-Business Standard High MSPs could raise food prices, fear experts; some analysts say there will be marginal, crop-intensive impact To what extent will the government’s efforts to increase minimum support prices (MSPs) and spread their benefits translate into food inflation? And if they do, which are the crops that will be instrumental in pushing the price level up? From the NITI Aayog to industry leaders to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), all...

-The Indian Express Raising agricultural exports requires the government to unburden policy of consumer bias. A balance should be struck between meeting the needs of food-insecure consumers and income-insecure farmers. The Agriculture Minister, Radha Mohan Singh, recently tweeted about the government’s resolve to increase the value of the country’s agricultural exports to $100 billion by 2022-23. The Dalwai Committee Report on doubling farmers’ incomes also talked of a similar target. It said,...

-The Financial Express After private weather forecaster Skymet on Wednesday predicted normal monsoons In India, research firm HSBC says that it will provide a boost to the agricultural sector. Interestingly, Skymet has forecast a a 20% chance of above normal monsoon, and a 5% probability of excess rain in 2018-19. HSBC notes that the agriculture sector is slated to benefit from it, as 70% of the total rainfall is attributable to...

-Hindustan Times The agriculture ministry has started a new programme to focus on millets or coarse cereal production, mostly grown by small and poor farmers New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government has decided to include millets in the public distribution system for which it is procuring these grains at federally fixed minimum support prices, agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh said. The agriculture ministry has started a new programme to focus on millets or...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Prices available to farmers for their harvest could increase by about 15% as a result of the budget announcement to hike the Minimum Support Price (MSP), according to an estimate prepared by government’s think tank Niti Aayog. This is likely to raise the income of farmers by 24%, it has projected. While proposing three options in a draft document titled “Ensuring MSP Benefits to Farmers”, the...