Hindustan Times – Online

Hot weather across north India has cut wheat yields at a time when the country is counting on a bumper crop to tap an export market left struggling with a gap in supply due to the Ukraine war, farmers and traders said. The main winter staple is currently being harvested in major grain-bowl states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Cultivators said their per-acre yields (one acre equals 0.40 hectare) have fallen 10-15%. Heatwave conditions in March, when the crop was in advanced ripening stage, shrivelled grains, affecting both quality and weight of output, farmers said. In February, the government forecast wheat production would be a record 111.32 million tonnes this year, ...

ThePrint – Online

Every time we visit Punjab, we ask farmers why they stick with the rice-wheat cropping pattern year on year. Especially when most are witnessing receding underground water levels, forcing them to deepen their borewells each year during the paddy season. One answer from a young farmer stayed with us. He said, if you give us profitable and stable markets, we will produce whatever you want us to produce. It is well established that Punjab’s farmers are hardworking and enterprising. Most of them today acknowledge that the underground water line is receding and their costs of cultivating, particularly paddy, are rising. Families of many in rural Punjab continue to suffer from severe illness due to high ...

Krishi Jagran– Online

The early arrival of summer, followed by unusually high temperatures, has reduced wheat yield in the Malwa region. According to farm experts, the grain has shrunk due to the heatwave, resulting in a low yield. Farmers have already begun to demand compensation, anticipating a drop in their income. They claim the yield will fall by 350-400 kg per acre, despite experts putting the figure between 180 and 200 kg. According to a Punjab Agricultural University official, “the yield was around 2,080 kg per acre in 2018-19.” This season, it is expected to drop to 1,800 kg.” “The reason for low yield is high temperature, which is 6-8 degrees Celsius higher than the previous year,” said Dr. ...

Fortune India – Online

Finally, the day of reckoning for doubling the farmers’ income by 2022-23, which the Centre promised in 2016, is here. While this year’s budget was silent, here is a window into the Centre’s thinking on the subject. On March 24, 2022, the standing committee on agriculture’s “demand for grants (2022-23)” report was tabled in the Parliament. It paints a dismal scenario. The report said: “It appears from the reply furnished by the Department that the Department is far from Doubling the Income of Farmers, rather in some States, between 2015-16 and 2018-19 i.e., in four years, like Jharkhand it has come down from ₹7,068 to ₹4,895, for Madhya Pradesh it has come down from ₹9,740 ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

Farmers in the region of Maharashtra’s Aurangabad allege that rising fuel prices and labour costs have made cultivation prohibitively expensive. According to them, farmers have begun to use different approaches to save costs in the current climate. Farming machinery requires gasoline, and cultivators frequently have to rent the equipment. A farmer named Bhagwan Bogane who is studying BSc in Agriculture and who is the owner of a tractor said that in order to plough one acre of land, a tractor consumes about six gallons of diesel. Earlier, this much diesel used to cost him Rs.400. However, the price has already risen to approximately Rs 650. Farmers who rent machinery have to spend Rs 1,800 to ...

Financial Express – Online

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday launched two new portals, including one for registration of pesticides. Another portal is for documentation related to imports and exports of agri-products and plants. The minister launched the two portals — CROP (Comprehensive Registration of Pesticides) and PQMS (Plant Quarantine Management System) — in an event held at the Pusa complex, with an aim to improve ease of doing business. Addressing the event, Tomar said the two new portals have been launched to make the process of pesticides registration and documentation process for export-import simple and transparent. The government is committed to make improvements in systems, if required, he added. Highlighting the importance of agriculture sector in Indian ...