-The Hindu Business Line A bank-supported NGO initiative has transformed agriculture in the Hubli-Dharwad area Can a small investment of, say, ₹97,000, for digging farm ponds make for increase in farm incomes and improvement in farmers’ livelihoods? Can such farm ponds lead to an increase in cropping intensity and higher productivity? Can these minor investments then be replicated across the country as only 50 per cent of India’s net sown area of...

-TheWire.in * The proposed Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill 2021 encourages a conducive environment for investments and to simplify the patent application process. * Farmers in India have historically been against any kind of IP rights – whether patents or plant variety protection over seed and planting materials. * In a confused mix of laws, the government also grants IP rights to BMCs for farmers’ varieties – formed under the Biological Diversity Act –...

-NITI Aayog Working Paper, ISBN: 978-81-953811-7-3 Abstract -  The importance of agriculture in an economy usually declines as it climbs the development ladder. Raising agriculture productivity has been known to be an important precursor. Labour productivity in agriculture can either be increased by higher land productivity or higher land availability per farmer and mechanisation. In India, however, the dramatic increase in land productivity through industrial farming has caused severe environmental damage and...

-The Hindu Activist of RSV and HRF make field visit for two days Hyderabad: Some 20 chilli farmers had ended their lives in the last two months in Mahabubabad district alone unable to come out of the debt trap, claims a report. The condition of the families of the farmers who had committed suicide is so pathetic that they do not know what to do and where to go. These facts came to...

-Newsclick.in The roots of the present crisis lie in wrong policies adopted over the last two decades that have undermined domestic production of fertilisers led by the public sector and increased dependence on imports and production by the private sector. Indian farmers have been facing a major crisis because of shortages in availability and an unprecedented rise in prices of fertilisers. Fertilisers are a critical input for agriculture, and a shortage in...