-The Times of India blog A reply by Water Resources minister Uma Bharti to a Lok Sabha question on groundwater depletion foregrounds tough trade-offs facing India’s policymakers. According to Bharti, an assessment of groundwater resources and usage showed that 16% of 6,584 assessment units in India are “overexploited.” A table which accompanies her reply provides state-wise data. Here, Punjab stands out for the magnitude of overexploitation. If 16% of assessed units in India...
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Why your arhar dal cravings just may need to be capped, but not soon -Nanda Kasabe
-The Financial Express Pune: While the sowing area of pulses is up 3.5% across the country, it has gone down by 19.22 % for arhar (tur) , according to latest estimates by the government. The data indicates sowing area of 93.36 lakh hectares for pulses against 90.30 lakh hectares same time last year. For arhar , the area is 29.32 lakh hectares compared to 36.30 lakh hectares last year. Tur sowing...
More »Why 'one nation, one MSP' is not working -Rajalakshmi Nirmal
-The Hindu Business Line Varied production costs, low-grade produce, limited surplus are key factors Farmers across many States, including Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, are up in arms demanding implementation of the National Commission on Farmers report, which suggested fixing the minimum support price (MSP) for crops 50 per cent above the cost of production. But the MSP of many crops already has a built-in profit margin of 40-50 per cent. So, what is...
More »Farmers from Maharashtra to sell produce directly in Delhi -Parthasarathi Biswas
-The Indian Express The FPC movement in Maharashtra has seen much action over the last year or so. Working under the banner of MahaFPC, the FPCs had purchased more than 25,000 MT of tur last year. Pune: After their success in government procurement, the Farmer Producers Companies (FPCs) of Maharashtra are eyeing the wholesale markets in other states as avenues for their produce. In the first phase MahaFPC, the consortium of...
More »Collective farm gate procurement offers solutions to cover price crashes -Ajit Kanitkar
-VillageSquare.in Farmer producer companies have started to play an important role in procurement from smallholders, which guards against price crashes that has been plaguing marginalized farmers across the country despite record harvests The agricultural seasons of 2016-17 (Kharif and Rabi) have not been favorable for farmers across the country. In spite of the near-normal monsoon rainfall in India in 2016 coupled with record farm production, wholesale and retail prices for agricultural commodities...
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