-Financial Chronicle Return for farmers could grow as overall output of cereal crops has remained stable With growing health awareness and relatively lower costs, millets are making a strong comeback after experiencing negative growth for several years. Millets, which are coarse cereals, need less water and are hence preferred by farmers in areas where there is a shortage of water. The crop is also favoured because of its productivity and short growing...

-The Indian Express There is a worrying dearth of Indian economists working on agriculture today. In his classic Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went, John Kenneth Galbraith observed how the economics profession had a well-defined order of precedence. At the top were the economic theorists and specialists in banking and finance. At the bottom of the hierarchy were agricultural economists. George F. Warren from Cornell University was even worse — a...

-PTI The Agriculture Ministry has moved a proposal to create a buffer stock of 3.5 lakh tonnes of lentils during the current 2015-16 crop year through domestic purchase or imports to prevent a further price rise in pulses. “The Agriculture Ministry has sought inter-ministerial comments on a proposal to create a buffer stock of 3.5 lakh tonnes of pulses in 2015-16 crop year,” sources said. Out of the proposed 3.5 lakh tonnes, about...

-Livemint.com The shortfall in pulse production is expected to be around 2 million tonnes this year Under siege over sky-rocketing pulse prices, especially when the crucial Bihar elections are underway, the Centre initially blamed the state governments for the situation at hand for failing to crack down on hoarders. According to news reports, more than 80,000 tonnes of pulses have been recovered in raids across states in the last week or...

-Business Standard The Centre had asked state governments to meet millers, retailers and wholesalers to make pulses available at reasonable prices Heeding the advice of the Centre, some state governments have started selling tur dal at lower rates of Rs 120-140 a kg through their own retail outlets. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are distributing a kg of tur dal at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 50 through ration shops, while Tamil Nadu...