister of State for Cooperation B L Verma will also be present during the webinar besides many government officials. During the day-long webinar, the deliberations will be on five important areas, including ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

Jammu and Kashmir’s economy predominantly depends on the agriculture sector. About 70% of its population is directly or indirectly involved in agriculture. Horticulture plays an important role in the economic development of the state. Several horticultural activities revolve around Kashmir. It is the wealthiest region of the state. The Kashmir valley is known for its cold-water fisheries and sericulture activities, wood that comes from Kashmir is used in making high-quality cricket bats, known as Kashmir Willow. Jammu and Kashmir’s agricultural export business is vast. It includes the export of apples, oranges, rice, peaches, pears, barley, cherries, maize, saffron, and various vegetables. Several manufactured goods are also exported, such as handicrafts, shawls, and rugs. Agriculture and ...

The New Indian Express – Online

Agritech startup Krishify on Tuesday said it has raised USD 3.5 million from investors to grow its business across the country. In August last year, the company had raised USD 2.7 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Omidyar Network India, Ankur Capital and Orios Ventures. The company said in a statement that “it has closed USD 6.2 million in Pre-Series A funding with the additional participation of agritech VC fund Omnivore alongside existing investors Ankur Capital, Omidyar Network India, and Orios Venture Partners.” Gurugram-based Krishify, founded in 2019 by IIT alumni Rajesh Ranjan, Manish Agrawal, and Avinash Kumar, had already raised USD 2.7 million in August 2021, and has now ...

DownToEarth – Online

India’s rabi harvest season is just a month away and a record production of pulses – 18.34 million tonnes (mt) against the target of 16.84 mt is expected, according to central second advanced estimates. In the season’s pulses basket, lentil (masur) production is estimated to be the second-highest (1.58 mt). The estimated lentil production volume is also the second-highest in the last 14 years. Bumper production combined with reduced import duty can hurt farmers, according to experts. Currently, lentil is selling above its minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 5,500 per quintal in the major producing states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar. Gram, which is the other important Rabi pulses crop, is ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

Farmers from the Mysuru region have highlighted difficulties that have plagued agriculture ahead of the Karnataka Budget, which is expected to be introduced in early March. They urge the government to provide enough allocations to the farm sector. Kurubur Shanthakumar, president of the Karnataka State Sugarcane Cultivators Association, said in Mysuru on Sunday that the farmers will hold a divisional level conference in Mysuru in the run-up to the Budget session, to bring attention of the government to their demands. Farmers were in severe problems, he claimed, and had suffered as a result of the region’s untimely and persistent rains, which lasted until early December. He said that this had a detrimental impact on agricultural ...

Hindustan Times – Online

The central government is willing to be your business partner if you launch a startup focused on digital solutions for agriculture, climate change, rural development, education and even health care delivery, as India aims a big boost to its already bustling startup ecosystem. Ministries are gearing up to open themselves to business proposals from individuals, investors and firms where the state will hold limited equity partnerships, including the ministries of agriculture and electronics. A reason why the Union government has decided to be an investor is to provide “nascent-stage funding for newer entrants given India’s promising startup ecosystem and the potential they hold to transform the many sectors”, an official said, requesting anonymity. The government ...

The Indian Express – Online

India’s agriculture sector is all set to create an all-time high production record this year. According to the Second Advance Estimates of Production of Foodgrains for 2021-22, released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare last week, India’s total foodgrains production will cross 316 million tonnes. This is 1.7 per cent higher than the total production the year before. But what truly captures the remarkable growth in India’s farm production is the stark trend in the past six years: Foodgrains production has gone up from 252 million tonnes in 2015-16 to 316 million tonnes now; rising every single year. Contrast this with the performance in the six years preceding 2016-17 — production fluctuated ...

The Economic Times – Online

The government on Saturday said farmer producer organisations (FPOs) will play a key role in making India a millet hub of the world. The issue was discussed in detail on Friday at the ongoing Dubai Expo as part of India’s fortnight event on ‘Food, Agriculture and Livelihood’. During the session, senior government officials and sector experts deliberated on opportunities for Indian industry players to enhance the country’s export potential. “We urge start-ups and farmer producer organisations (FPOs) to not only help in upscaling millets’ value chain, connecting to domestic and international markets but also to creating an inclusive framework where we take producing communities along,” Abhilaksh Likhi, additional secretary in the agriculture ministry, said ...

Hindustan Times – Online

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday virtually launched 100 Made in India agricultural drones across the country, which carried out farm operations in unique simultaneous flights. The PM labelled it a “milestone” for Indian agriculture. The drone blitz is said to be, by far, the largest collective agricultural drone exercise in the country. The prime minister said new technologies would bring a “world of opportunities for farmers and youth”. A raft of recent policy relaxations and incentives, including proposals in the Union budget 2022-23, have opened up India’s vast agriculture sector for commercial use of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles.“This is a new chapter in the direction of modern agricultural facilities of the 21st century. ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

HarvestPlus and Grameen Foundation India have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to increase food, nutrition, and livelihoods security through the production, consumption, and marketing of conventionally bred biofortified crops in India. The collaboration will focus on health and nutrition initiatives, along with financial inclusion and agriculture-based livelihoods, to enable vulnerable populations (especially women) to overcome poverty and hidden hunger. These initiatives will be led by women agripreneurs known as Grameen Mittras, who will provide doorstep availability of various services and develop a personal connection with farmers through regular interactions, thereby cultivating good faith and trust with them.

The New Indian Express – Online

Even as Samba paddy harvest is over only in about 65 per cent area in Thanjavur district, farmers commenced the cultivation of pulses and summer paddy. Pulses cultivation has doubled this year compared to the last. Samba and Thalady paddy have been cultivated in around 1.37 lakh hectares in Thanjavur district this year, and harvest has completed in 90,000 hectares. Following the harvest,farmers started cultivating pulses and summer paddy. According to an Agriculture department official, black gram has been cultivated as rice fallow pulse, on 21,230 hectares so far this year. This is more than twice the coverage last year. As farmers expect timely opening of Mettur dam, they are going in ...

The Economic Times – Online

The crisis between Ukraine and Russia, two of the world’s biggest wheat and corn producers, has sent the commodities’ prices on a wild ride — with anything from a diplomatic statement to rumor of a maritime blockade roiling markets. Usually much less volatile than stocks or oil, agricultural commodities are now often subject to spectacular spikes and drops. “The market doesn’t know nuance: Either it’s war and it goes up, or it’s peace and it goes down,” said Gautier Le Molgat, an analyst at Agritel. The grains’ markets turned around three times in less than 24 hours this week: First on the Russian foreign minister’s optimistic tone Monday, then on news of the United ...

The Free Press Journal – Online

Semaai, an agri tech startup based in Indonesia, has announced $1.25 million in pre-Seed funding led by Surge, Sequoia Capital India’s rapid scale-up program for startups in India and Southeast Asia, and Beenext. Angel investors Nipun Mehra, Founder and CEO of e-commerce startup Ula; Harshet Lunani, founder and CEO of Qoala; and Prashant Pawar, Technology investment banker at Houlihan Lokey also participated in the round. While Semaai primarily operates in Central Java, Indonesia, a large part of the funding will be channelled into expanding the startup’s engineering and product teams in India. Semaai has plans to grow its tech talent in India by at least three times by the end of 2022, it ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

The farming sector has been let down by this budget. The government has boosted the agricultural credit target for 2022-23 to Rs.18 lakh crore from Rs.16.5 lakh crore for the current fiscal year, with an allocated subsidy of Rs.20870 crore. But the question is, whether the huge credit and subsidies really benefitting farmers on the ground? To enhance farmers’ income, the budget speech and the Economic Survey 2021-22 recommended that crop diversification and associated industries such as horticulture, organic farming, dairying, and fisheries be prioritized. However, in order for small farmers to shift away from wheat and paddy and increase their income through related industries, they must have access to institutional credit at affordable interest rates. ...

The Indian Express – Online

This budget has disappointed the farming sector. The government has increased the agricultural credit target to Rs 18 lakh crore for 2022-23 from Rs 16.5 lakh crore for the current fiscal, with an allocated subsidy of Rs 20,870 crore. The question, however, is: Is the huge credit and subsidy benefiting farmers on the ground? The budget speech as well as the Economic Survey 2021-22 recommended that priority should be given to crop diversification and allied sectors including horticulture, organic farming, dairying and fishing to increase farmers income. But to enable small farmers to shift from wheat and paddy or improve their income through allied sectors, they must have access to institutional credit at reasonable ...

Patrika – Online

प्रदेश में दलहन की फसलों का रकबा घट रहा है। इतना ही नहीं इसका उपभोग भी कम हुआ है। इस बात की जानकारी दलहन दिवस के अवसर पर कृषि महाविद्यालय एवं अनुसंधान केंद्र में दी गई। इस दौरान विशेषज्ञों ने न सिर्फ इस पर चिंता जताई बल्कि इस बात की मांग भी उठाई कि दलहन के उत्पादन को उद्योग का दर्जा दिया जाए ताकि इसमें किसानों की रुचि बढ़े और रकबा के साथ उत्पादन को बढ़ाया जा सके। इसके अलावा छत्तीसगढ़ में घटते दाल के उत्पादन, रकबे विषय पर संगोष्ठि भी आयोजित हुई इसमें किसानों ने अपनी बात रखी। कार्यक्रम में शामिल हुए मुख्य अतिथि डॉक्टर अरविंद कुमार उप महानिदेशक अनुसंधान एवं क्षेत्रीय निदेशक एशिया, इंटरनेशनल ...

Mint – Online

Central government has no plan to reintroduce the three repealed farm laws in future, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday. The Minister’s assurance came in a written reply when asked whether the government has any plan of reintroducing the three repealed farm laws in future. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 19 last year announced the withdrawal of the three farm laws while addressing the nation, saying the government could not convince protesting farmers about the benefits of the agriculture sector reforms. Responding to another question regarding compensation to deceased farmers, the Minister said, “the subject of compensation etc to the families of the deceased farmers in the farmers ...

Financial Express – Online

Private entities providing services such as transportation, logistics, assaying, weather forecast and fintech will be integrated into the electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM), a move that would make more farmers use the platform to sell their produce to buyers of their choice. Once the digital integration is completed, around 1.75 crores registered farmers, farmer producer organisations (FPOs), traders, commission agents and other stakeholders with the eNAM platform can avail themselves of these services. “The idea behind this integrated platform under e-NAM is to make available end-to-end services to farmers along with providing a platform for price discovery,” Neel Kamal Darbari, MD, Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC), told FE. Currently the modalities for integration of digital ...

News18 – Online

Our climate has changed for the worse due to the prolonged burning of fossil fuels, destruction of forest cover and use of livestock farming. These have collectively caused global warming due to the accumulation of greenhouse gasses (GHG). The rising temperatures have caused erratic weather and led to an unpredictable seasonal cycle. Ethiopia, a farming-dependant nation, has also faced the brunt of these impacts. They have, however, taken steps to mitigate the effects of climate change and enhance their farming production. As noted by Susan Chacko in a Down to Earth article, 25 Ethiopian smallholder farmers were interviewed in a study led by Diana Feliciano of the University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom. The study used Mitigation ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

Telangana Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said that now the State government has planned to create a cotton research facility in Adilabad, a red gram seed research center in Tandur, palm oil processing factories, and a cold storage facility at Koheda fruit market over the coming days. Niranjan Reddy, who presided over a review meeting with officials from Agriculture, Horticulture, Marketing, Warehouse, Oil Fed, and other allied departments and corporate entities in Hyderabad, stated that actions were being taken to assist in crop diversification and enhance seed yield and quality, to make farming lucrative with long-term provisions in place. He stated that a committee was being formed to monitor the quality of oil palm from the ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

According to a decision made by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on Tuesday, Manoj Ahuja, currently Chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education, would take over as Agriculture Secretary when incumbent Sanjay Agarwal retires at the end of March. For the time being, he has been assigned to the Agriculture Ministry as an ‘Officer on Special Duty’. Ahuja, an IAS officer of the 1990-batch is currently serving as the Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education, Ministry of Education, in the rank of Secretary to Government of India. He holds a B.E (Mech.) Degree from Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, MBA from Punjab University, Chandigarh and Masters in Public Administration (International ...

The Economic Times – Online

Asserting that it is committed to farmers’ interest and farming, the government on Tuesday said in Lok Sabha that there was no need to have a separate budget for agriculture. Replying to a question in the Lower House, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar said keeping a separate budget for agriculture would neither benefit the country nor the farmers. He was replying to a question asked by DMK member T R Baalu why the government does not consider bringing a separate budget for agriculture to address the problems of the farmers. During global recession, the DMK member said, India “withstood” because of the agriculture. “Our chief minister M K Stalin ...

The New Indian Express – Online

In a way of leading by example, the Agriculture Department has harvested two traditional rice varieties on its sprawling five-acre seed farm in Neikuppai Pudhur village in Lalgudi Block with an average output of 2.2 tonnes per acre — completely through organic methods. The seeds would be distributed to farmers to promote organic farming. Though paddy cultivation has been on the rise for the past three consecutive years, the area under traditional cultivation through organic farming continues to decline. This year, the acreage has dropped below two per cent of the overall paddy cultivation for the season. In addition to its efforts of improving the numbers by organising awareness campaigns, distributing seeds at ...

DownToEarth – Online

Generally, the farmer’s fate is drooped with a fortune from sowing to harvesting. A farmer may confront a series of adversities and climatic vagaries during agricultural production, such as erratic rainfall, stone hail, drought, flood, and so on. In addition, challenges like post-harvest losses, storage and unavailability of accessible proper marketing are further aggravating the problem. Currently, the human-wildlife and / or human-crops conflict, forest fires, organic matter deficit soil, monoculture, plant disease and infestation, migration and the reluctance of youth towards agriculture are a new array of problems. The traditional approach of low input-based extensive and diversified agricultural practices termed as ‘crop diversification’ could be an alternate approach that might be used to save farming ...

CNBC TV18 – Online

Agriculture in India — like its enterprises — is largely small scale. While we lament the dearth of medium scale enterprises in the manufacturing sector, we observe that the agricultural sector is trying to achieve scale and capacity through collectivisation. Farmers, when they come together to work as one entity in any phase of their production, are referred to as collectives. This move towards collectivism has been observed on the marketing side for a while, in the formation of farmer cooperative marketing societies, and on the production side more recently, as farmer producer organisations (FPOs). These kinds of collectives have been successful in overcoming certain constraints particular to Indian agriculture, such as fragmented land holding ...

Hindustan Times – Online

The cultivated area under rabi or winter-sown crops has expanded for the third straight year, driven by a record jump in oilseeds, whose domestic output the government has sought to increase to cut expensive imports, according to official data that showed little impact of the third Covid wave on the farm sector. Broader sowing patterns, as rabi sowing nears completion, also point to a positive trend, analysts said. Winter wheat and rice, which India produces in excess, showed a decline, while scarce oilseeds, such as rapeseed and mustard, registered a record increase in area. Agriculture contributes nearly 17% to the country’s gross domestic product but employs nearly half of all Indians, making it a critical ...

The New Indian Express – Online

Emphasising the need to expedite agriculture infrastructure projects in the State this year, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday asked the officials to ensure all those projects are available for agriculture and allied sectors at the earliest.Reviewing the progress of the works taken up for strengthening the agriculture infrastructure, the Chief Minister stressed that change should be visible and all the works including construction of warehouses should be put on a fast-track.

Inventiva – Online

In this article, we look at the agriculture sector in India and how technological interventions by the agritech industry are increasing efficiencies and overall productivity, resulting in investment potential. Food security has been a top worry around the world as the global population exceeds 7.9 billion in November and is expected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050. The urgency for action must also address resource shortages, distribution and access distortions, and the need to increase agricultural outputs. Policymakers around the world are increasingly looking for long-term solutions to the dilemma by leveraging technology in agricultural operations. It has heightened interest in new agriculture technology (agritech), with agritech entrepreneurs earning $26.1 billion in funding globally by 2020. ...

Financial Express – Online

Stating that the agriculture sector has been ‘resilient’ to the Covid-19 shock, the survey has recommended crop diversification towards oilseeds, pulses and horticulture through provisions of irrigation, credit and marketing infrastructure for promotion of sustainable agriculture. It also suggested to the government to give thrust on animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries sectors for harnessing the potential of agriculture and allied sectors in boosting farmers income.

Hindustan Times – Online

The Budget-eve Economic Survey tabled by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Monday has called for a “focused and targeted approach” towards capital investment in the agriculture sector to boost farm incomes, flagging swinging levels of private investment as a concern. “There is a direct correlation between capital investments in agriculture and its growth rate,” the survey states. According to the annual report card on the economy, the farm sector has witnessed “wide fluctuations in private investment in agriculture”, while public investment has remained stable between 2-3%.

Business Standard – Online

Agriculture and the allied sector proved to be the most resilient to the Covid-19 shock as it registered a growth of 3.6 per cent in 2020-21 and improved to 3.9 per cent in 2021-22, driving the overall Indian economy’s real GDP expansion of 9.2 per cent in 2021-22, according to the Economic Survey 2021-22. It also said that the growth in the allied sector is in line with the recommendations of the Committee on Doubling Farmers’ Income. Stating that the agriculture sector has experienced buoyant growth in the past two years, the Economic Survey noted that the agriculture and allied sector is the largest employer of workforce as it accounted for a sizeable 18.8 per ...

The Times Of India – Online

The farm sector has experienced buoyant growth in the past two years, showing resilience in the face of Covid-19 shock, the Economic Survey said on Monday while strongly pitching for private corporate investments in the sector and recommending the government to give priority to crop diversification towards oilseeds, pulses and horticulture by addressing the core issues of irrigation, investment, credit and markets. Underlining how “investment is critical to the growth of a sector”, the Survey, tabled in Parliament by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the first day of the Budget session, said, “Higher access to concessional institutional credit to farmers and greater participation of private corporate sector, whose investment rates are currently as ...