-TheWire.in Why asset redistribution is superior to income redistribution. Land and labour are two basic factors needed by rural people for income generation. While women have always played a key role in agricultural production, their importance both as workers and as farm managers has been growing in the last two decades as more men move to non-farm jobs – leading to an increased feminisation of agriculture. However, ownership of land is concentrated mostly...

-Down to Earth The method was promoted as low-cost investment on part of farmers, but huge amounts are being raised for statewide implementation Andhra Pradesh has played a leading role in promoting agroecological farming in the past two decades. The Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture (CMSA) initiative of the state is often cited as a major intervention which encouraged farmers to gradually move away from chemical-intensive farming. However, despite such efforts, just 1...

-Economic and Political Weekly The dependence of agriculture on natural resources requires sustainable management of these resources for risk mitigation and management, particularly in the context of increasing farmer distress and vulnerability to risks associated with climate change. Using a framework of indicators in the domains of pest management, fertiliser use, soil health, water conservation, biodiversity, and efficient use of inputs, statewise report cards on ecological sustainability of agriculture are provided....

-The Hindu Business Line Panel has recommended renaming the National Bee Board as the Honey and Pollinators Board under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare. There is a need to recognise honeybees as inputs to agriculture and consider landless beekeepers as farmers, according to the Beekeeping Development Committee (BDC), which released its report on Wednesday. It has further suggested that training and development of beekeepers should be provided by state governments. In...

-The Hindu Business Line The government bears over Rs. 70,000 crore annually as subsidy to provide cheaper farm nutrient to farmers. The government is seriously thinking of giving fertiliser subsidy directly to farmers under the second phase of implementation of direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme, a senior fertiliser ministry official said on Thursday. In October 2017, the first phase of fertiliser DBT was rolled out, under which subsidy is being transferred to companies...