-Down to Earth At a time when farmers strive to get the right price for crops, more money in their hands can help reignite the country's economy In 2019, three weeks after the kharif harvesting season began, reports emerged that farmers are selling their produce at a price way below the minimum support price (MSP) announced by the government. Except for a few crops like paddy and maize, market prices for most...

-The Hindu Border districts most affected; authorities caught napping despite FAO warning. Ahmedabad: Sharing borders with neighbouring Pakistan, Gujarat is under attack from hoppers — new-born locusts — that have flown in across the international border. As the swarms mature, they have ravaged farms in North Gujarat, devastating farmers in the three border districts Banaskantha, Patan and Kutch. The locusts, known as tiddis locally, have wreaked havoc on standing crops of castor, cumin,...

-Hindustan Times PMFBY has run into many of the old problems. The one most troubling issue for farmers is a continuous delay in payouts. The average delay in payment of claims, according to official data, is more than a year from the date of harvest. When the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the country’s flagship crop insurance scheme was launched in June 2016, the idea was to replace complicated, multiple insurance...

-PTI The government must introduce millets into diet of the mid-day meal programme to improve India''s low nutrition ranking, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Wednesday said. Speaking at a workshop on ''Energy-Water-Agriculture Nexus: Grow Solar, Save Water, Double the Farm Income'', Kant further said India needs to intensify crop diversification and public procurement must focus on very less water intensive crops. "We must introduce pulses and millets into the diet of the...

-The Indian Express The start of the sugarcane season in Maharashtra is marked by the seasonal migration of around 7-8 lakh labourers from Marathwada and North Maharashtra to the mills in various parts of the state. Pune: Maharashtra’s sugarcane crushing is all set to extend by at least a fortnight as mills complain of acute shortage of harvesting labourers. Mills say that at present around 15-20 per cent less labourers have turned...