It will have no impact on domestic prices, says Pawar Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that the government will allow export of 5 lakh tonnes of sugar under Open General Licence by the end of this month after working out the modalities. All sugar mills would be allowed to take advantage of higher domestic sugar production and high global sugar prices.Mr. Pawar also announced a hike...

Volume of silk production may be on the decline in traditional silk cultivating areas in Southern Karnataka districts, thanks to rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. But Central Silk Board's efforts to popularise sericulture in northern Karnataka districts is paying off, board chairperson H. Hanumantappa has said.Speaking to presspersons after inaugurating the “Silk Mark Expo” here on Wednesday, Mr. Hanumantappa said that farmers in Belgaum, Bidar, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Gulbarga, Gadag and Haveri...

Pawan Goenka noticed something unusual last year—tractor sales were climbing even though India had its worst monsoon in more than three decades and farm output dropped 2.8% in the three months to December last fiscal. The umbilical cord that tied rainfall patterns and tractor sales seemed to have been ruptured. The president of auto and tractor maker Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd offers an interesting explanation to this puzzle: growing labour shortages...

No proposal to revise Minimum Support Price Despite demands from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, there is no proposal with the Centre to revise the Minimum Support Price (MSP) or announce any bonus for wheat, paddy and Sugarcane crops. However, it is working towards a system of ensuring remunerative prices under which farmers do not require any concessions in future, according to Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad...

While the revolutionary National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme has brought higher wages for labourers across the country, farmers and landlords in Tamil Nadu have begun to feel the pinch following its huge success. They don't get labourers to work in their fields due to low wages. Will the new choice force landlords to hike wages? Rural Tamil Nadu is witnessing a critical migration of labour. Farm workers, 80% of who...