-The Indian Express PM Modi government’s mandatory coating policy brings down sale of fertilisers, despite record farm production Here’s an apparent contradiction: The Narendra Modi government claims that India’s foodgrain output will hit a record 271.98 million tonnes (mt) in 2016-17 — up from last year’s 251.57 mt — with production of rice, wheat, maize, pulses and even oilseeds estimated at all-time highs. Yet, fertiliser sales — considered a proxy for farm sector...

-PTI New Delhi: The government is considering imposing import duty on wheat in order to protect farmers amid projections of a record output this year, Agriculture Secretary Shobhana K. Pattanayak said today. On December 8, the government had reduced customs duty on wheat to zero from 10 per cent to boost domestic availability and check retail prices. Now that the country is all set to harvest a record production of 96.64 million tonnes...

-The Indian Express Under the proposed system, payment of subsidy is to be based on weekly settlement of claims from actual sales data captured on POS machines. Buoyed by its landslide win in the recent Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the Narendra Modi government has decided to fast-track the implementation of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) system for payment of fertiliser subsidy to farmers. From the coming kharif season, beginning June, the Rs...

-The Hindu Business Line Prices have started to fall already; the State agencies have to ramp-up procurement at least this year wheat farmers in Uttar Pradesh are a worried lot. Procurement of the foodgrain by government agencies in the State is meagre and a likely bumper harvest this year is stoking fears of a further slide in prices. UP contributes almost a third to the country’s total wheat production, with an annual output...

-Hindustan Times India’s performance in the recently released Global Hunger Index (GHI) report is tragic. The country which is one of the largest producers of cereals, vegetables and fruits in the world, ranks 97 among 118 countries and is home to over 184 million undernourished people. India also pays a very heavy price for vitamin and mineral deficiencies, often called “hidden hunger”, as it loses $12 billion in gross domestic product...