-The Hindu Business Line Health-conscious consumers, value-added products seen boosting consumption Bengaluru: Apart from the rising awareness of nutritive benefits, the policy push being given by Karnataka – the largest ragi producing State – is set to see the acreage under finger millet (ragi) grow considerably in the years to come. Higher MSP The Karnataka government has procured over one lakh tonnes of ragi at ₹2,000 a quintal last year (includes a bonus of...

-Business Standard Labour shortage and threat of deficient monsoon are pushing adoption of farm machinery Taraori: Vikas Chaudhary, a farmer in Haryana's Karnal district, started using a maize planter in 2012. The acquisition of a happy seeder around the same time helped him sow wheat directly.  The two machines helped him reduce input costs substantially. "With the help of machines, I have managed to reduce the input cost for paddy by Rs 2,000...

-Economic and Political Weekly A categorical distinction is facing rough weather--that between urban and rural. If we take just agriculture, there is so much of the outside world that comes in not just as external markets but as external inputs. Further, many of our villages barely qualify as rural if we were to take occupation alone. So the earlier line that separated the farmer from the worker in towns is slowly...

-The Tribune Transformative approaches to agriculture are the need of the hour. For this, we have to impart climate resilience and rehabilitate economically stressed farming communities of agriculturally developed regions. Since more than two decades now, farmers have been committing suicides in India, a fact that reflects the harsh realities of farming. Most of these farmers were traditional family farmers, leading a lifestyle based on traditions and beliefs. The intensive commercial commodity-based...

-The Indian Express While tractor sales trebled during FY04-14, the last year saw a reversal in the trend with the agri industry facing multiple issues. If there is one indicator capturing the changes that took place in rural India over the past decade, along with the emerging signs of distress in the last year, it is the sales of tractors. Between 2003-04 and 2013-14, domestic tractor sales more than trebled from under...