-PTI New Delhi: Under pressure to control pulses prices, the Centre is hopeful of clinching a long-term deal with Mozambique for assured supply of lentils after the two countries had positive talks last week. Indian delegations last week visited pulses growing nations, Mozambique and Myanmar, to explore government-to- government arrangement for assured supply of lentils, especially tur, on a long term basis. "The delegation is back with long term solution in sight. The...

-Scroll.in Farmers in Maharashtra say almost all the seeds supplied by one company contracted a disease. A failure of tomato seeds might have contributed to the current rise in tomato prices across Maharashtra, if not the rest of the country. Since April, tomato prices have more than doubled across India. While the conventional wisdom has attributed this to excessive heat and unseasonal rain that affected the tomato crop at its flowering stage, farmers...

-The Financial Express Persistence of high food inflation can harden the monetary policy stance and make fiscal choices difficult Food inflation increased to 7.9% in May 2016 as against 4.23% in April. This sudden spurt in food inflation is attributed to vegetable prices, followed by pulses and sugar. Is this a short-term spike or will it be a persistent one? If it is going to be a persistent one with pass-through effects,...

-The Indian Express Real wages have risen across India in the past two decades, but the increase has been especially marked among rural unskilled workers. Three drivers — falling rural female labour force participation, a construction boom, and favourable agricultural terms of trade — help explain why unskilled rural workers fared better than their urban counterparts or workers with more education. Going forward, in the light of lower agricultural prices and...

-The Indian Express NDA’s existing agricultural policies are ill-equipped to achieve the stated goal of doubling them in five years. As the Narendra Modi government completed two years in office, almost each arm of government issued hordes of advertisements celebrating achievements and delineating policies and programmes that were transforming India. The ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare came out with a big picture of PM Modi, spelling out 10 points reflecting the...