-The New Indian Express THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The vegetables produced in the state are now safer, according to the Agriculture Department as 93.6 per cent of samples of vegetables tested in the Kerala Agricultural University labs were devoid of pesticides. Only 38 of the 543 samples tested showed mild presence of toxins, and of these, only four revealed the presence of banned pesticides, Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar said. The samples were taken...

-Frontline.in The government ought to have specified its definition of cost of crop production in the Budget to prevent any confusion in the minds of people on minimum support prices. Speaking at the Krishi Unnati Mela 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly complained that confusion was being spread about the announcement on minimum support prices (MSPs) made in the Finance Minister’s 2018 Budget speech. The speech had assured farmers that they would,...

-The Hindu Business Line Seek ban on import of formulations; want trials before allowing them Hyderabad: Pesticide manufacturers and farmers are up in arms against the provisions of the pesticides Management Bill 2017, which, they believe are detrimental to agriculture and agro-chemical industry. Allowing import of formulations without having to register technicals is contrary to the goal of Make in India campaign launched by the Union government, they said. They want an immediate ban...

-Livemint.com Farmers continue to be vulnerable to frequent episodes of losses that neither the state nor the markets have been able to mitigate The dramatic long march to Mumbai involving thousands of distressed farmers on 12 March is a remarkable feat of peaceful protest against the state, given its apathy towards farmers’ distress as well as its failures in safeguarding tribal land rights. However, what is surprisingly missing in this poignant narrative...

-The Hindu Why India is the only Bt cotton-growing country facing the problem of pink bollworm infestation Earlier this month, the government cut royalties that local seed companies pay to Monsanto, for the second time in two years. This follows previous attempts to defang Monsanto. In February, for instance, the anti-trust regulator, the Competition Commission of India, decided to probe into anti-competitive practices by Monsanto. At the centre of all this is...