-Hindustan Times A potentially “politically-damaging” report on farmer suicides in Punjab will now be released only after the election results on March 11. The state government had commissioned three state universities — Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana; Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar and Punjabi University, Patiala — to study cases of farmer suicides between April 2010 and March 2013. The three had earlier examined cases from 2000 to 2010 for compensation and...

-The Tribune Demonetisation didn’t overly impact the sector, but devitalisation is a concern THERE has been a lot of speculation about the extent of damage due to demonetisation on agriculture. Small farmers suffered most because cash in hand means a lot to them. They were unable to pay for inputs like fertilisers, seeds and farm labour and experienced low demand for their perishable produce. The latest data from government’s agricultural ministry however...

-TheWire.in Tamil Nadu continues to witness cycles of flood and drought annually. Mismanagement of traditional water management systems is one of the main reasons. Tamil Nadu: That Tamil Nadu qualifies to be dubbed as a land of climate paradoxes is beyond debate. The massive flood of 2015 was quickly followed by a punishing drought in 2016. Though the state benefited marginally from the southwest monsoon, as is usually the case, the biggest...

-The Hindu Business Line A realistic MSP, better market access and warehouses Agriculture is not a profitable business in India. About 70 per cent of the country’s farmers are struggling to make ends meet. In 2012-13, the NSSO’s ‘Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households’ showed that farmers who own 1 hectare or less of land see an average monthly income of ?5,247, which doesn’t even suffice to meet their household expenses. Prime Minister...

-The Hindu Most of the earnings of the average farm household were spent in meeting consumption expenditures. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced a slew of measures in the Union Budget 2017 to boost the agriculture sector. Higher agricultural credit, higher allocation for irrigation projects, a crop insurance scheme and increased allocations for MGNREGA to dig farm ponds were among the measures announced on February 1. But will these help attain the goal...