-PTI The Commerce Ministry is planning a series of workshops in states including Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh to implement its export policy for agricultural goods with a view to boost overall shipments, an official said. The Ministry has suggested states to set up a nodal agency dedicated for the implementation of the agriculture export policy. Workshops would help identify bottlenecks, get feedback and suggestions to improve and overcome difficulties in the...

-The Indian Express Farmers protested violently over the weekend in support of their demand for a one-time payment of the fair and remunerative price. Ballooning cane dues could become a major issue as LS polls near. Pune: Sugarcane farmers in western Maharashtra Monday called off their violent four-day-old agitation, giving sugar mill owners and the government two weeks to find the money to pay them their full dues. The agreement was...

-Down to Earth The increasing trend of legal penalty for abandonment will backfire Bruised by anti-cow slaughter laws and widespread vigilantism, farmers simply don’t want cows around. This means tactical abandoning, with decreasing options to trade unproductive cattle. But several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, have formed laws to penalise such abandonment too. Stray cattle has become a menace in villages as well as towns in several areas, to...

-Down to Earth Farmers and cold storage owners pay the price of producing and storing bumper crops as wholesale prices dip by 39-50 per cent in December Hit by low wholesale prices, potato farmers in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab have not been able to recover even the production cost of the crop as market price of potatoes crashed by 39-50 per cent in December 2018, shows the latest report on the crop...

-The Economic Times Despite substantial increase in agriculture production and productivity levels over the years, farmers’ indebtedness has not changed significantly. According to the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey (Nafis) 2016-17, 52.5% of agricultural households were indebted. Considerable efforts have been taken in channelising institutional credit to farmers and raising farm credit disbursement targets, with allocations increasing by Rs 1 lakh crore in...