-The Times of India GUNTUR: Jinkala Satyanarayana of Pedapalem village under Atchampet mandal took four acres on lease and sowed cotton in 75 per cent of the plot. In the remaining acre, he opted for chilli cultivation. He spent about Rs 3 lakh for agriculture operations, but the crop failed to his great shock. With the 45-year-old depending entirely on moneylenders to secure loans, the debts rose to Rs 5 lakh even...

-The Hindu Agricultural experts say small farmers are working under severe economic constraints — their earnings are very low and they are indebted — and hence many are compelled to leave farming. Punjab’s farming sector is in crisis and showing signs of sickness as it suffers from falling productivity and shrinking returns. Farmers are reeling under debt, and owing to low profitability, small farmers, in particular, are quitting farming. In the past...

-The Times of India BHUBANESWAR: Experts feel that notwithstanding individual causes behind farmers' suicides, so many of them resorting to the extreme step shows that the average peasant in the state is in severe monetary distress. Unofficial sources put the death toll at 40 in the past two months. "Some of the suicides may turn out to be for reasons other than agricultural loss. But, the larger picture indicates financial constraints are...

-The Hindu Traders say that basmati prices were expected to remain low this year as there had been an oversupply of the commodity in the international markets. Farmers of the aromatic, long-grain basmati rice in the grain bowl States of Punjab and Haryana are heading for yet another period of distress as the premium variety is fetching a price that is even below that of regular paddy. Sitting visibly distressed with his trolley...

-The Indian Express Punjab is a case study in agricultural and economic mismanagement in India From the breadbasket of India, Punjab has become a basket-case economy. Endowed with ample water and good soil, Punjab’s happy, progressive people had a dream that is now a distant memory. Punjab’s decline started with its trifurcation. In its bid to establish a separate identity, the poli-tical establishment obsessed over a religious-political agenda and steered the state...