-The Indian Express Cotton growers are realising decent rates despite bumper crop this time, thanks to government procurement. Aurangabad: In early-November, when Satyakumar Kolhe went to sell 18 out of his total 35 quintals produce of kapas (raw un-ginned cotton) at the Ambad wholesale market in Jalna district, the traders there quoted an average price of Rs 4,500 per quintal. The 45-year-old from Guru Pimpari village of Jalna’s Ghansawangi taluka, who grew...

-Press release by Food and Land Use Coalition dated 10 January 2020 India can ensure healthy diets for its growing population, improve livelihoods and plug waste by adopting better food and land use practices New Delhi, January 10, 2020 – With a population projected to reach 1.5 billion people by 2030, and climate risks threatening food security, livelihoods, water supply and human health, India needs to urgently shift to sustainable food...

-The Indian Express Does away with need for village revenue officer’s signature; guards against crop insurance fraud. Pune: Early in December, when Bhagwan Ingole, a farmer from Malegaon in Ardhrapur taluka of Nanded went to the Citizen Facilitation Centre in his village to insure his one acre of rabi chana (bengal gram) crop, he was in for a surprise. During the previous seasons, the operator of this one-stop shop catering to most...

-The Indian Express The start of the sugarcane season in Maharashtra is marked by the seasonal migration of around 7-8 lakh labourers from Marathwada and North Maharashtra to the mills in various parts of the state. Pune: Maharashtra’s sugarcane crushing is all set to extend by at least a fortnight as mills complain of acute shortage of harvesting labourers. Mills say that at present around 15-20 per cent less labourers have turned...

-The Hindu Such an ambiguity has serious implications for the design and beneficiaries of schemes meant to help them Who is a farmer? What is the government’s definition of a farmer and how many farmers are there in India by that definition? Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar failed to answer that question when it was asked in Parliament last week. The government’s ambiguity has serious implications for the design and beneficiaries of the...