-Mongabay.com * India’s ongoing lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus is threatening the agriculture sector as it overlaps with the time of harvest. * The lockdown has derailed harvest preparation and lack of agricultural labour to help in harvest and restrictions on transportation of produce despite being given waivers as essential services. * Farmer leaders and agriculture experts criticised the relief package announced by the government to aid farmers impacted by the...
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In the farmer's name -Ajay Vir Jakhar
-The Indian Express Farmer unions need to expand the scope of their advocacy. Every day, a gold miner in Russia leaves a mine with a wheelbarrow full of sand. Every day, the guard thoroughly checks the sand. On his retirement day, the guard asks the worker, “I know you have been stealing something, but can’t figure out what it is”. The worker whispers back, “I wasn’t hiding anything in the sand,...
More »Civil society group welcomes failure to sign RCEP; calls it 'bad deal for democracy' -Joe C Mathew
-Business Today RCEP trade deal: The group said that the Indian govt should not agree to the RCEP even in future as it will be a 'bad deal for democracy, for farmers, workers, will subvert our sovereign laws and compromise India's industrialisation potential'. Forum for Trade Justice, a pan-civil society network has welcomed the failure of the 16 negotiating countries to reach a consensus over the conclusion of the world's largest free...
More »India must reform its seed sector before RCEP takes effect -Indra Shekhar Singh & Prabhakar Rao
-The Hindu Business Line The RCEP agreement, if implemented, will allow other countries to dump excess seeds in the Indian market. The current 100% FDI policy also threatens seed sovereignty With a confirmed Brexit, the days of liberal globalisation are numbered. Open borders, FTAs and multilateral agreements find no takers in the White House either. Leaders Boris Johnson and Donald Trump have heralded a clear and blunt message of tariffs, conservative economics...
More »When politics spills over to agri sector: Pulses, oilseed growers lose out to cane farmers in Maharashtra -Parthasarathi Biswas
-The Indian Express Soyabean, which covers around 5.34 lh of area in the region, is being cultivated more recently, said Ashok Bhutada of the Kirti Group. Of the 70 lakh hectares (lh) of cultivated area in Marathwada, sugarcane is grown over only 2 lh. In contrast, pulses and oilseeds have a bigger share, with farmers growing them over 11.37 lh and 13.11 lh respectively. The sugar sector in the state, however,...
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