Page 16 - Farmers

Stubble burning down 27% in Punjab, 37% in Haryana compared to last year

Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana has declined by 27 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively, as against last year, the Union Environment Ministry said on Thursday. From 83,002 fires in 2020, the count in Punjab dropped to 71,304 in 2021, 49,922 in 2022, and further to 36,663 in 2023. In comparison to 2022, there was a 27 per cent reduction in farm fires in 2023. The reduction was even higher, standing at 49 per cent and 56 per cent, respectively, when compared to 2021 and 2020. In 2020, the farm fire count in Haryana was 4,202 which increased to 6,987 in 2021, then reduced to 3,661 in 2022, and further decreased to 2,303 in 2023. This marks a 37 per cent reduction in 2023 compared to 2022, with reductions of 67 per cent compared to 2021 and 45 per cent compared to 2020. The ministry said four districts in Punjab saw over 50 per cent fewer fires in 2023 compared to 2022. Five districts showed improvements ranging from 27 per cent to 50 per cent. Three districts in Haryana rec

SKM's 3-day protest: Farm leaders to give memorandum to Punjab guv tomorrow

Farmer leaders will meet the Punjab governor on Tuesday in connection with their various demands as the three-day protest under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha continued for the second day on Monday. Scores of farmers gathered at the Mohali-Chandigarh border on Sunday to press the Centre to accept their various demands, including a legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP). Farmers are demanding the withdrawal of cases filed against them during the 2020-21 stir against the now-repealed farm laws, compensation and jobs for any one of the family members of farmers who died during the stir, debt waiver, and pension. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) is an umbrella body of various farmer unions. Addressing the media here, farmer leader Harmeet Singh Kadian said their leaders will meet the governor on Tuesday. We will give our memorandum to the governor on Tuesday at 11 am, said Kadian. Farmer leaders further said the next course of action of the SKM will be decided on ...

Punjab govt calls protesting farmer leaders for meeting with CM Mann

The Punjab government has called farmer union leaders for a meeting here on Friday with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann as highway blockade in Jalandhar by the farmers who are demanding an increase in sugarcane prices entered the fourth day. Farmers are staging a 'dharna' in the middle of the Jalandhar-Phagwara section of the highway which has also affected traffic between Jalandhar and Delhi. On Thursday, the farmers also blocked a section of the railway track near Dhanowali village in Jalandhar, which affected the train movement too, but on Friday they decided to lift the blockade from the rail track after receiving a call of meeting with the chief minister. However, the road blockade continues. The farmers, who are demanding an increase in the prices of sugarcane from Rs 380 per quintal to Rs 450 per quintal, have put up a tent in the middle of the road and are spending the night on the highway. They are also demanding the resumption of sugar mills' operations for the crushing of .

L&T Finance gets $125 mn loan from ADB to support MSMEs, farmers

Non-banking financial company L&T Finance on Thursday said it has signed a USD 125 million loan pact with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support financing in rural and peri-urban areas in India, particularly for women borrowers. The funding comprises a loan of up to USD 125 million from ADB, and an agreement to syndicate an additional USD 125 million co-financing from other development partners, L&T Finance said in a statement. At least 40 per cent of the proceeds is allocated for women borrowers, while the rest will support farmers, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and loans to purchase new two-wheelers, among others, it said. Microloans, farm equipment loans, two-wheeled vehicle loans, and MSME loans have been identified as segments with strong growth potential anticipated in the medium term, it added. By focusing on lending in rural and peri-urban areas of lagging states in India, the project is strategically aligned with the goals of the Ministry of .

ITC launches app to provide crop advisory, market access to Bengal farmers

ITC Limited on Wednesday launched a mobile application to provide crop advisory, market access and financial services to the farmers of West Bengal. ITC chairman Sanjiv Puri launched the ITCMAARS (Metamarket for Advanced Agriculture and Rural Services) application on the concluding day of the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) here. He said the application, on which services would be available in Bengali, would offer world-class technologies and services to farmers in partnership with a large number of leading players in the agri sector, besides banks, institutes and technology firms. Puri said ITC aims to reach out to five lakh farmers over time. He said that ITC's agri business already has a significant presence in the state, where it works with nearly 1.7 lakh farmers, introducing new crop varieties, promoting crop development for enhancing quality and improvement in yield, besides providing advisory and other services.

Don't turn people against you by blocking roads: CM Mann tells farmers

A day after farmers blocked a stretch of the national highway in Jalandhar, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday asked the farm unions not to turn people against themselves by blocking roads. Farmers under the banner of Samyukt Kisan Morcha blocked the Jalandhar-Phagwara section of the Jalandhar-New Delhi National Highway near Dhanowali village for an indefinite period on Tuesday, seeking a hike in sugarcane prices. Mann said if the farmers do not shun the practice of blocking roads every time their demands are not met, a day will come when people will stop sympathising with them. "My request to the farmer unions is not to turn common people against you by blocking roads for every issue. For holding talks with the government, there is Punjab Bhawan in Chandigarh, the Secretariat, the office of the agriculture minister and my office and residence but not the roads. If this attitude remains, then the day is not far when you will not find people for 'dharnas'... understand

Bonus for paddy to be announced in Winter session: Maharashtra CM

Bonus for paddy will be announced in the Winter Session of the Maharashtra Legislature to be held in Nagpur next month, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Monday. Speaking at a 'shaasan aplya dari' programme in Bhandara, some 60 kilometres from here, Shinde said his government believed in replying to the criticism by opponents through its work. The issue of bonus for paddy farmers was also raised by Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis in his address at the 'government at your doorstep' event. "The Mahayuti government will announce bonus for paddy crop in the Winter Session of the Maharashtra Legislature to be held in Nagpur in December," Shinde said. The state government is planning to bring about 8000 to 10,000 hectares of land under irrigation very soon, the CM added. He said the ruling alliance, comprising the Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party, had won two-third of the seats in the recently held gram panchayat polls and

Telangana farmers wait for red gram board a year after receiving GI tag

It's been almost a year now since a local variety of tur dal (red gram) grown in the Tandur assembly segment, received the geographical indication (GI) tag. However, many farmers are still unaware of its significance, leaving aside taking advantage of it in the absence of a board which the ruling BRS (then TRS) promised during the 2014 poll campaign. The famous 'Tandur red gram' is the 16th GI product from Telangana. The Geographical Indication tag was granted in December 2022 to the Yalal Farmers Producers Company Ltd, which had applied for 'Tandur red gram' with the support of Prof. Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU). It is the first agricultural commodity in the state to get the GI tag. GI tag is a status given to a product belonging exclusively to a particular area. The quality, reputation and any other characteristics of that particular product is generally attributed to the geographical origin of the product. Tandur assembly segment, located 115 km

Red Sanders removed from CITES Review of Significant Trade: Bhupendra Yadav

The CITES RST process enables disciplinary action in the form of trade suspensions directed at countries that do not meet their obligations

Kerala farmer ends life due to financial crisis; Guv, Oppn criticise govt

A farmer ended his life in the Kuttanad region in this southern district on Saturday allegedly due to financial problems as he did not get payment for paddy procurement. A suicide note, purportedly written by the farmer K G Prasad, accusing the Left government and some banks of being responsible for him taking the extreme step, triggered a political row in the state. Governor Arif Muhammed Khan, who visited a hospital in nearby Thiruvalla where the deceased man's mortal remains were kept, said farmers have been facing a huge crisis in the state and his "heart goes out to Prasad's family". Expressing deep grief over the death, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, V D Satheesan alleged that the government failed in paddy procurement and payments for farmers were due for months. The 55-year-old Prasad, a paddy farmer hailing from Ambedkar Colony in Thakazhi here, had consumed poison on Friday night, police said. Though he was admitted to a hospital in Thiruvalla, he died in the wee

To check pollution, Bihar to 'name and shame' farmers who burn crop residue

Amid rising air pollution caused by the burning of crop residue, the Bihar government has decided to identify farmers who are indulging in this practice and put up their names at the block offices, officials said on Saturday. Besides naming and shaming, directions have also been given to initiate action against such farmers under CrPC section 133 that deals with unlawful obstruction or nuisance, they said. "The state government has banned crop residue burning to check air pollution, and protect the fertility of the soil. It has issued a strict warning to farmers that if they indulge in stubble burning, financial assistance and subsidies under government schemes would be denied," Agriculture Minister Kumar Sarvjeet told PTI. "The state offers electricity to farmers at a cheaper rate, and diesel at subsidised prices, among others. Therefore, farmers must take the matter seriously for the benefit of the people and also the environment," he added. It was also decided at a meeting chair

India's choking Diwali smoke billows from a failed stubble burning policy

The main focus of efforts to end the stubble-burning in recent years has been mechanization

Afghan farmers lose income of more than $1 bn after Taliban banned poppy

Afghan farmers have lost income of more than USD 1 billion from opium sales after the Taliban outlawed poppy cultivation, according to a report from the UN drugs agency published on Sunday. Afghanistan was the world's biggest opium producer and a major source for heroin in Europe and Asia when the Taliban seized power in August 2021. They pledged to wipe out the country's drug cultivation industry and imposed a formal ban in April 2022, dealing a heavy blow to hundreds of thousands of farmers and day labourers who relied on proceeds from the crop to survive. Opium cultivation crashed by 95 per cent after the ban, the report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said. Until 2023, the value of Afghanistan's opiate exports frequently outstripped the value of its legal exports. UN officials said the strong contraction of the opium economy is expected to have far-reaching consequences for the country as opiate exports before the ban accounted for between 9-14 per cent of the national .

AP Govt making efforts to supply water to benefit farmers: Officials

The statement claimed that the government has made a necessary plan to protect the crops planted by the farmers

BBSSL to provide scientifically produced certified seeds to farmers: Shah

Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Thursday stressed on the need to provide quality seeds to farmers for increasing crop production and said a new cooperative society, BBSSL has been established to boost domestic production as well as exports of certified seeds. The minister was speaking at 'National Symposium on Production of Improved and Traditional Seeds through Cooperative Sector' organized by newly established Bharatiya Beej Sahakari Samiti Ltd (BBSSL) here. Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO), Krishak Bharati Cooperative Ltd (KRIBHCO), National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED), National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) have jointly promoted BBSSL. During the function, Shah unveiled the logo, website and brochure of BBSSL. He also distributed membership certificates to BBSSL members. Addressing the event, the minister said BBSSL has made a small beginning but this cooperative

Coop export body NCEL gets Rs 7,000 cr orders so far, says Amit Shah

Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Monday said the newly established National Cooperative for Exports Ltd (NCEL) has bagged orders of Rs 7,000 crore so far. Shah, who launched the new logo and website of NCEL here, said the cooperative will ensure that benefits of exports reach member farmers of cooperatives and will share with them about 50 per cent of the export profit over and above the minimum support price. "Currently, NCEL is operating from a temporary office. We are recruiting staff. So far, we (NCEL) have received orders worth Rs 7,000 crore...," the minister said addressing a national symposium. NCEL will not only focus on making profits from exports but also handhold farmers to manufacture products for the export market. It will also share profit with the member farmers of cooperatives, he said. NCEL will purchase the commodities to be exported from member farmers at the MSP. Out of the total profit the NCEL earns from the exports, about 50 per cent of it will be transferr

As Delhi's AQI turns 'very poor', stubble-burning reported in Haryana

"We are forced to set fire to the straw as we have to sow the next crop, we are getting late in it, that is why we have to burn it," a farmer said

Kisan Vikas Patra Yojana 2023: check eligibility, interest rates, and more

Kisan Vikas Patra is an Indian government scheme which was launched by the Indian government. It was initially started to help farmers but now anyone can leverage its advantages

Farmers across Telangana are with CM: BRS MLC K Kavitha ahead of polls

Telangana will go to polls on November 30 and the votes, along with those of four other poll-bound states, will be counted on December 3

Modi govt weighs giving small farmers more cash ahead of LS polls in 2024

If approved, the plan would cost the government an extra Rs 20,000 crore, according to the people, on top of the Rs 60,000 crore budgeted for the programme in the current fiscal year