-The Indian Express Farmers’ genuine concerns must be addressed as soon as possible so that they can continue producing food and fibre needed for the ever-increasing population. In the early 1960s, near-famine conditions prevailed in India and some 10 million tonnes of wheat had to be imported from the US under the PL480 programme. The country’s situation was pejoratively dubbed “ship-to-mouth” existence, as foodgrains arriving via ships were immediately consumed. In 1963, Norman...

-Business Standard The MSP is declared for 23 crops. This means that farmers of other crops or those trying to diversify under contract farming would not have the MSP protection of the Bills Much was made of the Punjab government’s plan to reject the three central laws on agri markets and provide its own protection to famers, especially on prices for their produce. But, the two Bills presented in the state legislature...

-The Hindu State government’s push for crop diversification, labour shortage are the reasons CHANDIGARH: Punjab can see around three lakh acres more under the cotton crop this kharif (summer) season against the previous year as farmers could shift from paddy on account of possible labour shortage. The State government’s push for crop diversification would be another factor that could aid the acreage under cotton, farmers and traders told The Hindu. Please click here to...

-PTI The government must introduce millets into diet of the mid-day meal programme to improve India''s low nutrition ranking, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Wednesday said. Speaking at a workshop on ''Energy-Water-Agriculture Nexus: Grow Solar, Save Water, Double the Farm Income'', Kant further said India needs to intensify crop diversification and public procurement must focus on very less water intensive crops. "We must introduce pulses and millets into the diet of the...

-The Indian Express At current rates of depletion, Punjab’s entire subsurface water resource could be exhausted in a little over two decades. Jalandhar: As the discussion around Punjab’s massive groundwater crisis becomes more urgent, there is an increasingly stronger accent on diversification of crops, and a move away from water-guzzling paddy. At a meeting over the weekend, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, decided to strengthen maize — the most important alternative to...