Search Result for : Agriculture Ministry

The Dollar Business Bureau In order to protect the interests of farmers, the Government on Thursday imposed an import duty of 30% on masoor (red lentil) and chana (chickpeas) to support domestic prices. Earlier, there was no import duty on these pulse varieties and these could be freely imported. “The Government has decided to impose 30% import duty on chana (chickpeas) and masoor (lentils), with immediate effect,” Ministry of Finance said in a statement. “Production of chana and masoor is expected to be high during the forthcoming Rabi season, and cheap imports, if allowed unabated, are likely to adversely affect the interest of the farmers,” it added. According to the Ministry of Agriculture data, plantings of gram were 14% higher on yearly basis till the end of last ...

The Dollar Business Bureau Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh said on Sunday that India is the second largest producer of horticultural crops and fruits after China, and added that this is the result of research and development projects in horticulture crops. “Research and development projects in horticulture crops have yielded encouraging results, as a result, the production of horticulture crops have been more than food grains irrespective of adverse climatic conditions,” Singh said, while speaking at the World Orange Day 2017 event in Nagpur.  “After China, India is the second largest producer of horticultural crops and fruits,” he added. The Minister said that during 2015-16, over 9 crore metric tonne of fruits were produced on 63 lakhs hectare of land. As ...

The Dollar Business Bureau The Commerce and Industry Ministry will soon bring in a policy framework for facilitating access to global markets for the Indian agriculture produce, Union minister Suresh Prabhu said while addressing an agri summit. Prabhu, who took charge as Commerce and Industry Minister recently, said that his ministry will work on developing global supply chain for the agriculture sector.  Addressing the agri summit the minister said that multilaterally there is also need to work on removing trade restrictions with an aim to boost Indias agri exports. "If they (farmers) produce something, they (should) get an access to global market and get better prices for that, and for that we will put in place a good policy framework very soon," Prabhu said. "We have ...

The Dollar Business Bureau The Central government has decided to procure 2 lakh tonnes of onion from Madhya Pradesh, to provide relief to the farmers of the state from declining prices of the crop. The wholesale prices of onion have sharply declined to less than Rs.6 per kg in Madhya Pradesh as production of the crop was higher during late Kharif season of crop year 2016-17 (July-June). “We have approved procurement of 2 lakh tonnes of onions under the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) from Madhya Pradesh,” a senior official from the Agriculture Ministry remarked. The procurement of onion will be conducted by the Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Marketing Federation Ltd (MP-Markfed) at Rs.5,867/tonne for fair and average quality (FAQ) of the crop with overhead costs of Rs.1,467/tonne or actual, whatever is below, added the ...

The Dollar Business Bureau  India’s foodgrain production is expected to reach a new high in the crop year 2017-18 which begins from July, on the hopethat India has normal rains consecutively for the second year, said Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.  Foodgrain output is projected to be at a record high at 273.38 million tonnes in the current crop year (July-June) on the back of good monsoon after drought for two years, compared to 251.57 million tonnes previous year. The last all-time high output was 265.04 million tonnes in the crop year 2013-14. Foodgrain list consists of wheat, rice, pulses and coarse cereals. “The Met department has forecasted normal monsoon for this year. If the monsoon is good, I am confident that foodgrain output will boost growth rate to more than 4.4% achieved in ...

The Dollar Business Bureau India has issued a directive to halt the imports of Chinese apples and pears from June 1. According to a statement made by the Ministry of Agriculture, the recent imports of Chinese apples and pears contained harmful microorganisms. Indian National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) reported that 26 batches of Chinese pears and apples were contaminated and the same was conveyed to the Chinese Inspection and Quarantine Bureau on May 31. A second batch of apples and pears from China once again revealed harmful microorganisms. Since no action was taken to remedy the situation, the Indian government decided to temporarily halt the import of apples and pears from that country starting from June. NPPO revealed the presence of  Pseudococcus Comstocki ...

The Dollar Business Bureau Due to a favourable monsoon last year, the foodgrain production in India recorded an all-time high of 273.38 million tonnes in the crop year 2016-17, which is an increase of 8.7% compared to the previous year. Earlier, the record production was 265.04 million tonnes in 2013-14. The production of rice, wheat, coarse cereals, maize and pulses during the year is estimated to be at record level, as per the 3rd Advance Estimates, released by Agriculture Ministry on Tuesday. “As a result of very good rainfall during monsoon 2016 and various policy initiatives taken by the government, the country has witnessed a record foodgrain production in the current year,” the statement said. The Ministry of Agriculture issues four estimates in a year at various stages of ...

Abin Daya It appears that India’s export performance is back on the growth track once again. After two years of decline, exports might hit a marginal positive growth figure this year. The recovery of petro exports in value terms due to the rise in crude oil prices is one of the reasons for this growth. However, the much steeper rise in imports has widened the trade deficit, though the overall figure would still be lower than last year.  Indian exports will continue to be affected by headwinds to the global economy, though recovery in the US economy might provide some respite. The strengthening rupee is another concern for exporters as it takes away vital price advantage available to them. Talking about individual ...