View: Farm laws to bring more freedom, and better prices
Opposition parties and some farmers’ organisations have protested against three new agricultural reform laws. These provide much-needed reforms that will help farmers get a better price by cutting out middlemen and improving marketing efficiencies. The protests arise from false accusations that the new laws mean abolition of minimum support prices (MSP) and procurement by central and state governments.
MSP procurement of kharif paddy begins immediately in Punjab and Haryana: Centre
The Centre on Saturday announced commencement of paddy procurement at the minimum support price (MSP) with immediate effect in Punjab and Haryana in the wake of early arrival of the kharif crop in these two states.
Otherwise, paddy procurement for the 2020-21 kharif (summer) marketing season is scheduled to begin from October 1 in all the key growing states, it said.
Crop planting rises 4.8% over last year
Crop planting at the fag end of the current season has risen 4.8% over last year, helped by a 9.77% increase in area under oilseeds, which should reduce India’s heavy dependence on imported cooking oil.
Farmers have planted crops in a record 111.68 million hectares including 40.17 million hectares rice planting, which is 5.56% more than last year. Area under pulses has risen 4% to to 13.93 million hectares.
