Food Crops

Impact of raw material inflation lingers; margin recovery expected from Q2 onwards

Mustard crop, an indigenous oilseed grown in Rabi season, can play an important role in achieving self-sufficiency in domestic output of edible oils and there is a need to increase acreage, promote use of high-yielding seed varieties and provide assured prices to farmers to boost yield and production, according to industry experts. According to the latest government data, India's rapeseed and mustard production stood at 126.06 lakh tonnes in 2024-25 crop year (July-June) with acreage of 86.29 lakh hectares and an average yield of 1,461 kg per hectare. The area and production have declined from 2023-24 when acreage was 91.83 lakh hectares while output was 132.59 lakh tonnes. Puri Oil Mills Ltd Managing Director Vivek Puri said, "The idea that mustard oil should play a vital role in bridging the edible oil demand-supply gap and in reducing import dependency is an integral part of our company's vision." He noted that there is a huge scope to expand mustard cultivation as well as yield

UP, with India's largest cultivable land area of 16.6 million hectares - over 80 per cent of which is irrigated - currently imports hybrid seeds primarily from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh

The Department of Consumer Affairs has already been monitoring the daily prices of 22 essential food commodities from 550 centres across 34 states/Union Territories

The initiative will assist in developing more accurate farm production forecasts, and facilitating timely implementation of suitable trade policy measures

India needs to usher in Green Revolution 2.0 with a view to promote farming of less water-intensive crops such as pulses and oil seeds and discourage free power for the agri sector, economic think tank GTRI said on Thursday. There is a need to "promote less water-intensive crops like pulses, oil seeds, and vegetables that can significantly reduce water demand and the government can guarantee MSP (minimum support price) on these crops," the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) report said. It said that awareness among farmers should be increased about adopting water-saving technologies such as drip irrigation, laser land levelling, training on water-efficient techniques and precision agriculture to improve water use efficiency. It also suggested ending free electricity for agriculture and introducing water pricing mechanisms that can discourage overuse and encourage conservation, besides educating farmers about the long-term consequences of unsustainable practices. These ...

Chili peppers, also chile or chilli, are kinds of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum. In many cuisines, chili peppers are frequently used as a spice to add "heat" to dishes

The adoption of hybrid seeds by Indian farmers was not an accident, but it was through the application of a well-designed consumer strategy

Should the govt regulate what you watch on Netflix? Does Punjab need a new crop mix? Is it time to bet on new-age stocks? Why is Pakistan deporting Afghan refugees? Answers here

The problem is that there are two distinct agricultural worlds

The Bihar government has hired 13 professional shooters to kill wild boars and 'ghodparas' or nilgais to save crops, a forest official said on Tuesday. Animal lovers have opposed the move and demanded that the government find a long term solution to the problem and not allow the killing of the animals. The state environment, forest and climate change department has sent the list of the professional shooters to the authorities concerned in all 38 districts in the state to use their services wherever required. Districts where these two animal species are found in large numbers include Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Sitamarhi, Bhojpur, Sheohar and West Champaran, he said. There is no record of the number of nilgais or wild biars in the state. These two animal species move in herds and destroy acres of crops in a day. Farmers sit out all night to protect their ripening crops from them in some Bihar districts. Both ghodparas (nilgais) and wild boar are vermins and can be killed, but according

Domestic corn prices have surged, driven by high demand, increased exports and some damage to the crop following heavy post-monsoon rains

The environment ministry in October granted environmental clearance for indigenously developed GM mustard seeds, potentially paving the way for a commercial release of the country's first food crop

Both the minimum and maximum will remain below normal in Southern Peninsular and Central India in these winter months.

Centre refutes the assertion of artificial shortage of fertilisers in country

Area sown to wheat has risen by 15 per cent to 101.49 lakh hectares while pulses acreage has declined in the current rabi (winter) season so far compared to the year-ago period, according to the Agriculture Ministry data released on Friday. Sowing of wheat, the main rabi crop, begins in October and harvesting starts in March-April. Besides wheat, gram and mustard are other major crops grown during the rabi season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June). According to the latest sowing data, wheat has been sown in 101.49 lakh hectares till November 18 of this rabi season as against 88.46 lakh hectares in the year-ago period. The higher area under wheat has been reported from Punjab (7.18 lakh ha), followed by Rajasthan (4.24 lakh ha), Uttar Pradesh (2.59 lakh ha), Maharashtra (1.05 lakh ha), and Gujarat (0.67 lakh ha), data showed. However, the area sown to pulses remained lower at 73.25 lakh hectares so far this rabi season as against 76.08 lakh hectares in the year-ago period. Among .

The country's wheat exports more than doubled to USD 1.48 billion during April-September 2022-23 as compared to the year-ago period, the commerce ministry said on Wednesday. The exports stood at USD 630 million in the year-ago period. Though the government banned wheat exports in May, some shipments are allowed to meet food security needs of the countries that request for it. "Wheat export rose to USD 1,487 million in April-September 2022 from USD 630 million in April-September 2021," the ministry said. The global wheat supply has been seriously disrupted because of the Russia-Ukraine war. Both nations are major wheat producers. The ministry also said exports of agricultural and processed food products rose 25 per cent during the six- month period of this fiscal year. The overall export of Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA) products increased to USD 13.77 billion in April-September 2022 from USD 11.05 billion in the same period a year ago. For

Some of the major millet crops grown in UP are jowar, bajra, kodo and sanwa

The all-India average retail price of onion has witnessed a significant decline of 28 per cent compared to last year

A Kerala-based agribusiness startup has launched an end-to-end supply chain connecting banana cultivators, traders and exporters on a single platform. The start-up, Greenikk, has built enablement centres (EC) in the major banana producing agricultural-belts in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to provide farmers with production and marketing-related support, a release issued by it on Thursday said. "These ECs will provide the farmers with required supports such as finance, seeds, crop advisory, insurance coverage, agri inputs, including weather tips, and market connect, covering the entire gamut of production and marketing both inside the country and outside," it said. "Similar ECs are planned in other south Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and further scaling across the whole of India," the start-up said. The platform would also help farmers to better utilise the organic waste that is left behind after the harvest, as manure and poultry feed, the release said. Such ..