A recent press release by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) shows that the declared minimum support price (MSP) for most kharif crops to be marketed in 2019-20 is at least 50 percent above the cost of production. The official information related to the newly declared MSP, which came two days ahead of the Union Budget presentation, gives the impression that the newly re-elected NDA government has kept its promise...

-Down to Earth RUDRAPUR: In Udham Singh Nagar district, considered the rice bowl of Uttarakhand, thousands of farmers are dependent on groundwater resources for irrigating water-hungry crops such as rice, maize and other kharif crops. Since the past decade, this area has been grappling with intense and rapid depletion of groundwater reserves largely due to over-extraction in the industrial area set up at different cities in the district and the cultivation...

-Newsclick.in In an interview, the ‘father’ of India’s Green Revolution, says while technology is necessary, policies on procurement and public distribution are far more important in making agriculture economically viable and sustainable in the country. No one has played a more instrumental role in India’s self-sufficiency in food production than Dr MS Swaminathan — world-renowned agricultural scientist, known as the ‘Father of Green Revolution in India’. After getting a PhD from Cambridge...

-The Hindu Business Line Given the ballooning costs of storing grain, there is an urgent need to cut down excessive procurement of rice and wheat In 2018-19, wheat procurement at 35.8 million tonnes (mt) was the second highest ever. It is estimated that by the end of kharif marketing season in September, rice procurement may also touch an all-time high of 45 mt. With such high procurement, one of the first difficult...

-The Hindu Business Line India is heading for a record production of rice, the main cereal crop in 2018-19, despite a dismal performance of the monsoon. The Agriculture Ministry’s second advance estimates has pegged the rice production at a record 115.60 million tonnes, about 2.38 per cent higher than the latest or fourth advance estimates for 2017-18. The bumper production is on account of substantial increase in production during the kharif season,...