-Frontline Low prices following a bumper crop and the State government’s inability to procure much of the yield leave tur farmers in Maharashtra in a quandary. DROUGHT or abundance, farmers seem to be perpetually doomed in Maharashtra. The most recent crisis unfolding in the agrarian segment is the crashing prices of pulses, particularly tur dal, and the inability of the State government to procure the entire crop. Adding to the problem...

-The Hindu Business Line In the Cauvery delta’s worst drought in 140 years, a padyatra brings home the harsh realities of how Tamil farmers are living on the edge and what sustains their resilience A farmer sells his sugar cane to the local public sector sugar mill, where he is mandated to sell his crop. Instead of paying, the factory hands him a slip of paper. Eighteen months pass by and he...

-Livemint.com All our solutions in agriculture, besides management issues, are going to come from science and technology, says Deepak Pental, innovator of GM mustard Last week, the environment ministry’s regulator, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), cleared the commercial release of genetically modified (GM) mustard, leaving it to the government to take a final call. If approved, it will be India’s first food crop developed using transgenic technology, 15 years after Bt...

-The Indian Express The total agricultural land has also dipped by 1.18 per cent to 1.97 crore hectares of land. Mumbai: Even as clamour for farm loan waiver grows to afford temporary relief to farmers amid volatility in commodity prices and poor returns from farm produce, the state is facing a problem of increased fragmentation of agricultural land. Smaller plots not just bring down agricultural productivity, but also affects farmers’ economies...

-Hindustan Times A report on sugar price policy for 2015-16 by union agriculture ministry had highlighted that Maharashtra’s sugarcane cultivation, which is less than 4% of the total cropped area, consumes 70% of water needed for irrigation Following criticism over sugarcane crop guzzling potable water, particularly in drought-prone Marathwada, the state government is set to introduce a policy for shifting 50% of sugarcane farming on drip irrigation in the next two years. Statistics...