Page 3 - Indian Farmers

Andhra shelves plan to frame law on legalising minimum support price

Fresh Draft may come up after proper consultation, sources said

Sowing of kharif crops nears end; all eyes on monsoon revival now

Concerns in Karnataka, Maharashtra due to prolonged break in showers

A 700% jump in tomato prices creates windfall for some Indian farmers

Retail prices of tomatoes were at 178 rupees ($2.20) a kilogram in Delhi on Sunday, a jump of more than 700% from Jan. 1, according to data compiled by the food ministry

Garuda Aerospace bags 400 Agri Kisan drone order from IFFCO; tally at 10K

Drone manufacturer Garuda Aerospace said on Tuesday it has secured an order of 400 Agri Kisan Drones from Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO). This takes Garuda Aerospace's order book tally to 10,000 drones for this year within the first three months, it said in a statement. "The collaboration between Garuda Aerospace and IFFCO aims to revolutionise the agricultural sector by introducing the Garuda Kisan Drone at the 'IFFCO Drone Yatra' in Karnataka. These state-of-the-art drones will enable farmers to utilise Nano Urea spraying through Precision Agriculture Drones, maximising their efficiency and productivity," it said. According to the statement, IFFCO has launched a nationwide campaign to procure 2,500 'Kisan Drones' as spray solutions for their products -- Nano Urea and Nano DAP. This initiative not only supports the development of around 5,000 rural entrepreneurs trained in drone spraying but also promotes sustainable agriculture and holistic cooperative ...

20% duty removal on apple imports to have zero impact on farmers: Official

The decision to remove 20 per cent retaliatory customs duty on imported American apples will have a "zero" impact on Indian farmers as the government has sufficient policy space to support growers if there is any implication of the move, a senior government official said on Monday. Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce Peeyush Kumar said that India is not giving anything "extra" by removing this duty and it was not that "we have opened a floodgate" for American apples. In fact, it is a win-win deal for India as it restores market access for domestic steel and aluminium products in the American market, which was impacted due to the imposition of high duties by the US in 2018. The decision to remove these additional duties was part of an agreement reached between India and the US, during the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington and New York. India and the US have also agreed to terminate six trade disputes at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Thes

Per kilogram subsidy under NBS regime down due to reduction in rates

A report by ICRA said that after the Cabinet decision, the subsidy for P&K fertilisers for the kharif season stood at Rs 38,000 crore against the full-year budgetary allocation of Rs 44,000 crore

Rajasthan govt to give free seed kits of vegetables to around 2 mn farmers

According to the plan, the state government aims to distribute 700,000 kits during kharif 2023, 1.1 million kits for rabi 2023-24 and 200,000 kits for zaid 2024

Govt to set up 1,100 farmer producer organisations in cooperative sector

The cooperation ministry on Wednesday said 1,100 new farmer producer organisations will be established in the cooperative sector under a central scheme. Since February 2021, the agriculture ministry is implementing a central sector scheme titled 'Formation and promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) with a budgetary provision of Rs 6,865 crore. Under the scheme, a target of establishing 1,100 additional FPOs has been allocated to the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), an official statement said. A financial assistance of Rs 33 lakh is provided to each FPO under the scheme. Further, a financial assistance of Rs 25 lakhs per FPO is provided to the Cluster Based Business Organisations (CBBO). According to the cooperation ministry, primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) --- which have a member base of around 13 crore farmers and are primarily engaged in short-term credit and distribution of seeds and fertilisers -- will now be able to undertake

Safe farming

Indiscriminate use of pesticides must be contained

Farmer groups flag crop loss risk if 27 popular pesticides banned

The panel was initially given a time of three months for submission of the findings which was later extended due to the pandemic

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

Tamil Nadu farmers demand govt to distribute sugarcane through ration shops

Sugarcane farmers of Tamil Nadu have demanded that the state government procure sugarcane directly from the farmers and distribute it through ration shops during Pongal

TN farmers demand annual de-silting of water bodies to increase storage

With most of the water bodies in Tamil Nadu not reaching their full capacity even during the monsoon season, farmers have demanded the state government to conduct annual desilting to increase storage

30% drop In Punjab's stubble burning cases: How reliable is the data?

Experts say cloudy skies in 2022 and farmers only burning part of the stubble could have led to an underestimation of this year's stubble fires

Kinnow output in Punjab likely to drop by 25% amid shortage of water supply

Punjab, a major grower of kinnow crop in the country, is likely to witness at least a 25 per cent decline in the output of the citrus fruit even as the growers are fetching higher prices this season. The orchardists blame the acute short supply of canal water and unexpectedly higher temperature during the flowering stage of the crop for the lower yield early this year. Punjab is the largest producer of kinnow fruit in the country, with around 59,000 hectares of land under the crop and almost 12 lakh metric tonne of annual output. Harvesting of kinnow, a hybrid between king and willow leaf mandarins, starts in December and goes on till February-end in Punjab. Abohar is the leading district in the state, with a maximum area of 35,000 hectares under the kinnow crop. It is also grown in Hoshiarpur, Muktsar, Bathinda and some other districts, an official of the Punjab Horticulture department said. "There is going to be around 25 per cent drop in the production of kinnow this year," sai

Agriculture sector remains resilient; Rabi sowing off to strong start: RBI

Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday said the agriculture sector remains resilient, and the rabi sowing has got off to a strong start. However, India is expecting some moderation in kharif production due to uneven rainfall. India's total kharif crop production is estimated to moderate to 149.92 metric million tonnes (MMT) from 156.04 MMT in the previous kharif crop year, as per the first advance estimate. On the supply side, Das said, "The agricultural sector remains resilient. Rabi sowing got off to a strong start. The area sown so far is 6.8 per cent higher than the normal sown area (as on December 2, 2022)". Area sown to wheat has increased by 5.36 per cent year-on-year to 211.62 lakh hectares in the first two months of the ongoing rabi (winter) season, with higher coverage being reported in Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, according to the agricultural ministry data released on Friday. The sowing of wheat, the main rabi crop, begins in October and harvesting i

Bank of Baroda approves Rs 134 crore agri-loans to farmers in Tamil Nadu

Public sector Bank of Baroda has sanctioned over Rs 100 crore worth of agricultural loans in Tamil Nadu during its 15-day farmer outreach programme held here recently. At the fifth edition of 'Baroda Kisan Pakhwada' held between November 15 and 30, as many as 161 semi-urban and rural branches of the bank took part. More than 20,000 farmers across Tamil Nadu received farm loans of Rs 134 crore, the bank said in a statement on Saturday. The 'Baroda Kisan Pakhwada' has been designed to help the bank boost engagement with the farming community and create awareness about various agricultural products, schemes offered by the Bank. "We at Bank of Baroda are pleased to be reaching out to the farming community on a larger scale and provide them with details and financial assistance and make them familiar with various types of agri-loans, banking services and various agricultural initiatives launched by the government," Bank of Baroda general manager and zonal head (Chennai) A Saravanakumar .

Govt plans pilots on new direct benefit transfer model for fertilisers

Currently, the version of DBT in fertilisers involves farmers purchasing their fertilisers through point of sale (PoS) devices after undergoing Aadhaar authentication

Re-design and deliver

Govt crop insurance scheme needs radical rethink

Cash-strapped states pulled out of flagship PMFBY, says Centre

Centre willing to make additional pro-farmer changes in response to climate change