The finance ministry has asked public sector banks to devise products for Indian farmers to ensure they get adequate funding in emergencies. The government, the majority owner of such banks, wants them to roll out products such as emergency loans to farmers that will be linked to savings accounts, a weather index-based insurance product, and set up a credit guarantee fund that will aid farmers in the event of crop losses...

Cotton production in the country has more than doubled due to the use of Bt cotton seeds, said Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today, batting in favour of the contentious genetically modified crop that is coming under increasing attack from activists and farmers for “stagnant yields, pest resistance and evolution of new pest and disease attacks”. In response to concerns raised in the Rajya Sabha over low yields due to the hybrid...

-PTI An additional investment of Rs 1,15,660 crore would be required to revitalise the agriculture sector and boost production to meet the foodgrains demand under the proposed Food law, Parliament was informed today.  "To effectively implement the proposed Food Security Act, it is estimated that there should be an additional production of about 70-75 million tonnes of foodgrains," Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat said in a written reply to Lok...

Maharashtra sounds clarion call on hybrid crop liability Competition is tough in the seed market, which may explain why marketing gimmicks are often used to woo farmers. It’s tougher still for the farmers to get compensation when the claims fail and they are saddled with a bad or damaged crop. Sometimes the state government steps in to offer compensation or the farmers turn to the consumer court for relief. Typically, of...

The data show that rural families simply cannot subsist on farm incomes alone There must be a bit of Gandhi in all of us because often our idea of India ultimately boils down to the kisan as the standard bearer of the lakhs of villages that comprise India. Perhaps that is why I tend to look for the signs of transformation in the lives of Indian farmers. The changes in...