Agriculture Current Affairs - December

1. India currently observes the year 2018 to be the National year of Millets

2. The Food and Agriculture organisation (FAO) Council recently approved India’s proposal to observe an International Year of Millets in 2023

3. India became members to the executive board of  United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) for the year 2020 and 2021

4.A PUSA Krishi-Haat to be set up at ATIC ( Agricultural Technology Information Centre) New Delhi for farmers, in which farmer can sell their produce  and also technology park



5. Millets consists of Jowar, Bajra, Ragi and minor millets together termed as nutri-cereals. Recently the MSP of Jowar has been increased to Rs 2450 per quintal from Rs 1725, Bajra to Rs 1950 from Rs 1425 and Ragi to Rs 2897 from Rs 1900 per quintal from 2018-19.

6.Comprehensive Soil health Card scheme - 

Soil Health Card Scheme has been taken up for the first time in a comprehensive manner across the country. Under the scheme soil health cards are provided to all farmers so as to enable the farmers to apply appropriate recommended dosages of nutrients for crop production and improving soil health and its fertility.

The unique features of SHC scheme are:-

• Collecting soil samples at a grid of 2.5 ha in irrigated area and 10 ha in un-irrigated areas.
• Uniform approach in soil testing adopted for  12 parameters viz. primary nutrients (NPK); secondary nutrient (S); micronutrients (B,Zn, Mn. Fe & Cu); and other (pH, EC & OC) for comprehensiveness.
• GPS enabled soil sampling to create a systematic database and allow monitoring of changes in the soil health over the years. 

7.The Union Cabinet  approved the new Agriculture Export Policy, aimed at increasing India’s exports to $60 billion by 2022 

8.Agriculture -related exports from the country this year is expected to be  around $37 billion, which was $7 billion more than the previous year (a 20% increase)

9.MSP for Toria and De-Husked coconut is  fixed on the basis of MSPs of Rapeseed/Mustard and Copra respectively

10.Government fixes Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) of 22 mandated Kharif and Rabi crops and Fair & Remunerative Prices (FRP) for Sugarcane on the basis of recommendations of Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP)

11.Government has operationalised e-National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) with integration of 585 regulated markets across the country

12. A Price Support Scheme (PSS) for   procurement of  oilseeds, pulses and cotton through  Central Nodal Agencies  at  MSP  declared   by   the  Government

13. A new umbrella scheme Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan’ (PM-AASHA) has been announced by the government. The scheme consists of three sub-schemes i.e. Price Support Scheme (PSS), Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS) and Private Procurement & Stockist Scheme (PPSS) on a pilot basis

14. The target for the production of foodgrains has been fixed at 290.25 million tonnes for the year 2018-19

15.A record production of foodgrains in the country at 284.83 million tonnes (4th Advance Estimates) for 2017-18

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Updates made weekly