Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Overall kharif picks pace but paddy planting still in deficit: Dataedit
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.
Kharif crops: Haryana offers subsidy on farm machinesedit
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, ...
Explainer: Farmers’ income has doubled over five years for cash crops in some statesedit
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 ...
Monsoon + Indian Agriculture
Rains fall short: Major losses ahead, fear Bengal paddy farmersedit
Down To Earth – Online
Kharif crops in West Bengal have been severely affected due to insufficient rain this monsoon season. Farmers in the state, especially in south Bengal, heavy losses as Aman paddy cultivation has been hit by rainfall deficit. West Bengal has a deficit of 39 per cent, while south Bengal has a deficit of 47 per cent. “Farmers have not been able to even sow the seeds due to the lack of rain,” said Anil Gope, a paddy farmer from Burdwan district. Gope has 10 bighas of agricultural land. “There is no irrigation system here, so farming is completely dependent on rainwater,” he said. “If the rainfall becomes normal by August 15, I still have a ...
Rain damages kharif crops on 2.5k hectares in districtedit
Times of India – Online
Kharif crops sown on 2,500 hectares across Pune district have been damaged because of rain over three weeks of July, a preliminary report from the district agriculture office has revealed. Dnyaneshwar Bote, the district agriculture officer, told TOI, “Our officials are conducting a panchanama and assessing the situation. The damage is mainly to nurseries of paddy saplings, paddy plantations, soybean, fruit and leafy vegetables in Junnar and Ambegaon. In Khed, losses are mostly to soybean fields but probably less than 100 acres. As rain here has reduced, the situation is under control.” “After the assessment, we will submit the report to the state government. Based on that, farmers will get compensations,” added Bote. Meanwhile, ...
Stubble Burning
Punjab, Delhi plan cash incentive for farmers in border state to stop stubble burningedit
The Print – Online
The Aam Aadmi Party governments in Punjab and Delhi plan to provide cash incentive to farmers in the border state for not burning stubble and have requested the Centre to share the cost, officials said. Paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is a major reason behind the alarming spike in air pollution levels in the national capital in October and November. Farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear off the crop residue before cultivating wheat and potato. Punjab generates around 20 million tons of paddy straw annually. “We have prepared a proposal to provide a cash incentive to farmers who desist from burning paddy straw. The plan is that the Centre should ...