The green pea crop in Himachal's Shimla district has failed this year owing to the excessive rain. The crops this year were sown late due to the prolonged period of rain. Most of the crop is now damaged due to early winters.

New Delhi [India], October 3 (ANI): The price of important commodities, especially edible oils, reported a drop in September this year compared to prior years due to the series of proactive and preventative actions implemented by the government to increase domestic availability and stabilise prices of essential food commodities, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said on Monday.

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], August 25 (ANI): Apple growers of Himachal Pradesh have supplied 7,500 tonnes of apples to Adani Agri Fresh Limited.

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], July 14 (ANI): The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar, launched the Platform of Platforms (POP) under the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) on the sidelines of the State Agriculture and Horticulture Ministers' Conference in Bengaluru, Karnataka on Thursday.

Chandigarh [India], May 3 (ANI): Following a drastic decline in wheat arrivals across the state, the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs has decided to conclude the procurement of wheat in mandis across the state.

Chandigarh [India], April 2 (ANI): Kashmir Singh hailing from Mohabbatpur village in Punjab's Patiala district became the first farmer in the state to receive a Minimum Support Prices (MSP) payment, the Information, and Public Relations Department, Punjab informed on Saturday.

New Delhi Dec 28 PTI India achieved record foodgrains production this year but the withdrawal of three agri-reform laws and spike in cooking oil prices cast a shadow on the countrys resilient agriculture sector that is on course for better harvest in 2022 despite pandemic blues While soaring production of foodgrains that also helped the government provide free additional rations for COVID-hit poor families for many months together came as a relief the passing year will be remembered for the long drawn farmers protest at Delhi borders against the three laws and subsequent repeal of the legislations The Indian agriculture sector which was among the few segments that remained robust amid the pandemic gales is expected to register a growth rate of 35 per cent in the current financial year ending March 2022 Foodgrains production hit an all-time high in the 2020-21 crop year that ended in June at 30865 million tonnes The production could reach 310 million tonnes in the current crop year The government procured huge quantities of wheat rice pulses cotton and oilseeds at the Minimum Support Price MSP for the benefit of farmers During 2020-21 paddy and wheat procurement reached a record 89418 lakh tonnes and 43344 lakh tonnes respectively Procurement of pulses touched 2191 lakh tonnes coarse grains 1187 lakh tonnes and oilseeds 11 lakh tonnes as per official data As production and procurement continued smoothly the farmers agitation which started in November 2020 finally ended this month after Parliament passed a Bill on the first day of Winter Session on November 29 to repeal the three contentious farm laws The Supreme Court had stayed implementation of these laws in January itself Farmers unions are claiming victory after they forced the Centre to accede to their demands In contrast economists and government officials see it as a setback in ushering in reforms in the agricultural marketing system The jury is still out on the merit of these three laws We were expecting one-fifth of the countrys farmers to benefit from the implementation of the three farm reforms We completely lost that opportunity However I feel the setback is only temporary Niti Aayog Member Ramesh Chand told PTI Had farm laws been implemented the Niti Aayog member said it would have helped achieve the target of doubling farmers income to a large extent We had put nearly 20 per cent increase in income on implementation of the farm laws The three laws passed by Parliament in September 2020 were aimed at giving marketing freedom to farmers beyond notified mandis A framework for contract farming and regulating supply of essential commodities only under extraordinary circumstances were the other main objectives Chand said the overall performance of the agricultural sector has been robust this year The agri-growth rate is intact This year we expect 35 per cent growth rate in agriculture by the end of March 2022 same as last years level he said Record production of foodgrains helped the agriculture sector to maintain its growth rate Agriculture Commissioner S K Malhotra said the countrys foodgrains production could touch 310 million tonnes in the 2021-22 crop year July-June Good monsoon rains adoption of new technologies and successful implementation of government schemes like PM-KISAN have aided the rise in production Malhotra said crop productivity has been improving as farmers are adopting better seed varieties that give higher yields and are high in nutritional value besides having resistance to diseases and adverse climatic conditions The official also pointed out that the unseasonal rains affected perishable and horticulture produce in some parts of the country As a result prices of some commodities like tomatoes came under pressure Despite bumper production of oilseeds crops the edible oil prices skyrocketed to unprecedented levels on global cues India meets about 60-65 per cent of the domestic demand of edible oils through imports which jumped to a record Rs 117 lakh crore in 2020-21 season ended October Prices of mustard oil rose to around Rs 200 per litre and prices of other cooking oils also went up During the year the government reduced import duties of palm oil as well as other oils multiple times to ease domestic prices but rates are still ruling high To keep the prices under control the government also banned futures trading in many commodities and also imposed stockholding limits on traders and wholesalers A sharp rise in rabi oilseeds acreage has given hope for a likely fall in cooking oil prices in the New Year Among other developments co-operative major IFFCO launched nano-urea in liquid form that promises to reduce Indias import as well as subsidy bill We started producing nano urea commercially and we have so far produced 15 crore bottles of nano urea which helped save Rs 6000 crore of governments subsidy IFFCO MD U S Awasthi said and urged the government to support production of such innovative products 2021 also saw huge investments in agritech startups that are working in the area of farm advisory provisions of inputs and marketing support among others New technologies like drones are being used in the farm sector The government has already announced the setting up of a committee to address the key demand of protesting farmer unions -- a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price MSP regime Hopefully an amicable solution on the MSP issue is expected in the New Year PTI LUX MJH DRR RAM

Rohtak (Haryana) [India], November 10 (ANI): Farmers staged a protest outside Rohtak Deputy Commissioner's office on Tuesday stating that officials were refusing to purchase PR Paddy from the procurement centre.

New Delhi Oct 29 PTI Launching an attack on the Uttar Pradesh government over the issues of farmers BJP MP Varun Gandhi alleged on Friday that crippling corruption in procurement centres is completely out in the open and that they are forced to sell their grains to middlemen He also demanded a legal guarantee for the minimum support price MSP also one of the demands of farmer unions protesting against three farm laws saying farmers will continue to be exploited in mandis markets for agricultural produce as long as this is not done Gandhi sought stringent action in the matter He also posted a video of him speaking apparently to a government official at a mandi in Bareilly Raising the issue of hardship facing farmers Gandhi is heard saying that it is a matter of big shame for the state government The nexus between officials and middlemen to force farmers to sell their grains at a much lower price than stipulated is visible across the country he alleged He is also heard warning the official that if his representative records any evidence of corruption or ill-treatment to farmers then he will not make any request to the government but instead move court and get such officials arrested At every procurement centre in the state there is crippling corruption which is completely out in the open Farmers grains are forcibly rejected after which they sell their produce out of desperation tomiddlemen The administration takes a cut he alleged He addedWith farmers already facing steep input costs lack of fertilisers and inclement weather saddling him with a system that ensures he sells at a loss is going to drive the next generation away from agriculture and threaten both our food and national security It will also lead to social unrest and create fissures where none need exist PTI KR DV DV

Ambala (Haryana) [India], October 5 (ANI): Haryana Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni on Tuesday alleged that the mandis in the state haven't started the paddy procurement yet.