Agriculture

India losing sheen as an agricultural nation: Modi

Bharuch: India would not have lost its sheen as a country of farmers if Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had been the first Prime Minister, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday, ruing the "poor" national agricultural growth. "The nation is falling behind in agriculture. If 'Khedut Putra' (son of farmer), Sardar Patel had become the first Prime Minister, this would not have happened to our farmers... Somehow, we took the wrong way," Modi said addressing a gathering of farmers at Krishi Mahotsav in Bharuch.

Expressing the need to strengthen agriculture, Modi said India was fast losing its identity as an agricultural nation. "If we have to improve our economy, give jobs to our youth and strengthen our villages then there is no other way apart from strengthening our agriculture," the chief minister said, adding that the development of villages is proportional to the agri growth.

Modi said the need of the hour was to adopt modern technology in increasing the land under cultivation to reverse the scenario of decline in agri growth. "How to integrate technology into farming... That is the need of the hour. Land is not going to increase. What we have to do is (to) increase productivity to cultivate more," he said.

Modi said farmers should employ modern techniques like greenhouse farming, tent-house and polyhouse farming. "We are leading in polyhouse farming," he stressed. The Chief Minister claimed that it was a "historic feat" that Gujarat clocked a double digit (over 10 per 

Farmers threaten mass suicides if power tariff increased

Coimbatore: Farmers in Coimbatore region on Friday threatened that they would resort to mass suicides if government went ahead with its plan to increase power tariff. Representatives of various farmers associations told a public hearing on tariff revision here that the agriculture sector in Tamil Nadu is already in the doldrums due to failure of monsoon and resultant drought. "Any upward revision of tariff will be strongly resisted by all...  

West Bengal government achieves 7.6 per cent GDP growth

Kolkata: The West Bengal government achieved 7.6 per cent growth in GDP compared to the national average of 4.96 per cent during the last financial year. In industry, the growth rate was 6.24 per cent against the national average of 3.12 per cent, Finance Minister Amit Mitra claimed while releasing three books on the completion of two years rule of Mamata Banerjee-led government on Thursday. In agriculture, the state recorded...  

Ashok Gehlot in Israel to bring back farm technology

Jaipur: A delegation from Rajasthan led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot now visiting Israel held talks with officials on cooperation in agriculture, horticulture and water resources, a statement issued here said on Sunday. Cooperation in water management, particularly drip and sprinkler irrigation in water-deficient Rajasthan, was also discussed, the statement said. "Israel is among the front-runners in desert agriculture management. With cooperation from Israel, coordinated management of horticulture and water...  

India will have a normal monsoon this year: MET

New Delhi: India expects total monsoon rainfall to be average in 2013, a minister said on Friday, strengthening prospects for one of the world's biggest grains producers to avoid widespread drought for a fourth straight year. India's first official forecast confirms a call by global experts last week, and points to bumper grain supplies that would swell huge current stockpiles and hold down world food prices. "Most likely this year's...  

For drought-hit states, on-track monsoon may be too late

Jamwadi: India may be heading for another bumper grain harvest, if the first forecast for this year's monsoon proves correct, but the rain may be too little - and too late - for southern and western states already parched by the worst drought in four decades. Although 2012 monsoon rains were, overall, just seven per cent below normal, these states - including major sugar producer Maharashtra and cotton-growing Gujarat -...  

India will achieve 254 MT foodgrain production: Pawar

New Delhi: The government on Tuesday said the country would meet the target of producing 254.23 million tonne foodgrain in 2012-13 despite drought in some parts of the country. India could not achieve the food production target in 2009-10 due to severe drought in many states. However, it had met the target since 2010-11. "Despite drought in some parts of the country in 2012-13, foodgrain production is on course to...  

Need to bridge gap between rural, urban: Kalam

Mohali: The gap between urban and rural should be bridged for overall development of the country, former President and 'Missile Man of India' APJ Abdul Kalam said on Thursday. Addressing engineering students of Chandigarh University during a convocation ceremony at Landran near here, Kalam said development of rural areas was the need of the hour as the real power of the country lies in its villages. Sharing his vision of...  

Bihar: Call centre in Madhubani a lifeline for farmers

Madhubani: A call centre is proving to be quite a lifeline for farmers in Madhubani in Bihar. It is an initiative by Delhi-based Drishti Foundation and is proving to be central to the economy of agriculture in the region. It is a lifeline for the farmers of the Madhubani district, addressing their queries and problems on farming, seed selection, what fertiliser to use and using new-age techniques. The call centre...  

AP minister concerned over 'excessive' use of pesticides

Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Minister Kanna Lakshmi Narayana on Tuesday expressed serious concern over the "excessive" use of fertilisers and pesticides by farmers in the state, saying the ongoing trend would reflect on the quality of soil and cost of cultivation. ...  

Punjab: No lessons learnt as grains left to rot due to poor storage

Punjab has yet again reaped a bumper crop, but the big question is where will it be stored? Starting April 1, 150 lakh tonnes of wheat are set to arrive in Punjab's procurement centres, but only 60 lakh tonnes can be stored safely. ...  

Vice President of Uganda meets Narendra Modi, discusses trade ties

Vice President of Uganda Edward Ssekandi on Tuesday met Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and held deliberations on strengthening ties. Modi told Ssekandi, who was leading a 16-member high-level delegation from his country, that Gujarat was keen to build relations with the African nation in the fields of agriculture, micro-irrigation, fertilisers and petroleum. ...  

HSBC, Morgan Stanley cut India's FY14 GDP forecasts

Morgan Stanley and HSBC each cut their India's economic growth forecasts for 2013/14 to 6.0 per cent from 6.2 per cent to reflect lower-than-expected growth in the October-December quarter. ...  

'No misappropriation of funds in farm debt waiver scheme'

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said there was no "misappropriation" of funds under the Rs 52,000-crore farm debt waiver scheme and sought a more comprehensive audit by CAG to get a better picture. Stating that the sample size taken for auditing was "too small", Pawar said audit of "significant" number of accounts should be done by Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). ...  

Govt proposes a whopping increase in agri-credit target

In a big boost to farm sector, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday proposed a whopping Rs 1.25 lakh crore increase in agri-credit target for next fiscal at Rs 7 lakh crore and raised allocation to the ministry by a handsome 22 per cent. ...  

Budget 2013: Agro-based companies happy

Even as the annual budget brought cheers to Agro-based companies, the edible oil extraction industry expressed disappointed over their issue of import duty structured anomalies on crude and refined palm oil not being addressed. "Total withdrawal of export duty on de-oiled rice bran oil cake will help the industry, as such a duty had made our exports uncompetitive. Non inclusion of agro commodities for the CTT (commodity transaction tax) on...  

Onion prices up by 57 pc, MEP may be re-imposed

Onion prices have shot up by 57 per cent to Rs 22 per kg in the last one month in the wholesale market of Nashik - a major producing centre - on higher demand forcing the government to consider steps to control prices. The price rise is, however, more than five-fold compared to the same month in 2012. In most retail markets across the country, onion is selling at Rs...  

Rural consumers will hold the key to stocks' success

From a macroeconomic perspective, 2012 for India was close to the worst that could have been forecasted in late 2011. Back then, it was called sensationalist to forecast a 5 percent GDP growth, a mid-50s steady-state value for the rupee against the US dollar, a sticky 7 percent-plus wholesale price inflation, close to double-digit consumer price inflation and almost no rate cuts from the RBI. It was feared that if...  

Bihar farmers better than scientists, says Nobel laureate

Nobel laureate Joseph E Stiglitz is impressed by the organic farming practices in Bihar's Nalanda district, terming its practitioners "better than scientists" and calling for their experiences to be researched so that these can be replicated elsewhere. "Indian farmers are better than scientists," Stiglitz said here after visiting organic farmers in Nalanda, the home district of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. ...  

Hike MGNREGS wage days to 200: Andhra CM Reddy

Andhra Pradesh today asked the Centre to increase the number of wage days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Scheme (MGNREGS) from the present 150 to 200 to benefit non-farm labour and marginalised sections of the society. In his speech at the National Development Council meeting which was read out by Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy emphasised the need for synchronising MGNREGS with...