-Business Standard Allows farmers to sell produce directly to retail chains, bulk buyers for 3 months Mumbai: A series of central government notifications and letters to states in the past two days will enable agri and food products to reach consumers in a timely and efficient manner. The measures include limiting jurisdiction of APMCs (Agricultural Produce Market Committees) to their physical premises, allowing big retailers and even commodity processors to buy directly from...

-BusinessToday.in The big buyers should be allowed to make direct purchases with minimum or without requirement of any licensing or registration process, Centre's letter said to the states Union Agriculture ministry has asked state governments to allow bulk buyers, processors and big retailers to purchase agri-produce directly from farmers by bypassing the established mandi systems for at least three months. The directive is meant to achieve two objectives - to decongest mandis...

-Livemint.com * A prolonged lockdown will hurt farmers about to harvest the winter crop and the landless living on daily wages * Continued disruption in the food supply chain will eventually hit consumers if prices vary widely across regions. This uncertainty has also hit 70 mn households in rural India who own small dairies NEW DELHI: Baburao Sanap has no clue how to pull himself out of a big mess —he’s saddled with...

-The Hindu Business Line Hyderabad: Industry association asks govt to remove land ceiling norms, source better varieties Oil palm growers in Andhra Pradesh are facing big trouble as plantations in the northern part of the State, particularly in East and West Godavari districts, have been hit by white fly infestation. Vast stretches of oil palm plantation in the State have been hit by white fly, which reportedly crossed over from infected coconut groves...

-Press release by Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) dated 1st February, 2020 New Delhi, February 1st 2020: A thorough analysis of the Budget shows that even though the Budget speech spoke much about Agriculture and Rural sector and a 16-point program, the allocations for the Rural Economy were in fact slashed in this Budget compared to previous year. The Budget allocation for Agriculture, Allied sectors and Irrigation in 2020-21...