-The Hindu Business Line A host of initiatives in the Budget should make the sector vibrant Budget 2022 seeks to double farmers’ income by building a robust system that enables easier access to finance, the marketplace and new-age technology. The government has allocated a sizeable amount for rural infrastructure development. This will help farmers get better access to the marketplace National Federation of State Co-operative Banks (NAFSCOB) data of 2019-20 shows that around...

-Down to Earth Eligibility threshold for FPOs should be reduced or support provided to meet the criteria, experts feel Farmer producer organisations (FPO) figure prominently in government policies and the ambitious plan to double farmers’ income by 2022. But funds remain elusive for these bodies, according to a recent analysis.  Just 1-5 per cent of FPOs have received funding under central government schemes introduced to promote them in the last seven years, the...

-Behanbox.com Mumbai: Around 400 metres off the Gujarat state highway near Vautha village, along the snake-like curves of the Sabarmati river, lie nearly a hundred acres of land that government records describe as “non-useful riverside land”. But on the ground, in early April, Baluben Makwana led me through a dirt path to an unexpected scene. On one side was a sprawling expanse of wheat fields, ripe stalks swaying gently in the wind...

-Scroll.in Agritech is touted as a remedy for the perennial problems ailing the Indian farmer. But what about the challenges it might create? Ramanjaneyulu GV seethes with disdain remembering the times agricultural technology start-ups pitched to him over the past eight years. On offer was the full rainbow of services: market solutions and weather predictions for higher agricultural yield, better quality produce, more profits. Everything that, in theory, should be welcome. “My opposition...

When one of the three farm laws i.e., The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 was enacted last year, it was argued by its proponents that the legislation would allow the farmers to sell their produce (and the traders to purchase that produce) outside the Agricultural Produce Market Committee-APMC mandis after crop harvesting. In a way, that particular piece of legislation was enacted to end the...