-The Hindu State government’s push for crop diversification, labour shortage are the reasons CHANDIGARH: Punjab can see around three lakh acres more under the cotton crop this kharif (summer) season against the previous year as farmers could shift from paddy on account of possible labour shortage. The State government’s push for crop diversification would be another factor that could aid the acreage under cotton, farmers and traders told The Hindu. Please click here to...
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Farm support: Minimum support price not on paper -Parthasarathi Biswas
-The Indian Express Cotton growers are realising decent rates despite bumper crop this time, thanks to government procurement. Aurangabad: In early-November, when Satyakumar Kolhe went to sell 18 out of his total 35 quintals produce of kapas (raw un-ginned cotton) at the Ambad wholesale market in Jalna district, the traders there quoted an average price of Rs 4,500 per quintal. The 45-year-old from Guru Pimpari village of Jalna’s Ghansawangi taluka, who grew...
More »Systemic transformation in agriculture must put the farmer at the centre -Arunabha Ghosh
-Hindustan Times Farming must become sustainable since agriculturists are struggling to build resilience against many threats I spent international women’s day in Mangalagiri, in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, with Usha Rani. As a single mother for 17 years, she has raised two children (now in second-year college and in high school). Three years ago, she switched to natural farming. On less than half an acre, she practises multicropping, growing maize, banana,...
More »Farmers bear the burden of deflation -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express Demonetisation, coupled with daily limits on cash transactions and fear of being tracked by revenue authorities post the Goods and Services Tax regime, have made traders less inclined to purchasing and stocking up produce during the harvest season. The defining feature of Indian agriculture in the last five years — much of it under the Narendra Modi government’s tenure — has been low prices for farm produce. The accompanying...
More »MSP was not 1.5 times the cost of production for most kharif crops during the last 6 agricultural years
In its 2014 election manifesto, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), among other things, promised to "take steps to enhance the profitability in agriculture, by ensuring a minimum of 50% profits over the cost of production". In his 2018-19 Union budget speech too, the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley informed the Parliament that the 2014 election manifesto of the BJP had stated that the farmers should get at least 1.5 times the...
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