-The Indian Express Inclusive agricultural growth is key to removing poverty by 2030. Eradicating poverty from the planet was the top-most target in a set of 17 goals adopted by the UN last September as a part of its sustainable development agenda. Nations across the globe, including India, endorsed it. The strategies to achieve this goal have been left open to countries. In this context, the Rural Development Report (RDR) 2016 of...

-Livemint.com Small farmers reaped a bumper crop defying a drought and despite price shocks and pest-related risks New Delhi: Small farmers across India reaped a bumper crop of fruits and vegetables in 2015-16 defying a widespread drought. India’s horticulture output crossed a record 283 million tonnes, shows the third advance estimate released by the agriculture ministry on Monday. However, the story is not just about a record harvest during a drought year—primarily due...

-The Times of India Aurangabad: A drastic shift in the cropping pattern in Marathwada over the past three decades has further exacerbated the drought situation in the region, a study has shown. The region has faced many as 12 moderate to severe droughts and 21 mild droughts in the last 55 years. Since the 1980s, the farmers in the region have opted out of cultivating sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra) and oilseeds...

-TheHansIndia.com Kothacheruvu (Anantapur): SC, ST farmers in several mandals in the district are opting for solar pump sets to enjoy uninterrupted power for seven hours at a stretch for their horticulture and vegetable plantations, thanks to the Rural Development Trust (RDT) which is giving a huge fillip to solar energy. Farmers unable to purchase pump sets or go in for borewells on their own, are being encouraged to form small groups...

-Frontline The inability to resolve pressing problems with respect to the production, distribution and availability of food is one of the important failures of the entire economic reform process. IN the fateful month of July 1991, when the devaluation of the Indian rupee presaged the introduction of a whole series of liberalising economic reforms, agriculture was very far from the minds of most policymakers and commentators. The immediate focus was on...