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Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday termed chemical fertilisers as the root cause of many diseases and made a strong pitch for natural farming, saying it not only increases farmers' income but also saves water and promotes public health. Addressing a Farmers' Conference held here, Shah said the government was developing a "complete system" - from soil and laboratory testing, certification to packaging - to ensure that the agricultural produce of the country's farmers reaches global level in a better way as there is a huge market for natural farming in the world. "Chemical fertilisers are the root cause of many diseases today. Natural farming is an approach that doesn't reduce farmers' income, but instead makes their produce pure," he said. Natural farming is a traditional practice that people have forgotten over the time. A dung and urine of a single indigenous cow can help cultivate 21 acres of land, he said. "It (natural farming) increases income, saves water, and relieves
The government will extend its central scheme for Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) for another five years from 2026-31, addressing gaps that have limited the scaling up of operations, Agriculture Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi said on Friday. Addressing the CII FPO Summit here, Chaturvedi said the scheme, launched in February 2020 with a target of forming 10,000 FPOs, needs to be extended for the next finance commission cycle. "About 10,000 FPOs have been formed but they have to be handheld. Many of the FPOs have been formed in the last two years, so we have to handhold them with community-based organisations and implementing agencies," he explained to PTI on the sidelines of the event. The ministry has identified practical difficulties in making FPOs successful, including capacity building and access to capital loans. "We will try to incorporate these in the new scheme so that they become very efficient, energetic and dynamic in terms of giving returns to the farmers," he said in
The government has cancelled 5,371 licences of fertiliser firms for black marketing, hoarding as well as for distributing substandard material, Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers Jagat Prakash Nadda said in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. In response to a question asked by BJP member Kiran Choudhary, Nadda said while states are empowered to take action on malpractices, the Centre takes action under the Essential Commodities Act of 1955 and the Fertiliser Control Order to check malpractices such as diversion, hoarding and overpricing. He said action on substandard material is taken under the Fertiliser Control Order. "We would like to tell you, as you asked, from April 1 to November 28, there were 5,058 show-cause notices in black marketing, FIRs were lodged in 442 cases and licences cancelled were 3,732," Nadda said. Similarly, in hoarding, there were 687 show-cause notices, 202 licence cancellations and 446 FIRs. In the case of distributing substandard material, show-cause ..
Edible oil major AWL Agri Business Ltd on Monday reported a 21 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 244.85 crore in the September quarter. Its net profit stood at Rs 311.02 crore in the year-ago period. Total income rose to Rs 17,525.61 crore during the July-September period of this fiscal year from Rs 14,552.04 crore in the corresponding period of the preceding year, according to a regulatory filing. AWL Agri Business Ltd, which sells edible oils and other food items under Fortune as well as some other brands, said, "PAT (profit after tax) at Rs 245 crore was down 21 per cent YoY on account of a strong base quarter". During the quarter, the company recorded volume growth of 2 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to 1.68 million tonnes across three businesses -- edible oils, industry essentials. and food -- FMCG. During the second quarter of this fiscal, revenue from edible oils rose 26 per cent year-on-year, and industry essentials posted a 19 per cent increase. "Food & FMCG
Dutch company Van der Hoeven Horticultural Projects said on Thursday it has secured three contracts worth 40 million euros to build high-tech greenhouses for strawberry cultivation in India. The greenhouses will be set up across 8 hectares in Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Sales Manager Pieter Jan Robbemont told PTI. "For the first time, we are going to bring our hi-tech greenhouse technology to India. We have got three projects for strawberry cultivation," Robbemont said. The company is awaiting bank financing to start implementation, with construction taking a minimum of one year, he said. The Dutch technology differs from existing systems in India by offering advanced climate control, irrigation, automation and cultivation systems designed to optimise crop production across diverse climates, the company said. Van der Hoeven is one of four companies exploring the Indian market under HortiRoad2India, a multi-year public-private partnership initiative by the Netherlands to prom
India's rice exports in volume terms is likely to rise more than 10 per cent during this fiscal on better demand from overseas markets, APEDA Chairman Abhishek Dev said on Thursday. In the 2024-25 fiscal, India exported 20.1 million tonnes of rice valued at USD 12.95 billion, reaching more than 172 countries. Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) is an arm of the commerce ministry which deals with issues related to the country's agri exports. "Rice exports will increase this fiscal. We are expecting double-digit growth in volume terms," Dev told PTI on the sidelines of Bharat International Rice Conference (BIRC) 2025 being held here. He said exports would grow in terms of value as well. The two-day global rice conference started on Thursday at Bharat Mandapam here. The conference is being organised by the Indian Rice Exporters' Federation (IREF). APEDA is providing non-financial support to this event. Dev stressed the need to increase expo