-The Hindu Business Line Pesticide residues in India’s agri exports calls for a multi-pronged policy response As reported recently by this newspaper, India’s cumin exports have suffered a setback in recent months, with China claiming that pesticide residues exceeded the maximum residue limits (MRLs) spelt out by it about six months back. Chinese authorities have said that consignments must be accompanied by a pesticide residue report. India has been through all this...

-Society for Social and Economic Research Monograph 20/3 Key Messages Lack of planning and preparation by the Central government for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a massive blow to India’s economy and has caused enormous hardships to working people of the country. Harvesting of Rabi crops • Unplanned and sudden imposition of the lockdown resulted in a massive and unprecedented disruption to agricultural activities such as harvesting, sale of agricultural produce, and purchase...

-Hindustan Times India’s obsession with keeping food prices low, even when there’s no inflationary pressure, has long hurt farm incomes Farming is gloriously uncertain, thanks not just to uncertain weather, but also unpredictable policies. Let’s zoom into the finances of Bhupinder Pal Singh, a horticulturist from Babbain, a village in Haryana, a state that counts itself among the first places where India’s Green Revolution of 1960s began. In good years, Singh would earn...

-The Hindu Business Line Growers fear up to 70% crop loss due to cold weather Ahemadabad: Faced with climatic adversities and competition from neighbouring countries, India is set to lose the export market for its famed mangoes. Mango production in the main growing regions of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and South India is likely to to be hit due to uneven weather. Weather vagaries Production in Uttar Pradesh is likely to be down by about...

-Scroll.in The proposed high-speed rail line cuts right through South Gujarat’s prosperous Agri Export Zone, and farmers are not happy In 2007, when the state-owned Gujarat Gas company acquired land in South Gujarat to lay underground gas pipelines, Mahesh Patel lost 130 mango and chikoo trees from his farm in Navsari district. Each fruit tree yielded an average annual profit of Rs 4,000, which meant he lost trees worth Rs 5 lakh...