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Govt making reformative interventions to amplify milk production across J&K

J&K Government is working on multi-pronged strategy to increase milk production and double the Dairy farmers’ income with unique initiative of Integrated Dairy Development Scheme (IDDS). With an aim of Doubling Farmers’ income from dairying, the Administration is working tirelessly to ensure utmost priority is being extended to dairy development in the union territory by way of implementing various developmental schemes, initiatives, policies, among others. IDDS is a major scheme which not only focuses on providing financial assistance, but also supports the dairy producer by providing milking machine, bulk milk cooling unit at 50 percent subsidy as well as other benefits. The scheme also provides paneer making machine, khoya making machine, dahi making machine, cream separator machine, ice cream making machine, butter and ghee making machine, milk van, milk ATM and DG Set, to aspiring entrepreneurs who try to create their start-ups in dairy sector.


Tea industry hopeful 100m production by end of 2022

Tea industry insiders said that tea production may break the previous record by the end of the year, despite a lengthy workers’ strike back in August. The international tea auction has expanded the availability of tea straight from gardens. Although production is expected to decline towards the end of the season, tea production has grown owing to adequate rainfall. Earlier on October 24, 3.33 million kilograms (kg) of tea was delivered in the 25th auction. Last year, this amount was 3.20 million kg of tea in the same auction. Meanwhile, 3.56 million kg of tea was auctioned off last Monday at the 26th auction on October 31. In the previous year’s 26th auction, the amount was 3.46 million kg. Earlier in August, the estates had demonstrated negative increases in tea supply for 5-6 straight auctions due to sustained labour strikes in the country’s tea estates. Bangladesh currently has 167 tea gardens. Chittagong just added another garden to its lists. In addition to tea estates, small-scale tea production is practiced in the northern region. The northern region produces around two-thirds of the country’s total tea production. However, the quality of tea produced in the country’s hilly regions is the finest, thus tea from these gardens has an influence on market control. According to Bangladesh Tea Board (BTB) sources, the tea board used to set a production target of 70-80 million kg in past years.


World’s largest plant for making methanol fuel from CO2 opens in China

The world’s largest facility for converting carbon dioxide and hydrogen into methanol is now up and running in China. Methanol – a liquid also called wood alcohol – is used for the production of chemicals such as plastics and as a fuel. It is usually made from coal or natural gas, but making it from waste CO2 will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “We estimate the emissions avoidance to be greater than 500,000 tonnes of CO2 or equivalent per year,” says Ómar Freyr …


China is burning more coal, a growing climate challenge

China is poised to take advantage of the global urgency to tackle climate change. It is the world’s dominant manufacturer and user of solar panels and wind turbines. It leads the world in producing energy from hydroelectric dams and is building more nuclear power plants than any other country. But China also burns more coal than the rest of the world combined and has accelerated mining and the construction of coal-fired power plants, driving up the country’s emissions of energy-related greenhouse gases nearly 6 percent last year, the fastest pace in a decade. And China’s addiction to coal is likely to endure for years, even decades. As the world’s climate negotiators gather this weekend in Egypt for their 27th annual COP gathering, China needs to balance limiting greenhouse gas emissions with its concerns about securing its own energy.


Argentina wheat production forecast slashed again

Argentina’s wheat harvest forecast continues to slide as the Rosario Grain Exchange told Reuters on Oct. 26 that it is projecting output for the 2022-23 marketing year at 13.7 million tonnes, a sharp reduction from its 15-million-tonne estimate in September. The reason for the smaller projected crop is a lingering drought that has plagued the region for months. If the latest forecast is correct, it would be Argentina’s smallest wheat crop since 2015-16, when just 10.9 million tonnes were harvested. “There is an unprecedented drought,” Cristian Russo, a Rosario agronomist, told Reuters. He noted that more than half of the province of Buenos Aires, the main farming region in Argentina, was suffering the lowest level of water reserves in 30 years. Argentina is the biggest wheat exporter in South America, having exported 16.2 million tonnes out of its 22.5-million-tonne crop in 2021-22, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service of the US Department of Agriculture.


Iron ore prices sink as global demand fears intensify

Iron ore prices have plunged significantly recently, hitting more than two-year lows, as the metal fell more than 11 percent this past week, and almost 17 percent over the last month. At the time of writing, iron ore was trading around CNY 598 per tonne. This was mainly due to the state of the still struggling housing industry in China, as well as the ongoing rigid zero-COVID curbs in place. Furthermore, China had also cut steel output, in Hebei, which is the top producer of the metal, for about a week, between October 14th and 22nd. This was done in order to cut down on air pollution for the week of the Communist Party Congress, which was held in Beijing, as Hubei is quite close to Beijing. China has also implemented a similar tactic during the Beijing Olympics which took place earlier this year.

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