-The Hindu Business Line There are no schemes for much of agriculture, and small ruminants have been ignored. The Economic Survey had a full chapter on agriculture and food management issues. It had a separate section on small ruminants for the first time, and also showed that only one of the ongoing schemes for the livestock sector attends to their concerns. The Budget provides for creating a fund for upgrading of traditional industries...

-The Hindu Business Line Kochi (Kerala): The two-day conference on ‘Models for Agricultural Development: Experiences of Farmer Producer Companies’, has called for sustained efforts to strengthen, streamline, support and coordinate Farmer Producer Organisations. The conference, jointly organised by the Department of Agricultural Economics, Kerala Agriculture University and Indian Society of Agricultural Economics (ISAE), mooted a national level consortium to help the FPCs realise their goals and lead the efforts to enhance farmers’...

-The Indian Express Development professionals and policymakers have tried many a scheme to address these issues. One idea that has found resonance in recent times is Farmer Producer Organisations or FPOs. It is well-known that Indian farming is predominantly subsistence-oriented. Over 86% of our farmers operate individual holdings below two hectares, while cultivating 47% of the country’s total cultivated area. The production and productivity of these farms are generally low, and...

-The Hindu Business Line FPOs are for the small producer, typically left out by schemes and sops. They need not just inputs but marketing support Agriculture provides livelihoods to millions of small landholders in India. A few government initiatives to support farmers — such as increased MSP, interest subsidies, free electricity, and loan waivers — reach a limited percentage of farmers and, hence, have a limited impact. The Telangana Government’s decision to provide...

-Business Standard Haryana confident of handling the fires; to add over 1,230 new custom hiring centres soon New Delhi: Farmers in large parts of Punjab and Haryana haven’t completely abandoned stubble burning, though there has been considerable decline in number of burning sites this year, as compared to 2017. A big reason farmers in Punjab are being forced to burn the paddy stubble to clear their fields is an acute shortage of ‘Happy...