-The Hindu Business Line The Budget’s agriculture focus is welcome, but it could have done better A Budget with a purported focus on agriculture could not have come at a better time. There has been a sharp dip in agriculture output from a trend rate of growth of 4 per cent per annum in the period 2004-05 to 2011-12 to about 1.5 per cent in the next four years, which includes a...

-Livemint.com The nine-member cotton seed price control committee has recommended a maximum sale price of Rs.800 for a 450g packet of Bollgard II Bt cotton seeds New Delhi: A government panel on genetically modified Bt cotton has recommended a steep reduction in royalty fees payable to technology companies, and lower seed prices. If accepted, the recommendations will benefit nearly 8 million cotton farmers in India, but may raise concerns about how India...

-IANS Patna: Around three dozen farmers in Bihar's Vaishali district have refused to reap their standing wheat Crops to make space for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's function on March 12, officials said on Thursday. Around three dozen farmers in Bihar's Vaishali district have refused to reap their standing wheat Crops to make space for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's function on March 12, officials said on Thursday.   Farmers of Sultanpur near Hajipur, the district...

-The Indian Express Never before has India’s agricultural science community been as demoralised as now Everyone knows Indian agriculture is in deep crisis, impacting around 115 million farmers and an equal number of landless cultivators. Two consecutive bad monsoons and falling commodity prices have resulted in the imports of edible oils and pulses touching all-time-highs, even as its exports of agri-products — from basmati rice, soya meal, sugar, milk powder and...

-TheHansIndia.com * Solar-powered water pumping solution comes as a boon to meet irrigation and drinking water needs of rural population, especially in power-deficit regions. * The installation of pumpsets reduces dependence on power and expenditure on bills Kakinada: As part of the government’s target to set up solar agricultural pump sets across the State to reduce the grid power consumption by farmers, officials of the New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra...