-The Times of India blog (Voices) Riding on the roads of rural Punjab, a grim spectre unfolds. It is early November and there is fire and smoke all around for the endless land that stretches ahead. It is paddy stubble burning time in the state. This phenomenon is not exceptional to the state of Punjab in India but is also prevalent in Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. Recently, there has been much...
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Can't terrorise farmers with laws to stop stubble-burning. Understand their problem first -Ajay Vir Jakhar
-ThePrint.in The central government’s policy of not allowing Punjab to diversify is causing damage to the health of people in faraway Delhi. Crop stubble burning is a nuisance for both humans and the ecosystem as a whole. And the farmer needs a systematic support system to tide over the problem. The support can come in many ways: central government policy intervention being the most important. Through its current policy, the central government is...
More »Guardians of the grain -Chitrangada Choudhury
-The Hindu Over the years we have lost over a lakh varieties of native rice. One district in Odisha is rediscovering some of them It is a balmy winter morning when I meet Kamli Bataraa, an ebullient Adivasi farmer, at her home in Belugan, in southern Odisha’s Koraput district. There is a hum across the village from the threshing of just-harvested paddy. When I ask Kamli about the rice varieties she grows,...
More »Rising input prices keeping down net crop incomes in many states, observes new report
For those who asked why the farmers of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states hit the streets during June and July this year, the report prepared by the Committee on Doubling Farmers’ Income could be a ready reckoner. Prepared under the chairpersonship of Ashok Dalwai, the report on Doubling Farmers’ Income after studying the trends in crop income and cost associated with 23 crops, reveals a mixed picture across the...
More »Crop diversification: When farmers' incentives clash with policymakers goals -Anju Agnihotri Chaba
-The Indian Express The Punjab government has sought to bring 5 lh area in the state under maize, as part of the original plan of reducing paddy area by 12 lh between 2012-13 and 2017-18. Jalandhar: For policymakers wanting to wean away Punjab farmers from water-guzzling paddy, 1.35 lakh hectares (lh) area sown under maize this kharif season may not seem bad, even if it is way below the 29.11 lh...
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