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The procurement of paddy at Minimum Support Price is done through the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies

During Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2020-21, on MSP procurement of paddy, 128.36 lakh farmers (including the farmers of Chhattisgarh) were benefitted so far as against 124.59 lakh farmers last year. Similarly, due to MSP procurement in Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2021-22, record 49.14 lakh farmers benefitted against 43.35 lakh last year. The procurement of paddy at Minimum Support Price (MSP) is done through the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies.

 

This information was given by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar in Lok Sabha.

 

According to Tomar, there exists a transparent and uniform policy for MSP procurement of food grains including paddy by government agencies across the country. Under this policy, whatever food grains are offered by farmers within the stipulated procurement period, conforming to the specifications prescribed are purchased at MSP by the government agencies including FCI. However, if any farmers/producers get a better price in comparison to MSP, they are free to sell the produce in the open market.

 

The Minimum Support Price is announced by the government at the beginning of the sowing season of crops based on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). This enables the farmer to make an informed decision about the choice of crop to be grown.

 

MSP operations are given wide publicity through pamphlets, banners, signboards radio, TV and advertisements through print and electronic media. Farmers are made aware of the quality specifications and purchase system etc. to facilitate the farmers to bring their products conforming to the specifications. A large number of procurement centres are opened by respective state government agencies/FCI taking into account the production, marketable surplus, convenience of farmers and availability of other logistics/infrastructure such as storage and transportation etc. A large number of temporary purchase centres in addition to the existing mandis and depots/godowns are also established at a key point for the convenience of the farmers.

The procurement of paddy at Minimum Support

Government of India has assisted in setting up of five FFPOs in the states of Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh on a pilot basis

The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying (MoFAHD) under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya SampadaYojana (PMMSY) is providing financial assistance for setting up of Fish Farmers Producer Organizations (FFPOs) to economically empower the fishers and fish farmers and enhance bargaining power. The financial support provided under the PMMSY to each FFPOs primarily includes the cost of formation and incubation, management, equity grant and training and skill development.

This information was provided by Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Shri Parshottam Rupala.

The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying through Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoAFW), Government of India assisted in setting up of five FFPOs in the states of Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh on pilot basis under the erstwhile Centrally Sponsored Scheme Blue Revolution-Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries and these five FFPOs have already been registered.

Further, under PMMSY, the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying during 2020-21 has accorded approval to the proposal of the National Cooperative Development Corporation, MoAFW for setting up of 50 FFPOs at a total cost of Rs 24.50 crore. Besides, approval has also been accorded during 2020-21 to the proposal of the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) for setting up 22 FFPOs at a total cost of Rs 10 crore under the PMMSY.

Government of India has assisted in setting

Plans to revive Talcher unit of Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd

Government of India has decided to revive the Talcher unit of Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd (FCIL) by setting up an ammonia urea plant of 12.7 Lakh Metric Tonne per annum capacity by forming a Joint venture Company (JV) of nominated PSUs i.e. Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL), Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (RCF), Coal India Ltd (CIL) and FCIL.

The information was given by the Minister of Health & Family Welfare and Chemicals & Fertilizers, Mansukh Mandaviya in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

 

Accordingly, a JV company named Talcher Fertilizers Ltd (TFL) has been incorporated on 03.11.2015. 

 

The direct employment opportunities would be about 510 and indirect employment opportunities would be 4500 (during the construction phase) for the Talcher fertiliser plant. Besides employment opportunities for the local people, the Talcher fertiliser plant would boost economic development in the eastern region and would ensure the availability of urea to the farmers in the state of Odisha.

 

 

Plans to revive Talcher unit of Fertilizer

According to Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare Shobha Karandlaje, India has transformed its agri-food systems into sustainable systems

Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare Shobha Karandlaje virtually addressed the Pre-Summit Ministerial Roundtable on ’Transforming Food Systems for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: Rising to the Challenge’ of United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021. 

 

She said, “The UN Food Systems Summit has given us a lead to define the national pathways to transform our food systems into economically, socially and environmentally sustainable systems. The minister informed the summit about various steps India has taken to transform its agri-food systems into sustainable systems, to provide income support to farmers, improve rural incomes, as well as address the issues of under-nutrition and malnutrition in the country.”

 

Emphasising the importance of the agriculture sector, Karandlaje said that India has a strong conviction that agriculture has to play a vital role in socio-economic transformation in developing countries and in securing a sustainable future for the planet. She said that agriculture has been a great success story in India. The Green Revolution in the 1960s catapulted India from a country with perennial food shortages to a food grain exporter as of today.

 

Speaking on priorities set by India for the agriculture sector she said that India is now focusing to enhance productivity, make post-harvest management robust and give farmers and buyers a unified national market for optimising benefits to both. 

 

Karandlaje said India has embarked on very ambitious reforms in the agriculture sector to double the income of farmers in coming years and numerous interventions have been put in place in recent times due to which India’s farm sector performed exceedingly well even in the pandemic crisis with production surpassing earlier records. 

 

The Minister thanked the UN and other countries for accepting India’s proposal of celebrating the year 2023 as the ’International Year of Millets’. She said that for addressing nutritional challenges and also to bring diversity in our agri-food systems, the government is supporting diversification from predominantly food grain-based systems to other high-value crops like fruits and vegetables. 

 

The minister said India is actively promoting organic farming for ensuring sustainable productivity, food security and soil health. India has launched a scheme to increase water use efficiency at the farm level by using micro-irrigation technologies for which a dedicated micro-irrigation fund of $672 million has been set up. India has developed 262 abiotic stress-tolerant varieties of different crops.

 

The Minister assured the summit that India will continue with its efforts in transforming our agri-food systems into sustainable systems and to achieve the targets set in the Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

According to Union Minister of State for

The technology transfer will ramp up the production leading towards consistent supply resulting in faster adoption

National Fertilisers Limited (NFL) and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) for ‘transfer of technology’ of a revolutionary and game-changer fertiliser nano urea liquid. 

 

MoUs and other related agreements were signed in the presence of Minister of Chemicals & Fertilisers and Health & Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya and Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Bhagwanth Khuba and senior officials of the ministry. 

 

Technology transfer from IFFCO to public sector fertiliser companies will be achieved through these MoUs. The technology transfer will ramp up the production leading towards consistent supply resulting in faster adoption and would also result in more savings to farmers and government subsidies. 

 

Under these agreements, IFFCO will transfer the technology of Liquid Nano Urea to NFL and RCF. NFL and RCF will establish new nano urea production plants to increase the supply of nano urea to farmers of the country. 

 

Mandaviya said that there is an imbalanced use of fertilisers in India. This is deteriorating the health of the soil. Imbalanced use is also causing water pollution and air pollution. Nano urea is a revolutionary product that will help in solving these problems by reducing the use of urea by up to 50 per cent. Nano Urea being an eco-friendly product will protect the health of the soil. 

 

Emphasising the financial aspect of the nano urea, Mandaviya said that apart from direct savings, transportation costs will also come down. The storage of nano urea will also be easy for the farmers. Direct financial savings, reduction in transportation cost and better production will increase the income of the farmers. Nano urea will also reduce the import of conventional urea in India. 

 

Highlighting the importance of these MoUs, Mandaviya said, “Nano urea is a revolutionary product, but the faster the common farmers of the country adopt it, the sooner we will see its positive effect and the sooner we will be able to move towards ’complete AatmaNirbharta’ in the agriculture sector.”

 

Mandaviya commended the work done by IFFCO in service of the nation by making nano urea. He said, “I am informed that IFFCO started production of Nano Urea in June and less than two months till July 25, IFFCO has completed the production of 8.28 lakh nano urea bottles and supplying it to the farmers. But for an agrarian country like India, the production of nano urea must increase further. Other government companies working in the field of fertiliser should also be involved in this work.”

The technology transfer will ramp up the

ARAF seeks to build an ecosystem of agribusinesses that improve farmers’ livelihoods and build their resilience to climate change

The Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF), a first-of-its-kind equity fund that provides critical capital to support African agribusinesses that help smallholder farmers adapt to climate change, recently closed at $58 million. Sponsored by Acumen and anchored by Green Climate Fund (GCF), the fund is supported by the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO), the Soros Economic Development Fund, the French development institution PROPARCO (through FISEA+, the AFD Fund advised by PROPARCO), the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, IKEA Foundation, Global Social Impact, and other respected investors and funders. The fund is managed by Acumen Capital Partners, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Acumen.

“Smallholder farmers feed the world, but they are among the most affected by the climate crisis,” said Tamer El-Raghy, MD, ARAF. “ARAF’s impressive $58 million close, $8 million above our initial target for the fund, is a watershed moment and, with only 5 per cent of climate investment directed toward adaptation, signals the beginning of a shift in climate finance. By investing in agri-startups in East and West Africa, ARAF can reduce poverty, build climate resilience, and demonstrate the impact of investing in resilient agriculture. Since we started deploying capital in 2020, our team has invested in five companies operating in Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria.”

By supporting agribusinesses that offer aggregation, digital platforms, and financial solutions to smallholder farmers, ARAF seeks to build an ecosystem that enables farmers to raise their incomes and increase their resilience.

“The fund will make critical investments to support climate resilience and agriculture productivity for smallholder farmers across countries in East and West Africa and help shift the pattern of investment in climate change adaptation in Africa from grants to a long-term capital approach,” said Tony Clamp, Director, GCF’s Private Sector Facility.

ARAF answers this call by using blended finance to provide long-term support to small and medium-sized agribusinesses and through its $5 million Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) that is designed to provide farmers with the hands-on support they need. The TAF is funded by grants from GCF, IKEA Foundation, FCDO, and FMO.

 

ARAF seeks to build an ecosystem of

Mansukh Mandaviya calls for taking steps to ramp up production in the existing 30 lakh MT of phosphorite deposits

Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers and Health & Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya recently chaired a high-level meeting to assess the situation of raw materials in the country for the manufacturing of fertilisers.

The meeting was attended by the Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Bhagwanth Khuba along with senior officials of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Ministry of Mines, Geological Survey of India, National Remote Sensing Centre and Mineral Exploration Corporation.

Mandaviya mentioned that India is committed to reduce dependency on fertiliser imports and to gain ‘AatmaNirbharta’ in all fertilisers. He also mentioned that the Union Government is ready with an action plan and will begin meaningful dialogue and deliberations with the states having deposits of mineral resources used for making fertilisers.

Mandaviya underlined the importance of commercial exploration of phosphorite deposits. He called for taking all the necessary steps for ramping up the production in the existing 30 lakh MT of phosphorite deposits. The Union Government has handed over fertiliser mineral resource bearing GRs to the tune of 536 million tonnes to various states. These deposits are available in Rajasthan, the central part of peninsular India, Hirapur (Madhya Pradesh), Lalitpur (Uttar Pradesh), Mussoorie syncline, Cuddapah basin (Andhra Pradesh).

The Department of Mining and Geological Survey of India is going to expedite the exploration of the potential potassic ore resources in Rajasthan’s Satipura, Bharusari and Lakhasar and Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Mansukh Mandaviya calls for taking steps to

Set up District Agro-Met Unit in Old Goa

India Meteorological Department (IMD) in collaboration with ICAR has recently set up District Agro-Met Unit (DAMU) under Gramin Krishi Mausam Seva (GKMS) scheme to provide the weather-based information and agro-advisories needed for the taluka level farming community. The centre is located at KVK, ICAR-CCARI, Old Goa.

Agro-advisory services are the farm decisions taken in response to past, current and future weather changes. It includes agronomical, pest and disease management, water and soil conservation, seeds and fertiliser input management spray of insecticides, pesticides and weedicides etc. This helps the farmers to take weather-related sensitive decisions like sowing/transplanting of seedlings, pesticides, weedicides and fertiliser application, scheduling timely irrigation, timely harvesting of the crops, post-harvest storage of the harvested crop, forewarnings of livestock-related diseases and vaccination of livestock and poultry birds.

District Agro-Met Unit (DAMU) for North Goa district has been set up and functioning at Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), ICAR-CCARI, Old Goa in which it covers five talukas of North Goa district namely; Bardez, Bicholim, Pernem, Sattari and Tiswadi.

Weather conditions and weather warnings are received from Regional Meteorological Centre, Mumbai and Meteorological Centre, Goa. Based on this information, weather-based agro-advisory bulletins are prepared and issued to farmers every Tuesday and Friday. These bulletins are prepared in both English and Konkani languages. For disseminating the same, 130 village-wise WhatsApp groups have been created, through which nearly 6000 farmers are receiving weather-related information and agro-advisory bulletins.

Set up District Agro-Met Unit in

A study conducted by Kumarappa National Handmade Paper Institute emphasises that Khadi Prakratik paint is eco-friendly and cost-effective

Kumarappa National Handmade Paper Institute (KNHPI), Jaipur, a unit of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has developed Khadi Prakratik Paint from cow dung. The study conducted by KNHPI emphasises that Khadi Prakratik paint is eco-friendly and cost-effective.

 

The Khadi Prakratik Paint developed by KNHPI has been tested at National Test House, Ghaziabad (Govt. of India), National Test House, Mumbai (Govt of India) and Shri Ram Institute of Industrial Research, Delhi (An ISO certified test lab) and satisfies the parameters required for paint.

 

The use of cow dung for Khadi Prakratik Paint will promote local manufacturing, create sustainable employment and generate additional revenue for farmers and cow shelter homes, besides generating employment for the rural economy.

 

The information was given by Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Narayan Rane in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. 

A study conducted by Kumarappa National Handmade

The move aims to provide clean fuel and provide a boost to agriculture

The Government of India through Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) is implementing Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme, wherein ethanol is being blended in petrol to achieve the objectives of reducing import dependence, promote clean fuel and provide a boost to agriculture. This information was provided by the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli in a written reply in the Lok Sabha recently.

 

The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas vide notification dated February 5, 2019, directed OMCs to sell 10 per cent ethanol-blended petrol as per Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) specifications.

 

The minister further mentioned that the government, since 2014, has allowed procurement of ethanol produced from other non-food feedstock besides molasses, like cellulosic and lignocelluloses materials like cotton stalk, wheat straw, rice straw, bagasse, bamboo etc. including petrochemical route, subject to meeting the relevant BIS standards. 

 

The steps taken by the government to promote the use of ethanol to provide employment opportunities in the rural area includes allowing the use of sugarcane and food grains (maize and surplus stocks of rice with Food Corporation of India) for conversion to ethanol; administered price mechanism for procurement of ethanol under EBP Programme including the enhanced ex-mill price of ethanol year on year from ethanol supply year 2017; lowered GST rate to 5 per cent on ethanol for EBP Programme; amendment in Industries (Development & Regulation) Act for free movement of ethanol; interest subvention scheme for enhancement and augmentation of ethanol production capacity in the country.

The move aims to provide clean fuel

The app will aid farmers take weather-sensitive decisions and is available in both English and local languages

India Meteorological Department (IMD), Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) have launched Meghdoot an easy-to-use mobile application that provides crop advisories to the farmers based on weather information.

 

Advisories are available in both English and local languages. An interested user has to download ‘Meghdoot’ application and sign in using their mobile number and preferred language. The app provides district-wise advisories on crop and livestock management issued by Agro Met Field Units (AMFU) every Tuesday and Friday based on the past and forecasted weather information. It will help the farmers to take weather-sensitive decisions like the sowing of crops, pesticide and fertiliser application, irrigation scheduling and vaccination of animals.

 

Apart from the crop advisory, the app also provides current weather information, past and forecasted weather information of five days about rainfall, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, which play critical roles in agricultural operations. The farmers of North Goa district are suggested to download ’Meghdoot’ app and to make use of daily weather information available for the district. So that farmer can plan their field operations according to changing weather and minimise crop losses.

 

The app can be downloaded from Google Play Store for Android and App Store for iOS.

 

 

 

 

 

The app will aid farmers take weather-sensitive

Pathways to Dairy Net Zero initiative will officially launch during the UN Food Systems Summit in September

A first-of-its-kind Pathways to Dairy Net Zero initiative is being developed to accelerate climate change action throughout the global dairy sector. Announced at the United Nations (UN) Food Systems Pre-Summit, the climate effort will be unlike any other in agriculture in terms of size, breadth, and scope.

A multi-stakeholder group of organisations, including the global dairy sector and representatives from the scientific and research communities, are working together to develop methodologies, tools and pathways that work for every dairy system. Pathways to Dairy Net Zero will officially launch during the UN Food Systems Summit in September and aims to generate commitments at the UN Climate Change Conference, COP26, in November.

New research to guide the initiative

Research is underway to identify where positive climate change action is possible across all dairy production systems and regions throughout the world. The study is being conducted by the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA), the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Scotland’s Rural College and the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre. Preliminary findings include:

  • Positive change is possible across all dairy systems and regions. 
  • Collaboration is needed to reduce dairy’s emissions. 
  • Reducing methane may be key to fast results. 
  • Dairy already has the means to reduce a significant proportion of emissions.
  • Defining terminologies and targets will focus efforts to achieve the best results. 

Pathways to Dairy Net Zero initiative will

CCI disbursed Rs. 26,700 Crores to around 19 Lakh Cotton Farmers 

 

 

In cotton season 2019-20 (1.10.2019 to 30.09.2020), Cotton Corporation of India(CCI )opened 423 procurement centre in  12 cotton growing states to safeguard the cotton farmers from distress sales. During Global Pandemic, CCI procured 20.72 lakh bales valuing Rs. 5615 crore from 4 lakh cotton farmers. However, during the entire cotton season 2019-20, CCI made a record procurement of 105.15 lakh bales (equivalent to around 546.80 lakh quintals kapas) and an amount of Rs. 28500 crores was disbursed to around 21.50 lakh cotton farmers directly into their bank accounts. During current cotton season 2020-21 (1.10.2020 to 30.09.2021), CCI opened more than 450 procurement centres in all cotton growing state. CCI continued its procurement of cotton under MSP operations since beginning of season to avoid the eventuality of distress sale by farmers and has procured 91.89 lakh bales so far (equivalent to around 482 lakh quintals kapas). CCI disbursed an amount of Rs. 26,700 crores to around 19 lakh cotton farmers.

To achieve the desired success in the Scheme for Integrated Textile Park (SITP), Government of India provides financial assistance to a group of entrepreneurs to establish state-of-the-art infrastructure facilities in a cluster for setting up their textile units, conforming to international environmental and social standards and thereby mobilize private investment in the textile sector and generate fresh employment opportunities. Under SITP, Industry Associations, Group of Entrepreneurs and Agencies of the State Governments are main promoters of the Integrated Textile Parks (ITPs). Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) are formed by the representatives of the Local Industry, Financial Institutions, State Industrial and Infrastructural Corporations, and other agencies of State and Central Governments. The SPVs shall invariably be a Corporate Body registered under the Companies Act. The textile parks under various stages of implementations are reviewed by the PAC time to time.

This information was given in a written reply by the Minister of State for Textiles Darshana Jardosh in Lok Sabha .

CCI disbursed Rs. 26,700 Crores to around

NutriSenseTM system is integrated in the brand’s MyPLM™ Connect portal, enabling customers to visualize crop nutrient data collected by their machines in the MyPLM Connect Farm application.

 New Holland’s NutriSenseTM system, awarded the Silver Medal at the SIMA Innovation Awards 2021, this innovation provides farmers with valuable measurements of crop moisture, starch, crude protein, fibre (ADF and NDF), ash and crude fat content in every area of their field. The farmer can visualise this agronomic data with an intuitive, user-friendly interface on their MyPLM Connect portal and use it to make informed decisions that will enable them to market their crops most profitably. 

Eduardo Nicz, PLM Product Marketing Global, explains: “Our strategy at New Holland is to integrate digital technologies to deliver a smart and connected agriculture to our customers, with easy-to-use solutions. The NutriSense system is an excellent example: it provides farmers with detailed agronomic data collected by their New Holland combine or forage harvesters in the field. This will enable them to use their inputs most efficiently and harvest a crop they will sell at better prices.” 

The NutriSense system on New Holland’s FR Forage Cruiser can help the livestock farmer or contractor in different phases of the farming cycle, starting from understanding and managing field health and performance using year-on-year field data. They can also use the measurements collected by the machine to determine if there is soil contamination in the forage, so they can add a safeguard for the livestock. At harvest time, the crop moisture data supports the farmer’s decision making on animal feed storage. The crude protein, crude fat and starch content of the crop enables them to improve the animal feed ration content and quality. The result is a healthier, more productive field and high-quality animal feed for the farmer’s livestock or for the contractor to sell at a higher price. 

Lars Skjoldager Sørensen, Crop Harvesting Product Management Global, said, “New Holland CR, CX7 and CX8 combines deliver massive capacity with outstanding grain quality. The NutriSense system gives our customers an additional advantage: the detailed information on nutrients enables them to optimize the use of inputs, determine the best way to manage their crop, and understand value of their crop to obtain the best price for it.”

 

NutriSenseTM system is integrated in the brand’s