What is the problem?After the recent Assembly elections, the new governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh announced farm loan waivers, a key promise. Last year, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu announced waivers as farmers were in distress. Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Haryana are likely to announce sops ahead of elections. According to SBI Research, around ₹70,000 crore will be spent on farm debt waivers till May 2019. The clamour for farm loan waivers has been growing, but this “'populist” measure alone cannot be a permanent solution to mounting agrarian distress, according to experts. Since the post-reforms policy regime in 1991, agriculture has been facing multiple crises. The rising pressure of population on land and agriculture, besides
Year: 2018
Venezuela cocoa growers fear new pest: the government
Nationalisation has crippled country’s oil and manufacturing sectors as well as agricultural industries, including coffee and sugar Venezuela cocoa trader Freddy Galindo has battled highway robberies, kidnappings of family members and declining quality in his 19 years spent on exporting the nation’s legendary beans.This year’s harvest brought a new worry: meddling by the socialist government.He said trucks filled with beans leaving his warehouse in central Venezuela were stopped by soldiers at checkpoints and held for days; drivers were forced to unload some cargo at government warehouses. Mr. Galindo claims that some 87 tonnes of his cocoa, worth $1,30,000, were missing when the trucks were finally released. Other traders here in Miranda State, Venezuela’s number two producing region, have reported similar
Coffee growers hit by sharp decline in prices
A steep fall in the price of Robusta coffee during the harvest season and low production owing to climate change are worrying coffee growers in south India, a major coffee cultivating region in the country.Spot price of raw Robusta coffee in Wayanad on Saturday was ₹3,618 a bag (54 kg) compared with ₹4,320 about 40 days ago.The price of coffee beans declined to ₹120 per kg from ₹140 in the period. “Recent reports on bumper coffee production in Brazil, a major coffee-producing country, in the coming season, and increase in production in Vietnam this year owing to favourable climate in coffee growing areas is the major reason for the price fall,” says C.K. Salu, coffee exporter and secretary, Kerala
Sugarcane growers’ struggle
ON November 19, thousands of sugarcane farmers gathered at Freedom Park in Bengaluru under the aegis of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) demanding that the government guarantee a minimum support price (MSP) for their crop. A day before this, 20 sugarcane-laden trucks barged into the premises of Suvarna Soudha, where the winter session of the Assembly is held, in Belagavi in north Karnataka, and dumped their contents there. In a fit of pique, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy called the farmers “goondas”. The State government had promised an MSP of Rs.2,750 per tonne of sugarcane for 2017-18, but with sugar factories reneging on this payment, approximately Rs.1,500 crore still has to be paid to the farmers. To be fair
Cabinet clears policy to double agri exports
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the Agriculture Export Policy, aimed at increasing India’s exports to $60 billion by 2022 from the current $37 billion, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu announced.“We have managed to increase agriculture exports to $37 billion from $30 billion in just one year,” Mr. Prabhu said at a press conference. “With this policy, we aim to increase that to $60 billion by 2022. This is in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of doubling farmers’ income.” The objectives of the policy are, apart from doubling farmers’ income, to diversify the export basket and destinations, and to boost high-value and value-added exports, with a focus on perishables. The policy also aims to promote the export of
Fragile climate puts food security at risk, UN report
‘Increasing farm output is hard given the fragility of the natural resource base’ Feeding a hungry planet is growing increasingly difficult as climate change and depletion of land and other resources undermine food systems, the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization said on Wednesday as it renewed appeals for better policies and technologies to reach “zero hunger.” Population growth requires supplies of more nutritious food at affordable prices, but increasing farm output is hard given the “fragility of the natural resource base” since humans have outstripped Earth’s carrying capacity in terms of land, water and climate change, the report said. About 820 million people are malnourished. The FAO and International Food Policy Research Institute released the report at the outset
Making farmers do wonders with this grass
Vetiver, ‘the wonder grass’ of Tamil Nadu, which has a wide range of applications in the pharma and cosmetic industries, besides anti-soil erosion properties, is spreading roots in the State.The grass, which grows up to five feet and whose fragrant root reaches up to 10 feet, has huge global demand in the aromatic industry. The grass is popular for its quality to combat soil erosion and absorb carbon dioxide, thus erasing carbon footprints. In the last few years, niche products have been created with vetiver by value addition.Vetiver is ideal for the long coastline, as it is suited for sandy soil, says C.K. Ashok Kumar of the India Vetiver Network, which is involved in popularising cultivation in association with
Is crop insurance scheme losing steam?
Of the 84 lakh farmers who withdrew, 68.31 lakh are from the four BJP-ruled States: reply to RTI More than 84 lakh farmers, which is around 15% of the total farmers insured in the first year of the Union government’s ambitious Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana in 2016-17, withdrew themselves from the scheme in 2017-18, a reply to an RTI application has revealed. It includes 68.31 lakh farmers from the four Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled States of Madhya Pradesh, Maharasthra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.Profit margins The crop insurance companies, including Reliance, ICICI, HDFC and IFFCO, among others, have registered a total profit of around ₹15,795 crore since the launch of the scheme, though the final profit margins could change since the
New index to check ease of doing agri-business
States may soon start receiving extra funding for the Agriculture Ministry’s flagship schemes on the basis of their performance in encouraging agri-business, especially with regard to marketing, land and governance reforms.The Centre expects to roll out a new Ease of Doing Agri-Business Index early next year, which will rank the States on the basis of such reforms, as well as their investment in agriculture, increased productivity, reduction of input costs, and risk mitigation measures. “In future, the Ministry may consider rewarding the higher performing States [both in absolute and incremental terms] by linking the performance with allocation from flexi funds made available in various flagship schemes of this Ministry,” says a recent concept note for the Index.NITI Aayog already
Why are onion prices fluctuating?
What is the problem?Onion prices peaked in mid-October in parts of the country on account of squeezed supplies from the key bulb-growing States, bringing to the fore the recurring price volatility of this vegetable which the country witnesses almost every alternate season.The wholesale onion prices at the Lasalgaon Agricultural Produce Market Committee — the country’s largest wholesale onion market in Maharasthra — ruled ₹22-23 a kg in mid-October on tight supplies as supply had dropped. Consequently, the retail prices jumped, and in the national capital New Delhi, the price hit ₹40 a kg, before the Union government reviewed the price and availability of onion and asked the Delhi government to make onion available through its public distribution system outlets