-The Hindu Two-wheelers continue to slide as virus adds to woes In a sign of reviving rural demand, tractor players M&M and Escorts posted a double-digit growth in sales in February 2020. M&M’s farm equipment sector (FES) said its domestic sales in February 2020 stood at 21,877 units, up 21% from the year-ago month. Exports, though, dropped 22% to 683 units, taking total tractor sales during the month to 22,561 units. This is a...

-The Hindu 30 participants from eight States take part in the five-day training programme VISAKHAPATNAM (Andhra Pradesh): A five-day national training programme on millets discussed the possibilities of intercropping millets in commercial crops and major millets. Since the area that had been traditionally used to cultivate millets is presently replaced by cash crops like soya, groundnut and cotton intercropping is an option to bring back millets, according to M.L. Sanyasi Rao, Programme Manager...

-The Indian Express The recent tweaks to the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, including making it 100% voluntary and capping premiums at 30%, are going to be a game-changer. The Centre has recently revamped the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) that will have far-reaching impact on the implementation of this flagship crop insurance scheme. Launched in the 2016 kharif season, PMFBY makes the insurance companies liable for full risk coverage. Farmers...

-TheWire.in Making crop insurance mandatory for loanee farmers provided an attractive deal for insurance companies. Without this, will the business still be viable? This is the first in a two-part series about the changes made to the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. On February 19, 2020, the Union Cabinet approved major modifications to the two crop insurance schemes, the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS). While...

-PTI New Delhi: Use of soil health card has helped farmers substantially reduce the cost of production and achieve higher production, thereby increasing farm income up to ?30,000 per acre, depending on the crop, according to a government study. The study, conducted by the National Productivity Council (NPC) in 76 districts of 19 States, covering 170 soil testing labs and 1,700 farmers, has been released on the completion of five years of...