-Hindustan Times When Prime Minister Narendra Modi met some prominent billionaires last month, seeking quicker job-creation and investments, many industrialists complained that falling rural demand for goods was rocking their boats too. Incomes of India’s 833 million mostly poor rural population – a huge market for all kinds of goods – are barely rising and it is a cause for worry. Farming contributes just 15% of India’s $2 trillion economy, but half...

-Down to Earth Reasons behind the trend include high inventory levels, lower oil prices and renewed strength of the US dollar The Food Outlook report released on Thursday states that agricultural commodities are going through a period of lower prices and less volatility. After dramatic price rise from 2007 till early 2011, cereal and vegetable oil prices are now steady as well as on the decline, the biannual publication of the Food...

-Business Standard India’s growth in agriculture and allied activities has struggled to reach the targeted four per cent average a year in the first three years of the 12th five-year Plan because of a host of factors. The below-average farm growth is widely expected to deepen the crisis in the farm sector. In an interview with Sanjeeb Mukherjee, newly-appointed member of NITI Aayog and eminent agriculture economist Ramesh Chand  said over-reliance...

-The Indian Express Government’s actions on the commodity reveals it is ignorant of how a market economy is run With each passing day this year, agriculture seems to be sagging and so is the Indian farmer. Deficit monsoon rains appear to be the trigger. Although rains offered some respite to Marathwada, the situation in India’s largest agri-state, Uttar Pradesh, has gone from bad to worse. Last year’s drought, with monsoon rains falling...

-Business Standard Poor rainfall has also depleted water reservoirs levels, which is likely to impact the winter crops All signs point to the growing distress in rural areas. The rainfall deficit currently stands at 15 per cent of its long-term average. If the situation persists, this year's monsoon could end up being the worst in nearly three decades, say experts. Poor rainfall has also depleted water reservoirs levels, which is likely to...