-The Hindu Business Line Eleven years since its inception, the State’s farmer’s debt relief commission has quietly eased the burden of debt on poor farmers, and grown to be a model worth emulating Earlier this week 35,000 debt-ridden farmers coursed through Maharashtra, walking 180 km on blistered soles, to converge at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan demanding freedom from debt and fair compensation for their produce. As the government scrounged for solutions, it could’ve...

-The Indian Express Lobbies with no stakes in dairy husbandry are undermining the achievements of crossbreeding through false glorification of the Indian cow. Livestock is an important asset for Indian farmers to supplement their agricultural income. Cattle and buffaloes have been traditionally maintained by them for milk production as well as manure and bullock supply. With 191 million cattle and 109 million buffaloes, India accounts for 30.3 per cent of the global...

-Down to Earth Farmers in Gujarat prepare for a bleak future and protests as Narmada water disappears from canals after Assembly elections It's February 11. The sun is yet to shine over Morbi district in Gujarat’s arid Saurashtra region. Thousands of diesel pumps suddenly start blaring across a branch canal of the Narmada, passing through Khirai village. Hundreds of farmers have congregated along the canal to draw as much water as possible...

  The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has recently made an upward revision to the growth to be experienced by the agrarian economy in the present crop year (viz. from July, 2017 to June, 2018). The growth in real Gross Value Added (GVA) by the agrarian sector as a whole is expected to be 3.0 percent in 2017-18 as per the second advance estimates of national income for 2017-18, which was released...

-Down to Earth The storm spoiled standing crops in Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh When farmers were already trying to cope with the losses they had incurred after the last hailstorm in February, March 4 saw fresh hailstorms in Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. After losing 50 per cent to 90 per cent of its standing crops to the storm and erratic rains, several farmers’ organisations seek compensation. “Crops of mustard, barley,...