-The Economic Times PUNE: Pulses traders have demanded lifting of the decade-old ban on export of the commodity as prices of all varieties, except chana, have fallen below the minimum support price (MSP). They have cautioned that if prices continue to remain subdued, farmers might shift to other crops. “The government should allow export of pulses to support prices,“ said Bimal Kothari, vice-president of Indian Pulses and Grains Association. India had banned export...
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When cash vanishes: A double-whammy -Parthasarathi Biswas
-The Indian Express Farmers are facing the heat from both collapse of demand and inability to purchase inputs post-demonetisation. Junnar (Maharashtra): The last one week and more has brought nothing but bad news for Vasant Pimpale. This farmer from Pargaon Tarfe Ale, a village in Pune district’s Junnar taluka, has already lost 11 tonnes of green chilli grown on eight out of his 15-acres holding. The loss hasn’t been courtesy drought, flood...
More »Farm distress: Gujarat's groundnut growers take a hit as prices plunge below MSP -Gopal Kateshiya
-The Indian Express After cotton last year, the BJP state government faces a fresh challenge ahead of late-2017 elections. Rajkot: GROUNDNUT FARMERS last week forced a suspension of auctions at the agriculture produce market committee (APMC) mandi in Amreli to protest against tumbling prices of Gujarat’s second biggest cash crop after cotton. The new groundnut-in-shell crop is fetching around Rs 3,500 per quintal, well below the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs...
More »Orphan food? Nay, future of food -Satish Deodhar
-Livemint.com Pulses are important from the perspectives of food security, environmental sustainability and balanced nutrition Most pulses such as pigeon pea (tur dal), black gram (urad), green gram (mung), field beans (waal), moth beans (matki) and horse gram (kulith) are native to the Indian subcontinent and have been an integral part of our diet for centuries. However, the single-minded focus on cereals over the last 50 years—the green revolution in wheat and...
More »No feel for the pulse -Ashok Gulati & Siraj Hussain
-The Indian Express The government has failed to provide the right incentives to farmers India’s quest for self-sufficiency in pulses goes back, at least, to 1990-1991, when pulses were incorporated in the technology mission on oilseeds. In 1992, and 1995-1996, oil palm and maize were added to the mission, which was re-christened the Integrated Scheme on Oilseeds, Pulses, Oil palm and Maize (ISOPOM). In 2007, ISOPOM’s pulses component was merged with...
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