For those who asked why the farmers of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states hit the streets during June and July this year, the report prepared by the Committee on Doubling Farmers’ Income could be a ready reckoner. Prepared under the chairpersonship of Ashok Dalwai, the report on Doubling Farmers’ Income after studying the trends in crop income and cost associated with 23 crops, reveals a mixed picture across the...

-Livemint.com Karnataka govt has stopped the sale of paddy seeds in some districts hoping to get farmers to switch to ragi and jowar among other coarse grains Bengaluru: Following a lukewarm response to its promotional efforts, Karnataka has resorted to more forceful measures to get farmers in the Cauvery command area to switch from cultivating water-intensive crops such as paddy and sugarcane to drought-tolerant millets as part of a plan to stabilize...

-The Times of India Punjab, the leader of green revolution during the '70s, has become disreputable for farmers' suicides in last two decade or so. Usually, these suicides are attributed to farmers' indebtedness to banks and commission agents. However, it is to be noted that bank credit has played a pivotal role in investment into tubewells, tractors, farm mechanization, horticulture, dairy, poultry and forestry all over India, and especially in Punjab and...

-The Hindu Business Line Women farmers face the brunt; GST adds to their woes New Delhi: The Agriculture Ministry has written to the Finance Ministry seeking income-tax exemption for farmer produce organisations (FPOs), particularly for those that are registered as farmer producer companies (FPO) under the Companies Act. “These FPOs were brought in to negotiate the problems that are faced by cooperative societies. So they are naturally eligible for all the benefits that...

-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi: A substantial increase in input costs of materials has led to a decline in crop income over the years. This has resulted in the purchasing power of farmers not improving even though there was an increase in farm output, an official report has said. “By and large, the per hectare real value of output increased for most crops during the period 2004-05 to 2013-14, but the...