With the western sweep of the monsoon stalled over the Konkan coast, kharif crop sowing has also slowed. About 12 lakh fewer hectares have been planted than at the same time last year, according to a statement by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.The biggest lags are seen in rainfed crops such as pulses and oilseeds. At this time last year, 9.93 lakh hectares of oilseeds — mostly soyabean — had been planted. This year, only half that area has been planted, at just over 5 lakh hectares.“The monsoon has not started yet in many of the key areas. This is a rainfed crop, so farmers are delaying planting till the onset of the monsoon,” said a
Month: June 2018
PM promises farmers income doubling by 2022
Critics call Modi’s video interaction a ‘pre-scripted TV show’ that failed to address suicides due to agrarian distress At a time of acute agrarian distress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke in glowing terms of his government’s schemes and programmes in a video interaction with farmers from nine States on Wednesday. Reiterating the government’s promise to double farmers’ income by 2022, Mr. Modi claimed that the budget allocation for agriculture between 2014-19 was ₹ 2.12 lakh crore, almost double the amount — ₹ 1.21 lakh crore — allocated in the previous five years by the UPA government.Worry-free nowBecause of the government’s efforts, farmers were now “chinta mukt” or worry-free, protected from nature’s fury by insurance schemes such as the Pradhan
Cotton production may be higher: CAB
The Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) estimates cotton production for this season (October 2017 to September 2018) to be 370 lakh bales. The board had estimated cotton production to be 345 lakh bales and exports at 59 lakh bales for the season when it had met in December.Bollworm attack Production estimates were lower in the beginning of the season as the board expected damage to the crop from bollworm attack. However, state governments took steps to contain the damage, said J. Thulasidharan, president, Indian Cotton Federation.He said there was not much scope for increase in cotton exports. He also described as conservative CAB’s closing stock estimate of 43 lakh bales. This could rise when the season ends, observed Mr. Thulasidharan.“Cotton
Centre allows pulses import despite overflowing godowns
Farmers have been staging protests as domestic prices are falling on the back of a glut last year and an expected good harvest following a good monsoon The Union government has allotted quotas for import of pulses and is enforcing an additional import agreement with Mozambique at a time when domestic stocks are at their highest, domestic production is expected to be high and prices are crashing. Farmers and millers are unhappy with the situation, but the government says it is balancing the needs of Indian consumers and commitments to foreign trade partners on the one hand and the interests of Indian farmers on the other.The final allocations of import quotas — totalling two lakh tonnes of tur or
AgroStar, IBM arm to aid agri-business
AgroStar, an agritech start-up, said it has collaborated with The Weather Company as it aims to transform the agribusiness for farmers in rural India. It would be using hyperlocal weather forecast data and insights from The Weather Company, an IBM business, to help farmers make informed decisions for better crop output.Critical insightsThe firm said the collaboration would enable the two companies to provide critical insights into crop disease risks. It would also provide the probability of occurrence of a particular pest or disease with high levels of accuracy in crops like cotton and chilli. These insights, delivered to the farmer through AgroStar’s voice and digital platform, has the potential to increase crop yield and reduce crop damage, the company
Tea Board to monitor bought leaf units
In a bid to maintain quality and ensure adherence to standard practices, the Tea Board of India has put in place a system of monitoring small tea growers (STGs) and bought leaf factories (BLFs).This would be done through daily on-site visits by Tea Board officials, who have also been asked to take an on-site selfie, the Tea Board said in an order recently. In the order, the Board directed all Development Officers and Factory Advisory Officers posted at the Board’s different regional and sub regional offices, to regularly visit BLFs to prevent unauthorised operations and malpractices. They would also check the green leaf standards at both BLF and STG levels.Officers have been asked to check spraying logs for Plant
Cotton price rise has textile sector worried
The recent increase in cotton prices is emerging as an issue of concern to the textile industry, the main consumer of cotton. A month ago, the price of Shankar 6 variety of cotton was ₹43,000 a candy. It is almost ₹46,000 a candy now. S.K. Rangarajan, president of the South India Spinners’ Association, said that yarn prices had gone up for some varieties. “The market might not absorb any further increase in yarn price,” he added. Apart from price, the mills also faced quality issues in domestic cotton this year. Further, the industry fears that prices might remain high next season as well as China was importing cotton. According to textile mills, the higher cotton prices reflected on yarn
Cane farmers sceptical about bailout
Cite failure of earlier package; Cabinet to soon consider ₹8,000-crore proposal The Centre may be planning a new bailout package of ₹8000 crore for the sugar industry, but both cane farmers and sugar mills said they had not received any money from the ₹1,540-crore subsidy already announced a month ago. “What is the point of this ₹8,000 crore... when not a single farmer got one paisa from the previous subsidy,” asked Harpal Singh, president of one faction of the Bhartiya Kisan Union. He himself is a farmer growing cane across ten acres in U.P.’s Sambhal district. He told The Hindu that the DSM sugar mill at Asmoli owes him about ₹3 lakh in payment arrears for his cane. That’s
As prices crash, Ramanagaram farmers dump mangoes on the road
Now it is the turn of mango farmers to dump their produce on the roadside. Mango may be the king of fruits, but its growers are not the kings, at least in the State’s major mango-growing belt of Ramanagaram district as glut in production has resulted in a crash in wholesale prices of the fruit.Such is the depth to which wholesale prices have plummeted that the elite Alphonso mango variety, being sold at ₹80 a kg in retail markets, is going at a throwaway price of ₹8 a kg in the wholesale market of Ramanagaram.The wholesale price has crashed to nearly one-tenth of the retail price in the Ramanagaram Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) yard, which sees a huge