-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The recent crisis in Madhya Pradesh where farmers had to sell onions at throwaway prices or dump it in farms due to bumper production has prompted the government to look at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) to set up irradiation facilities in the state and elsewhere in the country to deal with the problem of plenty by increasing the shelf life of perishable horticultural...

-The Indian Express With a glut in agricultural production, prices have fallen below MSPs. The government needs to get the agri-market right to address the farm crisis The farmers’ protests in Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Maharashtra indicate that all is not well on the economic front, especially agriculture. If such unrest could happen in MP, which claims to have registered the fastest agri-GDP growth at 9.7 per cent per year during...

-The Economic Times blog Farmers, from Punjab in the north to Tamil Nadu in the south, have started agitations demanding farm loans be waived. The Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra governments have already considered it politically expedient to write them off. Some other states may follow the suit. However, such decisions are as misguided as they are misleading. Nonetheless, it will be a mistake to treat the agitations as a domino effect of...

-Livemint.com Doling out farm loan waivers without addressing rural distress is just kicking the can down the road and playing into the hands of the moral hazard brigade Last week, farmers agitating for better prices for their produce of onions and pulses—prices for both of which have witnessed a steep fall in recent months—in Mandsaur district of western Madhya Pradesh turned violent. Coming in the backdrop of a similar agitation by farmers in...

-Livemint.com Behind the rising tide of farmers’ protests lie several structural weaknesses facing the farm economy In a year when farm growth has crossed the 4% mark and official statistics show a record increase in production, one would have expected farmers to celebrate. Instead, farmers in states such as Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are out on the streets protesting, and in some cases, facing bullets from the local police. What explains this...