Small and marginal farmers from SC and ST communities are going to raise horticulture crops, mainly cashew nut on assigned lands over about 4,000 acres, 1,000 acres in agency areas, under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NR-EGS) in East Godavari. Horticulture authorities target to raise several horticulture crops on government assigned lands in the possession of small and marginal farmers to help them improve their sources of earnings. They are...

The Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) has welcomed the government decision to raise the minimum support price (MSP) for pulses for the kharif season. The increase, which ranges from Rs 380 per quintal to Rs 700 per quintal, is part of the government’s strategy to boost production of pulses in the country. The hike in MSP for pulses this year is significant, both in terms of absolute increase and percentage...

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today urged state farmers to switch over to organic agriculture to prevent further contamination of underground water sources with pesticides. He was addressing farmers at sangat darshan programmes in several villages of Muktsar. He also released funds for the development of the villages. He urged farmers to opt for Cash Crops that would not only result in their prosperity but would also help to improve water...

Kerala Food and Civil Supplies Minister C. Divakaran has come out strongly against the suggestion of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) that the Union government withdraw from grain procurement, storage and distribution under the Public Distribution System (PDS) and outsource these to private operators. FICCI makes the suggestion in a study report, which was released a few days ago. In a statement here on Monday, Mr. Divakaran...

“If one goes through the agricultural production history in the last six decades, the number of farmers opting out of agriculture, suicides of hundreds of farmers in the past 10 years, and shrinking cultivation lands are ample proof that our agriculture policy is totally wrong,” says Mr. R. Kulandaisamy a progressive farmer and liquid bio-fertilizer producer called Tari Biotech in Thanjavur. “Though policy makers and certain sections of the scientific fraternity...