-The Indian Express Only 21 per cent of India’s milk production gets processed through the organised sector and the rest passes through unorganised small players. And that’s where the crisis is most intense. Farmers, who had high expectations from the Narendra Modi government, are a disillusioned lot today. Market prices of several crops have remained well below their minimum support prices (MSPs). Moreover, milk prices have fallen by 20 per cent...

-The Indian Express Around 10 per cent more milk being produced compared to last year Pune: This year has so far failed to bring cheer to the Dairy Industry in Maharashtra. The extended flush season has added to the woes of the industry already reeling under low commodity prices. With around 10 per cent more milk being produced as compared to last year, dairies are now worried about further reduction in the...

-Down to Earth What is the use of strategy when no special budget was allocated to double farmers’ income, says a senior NITI Aayog official anonymously In a two-day closed door meeting on doubling farmers’ income, the government claimed that there is no lack of funds to implement a seven-point strategy devised to double farmers’ income by 2022. The national conference, Agriculture 2022 - Doubling Farmers’ Income, which ends today, hosts sessions...

-The Indian Express Pesticide Management Bill should address the anomalies that prevent state governments from booking large pesticide companies. “Until lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter,” goes an old African proverb, which is also apt to describe the state of the world’s farmers. Farmers are like the hunted lions who need their side of the story told and their sacrifices, agony, courage and fears...

-The Financial Express How can the cotton and soybean farmers of Vidarbha and Marathwada supplement their incomes so they can get out of the trap of debt and self-engineered death? That was the theme of Union minister Nitin Gadkari’s ninth edition, four-day agricultural exhibition at Nagpur, called Agrovision, to which I was invited.  A promising beginning has been made. In October last year, the National Dairy Development Board commenced operations. It...