-The Hindu Business Line Huge losses on procured grains and rising debt are a big concern FCI (Food Corporation of India) is sitting on a mountain of wheat and paddy. In January, the total stock of rice and wheat with FCI was 45.4 million tonnes. This increased to 46.3 million tonnes by April and touched 62.2 million tonnes in May. In July, the stock increased further to 74.2 million which was significantly...

-The Hindu Rice cultivation in Punjab, which thrived in the past due to the easy availability of water resources and free supply of electricity to farmers, is under considerable strain now. Vikas Vasudeva examines how overexploitation has made groundwater not only scarce but also increasingly alkaline. Gurmeet Singh, 60, a tall land-owning farmer in Bhattiwal Khurd village, which is located in Punjab’s Sangrur district, has yet again planted the water-guzzling paddy crop...

  A recent press release by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) shows that the declared minimum support price (MSP) for most kharif crops to be marketed in 2019-20 is at least 50 percent above the cost of production. The official information related to the newly declared MSP, which came two days ahead of the Union Budget presentation, gives the impression that the newly re-elected NDA government has kept its promise...

-Down to Earth RUDRAPUR: In Udham Singh Nagar district, considered the rice bowl of Uttarakhand, thousands of farmers are dependent on groundwater resources for irrigating water-hungry crops such as rice, maize and other kharif crops. Since the past decade, this area has been grappling with intense and rapid depletion of groundwater reserves largely due to over-extraction in the industrial area set up at different cities in the district and the cultivation...

-Newsclick.in In an interview, the ‘father’ of India’s Green Revolution, says while technology is necessary, policies on procurement and public distribution are far more important in making agriculture economically viable and sustainable in the country. No one has played a more instrumental role in India’s self-sufficiency in food production than Dr MS Swaminathan — world-renowned agricultural scientist, known as the ‘Father of Green Revolution in India’. After getting a PhD from Cambridge...