-Livemint.com Farmers across the country choose cotton and sugarcane over rain-fed pulses like arhar and moong which saw a collapse in their wholesale prices in 2016-17, shows data New Delhi: Following a collapse in wholesale prices of rain-fed pulses like arhar and moong over the past six months, farmers across India have reduced planting of these varieties, data on Kharif sowing released by the agriculture ministry on Friday shows. Simultaneously, farmers have...

-The Hindu Business Line Area under oilseeds and cotton up; pulses acreage slides New Delhi: Notwithstanding a sluggish monsoon and farmer unrest in different parts of the country, agriculture is picking up momentum, with all crops other than pulses showing an upswing in the sowing area. According to data released by the Union Agriculture Ministry on Friday, there has been a 10 per cent increase in the area under cultivation so far, with...

-TheWire.in While most farmers and farm land are from rainfed areas, the government focuses only on irrigated areas. How long will this unfair treatment continue? After an intense period of farmers’ agitation, the Maharashtra government has announced a loan waiver. Madhya Pradesh continues to simmer. Tamil Nadu farmers have expressed their distress in no uncertain terms. The loan waiver will probably make the farmers feel relieved for now, but the pivotal question...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: If the Narendra Modi government caves in and grants a nationwide farm loan waiver, the tab could surge to a whopping Rs 3 lakh crore, dwarfing the UPA's initiative in 2008 that cost a little over Rs 52,000 crore. "We have warned that the exchequer will go bust if we grant a general amnesty on farm loans, which will cost over Rs 3 lakh crore," a senior finance...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A robust farm growth of 5.2 per cent in the March quarter pushed GDP growth up to 7.1 per cent. However, growth in the sector was lower than the previous quarter's expansion of 6.9 per cent. Farm growth for the full fiscal zoomed to 4.9 per cent because of good rainfall and record food-grain production compared with a near flat 0.7 per cent expansion in 2015-16.   "The third...