Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Need to implement MSP for all agri produce: Farm leaderedit
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 ...
Govt. Policies
Fighting farm fire with fire in Delhi: A five-year planedit
Times of India – Online
The proportion of pollutants from harvest residue burning in Delhi’s air last year varied from 4% to 48% on different days. Given the farm fires’ big load on air quality, the Commission on Air Quality Management’s new policy desires to have harvest stubble taken care of by December 31, 2026. The policy directs the governments of Punjab and Haryana, along with Delhi, to ensure in-situ and ex-situ management of the stubble and to initiate schemes to diversify crops other than paddy, promote short duration paddy varieties and prevent straw burning. In-situ management would have the post-harvest stubbled managed within the field through mulching or decomposition employing bio-decomposers. Ex-situ management would require the stubble to ...
Monsoon + Indian Agriculture
Farmers stare at crop failure as monsoon dodges Bengaledit
The New Indian Express – Online
Lack of rainfall has halted the sowing of paddy in several districts of West Bengal, leaving lakhs of people as well as the government worried about an impending drought-like situation. Official sources said, only 4.87 per cent of the target coverage of 41.81 lakh hectares has been achieved in this kharif season. “As paddy sowing is not possible due to lack of rainfall, rural labourers are left without jobs,’’ said an agriculture department official. Several agriculture-intensive districts, like Nadia, Hooghly, East Burdwan, Murshidabad and Birbhum, have recorded severe shortage of rainfall until now. East Burdwan district, known as rice bowl of Bengal, has received 54 per cent less than normal rainfall, while the ...
Dry to deluge: Incessant rain a threat to Marathwada farmersedit
Down To Earth – Online
Incessant rain in Marathwada, which was going dry not so long ago, has turned a threat to farmers. Rain in the last 15 days has damaged about 100,000 acres of agricultural land in Maharashtra, according to officials. Vidarbha region has also reported major losses. The state received over 35 per cent more rainfall in July, recording 459 mm against the expected rain of 340 mm. Several districts reported rainfall 200 per cent above average. The weather conditions are likely to persist through July 16. A farmer from Kurunda village in Marathwada said the erratic rains had destroyed 15 acres of crops. “I lost my soybean and turmeric plots overnight due to the unceasing rains ...
Prepare action plan to deal with scanty rainfall, UP CM tells deptsedit
Hindustan Times – Online
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath said officers of the agriculture, irrigation, revenue and relief departments should be in alert mode in view of the scanty rainfall in the state. The departments should prepare an action plan to deal with the situation as well as its impact on the farmers and crops, he said. “Merely 76.6 mm rainfall has been recorded till July 13, which is about 62% less than the normal rainfall of 199.7 mm,” he said while reviewing the monsoon situation in the state at a high-level meeting on Thursday evening. Lalitpur, Firozabad, Varanasi and Hapur received normal rainfall (80% to 120%). Kheri, Deoria, Etah and Bijnor recorded below normal (60%-80%) rainfall. “In 19 such ...
Paddy in India
Paddy season: Punjab govt temporarily suspends takeover of illegally occupied ‘shamlat’ landedit
Hindustan Times – Online
The Punjab rural development and panchayats department has temporarily suspended drive to evict illegally occupied “shamlat” (village common land) owing to paddy sown over most the land listed for the takeover. “If the department takes the possession of the land right now, it will have to deposit the cost of the standing crop in advance with the state’s revenue department,” said a panchayats department official. Besides, he said, if a farmer moves a court and the verdict comes in his favour, the department will have to compensate the cultivator for the crop loss, added the official, who didn’t wished to be named. Since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government took over the reins, the department ...
Telangana govt mulling over auction of wet paddyedit
Telangana Today – Online
With heavy rains lashing across the State and the union government stopping procurement of custom milled rice (CMR), the State government is now exploring options to auction the paddy procured from farmers recently. Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar asked the officials to prepare proposals which will be submitted to Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao for a final decision. The State government has about 94 lakh tonnes of paddy stocks stored in its posession since Yasangi (Rabi) 2020-21 season. The paddy was procured during Yasangi 2020-21, Vaanakalam (Kharif) 2021-22 and the recent Yasangi 2021-22. While majority of the stocks are stored in godowns, Rythu Vedikas and function halls among others, about 10 lakh tonnes of paddy ...
Primary agriculture cooperative societies secretaries in soup for paddy procurement lapseedit
The New Indian Express – Online
The Registrar of Cooperative Societies, on Wednesday, directed the assistant registrar of cooperative societies to take action against eight secretaries of primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS) for wilful violation procurement policy norms during 2021-2022 which led hundreds of farmers to lose their harvested paddy. The Civil Supplies department, sources said, had issued tokens to nearly 45,381 farmers of the district for procurement of 11.73 lakh quintal paddy during kharif 2021-2022. The administration had engaged 33 millers against the actual requirement of 42 which apparently caused delay in lifting of paddy from farmers. As a result, nearly 8000 tokens with a mandate to procure 3 lakh quintal paddy lapsed and no effort was made ...