Category: Agriculture

Who makes agri policy in India? Why agri universities are not contributing to agriculture policy making? Yes, a humble farmer from Nalanda is reported to have cultivated an average rice yield of 22.4 tonne per hectare and that had driven the entire agri science community into a tizzy! There is the comparative rice yield map…

How agriculture and food could become new diplomatic tools in the modern world! Droughts, rising food prices make economies, big and small vulnerable to new challenges! US economy is still in the slowdown mode only! Obama faces an uphill task in facing the Republican challenge! Russian agriculture is the opportunity of the century? To overcome…

The big disconnect! Agriculture and the private investments. ICAR is another world, alient world, as far as farmers investing in agribusiness venture. There is one body, called, Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium! What it has done? Precious little, shall we say? So to there are so many ICAR-funded bodies in Hyderabad. Oh, so many to name…

Agri loan targets/priority lending misses the targets! Pranab Mukerjee is likely to raise farm lending target by a 25% rise! Bankers are seen always big boys. In fact, bad big boys. The man on the street sees the big and massive bank buildings as a sign of their bigness. But this is an illusion. Times…

There is no rational reason why the big corporates like Tatas and Birlas and Mittal failed. Simply because, they had succeeded in other areas like telecom and oil and gas, there is no obvious link with their strategy to enter agriculture. In fact, it is for the simple naive reason that the next big thing…

Yes, for the right reasons! You can’t become monopolies overnight! Yes, that is what the men-in-hurry type new corporates try to do in an area where much modern day farming is left neglected. Far too long! See what an average farmer psychology is? An average Indian farmer today is a cellar debtor! He is exploited…

Is is now only 14 per cent of the GDP! Last year it was 15 per cent! Yet, the share of the people dependent on the fast decreasing agri output is 47 per cent. So, where is the government’s promise of raising investments, in industry and agriculture and also generating productive employment? It is becoming…

With Siddartha Behura in Tihar  Government inaction costs a lot! Our food production is at record high! Over-stocks and yet a decision on lifting the export ban pending for years! There is news about the record food production, both wheat and rice. Warehouses are full and in fact the food stocks are rotting in the…