-The Hindu Huge subsidy of 5 percentage points being leveraged. Pointing to a possible diversion of subsidised funds meant for farmers to non-agricultural uses, a research paper by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) has found that the crop loans extended in India are in fact close to exceeding the total expenditure on farm sector inputs. In 2012-13, the aggregate short-term credit — provided primarily to finance the purchase...

-The Hindu Business Line Calls for restructuring Nafed for effective procurement of pulses, oilseeds   Bengaluru: The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) has made a pitch for encouraging water use efficiency in agriculture. As part of its non-price policy recommendations for kharif 2015-16, the crop advisory body has suggested that States fix quantitative ceilings on per hectare use of both water and electricity. The farm sector accounts for about 83 per cent...

-The Hindu The Executive Director of Greenpeace India, Samit Aich, resigned on Wednesday following an internal review of the organisation’s handling of two sexual harassment cases. A note put on the organisation’s website says that along with Mr. Aich, Programme Director Divya Raghunandan has also resigned. The Greenpeace India Board has also decided to commission a full, independent audit of how the NGO dealt with sexual harassment cases to strengthen internal processes...

-The Hindu Paddy, maize, groundnut, and castor likely to see low yield, says report. This year’ s farm output may fall by only around 4.5 per cent despite the projection of a strong El Nino year by the India Meteorological Department, says a recent report. During the previous El Nino years, farm production fell by an average of 8% across all major crops. A normal monsoon, however, could lead to a 0.6-%...

-The Hindu Hyderabad (Telengana): Delay in commencement of institutional credit disbursement likely to affect sowing. Credit requirement for kharif operations is nearly Rs. 26,000 crore. Notwithstanding the copious rains received in most parts of Telangana and availability of seed and fertilizer in ample quantities, the delay in commencement of institutional credit disbursement, crop loan release by banks, is likely to affect the sowing operations in the current kharif season. Credit requirement Though the Agriculture...