-Hindustan Times In August this year, whiteflies -- a notorious pest -- bumbled through vast tracts of Punjab’s cotton fields, destroying a sizeable chunk of the crop in the state. These insects, which slurp on juicy, tender bolls, seemed to have inflicted heavy losses, sparking a serious farm crisis in India’s agricultural powerhouse in a decade. A back-to-back drought meant farmers grew more cotton, a hardy crop that requires less water to...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Total Matching Records found : 1486
India faces shortage of pulses; to import from Myanmar, Australia and Tanzania -Sudhir Suryawanshi
-DNA Country to import 50 lakh MT pulses from Myanmar, Australia, Tanzania India's 'low pulse' is going to pump up the economies of three countries – Myanmar, Australia and Tanzania. India needs to urgently import 50 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of pulses worth over Rs 2,600 crore to meet the domestic demand of 2.10 lakh MT. "There is no supply. Farmers had stopped cultivating pulses for want of incentives. Besides, to cultivate pulses,...
More »Unearthing the loopholes in Modi government's Soil Health Card scheme -Jyotika Sood
-DNA The Modi government’s soil-testing scheme doesn’t address the causes of agrarian distress In February this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an ambitious Rs568 crore Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme. The objective of the three-year scheme is to issue soil health cards to 14 crore farmers spread across India. The cards will be given out after determining the quality of soil, identifying its macro- and micronutrients as well as its...
More »Whitefly destroys 2/3rd of Punjab's cotton crop, 15 farmers commit suicide -Subodh Varma & Amit Bhattacharya
-The Times of India BATHINDA: "It was just like the Japanese air strike in the film, Pearl Harbour," said Naresh Kumar Lehri, a seed and pesticide dealer at Singho village in Punjab's Bathinda district. "They appeared out of nowhere and left a trail of destruction." Lehri was referring to the devastating attack by whitefly, a common pest, on the cotton crop in Punjab's Malwa region this year. It has affected about two-thirds...
More »Farm insurance coverage is poor: govt to House panel -AM Jigeesh
-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi: The government has painted a grim picture of the crop insurance scenario in the country. Making a presentation before the Finance Standing Committee of Parliament, government representatives said the penetration of crop insurance was just about 23 per cent (369.94 lakh) of the total number of farmers. A little more than 22 per cent of the gross crop area (455.63 lakh hectares) is covered under four...
More »
