Page 41 - Agriculture

Israel to consider cooperation in agriculture, tourism sectors with Kerala

Israel has expressed willingness to consider cooperation with Kerala in the sectors of agriculture and tourism. Consul General of Israel to South India, Tammy Ben Haim informed Chief Minister Pinarayi that they would favourably consider the possibilities of cooperation. The meeting was held at the chief minister's office here on Tuesday, an official statement said. Haim assured that she would discuss with the Ministry of Tourism in Israel to see how the cooperation in the tourism sector can be taken forward. The Consul General also assured to continue the official level talks in connection with the signing of MoU with Israel companies for the development of the value-added farm products. The CM welcomed the Consul General's assurance of cooperation, it said. During the meeting, Vijayan also recalled the long-standing relationship with Israel and mentioned the Synagogue in Kochi, a symbol of early Jewish settlement in the southern state, the statement added. In a tweet, Haim sai

USDA announces another climate-smart agriculture project worth $325 million

The federal government on Monday announced another $325 million for agricultural projects that are intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The latest list of 71 recipients for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Climate-Smart Commodities programme primarily involve small and underserved farmers and ranchers. The payments follow $2.8 billion awarded in September to 70 projects, mostly larger-scale efforts backed by universities, businesses and agricultural groups. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the latest round of funding at Tuskegee University, a historically Black college in Alabama, saying it's vital that small operations benefit from the programme. It's important that we send a message that it's not about the size of your operation, that you don't only benefit from the programmes like this if you're a large-scale producer, Vilsack told The Associated Press. If you're a producer that historically has not been able to participate fully and completely in programmes at

Kinnow output in Punjab likely to drop by 25% amid shortage of water supply

Punjab, a major grower of kinnow crop in the country, is likely to witness at least a 25 per cent decline in the output of the citrus fruit even as the growers are fetching higher prices this season. The orchardists blame the acute short supply of canal water and unexpectedly higher temperature during the flowering stage of the crop for the lower yield early this year. Punjab is the largest producer of kinnow fruit in the country, with around 59,000 hectares of land under the crop and almost 12 lakh metric tonne of annual output. Harvesting of kinnow, a hybrid between king and willow leaf mandarins, starts in December and goes on till February-end in Punjab. Abohar is the leading district in the state, with a maximum area of 35,000 hectares under the kinnow crop. It is also grown in Hoshiarpur, Muktsar, Bathinda and some other districts, an official of the Punjab Horticulture department said. "There is going to be around 25 per cent drop in the production of kinnow this year," sai

Nano DAP might hit the market by the next kharif season, says official

Single superphosphate to be included in 'One Nation, One Fertiliser' scheme in the next few months

Will a warm winter affect India's agricultural output?

While this could mean some respite from the intense cold of North India, it could also harm the standing rabi crops if the temperature rise is unusual and abnormal.

Punjab agri minister Dhaliwal urges farm body KMSC to withdraw protest call

Punjab Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Wednesday urged representatives of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee to withdraw their protest call, assuring them that the state government is striving to resolve the issues of farmers. The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) had given a call to lay seize to all toll plazas in the state for a month starting December 15 and also 'gherao' the residences of ministers and AAP MLAs on December 12 in support of their various demands, including farm debt waiver and legal guarantee for minimum support price. After their meeting with the minister, Sarwan Singh Pandher, general secretary of KMSC, said the protest programme will remain as it is. However, he said a meeting of KMSC will be held on December 13 to consider all the issues. Agreeing with the demand of farmers, Dhaliwal said the Punjab government will write a letter to the union government for early resolution of farmers' issues. The minister said the state government has

Agriculture sector remains resilient; Rabi sowing off to strong start: RBI

Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday said the agriculture sector remains resilient, and the rabi sowing has got off to a strong start. However, India is expecting some moderation in kharif production due to uneven rainfall. India's total kharif crop production is estimated to moderate to 149.92 metric million tonnes (MMT) from 156.04 MMT in the previous kharif crop year, as per the first advance estimate. On the supply side, Das said, "The agricultural sector remains resilient. Rabi sowing got off to a strong start. The area sown so far is 6.8 per cent higher than the normal sown area (as on December 2, 2022)". Area sown to wheat has increased by 5.36 per cent year-on-year to 211.62 lakh hectares in the first two months of the ongoing rabi (winter) season, with higher coverage being reported in Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, according to the agricultural ministry data released on Friday. The sowing of wheat, the main rabi crop, begins in October and harvesting i

Agriculture, allied activities clock a buoyant 4.6% growth in 2nd quarter

Gross value added (GVA) for agriculture, forestry and fishing during the comparable period of last year was 3.2 per cent

Govt plans pilots on new direct benefit transfer model for fertilisers

Currently, the version of DBT in fertilisers involves farmers purchasing their fertilisers through point of sale (PoS) devices after undergoing Aadhaar authentication

Wheat, flour prices soar, expected to remain high till new crop arrives

In the past one month, prices of wheat and flour have soared by 5% and 4%, respectively, and commodity watchers expect them to remain high till the new crop arrives

India eyes bumper wheat harvest in 2023 as record price lead to more sowing

The surge in wheat prices is despite the ban on exports of the grain, indicating a far bigger drop in this year's output

Bird flu prompts slaughter of another 1.8 million chickens in Nebraska

Nebraska agriculture officials say another 1.8 million chickens must be killed after bird flu was found on a farm in the latest sign that the outbreak that has already prompted the slaughter of more than 50 million birds nationwide continues to spread. The Nebraska Department of Agriculture said Saturday that the state's 13th case of bird flu was found on an egg-laying farm in northeast Nebraska's Dixon County, about 120 miles (193 kilometers) north of Omaha, Nebraska.. Just like on other farms where bird flu has been found this year, all the chickens on the Nebraska farm will be killed to limit the spread of the disease. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says more than 52.3 million birds in 46 states mostly chickens and turkeys on commercial farms have been slaughtered as part of this year's outbreak. Nebraska is second only to Iowa's 15.5 million birds killed with 6.8 million birds now affected at 13 farms. In most past bird flu outbreaks the virus largely died off during the

Growing across nations and continents

According to agriculture ministry estimates, exotic fruits were grown in 2021-22 in over 2.8 million hectares. The area under such crops was almost negligible in the early 2000s

Cash-strapped states pulled out of flagship PMFBY, says Centre

Centre willing to make additional pro-farmer changes in response to climate change

Delhi HC stays govt order limiting use of herbicide glyphosate for 3 months

Directs Centre to review decision with all stakeholders in the interim and come out with a solution

Agri booster: Centre hikes UP fertiliser quota to over 1.7 million tonnes

State farmers to get additional 88,000 tonnes of DAP in current rabi season; 24 railway rakes carrying DAP and NPK expected to arrive in the state within a week

Wheat acreage till Nov 18 up 15% YoY, record open market prices spur sowing

Centre refutes the assertion of artificial shortage of fertilisers in country

Retail inflation for farm and rural workers eases slightly to 7.22% in Oct

Retail inflation for farm and rural workers eased marginally to 7.22 per cent and 7.34 per cent, respectively, in October compared to September 2022, mainly due to lower prices of certain food items. "Point to point rate of inflation based on the CPI-AL (consumer price index-agricultural labour) and CPI-RL (rural labour) stood at 7.22 per cent & 7.34 per cent in October 2022 compared to 7.69 per cent & 7.90 per cent respectively in September 2022 and 2.76 per cent and 3.12 per cent respectively during the corresponding month of the previous year," a labour ministry statement said. Food inflation stood at 7.05 per cent and 7 per cent in October 2022 compared to 7.47 per cent & 7.52 per cent respectively in September 2022 and 0.39 per cent & 0.59 per cent respectively during the corresponding month of the previous year. The All-India Consumer Price Index Number for Agricultural Labourers and Rural Labourers for the month of October 2022 increased by 10 points and 9 ...

Govt refutes any shortage of fertilisers in rabi season, says enough supply

The Centre on Friday said there is adequate availability of key fertilisers, including urea and DAP, across the country for the ongoing rabi season, rejecting reports of shortage in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. "There have been some media reports claiming shortage of fertilizers in Trichy, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. Such reports are beyond the facts," the Fertiliser Ministry said in a statement. It is clarified that there is more than adequate availability of fertilizers in the country to meet the needs of the ongoing rabi (winter) season, it said. The central government is sending fertilizers as per need to all states, and it is the responsibility of respective state governments to ensure availability within the states through proper intra-district and inter-district distribution, it added. According to the ministry, urea requirement is projected at 180.18 lakh tonne for the 2022 rabi season. The pro rata requirement up to November 16 was 57.40 lakh tonne against which the government

Wheat sowing up 15% to 10.14 mn hectares so far; pulses coverage dips: Data

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 .