-Livemint.com Declining income, shrinking farmlands, rise in number of dependents on existing holdings add to farm woes Bengaluru: Since 2000, Karnataka has put nearly 200,000 hectares of farmland to non-agricultural use, including for industrial, residential and infrastructure projects. Besides shrinking farmlands, the number of dependents on existing land holdings have also increased considering little employment opportunities elsewhere. From 1.312 million hectares in 2000-01 (cumulative), the total land put to non-agricultural use has risen...

-The Indian Express Why assembly election verdicts should occasion a rethink on loan waivers, MSP raises The results of the elections to state assemblies should be a humbling experience for the BJP. Political pundits have started analysing the verdict, since the reasons for the BJP’s defeat have important implications for the parliamentary election of 2019. One factor that is being flagged by analysts is farm distress. Farmers across the country are not...

-The Tribune Muktsar: Harbrinder Singh Gill, a farmer from Tarmala village of the Malout subdivision here, claims to have found an indigenous way to tackle stubble burning and sowing wheat using a pocket-friendly machine. Even officials of the Agriculture Department visited and inspected his fields and were satisfied with his creation. Harbrinder claimed that he had sown wheat crop on 38 acres by using his machine, which he invented four years ago....

-Scroll.in The ministry has issued showcause notices to three of its senior officials for submitting the report before Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal could vet it. The Ministry of Agriculture has withdrawn a report that said demonetisation affected millions of farmers in the country. The ministry cited a “compilation error” to justify the withdrawal and submitted a new report that says farmers did not face any “adverse impact” as a result of the...

-IndiaWaterPortal.org Here is a look at the challenges faced by small farmers in India and how they can be dealt with. As per the agricultural statistics of 2014, nearly 430 people depend on farming in India while 263 million people are either farmers or agricultural workers. Farmers are major contributors to the growth of Indian economy and their concerns impact policies in the country. Nearly 87 percent of farmers in India...