Page 17 - Farmers

Govt's liberal import policy cause of worry for farmers: Congress

The Congress on Tuesday said the liberal import policy of the Modi government is causing a "huge crisis" for the farmers in the country. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said soyabean is being sold by farmers in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan at rates lower than the minimum support price and they are also not getting good prices for milk in several states. "The liberal import policy of Modi government is causing huge crisis for farmers in various states. In Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, soyabean is being sold below the MSP because cheap imports have been allowed," he said in a post in Hindi on X. "In these states and in other states too, milk prices are falling due to import of cheap palm oil, which is encouraging adulteration of vegetable fats in cheap pure ghee. Farmers are suffering huge losses due to low prices of milk," Ramesh said. Both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are going to polls next month.

'Farmers' interests to be protected: Karnataka CM 's advice to central team

The CM, explaining the prevailing situation, said that there is a "green drought" in the state

Farmers' income doubled mainly due to govt's aroma mission: CSIR DG

Farmers' income more than doubled primarily due to the government's 'aroma mission', CSIR Director-General N Kalaiselvi said on Monday. Addressing the media on the preparations of 82nd Council of Scientific & Industrial Research Foundation Day celebration on Tuesday, Kalaiselvi said the CSIR has been working towards doubling farmers income and under the aroma mission of CSIR, "farmers' income has increased to the tune of 2.5 times". The 'aroma mission', also known as Purple Revolution, began in Jammu and Kashmir and aims to generate rural employment for farmers engaged in cultivation in aromatic crops. The mission's objective is to spur entrepreneurship in the manufacturing of aromatic oils and other aromatic products, and to lower import of essential and aromatic oils. Kalaiselvi said lemongrass exports have increased 600 times under the Purple Revolution. Speaking to PTI on the sidelines of the event, she said under the mission, farmers have been not just provided with seeds and

LIVE updates: Curfew reimposed in Manipur's Imphal valley, say officials

Catch all the latest updates from across the globe here

Odisha CM Patnaik disburses financial assistance to over 4 million farmers

He stated that to date financial assistance worth Rs 12,500 crore has been given to the farmers of the state under 'Kalia Yojana'

Odisha CM disburses Rs 900 cr for farmers under income assistance scheme

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday disbursed Rs 900 crore for the state's 44.56 lakh farmers, under an income assistance scheme on the occasion of Nuakhai, an agrarian festival celebrated mostly in the western region of Odisha. According to an official, an amount of Rs 2,000 each was directly transferred to the bank accounts of 43.88 lakh small and marginal farmers and other 68,750 landless farmers in Odisha under the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme for Rabi crop. The state government launched the KALIA scheme in 2018, under which farmers are given Rs 4,000 in two equal instalments. So far, the state government has disbursed Rs 12,500 crore to farmers under the scheme. Today, on the occasion of Nuakhai, the farmers are paid Rs 2,000 as KALIA assistance for Rabi crop. Nuakhai is the festival of Mother Earth. Mother Earth blesses us with resources that are made available to us through the hard work of our farming community. They

Wheat farmers lost Rs 40,000 crore due to govt policy: Icrier report

The report says that judicious use of trade policy is needed to tame inflation at home without hurting farmer earnings

Madhya Pradesh farmers bet on medicinal crops to boost their income

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan recently emphasised the need to change the crop production pattern to reduce crop losses and make agriculture more profitable

Kerala govt rejects UDF's claims of not addressing plight of farmers

The LDF government in Kerala on Thursday rejected the opposition UDF's allegations that it was not addressing the plight of farmers and the agriculture sector in the state was in doldrums. The Left Front contended that the Congress-led UDF's allegations were baseless and politically motivated as the state government has been taking steps to protect the interests of the farmers and the agricultural sector in Kerala as a whole. State Agriculture Minister P Prasad said in the Assembly that the agricultural sector was affected by the adverse policies of the Centre and climate changes, despite which the state government was working to help the farmers. Prasad, responding to a notice moved by UDF MLA Sunny Joseph seeking to adjourn the House to discuss the plight of farmers in Kerala, also said the LDF has followed through on the promises made by it. Moving the notice, Joseph, MLA from Peravoor, alleged the Left government betrayed rubber cultivators by not increasing the minimum support

Mandaviya takes feedback from over 3,000 farmers from different states

The Union Minister encouraged the farmers through an appeal to use nano urea, nano DAP, and progressively shift to alternate and organic fertilizers, in place of chemical fertilizers

160,000 one-stop shop 'PMKSKs' for farm inputs operational: Mandaviya

Around 1.6 lakh PM Kisan Samridhi Kendras (PMKSKs) -- a one-stop shop for fertilisers, seeds and farm equipment -- have become operational across the country and will soon reach a 2 lakh figure, Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday said. On July 27, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated 1.25 lakh PMKSKs, saying these one-stop centres for farmers will pave the way for their prosperity. Last year, the central government decided to convert retail fertiliser shops in the country into PMKSK in a phased manner. More than 3.3 lakh retail fertiliser shops, run by companies, cooperatives and dealers, are planned to be converted into PMKSK. "At present, there are 1.6 lakh PMKSKs operational across the country. It is helping farmers as they are getting seeds, fertilisers and equipment at one shop. The number of PMKSKs will further increase and will reach 2 lakh soon," the chemicals and fertilisers minister told reporters here. Mandaviya was replying to a query after virtually addressi

India's law on farmers' rights can be a model for the world: Droupadi Murmu

President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday said India's law on protection of plant varieties and farmers' rights can be emulated for the entire world as it gains importance amid the challenges of climate change. Addressing the first ever global symposium on farmers' rights here, the President said India has taken a lead in introducing the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act (PPVFR), which is aligned to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for food and agriculture to protect farmers. India provides a range of rights to farmers that include use, reuse, save, share and sell the unbranded seeds of a registered variety. Besides, farmers can register their own varieties which get protection, she said. "Such an act can serve as an excellent model worthy of emulation for the entire world," the President noted. She further said this gains importance amid challenges posed by climate change and also to fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

Murmu to inaugurate Global Symposium on Farmers' Rights in Delhi today

President Droupadi Murmu will inaugurate the first 'Global Symposium on Farmers' Rights' (GSFR) at the ICAR Convention Centre, National Agricultural Science Centre Complex in New Delhi on September 12, said a government release on Monday.India is hosting its first 'Global Symposium on Farmers' Rights' from September 12 to 15, 2023.A curtain raiser press meet related to the hosting of the GSFR was held on Monday by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer's Welfare (MoAFW) and the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights (PPVFR) Authority.Briefing the media, PPVFR Authority Chairperson T Mohapatra informed that India has been the first country in the world to include Farmers' Rights in the context of Plant Variety Registration through its Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights (PPVFR) Act, 2001.He informed that eminent scientists would participate from 59 countries across the globe to deliberate during the sessions on how to recognize and reward the enormous ...

Farmers to be 'urja daata' as demand for ethanol to grow in India: Gadkari

Increased demand for ethanol for blending with petrol and diesel will change the agriculture economy of India making farmers "urja daata", Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday while launching the world's first BS 6 (stage II) electrified flex fuel-based vehicle, which can run on ethanol blends of beyond 20 per cent. Compared to the higher contribution of the manufacturing and services sectors, the agriculture and allied industry's contribution to India's GDP is only 12 per cent while 65 per cent of the population is dependent on agriculture, the minister for road transport and highways said. The ethanol industry is a boon for farmers. The demand for ethanol will grow in the country. It will change the agriculture economy of India. "Our farmers will not only just be ann daata (food giver) but urja daata (energy provider)," he said. Gadkari exuded confidence that with the demand for ethanol, the share of agriculture to the GDP will also grow. "I am very happy that the day the

Phagwara farmers suspend dharna after payment assurances from admin

Farmers under the banner of Bharti Kisan Union (Doaba) Thursday suspended their sit-in protest after the district administration here gave assurances to get cane dues amounting Rs 43 crore cleared from a local sugar mill. Farmers on Wednesday had staged a dharna here to protest against the alleged delay in the clearance of sugarcane dues pending with the private sugar mill. Phagwara sub-divisional magistrate Jai Inder Singh said that the administration would sell the properties of the sugarmill for clearing the cane dues. We have already identified 3-4 such properties and served notices to their owners, he informed. After the SDM's assurance, BKU (D) general secretary Satnam Singh Sahni suspended the dharna. On Wednesday, Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian had directed deputy commissioner of Kapurthala Karnail Singh to identify all properties of the Phagwara mill so that the same could be sold to make payments to the cane farmers.

NCRTC conducts training camps to educate farmers on modern techniques

The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) on Wednesday organised skill development training camps in the districts of Ghaziabad and Meerut to educate farmers on modern agricultural techniques, officials said. Under the training programme, a team of agricultural experts is teaching the farmers new methods of modern agriculture. The initial phase of the programme is being implemented in villages such as Bhud Baral, Khadarabad, Nangla Moosa, Asalat Nagar, Kakra, Sahapur, Sara, Kanoja, and Sikrikurt in Ghaziabad and Meerut districts. The programme has been initiated to raise awareness, enhance skills and provide training to modern farmers on the latest agricultural techniques, the NCRTC said. "As a part of the training programme, farmers were also guided on how to increase their earnings via hydroponics (a technique to grow plants using water-based nutrient solution instead of soil) and protected cultivation techniques," an official of the NCRTC said. The official said

Around 100 Haryana farmers enroute to Chandigarh protest detained

Around 100 farmers from Haryana were taken into custody on Tuesday as they headed towards Chandigarh for a demonstration to seek compensation for losses caused by floods, police said. In Longowal in Punjab's Sangrur district, farmers continued their 'dharna' over the detention on Monday of some farm leaders who were going to the Union Territory of Chandigarh -- the joint capital of the two states -- for the planned demonstration. There was a clash with police when farmers tried to block a highway in the district. Security was tightened at the inter-state borders of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh in view of the protest in the Union Territory, while in Sangrur, some leaders of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) joined the protest there on Tuesday. In the Sangrur clashes a farmer had died after he came under a tractor-trolley, while five policemen were injured. Police have booked several farmers under the Indian Penal Code, including for attempt to murder. The Chandigarh protest was calle

Govt's policy neither beneficial to farmers nor consumers: Sena (UBT)

The Shiv Sena (UBT) on Tuesday slammed the Centre over its decision to impose 40 per cent export duty on onions and claimed the government's policy is neither beneficial to farmers nor consumers. An editorial in the Sena (UBT) mouthpiece 'Saamana' further claimed the Modi government gives assurances of doubling the income of farmers, but works in a way that they do not even get the expected income. On August 19, the central government imposed 40 per cent export duty on onions to restrict outward shipments and boost local availability, amid apprehension about the kharif output and signs of firming of retail prices. The decision led to protests by farmers and traders in various parts of Maharashtra, especially in Nashik district. The policy of the government is neither beneficial to farmers nor consumers, the editorial in Saamana said. Whenever there is a chance for farmers to earn a little more money, the government either resorts to export duty or ban on exports, the Marathi daily

Onion export duty: Amid protests, MoS tells farmers prices will not crash

Amid a protest by farmers and traders against the imposition of 40 per cent export duty on onions by the Centre, Union Minister Bharti Pawar on Monday said prices of the kitchen staple will not crash. During the day, auctions of onions in APMCs in Nashik were halted in protest and several farmers and traders held protests across the district seeking a rollback of the export duty. "Prices of onions will not crash so farmers must not worry. The demand is growing and thinking about the people first is the policy of the Union government," she told reporters here. The government has taken the (export duty) decision to balance demand and supply and NAFED has been directed to procure additional two lakh tonnes of onion as buffer stock, Pawar said. She said the opposition was attacking the government over the rise in prices of onions and the move was to ensure there is availability of the crop in the domestic market. She said Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distributi

Maharashtra farmers stop onion auction at wholesale market to protest

Farmers in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district on Sunday halted the auction of onions to protest the Centre's decision to impose 40 per cent duty on export of the kitchen staple. Onion growers in Rahuri tehsil of Ahmednagar district halted the ongoing auction of the bulb in the wholesale market. The Central government on Saturday imposed a 40 per cent duty on the export of onions till December 31, 2023 to increase domestic availability amid signs of increasing prices. The Union government's anti-farmer stand has again come to fore. Farmers in Maharashtra were expecting good returns from onion exports, but the imposed duty has ensured that there will not be any export. The prices in the domestic market will crash and farmers will incur losses, said Sandeep Jagtap, state president of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna. Several parts of Maharashtra have received insufficient rainfall and this will delay the arrival of fresh onions in the market, he said, accusing the government of protecting