-Society for Social and Economic Research The economic reforms which were started in 1991 shifted the focus of fertilizer policies away from playing a leading role in building the fertilizer industry and ensuring the availability of fertilizers at affordable prices to farmers. Under the neo-liberal policy framework, reducing the fiscal burden of fertilizer subsidies and the foreign exchange burden of fertilizer-related imports became the overriding concerns of the state.  Interestingly, the post-liberalisation...

-The Financial Express In part one of this article (Secondary agriculture is of primary importance; August 10; https://bit.ly/31H0h0E), the need to expand the market range both horizontally (territorial extension) and vertically (functional expansion), as also the role of agro-processing in achieving the latter in particular, were discussed. In this part, the article dwells upon promoting secondary agriculture on the shoulders of food and non-food processing. Current status of agro-processing The processing sector in...

-The Hindu Baghel says scheme will cover rice, maize and sugarcane farmers to begin with, and will expand to other crops later Farmers in Chhattisgarh would get up to ₹13,000 an acre a year under a new income support programme announced by the State government. The Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyaya Yojana would kick off on Thursday, 19th death anniversary of the former Prime Minister. In the first instalment, ₹1,500 crore would be...

-Down to Earth Procurement at the doorstep, direct income support and reaching out to farmers can help in easing farming operations at this crucial time The extension of the nationwide lockdown to combat the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), though necessary, will lead to a further suspension of work and no wages and means for families to support themselves. The activities in manufacturing and services, that provide non-essentials, may be suspended, though with serious...

-TheWire.in Why asset redistribution is superior to income redistribution. Land and labour are two basic factors needed by rural people for income generation. While women have always played a key role in agricultural production, their importance both as workers and as farm managers has been growing in the last two decades as more men move to non-farm jobs – leading to an increased feminisation of agriculture. However, ownership of land is concentrated mostly...