India suffers a food loss of about Rs. 1.53 trillion (USD 18.5 billion) every year as per the latest large-scale study conducted by NABCONs during 2020 to 2022. Reducing post-harvest losses (PHL) is much
The use of technologically advanced seeds is currently much lower in the production of rice than in other crops Rice output in India can be raised at least 15-20 per cent through increased use of hybrid seeds, a Rabobank study said. The use of technologically advanced seeds is currently much lower in the production of rice than in other crops. Of the total annual rice output in India — around 99 million tonnes, according to US Department of Agriculture estimates for the 2012-13 season — only three per cent is produced through hybrid seeds. The remaining quantity comes through breeding of conventional seeds.
Wheat an exception but observers say 5-10 per cent damage possible clear trend likely next month The optimism of policy makers that an increase in the rabi crop output in 2012-13 would compensate the loss of kharif production due to monsoon delay might be dashed, as a cold wave is taking a toll. Sowing has risen 2.6 per cent but even so, overall agricultural output this year might be lower than last year due tothe impact of the cold on pulses, vegetables and oilseeds. However, wheat output might get a boost due to the presence of moisture in the weather.
Teeth-chattering cold winds from Siberia to intensify; farmers worried, but wheat crop safe Icy Siberian winds have chilled northern India and will intensify in the days ahead, making the winter even more severe, and highlighting the uncanny rise in extreme weather patterns such as droughts, hot spells and torrential downpours like the one that swamped Mumbai in 2005. For companies selling beverages, winterwear and heaters, business is booming with sales rising up to 40% in one of the coldest Indian winters in decades, but farmers are getting anxious about the impact on vegetables, pulses and oilseeds although the wheat crop is secure. The weather office says there is no quick relief in the offing.
Farmers in the state have demanded a high-level probe into the alleged irregularities that caused lakhs of rupees to go waste due to late implementation of the Seed Village Scheme in Haryana. The union government had come up with an ambitious scheme under which the farmers were to be provided with financial assistance for processing and distributing foundation and certified seeds at 50 per cent of the cost. Besides, they were to be trained for seed production with the latest available technology for two years after which they could take up seed production on their own.
“Where there is a will, there is a way”, goes the adage. It has come true in case of farmers of Krishna belt in Bagalkot district. The farmers in Jamkhandi taluk, suffering huge losses due to the shortage of water to the sugarcane crop, have come together and completed within a fortnight a huge project of lifting 1 TMCFT of water from downstream backwaters of the Almatti dam to upstream on River Krishna and storing it in Chikkapadasalagi barrage for summer. Without waiting for the government, the farmers under the banner of ‘Krishna Teera Raitha Sangha’ mobilised funds, labour and material on their own and completed the task they had taken up as a challenge.
Longer summer, shorter winter observed in many places. The weather pattern in Bhutan has become unpredictable. The country, in recent times, has witnessed erratic rainfall, crop and livestock diseases,
Many industrial units functioning near Kalingarayan Canal Farmers in the Kalingarayan ayacut areas in the district are now forced to use water from Kalingarayan Canal that is mixed with untreated effluents and waste water discharged by textile processing and tannery units. The Public Works Department stopped on December 20 the discharge of water in the canal that feeds the ayacut. But the 56-and-a-half mile long irrigation canal connecting River Bhavani with River Noyyal still carries water. “The canal should be dry by this time. But there is still good flow in the canal because the industrial units are dumping thousands of gallons of untreated effluents and waste water every day,” alleges Kalingarayan Pasana Sabhai president V.M. Velayudham.
Bihar’s agriculture sector employs more than eighty percent of the labor force and more than fourfifths of these farmers are small and marginal. They have one of the lowest agricultural productivity in
Members of farmers’ association have written to the Union Minister for Environment and Forests, Jayanthi Natarajan, to have a relook at issues concerning human-animal conflict. In their letter, association members V. Balasubramaniam and P. Kandasamy have said that the Minister, as the chairperson of the first zonal conference on animal welfare, should hear the farmers, experts in animal welfare and others before arriving at a decision. Citing instances of wild boars venturing out of forest areas and destroying crops and cattle, he said that any attempt to chase away wild boars or action against them attracted sections of the Wildlife Protection Act. The Central Government should amend the laws in such a way that the farmers who initiated defensive action to protect their crops or cattle against wild boards or other animals were not booked under the provisions of the Act.
Farmers of Vellore district are pinning their hopes on the State government to set up an independent expert body to reassess the actual impact of tannery effluents as well as work out strategies to reverse
