-Livemint.com The APMC legislation has in effect created fragmented markets—small trading zones that can quite easily be captured by trader cartels Makeshift markets have sprung up in several cities in Maharashtra over the past few weeks, after the state government led by Devendra Fadnavis allowed farmers to sell vegetables and fruit directly to consumers. They are now allowed to bring their produce directly to cities rather than sell them in markets...

-TheWire.in A study shows that lower the average income of a country, the lower is its consumption of fruits and vegetables. Nearly 60% of the people in low-income countries, including India, cannot afford the recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables, research published in the British medical journal Lancet has concluded. Most nutritional guidelines recommend the consumption of at least two servings of fruits and three servings of vegetables per day. However, according...

-The Hindu Business Line Bengaluru/ Chennai: The disruption of road transport between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over sharing of the Cauvery river water in the past few days has impacted the movement of commodities such as onions, poultry products, turmeric, tea and tomatoes, among others. This has resulted in the price of perishables, mainly onions, falling as the new crop has started reaching markets in Southern Karnataka. “Onion prices are down by...

-Hindustan Times India is growing more food but also wasting up to 67 million tonne of it every year, a government study shows. That’s more than the national output of countries such as Britain. And enough food for Bihar, one of India’s larger states, for a whole year. The value of the food lost – Rs 92,000 crore -- is nearly two-thirds of what it costs the government to feed 600 million...

-The Hindu Business Line Hyderabad: Bayer’s takeover of Monsanto for $66 billion could trigger tremors in Indian agriculture. Stakeholders worry that the global consolidation will narrow choices for farmers. The merger will propel the merged entity into a leading player in the seed sector. Through their subsidiaries and joint ventures in India, the two firms will garner a major share in paddy, maize, vegetables and cotton and agrochemicals. “It will lead to concentration...