-PTI Chandigarh: Punjab, the food bowl of the country, may not achieve bumper wheat output this season, with several growing areas facing "massive" Crop loss due to untimely rains accompanied by hailstorm and high velocity winds during February and this month. "We may not have bumper wheat production this season as rains along with hailstorm have damaged wheat crop in several parts of Punjab," Punjab Agriculture Director, Mangal Singh Sandhu told PTI. He...

-The Indian Express The Bharat Krishak Samaj (BSK) has long urged the merger of the agriculture ministry with the water resources and rural development ministries, in the interests of better coordination. With cooperative federalism gaining currency as an idea, that might just become possible. Now, the panchayati raj and food processing ministries could join the club, leaving agriculture, for all practical purposes, to the states, as envisaged by the Constitution. But...

-Down to Earth Crop loss could be to the extent of up to 20 per cent of total production in northern and central states The unusual heavy rains starting Sunday caused heavy damage to Rabi crops in north India, particularly in Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha region of Maharastra, Saurashtra region of Gujarat and Punjab and Haryana. The unusual rains started around midnight on the intervening night of Saturday...

-PTI Chandigarh: Punjab's farming sector has expressed disappointment over the Union Budget for not taking "pro-farmers" decision to provide much-needed fillip to the state's agriculture which has been suffering with "high" input cost and "lower" output prices. Even the farm experts have also expressed displeasure with the budget for not announcing any financial assistance to Punjab to promote crop diversification as state's wheat-paddy production has reached saturation point, besides taking a toll...

-The Hindu Meerut (Uttar Pradesh): Harpal, a farmer in Amroha district, used his countrymade rifle to kill himself in the first week of February. The 52-year-old farmer's son Satpal said his father was worried about not being able to return the Rs. 3.27 lakh he had borrowed from local moneylenders two years ago to buy a tractor. "Sugar mills take sometimes two years to pay the full money for the sugarcane crop. We...