-The Hindu At present, the subsidy is paid to Urea producers and importers, not farmers. Consensus continues to elude the Centre on the politically sensitive reform of the Urea sector, where it has accumulated an unpaid subsidy bill of Rs. 40,000 crore. Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over a meeting of senior Ministers and officials last Tuesday, which discussed if the subsidy could be provided directly to farmers through the direct benefit transfer...

-Business Standard Labour shortage and threat of deficient monsoon are pushing adoption of farm machinery Taraori: Vikas Chaudhary, a farmer in Haryana's Karnal district, started using a maize planter in 2012. The acquisition of a happy seeder around the same time helped him sow wheat directly.  The two machines helped him reduce input costs substantially. "With the help of machines, I have managed to reduce the input cost for paddy by Rs 2,000...

-The Hindu These crops can fix atmospheric nitrogen through their root nodules. This reduces the use of chemical fertilisers like Urea and ammonium nitrate. At a time when decreasing soil fertility especially due to indiscriminate use of chemical fertilisers and prolonged cultivation of commercial crops has become a cause for concern among farmers, legume vegetables have turned out to be a boon for addressing this issue. Scientists feel that growing the legume vegetables...

-The Times of India AGRA: Hot on the heels of state food safety officials exposing presence of more-than-permissible levels of lead and monosodium glutamate (MSG) content in Nestle's instant noodle brand Maggi, food safety and drug administration (FSDA) in Agra has found presence of detergent in milk samples of Mother Dairy, which is owned by National Dairy Development Board of India. FSDA's designated officer Ramnaresh Yadav, who exposed the adulteration, told TOI,...

-The Indian Express India’s largest nutrient maker tells The Indian Express how 11 crore farmers can directly receive subsidy now going to the industry. Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of fertiliser subsidy to farmers is an eminently feasible proposition and the Narendra Modi government should lose no time in going ahead with its implementation, says US Awasthi of the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (Iffco). “People interested in stalling DBT are giving all sorts of...