-The Hindu Business Line With bumper crop halving prices, traders are refusing to lift stocks Hyderabad: Chilli farmers in Telangana are in a belligerent mood as prices plummeted by more than half. With the State witnessing a bumper crop, the markets are flooded with the produce. As traders are refusing to lift the produce at a remunerative price, huge stocks are piling up at the market yards at Khammam, Warangal and in...

-The Indian Express PM Modi government’s mandatory coating policy brings down sale of fertilisers, despite record farm production Here’s an apparent contradiction: The Narendra Modi government claims that India’s foodgrain output will hit a record 271.98 million tonnes (mt) in 2016-17 — up from last year’s 251.57 mt — with production of rice, wheat, maize, pulses and even oilseeds estimated at all-time highs. Yet, fertiliser sales — considered a proxy for farm sector...

-Outlook In a pulses-importing country, a bumper crop brings little cheer to those who cultivate pulses. Here’s why In India, a bumper crop is not ­always an occasion to celebrate, as farmers have often found to their cost whether it is potato, onion or grapes. Pulses, which have always been far short of domestic needs, are facing a similar fate this year, with mandi prices in many parts of the country far...

-Livemint.com An agriculture ministry notification issued last week said the maximum sale price of BG-II Bt cotton will be Rs800 per 450gm packet of seeds New Delhi: After a reduction in the retail price and royalty fees of genetically modified (GM) Bt cotton seeds last year, the agriculture ministry has kept prices unchanged for the upcoming Kharif crop season. According to a notification issued by the farm ministry on 10 March, maximum sale...

-The Indian Express Government must give a level playing field by removing restrictions on markets and exports Last year, roughly at this time, the price of tur dal (split pigeon pea) in the retail market was hovering around Rs 180/kg. The prices of other pulses were not far behind. They were all spiralling due to back-to-back droughts during 2014-15 and 2015-16. Production of all pulses had plunged to 16.5 million metric tonnes...