Agriculture Ministry

The government on Thursday approved National Mission on Edible Oils-Oilseeds with an outlay of Rs 10,103 crore to make India self-sufficient in cooking oils. India imports more than 50 per cent of its annual edible oil requirement. "With an aim to make India self reliant in oilseed production in next 7 years, Cabinet approves National Mission on Edible Oils '? Oilseeds (NMEO-Oilseeds) for 2024-25 to 2030-31 with outlay of Rs 10,103 crore," the government said on social media platform X. The mission aims to increase primary oilseed production from 39 million tonnes in 2022-23 to 69.7 million tonnes by 2030-31, the government said. "It seeks to extend oilseed cultivation by an additional 40 lakh hectares," it added. India imports palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia while soyabean oil is imported from Brazil and Argentina. Sunflower comes mainly from Russia and Ukraine.

India's foodgrain production reached a record 332.22 million tonne in the 2023-24 crop year ended June, driven by bumper wheat and rice output, the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday. The final estimate for 2023-24 shows an increase of 2.61 million tonne from the previous year's 329.6 million tonne, the ministry said in a statement. Rice production touched a record 137.82 million tonne, up from 135.75 million tonne in 2022-23. Wheat output also hit a high of 113.29 million tonne as compared to 110.55 million tonne the previous year. However, pulses production declined to 24.24 million tonne from 26.05 million tonne and oilseeds output fell to 39.66 million tonne from 41.35 million tonne. The ministry attributed the decline in pulses, coarse cereals, soybean and cotton production to "drought-like conditions in southern states, including Maharashtra and prolonged dry spell during August especially in Rajasthan". Sugarcane production decreased to 453.15 million tonne from 490.53

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday launched a Rs 750-crore fund 'AgriSure' to provide financial support to agritech startups even as he underlined the need for increasing public as well as private investments in the farm sector. The Union Cabinet on Monday approved seven schemes for the agriculture sector with an outlay of nearly Rs 14,000 crore. The minister was speaking after launching an integrated Agri Investment Portal named KrishiNivesh and 'AgriSure' fund at an event held here. The Rs 750-crore 'AgriSure' (Agri Fund for Startups & Rural Enterprises) will support startups and 'agripreneurs' by providing both equity and debt capital. Chouhan asked startups to utilise this fund and assured that there would be no fund constraints for agritech startups, which he said are playing an important role in the agriculture sector. "There is a need for investment in agriculture, not only from the government side but also private investments," he said, adding that

Opposition Congress accuses Centre of misleading Parliament on the MSP issue

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said India has become a food surplus country and is working to provide solutions for global food and nutritional security. Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the 32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE), which is being organised in India after 65 years, the Prime Minister also said the Union Budget 2024-25 focuses on sustainable agriculture. Noting that the last time when the conference was hosted here, India had just achieved Independence, and it was a challenging time for the country's agriculture and food security. "Now, India is a food surplus country," he said, adding that the country is the number one producer of milk, pulses and spices in the world. Also, the country has become the second-largest producer of foodgrains, fruits, vegetables, cotton, sugar and tea. "There was a time when India's food security was a concern for the world. Now, India is working to provide solutions for global food security an

Agriculture has been a key focus area of development strategy in India, and the country has achieved the highest growth rate of 5 per cent in the farm sector during the seven years from 2016-17 to 2022-23, Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand said on Saturday. Addressing the 32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE), Chand said that according to the World Bank data, India achieved the highest growth rate in GDP agriculture in the world in the last 10 years. "Agriculture has been a key focus area of development strategy in India, and the country has achieved historically the highest growth rate of 5 per cent during the seven-year period from 2016-17 to 2022-23," he noted. The agriculture economist pointed out that the share of agriculture in the world GDP has risen from 3.2 per cent in 2006 to 4.3 per cent in recent years. "Agricultural growth in the last 15 years has saved many countries from economic collapse. Due to the poor effort of industry in pulling the labou

The resolution assumes significance as the RSS is also the ideological fountainhead of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave a split verdict on the validity of the Centre's 2022 decisions on the environmental release of mustard hybrid DMH-11 for seed production and testing. A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Sanjay Karol heard pleas challenging the October 18, 2022, decision of the GEAC -- the country's regulator for genetically modified organisms -- recommending environment release and the subsequent decision on October 25, approving the environmental release of transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11. After hearing the pleas, the bench gave a divergent opinion. The bench directed the issue to be placed before the Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud for adjudication by the appropriate bench. However, both the judges were unanimous in directing the Centre to formulate a national policy on Genetically Modified (GM) crops. The bench directed that the environment ministry will undertake a consultation process with all the stakeholders and experts, preferably in four months

The government on Tuesday pointed out that retail prices of tur, urad and chana dals have not declined in proportion to about a 4 per cent fall in major wholesale markets in the past one month and asked retailers to charge reasonable profit margins for providing relief to consumers. The government warned that it would take stern actions against unscrupulous speculation and profiteering by market players. On Tuesday, the Department of Consumer Affairs organised a meeting with the Retailers Association of India (RAI) here to discuss the price scenario in respect of pulses. The meeting, chaired by Nidhi Khare, Secretary, the Department of Consumer Affairs, also reviewed compliance with the stock limits for tur and chana. The meeting was attended by representatives of RAI, Reliance Retail, D-Mart, Tata Stores, Spencer's, RSPG, and V-Mart, among others. RAI has more than 2,300 members, having over 6,00,000 retail outlets in the country. According to an official statement, the secretary

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday discussed a 100-day action plan with senior officials, which is aimed at strengthening the agriculture sector and mitigating distress among farmers. During the meeting, attended by Ministers of State for Agriculture Ramnath Thakur and Bhagirath Choudhary, Agriculture Secretary Manoj Ahuja, and other top officers, Chouhan stressed the need to ensure quality inputs reach farmers to boost farm production and productivity across the country. The action plan aims to not only achieve self-sufficiency in agricultural products but also enhance the quality of exports from the sector, an official statement said. The minister underlined the importance of providing farmers with access to high-quality seeds, fertilizers, and other essential inputs to increase crop yields and improve their economic condition, it said. With the agriculture sector reeling from the impact of erratic monsoons, pest attacks, and fluctuating market prices,

With the intensifying heat wave in the upcoming weeks, the possibility of prices decreasing is not very likely, although there might be a slight moderation

The minimum support prices (MSPs) for both kharif and rabi seasons 2023-24 ensured a minimum return of 50 per cent over the cost of production for all crops, said the Reserve Bank's Annual Report released on Thursday. The overall public stock of foodgrains as on March 31, 2024 stood at 2.9 times the total quarterly buffer norm, the report said. On November 29, 2023, the government extended the scheme of free distribution of foodgrains under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) for five more years, effective from January 1, 2024. The report, which is a statutory report of RBI's central board of directors, noted that the agriculture and allied activities faced headwinds from the uneven and deficient south-west monsoon (SWM) rainfall coinciding with strengthening El Nino conditions. The overall SWM rainfall in 2023 (June-September) was 6 per cent below long period average (LPA) at the all-India level. As per the second advance estimates, the production of kharif and r

Institute could not submit documents to govt due to 'minor technical issues', say sources

'The drone technology helps in immense water savings along with being a step towards precision agriculture,'

Late sown wheat crop, sown in 15 per cent of the total area of 34.15 million hectare this year, will be ready for harvest in a week's time. This crop has physiologically matured

The government is planning to procure 5 lakh tonnes of onions this year for its buffer stock that can be used to intervene in the market in case of a price rise, according to sources. The food and consumer affairs ministry had created 5 lakh tonnes of buffer stock last year, of which 1 lakh tonne is still available, they added. Agencies like NCCF and NAFED will procure onion on behalf of the government. Sources said that the government's decision to sell onions at a subsidised rate from its buffer stock has helped in controlling prices. The government will take a decision on lifting the ban on onion exports later this month. The ban is till March 31. The government's plan to create buffer stock comes amid an estimated fall in onion output in 2023-24. "Production of onion in 2023-24 is expected to be around 254.73 lakh tonnes compared to around 302.08 lakh tonnes last year due to a decrease of 34.31 lakh tonnes in Maharashtra, 9.95 lakh tonnes in Karnataka, 3.54 lakh tonnes in And

The government on Friday said almost 5,000 out of 8,000 registered Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) have been onboarded on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) portal for selling the produce online to consumers across the country. Around 8,000 FPOs have been registered against the government's target of 10,000 under a central scheme launched in 2020 with a budgetary provision of Rs 6,865 crore. FPOs facilitate farmers with access to improved technology, credit, better input and more markets to incentivise them to produce better quality commodities. "Almost 5,000 out of 8,000 registered FPOs have been registered on the ONDC portal...," the agriculture ministry said in a statement. The onboarding of FPOs on ONDC to reach out to their buyers in any part of the country is in line with the Central government's objective of providing growers with better market access, it said. The move aims to empower FPOs with direct access to digital marketing, online payment, ...

About 90 lakh new beneficiaries have been added under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme through the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra in the last three-and-a-half-months, according to the agriculture ministry. Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (VBSY) launched on November 15, 2023 is the Centre's flagship initiative to raise awareness on its schemes. VBSY aims to achieve beneficiary saturation under government schemes. "Recently, as part of VBSY, undertaken to ensure saturation of the government's welfare schemes across more than 2.60 lakh gram panchayats, 90 lakh eligible farmers were added to PM-KISAN scheme," the ministry said in a statement. Under PM-KISAN, launched on February 2, 2019, eligible farmer families are provided a benefit of Rs 6,000 per year in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000 every four months. The benefit is transferred directly to bank accounts of eligible beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer mode, using modern digital technology. Since the

The government has projected wheat production at a record 112.01 million tonnes for the 2023-24 crop year (July-June) in its second advance estimate, sources said on Thursday. The wheat output is estimated to be 1.46 million tonnes higher than the previous record high of 110.55 million tonnes achieved in the 2022-23 crop year. In its second advance estimate, sources said the Agriculture Ministry has projected total wheat output at 112.01 million tonnes for the 2023-24 crop year. Wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, is ready for harvest and procurement is set to begin from next month onwards in some states. The government has set a conservative procurement target in the range of 30-32 million tonnes for the 2024-25 rabi marketing season (March-April), as against the actual procurement of 26.2 million tonnes in the previous year. The ministry releases three estimates before the final projection at different stages of plant growth and harvesting.

The government has fixed a conservative target of wheat procurement in the range of 30-32 million tonnes for the 2024-25 rabi marketing season, according to the food ministry. The lower target has been fixed despite the Ministry of Agriculture hoping for a record wheat production of 114-115 million tonnes in the 2023-24 crop year (July-June). The target was fixed after a deliberation with state food secretaries in a meeting chaired by Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra in the national capital on Wednesday. "After deliberations, the estimates for wheat procurement during the ensuing rabi marketing season of 2024-25 were fixed in the range of 30-32 million tonnes," the ministry said in a statement. Apart from wheat, the ministry has fixed a rabi paddy procurement target in terms of rice in the range of 9-10 million tonnes. The government has also set a procurement target of 6,00,000 tonnes for rabi coarse grains /millets (Shri Anna). In the meeting, the Centre has asked states and