-The Economic Times   It's promising to be a tumultous kharif sowing season notwithstanding the massive food grain stocks with the government which is forcing down farmer produce prices countrywide. Early arrival of a forecast normal to good monsoon should have ordinarily enthused farmers to increase the acreage under key summer sown crops this season. But, in protest against the Centre's persisting anti-farmer policies, small and marginal farmers in some villages...

-The Economic Times   As the government twiddles its thumbs on allowing export of surplus grains , wheat prices have plunged below not just the government's promised minimum support price but also the price of maize. This has prompted poultry feed manufacturers to substitute wheat for maize in their produce. So chicken will eat wheat this year. As prices stay depressed, farmers will switch from wheat to some other crop or just simply...

Union home minister P Chidambaram may consider UP as a block in India's development but the state contributes 30% in the national food basket, whereas it constitutes 16% of the land and 18% of the population. The good news is that the food share this year is all set to increase further with wheat harvest expected to be over 300 lakh metric tonnes. UP is country's top wheat producer and this...

Farmers with irrigated fields in Punjab and Haryana will start sowing cotton in a fortnight. Agriculture department officials estimate a 10% to 15% increase in acreage this season as cotton has become more lucrative than paddy, basmati and pulses. Government's paddy procuring agencies and basmati exporters don't think that the staple's production will take a hit. "We estimate the area under cotton across the country to increase by 15% and prices will...

India's agriculture output is expected to rise by 3.8% in 2011-12 on assumption of favourable weather conditions, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said in its monthly review here. "We project that agricultural output will grow for the second consecutive year in 2011-12. It is expected to rise by 3.8%, over an estimated 6.5% growth in 2010-11," CMIE said. Our projection is based on the assumption that weather conditions will be favourable...