Coffee Board sees a 15% rise in 2020-21 crop at 3.42 lakh tonnes
India’s coffee production for the 2020-21 season starting October is seen rebounding with the State-run Coffee Board projecting a crop size of 3.42 lakh tonnes (lt) in the recently released post-monsoon estimates. This is about 15 per cent higher over the final crop size of 2.98 lt in 2019-20 season, the lowest crop in a decade.
Rabi acreage up 5% to 565 lakh ha
Higher than usual planting of wheat, pulses and oilseeds has pushed up the area under rabi season till Friday to 565 lakh hectares (lha), nearly 4.7 per cent higher than around 539 lha sown in the corresponding week last year, according to data released by the Agriculture Ministry.
The area under wheat till this week is 294 lha, which is 5.5 per cent more than around 279 lha planted in the same week last year. Madhya Pradesh, which planted an additional 11 lha, Maharashtra (2.4 lha) and Gujarat (1.67 lha) accounted not only for the increase, but also covered the lower planting in Rajasthan and Haryana.
Cisco, The/Nudge launch contest in pact with govt
The/Nudge Centre for Social Innovation and Cisco, in association with the Government of India, today announced the ‘Cisco Agri Challenge’, aimed at mobilising agri-tech start-ups to innovate solutions that have the potential to positively impact at least 10 million small farmers.
With a prize purse of ₹2 crore, the challenge will run in stages over twelve months. It will support participants in developing, testing, and scaling solutions that help alleviate the issues of low income and diminishing profitability farmers in India are facing.
