-The Economic Times MANDYA: A new breed of moneylenders has pushed farmers of moneyed Mandya district in Karnataka into an endless debt trap, leading to mounting suicides, even as the institutionalised credit system has failed them. The system is so well entrenched that the borrowers themselves are taking steps to protect the moneylenders from a government crackdown on the practice. Farmers — big, small and marginal — have taken loans from private...

-The Times of India AHMEDABAD: Inadequate rains and farmers selling land to make way for industries to be one of the main reasons that have led to Gujarat's farms yield to be lower by 71 lakh tones in 2014-15. This was revealed last week after the state agriculture department sent production estimates for 2014-15 to the central government. Gujarat's cultivation area for rabi, kharif and summer crops went down by 32.42 lakh...

-Business Standard This could help bypass central legislation and break the land Bill deadlock Ten big states, most of those ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its alliance partners, on Wednesday sought to unshackle themselves from the logjam over amendments to the contentious land acquisition Bill, 2013, by proposing to bring their own laws for boosting infrastructure development. At a NITI Aayog meeting to discuss the land Bill (the Right to...

-Economic and Political Weekly There has been a major change in the composition and mix of the cattle population in India. The proportion of male cattle has declined sharply as farmers do not fi nd it worthwhile to maintain bullocks to plough holdings that are becoming smaller and smaller. The composition of the milch cattle population too is changing. The proportion of the indigenous breed is falling and that of the...

-PTI National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) today launched a mobile application that will recommend a balanced diet for cows and buffaloes to help boost dairy farmers' income by raising milk yield and cutting feed cost. The mobile application, named 'Pashu Poshan', was launched by the Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh. The application, which will be available on both web and android platforms, can be accessed by registering on the INAPH portal (http://inaph.Nddb.Coop). "This...