-PTI India’s monsoon, vital for Asia’s third-largest economy, has been 22% deficient till June 26, official data showed, adding to the government’s worries and prompting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to consult key aides on measures to tone up the economy on Wednesday. In a revised forecast, the Met department predicted the rains would be 96% of the long-term average, lower than its April forecast of 99%. Rainfall is considered normal if...
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Soil imbalance
-The Business Standard Lopsided fertiliser policy is damaging farm output Even as the indifferent monsoon is threatening to affect crop sowing in the current season, the recent spike in the prices of some fertilisers and related developments in the fertiliser sector are adding to disquiet over kharif production prospects. The government’s move to slash subsidies on non-urea fertilisers early this year, coupled with the rupee’s depreciation, has led fertiliser companies to substantially...
More »Despite Drop from 2009 Peak, Agricultural Land Grabs Still Remain Above Pre-2005 Levels
-World Watch Institute An estimated 70.2 million hectares of agricultural land worldwide have been sold or leased to private and public investors since 2000, according to new research conducted by the Worldwatch Institute (www.worldwatch.org) for its Vital Signs Online service. The bulk of these acquisitions, which are called “land grabs” by some observers, took place between 2008 and 2010, peaking in 2009. Although data for 2010 indicate that the amount of...
More »Jayalalithaa writes to PM over fertilizers-Sanjay Pinto
-NDTV Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa has shot off yet another letter to the Prime Minister. In her latest communication, the AIADMK Chief has flagged concerns of farmers in the State over the "introduction of the Nutrient Based Subsidy Scheme (NBS) by the Government of India from the 1st April, 2010, coupled with an unreliable supply of fertilizers" that she feels is "threatening to deprive our farmers of their basic means...
More »Burdwan: 16 farmer suicides in one year despite bumper rice crop-Priyanka Gupta
-IBN Burdwan: Burdwan may be the Rice Bowl of Bengal. However, its farmers are committing suicide. Here, rice is not a source of prosperity but of anguish. Spiralling debt has reportedly driven 16 farmers here to commit suicide in the past one year. Fifty-four-year-old Amiya Saha was one such farmer. The memories haunt his wife, but what hurts more is the continued government denials that something is amiss here. Says Jayanta Saha, a...
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