-The Times of India   AURANGABAD: The agriculture department has initiated a scheme for farmers to help them sell vegetables in the city. The department would spend a sum of Rs 17 crore in the next two years for the same. Janardhan Jadhav, divisional joint director of agriculture, here said that the government allocated Rs 300 in 2011-12 under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana for implementation of a vegetable initiative for urban clusters. It...

-The Hindu Business Line     A government run by a bevy of economists with no sense of the ground reality made mistakes. Some really big ones As the new government settles down to tackle the myriad problems confronting it, it's worth taking a quick glance at the principal reasons for the spectacular unravelling of the UPA-2 government. A defining characteristic of UPA-2 was that it was led by an economist and supported by prominent...

-The Indian Express   Farmers' groups point to lack of marketing support, MSAMB blames internal shortcomings. Pune: Almost two years after the state government introduced the concept of direct selling of fruits and vegetables by farmers' groups, lack of awareness drives and internal shortcomings seem to have impeded its success. At present, 68 farmers' groups are directly selling their products at 226 locations in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. The initiative to allow farmers to directly...

-The Hindu Business Line     A set of technologies that deals with production and marketing constraints can work wonders Indian agriculture faces herculean challenges today; yet, the near- and the medium-term outlook on agriculture and agri-businesses seem bright. Growing urbanisation and changing food habits, malnutrition plus declining areas under foodgrain pose a big threat to food security. Agriculture and food production are strongly influenced by international trade, credit availability, development co-operation, climate change and environmental...

-The Hindustan Times   Patiala: A new study on farmers' suicide has revealed that young and unmarried farmers are more prone to suicides. Increasing frustration among young farmers because of agrarian crisis is compelling farmers to commit suicides. Titled "Agrarian distress in Punjab: a study of suicides by farmers and agricultural labourers", the study concludes that half of the farmers who committed suicides are below the age of 35 years and out of...