Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
B’desh Govt Seeks 5 Lakh Tonnes of Parboiled Rice from Indiaedit
Krishi Jagran – Online
Tenders issued on December 6 and 12 will expire on December 21 and 17, respectively. Bangladesh approached India after a Dhaka delegation, including the Food Secretary and Director-General of the Food Directorate, scouted supplies in Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia last month. Bangladesh has turned to India because it has been unable to find parboiled rice at a competitive price in these three countries. According to the sources, one of the four agencies (NAFED, NCCF, Kendriya Bhandar, and Kribhco Agri) could be shipping rice to Bangladesh on a G2G basis.
USDA announces another climate-smart agriculture project worth $325 millionedit
Business Standard – Online
The federal government on Monday announced another $325 million for agricultural projects that are intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The latest list of 71 recipients for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Climate-Smart Commodities programme primarily involve small and underserved farmers and ranchers. The payments follow $2.8 billion awarded in September to 70 projects, mostly larger-scale efforts backed by universities, businesses and agricultural groups. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the latest round of funding at Tuskegee University, a historically Black college in Alabama, saying it’s vital that small operations benefit from the programme.
Paddy in India
Forget MSP, farmers are getting better price for paddy in open marketedit
The New Indian Express – Online
The market functions well with minimal governmental interference. It happened during the last kharif season, and once again this year, the same is being proved as paddy farmers are getting a good price for their produce in the open market. The State government is expecting a bumper paddy production in the current kharif season, and expects anywhere between 70 and 100 lakh tonnes of paddy to reach the paddy procurement centres (PPC). As of Monday, the Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd procured 47 lakh tonnes of paddy through the PPCs. There are several reasons for paddy farmers preferring to sell their produce to millers and traders. They are getting a better price ...
Paddy procurement for central pool up 13% at 38 million tonnes till December 11edit
The Economic Times – Online
Procurement of paddy for the central pool in the ongoing 2022-23 kharif marketing season was 13% higher at 38.06 million tonnes as on December 11, compared with 33.62 million tonnes a year earlier, according to latest data from Food Corporation of India (FCI). The data indicates that this year, the government is actively procuring paddy to fill up its stocks, said Tarun Satsangi, assistant general manager at Origo Commodities, which focuses on commodity supply chain, post-harvest management, trade and finance.
Stubble Burning
Bihar figures in top 10 most polluted cities in the countryedit
Hindustan Times – Online
Bihar figured in the top 10 most polluted cities in the country as the air pollution level surpassed other states on Monday, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) officials said. According to the CPCB, Begusarai recorded the worst air quality in the country where AQI stood at 446 followed by Bettiah at 439, Samastipur at 437, and Chhapra at 404. Apart from this, 12 cities/towns from Bihar recorded ‘very poor’ AQI which inched closer to ‘severe’. AQI at Katihar stood at 396, Motihari 391, Purnia 389, Patna 385, Muzaffarpur 383, and Bhagalpur 365, officials said. After Bihar, the other two most polluted cities in the country were Asansol (358) and Siliguri (337). Hajipur, Kishanganj, Gaya, and ...
In a first in 5 years, Delhi sees no ‘smog episodes’ in Oct and Nov: Analysisedit
The Indian Express – Online
This October and November, Delhi saw no severe, prolonged ‘smog episodes’, a first for the city in the past five years, as per an analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). According to Avikal Somvanshi, programme manager at CSE’s Urban Lab, the analysis considers a severe smog episode to be when PM2.5 or PM10 concentrations of 300µg/m3 or 500 µg/m3 respectively persist for three days, which is old Graded Response Action Plan’s ‘severe +’ category. The analysis stated that there is “usually one smog episode during October-November lasting 6-10 days”, and last winter, there were two smog episodes in November with one lasting 10 days from November 4-13.