-The Hindu Business Line Commission agents, who procure paddy, pay less than the MSP. There is no moisture testing or correct weighment. Is there a nexus all round? It is widely perceived that MSP operations in Haryana are quite effective and Farmers there are a happy lot. But the reality is quite different. In the last paddy season, many Farmers in Karnal’s Taraori, the largest grain mandi in Haryana, got only Rs.1,750/quintal...
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Punjab groundwater crisis: What it will take to move from paddy to maize -Anju Agnihotri Chaba
-The Indian Express At current rates of depletion, Punjab’s entire subsurface water resource could be exhausted in a little over two decades. Jalandhar: As the discussion around Punjab’s massive groundwater crisis becomes more urgent, there is an increasingly stronger accent on diversification of crops, and a move away from water-guzzling paddy. At a meeting over the weekend, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, decided to strengthen maize — the most important alternative to...
More »The Seed Bill needs to be tweaked to serve the interests of all stakeholders better -Ram Kaundinya
-The Hindu Business Line The proposals relating to registration of seed varieties and powers granted to the government to fix prices in some situations need a relook Seed is the primary input of a productive agriculture set-up. No one can deny the fact that the seed industry has been at the centre of the significant advances made in agriculture in the last four decades and will continue to do in the years...
More »Bhupesh Baghel goes back on paddy MSP promise, blames Centre -Dipankar Ghose
-The Indian Express Earlier this month, Baghel met Union ministers, arguing that this leeway was given to the previous BJP government led by Raman Singh in 2016-17 and 2017-18. The Centre, however, has said that keeping the fiscal balance in mind, this is not possible. The Congress government in Chhattisgarh has said that it will acquire paddy at the Centre-mandated MSP of just over Rs 1,800 per quintal this season, instead...
More »Give Farmers their due credit -Ashok Gulati & Ritika Juneja
-The Indian Express All crop loans should be routed through Kisan Credit Cards. This will ensure that Farmers do not use the loans for non-agricultural purposes. Normally, a sector’s credit off-take is a sign of its health. Higher the off-take, the better the sector’s performance. There has been a healthy off-take of ground-level credit (GLC) in agriculture and allied sectors. In the financial year (FY) 2018-19, banks disbursed Rs 12.55 trillion...
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