Why growers of plantation crops need weather-based insurance
Till July end this year, key plantation districts across South India such as Kodagu, Chikkamagalur, Idukki and Wayanad faced a rainfall deficit. Come August, the heavy downpour in the first fortnight helped wipe out the deficit besides triggering flooding, landslides and inflicting crop losses in some of these districts.
For plantation districts in South, August has turned out to be a dreaded month with several regions witnessing heavy rainfall and flooding for the third consecutive year. Growers attribute such extreme weather events to climate change and are seeking some sort of protection to their crops in the form of an insurance cover. In Assam, heavy rain and flooding has hit output this year.
C-DAC, IIT-Kharagpur developing robot for pesticide spraying
The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Kolkata, is coordinating a multi-body project, funded by the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, to develop a robot essentially for spraying pesticides in agricultural fields.
The robot, when fully developed, will be able to move around in a farm, take photographs of plants, diagnose any disease, select an appropriate pesticide from its tank and spray it on that particular plant, said Prof Dilip Kumar Pratihar of IIT-Kharagpur, which is one of the institutions working on the project.
AP CM Jagan Mohan Reddy flags off Kisan Rail
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, along with Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, flagged off, in virtual mode, the Kisan Rail from Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh to New Delhi on Wednesday, fulfilling a long-awaited desire of horticulture farmers of the Rayalaseema region.
The Chief Minister thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Narendra Singh Tomar and Minister of State for Railways Suresh C Angadi, for starting the second Kisan Rail, and the first from South India, to transport horticulture produce from AP to Delhi.
