-The Indian Express Agricultural prices crashed in April-June, just when a bumper rabi crop had been harvested after two years of drought, and despite demonetisation. 2017 was agriculture’s annus horribilis. The reason wasn’t monsoon failure (as in 2014 and 2015) or unseasonal rain and hail (as in March 2015); the year was, in fact, largely free of extreme weather events, resulting in a record output of wheat, pulses, cotton, potato and a...

-Hindustan Times The Indian farmer needs to sell his produce with as little intermediation as possible in order to make decent profits. One of the biggest roadblocks for this to happen is lack of mass demand for the majority of farm produce Faced with the spectre of rural anti-incumbency after the Gujarat results, the Modi government is in firefighting mode. Reportedly, a scheme is being planned to provide partial support to state...

-Livemint.com In Gujarat elections, BJP won 23 seats in cotton cultivation areas, while the Congress took 30 The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Maharashtra is worried about the electoral reversals the party suffered in rural Gujarat, especially the cotton-growing parts. Results of the Gujarat assembly elections announced on Monday showed the Congress made significant gains in the Saurashtra-Kutch region and north Gujarat where cotton and groundnut are the main cash crops. In...

-Newsclick.in Agricultural output is stagnating, farmers’ debt and suicides are rising, 35% cultivators have abandoned farming – gujarat’s development model has betrayed farmers Here are some facts about the state of agriculture in Gujarat, often described by BJP as the crucible for ‘model’ governance and development:     Between 2001 and 2011, the number of cultivators in Gujarat fell by 355,181, the bulk of which was marginal cultivators (those who cultivate only up to...

-The Hindu Ardent BJP supporters for the past many years, farmers, harried by the poor prices of produce, say enough is enough MORBI: Gangaram Patel, a 50-year-old farmer at Kalyanpar village in Morbi district, grows cotton and groundnut on four hectares of his land. For the past 22 years, he has been a BJP voter. However, this time, Mr. Patel says, he will change his voting preference because the party has done little...