-The Indian Express The new year could witness the first national elections being fought on farmers’ issues. And it could test both the ruling BJP pushed to the defensive, particularly in the larger sugar-producing states, and the Congress under pressure to deliver loan waivers If 2017 saw the beginnings of agrarian unrest in large swathes of the country, 2018 brought it centrestage as the numero uno political issue. And almost everyone’s...

-Livemint.com The production of ‘mahua’ is finally entering the formal economy as new initiatives seek to upscale this indigenous drink, selling it across the country and even the globe It is a cloudy morning in Nangur village in Bastar district, Chattisgarh. It is a settlement of a little over 400 families, considered fairly large in these parts. We make a bumpy journey down a narrow, unpaved road intermittently shaded by sargi (sal)...

-The Indian Express After the market rates crashed to Rs 1-2 per kg, only 565 tomato growers across Haryana received the average price difference payment of Rs 2,136. Kurukshatra: Jasbir Saini shows a message on his iBall mobile phone displaying an amount of Rs 296 credited to his bank account. That’s what the 47-year-old has received as “differential price” on the distress sale of his tomato crop under the Haryana government’s Bhavantar...

-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi: The prices of vegetables have gone up by 10 to 15 per cent in some cities as farmers belonging to a coalition of 104 farmer organisations have stopped supplying vegetables and milk to urban areas sporadically hitting their availability. “The impact of the farmer agitation is more or less felt in 7-8 States, mostly in the north and central India,” said K V Biju, national coordinator...

-The Indian Express The farmer organisations have been demanding minimum income guarantee scheme, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report and waiver of farmers' debt. New Delhi: Demanding remunerative prices for their produce, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendations and farm loan waivers among other things, farmers across the country continued their agitation Saturday as part of a 10-day long nationwide strike. In the wake of the dwindling fresh supplies of farm produce in...