-The Hindu Business Line The National Seed Association of India (NSAI), which represents top seed companies in the country, on Wednesday suggested some changes in the proposed Seed Bill 2019, including a more scientific definition of transgenic variety, enhanced farmer rights on seeds and enlisting the services of private firms for evaluating new varieties before seed registration. In letters written to Indian Council of Agricultural Research - Director General (ICAR) Trilochan Mahapatra...
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Cane farmers may have earned up to Rs.9,000 crore more under revenue-share, rather than FRP, model: CACP chief
-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi: Contrary to popular perception, opting for a revenue share, as recommended by the C Rangarajan panel in 2012, instead of the practice of paying a fair and remunerative price (FRP) for sugarcane, would not have resulted in any loss for farmers. Rather, farmers would have gained Rs.8,000-9,000 crore more in the past 10 years, said Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) Chairman Vijay Paul...
More »India's fertiliser drain: Urea of darkness -Sarthak Ray
-Financial Express A study by ICRIER researchers Ashok Gulati and Pritha Banerjee shows how problematic the fertiliser policy is—for farmers, industry, the environment and the government. India’s experience with fertilisers, in the later part of the Green Revolution, prompted it to adopt a policy of subsidising fertilisers. In 1977, the country had a total NPK (nitrogenous, phosphatic and potassic) fertiliser consumption of 4.3 million metric tonnes (mmt) and per hectare usage...
More »Who is a farmer? Government has no clear definition -Priscilla Jebaraj
-The Hindu Such an ambiguity has serious implications for the design and beneficiaries of schemes meant to help them Who is a farmer? What is the government’s definition of a farmer and how many farmers are there in India by that definition? Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar failed to answer that question when it was asked in Parliament last week. The government’s ambiguity has serious implications for the design and beneficiaries of the...
More »Punjab groundwater crisis: What it will take to move from paddy to maize -Anju Agnihotri Chaba
-The Indian Express At current rates of depletion, Punjab’s entire subsurface water resource could be exhausted in a little over two decades. Jalandhar: As the discussion around Punjab’s massive groundwater crisis becomes more urgent, there is an increasingly stronger accent on diversification of crops, and a move away from water-guzzling paddy. At a meeting over the weekend, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, decided to strengthen maize — the most important alternative to...
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