Agriculture

A New Momentum to the Agricultural Sector

A technology-driven farm overhaul seeks to lift Maharashtra’s agricultural economy from $55bn today to $500bn by 2047. Prioritizing the holistic development of the agricultural sector in Maharashtra's budget, Chief Minister and Finance Minister Devendra Fadnavis has placed farming firmly at its core, unveiling a sweeping set of initiatives aimed at reviving agricultural growth and embedding technology deep into the countryside. The State Government has set an ambitious target

Agriculture

Ramesh Patil

19 hours ago3 min read

A Port in a Storm of Opportunity

To turn Konkan’s bounty into export muscle, Maharashtra must marry farm output with modern logistics. The Konkan coast has long been blessed by geography. Its laterite soil and monsoon rhythm yield a rich agricultural basket: rice and ragi, coconut and areca nut, spices and pulses. Above all, it is home to the celebrated Alphonso mango and a robust cashew and fisheries sector. Districts such as Ratnagiri district command brand recognition that many global producers would envy

Agriculture

Parashram Patil

2 days ago3 min read

The Productivity Paradox

Until agricultural productivity is prioritized, Maharashtra will remain trapped in a paradox of plenty without prosperity. Agriculture in India is often discussed as a story of prices and protests. Far less attention is paid to the quieter but more decisive force shaping farm incomes that is productivity. Yields determine not just how much farmers earn, but how competitive states are, how resilient agriculture becomes to climate stress, and how credible promises of ‘doubling

Agriculture

Parashram Patil

Feb 233 min read

India’s Missing Input

In India’s interminable debates over agricultural prices, one constant is striking by its absence. Policymakers argue over fertiliser subsidies, diesel prices and monsoon forecasts with the precision of book-keepers. Yet the farmer, who absorbs the shocks of all these variables, is reduced to a cipher. In the spreadsheets that govern Minimum Support Prices (MSP), labour is a fixed input, assumed to endure endlessly. The physical and mental toll of farming in form of the stres

Agriculture

Parashram Patil

Feb 93 min read

From Subsidies to Systems

India’s Union Budget for 2026–27 sketches a quieter but more consequential overhaul of agricultural policy. For much of independent India’s history, agricultural policy has been shaped by urgency. Droughts, price spikes and electoral cycles have encouraged governments to rely on input subsidies and ad hoc support, often at the expense of long-term productivity. The Union Budget for 2026–27 marks a departure from that habit. Rather than another incremental adjustment, it propo

Agriculture

Parashram Patil

Feb 43 min read

Agriculture’s Blind Spot

The missing variable in India’s farm economics is the slow erosion of farmers’ bodies and minds. Agriculture is usually narrated as a story of soil, seeds and rain. In policy papers and production models, land is measured in acres, fertiliser in kilograms and water in cubic metres. Labour appears, if at all, as a residual cost. What is almost never counted is the condition of the person doing the work. Yet on India’s farms, especially those growing labour-intensive crops, the

Agriculture

Parashram Patil

Jan 143 min read

It’s Time to Change the Direction of Agricultural Research

The future of agriculture depends not on controlling the climate but on adapting smartly to it. In Maharashtra — especially in Marathwada, Solapur, Jalgaon, Ahilyanagar, parts of Vidarbha, and some talukas of Pune — unprecedented September rains caused massive destruction. Nearly 69,000 hectares of farmland were flooded, damaging crops like cotton, soybean, maize, pulses, vegetables, sweet lime, sugarcane, banana, mango, and grapes, with riverbank sugarcane fields worst hit.

Agriculture