-Business Standard Pulses output was estimated at record 22.4 mt in the 2016-17 crop year ending on June Early onset of the monsoon and its progress has led to an increase in the area sown till Friday of this kharif season, year-on-year. Alongside, the depressed price of pulses have led more farmers to replace it with cotton in some parts. Farmers have brought almost 10% more area under cultivation over the corresponding period...

-BBC Farmers are on the boil again in India. In western Maharashtra state, they have been on strike for a week in some seven districts now, spilling milk on the streets, shutting down markets, protesting on the roads and attacking vegetable trucks. In neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, curfew has been imposed after five farmers were killed in clashes with police on Tuesday. Last month, farmers in southern Telangana and Andhra Pradesh staged protests...

-Livemint.com An advance review of drought preparedness will help mitigate the impact of any sub-par rains on farmers, says agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh New Delhi: Despite the government’s weather office forecasting a normal south-west monsoon in 2017, agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh on Monday wrote to all state chief minister’s asking them to be ready with contingency plans in case of poor rains. An advance review of drought preparedness will help mitigate...

-The Hindu Business line Hyderabad: The chances of the El Nino phenomenon impacting the south west monsoon at its peak across India are 60 to 70 per cent, says Weather Risk Management Services (WRMS). El Nino, which refers to the formation of warm water undercurrents in the Pacific Ocean, has been known to have an adverse effect on global weather patterns and occasionally affect the rainfall during the Indian monsoon season. At the...

-PTI Madurai: All sand quarries in Tamil Nadu would be closed down in three years and the government would undertake mining, storing and selling of sand at cheaper rates, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edapaddi K. Palaniswami has said. “Sand quarrying will be completely stopped in the next three years. The Government will completely undertake sand quarrying, storing and selling of sand and make it available at cheaper rates,” he said yestreday. Palaniswami said...