-The Tribune With APMC markets heading towards a collapse, the new set of reforms is aimed at encouraging corporatisation, with big business moving into agriculture, storage and marketing. As the experience of US/Europe shows, when unregulated markets become dominant, small farmers are the first to be pushed out of agriculture. Reiterating what former US Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz (during Ronald Reagan’s rule) had declared: “Get big or get out,” Sonny Perdue, US...

-The Indian Express Noor Jamal, 25, lives at Satrakanara village in Barpeta district, which is heavily flooded. “In the lockdown, I could not sell our produce of vegetables and jute. And now there is flood water in the paddy field, it will damage the crops,” he said. Guwahati: At Bhuragaon in Assam’s Morigaon district, adjacent to the Brahmaputra and severely affected in this year’s floods, two hectares of the paddy field of...

-NDTV India is battling the worst desert locust outbreak in recent times. Swarms of locusts first attacked Rajasthan and have now spread to Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. New Delhi: The Delhi government on Thursday warned of a possible locust invasion and asked authorities to spray insecticides and pesticides on crops, vegetation, gardens and orchards while several states in western and central India struggled to contain the worst infestation in nearly...

-Newsclick.in The lockdown has got the government talking about agri ‘reforms’ again, but the exploitation of India’s weakest farmers continues unchecked. It is a cruel irony that in the sixth week of the nationwide lockdown, the government is talking up omnibus agriculture “reforms” as if they can mitigate the growing distress in rural India. Reforms, no doubt, implies stricter compliance with online registration and payment rules, more focus on market-based pricing, and...

-The Hindu Coupled with a delay in paddy procurement, rains are adding to the farmers’ woe as they struggle to find shelter for their stock. BHUBANESWAR: Hundreds of farmers hit by slow pace in paddy procurement are staring at huge losses as their paddy stocks are exposed to unseasonal rain in Odisha. The State has been receiving widespread rain due to western disturbance since Tuesday. Eighteen of 28 meteorological observation stations in the...