Down To Earth – Online

A new report by Indian Council of Agricultural Research has shed light on the extent and kind of crop damage that happened due to the scorching heatwave in the months of March and April 2022. The heatwave had impcted wheat yield and subsequently, a shortage of grain. But it also resulted in poor vegetative and retarded growth, pest infestation like fall army and whitefly attacks and viral infections in crops and livestock, the report titled Heat Wave 2022: Causes, Impacts, and Way Forward for Indian Agriculture stated. The abnormal increase in maximum and minimum temperatures during 2022 impacted crops, fruits, vegetables and animals in the nine states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, ...

The Economic Times – Online

Indian wheat prices jumped to a record high, despite a ban on exports, amid strong demand and dwindling supply from a crop damaged by heatwave. The price rally has reduced chances of India supplying substantial amounts of wheat under government-to-government deals with countries struggling to secure shipments amid the disruption of the war in Ukraine. “Most of the farmers have sold their crop. Negligible supplies are coming up for sale even though demand is robust,” said Gopaldas Agarwal, a trader based at Indore in central India. Local wheat prices jumped to a record 23,547 rupees per tonne on Wednesday. That was up nearly 12% from recent lows that followed the government’s surprise ban on ...

The Financial Express – Online

Efforts by Haryana and Punjab governments in recent years to diversify crops and thereby arrest the depletion of water tables owing to large-scale cultivation of wheat and rice haven’t made much headway. Guaranteed procurement of rice and wheat by the government at minimum support prices (MSPs) has made farmers to stay with these water-intensive crops. The Haryana government, which has been implementing a crop diversification plan since 2020, by providing financial incentives of Rs 7,000/acre to farmers for shifting from paddy to pulses, oilseeds and cotton, has so far covered only 53,000 acre in this kharif season. While coverage of crop diversification in the state is still low against the total cropped area of ...

The Indian Express – Online

With US support, India has “transformed” from food aid recipient to major agricultural exporter, USAID Administrator Samantha Power said on Tuesday. Power, who is visiting India, made these remarks after meeting food security experts in Delhi. Taking to Twitter, Power said, “With US support, India transformed from food aid recipient to major agricultural exporter. To tackle the global food crisis, India’s insights and leadership are vital. I met with experts in Delhi to discuss how India’s expertise can be brought to bear to help fight global hunger.” During her visit, Power is scheduled to meet food security and climate experts, civil society, and government officials to discuss the global food security crisis, and the ...

Hindustan Times – Online

Planting of a variety of kharif or summer-sown crops critical for the country’s food security has picked up pace but the area under rice, a staple, continues to lag last year’s levels by a wide margin, nearly two months into the June-September monsoon season. In its latest sowing-progress update for the week ending July 22, the government did not release acreage figures for paddy, heightening concerns of a smaller crop this year.

Hindustan Times – Online

In a first, the Haryana government invited online applications from farmers to ensure timely availability of agricultural machines used in sowing of kharif crops. Stating this in a release in Chandigarh on Monday, state agriculture and farmers welfare department additional chief secretary Sumita Misra said that there is a provision to provide 40% subsidy to general category farmers and 50% to reserved category farmers under the sub-mission on agricultural mechanisation (SMAM) scheme. In the stipulated period, 2330 farmers bought agricultural machinery, including 239 BT cotton seed drill machines, 323 were tractor-operated spray pumps, 284 direct seeded rice (DSR) machines for paddy sowing, 1,156 tractor-mounted rotary weeders, five power tillers, 104 pneumatic planters, 13 maize threshers, ...

Times of India – Online

Farmers’ income has doubled in the financial year 2021-22 as compared to 2017-18 for certain crops like soyabean in Maharashtra and cotton in Karnataka. In all other cases, the income rose in the range of 1.3-1.7 times, according to a report by the State Bank of India ( SBI). The increase in income of farmers engaged in cash crops (such as tea, coffee, sugarcane, cashew and rubber) has been more prominent compared to the farmers growing non-cash crops. This also has led to an increase in the share of agriculture in the GDP to 18.8 percent from 14.2 per cent, the report said. This rise was also due to the shrinkage of the industrial ...

The Times of India – Online

The Tana Bhagat community here is gradually embracing modern farming techniques to harvest cash crops on their land in a bid to increase their household incomes. “In order to encourage them to opt for modern farming techniques, 50 families from the community have been given tractors (in a group of five each), along with tillers, threshers and water pumps,” Gumla DC Sushant Gaurav said on Friday. “With mechanised tilling techniques, they are now harvesting cash crops such as ginger, chilli, mustard and gram, besides their mono-cropping yield of paddy,” Gumla district agriculture officer Ashok Sinha said. Tana Bhagats, who are followers of Gandhian principles and descendants of those who took part in Mahatma ...

The New Indian Express – Online

Despite being the leading producer of paddy, cotton and pulses, implementation of various schemes in the central and state sector are adversely affected due to shortage of agriculture officials in Kalahandi district, leaving farmers to fend for themselves. According to a report of Agriculture department, during current Kharif season, paddy is targeted to cover 1,86,961 hectares (ha), maize 17,109 ha, cereals 2,13,370 ha, pulses 65,196 ha, oilseeds 12,690 ha and cotton 73,440 ha. However due to large-scale vacancies in posts of block agriculture officer (BAO) and assistant agriculture officers (AAO), field management and monitoring is getting affected. “These officials play a critical role,” said farmer representative Dipti Narayan Praharaj, adding, Kalahandi has sanctioned ...

DownToEarth – Online

On February 28, 2016 Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to double farmers’ income by 2022-23—his gift to the country in its 75th year of independence. In the six years since then, the Union government has not given the most basic figures on how much farmers earned in 2016 and how much they earn now, making it impossible to know whether the farmers’ incomes have doubled. Instead, ministers and officials have made a range of statements in the past two years on the issue. In 2021, Ramesh Chand, a member of the government’s think tank NITI Aayog, admitted that the target would not be met because of the repealing of three farm laws passed by Parliament in ...

The New Indian Express – Online

NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand and his team called on Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at his camp office in Tadepalli on Friday. He was all praise for the State, which he said is excelling in all aspects of agriculture and allied sectors and lauded the ‘remarkable schemes that are being implemented in the State’. Citing statistics, Ramesh Chand said that Andhra Pradesh performance is better than other States with regard to the per capita income and growth rate in agriculture and allied sectors. The Chief Minister explained various development and welfare programmes that have been initiated in the State, besides bringing many revolutionary changes in agriculture, health, education and housing sectors. ...

Business Today – Online

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday said farmers and farming should be treated with honour. The minister was addressing the inaugural session of the two-day International Conference on “Harnessing Indian Agriculture for Indigenous and Global Prosperity” here, organised in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) on the occasion of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. “The farmer is not despondent, hungry or poor, rather there is a need to get out of this terminology. The farmer may be poor, he may own small fields but in spite of this he not only supports his family but also contributes to the agricultural economy of the country. Farmers and farming should be treated with honour,” ...

Moneycontrol – Online

India is not facing a crisis as far as wheat is concerned, the minister for agriculture and farmers welfare said on July 22. “There is no wheat crisis in the country, as India produces more wheat than its domestic requirement,” Narendra Singh Tomar said in a written response in Parliament’s Upper House. As per third advance estimate, the wheat production has been pegged at 106.41 million tonnes during 2021-22 which is above the five-year average production of 103.89 million tonnes, the minister said. India had on May 13 banned wheat exports to ensure domestic availability but has been allowing shipments to select countries as assistance. It has since then also tasked an inter-ministerial committee with decisions ...

The Print – Online

The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) wants guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) or remunerative prices for farmers and a ban on the use of unregulated chemical pesticides, said a senior functionary of the RSS affiliate. BKS organisational secretary Dinesh Kulkarni said the body has a representative in the MSP committee set up earlier this week, and “will put forward our suggestions” before the panel. “Our demand is to get a mechanism to ensure that the farmers get a remunerative price and a guarantee [on MSP],” he added. Speaking to ThePrint, the BKS said it wants a mechanism in place that will ensure the farmers get government facilities and incentives. The BKS, which had reservations about the ...

The Statesman – Online

The Philippines, despite being blessed with vast agricultural lands, has increasingly relied on the importation of key commodities to augment the supply of food products in previous years. Under the Duterte administration, the Department of Agriculture (DA) sourced agricultural goods from abroad to feed the entire country. In the first half of 2022 alone, the agency authorized the importation of meat, fish and sugar to cover supply shortfalls and keep local prices in check. This food importation policy was widely criticized by various agriculture groups, who not only claimed that farmers and fishers incurred billions of pesos in losses, but said the policy also eroded their productivity. The sector’s growth has remained stunted over the ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

On Tuesday, Parliament was informed that the Centre has not kept its commitment to establish a committee to offer a formal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) as made to the body representing farmer unions, Samyukta Kisan Morcha. Last year, thousands of farmers protested in force under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) against three agricultural laws. The protests were put to an end after the government agreed to repeal the legislation and gave them a written promise that it would establish a committee to look into the issue of how to guarantee MSPs for a range of agricultural commodities. The three farm laws were repealed in November of last year, and Prime ...

ET Now – Online

The average monthly income of agricultural households has increased to Rs 10,218 in 2018-19 from Rs 6,426 in 2012-13, NSS survey has shown. The Centre had constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee in April 2016 to examine issues relating to ‘Doubling of Farmers Income (DFI)’ and recommend strategies to achieve the same. The final report was submitted by the committee in September 2018 containing the strategy for doubling of farmers’ income through various policies, reforms and programmes. The panel identified the 7 following major sources of income growth: (i) improvement in crop productivity; (ii) improvement in livestock productivity; (iii) resource use efficiency or savings in the cost of production; (iv) increase in the cropping intensity; (v) diversification ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

According to the State Bank of India’s Economic Research Department (ERD), farmers’ income increased by 1.3–1.7 times in some States (such as cotton in Karnataka and soyabean in Maharashtra) and by two times for some crops in FY22 compared to FY18. The ERD examined primary data of SBI’s agriculture portfolio across States and reached the aforementioned result. According to the report, it’s interesting to note that farmers who cultivate non-cash crops like wheat, rice, maize, and millets have seen a smaller gain in income than those who plant cash crops like tea, coffee, sugarcane, cashew, and rubber. Along with agricultural income during the same timeframe, allied/non-farm income significantly increased by 1.4–1.8 times in the majority ...

The Economic Times – Online

The sowing of tomato, potato and onion is at comfortable levels this kharif season with area acreage under cultivation for these crops being at the same levels as last year, a senior official at the agriculture and farmers’ welfare ministry said. The total area sown with onion in five major producer states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh was at 26,840 hectares as on July 5, against 26,670 hectares in the corresponding period in 2021, data from the ministry shows. The total area sown with kharif potato in top five states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu was 36,120 hectares as on July 5 against 36,510 hectares ...

Times of India – Online

After written assurance over 7 months ago, the central government has constituted a long awaited committee to look into aspects related to minimum support price (MSP), promoting crop diversification and natural farming. The representatives from central and state government, farmers, agricultural scientists and agricultural economists have been taken into the committee. The three members of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) have not been named as the SKM has not provided the names to the government. While taking the representatives from state governments, the Additional Chief Secretary/Principal Secretary/Commissioner Agriculture have been taken as members from four states but not Punjab. Likewise three senior members from agricultural universities have been taken but not anyone from Punjab Agriculture ...

Business Standard – Online

India’s exports of agricultural and processed food products rose by 14 percent in the first three months of the current Financial Year 2022-23 (April-June) compared to the corresponding period of FY 2021-22. For the year 2022-23, the government had set an export target of USD 23.56 billion for the agricultural and processed food products basket under APEDA. The initiatives taken by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry have helped the country in achieving 25 percent of the total annual export target in the first three months of the current fiscal. According to the Quick Estimates data released by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), the overall export of products under APEDA ambit ...

Hindustan Times – Online

With basmati prices touching ₹4,000 per quintal, paddy growers in Haryana are hoping to reap a rich harvest this kharif season. Usually, quick-maturing varieties of paddy fetch around ₹2,500 per quintal, but this year long-grained varieties are being sold for up to ₹4,000 in some mandis. An agent, Rishi Kumar of Taraori Grain Market, Karnal, says, “Pusa 1509 is being sold for around ₹4,000 to private players. Traders are showing a good interest in the harvest as paddy from Uttar Pradesh is being sold immediately.” Praveen Kumar, a commission agent at Nilokheri Grain Market, Karnal, however, said that farmers from Uttar Pardesh had benefitted the most from the increase in price as there were no ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

Minister Amit Shah has urged that the Agricultural and Rural Development Banks (ARDBs) offer additional long-term loans to the agriculture sector. This involves funding infrastructure and irrigation projects. On Saturday, he stated that cooperative banks should concentrate on providing loans to expand the nation’s irrigated land. According to PTI, Shah stated at a national conference that the minister asked cooperative banks to consider how to manage such small farm fields with a cooperative spirit to overcome the difficulties faced by small farm holdings. “If we look back and observe the last 90 years’ journey of long-term financing through cooperatives and how it has percolated down if you check the facts, it has not grown,” Shah ...

The Indian Express – Online

THE INTRODUCTION of drones in the agriculture sector is a watershed moment for the sector, said Feroz Sheikh, chief information and digital officer of Agri input giant Syngenta India. Interacting with The Indian Express, Sheikh said this technology would help the sector leapfrog into advanced models. Last year, the Centre allowed the usage of drones for spraying agri inputs such as pesticides, and fertilizers in the agriculture sector after prior permission from the authorities. Agri input companies have started the work of registering individual molecules which would be sprayed using drone. Maharashtra government has also announced a special subsidy for village level entrepreneurs to buy drones. Susheel Kumar, country head and managing director of ...

Business Standard – Online

With a focus on securing more investments and expertise from the private players in the agriculture sector, the government is keen to create a formal comprehensive framework for Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the sector, a senior government official said. Speaking at an event organised by industry body Ficci on the issue, Agriculture Secretary Manoj Sinha said work on the framework is currently ongoing and private players are encouraged to share their inputs. Sinha said it was crucial to have a framework that enabled more private players to easily enter the sector for scaling up central initiatives such as the push to reduce losses in the value chain for farm commodities. “Several players are working ...

Hindustan Times – Online

The Punjab agriculture minister, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Thursday handed over a letter to Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar to impress upon the Union government to take the farmers of the state out of the debt trap, wheat-paddy cycle and promote crop diversification besides fruit and vegetable farming. He has demanded a financial package for curbing the trend of stubble burning, reducing the hardships of border area farmers and saving water in agriculture and using modern tools to protect against pest attacks. Apart from this, it has also been demanded to open the export of agricultural and horticultural products to the Middle East so as to expand the income of farmers of the state. ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) started a state-specific plan for doubling farmers’ income in 2016 and entrusted the KVKs to take up the challenge of achieving doubling farmers’ income. To carry out this mission, KVKs adopted villages and worked with a technology-centric approach to guide farmers in adopting innovative technological options and good agricultural practices. The impact of the program transformed the livelihood of hundreds of farmers and farm families in the jurisdiction of each KVK. As part of the Platinum Jubilee celebration of the country, ICAR documented the cases of 75000 successful farmers across the country keeping 2016-17 as the benchmark year and 2020-21 as the impact year to review the success of ...

The Indian Express – Online

Punjab Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal Friday said he has sought a financial package from the Centre to bail state farmers out of the debt trap, curb stubble burning and promote crop diversification. According to an official statement, Dhaliwal handed over a letter of demand to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar during a conference of agriculture and horticulture ministers in Bengaluru. “There is a requirement of financial package to take the farmers of the state out of the debt trap, wheat-paddy cycle, curbing stubble burning, modern tools and for promoting crop diversification, besides fruit and vegetable farming,” the statement said citing the letter. Dhaliwal also demanded a financial package for farmers living in ...

The New Indian Express – Online

A delegation of farmers met CM Basavraj Bommai and urged him to pay heed to their demands. The delegation requested Bommai to use the National Conference of State Agriculture and Horticulture Ministers conference being held in Bengaluru to think about the schemes conducive for the development of farmers. Kurubur Shanthakumar, president, Karnataka State Federation of Farmers’ Associations, said there is an urgent need to implement the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all agricultural produce. He said MSP norms as recommended by the Dr Swaminathan Committee need to be implemented. He requested the government to fix the purchase price of sugarcane on fair terms. He said farmers will not get justice if the State ...

The Financial Express – Online

The decline in rice crop yields in Thailand and Vietnam and their increased costs of production may turn out to be bonanza for India’s rice exports in the current fiscal year, trade sources said. India is exporting rice at around $360 a tonne to key markets at present while Thailand and Vietnam are offering the grain at around $ 420 a tonne. The gap, according to the sources, is expected to widen in the coming months. Besides, prospects of a reasonably strong kharif crop could enable Indian exporters to fetch higher realisations. Even in volume terms, India’s rice exports in the current year could match or slightly exceed last year’s record level of 21 ...

The Print – Online

Andhra Pradesh has decided to rejoin the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) from the ongoing kharif season, the Union Agriculture Ministry said on Tuesday. The decision to rejoin the scheme was taken after virtual talks between Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and state’s Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday. “Andhra Pradesh has decided to implement the PMFBY from kharif-2022 season,” an official statement said. Tomar said with this important decision, crops of more than 40 lakh farmers of the state will get insurance cover in case of natural calamity. PMFBY and Restructured Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) were implemented in Andhra Pradesh from kharif-2016 to kharif-2019. Tomar said the Centre ...

The Economic Times – Online

The government is working on a policy on ‘Good Agriculture Practice’ to benefit the Indian agriculture sector, said Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. “There is a concern at the international level on having a sustainable agriculture, good agriculture practices along with environment concern,” he said at a conference on ‘Scope of Public-Private Partnerships in Agriculture’ by Ficci.

The Financial Express – Online

Retail prices of tomato, which rose to Rs 100/kg six weeks ago as heat waves adversely impacted output, has since moderated thanks to robust arrivals and prospects of good crop in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Officials said that retail prices of agricultural commodities such as rice, wheat, potato and sugar have witnessed a moderate spike compared to previous year while prices of key pulses – gram and tur and onion – have declined compared to year-ago period. According to an agriculture ministry official, with Kharif crops – paddy, pulses, oilseeds, sugarcane and coarse cereals sowing picking up pace in the last fortnight after the revival monsoon rains especially over western, central, eastern ...

Business Standard – Online

Rapid strides have been made by India in improving malnutrition rates said the UN recently and added that stunting in children below five years has declined from 48 percent to 38 percent in the country between 2006 and 2016. The government has large food security and anti-poverty programmes. With a five-fold increase in food grain production from 50 million tonnes in 1950-51 to about 250 million tonnes in 2014-15, India has moved away from dependence on food aid to become a net food exporter. In 2016, the government launched a number of programmes to double farmers’ incomes by 2022. These seek to remove bottlenecks for greater agricultural productivity, especially in rain-fed areas. They include the ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

Farmers in Gondipalli village, Rapthadu mandal, Anantapur district (Andhra Pradesh), protested against the installation of energy metres for agricultural connections beginning on Farmers’ Day on Saturday (Friday). On Saturday, a delegation from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the A.P. Rythu Sangham visited Gondipalli, where Rapthadu police stopped them from going to the location where the metres were being repaired. “The meter-fixing work began yesterday, and when farmers came out to protest, State police personnel prevented them from protesting.” All of this is being done to meet the World Bank’s requirements for power sector reforms in order to lend 1,000 crores,” said CPI(M) district secretary V. Rambhupal. Installation of metres on all agricultural service ...

Hindustan Times – Online

Minister for rural development, panchayat and agriculture Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Saturday stated that he would raise the concerns of farmers whose fields are situated across the barbed fence along the Indo-Pak international border during the forthcoming national meeting on agriculture. The Union government is organising a meeting of agriculture ministers of all states in Bengaluru on July 14 and 15. As many as 30 state agriculture ministers along with Union agriculture ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Shobha karandlaje will take part in the two-day meeting that will focus on initiatives to double farmers’ income and exchange best practices among states. The minister reached out to these farmers at the border in the Ajnala sub-division ...

Hindustan Times – Online

The Punjab agricultural department plans to deploy drones to conduct aerial surveys to map farms where crop residue is burnt in violation of government orders during paddy and wheat harvest seasons. The problem is especially grave during the paddy harvest, when at least 120 lakh tonnes of straw is set ablaze in Punjab to prepare the fields for the next crop, leading to a thick blanket of smog up to Delhi in October-November. According to the proposal submitted to the Union agriculture and farmers’ welfare ministry, the state department has sought ₹53 crore funds under the Centre’s sub-mission on agricultural mechanisation (SMAM). The funds will be partially used for procuring at least 70 multipurpose drones, ...

The Economic Times – Online

Sowing of kharif crops has picked up pace with the southwest monsoon entering an active phase, which has pushed up rainfall across the country to normal levels. The acreage under kharif as on July 1 was 27.872 million hectares, up from 14.05 million hectares on June 24, reducing the drop in acreage to 5.3% from 24%, according to data from the agriculture ministry. In the current kharif season, sowing had been done on 27.872 million hectares till July 1 compared with 29.443 million hectares in the corresponding period last year. “There is sufficient availability of quality seeds of all major kharif crops for kharif 2022, and availability of fertiliser has also been comfortable,” an ...

The Indian Express – Online

TSAGROS Managing Director K Ramulu stated on Friday that out of Rs 3,075 crore target set by the Centre for Telangana for interested farmers, Farmer Producers Organisations and agripreneurs to seek loans as part of the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund through the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), only Rs 359 crore has been utilised till now. Speaking at the awareness programme on the Agricultural Infrastructure Fund Scheme held jointly by TS Agros, MANAGE and the Union Ministry for Agriculture in Hyderabad on Friday, he encouraged 300 operators of agros service centres, farmers and FPOs to make use of the scheme which is a major boost for those planning to start their agri-based ...

The Financial Express – Online

India had one of the highest percentage of people who can’t afford a healthy diet at 70.5%, according to a study by the United Nations’s Food and Agricultural Organisation. As for the health indicators among the population groups, India fared somewhat satisfactorily for the rate of exclusive breastfeeding for infants aged less than 5 months old at 58% as of 2020. For children, however, the picture was alarming. The prevalence of child wasting (insufficient nutrient intake) is highest in India among its neighbours at 17.3% as of 2020, while the prevalence of stunting (being underdeveloped for one’s age) (30.9%) was only second to Pakistan (36.7), showing that child nutrition remains a prevalent issue in ...

Times Of India – Online

Sinnar, Dindori and Niphad talukas of Nashik district, which were lagging behind in kharif sowing, have now increased sowing activities. According to the agricultural officials, the kharif sowing in these districts was below 5% around 8-10 days back. It has increased to over 50% in these three talukas in the past few days. The kharif sowing in Malegaon and Nandgaon has reached over 92%, while 72% of the sowing has been completed in Satana taluka. The total kharif sowing in the district was only 9% by June 27. But with the revival of the monsoon, 56% of the kharif sowing has been done so far. The kharif acreage in Nashik district is estimated at ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

Farmers are once again threatening to stage a protest since their demand for a guaranteed minimum support price (MSP)” for all agricultural produce is still not met. The farmer groups from five southern states, including Karnataka, assembled on Tuesday in a convention held in Krishnagiri of Tamil Nadu and planned to conduct another large convention in Coimbatore in August. It must be noted that “Guaranteed Minimum Support Price (MSP)” for all agricultural produce and the elimination of the GST on agricultural products and equipment were both demanded by the farmers. “Resolutions were voted at the conference seeking a reform in the agricultural credit policy, compensation for crop damage by wild animals, and a call for ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

Farmers have requested the Union government to release funds for projects to repair dams in Tamil Nadu since work on these projects appears to have met a snag. According to the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement-2 (DRIP-2) scheme, 37 dams, including Mettur, Bhavanisagar, and Krishnagiri, would receive repairs and reinforcement at an estimated cost of Rs 610.26 crore in 2020, according to the Water Resources Department (WRD). But due to a lack of funding, the majority of this work is still unfinished. K Balasubramani, general secretary of Vivasayigal Munnetra Kazhagam, said although officials frequently audit dams, this work is not finished and dams need to be strengthened, repaired, and reinforced to maintain the flow of water. ...

Hindustan Times – Online

Planting of rice, the main kharif or summer-sown staple, lags last year’s levels by a wide margin, but analysts expect it to rise as the southwest monsoon, which was patchy in June, is forecast to be plentiful in July, the most critical month for sowing. Overall kharif sowing was 5% below last year’s levels as on July 1, the agriculture ministry’s latest available data show. An uneven June-September monsoon, which waters nearly 60% of the country’s net-sown area, was 8% deficient in June, despite heavy rains and deadly flooding in some states. On Tuesday, Union minister of food and public distribution Piyush Goyal asked states to ramp up paddy sowing at a state food ministers’ ...

The Economic Times – Online

Rising food inflation remains a cause of worry and a drop in the procurement of grains by the government in May remains a key concern for farmers, according to a Centrum Broking report. The broader worry, however, remains on ignoring declining farmers’ income and initiatives in incentivizing them to produce more to avoid a situation where India needs to import food grains from outside as was seen earlier in 2007 and 2016. “FMCG industry deliver strong growth only when the poor people have more money in their hand to spend. When this happens, as a result, the demand becomes huge and the economics of the company does not need any kind of boosters,” said ...

The Times of India – Online

Highlighting the achievements of his department in the first 100 days of the second term of Yogi Adityanath government, state cooperative minister JPS Rathore said the district cooperative banks issued agriculture loans of Rs 4,635 crore to 8.5 lakh farmers between April 1 and June 22. Loans worth Rs 3,200 crore were disbursed during corresponding period last year. The target for this financial year is Rs 10,000 crore. “In 100 days, Rs 560.45 crore was sanctioned as loans for payment of dues to cane farmers. Another Rs 112 crore was sanctioned as long-term loans for purchase of agricultural equipment and generation of employment,” he said. Minister for panchayati raj, Bhupendra Singh Chowdhary, said ...

The Sangai Express – Online

When the whole world is talking about innovation-driven economy, Manipur is talking about food deficit. We are reminded of the fact that political freedom and economic freedom are two sides of a coin; and food self-sufficiency is at the centre stage of economic freedom. The image of a State goes with economic freedom. Telangana, the youngest State, has made farmers “Real Heroes” of development process by providing free power, free irrigation, annual input-subsidy of Rs 10,000 per acre and by waiving loans. Food grain production has increased 8 times. To-day the per capita income is Rs 2,78,833;— one of the highest in the country. The development experience of Manipur is marked by dispirited trend ...

The Indian Express – Online

The Karnataka forest department has directed the Hassan forest division to consult the agriculture department and submit a proposal regarding the commissioning of a multi-disciplinary study to look at possible changes in cropping patterns with an intent to bring down man-animal conflict in the district. The direction, dated June 29, comes in the backdrop of a request made by Siddharth Goenka, a member of the Karnataka state wildlife board. Expressing concern over the death of a tusker which was shot dead on May 27 in the paddy fields of Malasavara in Belur range, Goenka, in his letter to the chief wildlife warden, Vijaykumar Gogi, stated that the forest department’s project of installing railway barricades ...

Hindustan Times – Online

Even as the Punjab government is giving a big push to summer moong, farm experts have warned against the cultivation of the short-term legume to contain the threat of deadly whitefly pest attack on the cotton crop, considered as an economic lifeline of farmers in the Malwa belt. In 2015, the pest infestation had damaged the cotton crop on more than 3-lakh hectares in the semi-arid region. After a gap of seven years, the state agriculture department is on its toes again to battle the whitefly threat and the experts say moong cultivation is a key factor contributing to the current pest alert. Principal entomologist of Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) Vijay Kumar said after the ...

Mint – Online

The government maintains buffer stocks for commodities such as wheat and rice to supply its welfare schemes, ensure price stability, and guard against exigencies. However, these stocks have been depleting of late. Mint examines the implications. What is the rationale for buffer stocks? Buffer stock is generally maintained for essential commodities like wheat, rice and pulses to provide food security through the public distribution system, and ensure that everyone has access to sufficient food for sustenance. It also ensures there are no food shortages during emergencies such as drought and floods, and helps the government run its welfare programmes. They also help the government in facilitating and maintaining price stability and keep food inflation at low ...

The Indian Express – Online

Spring/summer season maize growers in the state are happy as they are fetching good rates for their crop, which is being sold around the MSP rate, in the market currently. But even this good rate of the crop is not enough to encourage the state’s farmers to increase the area under kharif maize, one of the major alternatives for the water-guzzling paddy in Punjab, the sowing of which starts in June along with paddy and ends by mid-July. Till June 27, the maize was sown only on 33,000 hectares (81,543 acres), which was almost half of the last year in the same corresponding period when 60,000 hectares (1.48 lakh acres) were brought under the ...

News 18 – Online

The last 200 years have seen unprecedented growth in industrialisation. This coupled with doubling of world population from about 4 billion to 7.9 billion over the last 45 years has led to increased pressure and consequent interference with the environment, leading to doubling of natural disasters over the last 20 years. A key adverse impact has been heatwaves. Recently, India pulled out of its global commitment to make up for the wheat supply to the world on account of the Russia-Ukraine conflict as its own production estimates had to be revised downwards. The downward correction was on account of intense heat spell during the end of the Kharif crop cycle, which adversely impacted wheat production. ...

Inventiva – Online

In the year ending in March 2022, India, the world’s second-largest producer of wheat, exported an unprecedented 8.2 million tonnes. In the current fiscal year, which ends in March 2023, the government claimed India might export anywhere between 10 and 15 million tonnes. Less than five million tonnes of export contracts have been signed thus far. After previously claiming that its decision to prohibit wheat exports would assist solve a global supply shortage caused by the conflict in Ukraine, India has now justified the move. The restriction was implemented by the Indian government two weeks ago due to worries that an early heat wave had damaged the nation’s harvests and raised local prices to record levels. ...

Krishi Jagran – Online

Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, today launched the 100th anniversary celebrations of the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal (Haryana). Speaking on the occasion, Tomar stated that India ranks first in the world in terms of most agricultural products, and that maintaining product quality is even more important in this situation. “India is also at the top of the world in terms of milk production, but we must continue to work hard.” Farmers’ labour and scientists’ research have made unprecedented contributions to this monumental achievement. Our country now has access to a wide range of resources and scientific knowledge. In such a case, progress should be made quickly, a target ...

The New Indian Express – Online

Global warming has resulted in evaporation of water that could have been used by 27 million people, a new study published in Nature has found The study based on satellite imagery of quantified evaporative water loss for 1.42 million lakes and reservoirs globally for the past 30 years warns that global warming can impose a hefty strain on water resources as demand for agriculture, industrial and domestic water continues to increase in future. The paper finds that the long-term trend attributions include an increased evaporation rate (58%), decreasing lake ice coverage (23%), and increasing lake surface area (19%). In total, the annual evaporation of global lakes from 1985 to 2018 is found to ...