Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Gujarat to incentivise millet productionedit
The Financial Express – Online
Following the declaration of the year 2023 as ‘the international year for millets’ by the United Nations, the Gujarat Government is promoting the Dang region in Gujarat as an organic millet producing region. Farmers are being incentivised to produce pesticide free millets. Arohi Prajapati from Dang Ahwa Farmer Producer Company Limited, an FPO from the tribal area, said, “Our main focus is on Ragi, Little Millet and Finger Millet. We are maintaining our production with 332 small and marginal tribal farmers”. Prajapati said adding “We have introduced 7-8 millet based products. We are getting a 90% loan from the government to set up our Primary Processing Unit to improve our production.”
Bihar cooperative department starts process to compensate farmers for crop lossedit
Hindustan Times – Online
Bihar’s cooperative department on Tuesday said farmers can register compensation claims on its website for losses due to unseasonal rain and hailstorm in March. The cooperative department will compensate farmers for the loss in yield under its crop assistance scheme in addition to financial help given by the agriculture department. “The window on the cooperative department’s website has been opened to accept the claims for assistance in case of production loss,” said a senior official of the cooperative department. The Bihar government did not implement the Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme in the state because it believed the premium to be paid by farmers for coverage was too high.
India’s horticulture sector holds untapped potential despite challengesedit
The Economic Times – Online
India’s horticulture sector has proven to be more profitable and productive than the agricultural sector and has emerged as a rapidly growing industry. According to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India ranks second in fruits and vegetable production in the world after China. The country’s advantage lies in being a low-cost producer of fruits and vegetables because of a combination of factors such as favourable agro-climatic conditions, availability of labour, and low input costs. As a result, fruits and vegetables account for almost 90% of the total horticulture production in the country. Horticulture contributes around 30.4% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while using only 13.1% of the gross ...
Workshop discusses strategies to enhance farmers’ incomeedit
Hindustan Times – Online
An international seminar was held by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), to discuss strategies to boost income of farmers through intervention of CGIAR technologies, at the Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research here on Tuesday. The seminar hosted nearly 60 CGIAR employees as well as representatives from research institutes and stakeholders from all over the country that are tied up with the aforementioned global organisation.
Dairy Farming
Centre to push milk, cattle productivity in untapped districtsedit
Hindustan Times – Online
The Union department of animal husbandry is preparing strategies to ramp up milk and cattle productivity in so-called aspirational districts of the country, given rising post-pandemic demand, after India managed to avoid milk-fat import by a government-backed agency for the first time in decades in 2022-23 according to a senior official. Union minister for fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying Parshottam Rupala on April 15 said the world’s largest milk producer was not looking to import dairy items, such as butter, as supplies were improving, as prices rose the highest in a decade due to tightening supplies.
Paddy in India
Unseasonal rains bring more misery for farmers of Telanganaedit
The New Indian Express – Online
Heavy rains and hailstorms continued to wreak havoc, damaging standing crops on thousands of acres across Nizamabad, Suryapet and Adilabad districts on Tuesday. In the last two days, rains lashed all 29 mandals of Nizamabad district, where paddy brought to the procurement centres was soaked in rainwater leaving the farmers in distress. Till Monday, standing crops on 3,500 acres were damaged in the district. In Suryapet district, horticulture crops grown on 5,000 acres and paddy cultivated on over 25,000 acres were damaged.