Indian Agriculture and Agro-based Industry

[Ananth]

Suicide issues are related to one and the only thing and that is "credit limits on their agriculture land".

It started about 10+ years ago when banks loaned huge amounts to the farmers with their land being collateral., now farmers are not educated and don't know how to use this money., thus few years of lavish living (cars, marriages, etc) and then suicide.

I don't think the explanation is that straight forward. While the urge to find scape goats cannot be suppressed, and usurious money lenders are readily made into scape goats, I believe reasons vary for different regions. We also need to note that these deaths are concentrated in the dry-parched heartland of the peninsula. Farmers might be illiterate and ignorant but not stupid to live high on loans against their land. I believe Theo can throw more light on it. Farming is turing out to be more like gambling. The uneconomical size of agriculatural plot might also be playing a role.

[bala]

The biggest issue that people are not realizing is that the politician babu clans have absconded their duty to provide viable water supply for the umpteen farmlands of India. There is no reliable water system in place. Only grand announcements of irrigation systems from meager sources. Oodles of money is poured down the drain each year to line the politician pockets. AP govt for instance spends half their budget on these endless nonsensical schemes. What is really needed is a national program to interlink the water resources of india and preserve streams and streamlets. For instance in California, all the rivers and streams have been harnessed into one system to supply water for agricultural needs. The army corp of engineers dammed all the small streams, creating lakes to prevent runoff into the oceans. A state wide channel system runs north south. Water is free for agriculture purposes, keeping prices of produce/food down.

India is blessed, in that the himalayas provides the source of water. If the water resources are captured properly, we would have 3x - 10x the amount of water ever needed. Almost 80% of river water is wasted and goes to sea. When will we have such a system in place so that agriculture is never in need of water.

[KarthikSan]

Exactly Bala! You have hit the nail right on it's head and so does this article. We have been too pre-occupied with liberalization and industrial infrastructure to be concerned about irrigation infrastructure. The borewell drilling industry is booming in my native Namakkal district of TN which has the highest concentration of truck mounted rigs. Drilling deeper than a 1000ft is very common these days and it is only going to get worse from here.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/24/news/in ... 2008012904

India's water shortage
Farmers are having a hard time finding ground water to grow their crops.
By Daniel Pepper, contributor

(Fortune) -- Just before dusk, on the plains of India's northern Punjab region, 22-year-old Naresh Kumar sprinkles mustard oil, turmeric, and raw sugar inside a ten-inch circle traced in the rich soil. Hands clasped, head bowed, he prays for a bountiful supply of ground water. Then he cranks a wheezing diesel engine, lines up a drill over the offerings, and releases a lever that brings an iron cylinder crashing into the earth. "Business is growing," says Kumar. "But we've placed about as many tube wells as we can in this area."

Indeed, the ground here in India's fertile breadbasket is beginning to look like Swiss cheese. On either side of Kumar's drill the calm beauty of emerald rice paddies belies a catastrophe brewing hundreds of feet beneath the surface. As the water table drops dangerously low, farmers are investing heavily - and often going into debt - to bore deeper wells and install more powerful pumps. A prayer might just be the best chance for survival.

Punjab has only 1.5 percent of India's land, but its output of rice and wheat accounts for 50 percent of the grain the government purchases to feed more than 400 million poor Indians. Experts say the 375-foot-deep tube well and 7.5-horsepower pump Kumar is installing for a farmer are at the eye of a storm that threatens India's food security, environmental health, and economic progress. "We have depleted the ground water to such an extent that it is devastating the country," says Gurdev Hira, an expert on soil and water at Punjab Agriculture University in Ludhiana. Hira estimates that the energy used to subsidize rice production in the region costs $381 million a year. He and other experts warn that, if left unchecked, future drilling will bleed state budgets, parch aquifers, and run farmers out of business.

The problem is not only that farmers are mining aquifers faster than they can be replenished. As water levels drop, pumps are also sapping an already fragile and overtaxed electricity grid. And because farmers in Punjab pay nothing for electricity, they run their pumps with abandon, which further depletes the water table. "All these issues are interconnected," says Saurabh Kumar, who heads the government's Bureau of Energy Efficiency in New Delhi. "But agreeing on a simple thing is asking for the moon."
Environmental reforms

That's exactly what Kumar hopes to do: get politicians, farmers, and bureaucrats to sign on to reforms that will save billions of dollars and reduce the amount of water pumped out of the ground. A pilot program for his nationwide scheme is expected to launch early this year. Farmers will receive new, efficient pumps with meters and prepaid electricity credits allowing them to draw roughly the same amount of water they use now and either pocket the savings if they pump less or pay to pump more. Utilities will be required to upgrade transmission lines to cut losses and improve service.

The program comes at considerable cost (about $7.5 billion) but promises great savings ($2.2 billion a year). Unlike many experts who say the answer to India's water and energy problems is to charge farmers the real cost of electricity, Kumar argues that "for political reasons, for the next fifty years you cannot charge for energy in the agriculture sector. There would be riots."

Farmers like Darshan Singh, 55, who grows rice and wheat on 25 acres of Punjab land that has been in his family for generations, say they would be happy to pay for electricity if it was constant and didn't burn out their pumps. "Managing water is the biggest problem we have," says Singh, who has 91D 2 fingers on his thick hands. "This problem doesn't just have to do with farmers - it affects everyone."

The profusion of pumps and tube wells is also a result of a lack of infrastructure investment in rural areas. "No new irrigation potential has been created for about 20 years," says Mohan Guruswamy, who runs the Centre for Policy Alternatives in New Delhi. "The state prefers to dole out subsidies rather than make capital investments."

India's power sector loses as much as $9 billion a year subsidizing farmers' use of electric pumps. That's half of what the country spends on health and twice what it spends on education. Says Shreekant Gupta, a professor of economics at Delhi University: "It's a classic example of bad economic policies having serious environmental consequences."

[upendora]

Indeed this is a loaded question, that led me go through to tens of websites and videos. Most of the news sites are proliferated by environmentalists and difficult to get a balanced view.

I, freshly converted environmentalist thinks that increased cost of inputs (seeds, diesel, labour, pesticides, fertilisers) are not matched by the price of the produce. The Govt wants to supress produce prices to keep inflation low.

I would add liberalisation has been good for agriculture and bad for farmers.

Have there been mass farmer suicides b4 the liberalisation era or is it a child of liberalization?

All the news reports seem to point to Bt cotton for vidharba and unavailability of traditional hardy seeds. The dealers no longer sell them. where has it gone? why is the govt promoting a seed that clearly is a liability in vidarbha? is Bt the only reason?

[SSridhar]

India's food grain output in recent years.

[Rudranathh]

Crops have been sown in 277 hectare this season: Agril. ministry

Feb 15, 2008

The wheat sowing operation in the country has been over. According to a data released by the Agriculture Ministry on Thursday in Delhi, the crop has been sown in over 277 lakh hectares as compared to around 282 lakh hectares last year.

Winter rice was sown in 34.1 lakh hectares as against 32.41 lakh hectares last year, while barley and maize have also been grown in more area. Rabi pulses and Gram coverage has seen a little decline.

[bala]

India second largest cotton producing country

India has overtaken the US to become the second largest cotton producing country in the World, after China, a study by International Service For the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application(ISAAA) said.

India which was having one of the lowest cotton yields in the World has become a net cotton exporter, potentially five million bales in 2007-08, the study said.

Bt cotton was a major factor contributing to higher rate of production from 15.8 million bales in 2001-02 to 31 million bales in 2007-08, it said.

Releasing ther brief of Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM crops:2007, Dr C P Thiagarajan, a former professor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, said India experienced the highest proportional increase in 2007 for the third consecutive year with a 63 per cent gain to 6.2 million hectare of BT cotton.

The income of growers in India has also increased upto Rs 10,000 or more per hectare.

The studies have shown strong farmer confidence in the crops with nine of 10 Indian farmers replanting biotech cotton year on year, ISAAA said.

[Rudranathh]

Indian agro-scientists develop test tube potatoes

Thu, Feb 21 05:05 PM

Gwalior, Feb 21 (ANI): A laboratory in India's central Gwalior city in Madhya Pradesh has successfully developed test tube potatoes.

According to scientists, the test tube potato production would reduce the time taken to cultivate and produce the potato crop to a great extent.

While this method takes a shorter duration as far as the cultivation period is concerned, it also gives a virus free crop.

[joshvajohn]

My comment - I hope the Farmers get some relief for the time being.

India waives loans to poor farmers in annual budget ahead of likely elections
The Associated Press
Published: February 29, 2008

NEW DELHI: India's government announced plans to cancel poor farmers' debts and ease the tax burden on the average Indian, unveiling a budget on Friday that may be the current administration's last before national elections are held.

Polls must be held by May 2009 at the latest. But deep disagreements between the Congress party, which leads India's governing coalition, and its communist political allies have led many here to assume an election will take place sooner, possibly later this year.

The budget, for the fiscal year beginning April 1, seemed certain to fuel such speculation. It contained a heavy dose of populist measures, including debt relief for millions of farmers and increased spending on employment schemes, education, irrigation projects and insurance packages for poor.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said in his budget presentation to Parliament that the government would write off loans due on or before Dec. 31, 2007, to small farmers with land holdings of up to 2 hectares (5 acres).

The move is expected to benefit about four million farmers.
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The loan write-off by state-owned lenders would cost an estimated 600 billion rupees (US$15 billion; €10 billion), Chidambaram said, adding that the plan should be fully enacted by June.

India's stock markets fell on news of the government proposal to waive the debt of small farmers.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share Sensex index was 1.4 percent lower at 17,579 points at the provisional close.

On the broader National Stock Exchange, the 50-company S&P Nifty index dipped 1.2 percent to 5,224 points at provisional close.

Two-thirds of India's 1.1 billion people depend on agriculture, and most have been left out of India's economic boom. While the country's economy is expected to grow 8.7 percent this year, agriculture is expected to grow 2.6 percent. In parts of western and southern India, the dire economic state of farmers has been blamed for thousands of suicides in recent years.

Chidambaram also increased the annual level at which income will be taxed to 150,000 rupees (US$3,750; €2,480) from 110,000 rupees (US US$2,750; €1,820), letting millions off the tax hook.

"Income tax payers have made a most persuasive case for some relief," he said.

Political commentator Kuldip Nayar said the budget was the finance minister's attempt to "placate as many people as he can."

"All of these measures show that this is an election year," said Nayar.

Chidambaram also said that the government proposes to spend 1.05 trillion rupees (US$26 billion; €17 billion) on the defense sector in the next fiscal year, up 10 percent from the current defense budget.

India's 1.3 million-man army is one of the world's largest but is hampered by outdated equipment _much of it Soviet era relics. To remedy this India has gone on a major arms buying spree in recent years.

The government also aims to cut the fiscal deficit — the gap between what the federal government earns and spends — to 2.5 percent of the gross domestic product next year. In the current fiscal year ending March, the deficit is estimated at 3.1 percent of GDP, below the government's earlier target of 3.3 percent.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/ ... Budget.php

[ramana]

Article from MS Swaminathan in Hindu.

Ending the debt trap & attaining food security

Ending the debt trap & attaining food security

M.S. Swaminathan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s initiative is a major step in recognising the country’s debt to farm families but much more needs to be done.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s budget 2008-09 has aroused widespread interest in methods of saving our small and marginal farming families from indebtedness and acute economic distress, which lead to occasional suicides. The steps proposed in the budget will give relief to nearly four crore farmers, at an estimated outlay of Rs.60,000 crore. As stressed by Mr. Chidambaram, this is a major step in recognising the indebtedness of the country to farm families who, th rough their toil in sun and rain, are safeguarding national food security and sovereignty. The question arises whether this step will mark the end of farmers’ dependence on moneylenders and traders for their credit needs. Some of the following issues need consideration:

First, the definition of small and marginal farmers has to be different for irrigated and dry farming areas. The present definition classifies marginal farmers as those owning up to 1 hectare and small farmers as those owning 1-2 hectares. Farmers cultivating crops in rainfed, arid, and semi-arid areas may own 4-5 hectares but their income is uncertain and their agricultural destiny is bound closely to the behaviour of the monsoon. A large number of farming families affected by the agrarian crisis in Vidharbha fall under this category. They will not be eligible for debt waiver and debt relief under the present scheme.

A second problem relates to the source from which loans have been taken. The programme announced in the budget covers farmers who have taken loans from scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks, and cooperative credit institutions. It does not cover farmers indebted to moneylenders and traders. According to the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), 48.6 per cent of the farm households surveyed were indebted; of these 61 per cent had operational holdings below 1 hectare. Of the total outstanding debt, 41.6 per cent was taken for purposes other than farm-related activities, such as healthcare and domestic needs; 57.7 per cent of the outstanding amount was sourced from institutional channels and 42.3 per cent from moneylenders, traders, relatives, and friends.

It has been estimated that in 2003, non-institutional debt accounted for Rs.48,000 crore; and out of this, Rs.18,000 crore was at an interest of 30 per cent per annum or more (NSSO 59th Round cited by the Economic Survey 2007-08). The Expert Group on Agriculture Indebtedness chaired by Professor R. Radhakrishna has recommended, in its report of July 2007, the inclusion of the financially excluded, particularly the small borrower households, and the adoption of risk-mitigating measures for agriculture. The concept of financial inclusion is in its early stages of operationalisation.

Loan waiver is the price we have to pay for the neglect of rural India during the past several decades, as reflected in a gradual decline in investment in key sectors like irrigation, post-harvest technology (even today, farmers dry the harvested paddy on roads), market, and communication. The four crore farmers who are to be relieved of their debt burden before the end of June 2008 will become eligible once again for institutional credit for their cultivation expenses during kharif 2008. The challenge now is to prevent them from getting into the debt trap again.

For this purpose, both Central and State governments should set up immediately an Indebted Farmers’ Support Consortium at the district level. This should comprise farm scientists, panchayati raj leaders, input supply agencies, representatives of relevant government departments and financial institutions, rural and women’s universities and home science colleges, private sector and media representatives, and others relevant to assisting the farmers relieved of their past debt in improving the productivity and profitability of their farms in an environmentally sustainable manner. This is essential for enabling them to have a higher marketable surplus and thereby more cash income. The smaller the farm, the greater is the need for marketable surplus to avoid indebtedness.

Such an Indebted Farmers’ Support Consortium should get the four crore farmers the benefits of all the government schemes such as the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, the National Food Security Mission, the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme, the National Horticulture Mission, Rural Godown and Warehousing Schemes, and the National Rural Health Mission. If this is done, every farm family released from the debt trap should be able to produce at least an additional half tonne per hectare of food grains or other farm produce. This should help increase food production by about 20 million tonnes during 2008-10. At a time when global and national food stocks are dwindling and prices are rising, this will be an extremely timely gain for our national food and nutrition security system and for the control of inflation. We should ensure that the outcome of debt waiver is enhanced farmers’ income and production.

The prevailing gap between potential and actual yields in the crops of rainfed areas such as jowar, bajra, millets, pulses, and oilseeds is over 200 per cent even with the technologies on the shelf. The restarting of the agricultural career of four crore resource-poor farmers through loan waiver could mark a new dawn in both agrarian prosperity and national food sovereignty — provided such farmers are supported with synergetic packages of technology, services, marketing infrastructure, and public policies related to input and output pricing. The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices recommends Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for 24 crops. Unfortunately, the MSP is generally available only for wheat and rice. State governments in partnership with financial institutions and the private sector should set up effective Market Intervention Funds, to help small and marginal farmers avoid selling their produce at the time of harvest at below-MSP prices.

Ultimately, it is only opportunities for assured and remunerative marketing that can help to end agrarian despair and distress. We are now importing without duty large quantities of pulses and oilseeds. If helped appropriately, the four crore farmers will produce them at lower cost. Attention to small farmer-oriented marketing is essential, if loan waiver is not to become a recurring event leading to the destruction of the credit system. This is why MSP should be implemented for all the 24 crops, particularly the crops of dry farming areas. Remunerative price for farm produce is the single most effective step to make loan waiver history.

As mentioned earlier, there are two other urgent steps needed to consolidate the gains from the loan waiver and Debt Relief Initiative. First, the definition of small and marginal farmers will have to be modified in the case of rainfed and semi-arid and arid zone farming. In my view, a small farmer in areas without assured irrigation facility should be defined as one with 4 hectares of land and a marginal farmer as one with 2 hectares. In the arid zone of Rajasthan, small and marginal farmers can be those owning 8 and 4 hectares respectively. Such distinctions exist in the case of laws relating to the ceiling on the size of land holdings. A uniform definition covering irrigated and unirrigated areas is against the principle of equity.

A second urgent step relates to providing assistance to those who have taken loans from moneylenders and traders. The 2008 budget does not offer a solution to releasing them also from the debt trap and thereby unleashing their farming spirit. Obviously, it will not be possible for the government to scrutinise the veracity of private deals, but steps can be taken by State governments in partnership with the private sector to help them also to restart their agricultural life. This can be done by giving them Smart Cards that will entitle them to essential inputs like seeds and fertilizers. The gram sabha can be entrusted with the task of identifying such farmers, so that there is transparency in the identification process and thereby elimination of chances for falsification and corruption. Fear of occasional misuse should not come in the way of enabling millions of resource-poor farmers, who have borrowed from informal sources, to also contribute to enhancing farm output and achieving the goal of 4 per cent growth in agriculture.

Thus this bold and much-needed initiative can help to launch an evergreen revolution in agriculture if steps are taken immediately to establish at the district level an Indebted Farmers’ Support Consortium; redefine the concept of small and marginal farmers in the case of dry farming and desert areas; and develop an administratively feasible approach to assisting farmers who are push-outs of the formal farm credit system to obtain essential inputs. Also, the benefits of the Rural Health Mission and all other entitlements should be extended to the farm households in distress, since borrowing for healthcare is widespread.

Finally, the pathways to our agricultural renaissance and sustainable food and nutrition security are discussed and defined in detail in the five reports of the National Commission on Farmers (2004-06) and in the National Policy for Farmers (2007). The sooner they are acted upon in a holistic manner, the greater will be the possibility of avoiding the recurrence of the era of farmers’ suicides and loan waivers. With the extension of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) to all 596 rural districts, the demand for food grains will go up.

There is now widespread malnutrition and under-nutrition in the country, particularly among women and children. Nearly two-thirds of the income of the poor is spent on food and the purchasing power enhancement conferred by NREGS would help to raise food consumption. Loan waiver and NREGS could make the largest contribution to the eradication of under-nutrition, provided linkages are established among all relevant programmes. The present situation of having to interfere with the formal credit system should be converted into an opportunity for the elimination of endemic hunger through both higher food production and the operation of a Universal Public Distribution System.

(Professor M.S. Swaminathan, M.P., chairman of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, chaired the National Commission on Farmers, 2004-2006.)

[jahaju]

Awasthi writes another candid letter to DOF, claims phosphatic production unsustainable

April 29: In a candid letter to the DOF, Iffco managing director U.S. Awasthi has said that the cooperative giant has found itself in deep financial trouble on account of the government's unwillingness to mitigate the problems faced by the fertilizer industry. The following are the highlights of his letter:

* During the last few years, phosphatic fertiliser production has been continuously a loss making proposition. The net loss for the cooperative was a whopping Rs 590 crore in 2006-07 and the figure was Rs 440 crore in 2007-08.

* Even in terms of overall fertiliser manufacturing activity, 68.4 lakh MT production of Urea and DAP/NPK during April 2007 - February 2008 has resulted in a net Loss of Rs.20 crore. It indicates that in the absence of corrective policy initiatives. In this context, domestic production of fertilizer is becoming unsustainable.

* As on 24th March 2008, the total subsidy receivable of IFFCO stood at Rs.2313 crore. This included an amount of Rs.1209 crore which had already become overdue for payment. Further, an amount of Rs.570 crore relating to DAP/Complex fertilizers for the period July 2005 - March 2006 and 2006-07 is still outstanding. Against this due, an amount of Rs.243 crore payable even as per DOF's calculations has still not been released to IFFCO.

* Such large subsidy receivables pose an undue financial burden in terms of financing cost, which IFFCO has to bear to fund these receivables. The interest cost attributable to the subsidy receivables from. the date that became overdue till the date of payment works out to Rs 135 crore in 2006-07 and Rs 170 crore in 2007-08.

* Borrowings in excess of the approved working capital result in distortion in the financial ratios and downgrading of credit rating of the company, which in turn results in increased borrowing cost apart from the constraints of raising additional working capital. It needs to be appreciated in the DOF that if the system of payment of subsidy on time is not made functional, such large borrowings are unsustainable and would result in collapse of working capital arrangements of the manufacturers. Further, taking into consideration the substantial increase in the prevalent raw material prices over the last year, which have increased by more than 3 times, the overall borrowings during 2008-09 would be still higher by about Rs.2000 crore. The increased line of credit on this account is not likely to be available to sustain operations during 2008-09.

In light of the DOF's inability to make subsidy payments in time, Iffco has decided to reduce its production of phosphatic fertilizers. "We have had extensive discussions internally and we feel that unless the above issues are quickly resolved, it would not be possible for IFFCO to sustain operations in its phosphatic Units. In case the outstanding subsidy amounts are not released, we would be unable to raise working capital or open letters of credit for importing raw materials to continue with the operations. Immediate announcement on the pricing policy parameters is equally imperative to enable us to arrange for the import of raw materials," Awasthi said in his letter to the DOF.
source:-indianfertilizer.com

[satya]

THE PULSE PROBLEM-1

[quote]There's a 20-hour power-cut in his lab and Subhajit Datta is trying hard to take it in his stride. For, this 34-year-old scientist at the Government-run Indian Institute of Pulses Research in Kanpur has perhaps one of the toughest jobs in his field: he heads a biotechnology programme to increase the yield of pulses stubbornly stuck in the 500-595 kg/hectare range for more than 20 years.
To put this in perspective, India today has the world’s largest area under pulse cultivation, 22 million hectares, but ranks 138th on the yield index.

So while the government released figures last week congratulating itself on record pulse production of 15.19 million tonnes, what it didn’t mention was that this falls short — as it does each year — of the demand of 17 million tonnes, a demand outpacing supply by almost two million tonnes each year.
Result: retail prices are up almost 30% in the last year forcing many households to cut down on pulse consumption, the only source of protein for many. And making pulse prices the first one to be quoted by political parties beating the inflation drum.

All eyes are on IIPR in the hope the lab may do what policy hasn’t: break the stagnant pulse yield with new varieties.

Datta doesn’t say it but that’s a tall order. For one, the daily power-cuts stall experiments that involve precise temperature and environment settings in which each plant, grown via tissue culture, has to be grafted onto a slightly older plant with stronger roots in a containment facility.

“We have merely a handful of chickpea and mungbean plants in the containment facility, when there should have been thousands,â€

[Nayak]

Dude, can you please stop fingering the fonts ?

There are beebul who browse from office and your highlighting attracts unwarranted attention.

Thanks.

[satya]

All hay and no sunshine for paddy farmers

[satya]

THE PULSE PROBLEM-2

[quote]The four-room office of the Directorate of Pulses Development is tucked away in a decrepit wing of a building that houses several Madhya Pradesh government offices. You wouldn’t think this is the nerve centre of a Government programme to monitor pulses nationwide and increase yield by strengthening links between the lab and the field. This programme, now called ISOPOM for Integrated Scheme of Oilseeds, Pulses, Oilpalm and Maize, is headed by director A K Tiwari who is preparing to wind up after eight years in the job to move to the Planning Commission.
And he’s not exactly working on a thank-you farewell speech.

In the charts Tiwari sends every quarter to Krishi Bhawan, one figure is an immediate giveaway of what’s wrong: almost each year, states are only able to utilize just a third of the funds sent to them for promotion of pulses. A sum of Rs 5000 crore has been spent on the Government’s “missionâ€

[joshvajohn]

India can solve global food worries: Swaminathan
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news ... an/305676/
Reuters
Posted online: Monday , May 05, 2008 at 06:47:06
Updated: Monday , May 05, 2008 at 06:47:06
Print Email To Editor Post Comments


New Delhi, May 5: India, now under scrutiny due to rice export curbs and growing consumption that have helped drive grain prices to record highs, could help ease global food security fears, M S Swaminathan, the country's most revered rural economist, said.

A rich diversity of secondary food crops, a huge base of rural workers and good rainfall mean India is able to raise production quickly with small investments, allowing it to export a bigger surplus to world markets, he said on Monday.

"Today we have a great opportunity to produce for ourselves and for others," M S Swaminathan, father of the late 1960s Green Revolution that helped reverse growing gloom about world food supplies, said in an interview.

But he said that public policy was a crucial ingredient in realising India's potential as a world exporter, and that he was dissatisfied with the government's pace of reform so far.

At the moment India is coming under pressure for worsening the world's food fears by banning exports of rice, a move that helped trigger a near threefold rise in global prices.

On Sunday US President George W Bush said India was partly responsible for rising global food prices, provoking a backlash from Indian politicians, who retorted that the US policy of promoting corn-based ethanol in motor fuel supplies has had bigger impact on world food prices.

Both India and China are eating more protein-rich foods like beef, which requires more grain as feed, Swaminathan said.

He said India could limit the impact on world markets by encouraging more people to eat long-neglected local grains like millets, a cereal rich in protein.

MORE MOUTHS TO FEED

India, which turned self-sufficient in food grains after its Green Revolution, was forced to import wheat in the last two years and banned non-basmati rice exports in October 2007 to ensure supplies in domestic markets.

Rising population, expanding economies coupled with changing food habits have fuelled demand for food in Asia, leading to a surge in global prices of wheat and rice.

Stung by rising prices, India initiated a clutch of measures like abolishing import duty on crude palm oil and banning export of edible oils to rein in inflation which has soared to a 3-½ years high.

The government now believes estimates of record wheat and rice output in the crop year to June 2008 will help ease inflation.

Swaminathan shares government's optimism. "Public policy is now slowly evolving. We can increase immediately productivity by at least 50 per cent through an integrated package of technology, services and public policies," he said.

Diverse climate and the world's biggest population of farmers would help India achieve the status of a major supplier of food to the world, Swaminathan said.

[Kakkaji]

Both India and China are eating more protein-rich foods like beef, which requires more grain as feed, Swaminathan said.

Has Swaminathan gone senile?

If he had said Indians are eating more chicken, I could believe him, but what percentage of Indians eat beef?

And even for those people in India who eat beef, how many cows are raised with grain as feed? I saw Indian cows being fed grass, and hay, and bran, but never any grains that the humans can eat.

Maybe I am out of touch.

[jahaju]

New gas allocation priorities
16 May, 2008, 0407 hrs IST, TNN

Minister of state for power Jairam Ramesh has reiterated that the fertiliser sector must get priority in feedstock (gas) allocation, even over power.

Indeed, the situation in the fertiliser sector, nitrogenous fertilisers (urea) in particular, has become worrisome as India’s imports have risen sharply in recent years — from almost nothing in 2003-04, urea import has gone up to nearly 70 lakh tonnes (including from Oman) in 2007-08. Over 25% of our urea requirement is now being met through imports, largely because production has remained stagnant at about 200 lakh tonnes for the last 4-5 years.

The heavy government intervention and the shortage of feedstock has discouraged capacity addition. Large and increasing urea import by India is one reason why prices have gone up substantially in international markets in recent years.

The rising cost of import has drastically pushed up fertiliser subsidies, which are expected to touch Rs 1 lakh crore in 2008-09. What is worrying is that this fertiliser crunch has come at a time when food availability has become a concern.

There is a need to increase production, and for that more and more fertiliser will be needed. However, excessive dependence on imported urea is also not advisable as India’s demand tends to push up international prices.

There is a case for allocating gas resources, namely Reliance’s KG Basin gas that is expected to become available sometime in 2009, to the fertiliser sector first.

Such a commitment, together with the new pricing scheme that incentivises production beyond 100% capacity and does away with the requirement of government permission for revamping existing units, would go a long way in attracting investments in urea production.

The subsidy regime, too, needs to be looked into as the present off-balance sheet financing through bonds has a limit. The lack of clarity on how the subsidy is going to flow to the industry is another reason why investments are not happening — bonds issued by the government are not very liquid; fertiliser companies can sell these only at steep discounts.

We need to move to a nutrient-based subsidy (from a product-based one) and give it directly to the farmer instead of keeping market prices low and compensating the producers. This would also help government target subsidy better.

The neglected base of the agricultural economy is now slowly coming back to play the spoil sport.

[satya]

Do it one ,they expect more

The State Bank of India (SBI) may have beaten a hasty retreat on its decision to stop financing tractors and other farm implements under mounting political pressure, but the issues that this aborted move has exposed remain valid and need to be debated. The SBI's action was, indeed, in response to a sudden spurt in the repayment default rate of the farm loans as reflected in burgeoning non-productive assets (NPAs) of the bank, especially after the announcement of the Rs 60,000 crore farm loan waiver scheme by the finance minister, P. Chidambaram, in his 2008-09 budget speech in February last.
Significantly, the SBI is not alone in facing such a situation; other banks and financial institutions, including the cooperative banks, are equally affected, and therefore, could have made similar moves. Though such a chain reaction has now been averted but that cannot be taken to mean that either the SBI or other banks would continue their agricultural credit business the way they have been doing in the recent past. For, they have already turned wary of such lending and are likely to remain so till the circumstances that had forced the SBI to take this step remain basically unchanged. A similar reaction from the banks was witnessed in the wake of the previous farm loan waiver move of the then Deputy Prime Minister, Devi Lal, in 1989-90. What is really worrisome is that, as in the past, the present situation, too, may cause a reduction in the overall flow of bank credit to the farm sector which had, for the first time in the last financial year, surpassed the 18 per cent priority sector lending benchmark set by the Reserve Bank of India. The net result, predictably, will be a slow-down in farm mechanisation, adversely affecting agricultural production and, more importantly, the much-needed capital formation in the rural sector.
Indeed, the government needs to realise that a populist move like a debt write-off blights the loan repayment culture with long-lasting adverse repercussions. This largesse has converted even the honest farmers into willful defaulters in the hope of getting their debts set aside. Those who take loans for tractors and power tillers are neither small farmers nor incapable of repaying the loans( told so most of these loans were given to landlords rather to farmers ) as most of them use such equipment for specific usage and earn regular income from them. Besides, they are also not habitual defaulters as they know that this would debar them from seeking fresh credit. It is, thus, the anticipation of debt relief, coupled with some in-built loopholes in the loan waiver scheme, which has prompted them to withhold the repayments. Moreover, the banks are finding it difficult to determine who qualifies for the loan write-off and who for loan settlement (with a 25 per cent rebate on repayment of three-fourths of the amount) because unambiguous records of land holdings are not available in many states. There is also room for political interference and other influences in the identification of beneficiaries of debt relief, further encouraging repayment defaults.

The most disquieting aspect of the present state of affairs is that, unlike the SBI, the government cannot be expected to retract its debt relief move with general elections not far away. The political exigencies are, unfortunately, likely to overwhelm the need for undoing the damage to the agricultural credit sector. At stake, therefore, is the much-needed resurgence of the Indian agriculture.

Short-sighted decision making with no after thoughts on its affects other than some votes which too might not come since rural voters tend to vote for particular parties they associte themselves for long time irrespective of its performance and now a days more on personal contact with party leaders or their relatives .Add this 60,000 crore and anther 60,000 crores or so down the drain good for nothing .

We really lack leaders with insight on how agriculture sector operates in india and we will continue to pay a price for it for years to come .

[Philip]

Wonderful idea.Let's hope this Indo-Israeli project does make the desert bloom!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 981145.ece

A million olive trees to make Indian desert bloom for farmers
Image :1 of 2

Rhys Blakely in Bombay
The desert of Rajasthan in the north of India is to be planted with a million olive trees grown in Israel in an effort to transform the landscape and the fortunes of its struggling farmers.

The countries are finalising a three-year plan on agriculture that will introduce several crops associated with the Middle East and Mediterranean to India. It is hoped that the sub-continent — more famous today for its mangoes and spices — will become an exporter of olive oil by 2011.

Lior Weintrub, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Delhi, said: “The symbolism is significant: an olive tree in the Middle East ... well, it means a lot.â€

[putnanja]

Soybean trumps King Cotton in Vidharbha’s regime change

[joshvajohn]

my comments on the following news item - This is how we unfavour our cane growers. You grow cane and then sell for nothing or end up paying for growing it!!! Is it not the funny way our governments' policy work. There are courts to upheld for these things as well. I did not know the high court judges did not look at even the nonsensical side of the decisions.

It is pity that our farmers as a whole are targeted by the a few elite and rich classes to make them kill themselves. India farm produces must be given a status of holy people that out of their all sufferings and non-profit investments they have still produced food for one billion people. This should be respected in many ways not merely through subsidiaries and support systems.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holn ... 261863.htm

SC to hear sugarcane transportation issue tomorrow

New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court will on Friday hear a petition challenging the Allahabad High Court's decision that allowed Bajaj Hindustan Ltd to deduct transportation cost of Rs 10.58 per quintal per km from the cane prices payable to the cane growers.

The decision allegedly would lead to nil amount to be paid to cane growers and would also result in recovery after adjusting state advisory price. The matter is likely to come up for hearing on Friday before a bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir.

The petition filed by cane growers, who supply cane to Bajaj, have challenged the High Court's April 21 decision that held that the sugar mill was entitled to deduct Rs 10.58 per quintal per km for transportation of sugarcane from the price payable to the cane growers for delivery of sugarcane at the purchase centres.

"The said fixing of the transportation charges is in contravention of the rebate of Rs 5.83 per quintal permissible only under specified conditions under Clause 3A of the Sugarcane Control Order 1966," they said.

Stating that the High Court had decided the issue without hearing the affected cane growers, the petition said that Bajaj had in the last five years set up 14 such mills and was "undoubtedly the biggest defaulter of cane dues."

According to the petitioners, the mill had deliberately not only concealed that the maximum transport rebate permissible as per the clause was Rs 5.83 per quintal and also that the rebate should be allowed only to those sugar mills which had made cane price payment in time and cleared all the arrears with interest.

[putnanja]

AP farmers reap tobacco bonanza

[putnanja]

Govt set to decontrol sugar industry from October 1

[jahaju]

JPMC reneges on rock contract with Indian companies

July 7: Jordian rock phosphate company, JPMC, has decided to renege against contracts for supply of rock to Indian companies from July 1, 2008 apparently on the ground that the Jordanian government has abolished all subsidy on all petroleum products and floated prices in line with world oil prices resulting in an increase of more than 200% in the cost of mining, transportation, energy and labour. While highly valuing close relationship with Indian companies, the Jordanians have regretted their inability to continue to supply rock phosphate after July 2008 due to the prevailing situation.
*Indian companies have been caught in a tight corner by the JPMC move. Major Indian buyers of Jordan rock like RCF, GNFC, GSFC, GACL, Coromondel, IFFCO, Paradeep and Tata Chemicals have all received notices from JPMC. The importers are of the view that there is no point in taking legal action as JPMC has cited that that matters were outside their control. Negotiations have been found to be the most viable way of beating the impasse.
*It is learnt that Coromondel has sent a delegation to negotiate the price and the terms. The consortium of GSFC, GNFC and GACL has invited a JPMC delegation for negotiation. IFFCO is also in the process of negotiations.
*The fertilizer secretary is being kept informed of the developments.

This is happening without cartelization? All complex fertilizers require rock phosphate as raw material and the rock avilable in India at MP & Rajasthan is of low quality. Overall this will further inflate the fertilizer subsidy bill like anything.

[ramana]

From Hindu, 9 July 2008

Bihar cold storage runs on gas from paddy husk
Patna (PTI): At a time when there is hue and cry over escalating prices of petroleum products, a cold storage in Bihar's Vaishali district is running on gas produced from paddy husk.

The cold storage was set up in 2001 under Primary Agricultural Society (PACS) at Laguraon Bilandpur village under Rajapkar block of Vaishali district.

It was set up under the guidance of the Bihar cooperation secretary Ravikant with the help of Central Cooperative bank.

Ravikant told PTI that all credit should be given to the chairperson of the PACS Rekha Singh for her innovative ideas to make her society self-reliant.

"We just gave her the guideline and she made the state proud by mixing the paddy husk gas with a little quantity of diesel to run the cold storage."

Other PACS should take lessons from the success story of Lagruaon Bilandpur village PACS to make the cooperative movement a success in Bihar, said Ravikant.

What exactl is this? Is the paddy husk generated gas being used to run an oil engine with diesel?

[jahaju]

Gasification technology exists but it is mainly used to produce gas (hydrogen/synthesis) from coal . Rice Husk may be a pilot project , but where will the energy be drawn from to convert rice husk to gas and then generally gaseous fuels are not mixed with liquid state fuels.

so....


IISC Bangalore

Wiki Gasification

[putnanja]

Soil no bar: Gujarat farmers going hi-tech

[upendora]

Genetically modified cotton was to be the saviour of India's farmers, but ill-health and financial worries are fuelling a backlash

At first, cotton farmers did well. They got high yields and enjoyed a real increase in income. But then problems arose.
.
.
Despite these problems, the Indian government believes that cotton has proved a success. In 2006, India overtook the US to become the world's second largest cotton producer (after China).

[Avinash R]

Punjab develops method to preserve green fodder for lean months

Amritsar, Sep.5 (ANI): Punjab agriculture department has developed a novel method to preserve green fodder by making silage and hay to feed the cattle when there is shortage of green fodder around September and October every year.

The novel technique recently formulated by the Department of Animal Husbandry, Punjab which has been successfully implemented in the border areas of Amritsar.

Due to the sowing of new crops, the scarcity of non-leguminous fodders such as maize, Jowar, Bajra and ryegrass has become real.

Traditionally, farmers when faced with the shortage of fodder dry or preserve or buy it at a higher price. As a result both cattle and farmers suffer.

Dr. Hazra Singh Cheema, the feed and fodder development expert, said: " It's natural that if animals eat less fodder, their yield of milk too would be reduced. Therefore, it would mean losses for the dairy farmer. So when green fodder is easily available in the market at a reasonable price, it is advisable to store it for later use by pickling it. One can use it when the supply of green fodder is in short supply and when it is heavily priced. As a result of this, the animals' yield is not affected and the dairy farmer also escapes losses."

Non-leguminous fodders can be used to make silage (fermented, high-moisture fodder that can be fed to ruminants or cud-chewing animals like cattle and sheep) while surplus leguminous fodders can be used for hay.

After cutting the crop at an appropriate stage, the green fodder is chaffed at two to three inches length to make silage. Then it is put into a silo pit (underground chamber for storing grain) and pressed thoroughly, either manually or with tractors.

By pressing, an anaerobic condition is created for proper fermentation. Then the pit is covered with a polythene sheet and mud for a period between 40 to 45 days. After the fermentation is complete, the fodder is ready for feeding. Good quality silage is yellowish green in colour and has a distinctive odour.

Dr. Hazra Singh Cheema, Feed and fodder development expert, said: "When we make this pickle, the cattle having an anatomy of 4-segment stomach are a greatly benefited. It is so because pickling of fodder results in a chemical process, which converts it into fodder as in the last stage of digestion process. The pH value and lactic acid content of such fodder is equivalent to semi-digested fodder making it easy for the animals to digest."

Seeing the positive results more and more farmers are lining up to understand the technicalities involved in the process. Now they preserve more than 10 acres of fodder using this technique.

Kabul Singh, a Dairy farmer, said: "This process of fodder pickle helps us a lot. We use this fodder for over five to six months. There are many benefits of such a process. We save on labor and the loss in the yield of milk is also averted."

The green fodder preservation technique is not only scientifically advantageous for the cattle but it is also economically cheaper for the farmers, especially for those dairy farmers who buy fodder at high prices during the lean periods.

It's a respite for dairy farmers to cope up with the acute shortage of green fodder.

[SK Mody]

Soil not Oil.

[Nayak]

'Waterproof' Rice Varieties Pass Field Tests in Bangladesh and India

November 20, 2008

http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news ... so?id=8872

New flood-tolerant rice varieties, developed by an international team of researchers, including scientists at UC Davis, UC Riverside and the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, have passed field tests and are expected to soon be available to farmers in Bangladesh and India.

Flooding in those countries annually reduces rice yield by up to 4 million tons -- enough rice to feed 30 million people.

The new flood-tolerant rice plants were developed by identifying a single gene -- called Sub1A -- that is responsible for flood tolerance in rice. Identification of the gene enabled the institute's plant breeders to use "precision breeding" to create the new rice varieties. The new plants are effectively identical to popular, high-yielding rice varieties, except that they recover after severe flooding to produce abundant yields of high-quality grain.

The researchers anticipate that the flood-tolerant rice plants will be available to farmers within the next two years. Because the plants are the product of precision breeding, rather than genetic modification, they are not subject to the same regulatory testing that can delay release of genetically modified crops for several years.

"The impact of these new varieties is evident for farm families as well as at a national production level," said UC Davis rice geneticist Pamela Ronald, following an early November tour with her research colleagues of the flood-tolerant rice field trials in Bangladesh.

"To be part of this project as it has moved from my lab in California to rice fields in Asia has been inspiring, and the project underscores the power of science to improve people's lives," said Ronald, who led the effort to isolate the Sub1A gene. Her laboratory also showed that the gene is switched on when rice plants are submerged in water.

Collaborating with Ronald on the 13-year project were David Mackill, senior rice breeder at the International Rice Research Institute; Julia Bailey-Serres, a geneticist at UC Riverside; Kenong Xu, a postdoctoral researcher in Ronald's laboratory; and researchers at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute and the Central Rice Research Institute of India.

Once Sub1A varieties are officially released within the next two years, the key will be dissemination to smallholder farmers in flood-prone areas. The International Rice Research Institute is leading this initiative through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The research that led to the isolation of the Sub1A gene was funded by U.S. Department of Agriculture grants to Ronald, Mackill and Bailey-Serres. The breeding work was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the USDA.

[Vipul]

ADAG's national agri spot mart set for launch.

Anil Ambani wants to do to agriculture trade what the National Stock Exchange did to equities in India: set up a pan-India platform for spot trade that will catapult a mostly medieval market system straight into the e-era.

He has already taken the early steps by incorporating National Agriculture Produce Marketing Co of India Ltd (National APMC Ltd) two weeks ago.

National APMC will offer the market-making platform, initially on a state by state basis, for farm produce.This is being done by roping in the state Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees into the picture.

Gujarat and Rajasthan have already signed up, and spot trading —- which will be only delivery-based unlike futures —- is expected to begin in January. Some states or their entities have also sought stakes in National APMC, a subsidiary of Reliance Money.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay, director and CEO, Reliance Money, said the exchange will start operations in select commodities such as castor and sesame in Gujarat.The big idea is to take the e-platform nationwide.

“Since agriculture is a state subject, we have to take separate approvals from each state. We’ve applied to another 17 states. The applications are in various stages of negotiations or approval,” Bandyopadhyay said.

The trade in agricultural produce is restricted to statewide APMCs and is dominated by middlemen.Being an anti-diluvian market, counterparty risk is very high and trade takes place mostly between familiar parties.National APMC will need separate approvals in each state because only then can deliveries be done all across.

“Say we launch tomorrow in Gujarat and Rajasthan. You are sitting in Chennai and you come to my platform and buy. I can’t deliver stuff to you in Tamil Nadu. I can deliver only in Gujarat and Rajasthan. I need Tamil Nadu APMC approval for that. Spot cannot work unless there is delivery. That’s why we will be constrained for a while,” he said.

“But once half a dozen states are roped in, there is a unique platform that will bring huge transparency and convenience to the spot market,” Bandyopadhyay said.“More importantly, it will also take away the counterparty risk because National APMC will guarantee delivery and payments.”

To facilitate delivery, National APMC will tie-up with various warehouses. The Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), India’s biggest, has already taken a stake in National APMC.CWC will give back-end support for the venture. Some private warehouse operators such as Kalpataru are also being roped in.The platform, once fully operational, is expected to lend a lot of legitimacy to the tainted agri-futures space, analysts said.

One of the major criticisms faced by the agri-futures market is the dearth of a transparent spot platform.For example, potato contracts are settled on the basis of prices on a particular day at two mandis — in Tarakeshwar, West Bengal, and in Agra, Uttar Pradesh.

“Even if a consignment fails to hit the market in time due to, say, a few trucks being stopped by someone a few kilometers away, prices shoot up. If there is a nation-wide platform such manipulation becomes impossible,” Bandyopadhyay said.

National APMC hopes its platform will bring about price efficiencies across Indian agricultural produce markets.“It’s a huge matrix, it will take time. But we will do it.” Bandhyopadhyay said.

[amardeep_s]

Vidharbha is in bad times. The soya crop failed, cotton is not being procured and debts are rising, package by the Centre and State is ineffective as it does not reach the farmers. This negligience has caused a high incidences of suicides using what the poor farmer is finally left with - pesticides. In below picture, young farmers Pavan Dolaskar after consuming pesticide in dec last week. Since infrastructure is absent, medical attn is absent and bodies have to wait for the pm.This region ruined by 60 +yrs of neglect.. pavan dolaskar and khushal gande.

[Hiten]

cross-posting from the MRCA thread

hiten, railway cultivates jatropha on its lands.

...and a significant portion of the arid and barren land around the rail tracks also IMO belong to the railways

Their potential large scale adoption of biodiesel would also secure our rail-based Agnis [as also every motorised vehicle in the forces]

Some CSIR labs seem to be be involved in jatropha/biodiesel research. A well funded govt-sponsered joint research to come up with an optimum fuel that fulfill the requirements go a long way towards self-reliance & security

AFAIK, a cost-effective mfg process for the large scale produuction of bio-diesel is lacking [2005ish info]

developing one could in fact be a very profitable licensing venture around the world for us, not to mention numerous Jamnagars that could be set up around the currently arid and uncultivated regions of our country - would also help relocate the out of work farmers who throng the cities

the "brotherhood" have assuared them uninterrupted fuel supply. we need to secure ours by reducing/getting rid of this dependency

[SaiK]

Any desi Algae based fuel developments? this is getting to be the next thing to be big hit!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_fuel
Algae cultivation

Algae grow rapidly and can have a high percentage of lipids, or oils. They can double their mass several times a day and produce at least 15 times more oil per acre than alternatives such as rapeseed, palms, soybeans, or jatropha. Moreover, algae-growing facilities can be built on coastal land unsuitable for conventional agriculture.

The hard part about algae production is growing the algae in a controlled way and harvesting it efficiently.

Most companies pursuing algae as a source of biofuels are pumping nutrient-laden water through plastic tubes (called "bioreactors" ) that are exposed to sunlight (and so called photobioreactors or PBR).

Running a PBR is more difficult than a open pond, and more costly.

[edit] Wastewater

Main article: Wastewater treatment facility

There is an option currently being deployed at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution using wastewater for breeding algae. The wastewater from domestic and industrial sources contain rich organic compounds, which accelerate the growth of algae.[13]

Also the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering of the University of Georgia is exploring microalgal biomass production using industrial wastewater[38] .

Algaewheel, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, presented a proposal to build a facility in Cedar Lake, Indiana that uses algae to treat municipal wastewater and uses the sludge byproduct to produce biofuel[39][40].

[edit] Algal strains

Main articles: :Category:High lipid content microalgae and SERI microalgae culture collection

The following species listed are currently being studied for their suitability as a mass-oil producing crop, across various locations worldwide [41] [42] [43]:

* Botryococcus braunii
* Chlorella
* Dunaliella tertiolecta
* Gracilaria
* Pleurochrysis carterae (also called CCMP647)[44] .
* Sargassum, with 10 times the output volume of Gracilaria.[45]

[Hiten]

there was some mention of it

Replying to another question, the minister said the Defence Research Laboratory (DRL), Tezpur is working on fresh water algae to use them as source for bio-diesel.

Other than that India is pretty quiet on that front, though some work has been going on for using Algae in absorpbing carbon to reduce emmision
Govt looking at using microbes to absorb emissions, produce oil

Some kind of Algae Biofuel Summit 2008 took place last year in India

[vsudhir]

This is an excerpt from an academic paper in the Journal of Applied Economics.

This paper integrates theories of political budget cycles with theories of tactical electoral redistribution to test for political capture in a novel way. Studying banks in India, I find that government-owned bank lending tracks the electoral cycle, with agricultural credit increasing by 5-10 percentage points in an election year. There is significant cross-sectional targeting, with large increases in districts in which the election is particularly close. This targeting does not occur in non-election years, or in private bank lending. I show capture is costly: elections affect loan repayment, and election year credit booms do not measurably affect agricultural output.

Link

Its no secret that the US and EU give their farm sectors massive subsidies on a scale that would dwarf many national economies. Here, the main line of attack on Indian farm quasi-subsidies is that its discretionary, and that output isn't improving due to it. I think there is a point to giving out direct subsidies to farmers (which is what minimum price support effectively does), but more importantly, to streamline and systematize the availability of credit to our rural regions.

[putnanja]

Govt rice purchase may touch new record

...
Procurement by the end of this season is likely to touch a new record of 29-30 million tonnes, surpassing the earlier high of 28.4 million tonnes. The country’s rice output in 2008-09 is also estimated at an all-time record of 98.89 million tonnes.

Punjab has been the largest contributor to the rice stock at 8.38 million tonnes, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chattisgarh. Procurement is up in all top-producing states except in Haryana and Chattisgarh.
...

[putnanja]

80% of sugar factories in Maharashtra shut