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The Government has hiked the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane by seven per cent to Rs 139.12 per quintal for the 2010-11 season. The FRP of sugarcane for 2009-10 season was Rs 129.84 per quintal. Sugar season runs from October to September.
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In the current season, sugarcane farmers have received about Rs 250 per quintal due to shortage of the crop.
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The FRP is fixed after taking into consideration the margins for sugarcane farmers on account of risk as well as profit on the cost of production of sugarcane, including the cost of transportation. It includes a margin of about 45 per cent on account of profit and risk to the farmers on the all India adjusted average cost of production of sugarcane, including the cost of transportation to the mill gate. — PTI 230410
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Note: Paltry increase of Rs 9 per qtl does not even cover increase in labour costs of harvesting sugarcane. The same story of farmers’ agitating and getting higher SAP last year is bound to repeat again. Will the powers (Pawar) that be will ever learn lessons from the past?
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Supply far short of rising demand for Pulses and Edible Oils
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*India had produced 14.2 million tonnes (MT) of pulses in 2006-07, 14.76 MT in 2007-08, 14.57 MT in 2008-09 and 14.76 MT in 2009-10. |
| However, the domestic demand always remained higher at 16.24 MT in 2006-07, 16.77 MT in 2007-08, 17.51 MT in 2008-09 and 18.28 MT in 2009-10. |
The demand for pulses is likely to rise to 19.08 MT in 2010-11 and 19.91 MT in the next fiscal. To bridge the supply-demand gap the Centre was implementing the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) on pulses in 16 major growing states.
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| Under the NFSM, government has approved an 'Accelerate Pulses Production Programme, effective from April 1, which would undertake pulses acreage over one million hectares of land during the remaining period of the current Plan period that ends in 2012. The government has also earmarked Rs 300 crore for organising 60,000 'Pulses and Oilseeds village' in rainfed areas under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana during the current fiscal.ET 170410 |
* The edible oil requirement in India is projected to be 18.3 million tonnes in 2015 and 21.8 million tonnes in 2020. To meet the demand, the current production of 29.75 million tonnes of oilseeds has to be doubled in the next 12 years to achieve self-sufficiency. With the increase in population and purchasing power of people, the per capita oil consumption too is rising steadily.TH 090410
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Food security of some sort is possible only if society succeeds in creating a large mass of people trained in, and willing to do, agricultural work. That is hardly conceivable in the present scenario where half the farming community is unwilling even to continue with cultivation. Shard Joshi, BL 220410
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Costs of cultivation – Labor costs doubled
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The cost of harvesting sugarcane in the peak season today is Rs 450-500 a tonne, as against Rs 250-300 just a few years ago and even then labour is scarce. In Punjab and Haryana, paddy transplanting and harvesting-cum-threshing costs have doubled to Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000 per acre in the last 3-4 years. And so on. These examples can be multiplied. BL200410
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PSBs focus more on indirect Agri Finance
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| Through most of the nineties and the early noughties, the focus on commercial performance meant that PSBs cut back on their initiatives in rural areas. In recent years, they have succeeded in pushing more credit into agriculture but much of this is indirect lending. TT Ram Mohan, ET Bureau 190310 |
| Unspent funds with states put question mark on NREGA |
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| Most states are left with huge unspent funds under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP). |
| In Bihar, workers got 27 days of work, which is of course better than 21 days last year. West Bengal workers got 36 days and Jharkhand, 34 days. States like Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan fared better at 63 and 68 days, respectively. |
| Jharkhand, which is in conflict with Naxalites, had Rs 1,020 crore when it started the year in April 2009. This year it was left with Rs 529 crore of unspent funds. In Chhattisgarh, another Naxalite-hit state, the total available fund was Rs 1,601 crore, of which Rs 545 crore has been unspent. |
| With Orissa, which has been criticised by the rural development ministry for non-implementation of the scheme, funds available was Rs 925 crore. In January this year, it was left with Rs 350 crore unspent. |
| Uttar Pradesh had Rs 6,455 crore. It was still to spend Rs 1,339 crore in January 2010. In Bihar, where people are getting on an average 27 days of work a year, the unspent amount last year was Rs 1,040 crore. Out of the total available fund of Rs 2,042 crore, it had an unspent balance of Rs 2,033 crore this year. |
| Assam, Bihar, Haryana and Gujarat could spend less than six per cent of the money available with them. Over 34 per cent of the funds available with the states remained unspent last year. Of course, these states do not have to surrender the unspent amount as that goes into the next year’s programme as their opening balance. Srilatha MenonBS 200410 |
| ‘Near normal' monsoon expected’ |
| The 2010 monsoon is expected to be near-normal, assessed at only a ‘notch or two' below the 100 per cent according to Met Dep. This should come as a relief to farmers preparing for the kharif season ahead after the 23% deficient monsoon last year. BL 220410 |
