Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
India eyes bumper wheat harvest in 2023 as record price lead to more sowingedit
Business Standard – Online
India is expected to harvest a bumper wheat crop in 2023 as high domestic prices and replenished soil moisture help farmers surpass last year’s planting, while an intense heat-wave cut output this year. Higher wheat output could encourage India, the world’s second biggest producer of the grain, to consider lifting a May ban on exports of the staple and help ease concerns over persistently high retail inflation. Although the wheat area has almost reached a plateau in India’s traditional grain belts in the northern states such as Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, growers are planting the crop on some fallow land in the country’s west where farmers have traditionally grown pulse and oilseeds.
Area under wheat rises, govt expects a robust rabi harvestedit
Hindustan Times – Online
The agriculture ministry expects a robust rabi or winter-sown harvest, especially of wheat, next year after extreme weather roiled several crops during the 2021-22 season, with the acreage as on November 28 already exceeding 57% of the total normal-sown area, latest official data showed. Farmers have planted wheat, the main winter staple, in approximately 15.2 million hectares till November 28, compared to 13.8 million hectares in the corresponding period of last year. Higher wheat area has been reported from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, the data showed.
Over 1 Lakh Farmers to Receive Agricultural Loans, 3 Lakh to Join Cooperativesedit
Krishi Jagran – Online
While addressing managing directors of Central Cooperative Banks at Apex Bank Auditorium in Jaipur on Monday, Principal secretary (cooperatives) Shreya Guha stated that by March 2023, 1.29 lakh new farmers will receive crop loans totaling Rs 233 crore, and 3.71 lakh new farmers will join cooperative societies and be connected to agricultural loans. At the meet, she also instructed the Apex Bank’s managing director to hold a weekly review of distribution of crop loans as well as the new farmer members associated with the co-cooperative societies. Guha added that giving out agricultural and midterm loans to qualified farmers should also be a priority, while also making it easier for farmers to obtain these loans by ...
Budget
Nirmala Sitharaman concludes pre-Budget meetings with stakeholdersedit
Livemint – Online
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the pre-Budget consultation meetings for Budget 2023-24 held in virtual mode from November 21-28, 2022. The pre-Budget meetings were concluded here on Monday. Eight sessions that were organised during this time period saw participation from more than 110 invited guests representing seven stakeholder groups. According to a statement from the finance ministry, the stakeholder groups include representatives and experts from the agriculture and agro-processing industry, industry, infrastructure, and climate change, financial sector and capital markets, services and trade, social sector, trade unions and labour organisations, and economists.
Govt. Policies
Government lifts ban on exports of organic non-basmati riceedit
Free Press Journal – Online
The government on Tuesday lifted the ban on exports of organic non-basmati rice, including broken rice after the easing of domestic supplies moderated prices. The government had, in early September, banned the export of broken rice with an aim to increase domestic availability. This followed a 20 per cent duty on the export of non-basmati rice aimed at shoring up domestic supplies after prices surged in retail markets. In a notification, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said the export of organic non-basmati rice, including organic non-basmati broken rice, will now be governed by rules that prevailed before the September ban. In September, India imposed 20 per cent export duty on rice, semi-milled and ...
Paddy in India
Telangana to enchance paddy export to other states by processing it into rice, says CM KCRedit
India Today – Online
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao made it clear that Telangana will further encourage paddy export to other states by processing it into rice. KCR also announced that 2 per cent CST (Central Sales Tax) dues would be waived. The CM reiterated that the Telangana government will protect the interests of Telangana rice millers and farmers by encouraging rice exports. Earlier, in the case of rice export from Telangana to other states, there was a policy of providing a 2 per cent concession on CST dues if Form C was filed. The rice millers’ representatives have stated they were suffering financial loss due to not providing a 2 per cent tax concession.