-Livemint.com Abject poverty, high levels of debt, and crop failures among the leading causes behind farmer suicides, according to a study commissioned by agriculture ministry New Delhi: Abject poverty, high levels of indebtedness, crop failures and pressure to repay loans are among the leading causes behind farmer suicides, according to the preliminary findings of a study commissioned by the Union agriculture ministry. The broad findings of the study conducted by the Institute for...

-Livemint.com Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh have started their own versions of Tamil Nadu’s Amma canteens that provide food at heavily subsidized rates New Delhi: The late J. Jayalalithaa’s government in Tamil Nadu had launched Amma Unavagam (Mother’s canteen) with much fanfare in 2013. Meant to provide wholesome food at heavily subsidized rates, the canteens which are run by the government but staffed by women from self-help groups have been a runaway...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: Failure of monsoon and farmers' distress have forced the state government to scale down the target for foodgrains production for the next financial year to 100 lakh tonnes, a 32% fall from the initial target set for the current financial year. Announcing this while presenting the budget, finance minister D Jayakumar said a slew of measures was being taken to overcome the water shortage. Considering that...

-Livemint.com According to a background note prepared by the agriculture ministry, less than a fifth of targeted farmers have received soil health cards New Delhi: The government’s flagship scheme to correct the imbalance in fertiliser use and reduce costs of cultivation by providing all farmers with a soil health card is moving at a slow pace as states drag their feet. According to a background note prepared by the agriculture ministry and...

-IFPRI Rising prices and declining consumption of pulses cause concern in terms of both nutrition and food inflation in India. This paper outlines policy strategies to increase the availability of pulses at affordable prices in India and also points out limitations of some of the most common recommendations for achieving these objectives. There seems to be no option but to increase domestic production of pulses in India. The global supply of...