-Business Standard Govt should revamp agricultural marketing to increase farmers' earnings and amend land-leasing laws Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has met farm sector representatives for pre-Budget consultations at a time Indian agriculture is passing through a bad patch - especially because of two years of consecutive drought. Predictably, therefore, most participants pitched for more credit on soft terms, higher minimum support prices (MSP) for crops and the expansion of irrigation facilities to...
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MS Swaminathan, father of India's green revolution, speaks to Srijana Mitra Das
-The Times of India/ The Economic Times Renowned geneticist and administrator M S Swaminathan is popularly known as the 'father of India's green revolution'. Speaking with Srijana Mitra Das, Swaminathan discussed why he fears the WTO Nairobi meet could exacerbate global food insecurity, double standards over farming protection between developed and developing nations, an Indian Single Market in grains - and how India, already suffering 'hidden' famine, must have freedom to...
More »Liberalised land leasing through government Land Bank can ease exit of distressed farmers -Kanchan Srivastava
-DNA The report said it will ease the exit of those farmers who find farming unattractive or non-viable and economically strengthen those farmers who want to stay and raise the scale of operational holdings. Opening farmland for 'liberalised leasing' through government-run 'Land Banks' can be a 'win-win reform' in the Indian farm sector, stated the latest report of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog taskforce on agricultural development. The report...
More »Pulses may remain beyond reach for many in 2016 too -Jayashree Bhosale
-The Economic Times PUNE/NEW DELHI: Pulses will likely remain beyond the reach for many in 2016 as well. Even though a fresh kharif crop has started arriving in the market, whole beans of tur (pigeon pea) cost twice as much as last year because the output is expected to be smaller. Government agencies that entered the market to create a buffer stock for next year are finding it tough to buy tur because...
More »Crop insurance or deficiency payments? -Sukhpal Singh
-Livemint.com The most glaring implication of the proposed deficiency payments is that it makes the state give up its responsibility of intervening in markets During the past few months, there has been a highly contested debate on the merits, viability and feasibility of crop insurance in India given the large number of small farmers and the large amount of subsidy involved that is not being effectively used as the coverage of...
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