-PTI Chairman of Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, C Rangarajan today said Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) have not helped the farmers in gaining higher level of income.  "The marketing arrangements with respect to agricultural products remain very archaic", he said, delivering the convocation address at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore.  "Some of the legislations such as APMC have also not helped the farmers. There is a big difference between what the...

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...

The time has come for optimal pricing of water and power to prevent an unlimited pumping of groundwater and aid better coordination amongst competing demands for the scarce resource, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here on Tuesday. Dr. Singh's observations come at a time when there is a debate on the pricing of water and privatisation of services in the sector. The Ministry of Water Resources is working on a reforms-oriented...

-PTI The Gross Capital Formation (GCF) in the Agriculture and allied sectors in the country rose by 87 per cent to Rs 1,42,254 crore in the 2010-11 fiscal as compared to 2004-05, an official statement said today. "As per annual report of the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation for the year 2011-12, GCF in Agriculture and allied sectors in 2010-11 was Rs 1,42,254 crore. It was Rs 76,096 crore in 2004-05," it...

-PTI The Agriculture Ministry is likely to revise upwards the country's cotton production estimate by 3.5 per cent to a record 35.2 million bales for the current marketing year, a government official said.  The ministry releases four advance estimates at different stages of crop growth. In its second advance estimate, cotton production was pegged at 34 million bales for the ongoing 2011-12 marketing year ending September.  "The cotton production has slightly improved and...