Page 3 - Agriculture

Indian farm sector performed well, but needs re-orientation: Eco Survey

Indian agriculture has performed well but the sector needs "re-orientation" in the backdrop of certain challenges like adverse impacts of climate change, rising input cost, etc, the Economic Survey for 2022-23 tabled in Parliament on Tuesday said. The other challenges are fragmented landholdings, sub-optimal farm mechanisation, low productivity, disguised unemployment, rising input costs, etc. "While Indian agriculture has performed well, the sector needs re-orientation in the backdrop of certain challenges...," it said. Stating that the performance of the agriculture sector remains critical to growth and employment in the country, the Survey said investment in the sector must be encouraged through an affordable, timely and inclusive approach to credit delivery. It may be noted that more than 75 per cent of rural female workers are employed in the agriculture sector. This implies a need to upskill and create employment for women in agriculture-related sectors such as food ...

Legislation governing multi-state cooperative societies set for big change

The Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, under which the three new co-ops are being formed was last amended in 2002

Refresh the approach to growth, equity

Agricultural credit continues to be subsidised through an interest subvention scheme instead of converting these subsidies into cash transfers to farmers

Govt procures paddy, wheat worth over Rs 2.5 trn in 2021-22: Food Ministry

Procurement of wheat and paddy in quantity and value terms has risen significantly in the last eight years, on account of a hike in the minimum support price (MSP) and purchases made from more states, a senior food ministry official said on Tuesday. The number of farmers covered under the MSP operations has also increased because of the higher quantity of wheat and paddy procurement by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the nodal agency for the procurement and distribution of foodgrains. "The central procurement of wheat and paddy has increased substantially between the 2013-14 and 2021-22 marketing seasons. The procurement has become broad-based and we are purchasing grains from more states now. MSP has increased significantly," said Subodh Singh, additional secretary in the food ministry. The procurement is taking place in Himachal Pradesh, Assam and Tripura, he said, adding that the FCI has started buying paddy from Rajasthan. Production of wheat and paddy has also risen since

US agriculture associations fear market loss to India's FTA partners

In June 2019, India hiked tariffs on 28 items exported by the US, including almonds, apples, walnuts

Agri Infrastructure Fund crosses Rs 30,000-cr mark of capital mobilisation

Agriculture Infra Fund (AIF) is a financing facility launched on 8th July 2020 for creation of post-harvest management infrastructure and community farm assets

Mangrove cultivation different from agriculture, will attract 18% GST: AAAR

The Appellate Authority for Advance Rulings (AAAR) has ruled that cultivation of mangroves is different from agriculture and hence would not be exempted from the Goods and Services Tax (GST)

Wheat acreage up slightly at 34.1 mn hectare so far this rabi season

Wheat acreage has increased marginally to 341.13 lakh hectare (ha) so far in the ongoing rabi season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June), according to the agriculture ministry data. Sowing of wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, had begun from October onwards. Maize, jowar, gram and mustard are other major rabi crops. Harvesting of these crops will begin in March/April next year. According to the latest data, the area under coverage for wheat has risen to 341.13 lakh ha till January 20 of the current rabi season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June) against 339.87 lakh ha during the same period last year. The higher area has been reported mainly from Rajasthan (2.52 lakh ha), Bihar (1.49 lakh ha), Maharashtra (0.92 lakh ha), Chhattisgarh (0.54 lakh ha), Gujarat (0.48 lakh ha) and Uttar Pradesh (0.22 lakh ha). The lesser area under coverage for wheat is mainly reported from Madhya Pradesh (4.15 lakh ha), Jharkhand (0.34 lakh ha), Punjab (0.18 lakh ha), Himachal Pradesh (0.10 lakh ha

Rajasthan govt's scheme to provide agricultural equipment at low rentals

The cooperative department is given financial assistance of up to Rs 8 lakh to purchase subsidised farm equipment from custom-hiring centres

Wheat sowing up 1.40% to 33.7 mn hectare so far in ongoing rabi season

Last year, wheat production had declined to 106.84 million tonne due to heat wave in key growing states

Google backs Indian agritech startup Cropin in its Rs 113cr funding

Google has funded homegrown agritech startup Cropin in its latest Rs 113 crore round that also saw participation from JSR Corporation and existing investors ABC Impact and Chiratae Ventures

Huge potential to boost exports of processed food: Trade Promotion Council

India's agri exports are growing at a healthy pace and there is a need to focus on the processed food sector as it holds huge potential to boost the country's outbound shipments, Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) said on Sunday. Keeping this in mind, the council's three-day IndusFood expo kickstarted on January 8 in Hyderabad. It was inaugurated by Additional Secretary in the commerce ministry Rajesh Agrawal and Joint Secretary in the ministry Srikar K Reddy. Speaking on the occasion, Agrawal said there is a need to create global brands in the food and beverages industry. Ideally, we need to create 50 brands, then we will be able to do our job well. We must think globally and build brands. We must pay serious attention on how to promote Indian cuisine abroad, TPCI said in a statement quoting Agrawal. He added that though India is doing well in the agri exports front, our share of processed food is less than 1 per cent in exports of processed food category. We must aspire to

Wheat sowing up nearly 1% so far this rabi season at 332.16 lakh hectare

Area sown to wheat has increased by less than one per cent to 332.16 per hectare (ha) so far in the ongoing rabi season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June), as per the agriculture ministry data released on Friday. Sowing of wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, had begun from October onwards. Maize, jowar, gram and mustard are other major rabi crops. Harvesting of these crops will begin in March/April next year. According to the latest data, farmers have sown wheat in 332.16 lakh ha till January 6 of the current rabi season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June) against 329.88 lakh ha during the same period last year. Higher coverage was reported from Rajasthan (2.52 lakh ha), Uttar Pradesh (1.69 lakh ha), Maharashtra (1.20 lakh ha), Gujarat (0.70 lakh ha), Chhattisgarh (0.63 lakh ha), Bihar (0.44 lakh ha), West Bengal (0.10 lakh ha), Jammu & Kashmir (0.06 lakh ha) and Assam (0.03 lakh ha), it added. Besides, the area sown to rice has also increased to 21.29 lakh ha till January 6 of

Need to adopt new farming technologies to raise farmers' income: Tomar

Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday stressed on the need to adopt new technologies in farming to help raise the income of farmers. He said this while speaking at the 'North East Krishi Kumbha - 2023' at the ICAR-NER. "With new age, there is a need to adapt to new technologies. Ensuring these technologies reach every farmer in India, in Meghalaya and help raise their income is the need of the hour," he said. The Union Agriculture minister said farmers and farming should always be treated with honour as a farmer not only supports his family but also contributes to the agricultural economy of the country and our government's priority has always been to ensure prosperity of farmers and development of agriculture. Tomar said northeast is home to different cultures. It is rich in natural resources and is blessed with a good climate. Northeast is the heaven of our country and Meghalaya's geographical scenario is such that "we can develop it if w

Paddy procurement rises 10% to 54.19 mn tonnes so far: Food Ministry data

The government's paddy procurement for the central pool rose 9.58 per cent to 541.90 lakh tonne so far in the ongoing 2022-23 kharif marketing season, according to the food ministry data. Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Telangana were the top contributors to the central pool. Normally, paddy procurement begins from October. However, in southern states, especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, it begins from September. The government aims to procure 775.72 lakh tonne of paddy in the 2022-23 kharif marketing season (October-September). The actual procurement stood at record 759.32 lakh tonne in the previous kharif marketing season. According to official data, the total paddy purchase increased to 541.90 lakh tonne till January 3 of the 2022-23 kharif marketing season from 494.50 lakh tonne in the year-ago period. Paddy purchase in Punjab declined marginally to 182.13 lakh tonne so far this marketing year from 187.12 lakh tonne in the year-ago period. The procurement in Chhattisgarh .

Safex Chemicals to invest Rs 100 cr in agri-tech segment in next 3-4 years

Agrochemicals maker Safex Chemicals Ltd on Tuesday said it plans to invest Rs 100 crore in its new agri-tech arm, AgCare Technologies, in the next 3-4 years for launching an interactive tech platform and for setting up a manufacturing unit. Speaking to PTI, the company's Group Director Piyush Jindal said, "We are investing Rs 100 crore from our own kitty. We are not raising any funds. The investment is planned for the next 3-4 years." The plan is to launch an interactive technology platform to integrate the entire value chain in the agri-economy. Key stakeholders, especially farmers, can buy quality crop protection products and get services like weather updates, experts' help and mandi rates on this platform, he said. "A pilot study of this interactive tech platform will be conducted in January-March. We plan to go live in the next fiscal year," Jindal said, adding that the platform will be expanded in a phased manner. Jindal further said a new manufacturing unit will also be set u

Can millets be India's own super crop?

Millets are reemerging as nutri-cereals or smart foods, thanks to their therapeutic qualities and nutritional superiority compared to rice, wheat. What will make this a 'wonder crop' of masses?

Maha farmers to get 500,000 solar pumps under Kusum Yojana: Dy CM

The Maharashtra government plans to provide solar pumps to five lakh farmers under the Centre's Pradhan Mantri Kusum Yojana, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Thursday. Speaking in the Legislative Council, he said the state government intended to generate income by leasing out land to install such solar pumps. He also said farmers from Vidarbha region will get new agricultural pumps and electricity connections on priority, while pending applications will be cleared by March next year. In order to provide uninterrupted and affordable electricity to consumers, the Union government has announced the implementation of the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), for which a sum of Rs 39,000 crore has been approved for Maharashtra, he said. This will give a major boost to creation of infrastructure in the sector in the state, he added. Under the Kusum Yojana, farmers are being given 90 per cent subsidy for installation of solar power pumps.

Nano liquid urea cheaper, better, saves govt subsidy: Mansukh Mandaviya

Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday stressed on the need to promote nano liquid urea in place of conventional granular urea, saying that it is better, cheaper, convenient and will help the government in saving a huge amount of subsidy. In June 2021, cooperative IFFCO launched nano urea as an alternative to conventional urea. It has also set up manufacturing plants to produce nano urea. IFFCO is selling nano urea at Rs 240 per bottle of 500 ml, which can replace one bag of conventional urea of 45kg costing around Rs 265. There is no government subsidy on nano urea. While virtually interacting with four farmers and two owners of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samruddhi Kendras (PMKSK) from different states, Mandaviya enquired about the availability of various fertilisers including nano urea and also whether farmers were getting other advisory services at these centres. Under an scheme, around 3 lakh retail fertiliser shops in the country are getting converted i

Green peas growers in MP stage protest, demand fixed MSP for open market

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