The Punjab Government Thursday requested the Reserve Bank of India that it should impress upon Public Sector banks to aggressively promote Agricultural Debt Swap scheme to free the farmers from the clutches of moneylenders. The Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal raised this issue when Dr. D. Subbarao, Governor, RBI today called on him. The Deputy Chief Minister impressed upon the Governor that the Punjab farmers reeling under Rs....

To meet the rising demand of storage space for food grains, especially during procurement seasons, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other agencies have invited tenders for 70 lakh metric tonnes of storage capacity. Principal Secretary to the Punjab Chief Minister Darbara Singh Guru, who was here to take stock of the arrangements of paddy procurement at the grain markets in border districts, said this on Tuesday. Talking to the...

A standoff between the Haryana government and rice millers is threatening to derail the procurement of paddy in Haryana, with growers accusing authorities of not lifting the crop despite heavy arrival in markets. The state government said it is hopeful of settling the issue with state rice millers within a day or two, while claiming to have lifted ‘each grain’ of paddy. Peeved at the slow pace of paddy lifting at various...

Higher support prices for kharif pulses has resulted in a sharp jump in acreage under cultivation and production is estimated to rise to 6 million tonnes in the kharif season of the 2010-11 crop year The support price for wheat is likely to be hiked by a nominal Rs 20 in the rabi season, but the procurement rate for pulses could go up sharply, as the government wants to reduce dependence...

Blame stubborn procurement policy as the root of all evil. With the government sitting on heaps of foodgrain and with an acute shortage of quality storage facilities, analysts, some within the government, suggest exporting foodgrain and reviewing procurement policy. The suggestion is gaining ground among advisors and experts, given the current global situation, where wheat prices are on the rise on fears of subdued production in drought-hit countries like Russia, Uzbekistan and...