Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
India defends MSP at WTOedit
Mint – Online
India defended its minimum support price programme for procuring domestic foodgrain at a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting, saying it not only ensured food security but also kept global food prices from surging in the backdrop of the Ukraine war. Large foodgrain exporters including the US and Canada last month challenged India’s public stockholding (PSH) programme on the grounds that it is highly subsidized, especially for rice, and that this is affecting food security of other countries. India has invoked the ‘peace clause’ several times at the WTO for breaching the prescribed 10% subsidy ceiling on rice procurement.
Harvesting starts, but flattened wheat crop makes task costlier in Punjabedit
The Times of India – Online
With the wheat crop being flattened at many places in Punjab over the past two weeks, farmers are now finding it tough to harvest the crop as it is unfeasible to use combine harvesters for flattened crop. Farmers are now left with the option of manual harvesting. Against paying Rs 2,000-2,200 per acre for combine harvest, the manual method will cost farmers up to Rs 7,000 per acre. This includes Rs 4,000-4,500 per acre for harvesting and Rs 2,500-3,000 for threshing (separating grain from straw). In manual harvesting, farmers will save more toori (dry fodder), which fetches nearly Rs 600 per quintal. Under ...
Dairy Farming
Centre denies plans of milk and dairy importedit
Mint – Online
A senior official clarified on Saturday that the central government has not made any decisions to import dairy products, despite recent media reports suggesting that the government was considering buying from foreign markets due to local shortages. As per media reports, the official labeled these reports as misleading and confirmed that there have been no plans to import dairy products so far. News reports suggesting possible import of milk and milk products were “causing apprehension among dairy farmers and other stakeholders,” animal husbandry secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said.
Govt. Policies
Revamped Fasal Bima from Kharif 2023edit
The Financial Express – Online
The government will implement a revamped Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) from Kharif 2023 season, where insurers’ concerns about profitability will be addressed, even as the subsidy burden on the government will be capped. Thrust on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) based technologies for timely assessment of crop yield data and resultant quicker claim settlement will be the other key features of the renewed crop insurance scheme. The need for revamping the scheme arose because a rise in premium rates have inflated subsidy liability of the government, forcing many state governments to discontinue the scheme.
Agriculture dept distributes over 13,500 farm equipmentedit
The Indian Express – Online
In a bid to bridge the gap between agriculture and technology, the West Bengal agriculture department Sunday distributed 13,554 units of farm machinery like combine harvesters, rice transplanters, tractors and power tillers among farmers in East Bardhaman district. Officials said the farm equipment was distributed among farmers during a programme at the residential training centre ‘Matigantha’ in the district. 365 trainees have successfully completed the training programme at Matigantha till March 31, they added.
Paddy in India
AP plans to rope in millers to procure, transport paddyedit
The Times of India – Online
The state civil supplies corporation is planning to rope in millers to procure paddy from the farmers and transport the rice to government godowns. The decision to bring them into paddy milling operations is creating ripples among farmers as they fear it may deprive them from getting minimum support price (MSP) for their produce. Interestingly, the rice millers too are not happy with the development as they fear it might result in monopoly of a few millers in handling the operations. The civil supplies corporation, which invited tenders to pick the millers as ‘service providers’, is said to have put the plan on hold following the objections raised by the millers.