-The Tribune Contract Farming is a much-needed vehicle to bring new crops, technologies, and markets to farmers. However, the new model Act 2018 opens up agricultural markets to contracting agencies without adequate safeguards for farmers. The first attempt at reforms in agricultural markets was made by the union government with the design of a model Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act in 2003 which provided for new market channels for farmers and...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: In a glaring case of apathy, ailing self-trained farm innovator Dadaji Khobragade (80), who revolutionized paddy Farming by developing the high yielding variety of rice called HMT, is struggling to meet his medical expenses. His family has been forced to make a public appeal for donations for just Rs 2 lakh to pay for his hospitalisation. Khobragade, who hails from Nanded village in Nagbid tehsil of eastern...

-Livemint.com Investments in irrigation, combined with better-quality seeds, can dramatically improve returns to Farming Global attention has been devoted to water scarcity and its effect on Indian farmers. However, new analysis from Indian researchers suggests that far more good could come if irrigation were combined with seed improvement. Tata Trusts and Copenhagen Consensus have commissioned new research by noted experts from India and around the world, looking at measures that would help Indian...

-Business Standard From occupying 3% of all sugarcane area in the state in 2012-13, the variety that now covers 52% New Delhi: India’s sugar sector is staring at an unprecedented glut, with production topping 31 million tonnes. Sugar is suddenly tasting bitter as mills are finding it difficult to pay sugarcane farmers in the politically sensitive state of Uttar Pradesh. At the heart of the surplus lies a new variety of sugarcane called CO-0238,...

-TheWire.in Fearing that their land will be taken away by the government, over 5,000 farmers from Bhavnagar have sought permission for mass euthanasia along with their families. Bhavnagar (Gujarat): On April 1, about 100 heavily armed police personnel marched into a nondescript village, Badi in Ghogha taluka of Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district, and fired tear gas shells and lathi-charged locals, injuring about ten persons, including women, and detained more than 50. All...