Input cost of agriculture has gone up considerably due to steep increase in price of fertilisers, in the past one year, said Agriculture Minister Umesh Katti on Monday.

Speaking to media, the minister said price of DAP (Diammonium Phosphate), which is widely used by farmers, has shot up to Rs 19,014 per tonne in 2012 from Rs 12,300 per tonne in 2011.

The corporate sector has evinced interest in the Assam farming sector for the first time by setting up the first farmer field school at Natoli in the Kaliabor subdivision of Nagaon district recentl

Amid depleting resources and rising global prices of soil nutrients, the fertiliser ministry has proposed a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) of $1 billion to acquire such assets abroad.

Chief Minister meets Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in New Delhi The Odisha government on Wednesday urged the Centre to take effective measures to realise the unsaturated agricultural potential of the State and to make the second green revolution a success in the eastern region of the country.

The demands of the State with regard to agriculture were taken up before Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in New Delhi.

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation is funding a pilot project to enable the state’s farmers to reverse the environmental degradation and rural poverty in the state by applying scientific methods to groundwater management.

Baseline studies jointly conducted by the FAO, Centre and state government have identified seven districts in Andhra Pradesh to effectively implement the best practices in sustainable cropping patterns to combat climate change.

Studies carried out by a team of scientists at the Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR) have revealed high levels of phosphorus in the soil samples from Kozhikode and Wayanad districts.

Fertiliser ministry has sent a proposal to finance ministry for creating a sovereign wealth fund.

The Union Cabinet will soon take a call on the vexed issue of whether to go for international arbitration at a London tribunal against Oman, which raised natural gas price from 77 cents to $3 per unit, leading to a sharp rise in the price of fertiliser imported by India under a long-term off-take agreement.

The finance ministry has rejected a request for increasing the price of urea imported from Omifco, an equal joint venture of Indian and Oman firms, in line with the higher gas price implemented by the Arab nation at the beginning of this year.

The Union ministry of agriculture has decided to delay the rollout of the revamped Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) by a year, to the next financial year (2013-14).

Official sources said the ministry proposed to continue all its existing schemes under its flagship programme, RKVY, in the current financial year. The new plan approved by the planning commission has recommended pruning the number of schemes for better coordination.

Madhya Pradesh is set for a comprehensive policy for promotion of organic method of farming through restoration of deteriorating soil health.

The central Indian state's agriculture sector, which has been growing at an annual rate of 9% over the last three years and is expected to touch the double-digit mark, has emerged as the second biggest producer of wheat in the country and also the largest producer of soyabean.