-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi/Bengaluru: The rapid progress of the south-west monsoon across the country has accelerated the sowing pace of key kharif crops such as rice, pulses, oilseeds and cotton. The south-west monsoon, the lifeline of India’s agriculture, has covered the country two weeks ahead of schedule. Agriculture Ministry data showed that kharif planting has been done in 165.62 lakh hectares so far this year, against 134.18 lakh hectares in...

-The Hindu Business Line Calls for restructuring Nafed for effective procurement of pulses, oilseeds   Bengaluru: The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) has made a pitch for encouraging water use efficiency in agriculture. As part of its non-price policy recommendations for kharif 2015-16, the crop advisory body has suggested that States fix quantitative ceilings on per hectare use of both water and electricity. The farm sector accounts for about 83 per cent...

-The Financial Express With Delhi and its adjoining areas receiving moderate to heavy pre-monsoon showers and the southwest winds active over Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand, the planting of key kharif crops, such as paddy, pulses, oilseeds, sugarcane and cotton, is set to get a boost. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday said monsoon was expected to hit northern states over the next few days. “The conditions are favourable for...

-The Financial Express To deal with the possibility of a deficit monsoon, the agriculture ministry has suggested sowing of short- duration varieties of paddy, pulses, oilseeds and other less water-intensive crops in the northern India regions for curbing possible crop losses. In its first advisory for the northern Indian region, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), a premier institute under the ministry of agriculture, has suggested transplanting of short duration paddy varieties of...

-Business Standard Odisha govt readying contingency Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has asked all district collectors to submit contingency plan proposals for agriculture sector after an India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast said there will be less than normal monsoon rains this year. "All district collectors have been asked to submit contingency proposals for their areas to the agriculture department keeping in view their geography and resources after consulting the respective zonal DDAs (deputy...