-The Telegraph This year, a combination of factors is hurting the agriculture sector immensely A quiet, reverse transformation is happening in the countryside, and it is disconcerting. This sowing season, growing numbers of farmers are falling back on their bullocks as fuel prices are piercing the roof. The tractor, the symbol of modern farming, is becoming a luxury in the literal sense. The conventional ploughing equipment tied to bullocks costs only a...

-The Hindu Business Line Question over pulses acreage linger; MSP, rainfall could decide growers crop choice “I will cultivate soyabean this year. Prices for it are ruling at over ₹7,000 a quintal and I will go for it,” says Sunil Mukhati, a farmer near Indore in Madhya Pradesh. “But it is not the case with all my co-farmers. Some of them plan to grow corn and some pulses (moong or green gram),” he...

-Article-14.com Over 3 years to 2020, as India’s farm crisis deepened, 18 insurance companies running Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s crop-insurance scheme rejected nearly a million claims. As pandemic and pestilence devastated farms, we reveal how the scheme’s complex fine print frustrates farmers and disregards individual loss Hisar, Haryana: As 2020 began, Haryana cotton farmer Ramandeep sensed it would be harsher than the previous years: the winter rains were scanty, withering his crop...

-The Hindu Despite finding huge favour in India, the GM crop has only brought modest benefits Cotton has been woven and used in India for thousands of years. Cotton fabric from around 3,000 BCE has been excavated from the ruins of Mohenjo-daro, and archaeological findings in Mehrgarh, Pakistan, show that cotton was used in the subcontinent as far back as 5,000 BCE. Indian cotton fabrics dominated the world trade during the succeeding...

-TheWire.in From seeds and machinery to livestock and irrigation, the state needs to change the status quo. One eye must be firmly kept on the future. If Punjab’s agriculture sector is to succeed, it has to think beyond short-term crises such as the current pandemic-induced one. For instance, the Expert Group headed by Montek Singh Ahluwalia has made important recommendations about seeds, agricultural research, livestock, dairy and food processing. It has been noted that...