Page 5 - Agriculture

India's imports of pulses likely to decline in FY25 on good monsoon

Eminent agri economist Ashok Gulati says imports likely to double in the next 5 yrs if policies remain unchanged

Uttar Pradesh govt set to launch Rs 4,000 cr agriculture business project

The project is estimated to benefit a million farmers, including 30 per cent of the rural women associated with agri self help groups (SHGs)

EPA issues rare emergency ban on pesticide over fetal harm concerns

For the first time in roughly 40 years, the Environmental Protection Agency used its emergency authority to halt the sale of a weed-killing pesticide that harms the development of unborn babies. Officials took the rare step because the pesticide DCPA, or Dacthal, could cause irreversible damage to fetuses, including impaired brain development and low birthweight. The agency struggled to obtain vital health data from the pesticide's manufacturer on time and decided it was not safe to allow continued sale, EPA said in an announcement Tuesday. In this case, pregnant women who may never know they were exposed could give birth to babies that experience irreversible lifelong health problems, said Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. DCPA is mostly used on broccoli, cabbage and certain other crops and about 84,000 pounds were used on average in 2018 and 2020, officials said. In 2023, the EPA assessed the pesticide's risks

Centre to unilaterally release its share of crop insurance premium

Replying to a Parliament question, Chouhan said that earlier farmers had to wait for their claims unless both the Centre and states released their share of the premium subsidy

Kharif sowing up 2.3% at 81.18 million hectares from last year, shows data

Kharif sowing of all crops is over in almost 74 per cent of the normal area, which is the average area covered in the last five years

Centre extends sale of 'Bharat atta' and 'Bharat rice' at revised rates

The retail price for 'Bharat atta' and 'Bharat rice' has been revised for new stocks

Govt prepares for Rs 10,000 crore war chest to fight food inflation

Within the whole inflation basket, food inflation has been stubbornly high

Ready reckoner: FM Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget 2024 is a balancing act

The gross borrowing target is lower relative to gross domestic product as well as in absolute terms. This has meant that deficits remain under control

Union Budget 2024: Govt slashes food, fertiliser, and fuel subsidy bill

As the gas prices dropped, the cost of producing urea has also come down, and with it its subsidy expenditure from the government

Budget focuses on review of agri research setup, new phase of rural roads

The shrimp sector gets big leg with duty cuts and new breeding centers

Budget 2024: Surge in working days; more people engaged in agriculture

Boost to rural infra and National Cooperation Policy to help fast-track rural growth

Timely onset of monsoon leads to speedy kharif crop sowing in Rajasthan

Rajasthan is the top-most producer of guar with around 70% share in the country's total production of the crop

J'khand officials to make report on impact of less rainfall on agriculture

Concerned over rain deficit in Jharkhand, Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday directed officials to prepare a report on its impact on agriculture so that it could be placed before the Centre for seeking assistance. Chairing a high-level meeting of senior officials to review the impact of less-than-normal rainfall during the monsoon, he asked officials to start preparations on time to provide relief to the farmers. "If the situation of less rainfall continues for the next few days, then prepare a complete strategy to deal with it," he said, according to an official statement. He told the officials to speed up the work of irrigation projects, and along with it, prepare for alternative agriculture. He also directed them to remain alert and monitor the rainfall and sowing of crops in all the districts. "The chief minister said that this time too, a weak monsoon situation is being seen so far. This is having a direct impact on the sowing of paddy and other crops. Due to this, a large

Farmers rush to plant summer crops amid above-average monsoon rainfall

Summer rains, critical for economic growth in Asia's third-largest economy, usually begin in the south around June 1 before spreading nationwide by July 8, allowing farmers to plant summer crops

Climate-resistant seeds likely to cover 25% kharif paddy area in 2024

ICAR working on releasing 100 seed varieties and 100 technologies in 100 days

Tomato varieties with longer shelf life might counter sky-high prices

The hybrid technology has been licensed to 11 companies, which are estimated to have made a turnover of Rs 3,600 crore from seed sales during 2012-22

Pulses output rises by 35% to 3.25 million tonnes in Uttar Pradesh

India imports 15 per cent of its annual pulses consumption owing to a gap between domestic demand and supply, which translates into higher retail prices

Pre-budget wish list: Set up Credit Guarantee Fund for agri loans, says SBI

The SBI report said that this fund is expected to boost fresh agriculture credit multiple times

Good rainfall may ease potato, onion, and tomato prices, says Centre

Rabi onion production of 19.1 million tonnes enough to meet demand; 27.32 million tonnes of potatoes stored in cold storages this year

Iffco to spend around Rs 80 cr on building model 'nano' villages

In these model villages or clusters, Iffco would undertake focused activities to encourage farmers to adopt nano products such as nano urea and diammonium phosphate