-DNA To add value to the ailing farming sector in Maharashtra, which is reeling under successive droughts, agrarian distress and a negative growth rate, the state government is working on an agro-industrial policy. "We are working on an agro-industrial policy. It will look at granting incentives to agro-industries like food processing units, which will help create value chains for farmers and set up facilities like cold storages. The policy will also grant...

-PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi today directed setting up of a task force to study the economic impact of drip irrigation in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra on parameters like water saving and productivity. Reviewing the drought situation in Andhra Pradesh with its Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu here, Modi also asked the NITI Aayog to set up a task force that could come up with a model on how to use...

-PTI Radha Mohan Singh total number of agricultural workers in the country increased from 234.1 million in 2001 to 263 million in 2011. Therefore, it cannot be categorically stated that farmers are leaving the profession of agriculture. Farmers are earning less than workers in industrial and services sectors because of lower farm output, Parliament was informed Tuesday. "Income from the farm sector is less as compared to income from industrial and services sector,"...

-NDTV Solapur: As thousands of villages in the country come under the grip of drought, the role of the government's flagship work guarantee scheme, NREGA or National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, becomes crucial. In January, the Union government told the Supreme Court  that for all drought-hit states, NREGA's 100-day limit has been increased to 150 days. But travelling this week through Marathwada in Maharashtra, the country's drought central, in village after village we...

-The Financial Express Rising dole hits both investment and productivity With around Rs 175,000-180,000 crore of annual expenditure on agriculture subsidies, the government probably feels it is doing a lot for the farmers and, come election time, will probably boast about it to get the rural vote. Yet, as an Icrier analysis at its ‘Supporting Indian farms the smart way’ workshop shows, not only is the rising subsidy not helping agriculture as...