-Outlook Experts say Zero Budget Natural Farming defies logic that it will involve no financial cost. Imbalance between yield and price could even lead to food shortage in future Au Naturel * Zero-budget natural farming relies on savings on chemical inputs like fertilisers and insecticides * As health consciousness grows, there’s a demand for natural/organic produce * ZBNF relies on cow dung and urine for seed treatment, improving yield * Scientists fear ZBNF may lead to...

The Hindu Business Line In an article on Monday, this writer pointed out how it is a challenging task to double farmers’ income, given the fall in output prices and the higher cost of farm inputs. In an interview, Ashok Dalwai, CEO, Doubling Farmers’ Income Committee, talks about the various measures the Centre is taking to ensure it is on the right track and reaches its target by 2022. According to...

-The Indian Express NAFED has been tasked with purchasing all the apples that growers bring to sell at mandis in the Valley. A bumper crop, for which there would hardly be any private buyers with all the current movement restrictions, makes it all the more challenging. The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) has not bought a single kilogram of apples for the last three decades or more. “We did...

-News18.com Calling for reorganisation of the agriculture sector and crop diversification, Mihir Shah said that agriculture must be thought of as an enterprise. Delhi: Incentivising cultivation of water-efficient crops and not “maniacal” river-linking is the need of the hour as the crippling water crisis bears down on India’s agrarian economy, former Planning Commission member and water conservationist Dr Mihir Shah has said. Calling for a reorganisation of the agriculture sector and crop...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Backed by consistent progress in sowing of kharif crops, the Centre on Monday said it was hopeful of achieving its record foodgrain production target of 291 million tonnes in the 2019-20 crop year (July-June) even as floods in some parts hit the summer crops. It is expected that light rains of short duration, as predicted in subdued monsoon phase in the coming weeks, will prove...