Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Wheat growers fear crop loss as temperature hits above-normal rangeedit
The Economic Times – Online
Parwinder Singh, a farmer from Punjab’s Kapurthala district, like many wheat growers in the state, is fearing loss of crops due to above-normal temperature in the past few days. Singh, a farmer from Talwandi Mehma, said at this time of the year, “the crop does not need very warm days. If temperatures continue to remain above normal for several days, it can adversely impact the wheat crop”. While the maximum temperatures in Punjab and Haryana have been hovering above normal limits for several days, minimum temperatures too had registered an increase. But for the past two-three days, the minimum temperatures have been hovering close to normal range.
Budget
Budget 2023 builds on digitalisation of agriculture for farmers’ prosperityedit
The Times of India – Online
Agriculture accounts for around 18% of the GDP but employs more than 40% of Indian workers. Though the NDA government in 2014 proposed to double farm incomes in 2022, and in some pockets incomes have risen substantially, it remains to be seen if such increases can sustain over time and if the leanings can be migrated elsewhere. The fact today is that majority of India’s farmers are small and marginal farmers with less than two hectares of land account for over 70%% of the total cultivators in India. Climate, politics and policies are bigger challenges for them than farm education and market access. The sector needs to grow at a faster pace to ...
Technology in Agriculture
Technology the game-changer as Uttar Pradesh reaches rice milestoneedit
Hindustan Times – Online
Uttar Pradesh has made the fastest delivery of custom milled rice (CMR) to the Centre, saving around ₹1300 crore as interest burden and eliminating the possibilities of malpractices that millers often indulged in by delaying the delivery of processed rice to the state government, officials aware of the issue said. Application of technology for automatic allotment of paddy to genuinely performing rice mills and elimination of discretion and human interference in the whole process is believed to be the game- changer this year.
Paddy in India
Tamil Nadu govt to rope in private players for paddy processingedit
The Times of India – Online
Seeking to bring about a paradigm shift in the government’s paddy procurement system, the state government is all set to rope in private players to process paddy procured by the civil supplies corporation from farmers. Sources said the government would sign agreements with private players for 10 years. Drenching of paddy bags in direct procurement centres (DPCs) will be a thing of the past as modern rice mills of 200TPD (tonnes per day) would come up at Theni, and six units of 500TPD would come up at Thanjavur, Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai and Thiruvarur districts. These centres to be established by private players would have adequate warehouses/silo to store 1,500MT/3,500MT. They would also have facilities ...