The government is planning dry farming in a big way in drought-prone areas, Minister of State for Agriculture Kanti Lal Bhuria told the Lok Sabha today. ''The government has decided to promote dryland farming in drought-affected areas in a big way and the Planning Commission has indicated that it has earmarked Rs 2,000 crore for the purpose during the Tenth Five-Year Plan,'' the Minister said while winding up the half-an-hour discussion on drought.

The government has released Rs 162.18 crore for Bihar along with 200,000 metric tonnes of foodgrains, he said, adding that a fund of Rs 192 crore had been released for UP for the same purpose. ''More assistance will be provided to UP whenever it is sought by the state government.'' The government will consider further assistance to Bihar in February next year.

Courtesy: WebIndia123.com, 16^th Dec '04
(Website : www.webindia123.com)

Union Agriculture Minister Shri Sharad Pawar today informed the State Ministers of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development that the government is in the process of formulating a Livestock Insurance Scheme.

The Centrally-sponsored Insurance Scheme is proposed to concentrate initially on crossbred and high yielding cattle and buffaloes to ensure maximum coverage of the livestock for which insurance is critical. The ministry has asked the insurance companies to come out with affordable rates of premium.

The State Ministers, along with senior officers and representatives of NDDB have gathered here to deliberate on the issues facing dairy, poultry and allied sectors, especially WTO-related and inter-State issues.

The Minister stated that Animal husbandry is one of the most potential sectors for growth, and its hidden potential needs to be fully exploited through long-term planning. If we are to attain a growth rate in excess of 4% per year in the agriculture sector as a whole, we would need a growth rate of 6 to 8% in the animal husbandry sector, he added.

Shri Pawar sought States’ suggestions on the Livestock Policy that the government intends to bring to provide a roadmap for growth of the livestock sector. The Policy will also prepare this sector for the global competition it is likely to face in the WTO regime.

Courtesy: PIB Press Release, 11^th Dec '04
(Website : http://pib.nic.in)

Foodgrain production during the current Rabi season may touch an all-time high, surpassing the previous record of 104.3m tonnes registered four years ago, the Rajya Sabha was informed Friday. “Assuming normal weather and related factors, as also favourable impact of the reward scheme, it is reasonable to expect rabi foodgrain production may exceed the record level of 104.3m tonnes reached in ’99-00,” minister of state for agriculture Kanti Lal Bhuria said in a written reply.

The production of rabi foodgrain stood at 86.4mtonnes in ’02-03 while after the fourth advanced estimates in ’03-04, the rabi foodgrain production reached 100.1m tonnes.

Mr Bhuria also informed of a government scheme for rewarding states for their outstanding performance in the rabi season of ’04-05. To a question on smuggling of orchids from Thailand that was posing a threat to the nascent orchid industry in North-East, Bhuria said orchids imports are only allowed on the basis of scientific pest risk analysis.

Courtesy: Economic Times, 4^th Dec '04
(Website : www.economictimes.com)

The main objective of the newly launched National Horticulture Mission(NHM) of the Ministry of Agriculture is to enhance the production of horticulture products to the level of 300 million tonnes by the year 2011-12 and bringing area under production to 40 lakh hectares. This was stated here today by Shri Sharad Pawar, Minister of Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution while addressing a meeting of Consultative Committee of Members of Parliament attached to his ministries. Increased demand for nutritional security, improvement in the income of farmers, value addition to agriculture products, increased availability of vegetables per person per day are the other objectives that will be secured by this Mission, the Minister said.

The Mission also focuses on promoting processing of horticulture produce and value addition by providing incentives for setting up horticulture processing industries and food parks in potential areas besides establishing linkages between markets for the horticulture produce and processing industry. The total budget requirement for the Mission during the 10th Plan is estimated to be Rs. 5974 crore and the requirement of the funds for the current financial year 2004-05 will be to the tune of Rs. 745 crore. The estimated outlay for the Mission for the 11th Plan is to the tune of Rs. 15725 crore. The Ministry of Agriculture has taken up this matter with the Planning Commission for obtaining ‘in principle’ approval for the scheme, Shri Pawar informed.

Courtesy: PIB Press Release, 22^nd Nov '04
(Website : http://pib.nic.in)

Concerned over the stagnant oilseeds production at around 25 million tonnes annually, government is working on specific technologies for different crops besides taking other initiatives for doubling the output in the next few years. "We have technologies to double the oilseeds production which started stagnating in the middle of 1990's after we resorted to large scale imports," Director General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research Mangala Rai told PTI.

He traced the problem to the 1990s when India imported large amount of palm oil from Malaysia after there was a currency meltdown in South East Asia which made commodity products very cheap. Rai said though the oilseeds production had steadily increased to 24.38 million tonnes in 1996-97 from 18.6 million tonnes in 1990-91, it started stagnating from 1998-99 onwards when the output stood at 24.75 million tonnes. The production during 2003-04 stood at 25.14 million tonnes.

Courtesy: TeamIndia.net, 21^st Nov '04
(Website : www.teamindia.net)

Foodgrain production in the summer season is forecast to rise by three per cent to 103m tonnes from a year earlier, mainly because of good rains in the post-monsoon period, a top think tank said on Tuesday. The summer output of wheat is expected to rise to 74m tonnes from 72.1m in the previous year, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy said in its latest monthly report. Rains in the monsoon season that runs from June to September were 13% below normal, hurting output of winter-harvest crops.

But late rains provided good soil moisture for sowing summer crops such as wheat and mustard. Nearly 60% of country’s billion-plus population depends on the farm sector to earn a living and bad rains wipe out their incomes, which are crucial for industrial growth. Agriculture accounts for 22% of the country’s gross domestic product.

Courtesy: Economic Times, 17^th Nov '04
(Website : www.economictimes.com)

The cotton prices causes worries around, the ministry of agriculture urged the Ministry of Textiles to monitor cotton prices and ensure that they do not fall below minimum support price (MSP). Agriculture Ministry wants farmers to be paid remunerative prices for their produce.

The farmers Agriculture secretary Radha Singh has suggested its imperative for the Cotton Corporation to get its procurement act in place in 10 states to see prices don't fall below the minimum support price (MSP). Cotton is ready for harvesting and reports from North India indicate prices are already falling, with some farmers settling for much less than the MSP.

There is a fear that because of a glut in the market farmers may not be paid their dues and might move away from cultivating cotton the next year. This would not only push them into a debt trap but result in imports. The MSP for lower quality cotton is Rs 1760 per quintal and for higher quality Rs 1960 per quintal. But in Haryana, cotton is already being sold for Rs 1650 per quintal.

Cotton has been grown over 90 lakh hectares this year, compared to 78 lakh hectares previous year. Therefore, the crop is expected to be a bumper 194 to 200 lakh bales.

Courtesy: BharatTextile.com, 18^th Oct '04
(Website : www.bharattextile.com)

Agricultural production in India should remain at similar levels to last year despite concerns that a poor monsoon rainy season so far will hit output, Finance Minister, Mr P Chidambaram said on Wednesday. “We expect agricultural production to be at the same level as last year, overall,” Mr Chidambaram said. “For some crops there will be a deficiency; (for) some crops there will be a surplus over last year.”

The comments come as economists and research houses pare down their economic growth estimates for India because of below-normal monsoon rains, on which the farm-dependent Indian economy relies on heavily in the absence of a sophisticated irrigation system. The monsoon rains were 13 per cent below the long-term average in the monsoon season that runs from June to September, a senior weather official told Reuters earlier this week.

Courtesy: The Navhind Times, 8^th Oct '04
(Website : www.thenavhindtimes.com)

In consultation with Reserve Bank of India (RBI), NABARD has revised the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme to cover term loans for agriculture and allied activities under the new KCC scheme.

The introduction of the scheme is on the lines of the Model Scheme prepared by NABARD.

The KCC Scheme introduced in August 1998, has since stabilised, with major share of crop loans being routed through it. At the inception of the scheme, it was envisaged that in due course of time, investment credit requirements of farmers -- allied and non-farm activities may also be covered under the scheme.

Since these activities are currently outside the ambit of the KCC scheme, farmers have to approach the banks separately for their additional requirements every time, entailing additional time and cost, and observing banks' procedural formalities including documentation.

Keeping the above in view NABARD has revised the model KCC scheme.

RBI asked the banks to keep it informed about the progress in this regard on a monthly basis, in the specific format introduced by the central bank.

Courtesy: Deepikaglobal.com, 8^th October '04
(Website : www.deepikaglobal.com)

As India targets higher growth during the winter crop season to make up for an expected shortfall in summer crops, agricultural scientists are forecasting better prospects due to recent rains.

"Widespread rains over the last week are expected to improve rabi (winter) crop production significantly, though they have damaged standing crops in some areas," the crop weather watch group of the agriculture ministry said Tuesday after its weekly review.

According to the India Meteorological Department, rains occurred in all parts of the country except central India last week, past the normal four-month monsoon season from June-September.

Rains have been particularly good in the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

"Agricultural scientists feel that besides adding copious moisture to soil, these post-monsoon rains have reduced temperature and this would help growth of rabi plants," the official statement said.

"Rains in the monsoon season, which ended on Sep 30, were below normal by 13 percent with as many as 13 of 36 meteorological sub-divisions receiving deficient rains," it said.

Courtesy: New Kerala.com, 5^th October '04
(Website : www.newkerala.com)

The critical rabi (winter) crops are expected to get a boost following late withdrawal of monsoon that has resulted in filling of the depleted water reservoirs.

Against the backdrop of 12% shortfall in rains this monsoon, the government on Tuesday said the late withdrawal of south-west monsoon this year is likely to result in more rains in southern parts of the country, translating into improved water-level in reservoirs and benefiting rabi crops.

“The weather in September and the coming months is likely to help the present crops as well as rabi crops for which sowing would begin next month,” the Crop Weather Watch Group said after its weekly review meeting here.

Courtesy: Economic Times, 29^th September '04
(Website : www.economictimes.com)