-The Indian Express Centre must make transparent efforts to push exports consistently and not follow the stop-go policy emanating from price controls for the Indian consumer market. The flashpoint between the agitating farmers and the central government is essentially rooted in the mismatch between the supply and demand for the wheat crop in India. The genesis of the current state of affairs stems from policies initiated over half a century ago when...

-TheWire.in While self-sufficiency has been baked into how India has historically looked at the agriculture sector, long-term planning is the need of the hour. In his address to the nation on May 12, 2020, the Prime Minister gave a call for Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. He said that the state of the world today teaches us that an Atmanirbhar Bharat is the only path and our scriptures mention eshah panthah, self-sufficient India. For agriculture,...

-Down to Earth Govt policy think tank asks chief secretaries to extract nutrients from human excreta and use them in place of fertilsers Explore the possibility of extracting essential nutrients like phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium and carbon from human excreta and replace fertilisers used in agriculture with them, the Niti Ayog has advised all states. Faecal sludge is a rich source of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K), the three essential nutrients used...

-Newsclick.in “Our population today is around 136 crore. Where will you get food grains for them through zero budget farming? This is sheer madness.” There is an inherent seductive charm to the term zero budget natural farming, for it makes the arduous occupation of agriculture appear beguilingly simple, an economic proposition without any risk or even requirement of capital. Coined by the Vidarbha-based farmer, Subhash Palekar, who was bestowed with the Padma...

-The Indian Express Raising procurement prices of kharif crops will only give false hope to farmers. Has the winter of farmers’ discontent turned into a glorious summer by the significant hike in minimum support price (MSP) for kharif crops announced two weeks ago? The hike is unlikely to stem the rural unrest that is gnawing into the ruling alliance’s votebank. The PM has had to personally defend the government’s programmes that have...