-The Hindu Business Line Area under oilseeds and cotton up; pulses acreage slides New Delhi: Notwithstanding a sluggish monsoon and farmer unrest in different parts of the country, agriculture is picking up momentum, with all crops other than pulses showing an upswing in the sowing area. According to data released by the Union Agriculture Ministry on Friday, there has been a 10 per cent increase in the area under cultivation so far, with...

-The Hindu Business Line ‘Odd’ monsoon path upsets crop cycle, slows down sowing Ahmedabad: Farmers in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and parts of Maharashtra are a worried lot as the ‘monsoon watch’ gets longer in the key growing regions, affecting the sowing of kharif crops. According to the latest available data, farmers in Gujarat have completed sowing on about 8.71 lakh hectares, which is more than double the 2.74 lakh hectares sown by about...

-Business Standard Acreage of these crops is likely to fall as prices drop below MSP in mandis Mumbai: Farmers are shifting from oilseeds and pulses to more remunerative crops like cotton and maize this kharif season. The area under oilseeds and pulses is likely to decline with prices ruling below minimum support prices in many mandis. Farmers are agitating because their produce is not being lifted by government agencies and traders are also...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A robust farm growth of 5.2 per cent in the March quarter pushed GDP growth up to 7.1 per cent. However, growth in the sector was lower than the previous quarter's expansion of 6.9 per cent. Farm growth for the full fiscal zoomed to 4.9 per cent because of good rainfall and record food-grain production compared with a near flat 0.7 per cent expansion in 2015-16.   "The third...

Much to our surprise, a careful relook at the newly released estimates on farm production from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare would reveal that the foodgrain production during the rabi season is likely to fall by almost 1 million tonne between 2013-14 and 2016-17. Please see chart-1. Amidst the celebration of a bumper harvest in the ongoing crop year, it needs to be explained why the rabi foodgrain output...