-Press Information Bureau/ Ministry of Finance The Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Shri Arun Jaitley said that there is a need to conserve water, incentivize agro processing and promote balanced use of fertilizers in order to ensure higher agriculture productivity. The Finance Minister said that in order to achieve the goal of doubling the farmer’s income by 2022, there is need for better storage and marketing facilities for the...

-The Hindu Business Line Meet Jaitley for pre-Budget discussion New Delhi: Experts from the agriculture sector have sought measures to offset the impact of inflation on crops and income security for farmers and also debated the farm loan waiver at a pre-Budget meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday. This was the first such meeting and the Finance Minister will meet more sectoral groups this week to get their proposals for the...

-The Indian Express Union government must address structural issues in agricultural policy, allow states greater autonomy. Farmers from across the country are out on Delhi’s streets agitating just as the deliberations for the 2018 budget are beginning and it’s time to seek solutions to the structural issues that plague the system. The “one-size-fits-all” policy created for the farm sector is self-destructive in design and programmes meant to double farmer incomes are collapsing. The...

-IANS UDAIPUR: Farming has rarely been a viable proposition in Rajasthan's dry and hilly Udaipur region. A new way has now been found to provide sustainable sustenance for the area's tribals by enabling them to sell -- for a staggering Rs 189 crore ($29 million) in the last two years -- minor forest produce (MFP) that is abundant in the area and has remained unutilised for almost nine decades. According to officials,...

-The Indian Express The transition from a regime of ‘downward stickiness’ to ‘upward stickiness’ has relevance beyond economic jargon. Here’s how Agricultural commodity prices in India have traditionally exhibited what economists call “downward stickiness” — resistance to any declines, while rising at the slightest demand-supply imbalance. That conventional wisdom may have been turned on its head by demonetisation. The tendency now is for prices to be increasingly “sticky upward”. The accompanying table (right)...