-The Telegraph Singur, the potato bowl of Bengal, appears to have landed in trouble again. Not on account of unwilling farmers grieving over their lost assets, but on account of overproduction by the ones who didn't lose their land. Excess supply of the crop has pulled down prices, leading indebted farmers to slither down the precipice. According to media reports, matters have come to a dismal pass, with a section of...
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Protecting the small farmer -Ananth Gudipati
-The Hindu Reviving the Farm Income Insurance Scheme could be the best tool for small and marginal farmers to fight falling prices in an increasingly globalised marketplace. Data from the recently held National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) survey show that close to 60 per cent of rural households are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. More than half of them are at risk of defaulting on their debts with either banks or...
More »Targeted lending to farmers a must -Gopa Kumaran Nair and Nirupam Mehrotra
-The Financial Express In a column in The Financial Express, ("Time to tweak priority-sector lending", goo.gl/6O8AOL, February 6), the author made a case for "tweaking" priority-sector lending (PSL) norms which largely stipulate that the commercial banks direct credit towards certain vulnerable sectors and target population. Specifically, the article argued for revisiting the sectoral targets and cited a reduction in the share of agriculture sector in GDP as a valid reason...
More »Enough cereals, but need to import oil, pulses: Centre to Supreme Court
-PTI NEW DELHI: The Centre has told the Supreme Court that though the country has become self sufficient in production of cereals, it is dependent on imports to bridge the gap between domestic production and demand of edible oil and pulses. Responding to a PIL on increasing farmer suicides in the country, the Ministry of Agriculture said in an affidavit, "India has not only ensured self-sufficiency in most of the agricultural crops...
More »New solar-powered pump promises to end farmers' irrigation woes
-PTI Vadodara: The farmers in the country can do away with their dependence on conventional forms of energy for operating pumps to water their fields as a private company has come up with a solar-energy operated pump, which will also reduce environment pollution. ABB India has developed a solar-powered water pump for irrigating crops with rural India facing problems in the supply of electricity and availability of diesel for operating gensets. "ABB solar...
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