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
Finance Minister K. M. Mani told the Assembly on Tuesday that law allowing conversion of five per cent of plantations for cultivation of other crops and tourism would be implemented carefully. “None would be allowed to misuse the law,” the Minister said while replying to the debate on the supplementary demands for grants for the current year. The Opposition had contended that the amendment to the Land Reforms Act, which received the assent of the President recently, would lead to conversion of more than 90000 acres of plantations.
New Delhi In the shadow of the monsoon deficit, the Union agriculture ministry has drafted a contingency plan for states that have received scanty rainfall, focussing on alternative or short-duration crops. The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) blueprint includes a shift, wherever possible, to alternative crops like bajra, groundnut, pigeon peas from water-intensive maize, cotton and paddy. State-specific plans have been prepared for parts of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana, sources said.
Maharashtra government would make every effort to provide crop loans to farmers, Co-operative Minister Harshawardhan Patil assured the Legislative Council on Monday. "We have the target of providing crop loans of Rs 24,700 crore for the year 2012-13," Patil said, replying to debate initiated by senior BJP legislator Pandurang Phundkar on the six district cooperative banks which are making losses.
The Punjab government on Sunday sought a Rs 800-crore interim relief package from the Centre expressing its anxiety over the drought-like situation in the State. The State also sought 1000 mw additional power allocation from the Central pool in lieu of extra money being spent by the State government on purchase of power for the agriculture sector besides additional cost of diesel borne by farmers for irrigation of paddy crop, in view of “deficient and erratic monsoon.
PMK leader S. Ramadoss on Sunday wanted Tamil Nadu to be declared drought-hit, as it was going through a period of severe crisis following the failure of South West monsoon and failure of Karnataka to release Cauvery water for Kuruvai cultivation. He also wanted the State to waive crop loans and land tax, besides taking steps to increase days from 100 to 300 covered by the rural employment guarantee scheme.
Eastern Power Distribution Company of Andhra Pradesh Limited (APEPDCL) has developed a customised software, which displays details of feeder-wise agricultural supply position on its website for ensuring power supply to the agri sector. The customised software is part of the five-point programme to strictly ensure seven-hour power supply to the farming community without any deviation to save the standing crops during the kharif season as the agricultural operations are in full swing, said Dinesh Kumar, principal secretary, state energy department.
Production of kharif crops, mainly paddy has been adversely affected in all 24 districts of the state due to scanty rainfall. The state government has constituted district-level task forces comprising officials of agriculture, water resources and disaster management departments to visit districts to estimate the losses because of poor monsoon and suggest ways to mitigate it through alternate crops. During April to June this year, against a normal rainfall of 263 mm, the entire state received only about 127 mm, a deficit of 52 per cent. Till July 15, the state had received 104 mm rainfall against a normal average of 325 for the entire month.
From now on, damage to crops due to extreme cold or frost will be considered a natural calamity and the affected farmers will be eligible for financial relief from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) or the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). The Union Cabinet at a meeting here on Thursday approved the recommendation of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Drought to this effect.So far, crops damaged in natural calamities such as drought, floods, cyclone, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslip, avalanche, cloudburst and pest attack were eligible for relief under the SDRF and NDRF.
With sowing of kharif crops lagging by over 86 lakh hectares compared to last year, owing to an erratic southwest monsoon and the average water level in major reservoirs declining by 2 per cent (to 59 per cent of last year’s storage) over the previous week, the country faces a grim situation. The area under rice, pulses, oilseeds and coarse cereals is less than what it was last year. Earlier, the acreage under cotton was slightly higher, but has now declined as sowing has been hit in Gujarat, thanks to a weak monsoon.
The Kollidam Keezhanai Paasana Vivasayigal Sangam has urged MPs of all parties in Tamil Nadu to call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and impress upon him the need for getting the State’s due share of Cauvery water for the current crop season. The Sangam, at a meeting convened at Kumaratchi near here, adopted a resolution, according to its president P. Vinayagamoorthy. He told The Hindu that since water from the Mettur dam was not opened on June 12, farmers in the tail-end delta region of Chidambaram and Kattumannarkoil taluks could not raise kuruvai crop.
