Indian Farmers

Farmers engaged in the cultivation of green peas have staged a protest on Jabalpur-Bhopal national highway after getting low prices for their produce and demanded the Madhya Pradesh government fix a minimum support price for it in the open market. The protest staged by farmers on Saturday is significant since the Madhya Pradesh government has selected green peas under one-district one-product scheme for Jabalpur district, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh national spokesperson Raghvendra Patel told PTI on Sunday. Green peas are grown on a large scale in the district and supplied to various other states, he said. "The farmers want the state government to fix the minimum price for the trading of green peas in the open market, he said. This has been a long pending demand of farmers from the district, he said. Currently, in the absence of such norms, farmers incur losses in the production of green peas if the rate per kilogram goes down in the open market - below the actual production cost per kg

Sugarcane farmers of Tamil Nadu have demanded that the state government procure sugarcane directly from the farmers and distribute it through ration shops during Pongal

With most of the water bodies in Tamil Nadu not reaching their full capacity even during the monsoon season, farmers have demanded the state government to conduct annual desilting to increase storage

Experts say cloudy skies in 2022 and farmers only burning part of the stubble could have led to an underestimation of this year's stubble fires

Punjab, a major grower of kinnow crop in the country, is likely to witness at least a 25 per cent decline in the output of the citrus fruit even as the growers are fetching higher prices this season. The orchardists blame the acute short supply of canal water and unexpectedly higher temperature during the flowering stage of the crop for the lower yield early this year. Punjab is the largest producer of kinnow fruit in the country, with around 59,000 hectares of land under the crop and almost 12 lakh metric tonne of annual output. Harvesting of kinnow, a hybrid between king and willow leaf mandarins, starts in December and goes on till February-end in Punjab. Abohar is the leading district in the state, with a maximum area of 35,000 hectares under the kinnow crop. It is also grown in Hoshiarpur, Muktsar, Bathinda and some other districts, an official of the Punjab Horticulture department said. "There is going to be around 25 per cent drop in the production of kinnow this year," sai

Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday said the agriculture sector remains resilient, and the rabi sowing has got off to a strong start. However, India is expecting some moderation in kharif production due to uneven rainfall. India's total kharif crop production is estimated to moderate to 149.92 metric million tonnes (MMT) from 156.04 MMT in the previous kharif crop year, as per the first advance estimate. On the supply side, Das said, "The agricultural sector remains resilient. Rabi sowing got off to a strong start. The area sown so far is 6.8 per cent higher than the normal sown area (as on December 2, 2022)". Area sown to wheat has increased by 5.36 per cent year-on-year to 211.62 lakh hectares in the first two months of the ongoing rabi (winter) season, with higher coverage being reported in Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, according to the agricultural ministry data released on Friday. The sowing of wheat, the main rabi crop, begins in October and harvesting i

Public sector Bank of Baroda has sanctioned over Rs 100 crore worth of agricultural loans in Tamil Nadu during its 15-day farmer outreach programme held here recently. At the fifth edition of 'Baroda Kisan Pakhwada' held between November 15 and 30, as many as 161 semi-urban and rural branches of the bank took part. More than 20,000 farmers across Tamil Nadu received farm loans of Rs 134 crore, the bank said in a statement on Saturday. The 'Baroda Kisan Pakhwada' has been designed to help the bank boost engagement with the farming community and create awareness about various agricultural products, schemes offered by the Bank. "We at Bank of Baroda are pleased to be reaching out to the farming community on a larger scale and provide them with details and financial assistance and make them familiar with various types of agri-loans, banking services and various agricultural initiatives launched by the government," Bank of Baroda general manager and zonal head (Chennai) A Saravanakumar .

Currently, the version of DBT in fertilisers involves farmers purchasing their fertilisers through point of sale (PoS) devices after undergoing Aadhaar authentication

Govt crop insurance scheme needs radical rethink

Centre willing to make additional pro-farmer changes in response to climate change

The farmers' representatives urged the Finance Minister to focus on human resources development over infrastructure

Centre refutes the assertion of artificial shortage of fertilisers in country

The group will also celebrate November 19 as 'Fateh Diwas' to commemorate the repeal of the laws

The government and fertiliser company officials have said nutrient supplies are adequate

Industry players and farmers said there were other reasons for the slower-than-targeted adoption

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday to sympathetically look into the problems being faced by farmers along the India-Pakistan border fence in the state. Addressing a two-day "Chintan Shivir" of home ministers here, Mann urged Shah to reduce the distance between the border fence and the actual border to facilitate the farmers cultivating their land across the fence, according to an official release. The chief minister said the distance must be reduced to 150-200 metres, instead of the existing around one kilometre, to ensure that the farmers of the border region benefit from it. He said this will ensure optimum utilisation of the land on one hand and strengthen the security of the country on the other. Flagging another issue, Mann urged the Centre to set up a regional centre of the National Security Guards (NSG) at Pathankot. He said the setting up of the NSG centre at Pathankot will help effectively combat any terror activity in the

The government has restricted use of herbicide Glyphosate and its derivatives, fearing health hazards and risk to human beings/animals, a move opposed by an industry association AGFI citing endorsements from global studies and regulatory bodies. Glyphosate and its formulations are widely registered and currently used in more than 160 countries, including the EU and the USA. Farmers across the globe have been using it for safe and effective weed control for over 40 years. "The use of Glyphosate is hereby restricted and no person shall use Glyphosate except Pest Control Operators (PCOs)," said a notification issued by the agriculture ministry on October 25. The companies have been asked to return the certificate of registration granted for Glyphosate and its derivatives to the Registration Committee for incorporation of the warning in bold letters "The use of Glyphosate formulation to be allowed through PCOs" on the label and leaflet, it said. The companies have been given three mont

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Wednesday launched a common credit portal SAFAL' (Simplified Application for Agricultural Loans) for the welfare of farmers. The facility will enable farmers and agri-entrepreneurs to access more than 300 term loan products of over 40 banks, the chief minister said while launching the portal. It has also been integrated with Krushak Odisha and will have access to 70-plus model project reports. The application can revolutionise credit provisions for farmers and agri-entrepreneurs, he said. Expressing satisfaction over the launch of the portal, Patnaik said that the application is a one-stop solution for farmers and agri-entrepreneurs to avail formal sector credit from public and private sector banks, Regional Rural Banks, State Cooperative Banks, and Small Finance Banks. The portal will ease the loan application process benefiting both the farmers and banks significantly, the chief minister said. It will also reduce information asymmetry by se

About 110 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of paddy is estimated to be procured at the minimum support price (MSP) in the ongoing kharif marketing season from farmers in Chhattisgarh, a government official said on Monday. Last year, around 98 lakh MT of paddy was purchased from cultivators in the state. The paddy procurement drive will begin on November 1, Chhattisgarh's statehood day, and conclude on January 31 next year. All preparations are in full swing to start purchase of paddy and so far over 25 lakh farmers have registered, 95,000 of them new registrations, themselves to sell their produce at designated centres, he said. Registrations of farmers who were enrolled last year were carry forward this year, the official added. About 110 lakh metric tonnes of paddy is estimated to be procured in this kharif marketing season for which 5.50 lakh bundles of jute gunny bags will be required, he said. A trial run of the drive will be held from October 26 to 28 at all cooperative societies ..

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday demanded the Maharashtra government declare "wet drought" in the state and provide Rs 50,000 per hectare as compensation to farmers affected by rains without waiting for the loss assessment reports. In a dig, Thackeray said there is a downpour of announcements under the Eknath Shinde government and a "drought" in their implementation as he interacted with rain-hit farmers in Aurangabad district. He said the incumbent government loved to organise celebrations without bothering to see if people are happy and satisfied. The former chief minister was talking to reporters after visiting Pandharpur and Dahegaon villages in the Aurangabad district where retreating rain damaged crops. "This state government is a celebration-loving government. There is an excess downpour of the announcement, whereas there is a drought in their implementation. Events should be celebrated but the government should see the people in the state are at least satisfie