-Livemint.com Experts say a government-sponsored pledge loan scheme could still help Maharashtra tide over the tur crisis and provide relief to farmers Could Maharashtra government and the Centre have mitigated Maharashtra’s tur (pigeon pea) crisis by facilitating and encouraging pledge loans? Yes, say farm sector experts, bankers, warehouse industry officials and former government officials. Pledge loans are loans secured by farmers from banks against their farm produce deposited at a warehouse. Timely government intervention...

-Frontline Low prices following a bumper crop and the State government’s inability to procure much of the yield leave tur farmers in Maharashtra in a quandary. DROUGHT or abundance, farmers seem to be perpetually doomed in Maharashtra. The most recent crisis unfolding in the agrarian segment is the crashing prices of pulses, particularly tur dal, and the inability of the State government to procure the entire crop. Adding to the problem...

-The Indian Express The total agricultural land has also dipped by 1.18 per cent to 1.97 crore hectares of land. Mumbai: Even as clamour for farm loan waiver grows to afford temporary relief to farmers amid volatility in commodity prices and poor returns from farm produce, the state is facing a problem of increased fragmentation of agricultural land. Smaller plots not just bring down agricultural productivity, but also affects farmers’ economies...

When it comes to child under-nutrition, the proportion of stunted and underweight children below 5 years has reduced in India during the last ten years. However, a rising trend has been observed in the prevalence of wasting among children below 5 years between the last two rounds of National Family Health Survey (NFHS). The recently released data from NFHS-4 indicates that the proportion of under 5 year children who are...

-Livemint.com While one estimate pegged Maharashtra’s tur production at 1.17 million tonnes, another forecast a record yield of 2.35 million tonnes Mumbai: Maharashtra’s economic survey of 2016-17, which came out on 17 March, pegged the state’s total tur (pigeon pea) yield at 1.17 million tonnes, based on estimates of the Pune-based agriculture commissionerate. A fortnight later, the state’s agriculture department put out revised estimates showing the March projection of tur yield...