As opposed to what has been said officially about the positive impact of demonetisation on rabi sowing, acreage actually declined in 2016-17 as compared to a normal year. Let us see why this has been so. On New Year’s Eve, Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the nation post-demonetisation, among other things, said: “...Friends in the last few weeks, an impression was sought to be created that the agriculture sector...

-The Financial Express   Pulses production may surpass 20 MT from 16.4 MT in 2015-16   New Delhi: Pinning hopes on conducive weather conditions prevailing currently and an increase in sowing areas of rabi crops — wheat, pulses, oilseeds and coarse cereals — compared to last five years, the government is aiming at a bumper foodgrains output for the ongoing crop year (2016-17) after two consecutive drought years. While the rabi sowing activities have...

-The Indian Express Agriculture GDP bucks the trend of decline in other sectors. But can the government help the farmers sustain this growth? The first advanced estimates of GDP growth for the financial year 2016-2017 (FY17) show a marginal decline from 7.6 per cent last year to 7.1 per cent this year. Of the various sectors, gross value added at basic prices (2011-12), mining and quarrying is down from 7.4 per cent...

-The Hindu Business Line Foodgrain output down 28.7% as paddy area shrinks Hyderabad: In the recent numbers released by the National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB), Telangana stood second only to Maharashtra, with 1,400 farmers and farm labourers ending lives in the year 2015-16. The State had accounted for nearly 10 per cent of all 12,000 farm suicides reported that year. The latest numbers gathered by the Telangana government corroborated the serious distress in the...

-Livemint.com Crash in farm prices could accentuate bankruptcy, which was the biggest reason for farmer suicides in 2014 and 2015 After two successive years of drought, 2016 was turning out to be a relatively better year for farmers till 8 November. The decision to scrap high-value currency notes, announced on that day, seems to have hit the farm sector the hardest. While credible and timely data on farm incomes and output is hard...