-Scroll.in Heatwaves across many wheat-producing states have resulted in a dip in the production of the staple grain this year. India’s wheat production is likely to fall 3% to 106.41 million tonnes this year from last year’s output of 109.59 million tonnes, the Hindustan Times reported on Friday, citing the Union agriculture ministry’s third advance estimates of output of food grains. Severe heatwaves across many wheat-producing states have resulted in a dip in...

-The Hindu Business Line Pesticide residues in India’s agri exports calls for a multi-pronged policy response As reported recently by this newspaper, India’s cumin exports have suffered a setback in recent months, with China claiming that pesticide residues exceeded the maximum residue limits (MRLs) spelt out by it about six months back. Chinese authorities have said that consignments must be accompanied by a pesticide residue report. India has been through all this...

-Hindustan Times DSR ‘tar-wattar’ (good soil moisture), a low-cost mechanical sowing technique to reduce water footprint in the cultivation of water-guzzling rice by 20%, was indigenously developed by scientists of Ludhiana-based Punjab Agricultural University BATHINDA: As farmers are expecting a sharp rise in farm labourers’ demand to charge up to ₹6,000 per acre for paddy sowing this season, direct seeding of rice (DSR), which for the first time comes with an incentive...

-PTI/ Business Standard The lowering of estimates has been attributed to "early summer" The government has revised downwards the estimate for wheat production by 5.7 per cent to 105 million tonnes in the 2021-22 crop year ending June from the earlier projection of 111.32 million tonnes, as the crop productivity has been affected due to the early onset of summer. Addressing a press conference, Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said the agriculture ministry has...

-CivilSocietyOnline.com WHEN the Sri Lankan economy collapsed with a sigh recently, prominently sticking out of the debris was a failed attempt to take the island nation into full-scale organic agricultural production. The Rajapaksa government had virtually overnight ordered a switch to organic agriculture to save foreign exchange on the import of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. But going organic, instead of being the solution, became a bigger problem with food crops failing and the...