-Down to Earth Low returns and high risks from alternative crops among reasons past efforts failed, says report The Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices (CACP) has recommended promotion of crop diversification, favouring oilseed crops amid the global inflation in oilseeds and vegetable oils prices. Global inflation creates a structural risk as vegetable oils account for about half of India’s agricultural import, subsequently raising the country’s agri-import bill, the commission wrote in its...

-Livemint.com India’s wheat export proscription was the first signal of awareness that moves on many fronts are needed for inflation control The Indian export ban on wheat in mid-May drew much negative attention. For the record, it is a ban on private sector wheat exports, and leaves open government-to-government contracts. The widespread criticism of the ban was misplaced in my opinion. Private wheat traders had responded exuberantly to the global demand for wheat...

-The Tribune With policy-backing, subsidies and availability of easy credit, farmers are being pushed to buy more machines. Punjab has five times more tractors than required. As more technological gadgets and machines are promoted, farmers are increasingly sucked into a debt cycle, while equipment manufacturers are laughing all the way to the bank. At a time when farmers across the world are struggling to recover their cost of production, an Oxfam report...

-Down to Earth Cattle ranchers sold milch cows at throwaway prices after incurring losses of about Rs 3 lakh in 5 months   Mangatram Aane  from Lokra village in Haryana’s Gurugram district had hopes of good income when he left his job with Hero Honda 15 years ago and started dairy farming.  Initially, he fetched a good money from dairy farming, then he  became a veterinary doctor. He felt that dairy farming had...

-Deccan Herald One must not make the mistake of thinking that high food prices are good for farmers The world has been facing a food crisis of a magnitude that has not been seen for many decades. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has warned that “the number of people facing acute food insecurity and requiring urgent life-saving food assistance and livelihood support continues to grow at an...