Agriculture Current Affair 15 March to 23 March 2023

Mamata Banerjee urges Centre to allow poppy cultivation in West Bengal

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has urged the Centre to allow poppy cultivation in the state, insisting that delicacies prepared with its seeds are integral to the Bengali cuisine. Banerjee said ‘posto’ or poppy seeds are costly as it is cultivated only in a few states.

“Bengalis love ‘posto’. Why should it be cultivated in only four states? Why not in West Bengal, despite it being on our menu every day?” she said.

“Why will we have to purchase ‘posto’ from other states at high prices? Why will West Bengal not get permission for its cultivation? I will ask members of the opposition to write to the Centre on it,” the CM said on Thursday.

FCI to sell 10.13 lakh tonnes of wheat to bulk users on Wednesday via e-auctions

State-owned FCI plans to sell 10.13 lakh tonnes of wheat to bulk consumers in the sixth round of e-auction to be held on Wednesday as part of the government’s measures to check wheat and atta prices. The Centre has announced the sale of 50 lakh tonnes of wheat in the open market to control prices. Of this, 45 lakh tonnes have been earmarked for bulk consumers, including flour millers.

Food Corporation of India (FCI) has sold 28.85 lakh tonnes of wheat to bulk consumers in the five rounds of e-auction held so far.

Too early to say about impact of high temperatures on wheat crop, says Agriculture Minister

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Tuesday said there has not been any effect seen so far on wheat crop due to high temperatures and it will be too early to say about the likely impact. On whether there has been any adverse impact seen in wheat crop as harvesting has started in some states like Madhya Pradesh, Tomar said, “Weather-related challenges are always there in front of agriculture.”

“Lekin main samjhta hoon ki abhi koi aisi stithi nahi hai. Koi prabhav pada hai, aisa kahna jaldbazi hogi (But I think, there is no such situation as of now. It will be too early to say that there has been any impact),” the minister told reporters here.

Weather threatens Indian winter crops just before harvesting

Untimely rains and hailstorms could damage India’s key winter-sown crops such as wheat, rapeseed and chickpeas just before harvesting begins for plants that have already suffered some heat stress, industry and weather department officials said.

India’s weather department has warned key growing states in central, northern, and western regions could receive more rain and hailstorms in the next 10 days. That could curtail production and lift food inflation, which the government and central bank have been trying to contain.

A drop in wheat production could make it difficult for New Delhi to replenish inventories, while lower rapeseed output could force the world’s biggest edible oils buyer to increase imports of palm oil, soyoil and sunflower oil.

SLCM’s AI-based app Agri Reach gets NABL accreditation

Agri-logistic company, Sohan Lal Commodity Management (SLCM), has received the accreditation from the National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration Laboratories (NABL) for its AI ML application –“Agri Reach”. This is the first time in the history of NABL that a mobile application has received a NABL certification.

“The Agri Reach app puts the power of recent scientific advancements in agriculture into the hands of regular smartphone users. People in rural India are making the most of this application’s advantages. In just two months since its launch, it has been utilized to inspect 21.59 lakh metric tons of crops at 303 locations in 17 states,” the company said after receiving the acrreditation.

Rs 900 crore sanctioned for holistic development of agriculture sector in J-K

An amount of Rs 900 crore has been sanctioned by the Centre for holistic development of the agriculture sector in Jammu and Kashmir, a government official said, participating in a ‘Kisan Mela’ here. The day-long Mela evoked a massive response with over 900 farmers and other stakeholders including agri startups turning up to know about the latest scientific farming techniques and different government schemes.

Director Agriculture production and farmers welfare department said besides educating farmers and agri-Startups about the latest developments, the event has been organised with a focus to encourage farmers to adopt cultivation of Millets.

India hosts roundtable on millets to strategise production and consumption globally

A ministerial round table of millets was held post-inaugural session of the Global Millets (Shree Anna) Conference in New Delhi on Saturday.

Ministers from Guyana, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname and Zambia; Permanent Secretary, Agriculture of Gambia and Maldives and Director General, Millets Initiative, Nigeria participated in the meeting.

India held its first mega-global event Global Millets (Shree Anna) Conference in Delhi to celebrate 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYM). The aim of United Nations to declare 2023 as the International Year of Millets on India’s initiative is to elevate awareness of millets for food security and nutrition, enhance investment in R&D and extension, and to inspire stakeholders towards improving production, productivity and quality of millets.

India likely to harvest record 11.5 million tonnes rapeseed this year: Industry body

Rapeseed output in India, the world’s biggest importer of vegetable oils, is likely to rise 7.5% this year due to a record planting of the winter-sown oilseed, a leading trade body said on Monday.

Farmers are likely to harvest a record 11.5 million tonnes in the crop year to June 2023, the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) told a news conference in the north-western state of Rajasthan, producer of more than half of India’s rapeseed.

India to harvest record mustard crop in 2022-23, finds SEA’s crop survey

India is heading for a record Rapeseed-Mustard crop of 115.25 lakh tones in 2022-23 as remunerative prices in the past year encourage record plantings of the oilseed. Conducive weather in most parts of the mustard growing states also aided the highest-ever production, said Solvent Extractor’s Association (SEA) in a release.

SEA said that it had carried out a crop survey earlier this month.

One of the initiatives of SEA is the “Model Mustard Farm Project” which aims to India’s Rapeseed-Mustard production to 200 Lakh tones by 2025-26.

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