Page 37 - Agriculture

Agri Infrastructure Fund crosses Rs 30,000-cr mark of capital mobilisation

Agriculture Infra Fund (AIF) is a financing facility launched on 8th July 2020 for creation of post-harvest management infrastructure and community farm assets

Mangrove cultivation different from agriculture, will attract 18% GST: AAAR

The Appellate Authority for Advance Rulings (AAAR) has ruled that cultivation of mangroves is different from agriculture and hence would not be exempted from the Goods and Services Tax (GST)

Wheat acreage up slightly at 34.1 mn hectare so far this rabi season

Wheat acreage has increased marginally to 341.13 lakh hectare (ha) so far in the ongoing rabi season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June), according to the agriculture ministry data. Sowing of wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, had begun from October onwards. Maize, jowar, gram and mustard are other major rabi crops. Harvesting of these crops will begin in March/April next year. According to the latest data, the area under coverage for wheat has risen to 341.13 lakh ha till January 20 of the current rabi season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June) against 339.87 lakh ha during the same period last year. The higher area has been reported mainly from Rajasthan (2.52 lakh ha), Bihar (1.49 lakh ha), Maharashtra (0.92 lakh ha), Chhattisgarh (0.54 lakh ha), Gujarat (0.48 lakh ha) and Uttar Pradesh (0.22 lakh ha). The lesser area under coverage for wheat is mainly reported from Madhya Pradesh (4.15 lakh ha), Jharkhand (0.34 lakh ha), Punjab (0.18 lakh ha), Himachal Pradesh (0.10 lakh ha

Rajasthan govt's scheme to provide agricultural equipment at low rentals

The cooperative department is given financial assistance of up to Rs 8 lakh to purchase subsidised farm equipment from custom-hiring centres

Wheat sowing up 1.40% to 33.7 mn hectare so far in ongoing rabi season

Last year, wheat production had declined to 106.84 million tonne due to heat wave in key growing states

Google backs Indian agritech startup Cropin in its Rs 113cr funding

Google has funded homegrown agritech startup Cropin in its latest Rs 113 crore round that also saw participation from JSR Corporation and existing investors ABC Impact and Chiratae Ventures

Huge potential to boost exports of processed food: Trade Promotion Council

India's agri exports are growing at a healthy pace and there is a need to focus on the processed food sector as it holds huge potential to boost the country's outbound shipments, Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) said on Sunday. Keeping this in mind, the council's three-day IndusFood expo kickstarted on January 8 in Hyderabad. It was inaugurated by Additional Secretary in the commerce ministry Rajesh Agrawal and Joint Secretary in the ministry Srikar K Reddy. Speaking on the occasion, Agrawal said there is a need to create global brands in the food and beverages industry. Ideally, we need to create 50 brands, then we will be able to do our job well. We must think globally and build brands. We must pay serious attention on how to promote Indian cuisine abroad, TPCI said in a statement quoting Agrawal. He added that though India is doing well in the agri exports front, our share of processed food is less than 1 per cent in exports of processed food category. We must aspire to

Wheat sowing up nearly 1% so far this rabi season at 332.16 lakh hectare

Area sown to wheat has increased by less than one per cent to 332.16 per hectare (ha) so far in the ongoing rabi season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June), as per the agriculture ministry data released on Friday. Sowing of wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, had begun from October onwards. Maize, jowar, gram and mustard are other major rabi crops. Harvesting of these crops will begin in March/April next year. According to the latest data, farmers have sown wheat in 332.16 lakh ha till January 6 of the current rabi season of the 2022-23 crop year (July-June) against 329.88 lakh ha during the same period last year. Higher coverage was reported from Rajasthan (2.52 lakh ha), Uttar Pradesh (1.69 lakh ha), Maharashtra (1.20 lakh ha), Gujarat (0.70 lakh ha), Chhattisgarh (0.63 lakh ha), Bihar (0.44 lakh ha), West Bengal (0.10 lakh ha), Jammu & Kashmir (0.06 lakh ha) and Assam (0.03 lakh ha), it added. Besides, the area sown to rice has also increased to 21.29 lakh ha till January 6 of

Need to adopt new farming technologies to raise farmers' income: Tomar

Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday stressed on the need to adopt new technologies in farming to help raise the income of farmers. He said this while speaking at the 'North East Krishi Kumbha - 2023' at the ICAR-NER. "With new age, there is a need to adapt to new technologies. Ensuring these technologies reach every farmer in India, in Meghalaya and help raise their income is the need of the hour," he said. The Union Agriculture minister said farmers and farming should always be treated with honour as a farmer not only supports his family but also contributes to the agricultural economy of the country and our government's priority has always been to ensure prosperity of farmers and development of agriculture. Tomar said northeast is home to different cultures. It is rich in natural resources and is blessed with a good climate. Northeast is the heaven of our country and Meghalaya's geographical scenario is such that "we can develop it if w

Paddy procurement rises 10% to 54.19 mn tonnes so far: Food Ministry data

The government's paddy procurement for the central pool rose 9.58 per cent to 541.90 lakh tonne so far in the ongoing 2022-23 kharif marketing season, according to the food ministry data. Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Telangana were the top contributors to the central pool. Normally, paddy procurement begins from October. However, in southern states, especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, it begins from September. The government aims to procure 775.72 lakh tonne of paddy in the 2022-23 kharif marketing season (October-September). The actual procurement stood at record 759.32 lakh tonne in the previous kharif marketing season. According to official data, the total paddy purchase increased to 541.90 lakh tonne till January 3 of the 2022-23 kharif marketing season from 494.50 lakh tonne in the year-ago period. Paddy purchase in Punjab declined marginally to 182.13 lakh tonne so far this marketing year from 187.12 lakh tonne in the year-ago period. The procurement in Chhattisgarh .

Safex Chemicals to invest Rs 100 cr in agri-tech segment in next 3-4 years

Agrochemicals maker Safex Chemicals Ltd on Tuesday said it plans to invest Rs 100 crore in its new agri-tech arm, AgCare Technologies, in the next 3-4 years for launching an interactive tech platform and for setting up a manufacturing unit. Speaking to PTI, the company's Group Director Piyush Jindal said, "We are investing Rs 100 crore from our own kitty. We are not raising any funds. The investment is planned for the next 3-4 years." The plan is to launch an interactive technology platform to integrate the entire value chain in the agri-economy. Key stakeholders, especially farmers, can buy quality crop protection products and get services like weather updates, experts' help and mandi rates on this platform, he said. "A pilot study of this interactive tech platform will be conducted in January-March. We plan to go live in the next fiscal year," Jindal said, adding that the platform will be expanded in a phased manner. Jindal further said a new manufacturing unit will also be set u

Can millets be India's own super crop?

Millets are reemerging as nutri-cereals or smart foods, thanks to their therapeutic qualities and nutritional superiority compared to rice, wheat. What will make this a 'wonder crop' of masses?

Maha farmers to get 500,000 solar pumps under Kusum Yojana: Dy CM

The Maharashtra government plans to provide solar pumps to five lakh farmers under the Centre's Pradhan Mantri Kusum Yojana, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Thursday. Speaking in the Legislative Council, he said the state government intended to generate income by leasing out land to install such solar pumps. He also said farmers from Vidarbha region will get new agricultural pumps and electricity connections on priority, while pending applications will be cleared by March next year. In order to provide uninterrupted and affordable electricity to consumers, the Union government has announced the implementation of the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), for which a sum of Rs 39,000 crore has been approved for Maharashtra, he said. This will give a major boost to creation of infrastructure in the sector in the state, he added. Under the Kusum Yojana, farmers are being given 90 per cent subsidy for installation of solar power pumps.

Nano liquid urea cheaper, better, saves govt subsidy: Mansukh Mandaviya

Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday stressed on the need to promote nano liquid urea in place of conventional granular urea, saying that it is better, cheaper, convenient and will help the government in saving a huge amount of subsidy. In June 2021, cooperative IFFCO launched nano urea as an alternative to conventional urea. It has also set up manufacturing plants to produce nano urea. IFFCO is selling nano urea at Rs 240 per bottle of 500 ml, which can replace one bag of conventional urea of 45kg costing around Rs 265. There is no government subsidy on nano urea. While virtually interacting with four farmers and two owners of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samruddhi Kendras (PMKSK) from different states, Mandaviya enquired about the availability of various fertilisers including nano urea and also whether farmers were getting other advisory services at these centres. Under an scheme, around 3 lakh retail fertiliser shops in the country are getting converted i

Green peas growers in MP stage protest, demand fixed MSP for open market

Farmers engaged in the cultivation of green peas have staged a protest on Jabalpur-Bhopal national highway after getting low prices for their produce and demanded the Madhya Pradesh government fix a minimum support price for it in the open market. The protest staged by farmers on Saturday is significant since the Madhya Pradesh government has selected green peas under one-district one-product scheme for Jabalpur district, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh national spokesperson Raghvendra Patel told PTI on Sunday. Green peas are grown on a large scale in the district and supplied to various other states, he said. "The farmers want the state government to fix the minimum price for the trading of green peas in the open market, he said. This has been a long pending demand of farmers from the district, he said. Currently, in the absence of such norms, farmers incur losses in the production of green peas if the rate per kilogram goes down in the open market - below the actual production cost per kg

GM mustard (DMH-11) may not solve India's edible oil import problem: ICAR

Indian Institutions engaged in developing GM seeds for 13 crops

Wadhwani AI gets $1 mn from Google.org to build AI solutions in agriculture

The Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence has received a USD 1 million grant from Google.Org. Wadhwani AI will utilise the grant towards building AI-powered solutions in the agriculture sector, it said in a statement. These solutions will help farmers gain timely, localised, and accurate weather-related information, crop and other farm-related information. Wadhwani AI had received a USD 2 million grant from Google.org in 2019 to support the CottonAce AI-powered pest management solution. With roughly half of India's population dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, this is a sector where technological advancements can lead to pervasive benefits, said Manish Gupta, Research Director, Google Research India. The Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence (Wadhwani AI) is an independent nonprofit institute developing and deploying AI-based solutions for under-served communities in developing countries. It is currently building solutions in the agriculture and ...

Agri-horticulture needs effective policy implementation in Arunachal: Dy CM

Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein on Friday stressed the need for preparing a roadmap for the development of agriculture and horticulture in the state through effective policy implementation. Mein, who during the day visited a mega food park and an integrated farm coming up at Dolikoto in Papumpare district, urged the officials for fast-track single window clearance to facilitate the establishment of food processing units and agro-based industries in the state. The food park is aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of doubling farmers' income and strengthening the economy under vocal for local'. It will also generate direct and indirect employment opportunities for the youth of the region. As of now, the integrated farm, situated 29 km from the state capital, employs more than 300 skilled and unskilled unemployed youth, an official communiqu said. We have initiated many subsidised schemes like Atma Nirbhar Krishi Yojana, Atma Nirbhar Bagwani Yojana,

Amid push for millets, exports of other cereals rise 53.78% in November

While authorities are working to increase millet production and consumption, exports data shows that exports of agricultural and food items, especially other cereals, continued to grow at a brisk pace

Rate of agri development must be doubled in UP, says CM Yogi Adityanath

The rate of agricultural development in Uttar Pradesh must be doubled if the state is to become a growth engine and the country's largest economy, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Friday. At a function to mark Kisan Samman Diwas-2022, he also said Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and technology can play a significant role to achieve this aim. Paying tributes to former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh for his welfare works for farmers Adityanath said, "Chaudhary Saheb had stated after independence that emphasis was needed on agriculture and farming within the country if India was to emerge as a big global power. This vision of his is still a guiding light for farmers' welfare in India." According to an official statement, the chief minister inaugurated the exhibition of products of FPOs in Lucknow in addition to awarding and honouring farmers/agri-entrepreneurs and agricultural scientists. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a number of programmes as soon as he came