-Livemint.com While there are several creditable achievements, it is the deeper structural reforms where expectations from a strong government have not been met Amidst expectations of a magical transformation of the Indian economy, the Narendra Modi government took over the reins in May 2014. During the election campaign, people were led to believe that the Gujarat model of agricultural development, which delivered 8% growth in agriculture during fiscal years 2003-14, would be...

-Frontline.in The women-led climate-resilient farming model created by Swayam Shikshan Prayog in drought-hit Marathwada has yielded encouraging results and is worthy of emulation across the country. “LOOK at our quinoa. It has grown so well,” says a beaming Shailaja Narwade from Masia village near Solapur in interior Maharashtra. Shailaja has planted the traditional South American plant not for consumption but in order to harvest its seeds. “Quinoa seeds are very valuable...

-Business Standard 1.5 million quintals of tur to be imported under MoU between India and Mozambique, even as farmers hold 4 times more Mumbai: In what appears to be another instance of farmers’ interests being hurt for no fault of their own. And this time, too, it's pulses. The year 2016-17 was a crisis year for pulses, with prices skyrocketing past the Rs 100-150 per kg mark amid crop failure. In the following years,...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The agriculture ministry on Wednesday said that farmer-friendly policy measures have helped reduce import of pulses, wheat and edible oils. Import of pulses declined by 10 lakh tonnes from FY17 to 56.5 lakh tonnes in 2017-18, resulting in saving of foreign exchange amounting to Rs 9,775 crore, the ministry said in a statement. As per the government’s third advance estimate, output of pulses — largely gram, urad and...

-Livemint.com India’s weather office has forecast a normal monsoon. Bountiful rains in the June-to-September period are critical for about 800 million Indians who depend directly or indirectly on farming New Delhi: Gangabhishan Thaware, a 53-year-old farmer from the drought-prone Marathwada region of Maharashtra, took an unusual step in July last year. Thaware and his fellow villagers had toiled on their fields and spent thousands of rupees on seeds and fertilizers, hopeful...