The long and heavy monsoon has taken a toll on Himachal Pradesh's vegetable production, say farmers. The production of tomato, capsicum, cabbage, potato and cucumber, among other vegetables, is significantly lower this time. The excess rain has either triggered the spread of diseases or the standing crops have simply rotted away due to excess moisture, say farmers. Vegetables are largely grown in the mid-hills of the state which fall in Solan, Shimla, Sirmaur,...

Global foodgrain prices are likely to remain high in the coming months despite high output estimates this season. Bad weather in Brazil and Russia and rising global demand have made the grain market sensitive. The assessment of the damage due to dry weather in Russia, Western Australia and South America and floods in India, China and Pakistan is yet to be done. This is offering grain traders speculative opportunity on futures...

The Centre has asked Food Corporation of India (FCI) to procure PAU-201 paddy that conforms with its specifications and dispose of the rest in the open market through tenders. A decision on whether the PAU-201 paddy variety is fit for human consumption was raised at a high-level meeting between Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, recently. FCI officials in Punjab are giving final touches to the modalities to...

A committee set up by the government has suggested freeing the prices of urea and inclusion of the fertiliser in the new nutrient-based subsidy scheme to discourage its excessive use, stem soil degradation and reduce government subsidy. The panel, led by former agriculture secretary T Nanda Kumar, also recommended a “comparatively higher level” of subsidy for critical nutrients like sulphur, zinc and boron to make them affordable to farmers.   The nutrient-based subsidy...

The initiatives under the programme include gearing up to meet new challenges in climate change, Public-Private partnership projects and programmes to make more people take to agriculture as a livelihood Looking to boost farm sector growth by more than 4%, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research has chalked out a Rs2300-crore programme with focus on research and making farming a popular livelihood option. “Now every state is coming up well in the...