-TheWire.in Farmers fear that the MSP regime will fall by the wayside and want it to be made a legal right. On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to farmers across the country to ‘beware’ and not get swayed by ‘misinformation’ that they will not get fair prices for their crops. Over the last few weeks, farmers – largely in the states of Haryana and Punjab – have been protesting three agriculture ordinances...

-Financial Express Signs of a weakening of the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) networks are now evident across major farm production centres in the country, heralding an era of unfettered market access and bolstered bargaining strength for farmers. On June 5, the Centre promulgated three Ordinances reforming the country’s agriculture marketing, and their impact on the trade has been rather sudden and material: During the June 6-August 31 period, mandi arrivals of...

-TheWire.in From seeds and machinery to livestock and irrigation, the state needs to change the status quo. One eye must be firmly kept on the future. If Punjab’s agriculture sector is to succeed, it has to think beyond short-term crises such as the current pandemic-induced one. For instance, the Expert Group headed by Montek Singh Ahluwalia has made important recommendations about seeds, agricultural research, livestock, dairy and Food Processing. It has been noted that...

-The Financial Express In part one of this article (Secondary agriculture is of primary importance; August 10; https://bit.ly/31H0h0E), the need to expand the market range both horizontally (territorial extension) and vertically (functional expansion), as also the role of agro-processing in achieving the latter in particular, were discussed. In this part, the article dwells upon promoting secondary agriculture on the shoulders of food and non-Food Processing. Current status of agro-processing The processing sector in...

-Down to Earth Novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic pushes government to act on reforms of food systems with urgency Food systems must be inclusive, local and diverse to address food security and malnutrition and build economic and climate resilience, according to the latest 2020 Global Nutrition Report. The report — released by the Stakeholder group — placed equity as the cornerstone of all efforts to overcome global malnutrition and insisted on policy...