-Down to Earth Urea subsidy cut 17%; allocation for NPK subsidy reduced 35%  Amid acute shortage of Fertilisers in India, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman February 1, 2022, reduced subsidy on urea and nutrient-based (NPK) Fertilisers. The move is expected to adversely hit the ailing farm sector. The Rs 63,222.32 crore allocation for urea subsidy in her Budget for 2022-23 was 17 per cent lower than the revised estimates (RE) for 2021-22. Another...

-IANS/ The Shillong Times New Delhi: Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday asked the states to plan in advance for their Fertilisers needs and provide estimates to the Centre so that the Fertiliser Department can timely provide sufficient amount. He also suggested that states should increase the use of NPK and liquid urea and reduce the dependence on DAP Fertilisers. Tomar was speaking at the National Conference on Agriculture for Summer...

-Newsclick.in A guaranteed MSP system will also reduce public storage costs/wastage if it is complemented by a universal public distribution system. The year-long protest by farmers and workers compelled the Centre to repeal the three contentious farm laws, which were designed to further corporate encroachment in agriculture, on November 29. On December 11, the protest ended but not before the protesters reiterated their demand for a legal guarantee on Minimum Support Price...

-Down to Earth Bijaya Jhankar grows nine traditional varieties of paddy that have a longer harvest duration of 130-150 days The eyes of Bijaya Jhankar twinkle as he approaches his 1.2 hectare (ha) farm for harvesting paddy. They are unlike any other varieties grown in his village Sanbaheli, which lies in the vast Sunabeda plateau of Odisha’s Nuapada district. “They yield shorter grains, take longer to mature but are of tremendous sentimental value,”...

-Down to Earth The country’s organic / natural farming coverage remains poor despite abundant indegenous resources Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to farmers December 16 to ensure that at least one village in every gram panchayat goes for natural farming methods. He highlighted the importance of ‘gaudhan’, or use of cow dung-urine formulations, with an aim of giving a fillip to natural farming. “The maximum benefit of natural farming will be for 80...