-DNA State policies favouring certain food crops have rendered pulses forbiddingly expensive and the common man is feeling the pinch The huge spurt in dal prices, touching Rs180 per kilogram and even Rs200 in some cities, has come as a dampener to the festive season, and raised questions about the policies of the government. For some years now, India has been resorting to huge imports of pulses to meet domestic demand...

-The Hindu Business Line Crop insurance will make farming a safer vocation The plight of Punjab’s cotton farmers after a swarm of ‘whiteflies’ ravaged their crop is truly disquieting. In a knee-jerk response, Punjab has promised ₹640 crore for over two-third of the crop being destroyed, but on what basis, it is hard to tell. This highlights the absence of crop insurance in Punjab, as pointed out by a recent Crisil study....

-Business Standard India’s growth in agriculture and allied activities has struggled to reach the targeted four per cent average a year in the first three years of the 12th five-year Plan because of a host of factors. The below-average farm growth is widely expected to deepen the crisis in the farm sector. In an interview with Sanjeeb Mukherjee, newly-appointed member of NITI Aayog and eminent agriculture economist Ramesh Chand  said over-reliance...

-The Times of India MHOW: Faced with problem of lean margins for their produce in local markets, farmers of Harsola and adjoining villages in Mhow tehisl came together and tied up with middleman outside the state to become most prominent suppliers of quality produce to Delhi and Gujarat. In less than three years, nondescript villages have become hub of cauliflower trading and are now famously called gobhi gaon. It is a tale...

-Livemint.com It is hypocritical of the US to give price support to its farmers while denying it to the world’s poorest farmers The tenth ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to be held in Nairobi on 15-18 December, is already mired in discord, with negotiators unable to agree on a mandated post-Bali work programme. At issue are US and European Union (EU) proposals to scrap the texts agreed to thus...