-The Indian Express Tomatoes-onions-potatoes face extreme price volatility. Addressing it requires sustainable solutions, not temporary ad hoc measures. Last month, on September 13, when onion retail prices crossed Rs 40/kg in Delhi, the government was hyperactive and imposed a Minimum Export Price (MEP) of $850/tonne. Later on, as prices went further up to Rs 50-60/kg, stocking limits were imposed on traders and exports of onions were banned. It created problems in...

-Hindustan Times India’s obsession with keeping food prices low, even when there’s no inflationary pressure, has long hurt farm incomes Farming is gloriously uncertain, thanks not just to uncertain weather, but also unpredictable policies. Let’s zoom into the finances of Bhupinder Pal Singh, a horticulturist from Babbain, a village in Haryana, a state that counts itself among the first places where India’s Green Revolution of 1960s began. In good years, Singh would earn...

-The Indian Express The steep MEP will, in a way, stop all outbound shipment of onions from India. THE UNION government on Friday slapped a steep Minimum Export Price (MEP) of $ 850 per tonne on onions, virtually putting brakes on the export of the produce. This is the first time that a MEP has been imposed on onions this year. Simply put, henceforth exports will not be allowed if the consignments...

In the financial year 2017-18 when tractor sales touched new heights, it was said by many of the NDA (viz. National Democratic Alliance) government supporters that rural demand has revived on account of adequate monsoon rainfall and higher minimum support prices for crops. Many economists and newspaper columnists also denied the existence of any rural distress. An alternative perspective, however, was also presented by rural economists like Dr. Himanshu who teaches...

-Newsclick.in “Our population today is around 136 crore. Where will you get food grains for them through zero budget farming? This is sheer madness.” There is an inherent seductive charm to the term zero budget natural farming, for it makes the arduous occupation of agriculture appear beguilingly simple, an economic proposition without any risk or even requirement of capital. Coined by the Vidarbha-based farmer, Subhash Palekar, who was bestowed with the Padma...