-The Hindu Business Line A realistic MSP, better market access and warehouses Agriculture is not a profitable business in India. About 70 per cent of the country’s farmers are struggling to make ends meet. In 2012-13, the NSSO’s ‘Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households’ showed that farmers who own 1 hectare or less of land see an average monthly income of ?5,247, which doesn’t even suffice to meet their household expenses. Prime Minister...

-The Times of India VIJAYAWADA: The agriculture sector in Andhra Pradesh is in the throes of a major crisis. Notwithstanding the claims of chief minister Chandrababu Naidu that his government has won the war on drought by deploying rain guns and taking up drought-mitigation measures, the kharif season -- which has just ended -- has been a big dampener for the farming community. What is shocking is that crop acreage in the...

-The Indian Express The opposition’s main contention is that the GM mustard hybrid incorporates three alien genes — barnase, barstar and bar — rendering it inherently unsafe for human and animal health. Fifty years ago, Union Minister for Food and Agriculture Chidambaram Subramaniam took the decision to import 18,000 tonnes of seeds of Lerma Rojo 64A and Sonora 64 wheat from Mexico. The seeds arrived just in time for their planting in...

-The Indian Express In a scenario of depressed crop prices, a unique PPP model in milk shows the way out. Coimbatore: For roughly a decade from 2004-05 to 2013-14, Indian farmers experienced rising incomes from higher crop prices year after year — something they pretty much took for granted. That party ended with the crash in global commodity prices, hitting agricultural exports hard and translating into lower farm-gate realisations for most crops. But...

-The Times of India HYDERABAD: A government advisory not to grow cotton this kharif crop season has landed state farmers in trouble with prices of alternative crops they were encouraged to grow falling. And rubbing salt into their wounds, the price of cotton has been witnessing a dramatic rise. Further, there has been no word from the government so far on initiating market intervention measures and procuring of produce at minimum support...