-The Telegraph Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government today announced a scheme to allow big private investors to directly procure farm produce - a segment that Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee could not liberate from the stranglehold of the Forward Bloc. The scheme titled Brihat Krishak Bazar Yojana, which loosely translates into mega farmer market programme, seeks to "connect the local market to high-growth demand centres" and weed out middlemen. The project will allow private developers to...

-The Indian Express Despite the scare scenario painted for production trends for key vegetables, it turns out that there is no dip in availability. This includes onion, whose prices have flared in the past few weeks. Data from the past two years compared with that for the current year indicates that the problem for the four vegetables that have a pan-India presence - onion, tomato, brinjal, potato - is because of logistics...

-Frontline Professor Sukhpal Singh, a faculty member of the Centre for Management of Agriculture at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, has been researching and documenting the process of contract farming and food supply chains in India for more than a decade. He is of the view that the small farmer is being excluded in the method currently in place, which defeats the very purpose of improving Indian agriculture. Sukhpal Singh,...

-The Times of India Tomato prices have gone through the roof. This essential part of food in most households is selling at over Rs 60 per kilogram, in some places even up to Rs 80. In February this year, onion prices had similarly spiked for a few weeks, forcing families to shell out double-triple prices. So, what's going on? Is it a demand-supply problem, as claimed by traders and administrators? Or...

-The Hindu The outlets in the city's immediate southern suburbs and one in Porur boast of a huge price difference of locally-available vegetables compared to those in other markets Chennai: Residents cutting across the social and economic spectrum flocked to the farm-fresh consumer outlets in the city's suburbs on Thursday, soon after their inauguration earlier in the day. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa launched 31 ‘Pannai Pasumai Nugarvor Kootturavu Kadai' through video-conferencing from the Secretariat....