Indore: increase import duty on edible oil to curb the falling prices
There is need to increase the import duty on edible oils to curb the falling prices of the commodity in the domestic market. It is also necessary to avail better prices to oilseed cultivators. The Soyabean Processors Association (SOPA) made the demand of this regard is made to Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal. SOPA has sent a memorandum to the minister. DN Pathak, executive director of SOPA informed on Tuesday that we have brought the facts in the attention of the minister that prices of edible oils are continuously falling and are at a very low level currently. Rapeseed and mustard crop harvest is going to start soon and an all-time high bumper crop of over 12 million tons is expected.
China’s rice farming trials cut methane emissions
In a mountain village in south-west China, the local people are playing a guessing game. A new climate-friendly way of growing rice is being trialled that will reduce methane emissions. So, what’s the difference in yield between it and the conventional method? Shortly after the guesses are in, the findings are revealed: the new approach can increase yields by about 20 percent. Although it seems far removed, the rice cultivation in this village is connected to a joint statement made by China and the US at the COP26 UN climate conference in 2021. In it, China said that by COP27, which was held in November 2022, it would produce a “comprehensive and ambitious national action plan on methane”, to achieve significant results in controlling and reducing emissions by 2030.
U.S. oil production reaches new pandemic-era high
Domestic crude production climbed to the highest level since 2020 as demand for petroleum products pushed ahead last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Wednesday. American producers generated 12.3 million b/d for the week ended Feb. 3, up by 100,000 b/d from the prior week, data from EIA’s latest Weekly Petroleum Status Report showed. The latest print also marked a 100,000 b/d increase from January’s average and from the pandemic-era peak. Additionally, production for the latest EIA period far exceeded the year-earlier level of 11.6 million b/d, and it climbed further toward the record of 13.1 million b/d set in early 2020, prior to coronavirus outbreaks.
Weaker natural gas, oil prices could spur production cuts
Strong and steady U.S. oil and natural gas production has in 2023 outpaced demand and weighed down prices. Analysts are increasingly joining a chorus of calls for a pullback on output – or even sharper price pressure moving into the spring. West Texas Intermediate crude traded around $75/bbl early this week, far from the highs above $120 last year. New York Mercantile Exchange gas futures recently hovered around $2.500/MMBtu, down from the $6 level late in 2022 and the nearly $10 highs of last summer. The price strength in 2022 spurred production increases, but demand has since tapered substantially. Crude consumption declined in recent months amid weakening economic activity in the United States as well as Europe and parts of Asia. Natural gas demand eased dramatically in January, largely because of seasonally mild weather. Forecasts point to only an average February in terms of heating needs.
Govt utilising all resources to increase wheat production
Chief Scientist Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI) Dr Javaid Ahmad has said that the government is utilising all available resources to increase wheat production in country. Addressing a one-day training workshop at the AARI Complex on Wednesday, he said that although Pakistan was an agrarian country, yet it had to import various agricultural commodities. Therefore, the government had launched an Agriculture Emergency Programme under which all departments relating to agriculture sector were given task for increase in production of farm commodities. The agri scientists were also urged to develop new varieties which would have extraordinary resistance against seasonal diseases and give maximum production even during hard climate conditions.
Top three sugarcane producing farmers to get Rs. 2.2m cash prizes in Punjab
The top three sugarcane farmers who would register highest production in Punjab would get cash prizes worth Rs2.2 million with the highest one to take away a million rupee, an agriculture spokesperson told on Tuesday. In a statement issued, the spokesperson said that five-year national production project was under execution and different activities were being undertaken to encourage farmers adopt modern technology and best agronomic practices to move a step ahead of at least the previous highest level of production. He said that Zinc Sulphate would be provided to farmers at subsidised rates while demonstration plots would be set up besides organising the seminars and Farmers’ Day programmes to sensitise farmers on modern agriculture technology. He said that Rs30,000 subsidy per acre would be provided to farmers on demonstration sugarcane plots while Rs5,000 per acre on Sep-sown sugarcane crop, inter-cropping and for promotion of Chip Bud technology.
India has registered 51pc increase in milk production
Parshottam Rupala,Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying on Tuesday told Lok Sabha that India is the highest milk producer in the world contributing 24 percent of global milk production in the year 2021-22. “According to production data of Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistical Database (FAOSTAT), India is the highest milk producer in the world contributing 24 percent of global milk production in the year 2021-22,” the minister said in a written reply in Lok Sabha. He further said that the milk production of India has registered a 51 percent increase during the last eight years- during the year 2014-15 and 2021-22 and increased to twenty-two crore tonne in the year 2021-22. Due to the implementation of various schemes by the department, Milk Production in the country has increased from 146.31 Million Tonnes in 2014-15 to 221.1, the minister claimed.