-The Hindu Business Line Arrivals more than double at key markets as farmers resort to sell-off Ahmedabad: Potato farmers in Gujarat are a worried lot. With harvest being bumper and unseasonal rains affecting the quality, potato prices have come down to one-third of what it was last year. The first estimate, as on February 2015, puts the country’s potato output at around 421 lakh tonnes (lt) – about 6 lt higher than last...
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Unseasonal rain: 601 farmer suicides in Maharashra in just 3 months -Priyanka Kakodkar
-The Times of India MUMBAI: As many as 601 farmers have killed themselves in Maharashtra in the three-month span between January and March this year. This works out to a chilling statistic of almost seven farmer suicides every day, according to the state government's own figures. In 2014, the state had reported 1,981 farmer suicides. In just three months this year, it has reached 30% of that figure. This despite the state...
More »Record sugar output, but Maharashtra farmers bitter as prices crash -Priyanka Kakodkar
-The Times of India MUMBAI: It's known as the land of politically powerful sugar barons and has long been the leading producer of sugarcane in the country. But this year, Maharashtra has turned out the highest sugar output ever in its 55-year history. By May, it's expecting an output of a record 103 lakh tons—34% more than in 2014. But the glut is not good news. Sugar prices have crashed by Rs...
More »Wheat procurement will be lower this year -Gargi Parsai
-The Hindu The MSP is fixed for the Fair Average Quality of grain that is purchased by the FCI and its agencies. There is a growing concern in official circles about untimely rain and hail in the northern parts of the country hitting wheat procurement for the Public Distribution System by an estimated three million tonnes this year. This may not augur well for a country that is committed to providing cheap...
More »In Vidarbha, First the Skies Dried Up, Then the Government's Promises -Sreenivasan Jain
-NDTV Vidarbha, Maharashtra: First the skies dried up, and then it rained heavily, too heavily for Ramesh Khamankar's cotton crop. In January, the cotton farmer from Maharashtra's Vidarbha region poisoned himself to death. The crisis that has engulfed this region this year was not just of bad weather, but also one which had its origins miles away from the ruined cotton fields of Vidarbha. Falling demand from China pushed down the...
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