Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Banned wheat exports to ensure adequate supply, says Union ministeredit
Business Standard – Online
Union Minister Kailash Choudhary on Sunday said the Centre had placed a ban on wheat exports to ensure adequate availability of the food grain in the country. The ban was put in place on May 14 in order to control domestic prices amid concern that wheat output may be hit due to a prevailing heatwave. “For us the country is first and our priority is to make available adequate wheat to our citizens, We have banned wheat export so that people don’t face shortage,” the Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare told reporters here. India’s wheat exports stood at an all-time high of 7 million tonnes, valued at USD 2.05 billion, in ...
Technology in Agriculture
For Adani, drones are the new tractors (& a bet on India’s agriculture sector)edit
Times Now News – Online
Adani Enterprises’ subsidiary on Friday announced the acquisition of a 50% stake in General Aeronautics Private Limited which makes drones for the agritech sector. A day later Adani Group revealed its strategy to sell drones in India on lines of the tractor industry. The plan is to sell directly to the customers via dealerships and leasing out equipment in exchange for a fee— like the tractor industry does. “We are exploring both models — dealer-based model and service-based model. Depending on the market response, we will take our decisions,” Rangarajan Vijayaraghavan, Vice President, Strategy and Chairman’s Office, Adani Group, told PTI in an interview. He added the Adani Group is targeting multiple areas in ...
Harvest Machine
Which is worse for the soil – combine harvesters or dinosaurs?edit
Great Indian Mutiny – Online
Words I didn’t expect to read in this week’s scientific paper: “The similarity in mass and contact area between modern agricultural vehicles and sauropods raises the question: What was the mechanistic effect of these prehistoric animals on Earth’s productivity?” The paper, from Thomas Keeler and Danny Orr, raises what may be a major concern: Agricultural compounds have grown over the past few decades, to the point where they may compress the subterranean soil where the roots of crops extend. This poses a threat to agricultural productivity. The paper then compares the threat of compression to that posed by the largest animal ever to roam our land: sauropods. The big crisis We think the ground ...
Monsoon + Indian Agriculture
Telangana: Expedite paddy buying as unseasonal rains worrying farmers, says Congressedit
The Times of India – Online
Stating that only about 50% of the total paddy brought to the procurement centres has been purchased, the Congress has demanded that chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao ensure that procurement process is expedited as unseasonal rains and early monsoon are worrying the farmers. AICC spokesperson Dasoju Sravan said KCR should hold a meeting with bankers and ensure that fresh crop loans are given to farmers as the banks have stopped it. Former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir, while addressing a meeting in Rajampet in Kamareddy district as part of Rythu Rachabanda, said the Congress, if voted to power, will waive off crop loans of up to ₹2 lakh of each farmers and extend ₹15,000 ...